Monthly update #3: Selling a side project and other exciting things

The last 2 months was a real roller coaster ride with slightly more downsides.

Due to my full-time job and consulting obligations, I had much less time to work on my projects and improve my coding skills.

This put huge pressure on me since that would have meant I had to perform well on at least 3 fronts. And that’s not possible without spreading myself thin.

So, I decided to focus on my job and consulting and spend less time on sharpening my coding skills and building new apps.

Apart from these demanding tasks, a few great things happened in the last 2 months:

I shipped one product: Crypto Project Name Generator
I sold one of my projects: TV Premiere Alert

And here is one more personal thing.

My wife and I are expecting a baby at the beginning of August, which is a huge joy, but you know what this means...

We are fixing things in the apartment to get a room ready for the baby. I am also wasting time in malls trying to find the perfect pram, bed, mattress, clothes...you name it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy the baby is coming. But in general, I hate shopping, and every time we’re in a mall/supermarket, after 10 minutes, I get frustrated and just want to do something useful.

About Cryptobullshit

This was a fun project. The idea was sitting in my idea sheet for months, and it was so tempting to start working on it.

I’m not a crypto hater, but I think you should be careful with most of the projects out there. Some of them are just pure scams.

So, I thought, why not create an app that generates hilarious crypto project names?

Say no more. This is how Crypto Project Name Generator was born. Check it out!

Selling my project

I sold it for an undisclosed amount…. JK.

So, am I rich? Not at all.

How did I end up selling my project?

I was actually shutting down the project since I didn’t have time to keep it updated and running. So, I sent out an email to my users telling them my decision.

Surprisingly, 2 users replied and said they would be happy to take over the project.

But instead of giving it to them for free, I thought, why not try and sell it? I had minimal costs and spent a weekend building the product. My goal was to get back the money I spent on the domain and other services.

This is the story of how I got 80 dollars.

80! USD!

If I don't take into account the time I spent on the project multiplied by my hourly rate then it’s not a terrible deal, considering that I was going to shut down the project and walk away without a dime.

But at least I can take my wife to McDonalds several times. Life goal unlocked!

But honestly, I should have sold the project for 400-600 dollars, but the deal has already been made.

But for sure, it felt so great selling something I made, even for the price of 10 Happy Meals.

I have never been in a situation like this before. I’m so glad that it happened early, so next time, when playing in the big leagues, I can reflect on this experience and make a much better deal.

So, here are my takeaways when it comes to selling a small side project. This for sure is not applicable for bigger projects generating massive money, but here are my two cents in determining the bare minimum price for a project that doesn’t generate any revenue:

Your project is probably worth more than you think.
Be bold and ask a higher price so you have space to decrease that demand (I know, Negotiation 101).
Apart from considering the costs, try to calculate how much time you spent on it. This sets a great minimum selling price for your project.
Go to step 2.

So, what’s coming up?

I need to spend more time learning to code (fingers crossed).
I’m planning to ship another product, which is gonna be a crypto-related website. I’m super excited about this!