How I Built Multiple Income Streams as a Developer ($300k in Revenue)

Why I’m Laying It All Out And What You’ll See Here

I want to show you what projects I have going on right now and how much money they make. I am not sugarcoating anything. Some of these used to do better. Some are steady. Some are new experiments that might turn into something serious or might flop. That is the game I chose to play.

We will go over every income source in the same order I talked about them on video, and at the end I will show you my plan to complete this challenge. But before we talk numbers, I want to quickly tell you how I got here, because the way I work now makes a lot more sense when you see the path I took.

How It Started: The Online Game, The Dev Friend, And My First Internet Money

Back in 2013, I met a guy in an online game I was playing. He was a web developer. When I asked, what is that, he showed me HTML and CSS. That single moment flipped a switch in my head. Seeing that you could write a few lines and the browser would show something you made felt like discovering a new superpower.

I was hooked. I spent late nights reading docs and copying tiny snippets into a text editor. I broke things all the time, refreshed the page 100 times, and kept going. I had no plan. I just loved the feeling of making something and seeing it come alive on the screen.

As soon as I could build basic pages, I applied for freelancing gigs online. If you ever did that, you know the drill. You send proposals to strangers, you wait, and you hope somebody takes a chance on you. That is how I made my first Internet money. It was small, but it was mine, and it showed me I could earn with my brain and a laptop.

College, A Part-Time Job, And The Decision To Quit

Then I went to college. During college I got a part-time job for a company. The job taught me a lot about teamwork and deadlines, but I did not really like the technology there. It did not feel like the future I wanted to build in. After a while they wanted to move from development to design and I did not want that.

So I quit the job and focused on college while going back to freelancing. Quitting was not easy. You feel guilty, you second guess yourself, and you wonder if you are burning a bridge. But I knew what I wanted to learn and where I wanted to get better, and that required writing code, not switching lanes into design. Going back to freelancing gave me freedom to pick projects that matched the stack I was excited about.

Leveling Up: Learning JavaScript And React, Then Landing My First Full-Time React Job

During this second period of freelancing, I learned JavaScript and React. JavaScript felt like the missing piece. It turned static pages into living apps, and React gave me a system to structure what I built. I kept solving tiny problems, and every solved bug gave me more confidence to take on bigger ones.

In 2017 I got my first full-time job as a React developer, working remotely for a company here in Romania. That was huge for me. I had the trust of a real team, I was shipping features that people used, and I was getting paid to do the thing I geeked out about anyway. Remote work fit my brain too. I could go deep, avoid commute time, and focus on learning fast.

2019: Why I Started Blogging And Chasing A Bigger Impact

Fast forward to 2019. I started writing articles on my blog on how to solve different coding challenges. I decided to do that because I felt that I have more impact. When someone types a problem into a search bar and lands on your article, you can help them in 5 minutes and save their day. That feeling never gets old.

Do not get me wrong, I did not hate my job and the salary was pretty good. But nobody knew who I was among hundreds of developers on that project. I was a line in an org chart. My work was useful, but it was invisible outside of that team. And do not get me started with the meetings. Meetings drained me. Too many calls, too little time to build.

I started posting my articles on Twitter and quickly built a following. People started to recognize me and read my articles. The feedback loop was instant. Comments, DMs, and retweets told me which topics hit and which ones missed. I even started to get paid to write articles for other companies. Getting that first paid gig for writing felt like a permission slip to take content seriously.

So in July 2019 I decided to quit my job and go full time as a content creator. I did not have a big plan on how I would make it as a content creator, but it made me happier. So I decided to pursue this passion. I told myself I would figure out the revenue pieces as I moved. That choice shaped everything that followed.

YouTube: From A Joke To A Real Goal And The Silver Play Button

As a little joke, I started posting videos on my YouTube channel. No fancy setup. Just me, my screen, and a willingness to talk through code. But what started as a joke turned into something serious when in 2020, I decided to go all in because I wanted to get 100,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel and get the YouTube plaque.

By the way, I achieved that goal one year later. Yeah. Hitting 100k meant late nights editing, re-recording segments that were not clear, learning thumbnails, and trying to make titles that did not sound like a robot wrote them. It meant uploading even when a previous video flopped. It meant caring about the people on the other side of the screen enough to make the next video better than the last one.

If you are wondering what the plaque moment felt like: it is a small silver rectangle that arrives in a box you could swear is heavier than it needs to be. You lift it, you see your channel name, and all the small choices that looked silly before suddenly look like a path. You think about the first shaky video and smile.

