8 components of the success of your mobile application (Part 3)

Lost keys 1-6? You can find them in previous posts: the first and second part.

... Last year I was confused. For 14 months, I gave all my heart, soul and modest savings to an application that I was proud of.

An application that earned less than a hundred bucks a month.

What did I do wrong? I set out to figure it out.

I contacted three dozen successful entrepreneurs in this field, experts in mobile marketing and mobile analytics. I recorded a video interview in which I asked each of them: What is the secret to success in the AppStore?

Key 7: Don't Give Up

“A black belt is a white belt that never gave up.”

Entrepreneurs from any area of ​​business should be persistent. Most likely, you will have to know many defeats before you achieve great success. Looking at some examples of “quick success” like Rovio (who, by the way, managed to create Angry Bird after 51 failures), it’s easy to give in to temptation and decide that this is the best way to success.

When you look at successful developers, keep in mind that almost every success story has a tremendous learning process, failure and persistence.

Seb Hareng, founder of App Marketing Lab and BonsaiSoft, realized this when he brought his son to the karate section. There was an inscription on the wall of the school: "The black belt is a white belt that never gave up." It inspired him. He admits that "there are many reasons why you want to give up or admit your own defeat when you are working on something that does not produce the results you expect." If you learn from your mistakes and follow your dream even in the most difficult times, then it will definitely pay off later.

Resist the temptation to blame the app store for all your failures. Seb says that if you want to win the black belt for creating applications, then you have to work on it.

“You need to get used to the fact that maybe your first application will not be successful right away - maybe the second one will bring you success,” says Seb. But if you give up, you will never get to the application that will be successful.

Of course, you also need to earn a living in between. Seb offers a very practical approach to building relationships between spouses or partners to make this path smoother. A frank conversation with your soulmate is a good starting point. “If you are married, then voice your expectations. If you don’t clarify everything, then you and your union may well get a lot of unpleasant emotions and stress, ”says Seb.

Take extra steps to relieve some of the stress and save money for a rainy day. Give paid consultations on the side or, for example, take projects for development. “It helps expand the runway,” says Seb.

Chris Chidgey, co-founder of The App Business podcast, also supports the idea that you will achieve your goal, unless you give up. “I love what I do. I love my job. I have read a lot of things and I'm not afraid to be defeated and learn from this useful lessons. I just do not see anything shameful in this. I think this is part of the training. Just get the data and study it, ”says Chris,“ and in a year, in three months, you will be happy that you went through all these inconveniences. ”

Key 8: Don't Do It All Alone

Many entrepreneurial developers and independent developers easily accept the position "I am against the whole world." But the truth is that often you can do more if you work with others.
“I have always been a strong supporter of a cohesive community. A thousand minds are much better than one, right? I think this applies to everything from cross-product promotion to helping develop a better application, ”says Ted Nash.

During a conversation with Christophe de Courson as part of his podcast, Paul Kemp learned about innovative collaboration. Christopher sold part of the shares to the application development agency in exchange for a lower development cost. In addition to lowering the contribution to the project, he shared a story on social media, which helped the application get more buyers. “He received 50 tweets per day, and it seems to me that the number of active users has increased to two million. A strikingly successful story, ”says Paul.

You can use this method to search for a graphic designer, programmer or business partner - depending on what skills you need.

Collaboration with other entrepreneurs can also increase your business success. Let's look at the story of a guest from another Paul podcast, Andreas Kambanis, who created an app called Caveman Feast: “I was involved in a project with a guy who had a huge number of Facebook followers who were interested in the Paleo diet. We divided the profit 50/50. I have created an application. And the guy shared his large audience. ”

Before launch, they together came up with a strategy that was based on an existing audience. “They lured the audience and handed out discount codes. They talked about the development of the application. " On the day the application was launched, they turned to an already prepared audience. They became the sixth in the list of the most successful projects, earning $ 10,000 in profit that day.

Andreas reapplied this strategy by partnering with Kevin Curry to develop Fit Men Cook. With the help of the huge audience that Kevin provided, the app became the second most profitable paid app in App Store history.

If you do not have a huge number of followers on the network, you should find a partner who has it.

