Niall Doherty's Blog, page 12
June 9, 2025
He Earned Almost $1,000,000 Last Year
Sean OgleFounder of Breaking Eighty $950,000 approximate annual revenue
Sean Ogle writes…
If success is simply all about how much money you make, then 2024 was my most successful year in 15 years of working for myself…
My business did just shy of 7 figures in 2024
Sean runs a couple of different brands, but it sounds like the big earner is Breaking Eighty.
That’s a website, YouTube channel and community for golf enthusiasts 
Sean started it more than a decade ago, and has built it up steadily over the years.
Revenue sources include 
Goes to show that if you’re passionate about a niche – Sean is a bonafide golf nut – and you’re willing to create content for a long-ass time, it can pay off massively 
Earning $30K Per Month From His 15-Minute Service
Sina OmosowonFounder of Shine TV Mounting $30,000 monthly revenueEntrepreneur reports
Sina Omosowon was deep in a Ph.D. program studying plant evolution when a friend introduced him to the fast-growing business of TV mounting. He got trained, took a few jobs and quickly saw the potential.
Within six months, he was earning enough to pay for school and finish his degree debt-free. After graduation, instead of accepting a job offer, he went all in on his business, which now brings in $30,000 a month.
Apparently it takes him just 15 minutes to complete a job 
All his clients come through his listing on Thumbtack…
He treated his profile like a storefront, packing it with before-and-after photos, clear service details and nearly 2,000 glowing reviews. He also earned “Top Pro” status, logged over 3,500 hires and kept his average response time under 10 minutes.
Sina is based in Maryland.
Browse Thumbtack and see if there are highly-rated TV mounting services in your area 
If not… there’s an opportunity.
Or if TV mounting doesn’t float your boat, find other popular services on Thumbtack that aren’t being offered near you 
$2.8M Per Year Solo Founder: Don’t Miss This Gold Rush
David BresslerFounder of Formula Bot $2.8 Million annual revenue Channing Allen reports…
One of them is David Bressler, who is earning $2.8M per year from Formula Bot, an AI-powered tool translates text instructions into Excel formulas 
I first wrote about him in 2023, when he was already up to $20K/month a year after launch.
The fascinating thing about David: he’s not a coder.
He built Formula Bot with the no-code tool Bubble, launched the first version in a weekend 
David recently tweeted…
I believe intent to buy AI software is now at an all-time high.
This is the AI Gold Rush 2.0.
– Companies like Shopify and Duolingo are expecting its employees to adopt and exhaust AI tools before hiring new employees.
– Increased operational costs from tariffs means businesses need to invest in AI to find ways to maintain profit margins.
– Companies are promoting ‘AI champions’ to drive adoption and firming up their AI tech stack.
If you missed the first Gold Rush, don’t miss this one.
He also tweeted a short playbook for figuring out what AI tool to build 
June 5, 2025
Agents as a Service = Massive Opportunity
Michael Karnjanaprakorn, founder of Skillshare, tweets…
I don’t want to build AI Agents from scratch. I want to use the best ones someone else created.
Make it one click and easy to use…
For example, I want to subscribe to an “Executive Assistant” AI service.
The “company” behind it would have one AI Manager I interact with 1000s of AI agents and workflows underneath. Constantly updated and optimized.
The AI Manager is personalized and customized for me.
Would easily pay for this.
Another way is one could build the best AI agents “employees”
Apply to companies and have them work there. Collect the salary checks.
Or could be a long-tail marketplace where the best AI agents rise to the top.
Whichever way this manifests, there seems to be a massive opportunity.
$500K Per Year With Her Simple Local Business
Amber StarlingFounder of Good Witch Cleaning $500,000 annual revenue A story about Amber Starling in Manhattan, Kansas…
Starling started Good Witch Cleaning with just a vacuum and $100 worth of supplies from a discount store.
Within one year, she hired her first employee and managed impressive growth to about $500,000 annually.
So literally just a cleaning service that she worked hard at and scaled smartly 
I found my first clients by posting on Facebook, advertising a $99 whole-house special. I had to eat a lot of crow in those days. I worked with property managers in the area who had terrible reputations and very high expectations — really difficult clients.
Revenue growth…
In 2017, we were at $11,000 in revenue — that was before I’d hired anyone. In 2018, we got up to $57,000; $119,000 in 2019; $216,000 in 2020; and $467,000 in 2021. Since then, we’ve stabilized in that revenue range, and that’s by choice.
Other simple local services that became nice businesses
$120K Per Month Reading Your Coffee Grounds
FaladdinFortune-Telling App $120,000 estimated monthly revenue Saw this random comment online…
There was (is?) a popular Turkish app that tells your fortune based on the photos of leftover coffee grounds in your cup. It’s an old tradition to read it irl so they made app(s) where people could read it online then updated the app so now AI reads your fortune from coffee cups.
The app is called Faladdin, earning an estimated $120K/mo on Apple and Android according to Sensor Tower.
It does a lot more than read coffee grounds. It’s a fully-fledged tarot card reading, daily astrology, and birth chart app 
But the coffee grounds angle is fascinating.
What other old traditions could you build a business around? 
I’m reminded of a guy from my hometown in Ireland, building a nice following by filming himself lifting old stones, bringing attention to a forgotten tradition.
$400 a Pop Renting Out Big LOVE Letters
Scroller4lifeEntreprenuer $400+ per event A post on Reddit…
Scroller4life replies…
We currently rent out Marquee letters for weddings, but also birthdays, baby showers, graduations etc…
The letters go for 75.00 per letter plus deliver and setup so a total of 400 to 450 depending on where we deliver. Will most likely increase prices to get a four letter rental like this up to 500 plus. For us as a side gig it’s decent cash for the time involved, doesn’t require renting a van or box truck (usually), and the letters only need so much upkeep.
Only difficult part is building all the letters necessary. But once that was done, it’s only storage fees, and gas in terms of overhead.
I’d say it’s the perfect balance of time to income as far as side gigs go.
Sounds like a great side hustle if you can build letters like this yourself, or partner with someone who can do that part 
Doctor Built His Own App With AI & Saved $100K
Amjad Masad is the CEO of Replit, a popular platform for building apps with AI
He recently tweeted a message from a Replit user…
I’m a doctor with no coding experience at all and I’ve built in 5 days a fully functioning app for my clinic with integration into bookings system, ability to request prescriptions, a habit tracker, nutrition tracker with a built in database, a sleep tracker, a medication tracker with built in database and ai agent answering common medication questions, a workout tracker with built in 150 exercise database, a weight and BMI tracker, an ai agent with a symptom checker and a premium content and course area.
All with beautiful transitions and matching my website.
This would’ve taken me 1–2 years to have implemented at a cost of £100–150k.
So far it’s cost me £75 with the additional usage.
I literally cannot believe it.
Goes to show how easy it has become to build software
Play around with Replit for a few days and you could build apps like this for clients.
Here’s an example of someone who did just that and earned $750
June 2, 2025
They Earn $15K Per Month With Luxury Picnics
Jocelyn and CocoFounders of Picnic 'n Chill $15,000 monthly revenue Tim Richard writes…
In the middle of the pandemic, Jocelyn Chin and Coco Chan started setting up luxury picnics for friends in the Bay Area.
They called it Picnic ‘n Chill.
People naturally shared their set ups on social media and their business exploded organically.
They got to the point where they were doing 60+ luxury picnics a month and bringing in around $15,000/month, just setting up tables, rugs, and charcuterie boards in local parks.
One of those businesses that could be replicated in many areas, low barrier to entry
Tim again…
This is the kind of business people laugh at until they realize it’s doing $180K/year with pillows and Target plates.
It’s simple. It’s local. And it scales organically (with no ad budget) if you get the visuals right.
$3000 Per Month From Her Simple Productized Service
Duygu DulgerPitch Deck Creator $3000 average monthly revenue Duygu Dulger writes…
I was making presentations and eventually focus startups and become a pitch deck creator. I help founders with decks content, story, design, market sizing and more -everything from scratch…
I’ve been testing different ways to run this as a solo business. Here’s the most important change I made: I productized my service.
She’s in Istanbul, started in 2021 
Her revenue…
Some months ~$2K some months ~$5K. (It was avg ~$3K/mo – from 2024 april to 2025 april)
My weakness is I have no big audience or proper personal branding yet. My service is one-time sales
Mainly finds clients via…
Twitter, LinkedIn, Upwork, referrals
But like she says, no big audience.
Which is encouraging: means you don’t need tons of followers to earn decent money from a simple productized service
