Path to creating a digital product

[• nikita •]

Jesus, looking back at some of my posts, I really hate London don't I?

I need to be a bit more positive. Some tough experiences have made me very cynical and being negative just invites more negativity.

That being said, I'm still totally leaving London behind and buying a villa in Greece. I visited for the 3rd time in August and just stared from my balcony in awe for several hours every night. Paradise exists and it's in Greece. I have the exact villa bookmarked and I will buy that exact one.

 

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[Hadrian]

Jesus, looking back at some of my posts, I really hate London don't I?

I need to be a bit more positive. Some tough experiences have made me very cynical and being negative just invites more negativity.

That being said, I'm still totally leaving London behind and buying a villa in Greece. I visited for the 3rd time in August and just stared from my balcony in awe for several hours every night. Paradise exists and it's in Greece. I have the exact villa bookmarked and I will buy that exact one.

Dublin guy here! I know exactly how you feel! I've got a spot in Grand Canaria or Puerto Rico in mind once I get to your level

I LOVE your thread.... I'm in indie app dev. and I recently set up a guide for anyone trying to get into Apps so they dont get ripped off.... but now I'm thinking you should have set up the thread instrad of me LOL

MEETUPS - App Developer Networking Group

Greetings Fastlaners! Indie App dev from Ireland here... I see more and more threads asking about apps so I though I'd create a shared space for us to chat and bounce ideas around. I'll try to get some established professional software dev's to give their input as well. I hope it will provide...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[• nikita •]

Dublin guy here! I know exactly how you feel! I've got a spot in Grand Canaria or Puerto Rico in mind once I get to your level

I LOVE your thread.... I'm in indie app dev. and I recently set up a guide for anyone trying to get into Apps so they dont get ripped off.... but now I'm thinking you should have set up the thread instrad of me LOL

MEETUPS - App Developer Networking Group

Greetings Fastlaners! Indie App dev from Ireland here... I see more and more threads asking about apps so I though I'd create a shared space for us to chat and bounce ideas around. I'll try to get some established professional software dev's to give their input as well. I hope it will provide...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Hah, the weather is quite dire here isn't it? Gran Canaria is lovely and I know a few people who have relocated there.

Nice thread! Can't believe I haven't seen it before.

 

[• nikita •]

Been seeing a lot of videos recommended to me from YouTubers I used to watch. That and the book I'm currently reading (10x Rule) just made me realize that I'm not doing enough. Sure I got to a comfortable income level. But I'm not rich. And I'm slacking. So I will work tirelessly until I get results.

I've stopped a lot of freelance work to just focus on apps. I have money saved up so I'm fine for a long time.

I was going to hire a developer to work on my trickier app but their quote was huge, and I know if I improve my dev skills I'll never need to rely on developers again. So my plan is to grind development for a few weeks until I'm expert level (already intermediate) then work on my apps.

1. Ray Wenderlich tutorials
2. Objc.io books

I've launched the app websites and planned the social media. Now it's just going through the courses and making the apps.

Timeline:
- Finish courses (roughly 100-150 hours): June 1st
- Finish apps: July 1st
- Launch: July 15th

 

[srodrigo]

if I improve my dev skills I'll never need to rely on developers again.

As a developer who likes doing the grunt work, I tend to agree. Even if your time might be best spent on designing the apps, if some of them require a huge money upfront, it might be better to improve your coding skills and put at least the bulk of the work yourself until you can afford outsourcing more.

So my plan is to grind development for a few weeks until I'm expert level (already intermediate) then work on my apps.

Not to discourage you at all with this, but moving from intermediate to expert will take more than a few weeks. That's a good thing though, it can be a fun and fulfilling journey I'd just measure progress in months rather than weeks.

 

[• nikita •]

As a developer who likes doing the grunt work, I tend to agree. Even if your time might be best spent on designing the apps, if some of them require a huge money upfront, it might be better to improve your coding skills and put at least the bulk of the work yourself until you can afford outsourcing more.



Not to discourage you at all with this, but moving from intermediate to expert will take more than a few weeks. That's a good thing though, it can be a fun and fulfilling journey I'd just measure progress in months rather than weeks.

Heh, maybe more than 2 weeks. Good enough to work on my apps without it being spaghetti code at least. I know here it's recommended to just get to work, but I've done that in the past and while it works, it's a total pain going back to fix the code or hiring a developer to fix it. Or adding features because the way you coded the app makes it a nightmare to do so.

I'm definitely in the "learn how to code" camp, vs outsourcing. Though as you said, later on when you have the money, outsourcing is a good idea.

 

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[• nikita •]

Long time no update!

