How I Accidentally Made 10k+ USD from Side Projects

Hey everyone! I wanted to share my story of how I made over 10k USD in revenue from two micro-products. Here's how it all went down:

The Beginning

I was experimenting with generative AI and really loved working with it. Outside of my job, I started working on different technologies and experimenting with them. I saw lots of people launching small tools and making money, but at the time, I didn't have much of a plan to monetize. I was just having fun since I had a full-time job and didn't have to worry too much about the money.

My First Project: Sketch to Image

My first project was called Sketch to Image. It's a tool that transforms any sketch into different types of images. For example, you can upload a house sketch and it will transform it into realistic renders. You can also transform any kid's art into realistic designs or anything like that.

When I launched it, I didn't think people would find it useful. I just launched it as a small side project that was fun to build and cool. The funny thing is, the product somehow went viral in my home country, Bangladesh. People were using it and sharing it on social media. In just seven days, since I had some free credits, it cost me around 500 bucks just to keep it afloat!

The Bangladesh launch didn't make any money, but when I launched on Product Hunt, people actually supported it. My product would have been product of the day, but Product Hunt thought my upvotes were suspicious because we were new. They decreased my upvote count, but that's a story for another day. The product ended up being the fourth product of the day.

After the Product Hunt launch, they pushed my product to their newsletter, and some Twitter accounts started talking about it. That's how I got a couple hundred bucks from my product. I also started to submit to different AI directories. That's how I started to gain some traffic and also started to rank on Google without much effort.

My Second Project: Vocalo

After that success, I was super excited. Wow, this simple tool is actually making money! So I launched another project named Vocalo around December, a tool that lets users practice English speaking with AI and get better at it.

I soft-launched it in my country again. People started using it and paid some money, but it wasn't enough. Most people were using it for free. I was happy to do it since it helped me iron out some bugs.

I launched Vocalo on Product Hunt around March this year. It ranked around seventh or eighth of the day, but it didn't get that much publicity. Still, I submitted it to different directories and got some traction from there. For some weird reason, my product went viral on some Russian social media, and I started getting huge traffic from there. After the Product Hunt launch for Vocalo, I made about $1,200. After that, I continued getting users.

The Results

Fast forward to now, it's been more than a year, around 14 months. So far, I've made more than 10k USIf you see the screenshot, it's around $9,382, but I had some revenue outside of Stripe (in bKash). Considering all of that, it's around 10k plus USD.

How I Did It

I'm a developer, and to be honest, I don't know marketing. So here's what I did that made me 10k USD:

1. I shared my journey. When I was building the product, I continuously posted on social media. So people were aware that I was building something.
2. I let people use it for free initially, just so they could give me feedback. That's how I got initial feedback and could improve my bugs.
3. Once the product was a little bit stable, I launched it on Product Hunt. The free users actually supported me during the launch, which helped me get some upvotes.
4. I submitted my products to AI directories. That's how the domain authority got a little bit better, and my product started to rank on Google.

Other than that, I didn't do much, but it was super fun to do. Although it's not too much compared to other makers who make more than 10k USD per month, it was a good thing considering I was doing all of this besides having my full-time job.

Current Status and Future Plans

Currently, I'm roughly at $730 MRR from two products combined. I am now updating both projects and going to launch them on Product Hunt again for the new versions.

That's about it! If you have any questions, please let me know. I'm happy to share more about my experience.