When my life was falling apart and I was trying to fix my relationship with my ex she dictated that we spend 'quality' time together which meant watching horrible reality TV while she was on insta on her phone. 當我的生活一團糟，努力想修復與前任的關係時，她卻規定我們要一起度過「高品質」的時光，也就是在她滑手機 Instagram 的同時，一起看那些爛透了的實境秀。
Out of mind numbing boredom I made a system for SEO spam websites during this time. I would take expiring domain names (so names someone had gone to the trouble to research but been unable to make work) parse out keywords and lookup popularity for them, lookup ad rates for them, and spit out names to buy and make a SEO spam site for (goal was 300 websites making $1 a day or $100k a year), or good names to domain squat. If a domain turned out bunk I threw my link-spam-network software on it to provide linkbacks to my money/new sites. I made around 30k profit a year plus another $5k selling domain names doing this before life fell further apart and it rotted on the vine. I was really tempted to sell it as a package but could never bring myself that low even deep in addiction. Plus Google started cracking down on that trash. 出於無聊到令人麻木的狀態，我在這段時間裡建立了一個 SEO 垃圾網站系統。我會取得即將失效的網域名稱（也就是有人費盡心思研究卻無法運作的域名），解析關鍵字並查詢其熱門程度，再查詢其廣告價格，然後篩選出值得購買來建立 SEO 垃圾網站的域名（目標是 300 個網站，每個網站每天賺 1 美元，每年賺 10 萬美元），或是適合域名炒作的好域名。如果一個域名被證明沒用，我就會在我的連結垃圾郵件網路軟體上運行它，以提供連結回我的賺錢/新網站。在生活進一步崩潰、這一切爛掉之前，我每年大約賺了 3 萬美元的利潤，另外還賣域名賺了 5000 美元。我真的很想把它打包出售，但即使在沉迷的深淵中，我也無法這麼做。加上 Google 開始打擊這種垃圾網站。
I still think the concept of 300 somethings (though please not SEO spam) that make a dollar a day is viable for us here though because we're in the unique position where the creation/maintenance is just a matter of our spare time since we can do the specs/design/coding/administration/maintenance/etc ourselves. It seems like there are still people doing this. Look at new car model forums. Everytime a new car models is released there's a rush to create discussion forums for that model with people hoping Google blesses theirs so they can add it to their portfolio of money maker car model forums. Maybe the secret sauce is forcing yourself to watch reality TV until your mind rebels and says 'fine, grab me the laptop and we'll make mind numbingly boring software products as that is at least better than watching this'. 我仍然認為 300 個左右（但請注意，不是 SEO 垃圾網站）每天賺一美元的概念對我們來說仍然是可行的，因為我們處於一個獨特的位置，創作/維護只是我們閒暇時間的事情，因為我們可以自己完成規格/設計/編碼/管理/維護等等。似乎仍然有人這樣做。看看新車型論壇。每次推出新車型時，都會湧現出一批人急於為該車型建立討論區，希望能得到 Google 的青睞，以便將其添加到他們賺錢的車型論壇組合中。也許秘訣是強迫自己看實境秀，直到你的大腦反抗並說：「好吧，把筆記型電腦拿來，我們來製作一些無聊到令人麻木的軟體產品，至少比看這個好。」
Edit: To clarify this wasn't my income source this was just what I did while being forced to watch 'The Kardashians' for bonding time. 編輯：澄清一下，這不是我的收入來源，這只是我在被迫觀看「卡戴珊家族」的「增進感情」時間裡做的事情。
The world does not need more spam. I do not think watching the Kardashians was punishment enough for you. I wish it was Barney theme in a loop at 100dB 世界不需要更多垃圾郵件。我不認為看卡戴珊家族已經足以懲罰你了。我希望是巴尼主題曲以 100 分貝的音量循環播放。
Yeah I was ashamed to share this anecdote. But decided maybe it can do a little good motivating someone to counter the bad. And I'm pretty sure SEO spam doesn't work anymore so it shouldn't encourage more evil. 是啊，我羞於分享這個軼事。但決定也許它可以做一點好事，激勵一些人來對抗壞事。而且我很確定 SEO 垃圾郵件已經不管用了，所以它不應該鼓勵更多邪惡行為。
I'm glad you shared it. Compared to 2025's crypto scams and influencer nonsense what you did was pretty tame. 我很高興你分享了這個。與 2025 年的加密貨幣騙局和網紅的胡鬧相比，你做的事情相當溫和。
He makes most of the money now from persuading others starting a passive income side gig, for which he coincidentally has a starter pack to sale. While this might be a reliable income, it is in no means a template for other people to start a successful passive income business with a working business idea. 他現在大部分的錢都來自於說服其他人開始兼職被動收入，他恰好有一個入門套裝要賣。雖然這可能是一種可靠的收入，但絕不是其他人用可行的商業理念開始成功被動收入業務的模板。
It's been repeatedly shown that the best alternative source of income is selling to people looking for alternative sources of income. 一再證明，最佳的替代收入來源是向尋找替代收入來源的人銷售產品。
If I cared I would probably start selling material on how to sell material on alternative income... I think that would still be mostly reasonable point of meta. Good thing for world is that I do not care enough. 如果我在乎，我可能會開始銷售關於如何銷售關於替代收入的材料……我認為那仍然是一個相當合理的元級觀點。對世界來說，好在我不在乎。
Business idea: I can sell you a list of people who you can then pay to tell you how to make money on the internet! 商業點子：我可以賣給你一份名單，上面列著你可以付錢請他們教你如何在網路上賺錢的人！
Well, I agree and disagree with this comment. 嗯，我同意也不同意這個評論。
For a minority % for whom Django is the tech-choice, there indeed is a product being offered. 對於少數選擇 Django 作為技術選項的人來說，確實存在著這樣的產品。
But for them, and the majority who might not choose Django, there is enough general-purpose advise in this essay. 但對他們，以及大多數可能不會選擇 Django 的人來說，這篇文章中已經提供了足夠的通用性建議。
Everything is meta. 一切都是元層次的。
Even a shower, a clean shave, and a well-tailored outfit can be classified as marketing / lead-gen / sales. 甚至淋浴、刮鬍子、一套剪裁合身的西裝，都可以被歸類為行銷/潛在客戶開發/銷售。
Cory built and grew SaaSPegasus to success long before the starter kit trend among indie hackers of the last year. Cory 在去年獨立開發者興起「入門套件」趨勢之前很久，就已經打造並發展 SaaSPegasus 到成功了。
Hate to break it to you but this trend of selling people a system to make money where the seller is actually enacting the system they’re selling is older than the internet. 很遺憾地告訴你，這種販售致富系統的趨勢，而賣家實際上也在執行他們所販售的系統，這比網路還要古老。
I can recall online versions in 2012 - that I’m ashamed to say took me for some money - were not just in existence but popular and fashionable the way indie hackers is now. Nothing new. 我記得 2012 年時，網路上就有類似的版本——我不得不說，我當時還被騙了一些錢——它們不僅存在，而且像現在的獨立開發者一樣流行時尚。沒有什麼新鮮事。
It’s not too dissimilar from MLMs, and those are older than the oldest living human, dating at least to the early twentieth century. 這和多層次傳銷很相似，而多層次傳銷比現存最年長的人還要古老，至少可以追溯到二十世紀初期。
> This is what I call meta advice. > 這就是我所謂的元層次建議。
That’s what I call a grift. Your description reminded me of Dan Olson’s fantastic video on that type of strategy—where you make money by selling the idea that anyone can make passive income by doing something the seller doesn’t themselves do (anymore)—using the Mikkelsen Twins as the example. 這就是我所謂的詐騙。你的描述讓我想起 Dan Olson 那部關於這種策略的精彩影片——你透過販售「任何人都可以透過做一些賣家自己不再做（或根本沒做過）的事情來獲得被動收入」的想法來賺錢——以 Mikkelsen 雙胞胎為例。
In Dan’s words (emphasis mine), the Mikkelsen Twins aren’t special, grifters like them are a dime a dozen. He chose them as the example “because they are of a type. They are a representative sample of a category of grift. And also because they’re kind of incompetent and that makes them entertaining”. 用 Dan 的話來說（重點是我的）：Mikkelsen 雙胞胎並不特別，像他們這樣的騙子多如牛毛。他選擇他們作為例子，「因為他們代表一種類型。他們是一個類別詐騙的代表性樣本。而且因為他們有點無能，這讓他們看起來很有趣」。
