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I must be crazy

splinter.com.au

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Re: I must be crazy

#111

Post by cageface »

alecco wrote: post #74
patio11 wrote: post #49

Free advice: should there ever be a gap between the present revenues of your apps and your family's immediate financial needs, a week or six of freelancing iOS development will plug it very quickly indeed. It isn't my market, but I-heard-it-on-the-grapevine hourly rates are in the US$150~$200+ region.

The iOS development rates at Odesk for North Americans never crosses 50/hr, most relevant seem to hover at 30/hr.

ODesk and Elance are an absolute joke. I'll give up software development entirely before I'll join the nickel & dime circus on those sites.

Re: I must be crazy

#112

Post by ahoyhere »

po wrote: post #47
patio11 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cross-cultural wedding planning. You'd be surprised how few flowers don't mean "I'm sorry your mother died" to somebody ! Sorry, just kidding. The center of gravity of my business is a moving target. As of present, it is consulting, largely on marketing topics for software companies. Not where I want to be for forever but, well, wedding to pay for. Appointment Reminder is coming along decently well -- the enterprise…

Cross-cultural wedding planning. You'd be surprised how few flowers don't mean "I'm sorry your mother died" to somebody! Can't go wrong with daisies right?

"Pushing up daisies" ring a bell?

Re: I must be crazy

#113

Post by ahoyhere »

patio11 wrote: post #49

Free advice: should there ever be a gap between the present revenues of your apps and your family's immediate financial needs, a week or six of freelancing iOS development will plug it very quickly indeed. It isn't my market, but I-heard-it-on-the-grapevine hourly rates are in the US$150~$200+ region.

OP, I'm always glad to hear when my words and my story inspire. And I realize there's no point in me telling you "Don't quit your job!" because obviously that horse has left the barn.

But what Patrick says is right: consulting is a GREAT opportunity right now for iOS devs.

However, where I disagree with him is this pivotal phrase: "Should there ever be a gap…" No no no!

Don't wait for there to be a gap. The absolute worst time to be prospecting for client work is when you need it.

I'm all for throwing your energy into growing your existing revenues, but there's no way I would have ever done what you did and I have no kids and no mortgage. We consulted while we built up our app -- and it was stressful as hell but those big fat checks were a godsend. I can't even imagine trying to squeak by on $3k pre-tax with a spouse much less kids. Or with non-subscription income.

If you read the other things I write, you'll know I'm anti-magical thinking and rainbow gum drops and fairy dust. You know, unicorns, like the one being impaled by Mr Pointy the Narwhal of Truth on my blog header (http://unicornfree.com).

Well, this is unicorns in action, dude. The deep down, heartfelt belief that if we just throw yourself at something hard enough, we must succeed, is a horrible thing we internalize from movies and TV shows. It makes great television but it's not the truth.

If you fail to protect yourself & your family, income-wise, all the joy from working on your own thing will be worthless. You will feel so terrible, and be in such stress, that you will long for the days of your boring, unrewarding job. True money stress (not "I can't afford this luxury and I want it now!" but REAL stress) is worse than almost any career dissatisfaction. Worrying about your basic needs is way more time consuming and soul-sucking than a crummy job.

So:

Bust ass to pick up consulting gigs now. Make the transition as seamless as possible. Build up a client base and you can charge more and more for better and better clients and fewer and fewer hours. It'll still be consulting, it'll still be working for somebody else, but for a while, getting paid double and triple the amount is novel enough that you'll cope.

You'll thank me later.

Re: I must be crazy

#114

Post by franze »

bhousel wrote: post #5

>I’m going to make, market, and hustle my iPhone apps like my life depends on it Why can't I find a link or description to them anywhere in your post? I’m the breadwinner with a wife and daughter to support, My wife is due to have our second child in 8 weeks, We’re currently building a house, and the builder’s bills will soon arrive I may be the only person to say it, but I don't think quitting your day job at this t…

>but I don't think quitting your day job at this time is a good idea. i think it's a great time

the times when my kids were born (once when i was 20 years old, the other one when i was 30) were the most productive of my life (and i always quite my job when a new kid arrives). you always rise with your challenges, so it's a great idea to create some big challenges for yourself.

in 2 days i will be in the salar the uyuni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni) with my family, in 2 days i have a conf call with the CEO of an international top 500 website to talk about their content strategy. it's a challenge, i love challenges, keeps life interesting.

