Income rollercoaster

Discussions
#1

Attached is the income chart for one of my projects over the 13 year period. The baseline is 0. I think it answers some questions about internet businesses, e.g.

  • It’s OK to have little or no income in the first months, it doesn’t indicate failure
  • It’s OK when income drops (or rises) for 3, 4, 5 months in a row for no apparent reason
  • This is why some (most?) people prefer “normal job”

It would be interesting to see if others post their income charts too, no numbers, just to see how it generally goes.

income
income.png1675×601 58.4 KB

10 Likes
Anyone Noticing August Sales Drop for under $50 Desktop Software
#2

It would be nice to see real numbers, not just a trend, heh :wink:

1 Like
#3

The emotional roller coaster of up-and-down sales can drive you insane. One way I deal with it is by preferring to compare each month to the same month a year ago.

The roller coaster is part of my motivation for moving away from single-payment desktop apps to B2B SaaS. The recurring revenue smooths out the curve.

#4

Honestly, it was a challenge for me to publish the trend - I gave it a good 20 minute thought before I finally posted it.

2 Likes
#5

Do you plan on removing the desktop option, or SaaS is an additional offer?

While SaaS usually gives more or less stable income, it also produce constant expenses - for my SaaS projects, hosting costs are quite significant.

#6

I’m definitely keeping the desktop app. That’s still the product that keeps my company running! The SaaS is an additional product, which is slowly, steadily increasing revenue.

#7

This is great, thanks for sharing! I earn my income mostly through one-off purchases. I’m very much looking forward to getting recurring revenue to avoid the drops.

The drops are really scary when your living depends on one-off sales (books and courses) like me. What if it doesn’t go back up?! :wink:

#8

In my case, selling desktop software, paid updates (optional) somewhat make it not so one-off.

Would you mind sharing your income stats chart?

#9

I don’t even look at weekly sales as a metric, too volatile. Instead I look at monthly and 12 monthly cumulative (i.e. rolling average of last 12 months).

1 Like
#10

The chart I posted is monthly, not weekly. With month-to-month instability, I, too, consider yearly sales as a performance metric.

#11

Hi Dmitry,
Thanks for sharing.
My sales graph does look very similar to yours. Also one time purchases + upgrades.
What is your average license price?

My idea is the same: to introduce recurring plans for our desktop software.