This is a fair general critique of a category of advice that I try hard not to fall into. It is true that I make a fair share of my income from a starter kit, but I tried quite hard to generalize my advice and only mentioned it in passing once or twice (and the only slide that really pushed it, I acknowledged it was a shameless plug). 這的確是對我努力避免陷入的一類建議的公平且普遍的批評。的確，我的收入有一部分來自入門套件，但我確實很努力讓我的建議更普遍化，只在過程中一兩次提到它（而且唯一真正大力推銷的那張投影片，我也承認那是一次厚顏無恥的宣傳）。
If you read my writing[1], it will be clear that I've been documenting my journey in a probably-too-transparent way long before I had a product that benefited from getting exposure to other developers. This talk is mostly just a distillation of that knowledge, because I have graduated from "idiot figuring it out" to "experienced person who may be able to say something useful for beginners". 如果你讀過我的文章[1]，你就會明白，在我擁有能從曝光於其他開發者中受益的產品之前很久，我就已經以一種可能過於透明的方式記錄我的旅程了。這次演講主要是這些知識的提煉，因為我已經從「摸索的笨蛋」畢業到「或許能對初學者說些有用話的經驗人士」。
Also, for the record, I hate that starter kits became one of the trendy (and sleazy) products in this space, exactly because it generates reactions like this. I wrote about this last month[2], saying "They make the whole industry look bad, and make me feel like a grifter selling Pegasus, even though I have worked my ass off on it for 5+ years and think it’s great. Maybe a corollary to this point is that I kind of don’t like marketing in my industry anymore?" 此外，順帶一提，我討厭入門套件成為這個領域中一種流行（且不入流）的產品，正是因為它會產生這樣的反應。我上個月寫過這件事[2]，說：「它們讓整個產業看起來很糟糕，讓我覺得自己像個騙子一樣在賣飛馬，即使我已經為它努力了五年多，而且認為它很棒。也許這點的推論是，我不太喜歡我這個產業的市場行銷了？」
Again, I think it's a fair general critique and a correct reaction to this type of advice, and also I hope that I didn't really do what you said if you read or watch the contents of the talk. 再說一次，我認為這是一個公平且普遍的批評，也是對此類建議的正確反應，而且我也希望如果你閱讀或觀看演講內容，我會沒有真的做出你說的事情。
Do you have more evidence of this? I'm genuinely curious. I read the whole post, and perhaps I missed it but I didn't see a breakdown of his income streams. 你有更多這方面的證據嗎？我真的很想知道。我讀完了整篇文章，也許我錯過了，但我沒有看到他收入來源的細分。
I say this because, at first blush, I was glad that a bunch of the products he listed that he built seemed generally like real products that I could imagine people finding useful. I say this because it feels like, in contrast, so often in these solopreneur posts they're selling some kind of scammy SEO or ad-spam tool. 我這麼說，是因為乍看之下，我很高興他列出的許多他製作的產品看起來似乎都是真正的產品，我可以想像人們會覺得它們有用。我這麼說，是因為感覺上，在這些個人創業者的文章中，他們經常販售某種騙人的 SEO 或廣告垃圾郵件工具。
So yeah, I'd be bummed if this guy turned out to be the tech equivalent of "Buy my real estate investing course!", and just curious if that's really what this is. 所以，是的，如果這個人結果是科技界的「購買我的房地產投資課程！」，我會很失望，而且只是好奇這是不是真的。
> it is in no means a template for other people to start a successful passive income business with a working business idea. > 它絕不是其他人在有了可行的商業點子後，開始成功被動收入事業的範本。
it is when the working idea is to sell a template for other people to start a successful passive income business 當可行的商業點子是銷售一個範本，讓其他人開始成功的被動收入事業時，它就是了。
First you have to make space in your life for it. You need long blocks of time for deep work. 首先，你必須為此騰出時間。你需要長時間專注於深度工作。
The first idea you pick is unlikely to work, so pick something and start moving. Many of the best products come out of working on something else. 你選擇的第一個想法不太可能奏效，所以選擇一個想法然後開始行動。許多最好的產品都來自於在做其他事情的過程中產生的靈感。
When building, optimize for speed. Try to get something out in the world as quickly as possible and iterate from there. 開發時，要以速度為優化目標。盡快將產品推向市場，然後再從中迭代改進。
Pick a tech stack you're familiar with, that you'll be fastest in. 選擇你熟悉的、速度最快的技術堆疊。
Try to spend half your time on marketing/sales, even if you hate it. 即使你討厭，也要盡量將一半的時間用於行銷/銷售。
The most important skill you can have is resiliance. Not giving up is the best path to success. This is hard because there is so much uncertainty in this career path. 你能擁有的最重要技能是韌性。永不放棄是通往成功的最佳途徑。這很難，因為這條職業道路充滿了不確定性。
It's worth it! The autonomy and freedom are unmatched by any other career. 真的值得！這種自主和自由是其他任何職業都無法比擬的。
This is not really passive income. What he's describing is running your own one-person business. That's about as far from passive as you can get. 這根本就不是被動收入。他描述的是經營你自己的獨資企業。這和你想像的被動收入差得可遠了。
Actual passive income is living off the returns and royalties from assets, doing nothing but managing those assets (or maybe not even doing that). 真正的被動收入是靠資產的回報和版稅生活，除了管理這些資產（或者甚至根本不用管理）什麼都不用做。
OK, but TFA is about the work part, not the passive part, despite the title. Even having a “portfolio of revenue generating products” will require work to maintain. Maybe full time or more so, depending on if you used log4j or an SSL cert from a provider that screwed things up, say. Or built on a fickle platform like reddit, twitter or Apple that changes the fundamental rules every so often. Just because you don’t have a boss that will fire you for not waking up for on call during an outage, doesn’t mean that outages won’t happen or need to be fixed. 好吧，但 TFA（譯註：推測為文章中提到的某個概念）講的是努力工作的那部分，而不是被動收入的部分，儘管標題如此。即使擁有「能產生收入的產品組合」，也需要努力維護。也許是全職工作，甚至更多，這取決於你是否使用了 log4j，或是從出了問題的供應商那裡購買了 SSL 憑證。或者建立在像 Reddit、Twitter 或 Apple 這樣反复無常的平台上，這些平台經常會改變基本規則。只是你沒有老闆會因為你在停機期間沒有起床值班而解僱你，並不意味著停機不會發生或不需要修復。
It reminds me of people that consider buying a second home and rent out the old one to gain “passive income”, not realizing how much work it can be to be a good landlord. 這讓我想起一些人認為購買第二套房並出租舊房可以獲得「被動收入」，卻沒有意識到當個好房東需要多少工作。
Good summary. I've landed on all of the above with my own projects, from a mix of experience, reading, and reason. Hardest for me has been making time between family, work, and other activities that are important for me. 摘要得很精闢。透過自身的經驗、閱讀和理性思考，我在自己的專案中也體會到以上所有方面。最難的是在我需要兼顧家庭、工作和其他重要活動之間取得平衡。
Unlike when I was younger I can't just stay up coding until 3AM anymore. In fact I find myself without the mental energy after work that I want to put into my projects, so evenings are out completely for me. 和年輕時不同，我不能再熬夜寫程式到凌晨三點了。事實上，我發現下班後我已經沒有精力投入我的專案了，所以晚上完全不行。
So instead I wake up at 5AM and put myself into it before work. It was a big adjustment, but all I needed to do while acclimating to that schedule was ask myself each morning which I wanted more: warm blankets or a successful project? Now it's a pretty energizing way to start the day. 所以我改成早上五點起床，在上班前投入工作。這是一個很大的調整，但在適應這個時間表的過程中，我每天早上只需要問自己想要什麼：溫暖的被窩還是成功的專案？現在，這成了一種相當令人振奮的開始一天的方式。