Re: I must be crazy

#115

Post by ahoyhere »

cageface wrote: post #57
patio11 wrote: post #49

Free advice: should there ever be a gap between the present revenues of your apps and your family's immediate financial needs, a week or six of freelancing iOS development will plug it very quickly indeed. It isn't my market, but I-heard-it-on-the-grapevine hourly rates are in the US$150~$200+ region.

Like every other software market, outsourcing firms are eating up the bottom end of the iOS development market at rates far below that. But I imagine if you can cultivate the right kind of local clients you can do well. Since you mention it, if anybody needs some freelance help with an app I'm available. As a self-outsourced American currently living in Vietnam I can significantly undercut $150/hr. ;)

I've hired cheap developers and I've hired $150+/hr developers and I can tell you, I still work with the $150+/hr developers and not with any of the cheap ones. There's a reason for that: low pricing represents a kind of fundamental laziness and bad business sense, which sadly tends to permeate to the real work, too.

No doubt there are brilliant deals out there -- awesome devs who do great work, professionally, and don't know their worth -- SOMEWHERE. But considering how I've failed over & over to find them, I don't bother trying any more.

If you're good, you can ignore everything that goes on at low price points. And well you should.

Re: I must be crazy

#116

Post by stevenwei »

minikites wrote: post #103
bignoggins wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's the global list, but the per category list that OP was talking about is on iTunes desktop only. So pretty much worthless.

Nope, press "Categories" at the bottom and select a category to see the "What's Hot" for said category.

Eh, I don't see this on my iPhone. Selecting a category (from the tab at the bottom) shows Top Paid, Top Free, and Release Date.

No "What's Hot".

Re: I must be crazy

#117

Post by stevenwei »

porsupah wrote: post #101
stevenwei wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been doing this full-time for about 2 years now, with some products that have taken off and others that have entirely flopped. I agree that the "easy money" (e.g. air horns and flashlights) is entirely gone, but there is still a ton of opportunity available if you're willing to put in the work. The type of work necessary now is 1) different than it was 3 years ago and 2) different than what would be required of…

"Traditional advertising methods (e.g. AdWords) typically don't work cause app prices are too low." Have you gauged the efficacy of advertising on directly applicable sites, such as (for games) TouchArcade? I can easily see the low unit pricing being a hindrance - I suppose therein lies the temptation to bolt on IAPs, which opens an entirely different can of worms.

Yes. Not on TouchArcade (since I don't sell games), but I have paid for advertising on AppAdvice and CultOfMac. It seems to be roughly break even for me, but since I can't correlate click-throughs with purchases I don't really know for sure - and experimenting is not exactly cheap.

Re: I must be crazy

#118

Post by dinkumthinkum »

cageface wrote: post #67
patio11 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain exactly what about the service delivered is different with you living in Vietnam versus you living in, I don't know, Central Japan? Or, for that matter, living in whatever "One town too far to come into the office in San Francisco" is? I mean, sure, you have a cost of living which will let you attempt to compete on price for the worst projects from the worst customers, but why not just deliver desirab…

I figure the awkward time zone difference for most U.S. clients has to count for some kind of haircut. But your point is well taken. If I do decide to shift my focus from my own products to consulting I'm not going to do it at too high a discount.

Yeah but previously you said you could undercut because you were in Vietnam. Now you say you think you probably need to undercut because you are in Vietnam. Big difference. :)

Re: I must be crazy

#119

Post by dinkumthinkum »

cageface wrote: post #111
alecco wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iOS development rates at Odesk for North Americans never crosses 50/hr, most relevant seem to hover at 30/hr.

ODesk and Elance are an absolute joke. I'll give up software development entirely before I'll join the nickel & dime circus on those sites.

Yeah, I mean if those were the market rates, programming would be the worst career choice. You'd be better off as a manager at Macy's.

Re: I must be crazy

#120

Post by mise »

ahoyhere wrote: post #113
patio11 wrote: post #49

Free advice: should there ever be a gap between the present revenues of your apps and your family's immediate financial needs, a week or six of freelancing iOS development will plug it very quickly indeed. It isn't my market, but I-heard-it-on-the-grapevine hourly rates are in the US$150~$200+ region.

OP, I'm always glad to hear when my words and my story inspire. And I realize there's no point in me telling you "Don't quit your job!" because obviously that horse has left the barn. But what Patrick says is right: consulting is a GREAT opportunity right now for iOS devs. However, where I disagree with him is this pivotal phrase: "Should there ever be a gap…" No no no! Don't wait for there to be a gap. The absolute…

Amy, Patrick, what's your opinion on working in a fulfilling full-time job while building up revenues, compared with consulting while building up revenues?
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