YouTube Money: Ads, Sponsorships, And What It Makes Right Now

Now let us talk about revenue, since the YouTube channel is one of my projects that made the big bucks. Meaning the project that brought in some serious revenue compared to others. Since starting this channel, I made 23,000 dollars from ads revenue and I made 40,000 dollars from sponsorships.

Keep in mind that during this time I posted hundreds of YouTube videos and live streams. Ads revenue depends on CPMs, seasonality, and what topics you cover. Developer content can do well, but it is still not finance or luxury CPMs. Sponsorships work differently. You negotiate a rate based on views, niche, and how aligned the product is with your audience. You also do the integrations in a way that respects viewers and actually helps them, or you lose trust quickly.

Currently, the channel is not making very much money, probably about 60 dollars per month. That is mostly because I do not post as often as I used to. I know, I know, I should be doing a better job at that. But I got sidetracked by other projects. So it is what it is. The algorithm rewards consistency, and I have not been consistent lately. When I am ready to ramp up again, that number should climb.

The Course With Brett Traversy: 50 Projects, A Smart Bundle, And A Revenue Stream That Still Pays

During this time with my YouTube channel, I also met Brett Traversy and we became good friends and decided to make a course together. I had these 100 projects laying around from a challenge I did back in the day. We picked 50 projects, bundled it up, and made a course. That structure mattered. Fifty projects is enough to build confidence, cover a wide range, and keep people moving without drowning them.

This turned out to be one of the best financial decisions of my life. The course has made me over 160,000 dollars in the past four years, and it keeps bringing in revenue passively every month. Currently it makes about 1,500 dollars per month. It is not what it used to be, but it is pretty cool considering the fact that it is all pretty much passive income. I do not promote it at all.

Behind the scenes, putting the course together took real work. We had to organize the projects so they build on each other, record clean walkthroughs, and make sure the repo code matched the videos so nobody got stuck on setup. Then we had to price it in a way that felt fair but also reflected the value. When people write to say they got a job because the projects helped them show real skills, that is the best part by far.

The Ebook: Every Way I Learned To Make Money As A Developer

Over the years I learned all of these methods to make money as a developer. From blogging to streaming to making videos to creating content, courses, freelancing, having a job. I decided to pack all the knowledge into an ebook. I wrote the kind of resource I wish I had when I started. Something honest, specific, and focused on what actually works.

I launched that ebook and since it made 27,000 dollars in revenue. At the moment, it only sells at best a few copies a month. So I cannot really rely on it as an income source. But hey, maybe one day it will change and it will sell again. Digital products have long tails. You never know when a tweet, a video, or a new wave of devs makes an older resource relevant again.

If you are curious what is inside: I cover picking a niche, building proof of work, where to find freelance clients without spamming, how to pitch writing gigs, simple product ideas that actually sell, and how to avoid classic traps like underpricing or overbuilding. It is practical and written from real experience. No fluff.

The SaaS: iCode This - Learn By Building, Not By Staying In Tutorial Hell

My last big thing is a SaaS that I created two years ago called iCode This. This is a platform that I built to help developers learn how to code by actually building projects instead of going in tutorial hell. The idea came from watching people consume hours of videos and still not ship a single small app. Projects change that. You learn by doing and you remember because you struggled a little in the right places.

Over its lifetime, the project made 4,000 dollars in revenue. But since I was not the only one working on the project, I had some help. So I paid salaries for two other people and some services along the way. The profit was lower. That is normal in the early stages of a SaaS. You invest in infrastructure, design, support, and you figure out pricing while listening to users who are just as opinionated as you are.

At the moment, I am the only one working on the project, and it makes about 1,500 to 2,000 dollars per month. That range depends on churn, seasonal interest, and how active I am with updates. On the product side, I keep adding fresh challenges, polishing the UI so it is inviting to come back to, and simplifying onboarding so the first session feels like a quick win instead of a hurdle.

A Small But Real Extra: Twitter Monetization

Okay. I guess I could also add Twitter to this because they recently allowed people to make money from posting there. I make about 40 to 80 dollars a month, depending on how many impressions I get. It is not a lot, but it slowly adds up. And it is a nice extra income source considering the fact that I was posting there for free anyway.

If you have not seen the monetization dashboard, imagine a simple panel that shows your monthly ad share tied to the views on your posts. There is no magic. Post good stuff, people engage, and you get a little slice. I treat it like a tiny tip jar that rewards consistency and useful threads.