> but all I needed to do while acclimating to that schedule was ask myself each morning which I wanted more: warm blankets or a successful project? > 但在適應這個時間表的過程中，我每天早上只需要問自己想要什麼：溫暖的被窩還是成功的專案？
I choose warm blankets lying next to my warm wife where my heat and shelter is paid by exchanging my labor for money 40 hours a week, paid time off, paid health care, etc 我選擇依偎在我溫暖的妻子身邊，享受溫暖的被窩，我的溫暖和住所是由我每周用 40 小時的勞力換取金錢來支付的，還有帶薪休假、健保等等。
In other words, it’s the exact same bland, generic, worthless advice parroted by every grifter selling you the dream of financial independence via passive income. 換句話說，這正是每個兜售透過被動收入實現財務獨立夢想騙子所鸚鵡學舌般重複的平淡、通用、毫無價值的建議。
And if you fail, it’s your own fault, you just didn’t want it enough, you didn’t do the necessary sacrifices. 如果你失敗了，那是你自己的錯，你只是不夠想要，沒有做出必要的犧牲。
The advice (in the post you're replying to) isn't bad. But you can do it all, and still not have lightning strike. （你回覆的那篇貼文中的）建議並不好。但你可以做到所有事情，仍然可能不會有意外之財。
> The advice (in the post you're replying to) isn't bad. > （你回覆的那篇貼文中的）建議並不好。
I didn’t call it bad, I called it bland, generic, and worthless. Like telling people they should eat healthily and exercise. It’s not wrong or bad, but it’s also not something you haven’t heard hundreds of times before and doesn’t really help you much. 我並沒有說它不好，我說它平淡、通用且毫無價值。就像告訴人們應該健康飲食和運動一樣。這並不錯誤或不好，但它也不是你之前沒聽過幾百遍的東西，而且對你幫助不大。
I certainly do not think is good. I won’t say I’ve seen destroyed lives because of it, but pretty much miserable in comparison to what it had been if not followed the advice. It is just bot for anyone, and just too often fails. 我肯定認為這不好。我不敢說我見過因此而毀掉的人生，但與其沒有遵循這些建議相比，他們的生活大多相當悲慘。這對任何人都沒有幫助，而且失敗的案例太多了。
> Can we agree that it is, at core, gambling? Like spending all your disposable income on lottery tickets? > 我們是不是可以同意，這本質上就是一場賭博？就像把所有可支配收入都花在彩券上一樣？
Yes. Can we also agree that advising people to spend all of their disposable income on gambling is bad advice to make money? I think you’re agreeing with the post you replied to. 是的。我們是不是也可以同意，建議人們把所有可支配收入都花在賭博上，是賺錢的糟糕建議？我想你同意你回覆的那篇文章的觀點。
> And I've seen people succeed (admittedly by spending every spare minute devoting themselves to the pursuit of money). > 我也見過有些人成功了（誠然，他們是花盡所有空閒時間，全力追求金錢）。
If anyone has trouble focusing on personal projects at home, I've found Focusmate (www.focusmate.com) to be very handy. You hop on a scheduled google-meets style video call with someone random, and then just work. You talk very briefly at the beginning to tell each other what you're working on and then you both mute yourselves for 25 - 75 minutes. 如果有人在家裡難以專注於個人專案，我發現 Focusmate (www.focusmate.com) 非常方便。你會與一位隨機的陌生人進行預約的 Google Meet 類型視訊通話，然後一起工作。你們在開始時會簡短地說明彼此正在做什麼，然後在 25 到 75 分鐘內互相靜音。
It's weird, I've found it really ticks my brain into productivity mode. 很奇怪，我發現它真的能讓我進入高效的工作狀態。
Do pomodoro timers have the same effect for you? I assume it's the pressure of giving yourself fixed amounts of time and the knowledge of the fact that a break is coming up (so that you don't take one unintentionally) that really drives the productivity. 番茄工作法對你來說有同樣的效果嗎？我認為是給自己設定固定的時間，以及知道休息時間即將到來（這樣你就不會無意中休息）的壓力，才能真正提高生產力。
I've never been able to sitck with pomodoros to the same degree, because ultimately there's no cost or shame to pausing or ignoring a self imposed timer 我從來沒辦法像這樣堅持番茄工作法，因為最終來說，暫停或忽略自己設定的計時器沒有任何代價或羞愧感。
There is a slight something to ignoring it when there's a person on the other side, even if it is a perfect stranger that I will never see again 但如果另一端有個人，即使是永遠不會再見面的陌生人，忽略計時器還是會有一點點負罪感。
Using your coding skills:
1) make hello-world-ish portfolio
2) sell courses how to make money using coding skills
3) PROFIT 運用你的程式設計技能：1) 製作一個類似「Hello World」的個人作品集 2) 販售關於如何運用程式設計技能賺錢的課程 3) 獲利
Good timing with this submission as I started selling commercial use software licenses using a subscription model this year (Jan 2025) and I'm amazed that 6 people have already signed up and paid for a license. 這個貼文發布的時間點真好，因為我從今年（2025 年 1 月）開始銷售商業用途軟體授權，採用訂閱模式，我很驚訝已經有 6 個人註冊並付費購買授權了。
The text-based tech internet has become incredibly hostile to people sharing their work over the past decade, so a few years ago I decided to try and engage people through YouTube instead and I think this has been a decision that has really paid off. For people interested in pursuing something like this I'd definitely recommend trying out video format communication over blog posts and articles if the latter aren't doing well for you. 在過去十年裡，基於文字的科技網路對分享作品的人變得非常不友善，所以幾年前我決定嘗試透過 YouTube 與人們互動，我認為這個決定真的非常值得。對於有興趣追求類似目標的人，如果部落格文章和報導效果不佳，我絕對建議嘗試使用影片格式的溝通方式。
I have done a lot of "building in public" on YouTube over the past few years and have built up a really solid product that people have been actively asking me to release a commercial license for so that they can use it at work. I feel pretty good about things right now! 在過去幾年裡，我在 YouTube 上做了很多「公開開發」的工作，並且建立了一個非常紮實的產品，人們一直積極要求我發布商業授權，以便他們可以在工作中使用它。我現在感覺非常好！
One part of me is itching to do it. Another part of me can't let it go that I can't beat leetcode interviews. I'm quite close, I think I can do it. 我的一部分很想這麼做。但另一部分又放不下我無法通過 LeetCode 面試這件事。我已經很接近了，我想我可以做到。
I guess it's an ego thing. But not fully though is it? Earning a couple of years of FAANG money opens one up to then just travel the world. I'm from the EU but will make the switch to the US in about a year from now (marriage). So from that perspective, I just don't know if it's strategic. When you have $300K in the bank and you just go to SE asia, you also have "no schedule" etc. 我想這是一種自我感覺良好的心態。但也不完全是吧？賺個幾年的 FAANG 公司薪水，就能讓你周遊世界。我來自歐盟，但一年後會搬到美國（結婚）。所以從這個角度來看，我不確定這是不是一個策略性的選擇。當你有 30 萬美元存款，然後去東南亞旅行時，你也可以「沒有行程安排」等等。
That should be doable with FAANG. I do feel this path delivers more impact though as life becomes a bit more like a game and you're creating your own quests. You're solving things that you are quick enough at to solve but also things that you find important or just simply fun. 透過 FAANG 公司的工作應該可以做到這點。但我確實覺得這條路能帶來更多影響力，因為生活變得更像一場遊戲，你正在創造你自己的任務。你解決你夠快就能解決的事情，同時也是你認為重要或只是單純有趣的事情。
Man, I'm torn. Both take quite a bit of a time investment. I'm not sure how I can monetize a "leetcode with me" type of thing. If there was still a market for that, I might do that to start both things off at the same time. Maybe I should just become a Twitch streamer :') But I don't think that'd pay off. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. 天啊，我猶豫了。兩者都需要相當多的時間投入。我不確定我該如何將「LeetCode 與我一起」這類型的內容變現。如果市場上還有這種需求，我可能會同時開始做這兩件事。也許我應該直接成為 Twitch 直播主 :') 但我不認為這會有效。我想試試看也無妨。
