Ironmind - Road to 2k € per month after taxes

[ironmind]

Hi everyone, it's ironmind here.

I am a 27-year-old male from a European country, working a 9-5 job with a strong technical background as a programmer.

I have several side projects that generate some extra income.

My objective is to continue working on these side projects until I can generate a monthly net income of 2,000€ after taxes.

Currently, I am earning around 450€ per month from my side projects.

The cost of living in my area is approximately 1,500€ if you live alone, including bills, rent, and other expenses.

As I am working full-time, I have very little free time, and I try to balance my time between side projects, family, friends, and house chores.

To keep track of my progress, I will be providing weekly reports.

Best regards,

 

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[DCG]

Hi everyone, it's ironmind here.

I am a 27-year-old male from a European country, working a 9-5 job with a strong technical background as a programmer.

I have several side projects that generate some extra income.

My objective is to continue working on these side projects until I can generate a monthly net income of 2,000€ after taxes.

Currently, I am earning around 450€ per month from my side projects.

The cost of living in my area is approximately 1,500€ if you live alone, including bills, rent, and other expenses.

As I am working full-time, I have very little free time, and I try to balance my time between side projects, family, friends, and house chores.

To keep track of my progress, I will be providing weekly reports.

Best regards,

Good luck man

 

[Everyman]

As I am working full-time, I have very little free time, and I try to balance my time between side projects, family, friends, and house chores.

To keep track of my progress, I will be providing weekly reports.

Thanks for sharing.

Do you need help with anything?

Just curious - you wrote you have very little free time. What does it mean? Would you like to have more for something? Only asking to clarify.

 

[dand]

Hi everyone, it's ironmind here.

I am a 27-year-old male from a European country, working a 9-5 job with a strong technical background as a programmer.

I have several side projects that generate some extra income.

My objective is to continue working on these side projects until I can generate a monthly net income of 2,000€ after taxes.

Currently, I am earning around 450€ per month from my side projects.

The cost of living in my area is approximately 1,500€ if you live alone, including bills, rent, and other expenses.

As I am working full-time, I have very little free time, and I try to balance my time between side projects, family, friends, and house chores.

To keep track of my progress, I will be providing weekly reports.

Best regards,

fiverr or upwork may also be a decent place to apply technical skill as a freelancer to build on side projects in the short-term.

 

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[ironmind]

Good luck man

Thank you!!

Thanks for sharing.

Do you need help with anything?

Just curious - you wrote you have very little free time. What does it mean? Would you like to have more for something? Only asking to clarify.

Hi I work around 55-60 hours a week (between 9-5 and sideprojects), and I have lots of familiar compromises, that at this moment I can't refuse, (in a very ramdom schedule), add to that if I need some time with my friends (1-2 nights per month), so if something goes wrong I found myself not working in my objetive, and as I want to be FIRE, it's not something that can be neglected.

fiverr or upwork may also be a decent place to apply technical skill as a freelancer to build on side projects in the short-term.

Yes I know, at this moment, I have a decent job, so my primary focus is on building business, I want to do that until I earn 2k per month, then I plan to let my 9-5, and get into bigger business, in my country unemployment is very high, so if you don't want to end up living on the street you have to have everything very tied up, so I need a buffer againts bankruptcy:

 

[Everyman]

Hi I work around 55-60 hours a week (between 9-5 and sideprojects), and I have lots of familiar compromises, that at this moment I can't refuse, (in a very ramdom schedule), add to that if I need some time with my friends (1-2 nights per month), so if something goes wrong I found myself not working in my objetive, and as I want to be FIRE, it's not something that can be neglected.

Thanks for answering.

Let me know / DM if you need any help. Good luck!

