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jurgenwerk

376 karma · joined September 8, 2013

https://jurgen.si
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jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: How are you making money on the side?
I sell handmade busts and sculptures on Etsy: https://jurgenstudio.etsy.com/

Most months the profits can cover my basic living expenses.

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Who are your most treasured live coders?
Terry Davis
jurgenwerk··on Companies that use PHP and pay well
I wanted to suggest Etsy but I saw you already mentioned it.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
Made a heavy Fibonacci clock using concrete! https://jurgen.si/posts/concrete-fibonacci-clock/
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Who is your favourite living philosopher?
Well, that's easy. Slavoj Žižek. He's incredibly amusing.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: High end” consultants, what does your day to day work look like?
Is it you, Mr. Winston Wolf?
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
Which one? I am planning on doing Ayrton Senna.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
It's intended to immediately differentiate from shops who sell cheap plastic sculptures. My customers appreciate heavy brutalist material I use. I spend zero time optimizing SEO, my product images and descriptions are pretty crappy, so I currently don't have much advice to give in that area! What's your shop?
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
I get that question a lot. I do not worry about it. There's plenty of similar fan art selling around and I haven't noticed any actions taken to shut them down. I wouldn't reproduce anything under a trademark (for example, Baby Yoda), and as far as I know, human faces are not trademarkable.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
Thank you for your kind words. I have Wittgenstein on my TODO! Should be in the shop within a year.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
It's a an artistic person I found who is happy to produce copies of sculptures for me to get some side income. I teached her how to do it and gave her all my molds so she can do it from her home.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
1. I hire a 3d designer to create the 3d model I want. For example, I send him a couple of photos of Alan Turing

2. After I am happy with the likeness, I 3d print it. In this phase the 3d model comes to life and it's usually quite different from what we see on the computer as a 3d model. It has something to do with the difference in perspectives in which the designer designs shapes and in which we observe the item when it's produced as a real physical shape. This is very hard to get it right. Then we repeat the steps from 1 until I am happy with the likeness and the facial expression (this can be many iterations)

3. When I have the 3d printed positive, I create a mold using silicone rubber

4. The 2-part mold is then ready to be used for hundreds of castings (I use concrete)

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell
I sell handmade sculptures of influential people and famous monuments on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/jurgenstudio. Revenue is 2-6k USD depending on the season. I hired someone part time who took over production and shipping. it's mostly passive revenue for me apart from growing the business by developing new products when I feel like it. The profit margin is around 50% after all material and labor costs are paid.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What was your “honeymoon phase” with HN?
Been here for many years, and I love it more and more. It's probably the smartest thing you can read online.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Which personal projects got you hired?
I run an Instagram meme bot that posts photo commits of frustrated developers from Github. My last interviewer asked me if I can guide him through an interesting project of mine and I showed him the project. He was very amused and I got an awesome offer the next day.

The bot: https://www.instagram.com/gitfuck/

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What (almost) company sinking engineering mistakes have you witnessed?
Has to be Evernote!
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Where to go to learn about decison making
From this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29571126
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Best way to sell a $28k MRR company
Prepare to get swamped with messages!
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What personal tools are you the most proud of making?
Synonyms Deluxe (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/synonyms-deluxe/kf...) - Created this so I can express myself better in English. Now many people use it :)
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What is your money-making sideproject outside programming?
I make and sell concrete busts of famous people on Etsy. Revenue is around 2k per month. https://www.etsy.com/shop/jurgenstudio
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Any companies that pay in BTC?
Kraken offers that.
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What is the worst product you still use?
Evernote.

The product is getting slower, more bloated and less user friendly with each release. That's been going on for many years now. I really wonder what's happening at that company.

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: If you didn’t have to work for money, what would you be doing full time?
Thanks!! Means a lot. I reinforce but only if needed. If it's a more monolithic shape, then it's not really needed, but if there are parts that seem more breakable (thin) or bear significant weight, then I use glass fiber or steel reinforcement or even both. Regarding compression and tension -- I never think about these things. Maybe I would if I did larger sculptures!
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: If you didn’t have to work for money, what would you be doing full time?
I would be a full time artist. I create concrete sculptures. Have gotten amazing validation over the years and would really love to do it full time. If you're curious how this stuff looks like, check https://www.instagram.com/jurgenwerk/
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What is the best book you read in 2020?
An interesting phenomenon about this book is when you read it, you start noticing who else read it too.
jurgenwerk··on Chrome Extension is Making $399,000 / month
How do you calculate MRR given many of the extensions you display are just a one time purchase? That's not recurring revenue.

For example, if an extension has 1000 users and is priced at $5, that's not $5000 MRR. This only tells that the extension earned approximately $5000 since it got published in the store.

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What cool browser extensions have you created to simplify your tasks?
When I write, I often want to make my writing more sophisticated. For that purpose I built an extension which find synonyms for words.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/synonyms-deluxe

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Products that suck but you still use? (2020)
Evernote.

Terrible UX, sluggish, indexing problems.

jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: Have you ever hit absolute rock bottom?
What's v=ir mentality?
jurgenwerk··on Ask HN: What is your blog and why should I read it?
https://myhandmadestory.com

I publish interviews with people who make a living creating handmade products and selling them online.

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