I could see justifying a trip like that on a cost-of-living basis. If you go to a place like Thailand, you are going to be spending pennies on the dollar vs. the EU, even after paying incredible amounts (in local currency) for first-world conveniences like clean drinking water and internet. So in that sense if you are going to be coding and living life online, you might as well live someplace cheap IRL. But that's different from a tourist crawl where you are just spending money like water, which maybe was more your idea. 從生活成本的角度來看，我認為這樣一趟旅行是合理的。如果你去泰國之類的地方，花費將遠低於歐盟，即使你花費巨額（以當地貨幣計算）購買像乾淨飲用水和網路等第一世界便利設施。所以，如果你打算線上編程和生活，你最好選擇一個生活成本低廉的地方。但這和純粹觀光，到處揮霍金錢的旅遊方式不同，也許你一開始的想法比較偏向後者。
I think the question provided the answer. The market is being flooded with ex-FAANG developers and it is no longer a job seeker's market. In today's environment it is a LOT harder to get hired by anyone, let alone a FAANG company. I know really good people who have been out of a job for +6 months now. 我想問題本身就提供了答案。市場上充斥著前 FAANG 工程師，現在不再是求職者的市場了。在目前的環境下，找到任何工作都非常困難，更別說是 FAANG 公司了。我認識一些非常優秀的人，失業已經超過 6 個月了。
Based on past history, now is not the time to shoot for the stars, but to start consolidating your base and preparing for the next upturn. 根據以往的經驗，現在不是追求遠大目標的時候，而是應該鞏固基礎，為下一次的上升做好準備。
Prepare how? I fled to be a data analyst. For multiple reasons. One: the job interview was a cake walk (for me at least). I was unprepared and I aced it despite not really knowing what a data analyst was. It helps that I have a fairly good statistics background from back in the day. I'm also better paid since they don't pay software engineers that well in the Netherlands, so data analyst salaries seem more competitive locally. 怎麼準備？我轉行做了數據分析師。原因有很多。其一：面試非常輕鬆（至少對我來說）。我當時準備不足，但即使不太了解數據分析師的工作內容，也順利通過了面試。我過去有相當紮實的統計學背景，這對我很有幫助。而且我的薪水也提高了，因為荷蘭的軟體工程師薪水不算高，所以數據分析師的薪水在當地更有競爭力。
But yea, I'd be curious what you specifically mean by it. 不過，我很想知道你具體指的是什麼。
This is what I want to do ultimately, but I'm at a sort of crossroads. I have a good job, a consulting side gig, a good family, and 0 hours for my own ambitions. Several years ago I made about 20k on a solo project, so I know I'm capable. I just need to be able to focus on my dream instead of someone else's. Lately I've landed on 'it will happen when it needs to', but I also worry that I'm plateaued and will wish I'd risked it earlier. 這是我最終想做的事，但我現在有點處於十字路口。我有一份不錯的工作、一份兼職顧問工作、美滿的家庭，但沒有時間追求自己的理想。幾年前，我靠一個個人項目賺了約 2 萬美元，所以我明白自己有能力做到。我只需要專注於自己的夢想，而不是別人的夢想。最近我總覺得「該發生時就會發生」，但也擔心自己已經停滯不前，以後會後悔沒有早點冒險。
Good post! I think the gradual transition you were able to do from salary -> consulting -> software products is very important and not the norm (mainly being able to keep part of your salary while doing some consulting on the side). The only people I've seen able to do that are VPs or C-suite. 好文！我認為你從薪資工作逐步過渡到顧問工作再到軟體產品的過程非常重要，而且並非普遍現象（主要是能夠在做兼職顧問的同時保留部分薪水）。我見過能夠這樣做的，都是副總裁或高階主管。
I'm below those rungs. So I'm quitting my job to go "all in" on the consulting. (But I've been prepping and will make sure things line up so I can hit the ground running.) 我還沒有達到那個層級。所以我辭掉了工作，全力投入顧問工作。（但我已經做好準備，會確保一切安排妥當，以便能夠立即上手。）
All of this is to say, I think that transition either during or after salary work is the super important part that I see everyone gloss over. 總之，我認為在薪資工作期間或之後的這種過渡非常重要，但很多人往往忽略了這一點。
My goal is to make a fraction of my salary with consulting for the first couple years, focus just on that, and eventually shift my focus to software products. 我的目標是在最初幾年通過顧問工作賺取一部分薪水，專注於此，並最終將重點轉向軟體產品。
With consulting, you're responsible for finding and securing all your opportunities. 做顧問，你必須自己尋找並爭取所有機會。
With work, they're fed to you (at volume!). 上班，機會會源源不斷地送上門來（而且很多！）。
Don't underestimate the opportunity cost of any decision. Right now with such broad tech+business awareness, being at the right place at the right time is pretty much your only differentiator. 不要低估任何決定的機會成本。現在，在科技和商業方面擁有廣泛的認知，能夠在對的時間出現在對的地方，幾乎是你唯一的差異化因素。
So perhaps consulting will lead organically to the best opportunity, but often opportunity is gated by access to a good team, reasonable infrastructure, and most importantly good customers with leading-edge problems. 也許顧問工作能自然而然地帶來最佳機會，但機會往往受限於優秀團隊、完善的基礎建設，以及最重要的是，擁有尖端問題的優質客戶。
How is “spending my free time coding after I get off work instead of spending time exercising, spending time with friends and family, traveling, hobbies, etc”, “passive income”? 「下班後把空閒時間拿來寫程式，而不是運動、與朋友家人相處、旅遊、培養興趣等等」，這怎麼算是「被動收入」？
If you read the post, that's explicitly a path I acknowledge I couldn't personally do, and I recommend instead creating time by doing things like going down to 80% time in your day job, or finding lucrative contract work. 如果你仔細閱讀文章，那裡明確提到這條路我個人走不通，我建議改為透過例如將全職工作時間縮減至八成，或尋找高報酬的承攬工作來創造時間。
And the vast majority of jobs are not going to let you go down to 80% time and if you are just a commodity “coder”, you aren’t going to find lucrative staff augmentation contracts. 而絕大多數的工作都不會讓你減少到八成工時，如果你只是個普通的「程式設計師」，你也不會找到高報酬的員工增補合約。
It’s been awhile since I had a job where I was responsible for hiring staff augmentation “consultants”. But the hourly rate that they got was shit. 我已經很久沒有負責聘請員工增補「顧問」的工作了。但他們得到的時薪少的可憐。
On the other hand, if you have the background, skillset, network, etc to be a highly paid strategic consultant who knows how to talk to the “business” and bring in a specialized skillset, you don’t need side income to have the freedom that you want. You can charge a high enough hourly rate that you can already basically set your own schedule. 另一方面，如果你擁有背景、技能、人脈等等，可以成為高薪的策略顧問，懂得如何與「業務」溝通並帶來專業技能，你就不需要額外的收入就能獲得你想要的生活自由。你可以開出夠高的時薪，基本上就能自己安排時間。
I fall into the latter category. But I choose to work full time for consulting companies because they take care of all of the headaches. 我屬於後者。但我選擇為顧問公司全職工作，因為他們會處理所有令人頭痛的事情。
Knowing how to code can have very useful local applications, which reduces your competition. Of course it may not immediately scale in the same way but leveraging connections and local know how is an angle that tends to go under-explored at least in the online narrative, is my observation. 懂得寫程式可以有非常實用的在地應用，這降低了你的競爭力。當然，它可能不會立即像其他方式一樣快速擴展，但善用人脈和在地知識是一個往往被忽略的角度，至少在我觀察的網路敘事中是如此。
I will try to dig up some concrete numbers but for vast majority of people they make more money lifetime from working and saving some of that money and then investing that. So IMO for people in software the correct way for passive income is earning a lot actively working so you can have passive income from investments portfolio 我會試著找出一些具體的數據，但對大多數人來說，他們從工作和儲蓄，然後投資中獲得的終身收入更多。所以在我看來，對軟體從業人員來說，被動收入的正確方式是積極工作賺取大量收入，這樣你才能從投資組合中獲得被動收入。