I decided to hire a developer for my new app - he's amazing and much better than I hope to be in a few weeks or months. This way I can do what I'm best at (design and creative things in general), and the experts can do what they're best at. The new app (dropped one of the ideas so I could fully focus on the best one) is almost done, and will hopefully launch before Christmas. I'm excited to be collabing with some businesses and Apple, I think this app may really be successful.

Got an offer to sell one of my other apps that I don't update.

My computer broke down today just as I was praying for a release from my freelance work so I could fully focus on apps. Told my clients apologies but I have to take a few days off, booted up my old computer and now I'm working solely on apps again. Sometimes, the universe really does listen

 

[OVS]

Just read your entire thread in one go. This is amazing and really inspiring! I have been working on my first web app also and I am currently finding first users. I must admit, as a developer, marketing is uncomfortable. Other than that, I can't wait to also quit my job as soon as my app makes enough money.

Great content here! Will subscribe! Thank you for the inspiration Nikita

 

[• nikita •]

Just read your entire thread in one go. This is amazing and really inspiring! I have been working on my first web app also and I am currently finding first users. I must admit, as a developer, marketing is uncomfortable. Other than that, I can't wait to also quit my job as soon as my app makes enough money.

Great content here! Will subscribe! Thank you for the inspiration Nikita

Thanks for reading the thread and glad it's inspiring you! I really dislike marketing too, it's just the one part I can't ever seem to grasp.

Good luck with your web app! I'll take a look at your progress thread

 

[• nikita •]

My new app launches in two weeks. Seems like it'll do well, Apple has said they'd feature it.

One regret I have is not developing all my apps and updates myself. I used to, then I hired developers. It's taken me two years to update one simple feature on one of my apps. I've changed developers many times. It seems like I CANNOT rely on anyone.

I think I'll slowly teach myself to develop again, but I've been busy on all the other aspects of launching an app. I'm just so tired of blowing money for someone to take 6 months to do one thing.

 

[srodrigo]

My new app launches in two weeks. Seems like it'll do well, Apple has said they'd feature it.

One regret I have is not developing all my apps and updates myself. I used to, then I hired developers. It's taken me two years to update one simple feature on one of my apps. I've changed developers many times. It seems like I CANNOT rely on anyone.

I think I'll slowly teach myself to develop again, but I've been busy on all the other aspects of launching an app. I'm just so tired of blowing money for someone to take 6 months to do one thing.

Hey, congrats on releasing your new app!

It sounds like you've got the wrong developers. One feature update shouldn't take that long (obviously depends on the feature, but still sounds insane). But I wouldn't get discouraged, and would keep trying to find good devs (which might be expensive, that's the downside). If you try to do everything yourself, you'll burn out as your number of apps increases. And you also do design work for clients. There are only so many hours in a day.

Having said that, improving your coding skills can never go wrong, it's a great investment regardless (faster prototyping, having a great skill if your business fails eventually, etc.). Just be mindful of what a single person can achieve.

 

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[• nikita •]

Hey, congrats on releasing your new app!

It sounds like you've got the wrong developers. One feature update shouldn't take that long (obviously depends on the feature, but still sounds insane). But I wouldn't get discouraged, and would keep trying to find good devs (which might be expensive, that's the downside). If you try to do everything yourself, you'll burn out as your number of apps increases. And you also do design work for clients. There are only so many hours in a day.

Having said that, improving your coding skills can never go wrong, it's a great investment regardless (faster prototyping, having a great skill if your business fails eventually, etc.). Just be mindful of what a single person can achieve.

I think I've finally found one great dev, who is working on one of my apps. I plan to use him for the others, but it's been a long and annoying journey and my flaw is doing everything myself 😀

I think I've achieved a lot in these past years. I got my app to make several thousand $$ a month, I got Apple to pay attention so now I can get featured easily, my apps look good, etc. But I'm mad at how I seem unable to cross over from mediocre revenue to "F*ck you" level revenue. I know apps that were released the same time as mine and they're making hundreds of thousands a month.

Just a small rant. I'll make it eventually

 

[TinyOldLady]

. I know apps that were released the same time as mine and they're making hundreds of thousands a month.

Are those apps in the same niche as yours?

Congratulations on your success, I enjoy this thread a lot

 

[• nikita •]

Are those apps in the same niche as yours?

Congratulations on your success, I enjoy this thread a lot

Nope, one of them was a meditation app which is in an even more competitive niche! I have high hopes for this one though. It's in a popular niche but it's a sub niche of it, and there's already a huge competitor that's making a ton of money from their website, but with an absolutely awful app version haha.

And thanks!

 

[Raja]

Nope, one of them was a meditation app which is in an even more competitive niche! I have high hopes for this one though. It's in a popular niche but it's a sub niche of it, and there's already a huge competitor that's making a ton of money from their website, but with an absolutely awful app version haha.

