Today launch! And a difficult decision made... (app biz update 9)
Big week, this one! My ‘Today’ app has finally LAUNCHED (woo hoo!), marketing has begun, emails from new users have begun flooding in by the dozens, and to top it off I’ve got a difficult decision to make. It’s been the perfect storm of things going on, 4 things going on in my life over the last week:
- Today app launch
- My second daughter born this week!
- Government grant about to be approved?
- Tempting job offer…
Today app launch
Anyway, lets start with the app. It launched on the 12th, and was mentioned in Patrick Rhone’s podcast on that same day. The sponsored post went up on his blog on the 14th too. So far, i’ve got sales stats for the 12th and 13th: so far it’s been 120 and 310 sales respectively. Which comes to $300 in my pocket for those two days after apple’s cut. I’m really looking forwards to seeing how it goes for the 14th, given that was the day the sponsored post went up.
One fascinating thing: he really must have built a following of really super-nice people. I’ve been swamped by emails from his podcast followers, and everyone is really positive and encouraging about the app. I’ve been blown away by the friendliness, they’re a credit to Patrick.
Decisions
Difficult decisions. Who loves them? I know you do! This week, I heard it said that ‘leaders make difficult decisions reluctantly’, and this one certainly was made reluctantly. You see, i’ve been given a really tempting job offer.
My original plan was to make an iphone app, and then make a web app, and after releasing those, when my savings would be about to run out, i would make a decision as to continue versus getting a job. So i haven’t been looking for a job. But I’ve been offered a contract at Google, which really made me think twice about whether to continue on to make my web app. And i’ve decided to accept.
Now please don’t think i’ve just thrown in the towel and quit on my dreams of starting and owning my own business! That is still the long term dream. In the end, I think it’s a case of me trying to reap where i haven’t sown enough. When i started on this path, both my mentors said i should try to build a side income gradually while holding down a day job, and gradually transition to it, after building that foundation. Instead, i impulsively jumped into the side business when it was only making roughly 30% of my regular income, which soon dropped to maybe 10% as my most successful app was destroyed by a free competitor.
Many other factors have been considered: The decision on the government grant I was hoping to get has been postponed for a month, so I don’t know if that’ll come to fruition, so i have to make my decision on the basis of the assumption that it won’t. If it does, I only hope they’ll allow me to postpone the grant proposal by a year (or the duration of the google contract). Having a new baby also makes you think about being more conservative. So if you’re currently childless, take some risks! You won’t be free to do so later on.
Also, i’ve made $300 in the first two days of sales, which are traditionally the best days sales you’ll ever get. If this follows the typical iOS app sales graph, with a steep fall-off after a few days, then it’s looking like this app won’t be the kind of thing to support my family financially. Hopefully it covers the marketing and design costs. It’s been a good learning curve - and i feel like i gave it my best shot.
Anyway, from now on my updates will be very infrequent as I attempt to build up a side income from apps to support me when the google contract finishes, as development will be a lot slower. But it’s been an interesting couple of months nevertheless!
Thanks for reading guys
Thanks for reading! And if you want to get in touch, I'd love to hear from you: chris.hulbert at gmail.
Chris Hulbert
(Comp Sci, Hons - UTS)
Software Developer (Freelancer / Contractor) in Australia.
I have worked at places such as Google, Cochlear, Assembly Payments, News Corp, Fox Sports, NineMSN, FetchTV, Coles, Woolworths, Trust Bank, and Westpac, among others. If you're looking for help developing an iOS app, drop me a line!
Get in touch:
[email protected]
github.com/chrishulbert
linkedin