Looking at your portfolio, one could argue that to succeed you need to try a lot of different projects some of which you maybe have no personal interest in. 觀察你的作品集，有人可能會認為，要成功就需要嘗試許多不同的專案，其中一些你可能沒有個人興趣。
I think some people would not be comfortable with this and rather take a steady paycheck from Big Corp while working on 1-2 darling projects at home. 我想有些人不會這麼做，寧願從大公司領取穩定的薪水，同時在家裡從事一到兩個自己喜歡的專案。
...maybe? Although that doesn't quite ring true. Every project (even the dumb wedding cards one) arose from some need in my life that turned into a desire to make something exist in the world. ……也許吧？雖然這不太符合實際情況。每個專案（甚至是那些傻氣的婚禮卡片專案）都源於我生活中的一些需求，進而產生了想要創造某些東西的渴望。
That said, I totally agree that some people would rather keep the steady paycheck. The career is a large up-front investment with a variable outcome. But, it's not as hard as it can be made out to be, and the payoff, if successful, is immense. 儘管如此，我完全同意有些人寧願保持穩定的薪水。這項事業是一項前期投入很大的、結果變數很大的投資。但是，它並不像想像中那麼困難，而且如果成功，回報將是巨大的。
It kind of mirrors my observations in what makes a successful individual in the world of ecommerce, you gotta have the capital to start like ten ideas at once then you whittle out which one don't profit more than 10k a month and come up with new ones to fill the place. 這有點像我觀察到的電商領域成功的個人特質，你必須有資本同時啟動十個點子，然後淘汰掉每月利潤不到一萬美元的點子，並想出新的點子來填補空缺。
Shit sounds like tedium or uncomfortable or whatever to some, but I know multiple millionaires on this tip. 對某些人來說，這聽起來像是枯燥乏味或不舒服等等，但我認識好幾個靠這個方法成為百萬富翁的人。
Cool article. I feel like a lot of these 'passive income' things though are just 'X purchaces diffused over time until the market niche is saturated'; hence the need to keep making new sites/products 很棒的文章。但我覺得很多這種「被動收入」的東西，其實只是「X 購買分散在一段時間內，直到市場區隔飽和」；因此需要不斷製作新的網站/產品。
I’ve been wanting to do this for years but I’m still trying to figure out how to get started. 我好幾年都想這麼做，但我還在努力尋找如何開始。
My skills are more in algorithm development (statistical signal processing, machine learning) and electronics than web coding though, so it’s probably not as easy as just making a simple website that does something slightly useful. 我的技能比較偏向演算法開發（統計訊號處理、機器學習）和電子學，而不是網頁編程，所以可能不像建立一個簡單的、略微有用的網站那麼容易。
I'm in the same boat, but my domain is embedded programming. 我也是一樣的情況，但我的領域是嵌入式程式設計。
I recently ran across advice here to just copy an existing successful idea and compete on e.g., price, rather than wasting time trying to come up with something novel / innovative. The argument is that if the idea is successful, then most of the market legwork has been done for you already. 我最近看到這裡的建議是，只需複製現有的成功案例，例如在價格上競爭，而不是浪費時間嘗試創造一些新穎/創新的東西。理由是，如果這個點子成功，那麼大部分的市場調查工作已經為你完成了。
I'm considering entertaining it. I last seriously did WWW-related work in 2001 or so, but Python with FastAPI + HTMX + Bulma CSS looks easy enough to spin-up on and maps pretty well to my now-ancient understanding of the web. 我正在考慮嘗試看看。我上次認真做與 WWW 相關的工作大概是在 2001 年左右，但 Python 搭配 FastAPI + HTMX + Bulma CSS 看起來很容易上手，而且與我現在已經有點過時的網路知識相當契合。
Unless you are trying to develop something ground breaking, web isn't terribly difficult if you have programming experience. Yes, there will be some new things to grasp. However, tooling is pretty great today and if you pick up a known framework most problems are already solved. You will just fit the pipes together to do what you want. 除非你想開發一些突破性的東西，否則如果你有程式設計經驗，網頁開發並不會非常困難。是的，有些新東西需要學習。然而，現在的工具非常棒，如果你選擇一個知名的框架，大多數問題都已經解決了。你只需要把這些元件組合起來，就能完成你想要做的事情。
Dimagi became successful?!? Awesome! I also worked there as a third person, though I don't think overlapping with you. :) Dimagi 成功了？！太棒了！我也曾在裡面待過，不過我想應該沒跟您重疊到。:)
Congrats on living the dream, I tried, failed at that 5 years ago ("maybe i can just sell my coding directly...") though I probably gave up too quickly. 恭喜你實現夢想，我五年前也嘗試過，但失敗了（「也許我可以直接賣我的程式碼……」），不過我可能放棄得太快了。
Hahaha, what?! Are you the one that went to Burning Man without telling anyone and then re-appeared online a couple weeks later wondering whether you still had your job? Because, if so, that story definitely made the rounds... 哈哈哈，什麼？！你是那個沒跟任何人說就去參加火人節，然後幾週後又突然在網路上出現，還想知道自己工作還在不在的那個人嗎？因為如果真是這樣的話，這個故事可是傳遍了……
I still want to do this 9 years later I still haven't made something. Still working for someone else. Going to get out of debt first then work on it again, I want to be able to sleep/wake whenever. 9 年後我還是想做這個，但我還是什麼都沒做出來。還在為別人工作。打算先還清債務，然後再繼續努力，我想能夠想睡就睡、想醒就醒。
I wonder how LLMs will impact this industry. 我很好奇大型語言模型 (LLM) 會如何影響這個產業。
10 years ago, when I was chasing this - I'd look for proven business models. Find some small startup / company that sells some software or service, try to figure out what they did and how they did it, then spend time getting into the domain, tech, and what have you. It was a lot of work, and took time. 十年前，當我還在追求這個目標時，我會尋找已被驗證的商業模式。找到一些銷售軟體或服務的小型新創公司／企業，試圖弄清楚他們做了什麼以及如何做到，然後花時間深入了解這個領域、技術等等。這需要很多工作，也需要時間。
If I do it now, I have the luxury of simply asking my LLM of choice to give me a run-down, and what I need to do. Hell, I've even experimented and gotten a LLM to dish up a working MVP in a single day, which I can iterate on. 如果我現在做，我可以輕鬆地請我選擇的大型語言模型 (LLM) 給我一個簡報，以及我需要做什麼。老實說，我甚至已經嘗試過，讓大型語言模型 (LLM) 在一天內製作出可運作的最小可行產品 (MVP)，我可以再繼續迭代改進。
You find existing solutions to a problem, and copy it. That's it. 你找到現有的解決方案，然後複製它。就這樣。
People spend time chasing novel problems, or coming up with solutions that are looking for problems - when in reality the vast majority of business and entrepreneurship comes down to looking for tested/validated business problems, looking at the existing solutions, and finding ways to enter that market, and win/siphon customers. 人們花時間追逐新穎的問題，或者想出一些找不到問題的解決方案——而實際上，絕大多數的商業和創業都歸結於尋找經過測試／驗證的商業問題，觀察現有的解決方案，並找到進入該市場並贏得／吸納客戶的方法。
Reading this, it feels much more like "using coding skills to make income". It's a great description of one person's journey, but "work hard for a decade, continue to work at a healthy lighter pace after" isn't really passive income in my mind. 讀完這篇文章，感覺更像是「利用編程技能賺錢」。這是一個很好的個人經歷描述，但是「努力工作十年，之後繼續以更輕鬆的步調工作」在我看來並不是真正的被動收入。
And I'm not sure it beats, e.g., work hard and save hard at tech company for a decade, then use the invested surplus as passive income to work lightly thereafter. At least, not in the general case. 我也不確定它是否比得上，例如，在科技公司努力工作並努力儲蓄十年，然後使用投資盈餘作為被動收入，之後輕鬆工作。至少，在一般情況下並非如此。
> work hard and save hard at tech company for a decade, then use the invested surplus as passive income to work lightly thereafter > 努力工作並努力儲蓄十年，然後使用投資盈餘作為被動收入，之後輕鬆工作