And thanks!

i am curious. do you charge upfront or is it ads or it is freemium?

 

[• nikita •]

i am curious. do you charge upfront or is it ads or it is freemium?

Depends on the app. My main app started out freemium, you could pay for more content. Now, you need to be subscribed or on a trial to access it.

For my new one, it'll be free for the first few months to gather an audience, but users will be able to earn a membership once it becomes paid by inviting their friends (Dropbox style).

Ads make apps look ugly and I'm a designer so I will not do this lol.

 

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[bassiealaina]

I know there is a demand for something like this from what people on forums have been posting for example, and I also ran some surveys. People gave me some great ideas on what to implement, and looking at similar apps I'm confident I can provide value.

I guess I'm just a doubtful person, I'm worried that even if I provide value no one will buy it. One of my worries is that people will use the free version of the app and never subscribe, or delete it once they find they have to pay to access more features.

The spaghetti code issue worries me because if I write it too badly, refactoring is going to be a bitch and it may slow down the app a lot. Adding/editing features of a poorly written app is much more difficult and inefficient than in a well-written and structured one.

This is just a tip for life… If you are doubtful & don’t believe in yourself & what you are doing, selling, being, making, etc., nobody else will either. Chin up & believe with confidence will help tremendously with anything you endure.

 

[• nikita •]

This is just a tip for life… If you are doubtful & don’t believe in yourself & what you are doing, selling, being, making, etc., nobody else will either. Chin up & believe with confidence will help tremendously with anything you endure.

Heh, yep! That post is from 4 years ago (where does the time go...), and I've gotten much better at that.

 

[natan]

Whoa great thread and great journey. Congrats nikita

I had some weeks ago a serious burnout from freelancing and your thread inspired even more me to recycle my coding skills.

Do you think is better to learn swift and make apps for ios? The problem is I don't know a thing about apple, I don't even have an iphone. But with Android Apps seems to be almost imposible to get paying users and everyone wants the apps to be free.
Any thought about that?

By the way I'm learning javascript to make a web-app, some weeks to go and decide wich project will have my 80% energy

 

[Raja]

Whoa great thread and great journey. Congrats nikita

I had some weeks ago a serious burnout from freelancing and your thread inspired even more me to recycle my coding skills.

Do you think is better to learn swift and make apps for ios? The problem is I don't know a thing about apple, I don't even have an iphone. But with Android Apps seems to be almost imposible to get paying users and everyone wants the apps to be free.
Any thought about that?

By the way I'm learning javascript to make a web-app, some weeks to go and decide wich project will have my 80% energy

just use react native and you will be good

 

[Raja]

nikita would it be too much to ask,
1. how do you research and test app idea
2. what is or how do you promote/market the apps

 

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[• nikita •]

Whoa great thread and great journey. Congrats nikita

I had some weeks ago a serious burnout from freelancing and your thread inspired even more me to recycle my coding skills.

Do you think is better to learn swift and make apps for ios? The problem is I don't know a thing about apple, I don't even have an iphone. But with Android Apps seems to be almost imposible to get paying users and everyone wants the apps to be free.
Any thought about that?

By the way I'm learning javascript to make a web-app, some weeks to go and decide wich project will have my 80% energy

Thanks!

I think Swift is better than React Native tbh, or any cross-platform language. You're right that people ARE more willing to pay and to pay more on iOS. I would not go with React Native because any cross-platform language/tool will not be entirely suited for either of the two platforms. Dome things will be clunky or you won't be able to do. Also, Apple highly prefers you use their language and platform (saying this from our several meetings together and what I've read).

If you want to learn, Ray Wenderlich has amazing tutorials.

 

[• nikita •]

nikita would it be too much to ask,
1. how do you research and test app idea
2. what is or how do you promote/market the apps

1. Well for my best performing app I literally just started it by messing about bored, then decided to launch it and it did well. I didn't research it. Though I'd say the best way is to find successful apps in your niche and to see how big the audience is, are they popular, and what do their audience like/dislike. Then take it and improve on it. If there's a big audience there's a need for it, and you can take their successful features and add features their audience is asking for.

2. I use Apple Ads, Instagram posting (no ads on there), and get good reviews. I submit my app for featuring frequently which gives it a huge boost.

 

[srodrigo]

Talking about Android, did you end up releasing any of your apps there?

 

[• nikita •]

Talking about Android, did you end up releasing any of your apps there?

Nope, I'd need to develop them for scratch for Android, I'd just like to focus on Apple.

 

[srodrigo]

The big new feature is currently being developed! I'm confident the app will take off once it's released

Maybe I've missed this, but did you release this feature? If so, how did it do?

 

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[TinyOldLady]

Hi @• nikita • ! How is it going? Or did you retire and live on a greek island?