Hi,
I will be losing my job in a few weeks time.
I not planning on finding another 40 hour week job, instead I would like to try my luck in earning a living through a business.
My skill sets are in IT and education.
I am thinking of building an online forum where students can ask questions, and provide help to others.
Not sure if there is a demand for this…
Any thoughts? Ideas or advise? Any suggestions big or small would be much appricated.
Thank you.
Sorry on the mobile, fat fingers :S
Through ads.
I am not planning on making a lot.. Just enough for food and rent :)
you will need at least 20k views a day.
Thanks. That my target.
What's the job that you'll be losing?
online forum where students can ask questions, and provide help to others.
Uh, Reddit Homework Help subreddit exists for this, so does Bored Of Studies forum, and Yahoo! Answers is also an honorable mention.
Forum might not be such a great idea. You'd be better off monetising a Youtube channel and working to get subscribers. Maybe become a ICT teacher online?
Also have you thought about Mobile app development as a career? It's apparently pretty lucrative if you have software dev talent. CSU now has a masters' course in Mobile Apps Dev.
I'm a software developer for big ass company. Specialised in Java.
The mobile app market is very saturated…. So not confident of success..
Thanks for the links. I will check the existing sites out
On the other hand mobile is where the action is and growing, whereas the older platforms are static or not growing as fast. Also Java will stand you in good stead developing for Android. Maybe get a job or contracts developing Android Apps to put your toes into the water?
That's a good point.
I have lots of experience with Java and Eclipse.
I will add the mobile education app idea to the list of options :)
Hi Congo, I'm curious as to what exactly you mean by this:
"I would like to try my luck in earning a living a bit more passively."
I'm sure you realise that you cannae go from actually doing real/billable (hands on/ physical-attendance-required) work in your field/s of expertise to some 'ethereal/passive' type role, and still retain a similar income. If that was possible, every capable person in your field would simply do that, instead of what they are currently doing. So what exactly do you mean by 'earning a living more passively', in the context you've described?
Hi, I guess passively isn't the correct word, as starting a business is often more work than a normal job, especially in the first 10 years.
I guess what I should have said is try my luck in business.
Cheers.
plenty of people have ideas, whether or not they're feasible/sustainable as a business is the issue.
Very true. I am after good workable ideas.
Not to be rude, but if I had a good workable idea, I wouldn't be spilling it in a forum. Unless you are looking for a business partner, but that just makes the concept twice as hard because you will need to generate twice the income
Yes, a business partner would be good. Most successful business has two co-founders?
Scotty has mentioned plenty of times that with this website he does Ok, but not great and his traffic is significantly more then any student forum I've used. Not to mention you would send yourself broke trying to generate your critical mass to be sustainable. Scotty started this as a hobby and once it took off he quit his day job. You would need to have significant funds banked up to give yourself time to grow and even then its a roll of the dice if it would even take off at all. You would be putting all your eggs in one basket start cold turkey with no job. Recommendation, would be find another job and start the business outside work hours until you have that critical mass.
Yeah, true not a good idea to put everything into one basket. But I am not doing this.
Yes, I do have significant savings that I can invest into this venture.
The problem with having a job, is that it is safe, and I will end up doing it for life…
Did Scotty implement Ozbargain?
I thought OzBargain was doing more than alright?
He said his income is less then when he had a day job, at least the last time I checked. I wouldn't burn through my savings on a gamble an idea would work, you might have the best idea ever but it doesnt catch on and you are jobless and no savings. As I said, get another job, do some proof of concepts to see if there is a demand, a market and meat on the bone to extract before you start digging into your savings, you will need it if it does kick off.
Thanks, I do understand where you are coming from…logically it does makes sense.
Maybe I can get a part time job or something, and somehow force myself to put 110% into this venture…
Just don't want to get stuck back into the rat race…
I've been in the rat race too long…
Scotty might not have to go to an office to work, but he works from home and still has to manage a business, and attend quite a bit of meetings with interested 3rd parties.
It is not a passive income job, but IIRC he did say it was a pretty cushy job.
this website he does Ok, but not great…
Oh it's actually GREAT! I'm easily satisfied though. And replying to other comments
cypher67 said:
He said his income is less then when he had a day job, at least the last time I checked
Personal income — yes. However company income it's quite a bit more. Then I need to pay decent salary to my other staffs, pay server bills, save up for rainy days etc.
@congngo — If you suck at growth hacking like me who prefer to do things slowly, then quitting your job might not be a good idea. Especially you have more than one mouth to feed (wife, kids, etc). Make sure you have some insurance while developing your next big idea. However as @scrimshaw said it's not something with passive income either as you still need to be deeply involved with everyday business. With technology startups the landscape changes every year so it's actually more rat-race like than getting a salary, as you are always chasing after something.
You do get an enjoyment out of building something that you own.
Anyway. Good luck.
Thanks Scotty :-)
My wife has her own small business. So she would make enough to feed us.
I am hoping that the new venture would have some synergy to her existing business.
Thanks for the advice.
BTW, well done with OzBargain.
It is my FAVOURITE site and one that I use the most (besides from Google) :-)
What will you do with panties? Oh another swypo. :)
But seriously how will you monetise the site?