I used an LLM to help me do the math but it appears you would have to make $1.5 million/year at "tech company" if you were to save 20% of your income and have $4 million saved after 10 years. That $4mm saved would allow you to appreciate to $5mm to retire on after 20 years while simultaneously withdrawing $150,000/year in passive income to live on. 我用大型語言模型 (LLM) 幫忙計算了一下，看起來如果你想在十年後存到 400 萬美元，每年得在「科技公司」賺 150 萬美元，並儲蓄 20% 的收入。這 400 萬美元的存款，在 20 年後可以增值到 500 萬美元，作為退休金，同時每年提取 15 萬美元的被動收入來維持生活。
Of course you can adjust this based on how aggressively you save, how much you need to withdraw each year, and how much runway you have until retirement and how much retirement you need to be comfortable. 當然，你可以根據儲蓄的積極程度、每年需要提取的金額、退休前還有多久以及退休後需要多少錢來調整這些數字。
Regardless, what you're suggesting is available only to the privileged few who can get extremely high-paying jobs early in their careers and hold onto them while having low enough expenses and high enough discipline to save aggressively. 不管怎麼說，你提出的方法只適用於少數特權人士，他們能在職涯早期就獲得高薪工作，並一直保持下去，同時又能控制支出，並有很高的紀律性來積極儲蓄。
OP's approach is a very doable path for folks who aren't so fortunate and/or young, but can code, have some life experience, and don't want to go get another job. 原發文作者的方法對那些沒那麼幸運或年輕，但會寫程式、有些人生經驗，而且不想再找工作的族群來說，是很可行的路徑。
How do you spend 80% of a 1.5 million (lets say 800,000 post-tax) salary each year? That'd be an incredibly lavish lifestyle. If you cut your spending down to a cool $200,000/year then you could retire in 5 years and have $150,000/year for the rest of your life. 你要如何每年花掉 150 萬美元的 80%（假設稅後 80 萬美元）？那將會是一種非常奢華的生活方式。如果你把支出減少到每年 20 萬美元，那麼你可以在五年內退休，並在餘生每年獲得 15 萬美元的收入。
Let's run a different scenario: your post-tax income is $200k and you save half of that. In 11 years, you can retire and get $100k per year at a 4% withdrawal rate. 讓我們來看看另一個情境：你的稅後收入是 20 萬美元，你儲蓄其中的一半。11 年後，你可以退休，以 4% 的提領率每年獲得 10 萬美元。
People in either of these scenarios are obviously privileged, but the latter isn't unrealistic for a single FAANG dev. 這兩種情境中的人顯然都比較幸運，但後者對單身的 FAANG 工程師來說並非不切實際。
engaging-data.com has cool fire calculators. Highly recommend checking them out engaging-data.com 有一些很酷的財務計算器，強烈建議你去看看。
Throw the following at your LLM's passive income calculation: 將以下資訊輸入你的大型語言模型的被動收入計算器：
- income: tech sector salary median - 收入：科技業薪資中位數
- spending: median spending + 25% - 支出：中位數支出 + 25%
- passive income target: median net income - 被動收入目標：中位數淨收入
Now add some indie project income as a topping. 現在再加入一些個人專案的收入作為額外收入。
If you're not very close to passive income after ten years, you're doing it wrong. If you're not financially responsible for lots of people, that is. 如果你十年後離被動收入還很遠，那就代表你的方法錯了，除非你沒有需要負擔很多人的經濟責任。
Your choice of numbers is very odd - even though you mention that you can adjust them for your own circumstances, the starting point is unrealistic. 你選擇的數字非常奇怪——即使你提到可以根據自己的情況調整，但起點並不現實。
- Very few people earn $1.5M/year - 很少有人年收入達 150 萬美元
- Saving 20% implies that you're spending ~$1M/year while working, so $150k/year in retirement would not be appealing - 儲蓄 20% 表示你在工作期間每年支出約 100 萬美元，因此退休後每年 15 萬美元的收入不會很有吸引力
Did the LLM pick the numbers for you? 是大型語言模型幫你選的數字嗎？
Whoosh. You missed the point completely. 哎呀，你完全沒抓住重點。
Of course very few people earn $1.5M/year. That's my point -- the poster I was replying to was naively thinking they could just work hard for a tech company and save for 10 years and then live off the passive income of the saved investment, which is silly. 當然，很少有人年收入達 150 萬美元。這就是我的重點——我回覆的那位發文者天真地認為，他們只要努力在科技公司工作，存個十年，就能靠儲蓄投資的被動收入生活，這很荒謬。
The rest of the numbers were conservative figures I chose. $5mm to retire, 20% saved while working, $150k/year passive income. The whole point is that what he's describing is pretty unrealistic. 其餘的數字都是我保守估計的。退休金 500 萬美元，工作期間儲蓄 20%，每年被動收入 15 萬美元。重點是，他所描述的情況相當不切實際。
You’re both utterly thoughtless since you’d consider withdrawing money rather than taking taking relatively low interest loans out against that equity, leaving the bulk of your millions to appreciate longer 你們倆都太沒考慮周全了，竟然考慮提款而不是向這筆資產抵押貸款，利率相對較低，讓你們數百萬的資產增值更久。
I mean, you’d be terrorizing the economy, but that’s also what you do when you eat food grown and prepared by people with inadequate labor protections, so why not take the red pill and double down on being a true slave-supported neo-Athenian? 我的意思是，你們會讓經濟陷入恐慌，但這也是你們在食用由勞動保障不足的人們種植和烹製的食物時所做的事情，所以為什麼不服用紅色藥丸，加倍成為一個真正的奴隸支持的新雅典人呢？
Interactive Brokers (one of the best) has margin rates that are 5.17-5.83% at the moment depending on the size of the loan. Whether or not you want to pay rates like that and be potentially leveraged in the market, is a personal question. Not sure what any of this has to do with terrorizing the economy though ... Interactive Brokers（最佳券商之一）目前的保證金利率為 5.17%到 5.83%，取決於貸款規模。你是否願意支付這樣的利率，並可能在市場上使用槓桿，這是一個個人問題。我不確定這與讓經濟陷入恐慌有什麼關係……
But is this really still possible in todays world? 但這在當今世界真的還可能嗎？
Isn't there competition from the thousands of software devs laid off in last couple years. They can all make apps. 難道不會有幾年前被裁員的數千名軟體開發人員的競爭嗎？他們都能開發應用程式。
Just like the Flappy Bird guy. Sure, it was big hit, but so easy to have a hundred knock offs within a week. 就跟 Flappy Bird 的開發者一樣。當然，它是一款大熱門遊戲，但在一週內很容易出現上百款山寨版。
The thousands of software devs that got laid off aren't starting businesses. 被裁員的數千名軟體開發人員並沒有創業。
They're also not a cross-domain expert at the same things you are. You might be in the top N coders in a niche, and you might be the only one with the motivation to work on the problem. 他們也不是和你一樣的跨領域專家。你可能是某個利基領域排名前 N 名的程式設計師，而且你可能是唯一一個有動力解決這個問題的人。
You also might just do it better than them. 你也可能做得比他們更好。
And last, you might just split the pie with them. Really, it's okay to have many apps doing the same thing with different approaches. 最後，你也可以和他們一起瓜分這塊大餅。說真的，有很多應用程式做同樣的事情，採用不同的方法，這很正常。
Part of the goal might be to stay under the radar. 目標之一可能是保持低調。
In a pre-app world, I wrote some blogs with ads. 在應用程式時代之前，我寫了一些帶廣告的部落格文章。
Some of my favourite ones were dumb but fairly evergreen articles where I had domain knowledge like “best directions to the dmv offices in $mytown”. (Pro-tip: it’s upstairs at the XYZ shopping mall, but if you park by the pizza place, you’ll be at the doors that take you straight there) 我最喜歡的一些文章雖然很蠢，但卻是相當長青的文章，而且我有相關的領域知識，例如「$我的城市監理站最佳路線」。（專業提示：它在 XYZ 購物中心樓上，但如果你把車停在披薩店附近，你就會到達直接通往那裡的門）
Reliable and consistent income. 穩定可靠的收入。
Not a ton, but more like a bond than a stock. 不多，但更像是債券而非股票。
