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Aivars Meijers

What I learned making $60K from side projects

Published about 1 month agoΒ β€’Β 1 min read

What I learned making $60K from side projects

The Part-time Solopreneur

Happy New Year πŸŽ‰

Just published my 2025 review. Want to share the honest numbers with you.

What went well:

Moved family from Latvia to Thailand.

YouTube grew to 45K subscribers.

Built a community that's making around $18K a year.

Apps made about $40K. Total side project income is approximately $ 60,000 while still freelancing full-time.

Not bad, right?

​

Here's the thing.

Revenue from apps dropped. Community income is new. So total is slightly higher than last year.

But I was working way more hours to get there.

I basically traded semi-passive app income for very active community income. More money, more work. Not sure that's a win.

​

What didn't work:

Running two communities. Too much time, too much energy.

Launched apps without marketing. One made $8 total. Shipping is not launching.

YouTube Shorts got 900K views. Made $62 from that. Subscribers from shorts? Almost none.

Streamed 160 hours. Total revenue $350. That's like $2 an hour.

​

What I'm changing:

Already merged communities into one freemium model. Free tier gets you in. Premium is for weekly calls and courses. Done.

Shorts will promote my apps now. No more content just for views.

​

The real lesson:

You can always make more money. You can't make more time.

It's fine to grind. It's fine to set goals. But don't get stuck running from one goal to the next without enjoying what you already built.

Full breakdown here:

video preview​

​

Work hard, but have fun too.

Aivars

Find me on:

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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Aivars Meijers

Part-time Indie Solopreneur

I'm building a portfolio with mobile apps and helping others to earn the first $1'000 on AppStore. Join The Part-time Solopreneur for tips and resources to build, launch, grow, and monetise your indie App business.

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