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

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

... Last year I was in turmoil. For 14 months, I gave all my heart, soul, and modest savings to the application, which I was proud of.
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An app that earned less than one hundred bucks a month.

What did I do wrong? I set out to understand this.

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

Key 7: Do not give up

"The black belt is a white belt that never gave up."

Entrepreneurs from any field of business must be persistent. Most likely, you will have to know many defeats before you achieve great success. Looking at some such examples of “quick success” as Rovio (who, by the way, managed to create Angry Bird after 51 failures), it is easy to succumb to temptation and decide that this is the best road to success.

When you look at successful developers, keep in mind that almost every success story has a huge learning process, failures and stamina.

Seb Hareng, founder of the 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.” That 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 give you the results you expect." If you learn from your mistakes and follow your dream even in the most difficult times, this will surely pay off later.

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

“You need to get used to the fact that maybe your first application will not be a good one,” 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 in order to make this path smoother. Straight talk with your other half is a good starting point. “If you are married, 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 set aside money for a rainy day. Let's get paid advice on the side or, for example, take on the development of projects. “It helps to expand the runway,” says Seb.

Chris Chidgey, co-founder of The App Business podcast, also supports the idea that you will achieve a goal if you don’t give up. “I love what I do. I love my job. I have read a lot of things and I am not afraid to suffer defeat and to learn useful lessons from this. I just do not see anything shameful. 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 have gone through all these inconveniences. ”

Key 8: Do not do everything alone

Many entrepreneurs, developers and independent developers easily take 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 staunch supporter of a cohesive community. A thousand minds are much better than one, aren't they? 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 some 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 his story in social media, which helped the app to get more buyers. “He received 50 tweets per day, and it seems to me that the number of his active users has increased to two million. An amazingly successful story, ”says Paul.

You can use this method to find 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 podcast of Paul, Andreas Kambanis, who created an app called Caveman Feast: “I was involved in a project with a guy who had a huge number of followers on Facebook who were interested in the Paleo diet. We shared a profit of 50/50. I created an application. And the guy shared his large audience. ”

Before launching, 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 of the launch of the application, they turned to an already prepared audience. They became the sixth in the list of the most successful projects, earning 10 thousand dollars of profit that day.

Andreas re-applied this strategy, becoming a partner with Kevin Curry to develop Fit Men Cook. With the help of a huge audience, provided by Kevin, the application has become the second most profitable paid application in the history of the App Store.

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

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 an application. And this is a great opportunity for you, the entrepreneur developer, to offer a joint venture. This is very attractive: for this, the entrepreneur does not need to spend much money on the development of the application. But he will help you in his promotion. And you can share profits.

If you seek advice and support from other entrepreneurs, this can also increase your success. Rick Singer strongly advises you to find a wise man who will give you the necessary impetus. Such people are not so difficult to find 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 apps for the better. “If developers become a little more open to these changes, significant changes are waiting for us.” If people talk about their statistics and traffic analysis, what works well for them and what does not, and talk openly about their entrepreneurial path (and communicate with other entrepreneurs who do the same), then it will bring huge benefits.

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

You can't handle everything alone

Many business developers (and I among them) make the mistake of trying to cope with all their own strength.

“It's very easy, especially for developers who can do everything themselves, and stay at the stage of work idling,” emphasizes Chris Chidgey. - It becomes a hobby, not a business. They do not reach their goals. ”

Many of us become developers because they like to create applications.

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

How can you fix this? Here's a tip from Chris: “Force yourself to get other people to do some of the work. This can be a bit painful. But you will never get to the moment when your business starts to grow, and you will not be busy with the things that are important to it, if you spend all the time following the code. ”

I must tell you right away that you don’t want to chop off your shoulders - do everything gradually, as there are not so 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 several hours a week. Teach him to do one thing, perhaps something that takes a lot of time that you have to spend concentrating on more important tasks. Perhaps they could schedule your social media posts or answer user questions about your application. When they master one task, teach them something else.

“We have a lot of remote assistants working for us,” says Lee Rankinen from MoneyFromApps.com, “It saves us many hours a week and allows us to work four to five times more productively.” This will help you focus on tasks that are vital to your business that only you can handle.

Even for experienced entrepreneurs this is not an easy step. “To be honest with myself, at the moment I’ve been happy to hire someone who could take on many of my tasks,” said Jeff Gould, founder of App Rush Academy, “I can imagine allow. But for some reason, I just can't decide on this. ”

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 that every entrepreneur has to suffer with. “The need to trust others with what 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 it will not bring growth to your business. This approach makes you think about many things, but not about those that you really need to focus on - at 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 first start, it is not always possible. Just make no mistake for many entrepreneurs who refuse to help for too long.

Otherwise, you will eventually start working not for the good of your business. When you hire other people, it makes you think about the profits that your investment should bring. You have to ask yourself: "How do I plan to recoup these investments?"

Regardless of whether you hire a remote assistant or an application development firm, the question remains the same. Chris says it like this: “Where does the 5,000 dollars go? How long will it take to get them back? ”

Many of the tasks you pass can be related to marketing. But in order to make a big profit, ultimately you must create a marketing plan and manage the processes associated with promoting your product. Hire and train an assistant who can make your vision a reality. To do this, you must have enough knowledge to create a solid marketing strategy.

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