I think it's simply survivorship bias. Thousands of people try this and fail. And occasionally you read an article like this, which is like the one in a million who managed to get lucky with their ideas and manage to make it a success. And I think they underestimate how much luck they had. 我認為這純粹是倖存者偏差。成千上萬的人嘗試過這種方法卻失敗了。而你偶爾會讀到這樣的文章，就像百萬分之一的人幸運地想到了點子，並成功地將其變為成功案例。而且我認為他們低估了他們的幸運程度。
Luck is a huge factor for sure but I also think it's not as hard as you're making it out to be if you set yourself up for success. 運氣當然是很大的因素，但我認為，如果你做好準備，事情其實沒有你想像中那麼困難。
I have four products that make money, built over the course of seven years. None of them really benefit from each other. If it was pure luck and 1/1,000 chance of success I don't think my current portfolio would be possible. (I also have a lot of failures, so I agree there's luck and risk, just not as strong as you're making it out to be) 我有四個賺錢的產品，花了七年時間才打造出來。它們彼此之間並沒有什麼真正的關聯。如果純粹是靠運氣，成功機率只有千分之一，我不認為我目前的產品組合是可能的。（我也有很多失敗的例子，所以我同意運氣和風險確實存在，只是沒有你想像中那麼大）
The world would require an x-th number of skilled developers existing for problems that could be solved by digital services. Ask in any forum about any niche/hobby/expert field and they tell you dozens of things they would gladly pay for but doesn't exist. 世界需要一定數量（x 個）的技術開發人員來解決數位服務可以解決的問題。在任何論壇上詢問任何利基市場/愛好/專業領域，他們都會告訴你很多他們願意付錢購買但卻不存在的東西。
It's one thing to be a good dev/coder, but another level entierly to be a one man team delivering a product. 作為一個優秀的開發者/程式設計師是一回事，但要能獨自一人完成產品交付則是完全不同的層次。
Building a business is more than just building the app. And everything can be duplicated for cheap, especially with gen-ai. But small-businesses will transform, continue and dare-I-say thrive. 創立事業不僅僅是開發應用程式而已。而且所有東西都可以廉價複製，尤其是在生成式 AI 的幫助下。但小型企業將會轉型、持續發展，而且我大膽預測，它們會蓬勃發展。
Yeah, one of the critical lessons I learned is that building is really the easy part, and most "traditional" developers who fail will do so as a result of not marketing enough, or well. That's an oversimplification, but directionally true. 是的，我學到的一個重要教訓是，開發其實是最容易的部分，而大多數失敗的「傳統」開發者，都是因為行銷不足或做得不好。這是一個簡化的說法，但方向上是正確的。
Being able to make apps isn't enough. You also have to develop a broad set of skills to complement that. 只會開發應用程式是不夠的。你還需要培養一系列的技能來互補。
They could, but most likely they are doom scrolling while saying things like "Isn't there competition from the thousands of software devs laid off in last couple years. They can all make apps." 他們也許可以，但大多數人可能只是滑手機，一邊說著：「難道不會有來自過去幾年被裁員的數千名軟體開發人員的競爭嗎？他們都會開發應用程式。」
>Just like the Flappy Bird guy. Sure, it was big hit, but so easy to have a hundred knock offs within a week. 就像《憤怒的小鳥》的開發者一樣。當然，它是一款大受歡迎的遊戲，但在一週內很容易就出現上百個山寨版。
I doubt the creator minds too much, I know I wouldn't: he still made millions off it. 我懷疑創作者會太在意，我知道我不會：他還是靠它賺了幾百萬。
> First you have to make space in your life for it. You need long blocks of time for deep work. 你首先必須為此騰出時間。你需要長時間專注於深度工作。
This is the obstacle to EVERYTHING in my life. It's very chaotic, which causes a lot of stress and has led to decreasing performance. 這是阻礙我生活中所有事情的障礙。我的生活非常混亂，這造成了很大的壓力，導致我的工作效率下降。
I try so hard to clean up, to improve things. To try to proactively get ahead of stuff. It never seems to be enough. Something happens I cannot prepare for, or in trying to save and be efficient something goes wrong I cannot afford. My whole plan, saving AND getting things done has now blown up. I no longer have one, I now have three problems and I have also lost/wasted a day. Tomorrow I have four problems, plus I am aware of this dynamic and unable to escape it so technically 5? 我非常努力地整理、改善事情，試圖主動預先處理事情。但似乎永遠都不夠。會發生一些我無法預料的事情，或者在試圖節省開支並提高效率時，發生了一些我負擔不起的錯誤。我的所有計畫，儲蓄和完成任務的計畫都泡湯了。我現在不只有一個問題，而是三個問題，而且還浪費了一天。明天我會有四個問題，再加上我意識到這種情況，而且無法擺脫它，所以技術上是五個？
This compounds over time. 這種情況會隨著時間推移而惡化。
How do you escape this failure loop? 如何擺脫這個失敗的循環？
tl;dr: the "being poor is expensive" trap, how escape when so burned out you are struggling to tread water? tl;dr：「窮是一種負擔」，當你精疲力竭，連維持生活都困難時，該如何擺脫困境？
It's not just money, it's attention span. It's the ability to set my mind to something and accomplish what I set out. Having that muscle atrophy and tear has been traumatic and I am struggling to find emotional or medical interventions worth the effort. 不只是金錢，還有注意力。這是指專注於某事並完成目標的能力。這種能力的萎縮和撕裂帶給我創傷，我正在努力尋找值得付出努力的情緒或醫療干預措施。
It really depends on the specifics of your life. I get a lot of mileage out of imagining what a more functional adult would do, then doing that (stupid example: <FUNCTIONAL ADULT> doesn't buy the cheapest shoes available and try to make them last 5 years while enduring back pain). It's hard to change quickly; sometimes decisions I made years ago (or that someone in my family made decades ago) throw a wrench in the works. I also took a big step back from various forms of ambition, in favor of building a solid, enjoyable life. I hope it gets better for you too. 這真的取決於你生活的具體情況。我從想像一個更有效率的成年人會怎麼做，然後照做這件事中獲得了很多益處（愚蠢的例子：<有效率的成年人>不會購買最便宜的鞋子，然後試圖讓它們撐五年，忍受背痛）。要快速改變是很困難的；有時我幾年前做出的決定（或我家人幾十年前做出的決定）會造成阻礙。我也從各種形式的野心退了一步，轉而建立一個穩固而愉快的生命。我希望你的情況也能好轉。
> I also took a big step back from various forms of ambition, in favor of building a solid, enjoyable life. 我也從各種形式的野心大幅退縮，轉而建立穩固而愉快的生活。
I think you are onto something here, but there's no way to keep my current situation sustainable let alone live on less. The financial thing I can't do much about but the psychological maybe. It's hard when I feel like there is nobody to help me and I have to do everything alone. 我覺得你說到重點了，但我的現狀根本無法維持，更別說減少開銷了。財務方面我無能為力，但心理層面或許可以調整。當我覺得沒有人可以幫助我，一切都必須獨自承擔時，真的很難熬。
Of course, I know nothing about your particular situation, but one strategy is to simplify life as much as you can. This could be lowering living costs by moving and getting rid of expensive habits. Lower overhead can be huge factor in reducing distraction and stress. Other strategies are reducing the number of activities, avoid using phones and other distractions during work periods, avoid social media and political discussion and encourage focus on your goals, setting boundaries with family and friends, saying “no” more often to requests, avoiding triggers that distract you or cause stress, create a dedicated and quiet workspace with few distractions, and generally focus on fewer goals at a time. 當然，我對你的具體情況一無所知，但一種策略是盡可能簡化生活。這可以透過搬家和改掉昂貴的習慣來降低生活成本。降低開銷可能是減少分心和壓力的巨大因素。其他策略包括減少活動數量、在工作期間避免使用手機和其他會造成分心的東西、避免社交媒體和政治討論，並鼓勵專注於你的目標；與家人和朋友設定界限，更常對請求說「不」；避免讓你分心或造成壓力的誘因；創造一個專屬且安靜的工作空間，減少干擾；以及通常一次專注於較少的目標。