 

[ironmind]

Update:

Income 06/03/2023 to 12/03/2023: 276.45€
Expenses 06/03/2023 to 12/03/2023: 74.76 €

Total: 201.69€:

Accumulated month:

Income: 485,54 €
Fixed Expenses: 80€
Variable expenses: 128 €:

Total accumulate: March: 277,54 €

 

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[ironmind]

Update:

Income 13/03/2023 to 19/03/2023: 321,82€
Expenses 13/03/2023 to 19/03/2023: 82.95 €

Total: 238.87 €:

Accumulated month:

Income: +- 832,18 €
Fixed Expenses: 80€
Variable expenses: +- 206 €:

Total accumulate: March: 546,18 €

 

[Kevin88660]

Hi everyone, it's ironmind here.

I am a 27-year-old male from a European country, working a 9-5 job with a strong technical background as a programmer.

I have several side projects that generate some extra income.

My objective is to continue working on these side projects until I can generate a monthly net income of 2,000€ after taxes.

Currently, I am earning around 450€ per month from my side projects.

The cost of living in my area is approximately 1,500€ if you live alone, including bills, rent, and other expenses.

As I am working full-time, I have very little free time, and I try to balance my time between side projects, family, friends, and house chores.

To keep track of my progress, I will be providing weekly reports.

Best regards,

Are these side projects earning recurring/“passive” income?

 

[ironmind]

Are these side projects earning recurring/“passive” income?

Yes, in a way, these side projects are apps and websites that require marketing, maintenance, and occasional updates. However, the time commitment for each is typically no more than 1-2 hours periodically.

 

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[Kevin88660]

Yes, in a way, these side projects are apps and websites that require marketing, maintenance, and occasional updates. However, the time commitment for each is typically no more than 1-2 hours periodically.

It would be interesting if you can share the success stories on the projects.

 

[ironmind]

It would be interesting if you can share the success stories on the projects.

I think it would definitely be cool to share success stories with others, but I don't have any major ones to share at the moment. Plus, I don't make enough money to really feel confident in teaching others how to do it. Maybe someday down the road though!

 

[Kevin88660]

I think it would definitely be cool to share success stories with others, but I don't have any major ones to share at the moment. Plus, I don't make enough money to really feel confident in teaching others how to do it. Maybe someday down the road though!

It is just that others could learn from it and get inspired.

It doesn’t have to be big success. Anything that has consistent sales is worth learning.

There are often learning points others could pick up. And you don’t have to share your trade secrets.

The value about business forum is that ongoing business learning points cannot be google searched.

Someone could have more experience in similar fields and actually gave you ideas to improve on it.

 

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[ironmind]

Update:

Income 20/03/2023 to 26/03/2023: 312,93€
Expenses 20/03/2023 to 26/03/2023: 93.78 €

Total: 219,15 €:

Accumulated month:

Income: +- 1092.23 €
Fixed Expenses: 80€
Variable expenses: +- 300 €:

Total accumulate: March: 712,23 €

 

[Tomco]

Interested to see your progress into the future! I'm currently in a somewhat similar situation to yours, albeit don't have any side projects yet. I'm more focused on learning new skills to then apply them further down the line (mainly coding).

Good Luck!

 

[ironmind]

Interested to see your progress into the future! I'm currently in a somewhat similar situation to yours, albeit don't have any side projects yet. I'm more focused on learning new skills to then apply them further down the line (mainly coding).

Good Luck!

Thank you!!

 

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[ironmind]

March results:

Income: 1390.59 €
Variable Expenses: -361€
Fixed expenses: -80€

Total net before taxes: 949,59 €

 

[ironmind]

Hey there! It's been a while, and I thought I'd give you a quick update on what's been going on.

So far, I've released two apps, but I haven't seen the substantial benefits I was hoping for. I've been spending a lot of time improving them, and it's been a learning process.

