My First Year On My Own In Review (2012)

http://www.entrelife.com/2013/01/my-first-year-on-my-own-in-review-2012.html

by clarky07 • 14 years ago

7 5 14 years ago

entrelife.com

clarky072• 14 years ago

OP here. Feel free to ask me anything.

vishl• 14 years ago

Hey, interesting post. Thanks for sharing. I had a few questions:

Did you do anything special for Debt Snowball that made it more successful than your other apps, or was it just a good product?

Do you do all the design and code for your apps, or do you outsource graphic design?

Are you worried that developing on 5 platforms will spread yourself too thin?

clarky072• 14 years ago

I didn't do anything different per se, but I did have a little bit of luck at launch. I generally send emails to some of the top bloggers to try to get reviews, and by virtue of it being good with a really nice looking design, I got 2 good reviews in the same day. Those sales plus any organic sales pushed it pretty high.

I do all the code and I've done varying levels of outsourcing the design. I've done all the design for some smaller apps, I've hired people using elance.com, and more recently I've been partnering with some top level designers (Debt Snowball+ was partnering with a really good designer).

As for spreading too thin, I hope not. I won't be doing all of my apps as I don't have nearly enough time for that. There is only 1 app at this point that makes sense on desktop, and I only plan on doing the most successful apps on the other platforms for the time being. We'll see how it goes, but I think the diversification will be very much worth some amount of spreading thin.

TouchMint• 14 years ago

Good stuff thanks

harshathlete• 14 years ago

Great post. As for consulting, I have had some really awful experiences and some really good ones.... Here are some tips that might help you with your 2013 goal to consult more.. 1. Unless its an established client, take at least a 10-20% fee up-front once you and the client AGREE ( as in, they agree in writing by email or on paper ) on the requirements. 2. Then take 50% of the balance upon demo when the client agrees that the app is up to their liking followed by the remaning 50% on app launch.

Of course, you can vary the percentages to you liking but this has worked great for me so far...

Where I went wrong was being too eager to get the business and getting started on a project without getting any money upfront.

If they are serious about the project and generally a professional entity ( person/business ) they will pay upfront..otherwise run like hell.

You will obviously make a few mistakes along the way but you will get the idea of filtering clients the more you consult.

Some clients can be more demanding than the others, but in general as long as they are paying, you will be alright!

Good luck and thanks for the great post!

My First Year On My Own In Review (2012)

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