Beyond this very specific thing, I think its also a struggle with trusting myself. I don't trust myself to finish anything. I can try as hard as I want but my locus of control is completely external. I am tired of being lied to about agency and ability. If it was easy as putting effort in I'd be there already. 除了這件非常具體的事情之外，我想這也是信任自己的掙扎。我不相信自己能完成任何事情。我可以盡力而為，但我的控制點完全在外部。我厭倦了被欺騙，被告知自己的能動性和能力。如果只是努力就能做到，我早就成功了。
So I work harder and harder in an effort to MAYBE be enough for society / work etc and I am STILL not enough. How can you believe in yourself when you are the source of all failure, lack of consistency, inability to change or adapt. It's me. I'm the problem. I try to be better but at some point I am just masking who I am, which is a WHOLE other problem that is not mutually exclusive. It's another one of those "can't follow the issue because it's too complicated" problems that's destroying my life. Nobody undertands, everyone tells me I'm not alone (they are wrong) and nobdody has any reasonable or actionable suggestions because nobody I have talked to yet even remotely grasps what I am going through. My therapist is really the only person who gets it. 所以我越來越努力工作，試圖讓自己可能足以勝任社會／工作等等的要求，但我仍然不夠好。當你成為所有失敗、缺乏一致性、無法改變或適應的根源時，你怎麼能相信自己？問題是我，我就是問題的根源。我試圖變得更好，但在某個時刻，我只是在掩飾真實的自己，這又是另一個與之互不排斥的重大問題。這是那些「問題太複雜，無法追蹤」的問題之一，它正在毀滅我的生活。沒有人理解，每個人都告訴我我不孤單（他們錯了），而且沒有人提出任何合理或可行的建議，因為我目前交談過的人，沒有人能哪怕稍微理解我正在經歷的一切。我的治療師是唯一真正理解的人。
So many times I have tried to do the "right" thing only for it to backfire and make everything worse. It's textbook learned helplessness, but I also have a proverbial textbook of evidence to support my reasons why things won't work. Nobody will listen to me, and then when the thing I tell them won't work FAILS it's my fault for pointing out the laws of physics or nature. I am tired of being the scapegoat for sociopaths and Machiavellian cancer. 我多次嘗試做「正確」的事情，結果卻適得其反，讓一切變得更糟。這完全就是典型的習得性無助，但我也有大量的證據來支持我的理由，說明為什麼事情行不通。沒有人會聽我的，然後當我預測的事情失敗時，我會因為指出物理或自然的規律而受到責備。我厭倦了成為反社會者和馬基維利式惡瘤的代罪羔羊。
I accept that I need to accept failure. I am trying, but it's demoralizing and only seems to cause pain not growth. I can usually maintain optimism for a week or more but inevitably the reality of life creeps back in and I can't lie to myself any longer. 我接受我需要接受失敗。我正在努力，但這令人沮喪，似乎只會造成痛苦，而不是成長。我通常可以保持樂觀一週或更久，但不可避免地，生活的現實會再次出現，我再也無法自欺欺人了。
What works for me: Goal setting (e.g. OKR), taking baby steps and autopiloting. Can't manage to do X for 30mins a day? I'll go down to as low as 5mins to do thing X if that is required to still do it consistently. If I manage to go to work for 8hrs every day, I'll manage to wake up 5mins earlier and do X as well. Granted, you need to be reasonably convinced that it's a good investment of your time. 對我來說有效的做法：設定目標（例如 OKR）、採取微小的步驟和自動駕駛模式。無法每天管理 30 分鐘做 X 事情？如果需要持續執行，我會將時間縮短到 5 分鐘來做 X 事情。如果我能每天工作 8 小時，我也能提早 5 分鐘起床去做 X 事情。當然，你需要相當確信這是一項值得你投入時間的良好投資。
Edit: Just saw your other response. Now is certainly not the right time to push yourself, which is fine. Hope you'll get out of that hole soon, best of luck! 編輯：剛看到你的另一個回覆。現在當然不是逼迫自己的時候，沒關係。希望你很快能走出困境，祝你好運！
This is usually possible to some degree but the life circumstances creating the chaos may not be things they can realistically get rid of. 這通常在某種程度上是可能的，但造成混亂的生活環境可能不是他們實際上可以擺脫的事情。
Nail on the head. Lost wife / family (cat) / house over the summer. Mom in and out of hospital starting in November. I'm a cat locked in the dryer and there are no door handles on the inside. 一針見血。夏天失去了妻子／家人（貓）／房子。媽媽從十一月開始就一直進出醫院。我就像一隻被關在烘乾機裡的貓，裡面沒有門把。
My deepest sympathies. Find a way to spend some time and money on therapy if you can. It will help stop the problem making itself worse. 我深感同情。如果你可以的話，設法花一些時間和金錢去做心理治療。這將有助於阻止問題惡化。
Unpopular opinion: truly "passive" income should be impossible, because this means someone is working hard but not receiving their compensation. 不受歡迎的意見：真正「被動」的收入應該是不可能的，因為這意味著有人正在努力工作，卻沒有得到應有的報酬。
EDIT: of course unless it's the robots that do all the work, but then it's not really passive... 編輯：當然，除非是機器人做了所有的工作，但那樣就不是真正被動的……
當我的生活一團糟，努力想修復與前任的關係時，她卻規定我們要一起度過「高品質」的時光，也就是在她滑手機 Instagram 的同時，一起看那些爛透了的實境秀。
Out of mind numbing boredom I made a system for SEO spam websites during this time. I would take expiring domain names (so names someone had gone to the trouble to research but been unable to make work) parse out keywords and lookup popularity for them, lookup ad rates for them, and spit out names to buy and make a SEO spam site for (goal was 300 websites making $1 a day or $100k a year), or good names to domain squat. If a domain turned out bunk I threw my link-spam-network software on it to provide linkbacks to my money/new sites. I made around 30k profit a year plus another $5k selling domain names doing this before life fell further apart and it rotted on the vine. I was really tempted to sell it as a package but could never bring myself that low even deep in addiction. Plus Google started cracking down on that trash.
出於無聊到令人麻木的狀態，我在這段時間裡建立了一個 SEO 垃圾網站系統。我會取得即將失效的網域名稱（也就是有人費盡心思研究卻無法運作的域名），解析關鍵字並查詢其熱門程度，再查詢其廣告價格，然後篩選出值得購買來建立 SEO 垃圾網站的域名（目標是 300 個網站，每個網站每天賺 1 美元，每年賺 10 萬美元），或是適合域名炒作的好域名。如果一個域名被證明沒用，我就會在我的連結垃圾郵件網路軟體上運行它，以提供連結回我的賺錢/新網站。在生活進一步崩潰、這一切爛掉之前，我每年大約賺了 3 萬美元的利潤，另外還賣域名賺了 5000 美元。我真的很想把它打包出售，但即使在沉迷的深淵中，我也無法這麼做。加上 Google 開始打擊這種垃圾網站。
I still think the concept of 300 somethings (though please not SEO spam) that make a dollar a day is viable for us here though because we're in the unique position where the creation/maintenance is just a matter of our spare time since we can do the specs/design/coding/administration/maintenance/etc ourselves. It seems like there are still people doing this. Look at new car model forums. Everytime a new car models is released there's a rush to create discussion forums for that model with people hoping Google blesses theirs so they can add it to their portfolio of money maker car model forums. Maybe the secret sauce is forcing yourself to watch reality TV until your mind rebels and says 'fine, grab me the laptop and we'll make mind numbingly boring software products as that is at least better than watching this'.
我仍然認為 300 個左右（但請注意，不是 SEO 垃圾網站）每天賺一美元的概念對我們來說仍然是可行的，因為我們處於一個獨特的位置，創作/維護只是我們閒暇時間的事情，因為我們可以自己完成規格/設計/編碼/管理/維護等等。似乎仍然有人這樣做。看看新車型論壇。每次推出新車型時，都會湧現出一批人急於為該車型建立討論區，希望能得到 Google 的青睞，以便將其添加到他們賺錢的車型論壇組合中。也許秘訣是強迫自己看實境秀，直到你的大腦反抗並說：「好吧，把筆記型電腦拿來，我們來製作一些無聊到令人麻木的軟體產品，至少比看這個好。」
Edit: To clarify this wasn't my income source this was just what I did while being forced to watch 'The Kardashians' for bonding time.
編輯：澄清一下，這不是我的收入來源，這只是我在被迫觀看「卡戴珊家族」的「增進感情」時間裡做的事情。
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