Looking ahead to this year, I've got a few things I want to focus on:

1. I realized that putting all my efforts into improving existing apps to make an extra $100 might not be the best strategy. While it's essential to enhance what I have, I need to balance it with creating new apps. Just a 10% increase on $800 is an extra $80, so I'll be shifting my focus a bit.
2. Dealing with the Play Store has been a bit challenging, so I'm thinking of making the switch to the App Store. I've got a new idea in mind that could help me overcome this challenge.
3. When it comes to application stores, I've decided to prioritize volume over quantity. Instead of going for niches with 100-300 downloads per day, I'll be venturing into more competitive niches where I can provide additional value.
4. It's time to be smarter about where I invest my time. I've realized I don't need to spend a single minute on applications that have proven to be a waste, even if I've already dedicated many hours to them. It's all about avoiding the sunk cost bias.

Here's to a year of positive changes and exciting developments in the world of app development! Cheers!

 

[ironmind]

I've been thinking about the future of app stores, and currently, there are four points that particularly worry me.

1. The percentage of people searching for generic keywords is decreasing steadily. Ninety percent of users search for things like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, while the remaining 9.99% search for head-tail words, such as meditation and abdominal routines. Only 0.01% search for keywords that I can target.
2. Ninety-nine percent of the keywords that are worthwhile face brutal competition, and this is not about typical subpar apps; we are talking about multi-million dollar companies.
3. Google Play and Apple seem to be pushing indie developers out of their stores. This is evident in recent implementations like the new Play Console accounts, which, if not business accounts, require at least 20 testers. Additionally, there have been recent clean-ups of Apple applications.
4. The application stores' draconian policies, especially Google Play Store's, are a cause for concern.

In terms of my personal situation, there are three points that make me consider changing my business approach:

1. Currently, I have 14 applications published, generating €600-900 per month in high season and €500-600 in low season. While this may seem like a considerable number, it's not when compared to other indie developers. The issue here is that I'm not building lasting businesses but rather mini-profits. I feel vulnerable to potential disruptions caused by a single decision from someone with a different interpretation of policies.

2. My goal is to be an entrepreneur, seeking a comfortable life not dependent on external factors. With the limited capital and time available to me, achieving this with apps is challenging. There are other businesses with higher potential that better suit my personal circumstances.

3. The actions taken by Google and Apple to exclude indie developers from their stores could have detrimental effects on our survival in the market.

Considering these concerns, I am currently contemplating three potential business directions: SAAS (Software as a Service), browser extensions, and APIs. These three areas share similar marketing requirements, such as SEO, SEM, and social media marketing. Given my technical skills, I will explore business opportunities in these areas and choose the one that aligns best with my goals.

 

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[ironmind]

Wow, it's been a long time.

During this period, I've shifted all my business activities to simple maintenance with occasional improvements.

I've also been thinking, and diving into books, videos, and articles.

From this, I've learned a lot about marketing, analytics, business strategy, and CRO.

I believe my main problem, which has led to such modest success, is that I had no idea what I was doing.

I didn't know how to interpret graphs, I knew nothing about marketing, about which acquisition channels were ideal, nor did I have any idea how to increase my profits.

Well, I say "didn't know" in the past tense, but in reality, my knowledge hasn't been tested yet, so I'm going to start applying the things I've learned over these past six months to the app business.

How will this process diary be structured now?

Every week or so, I'll post a summary of what I've been doing that week, and what I'll be doing the following week. Occasionally, I'll evaluate the income/profit changes resulting from the changes I've implemented.

 

[ironmind]

I'm currently working on an app that is already published on Android.

I'm working on an update that I hope will significantly increase the app's benefits.

What did I do last week?

1. I added AI to the app.
2. I modified the app's behavior so that when navigating backwards, it asks if you want to save the current progress.
3. I created universal app campaigns on Google Ads for two countries for the app I'm working on.
4. I scheduled over 120 days of posts for a memes account related to the corporate world (I plan to drive traffic from here).

What will I do following week?

1. Conduct in-depth testing and fix any potential bugs.
2. Translate the app into Italian, Spanish, German, and French.
3. Integrate $uperWall with my application