Recently, I’ve been busy, but busy is better than boring, right?
In my old days, I’d wake up and not know what to do. These days, I wake up and have so many things I could be doing and I love it that way.
Lately, I’ve been putting my head down and focusing on my bigger goals for this year.
Today I’ll just talk about what’s been going on, and why I’m going to New York City next week. Sit back and grab your favorite beverage.
My First Webinar
I did my first ever webinar a couple weeks ago for readers who bought the Only72.com package through me. I’ve attended many webinars, but never given one.
I wanted to have a special bonus and since one of the products in the package was about outsourcing iPhone apps, I decided I could definitely share my knowledge and experience about it in a webinar.
I was nervous about how many would be interested, but I had a small but excited group!
It was a 90 minute class on how to develop your first iPhone app. Since it was my first webinar, I felt so nervous beforehand, but once I started going through the slides, the nervousness went away.
I had so much fun doing it. It was suppose to be an hour, but ended up being around 90 minutes. I could talk about this stuff for hours.
Instead of doing one and recording it for those who couldn’t attend, I did two webinars so everyone could attend live.
For the second webinar, I had the worst headache a couple hours before it after waking up from a nap. I took Advil, but it didn’t help. My head was throbbing. I still had to do my best and act like nothing was wrong.
Once it started, I really got into the material. When it was done, I realized my headache was completely gone! I had no idea when it went away, but I’m so glad it did. So do a webinar if you have a throbbing headache.
I got great feedback, so I’m glad everyone really enjoyed it.
I hope to be doing more webinars this year on topics I’m passionate about. Stay tuned!
Blog World New York
This time next week I’ll be in New York City for Blog World!
It’s been something I’ve been keeping my eye on since I started blogging last year. I read about the one last year in New York. I thought about going to the one in Los Angeles for about a second. Overall, I read great things about it.
This time I felt I should go and stop wondering if I should or not.
I have never been to a conference. Never had a great reason to go. So I’m a conference newbie.
I felt like this would be a great opportunity to learn more and get to meet some bloggers I have followed since the beginning.
Plus it’s in one of my favorite places, New York City. What a great excuse to go.
The conference is Tuesday-Thursday but I’m arriving Monday and leaving on Saturday. Eleanor is coming with me. So she’ll enjoy the city while I’m at the conference.
Like I said, I’ve never been to a conference. I’m not good at networking. I’m not comfortable at making small talk. So this will be definitely out of my comfort zone. That’s what I need.
I even got business cards printed. My first ever business card so I got excited to hold them in my hand. I went with a unique style. I didn’t want the boring kinda. Check out my business card and you’ll see it is definitely is for me.
I’ve been reading some old articles about how to best prepare for it. It’s three days and I know a lot goes on so I want to have an idea of how best to prepare.
Anyone have tips for a conference newbie?
I’m definitely excited, but will feel nervous. Look for a post afterwards about how it went.
If anyone is going to Blog World New York, let me know and it’d great to say hi in person!
How is Photo 365 doing?
Things have been pretty quiet with it. Nothing major has gone on since the last update on the blog.
I did get one of the best emails ever when a speech pathologist told me Photo 365 is helping his stroke patients in therapy. It’s helping his patient capture their lives and help with conversations. He even said he’s speaking at a conference in July and will be discussing my app!
It’s so amazing to hear that it’s being used in ways that I never imagined.
Sales have been steady. I had a plateau of about $50 a day for the majority of this year, but now it’s been around $25 a day. I haven’t done any marketing, so I can’t be too surprised by the decline.
I’m thankful it’s still bringing in money every single day.
From Jan 1 to May 28, it’s brought in $11,024.01. Still a really nice amount.
I did a podcast interview with Spencer Hawes at Niche Site Pursuit about Photo 365. He asked some great questions so check it out if you’re interested.
Still focusing on making little updates to it. My bigger goal is to make it the best app it can be by the end of 2012. Gotta get ready for the start of the new year when it’s a perfect time to start a 365 project.
Apps Apps Apps
That’s all I’ve been thinking about the last couple months and I’ll tell you why.
Like I just said, sales of Photo 365 have plateaued. I knew even when I was averaging $1,000 a day the first month, that one app alone wasn’t going to give me the financial freedom I seek. I knew that sales would not be like that forever.
I don’t want to be a one hit wonder either. I don’t want to be Screech from Saved by the Bell. That’s all he’s famous for even though it’s a great show. Since then it’s been all downhill for his career.
So the last two months I’ve put my head down and been really focused on developing more apps.
The shift in gears came from reading Chris Guillebeau’s $100 Startup. I know I’ve mentioned it often recently, but I don’t do it cause I really like to misspell his last name every time.
The book is great.
There’s so many things we could be doing every day. I know I can be busy, but not actually get anything done.
One piece of advice really changed my attitude. He talks about focusing more on what will make us money. Ultimately in business, we want to make money. So it should be a priority. But it’s so easy to get distracted or not put in enough time.
When I looked at areas where I could make more money, developing more apps is the one area I should be focusing on. That has the biggest potential. That’s what I know. That’s what I enjoy. That’s what I should be focusing the majority of my time.
I’ve put other potential projects aside.
I went from working on no apps to developing two at the same time and a third right behind it.
Developing two apps at the same time must feel like having twins. When they’re both great, it’s wonderful. When both aren’t, it’s stressful.
Developing Photo 365 was much smoother. For one app, I’ve intentionally taken a different approach. With my first app, I worked with a team. It’s easier because you have your designer and programmer on the same team. They can communicate with each other and take you out as the middle man. It saves you so much time as well. If you’re outsourcing your first ever app, I’d highly recommend working with a team.
However I wanted to experience what it was like to hire the designer and programmer separately.
It has been a challenge to find a designer up to my standards. For my first designer, I made the mistake of hiring someone who was just by the book. Meaning she did whatever I told her. You might think that’s great, however, I wanted a designer to use their creativitiy and bring ideas to the project as well. I should have been more thorough in my interviewing process. I liked her portfolio and communication, but she wasn’t the type of designer I wanted. I’ve learned.
Now I’m on my second designer and I’m hoping he’ll be better. His portfolio looked great. Good reviews. His first two attempts at a resdesign haven’t been good though. The second one, I can’t even believe he designed it and thought it was good. I’m giving him one last chance. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll move on.
A quick lesson: slow to hire and quick to fire.
I’ve had to remind myself that no matter what challegenges I’ve faced, it’s not really that hard. In the overall picture, I get to develop iPhone apps. How cool is that?
What kind of apps am I creating? I’ll wait to reveal them. Not cause it’s a huge secret. I just don’t want to jinx anything. I want to make sure they’re closer to being finished before I do.
I’m soon starting another app with a new developer I found on Elance.com. This one will be different because it’ll primarily be a free app. It’s definitely targeted to a certain niche. I think it’ll be cool little app.
Can’t wait to tell you about the apps!
That’s It for Now
I’m hoping all this hard work pays off in the long run. It’s certainly made me really think how bad do I want it, because I can easily be doing other things, but they won’t have the type of impact I’m looking for.
Take a moment to assess if your goals. Are you on the right track? Are you spending enough time on them?
You’d be surprised how much you can get done before the end of 2012.