The network is full of entrepreneurs who have already gathered their audience. Their books have become bestsellers, or they have a huge list of contacts. What they lack is the technical skills to create the application. And this is a great opportunity for you, a development entrepreneur, to offer a joint venture. This is very attractive: for this, the entrepreneur does not need to spend much on developing the application. But he will help you in his advancement. And you can share the profit.

If you seek the advice and support of other entrepreneurs, this can also increase your success. Rick Singer strongly advises finding a wise person who will give you the necessary boost. It is not so difficult to find such people as you might think. “In every area there are very talented people who really know what they are doing.” Seek their advice.

Sharing ideas and wisdom could change the world of applications for the better. “If developers become a little more open to these changes, significant changes await us.” If people talk about their statistics and traffic analysis, about what works well for them and what don’t, and openly talk about their entrepreneurial path (and communicate with other entrepreneurs who do the same), then this will bring everyone huge benefits.

Do not be afraid to seek help and learn from someone else. Someday you can be in the role of a mentor.

You can't handle it all alone

Many entrepreneurial developers (including myself) make a mistake trying to cope with everything on their own.

“It’s very easy, especially for developers who can do everything themselves, and stay at the idle stage,” emphasizes Chris Chidgey. “It becomes a hobby, not a business.” They do not achieve their goals. "

Many of us become developers because we love to create applications.

“It's very easy to fall into the trap of being inspired by your business. And if now the developer is trying to do everything himself, then in three months he will stagnate in the same place with the same problem, ”says Chris.

How can you fix this? Here's a tip from Chris: “Make yourself attract other people to do some of the work. It can be a little painful. But you will never get to the point where your business begins to grow, and do not do those things that are important to it if you spend all the time on the code. "

I must tell you right away that you shouldn’t cut it off - do everything gradually, since there are not many chances that you can get good capital for your business. But if you start attracting other people (even on a tiny scale), it will begin to have a beneficial effect on your thinking. This approach will be very important if you ever decide to expand your business.

Consider starting small. For a couple of hundred dollars a month, for example, you can hire a remote assistant who can help you for several hours a week. Teach him to do one thing, perhaps something that takes up a lot of time that you have to spend concentrating on more important tasks. Perhaps they would be able to schedule your posts on social media or answer user questions regarding your application. When they complete one task, teach them something else.

“A large number of remote assistants work for us,” says Lee Rankinen of MoneyFromApps.com, “It saves us many hours a week and allows us to work somewhere four to five times more productive.” This will help you focus on the tasks that are vital for your business that only you can handle.

Even for experienced entrepreneurs, this is not an easy step. “To be honest with myself, I’m currently hiring someone to take on many of my tasks,” said Jeff Gould, founder of App Rush Academy, “I can imagine it let it. But for some reason, I just can’t decide on it. ”

At first, you will give assistants those things that you can easily do yourself. In fact, you can deal with them better and faster than the one you hire.

This is something every entrepreneur has to suffer with. “The need to entrust others with something that you yourself can do better. And the thought that it’s actually much easier for you if you don’t have to explain anything to anyone, ”says Chris. “But that will not bring your business growth.” This approach makes you think of many things, but not those that you really should focus on - increasing ROI and ultimately making a profit. ”

It is important to find this balance. If you don’t transfer part of your work as soon as you can afford it, you will begin to reduce your chances of success. When you are just starting out, this is not always possible. Just do not make the mistakes of many entrepreneurs who refuse to help for too long.

Otherwise, you will eventually begin to work not for the good of your own business. When you hire other people, it makes you think about the profit that your investments should bring. You must ask yourself: "How do I plan to recoup this investment?"

Regardless of whether you hire remote assistants or an application development firm, the question remains unchanged. Chris puts it this way: “Where do these $ 5,000 go? How long will it take to get them back? ”

Many of the tasks you submit may be related to marketing. But in order to make big profits, ultimately you must create a marketing plan and manage the processes associated with promoting your product. Hire and train an assistant who could bring your vision to life. To do this, you must have sufficient knowledge to create a solid marketing strategy.

Peggy Anne Salz: “After all, you are an entrepreneur and developer. You have certain resources, time, money, etc. You must delegate authority to others. You must decide for yourself what you need to devote your time to. ”