from Hacker News

My first $10k internet dollars

by JimDesigns on 7/19/23, 2:01 PM with 42 comments

5 months ago, I launched jimdesigns.co, my one-person subscription-based design studio for SaaS startups, and by doing so, made my first internet $.

Today, I passed $10,000 in cumulative revenue. This is not a significant amount whatsoever, but it means a lot to me and feels pretty surreal tbh.

This is neither an overnight success as I previously tried for years to make money online by building online tools, without any success.

Therefore, by no means do I pretend to have the secret sauce on how to make money online. I just thought I’d share a few thoughts on how I believe that happened for me:

1. Focus on what you’re really good at, and what you know best instead of trying to solve problems that you don’t have for an audience that you don’t know. In my case, as a product designer with +10y of experience designing SaaS products for startups, I didn’t have to look further.

2. Don’t fall into the build trap. In my case, a design studio only requires building a landing page, which means that the rest of the time can be focused on getting traction (+ client work).

3. Deliver outstanding value (product or service). That’s the only thing that matters to your customers. There is no shortcut here, your product or service got to provide significant value. In my case, getting high-quality designs for your SaaS at a fraction of the cost of hiring a world-class designer is a no-brainer.

4. Make your pricing a no-brainer when you’re getting started as the initial goal is to learn and get traction, not to get rich. The $10,000 is total revenue, not MRR but I’m still pumped to have generated my first 5 figures of internet dollar!

This post is not about bragging about my little win, but rather to inspire some folks out there to get started. In fact, my only wish is that I’d started earlier.

You can follow my journey on Twitter (@JimDesignsCo) as I continue to share my journey.

Jim

  • by JohnFen on 7/19/23, 5:04 PM

    Congratulations!

    > Today, I passed $10,000 in cumulative revenue. This is not a significant amount whatsoever

    This is huge. The amount is not insignificant, but also doesn't really matter. What matters is that you got your first revenue. That's a milestone worth celebrating. Good job, and keep it up!

  • by nickelcitymario on 7/21/23, 1:55 PM

    First: Congratulations on your success! This is very exciting, and thank you for sharing your journey with us.

    Question: How do you mitigate the risk around unlimited requests? It seems like only a matter of time before you get a client who starts asking for an astronomical number of designs. For example, what if a design agency hires you for all the product designs for the clients? Is there anything to prevent a bad faith player from essentially using their single account to provide your services to a large group of clients?

  • by yellow_lead on 7/19/23, 2:43 PM

    This is an interesting strategy, I hope it continues to work for you!
  • by mandeepj on 7/19/23, 9:00 PM

    Congratulations! Here’s to $100k much sooner as the momentum is in motion now :-)
  • by sarimkhalid on 7/22/23, 8:26 PM

    Congratulations Jim!

    I have seen this subscription-based design concept pop up a lot lately but as an agency, interesting to see you do this as an individual designer.

  • by dancenow on 7/19/23, 8:37 PM

    Congrats, Jimmy. This is awe-inspiring.

    Note: I noticed a typo in your FAQ, under the question, How do I request designs? where designs is spelled deigns. You may want to have it corrected.

    Otherwise, looks brilliant. Good luck!

  • by bhu1st on 7/19/23, 9:41 PM

    > Focus on what you’re really good at, and what you know best instead of trying to solve problems that you don’t have for an audience that you don’t know.

    This.

  • by KomoD on 7/20/23, 8:59 AM

    > This is not a significant amount whatsoever

    Uh yeah it is...

  • by Tejas_Agarkar on 7/20/23, 4:47 AM

    Congrats & Thanks Sir for your valuable information. You'd inspired this small town Indian boy so much :D
  • by devKnight on 7/20/23, 7:26 PM

    Congrats, this is an awesome milestone!
  • by jawmes8 on 7/19/23, 8:34 PM

    Great story and congrats! Thank you for posting, I hope I can get your help in the near future for a few projects!
  • by solution-finder on 7/20/23, 1:38 PM

    Congratulations, this is huge! Would you mind sharing how did you approach marketing?
  • by izolate on 7/21/23, 8:24 PM

    Congrats! Great concept.

    Curious, how do you go about advertising your services?

  • by mr_o47 on 7/20/23, 5:40 PM

    Congratulations, that's so cool
  • by froster on 7/20/23, 6:31 AM

    Jimmy what's your future plan?
  • by bigasscoffee on 7/19/23, 8:00 PM

    So awesome, big congrats!
  • by ano88888 on 7/21/23, 6:52 AM

    will suscribe in a couple of months for my new startup
  • by goddessoflists on 7/20/23, 4:53 PM

    Many congratulations!
  • by __s on 7/19/23, 7:10 PM

    Congratulations Jim!
  • by peter_d_sherman on 7/19/23, 6:13 PM

    Congratulations Jim!
  • by cameron_b on 7/19/23, 2:16 PM

    Congratulations Jim!
  • by ChrisArchitect on 7/19/23, 7:03 PM

    Tell HN: