The Problem with all Payment Providers

Hi there,

These last two weeks I’ve seen multiple articles asking how to correctly collect VAT as a Software as a Service business. For myself in the UK, none of the solutions I’ve seen so far feels right - you either lose flexibility by allowing a third party provider to sell your software on your behalf or take on a hugely complex burden of international tax collection yourself. I compared the features of a number of payment providers last month on my blog which has proven to be really popular.

In other exciting news - I've bought a new M1 Mac Mini. The machine has had a few quirks so far, which is understandable given the architecture differences. In the main, it’s mostly the same as my old mac mini, only a lot faster and a decade younger. I’m documenting and recording my experience with it as a developer, so you’ll hear about it if you follow me anywhere on the web.

Thanks again for being a subscriber - If you have any comments or suggestions for future issues, please feel free to reply to let me know.

As always, keep on shipping!

Ian

Stories

How I made $111,465.77 selling colors online

Zeo Rocha's inspiring story on how he is making a six figure income from the pro version of his dracula theme. I love that he's had such success where often  building upon open source work proves a difficult nut to crack.

Build a business, not an audience

Jakob Greenfield argues that waiting until you have something to say is the path to good business. This touches on a lot of nerves for me - should I be pushing out stuff on a regular schedule?

Podcast: Quitting It All to Follow Your Passion

I really enjoyed this interview with Dave Geddes of Mastery Games. Dave makes a good income building web based games designed to teach advanced CSS.

Code

Ionicons

This open source collection of icons that recently crossed my path looks like a perfect fit for a variety of projects you might be embarking on.

Why you really need to upgrade pip

An in depth look at why a lot of python deployment issues can simply be solved by updating the package manager, pip.

Introducing GKE Autopilot

Kubernetes is a meme within the dev and devops communities for being so complex to manage. Google appears to have taken note and has introduced Autopilot, a "Fully Managed" version of its Kubernetes Engine. This intro to Autopilot explains how it fits in to your deployment pipeline.

From My Blog

Comparing VAT Solutions for Bootstrapped UK Businesses

I compare the various options that exist for UK businesses who want to reduce the complexity of VAT.

My Favourite Tweet

I love this take on why you shouldn't be putting your life on hold for open source projects. My kids are the best creations I've ever made.