New Projects I Launched Since Starting The Challenge

The Revenue Grid: Visualizing Income And Selling Squares

The first one is a grid that I initially created to track my revenue. I wanted to have a visual representation of the revenue that I make and the income sources. Picture a clean page with a big grid of small squares. Each square represents a dollar amount, color coded by source, so you can literally see the mosaic of where money comes from. It scratches two itches at once: accountability for me and a clear, honest snapshot for anyone watching the journey.

Then I had an idea to also monetize this grid by selling squares in the grid. And to my surprise, I sold a few squares. If you are thinking, wait, how, it is simple. People buy a square, get a tiny piece of the grid with their name or link in the hover state, and support the journey. I also made a video about it. If you want to see, you can click here. In the video, the thumbnail shows the grid filling up block by block, and on screen I highlight how the legend maps colors to income streams so it is not just pretty, it is informative.

The Indie Developer Community: A Place To Build, Share Wins, And Get Things Done

The second project that I launched is a community for indie developers. I wanted to have a place where we all gather around and we focus on building, getting things done. No endless hot takes. Just shipping, feedback, and momentum. Think regular build sessions, small accountability threads, and a space where people show work in progress without getting roasted for not being perfect.

This project made about 1,200 dollars since launching a few days ago. A video about the entire launch will come up on my channel, so stay tuned for that. In that video I will walk through the stack I used to set it up, the onboarding flow, pricing, and the launch checklist I followed. If you are building your own community, you will be able to copy the pieces that fit your style.

So What Is The Base Right Now And Why It Matters

As you can see, the base revenue that I have per month is about 2,000 to 3,000 dollars. This is the money that comes in from iCode This and from the course, and it is pretty much passive. It is not tied directly to my time. Which do not get me wrong, is pretty good to have. This gives me freedom to be creative and try out new ideas.

When your base covers a chunk of your life, you can take bets. You can make a weird product like a monetized grid without worrying if it pays rent. You can start a community and iterate before it is perfect. That is how you discover the next thing that might work even better than the plan you had on paper.

The 1 Million Dollar Goal: The Math, The Gap, And The Plan

But in order to complete this challenge, to go from zero to 1 million dollars in revenue, I have to make about 8,000 dollars per month. That is the number that bridges the gap when you stretch it across the timeline I am thinking about. It is ambitious but not fantasy. Especially when you stack multiple streams instead of betting everything on one.

And this is how I am planning to do it.

1. Improve My Skills On Purpose

First, I want to improve my skills. This is the main focus I have for next year or so. I want to become better at writing. That is why I started blogging again. I want to become better at making videos. That is why I started this YouTube channel. I want to become better at telling stories, and I want to become better at marketing. I hope this will help as well. And I also want to become better at building projects and monetizing them.

The thread through all of that is simple: skills compound. Better writing makes videos clearer. Better storytelling makes products memorable. Better marketing puts your work in front of people who actually need it. Better product sense makes everything easier to sell because it solves a real problem. I am treating each of these like a muscle I will train week by week.

2. Experiment, Learn, And Keep What Works

As you can see, it is a lot about experimenting and learning, trying things and then seeing what works and what does not. I am okay with dead ends. Every small launch teaches me something. Some experiments will make 0 dollars and teach me a tiny UX lesson. Some will make 200 dollars and prove there is a spark worth pouring fuel on. The only way to know is to build and ship.

3. Stay Consistent Enough To Let Compounding Do Its Thing

The course, the ebook, the SaaS, the channel, the community, the grid. Each one is a little engine. If I keep them maintained and add new ones when it makes sense, the combined output can reach that 8,000 per month target. That is the plan. It is not flashy. It is consistent work in public.

So yeah, this is going to be a fun journey. Definitely it is going to be challenging, but I am excited for it and hope you are, too. What do you think. Can I complete the challenge in the next 10 years.

Closing Thoughts: Transparency, Iteration, And The Road To $1,000,000

I shared everything as it is. The small checks, the bigger wins, the slow months, and the projects that still surprise me with passive sales. I am not relying on luck. I am relying on stacking skills, shipping often, and listening to the people I build for. That is it.

If you want to watch this unfold in real time, subscribe to the channel and stick around. I will keep posting the exact numbers, launches, and behind the scenes. Whether I hit the 1 million dollar mark faster than I think or need the full 10 years, you will see the whole journey step by step. Let us build.

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