Day 4(00)

Start writing business plan. Ugh! I hate these things. I’ll come back to this. File articles of incorporation with state. Wait.

Just because every business has an app, doesn’t mean that every app is a business. Think of more than one single way to monetize the app (no, advertising doesn’t count). If you can’t think of it and it doesn’t exist, it’s not a business.

Conduct more research now that the app is done, since it took so long it’s all out of date now. ARRGGGH! Why is it so darn hard to find any information?

Where is my assistant when you need her? Oh yeah, I let her go. What numbskull does that? K. I’ll have to do it myself. Search. Search. Search. S-e-a-r-r-r-c-h.

Search terms:

• “how big is x industry?”
• “how many people use x services?”
• “how much money does x make in a year?”
• “how many units of x are in the US?”
• “how many people are registered to x in 2016”

This is dragging! And I can’t find any… hold up. What’s this? I found it! Saints be praised! I finally found some great websites full of stats and whatever else my little heart desires to know about this industry.

No competition! Whew! First into the marketplace. I’m gonna be first – Oh snap! ten pages into Google and I find them. Only three, thank God!

Anyway, back to stats. Okay, nearly all stats for this industry are grossly outdated. Hmmm… how to come up with a number… Cowboy math it is!

If there are 222m registered people, and they spend $1300/person per year. Double-check. Triple-check. Quadruple-check. Hmmm. This website claims it’s only $9.5bn. And their chart on the same page says it’s $10.633bn.

Something’s not right. Go do something else. Keep doing it. Maybe, it’s apples and oranges. Keep doing something else.

Quintuple-check. Check apples and oranges. High probability, but no guarantees without paying $900 for their full report. Not paying $900. Every other source I’m finding validates my calculations. I’m satisfied.

Calculate Target Available Market (TAM) using data acquired and rigorously validated. Calculate Service Available Market (SAM) using all data and calculations made so far. I am only launching in four major cities at first, so the TAM is not a realistic number for me to aim for. Dig out data on people using this service in those cities and add them together.

No wonder they get upset on Shark Tank whenever someone quotes the enormous size of any industry! It’s not the real number, and by quoting it, it’s clear they have an inexperienced entrepreneur.

Hmmm. App. Entrepreneur. Appreneur. I’m an Appreneur. It’s official. I’m an entrepreneur building a business around an app. Appreneur. I like it.

Day 2 (+90-ish)

Still waiting to hear from the developer. Keep asking him for updates, not getting any responses. Frustrating! So glad this is pay AFTER he’s done.

Should’ve done it myself. Wait! What am I saying? I haven’t touched Java in a decade and Lord knows, I’d still be at it with the code. Curses! (more like *curses*)

Give him more time. He finally responds. Now, I’m busy. We play email tag for weeks. He sends me the app. FINALLY! Was starting to lose hope.

It doesn’t work right. Some requirements missed outright, others don’t function as planned. Okay, lots more work to do.

Challenge: I’m here and he’s there. We’re on different continents, in different time zones. Never had this much trouble when consulting with a multi-national team before.

Learning: More planning. More planning. MORE PLANNING!

Back to working my cyber security contract. Don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting. It’s just not challenging.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: people are ALWAYS surprised when their data is hacked or compromised. Ummm. Yeah. Make the assumption, you’re already compromised and your data is already out there. Then work from that. Not the, “it’s never going to happen here,” mentality. Anyway, side-rant over. Back to my app.

Continue back and forth with developer about why this feature doesn’t work right. Have calls and flurry of emails back and forth to explain the problem and how it’s failing testing and insist they fix (at their cost). Waste more time on back and forth. Clearly, they did not think about how much effort this was really going to be.

Ask connections and former colleagues for help. Great! Lots interested. Narrow it down to one. She’s awesome at keeping the developer on track.

Update: Day 3 (365+-ish)

She cracks the whip (or in this case the Excel file she built), gets them to fix all of the defects! Huzzah! New app made!

Deep breath. Off to market we go.

Day 1: Confessions of an Appreneur

Let there be joy across the land! I have come up with (yet another) brilliant idea for an app.

I’m really sure this one’s a winner. It solves a need AND, dare I say, can be, *ahem* monetized. OMG! I should build it and turn it into a business! I’ll be rich. I’ll be famous. I’ll be rich AND famous.

Proceed to procrastinate for 6+ months while hashing out the idea in my head. Start thinking it’s a bad idea. I mean, after all, the last thing I want is another useless app that gains a whopping 65 downloads and ends up major user abandonment issues.

Rats! My apps are just like me – we both have abandonment issues. Well, I guess I stayed true to myself.

Okay, so back to thinking about my new app. It’s not gonna be like the last one. People are gonna use it. People are gonna love it. I gotta keep telling myself that, and maybe it will come true. Yeah. I got this.

k. I’m gonna do it. Write down the basic features and functions of the (amazing) new app. Not the way I write requirements for clients of course, I mean, who has time for that? Besides, I’ll be the project manager. I’ll KNOW what I want when I see it.

Now to find developer on Freelancer.com. Post project. Yup. This is really happening.

Award project. Freelance developer has questions. Lots of questions.

Mental note: use proper requirements process you would with any other client because developer doesn’t see your vision.

Okay, he’s promised it in 90 days. Wow! 90 days from now, you’re gonna have a great app posted in the store and start raking in the cash! It’s gonna be so great!