Monthly Archives: November 2014

#ArticleOfTheDay: New Appreneurs: How to Control Costs on Your First App!

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am an #appreneur (an entrepreneur Cost Savings for your first appthat focuses on app development) and am working on bringing my first app to the Apple App Store (coming very soon).

I just stumbled on this article and found it to be very accurate. I wrote a blog a while ago about getting the best price from your developer and this article is a good companion to that.

Written by Jeff Williams, today’s article addresses the things a new appreneur should think about when it comes to hiring someone to develop their app. I especially agree with point #1 — it is really easy to “gold plate” your app. Gold Plating is when you add too many features to your app where it dilutes the user friendliness of your app, so be very careful with that.

Without further ado, here is the full article:  http://bit.ly/1wPNcNG

Related article: How to Build a Product Website for your App

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article of the day was helpful to you. I would also like to hear your stories and understand strategies you’ve used for reducing your development costs. Please leave a comment!

#ArticleOfTheDay: Make Time For Yourself – 7 Tips For Your Successful Personal Project

Do you have personal projects you’ve been putting off until tomorrow? Whether it be learning to cook, training for a cycling event, or a wood-working project around the house, you need a strategy to accoProcrastination mplish your goal.

Written by Peter Ewin Hall, today’s article provides tips for getting started with any personal project you’ve decided to embark upon. My favorite is tip #4 because it always seems that things take longer than expected.

Without further ado, here is the full article:  http://bit.ly/1zx9xz3

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article of the day was helpful to you. I would also like to hear your stories about projects you have been putting off but are now equipped to accomplish. Please leave a comment!

Work a Little and Play a lot: Lifestyle Freedom through App Development

Many people are equating today’s popularity of mobile apps to the US gold rush of 1849. This hype suggests that you can create a mobile app, publish it to the various app stores and quickly become a millionaire.

Lifestyle Freedom

Is it true? Think about it, there are 1.2 million apps in the Apple App Store in mid 2014. Do you think all of the people publishing apps are millionaires? Nope.  According to Laura Tallardy (statistics provided by Owen Goss), here are the statistics:

  • The bottom 25 percent have made less than $200
  • The next 25 percent have made between $200 and $3,000
  • The 50-75 quarter are between $3,000 and $30,000
  • The top 10 percent have made $400,000
  • The top 4 percent are MILLIONAIRES!

So the real question is “Can I build an app company that does well enough that I can design my own lifestyle, work when I am inspired and play a lot?“.  To do that, you need to get yourself into the top 25%. Is that easy? I’m not sure but I do know that many app developers simply develop an app, put it in the app store, do no marketing and expect it to reach the top 10%. And as you might predict, they land in the bottom 25%.

2HourAppreneur Experiment

All of this brings us to an experiment called the “2HourAppreneur experiment. I am developing an app (and possibly multiple apps if it looks promising) to determine if a person can build an app business that allows them to live a cool and fulfilling lifestyle. A lifestyle that affords you the opportunity to work on your own timetable, play a lot and revel in your entrepreneurial spirit.

Why am I qualified to try it? I’m an entrepreneur that started a software business in 1998 and sold it in 2009. Selling the business made me financially independent and allowed me to retire at 50 years old. I have enjoyed the retired lifestyle freedom. I’ve traveled a lot, adopted new hobbies, and pushed myself with new challenges. With my free time, I can try this experiment without financial pressures because building an app business is fairly inexpensive. If you want to learn more about me, you can take a look at my personal website and travel blogs.

Will it work? I am not sure but it will be fun to try. I will document my journey and tell you exactly what works and what doesn’t. This posting will be a living document that includes a list of helpful blogs explaining exactly what I am doing and why.  And if it doesn’t work, at least we will all know!

Here are some blogs I’ve created to document the process thus far:

How Can You Track the 2HourAppreneur Experiment?

If you find this experiment interesting, you have a couple of ways of keeping updated on the progress:

Email
If you don’t mind getting an email every few weeks subscribe to my 2HourAppreneur blog. You can do that by entering your email address below (you can unsubscribe at any time):

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Facebook
If you prefer not to get an email this often but would like to check in, LIKE my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/2hourappreneur.

Twitter
Or you can subscribe to my Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/2hourappreneur, my Twitter handle is @2HourAppreneur.

aMemoryJog
While you’re at it, take a look at the first app I am developing called aMemoryJog. It is an app for keeping track of all your passwords, loyalty reward numbers, and anything else that is easy to forget. Learn more at http://www.aMemoryJog.com.

Latest Updates

As mentioned above, I plan to continually update this blog posting as I publish new blogs related to app development, so you will see the list of blogs listed above grow over time. I will also let you know where I am in the process.

Update on 18-June-15
I am now working on my second app called Count Us Down. It lets you count down the days until a big life event (vacation, baby on the way, wedding, concert, sporting event, retirement, etc.).  It also allows you to share that event with your friends and family. Want to be part of the beta team? If you do, you will get early access to the app and you can provide feedback before it gets to the app store. Sign up here: http://www.CountUsDown.com

Update on 13-May-15
The aMemoryJog app has been in the app store for a few  months now and I’ve learned a great deal from this experiment. Click here to see what I’ve learned

Update on 17-Nov-14
I outsourced the development of the aMemoryJog app in early April 2014. It was expected to take about 4 months to complete but it has taken a lot longer than expected. The extra development time has been OK because it has given me more time to build my social media followers and prepare a marketing strategy. aMemoryJog should be in the Apple app store sometime in December 2014.

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app. The app is free, why not try it now?

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

#AppOfTheDay: iPhone Reminders App – Sharing your Grocery List

If you go grocery shopping with your spouse, room mate or friends, it would be cool to divide the grocery list up so that you can get the shopping done faster.  With the free iPhone Reminders app, you can easily do this.

Watch the 2 minute video below, it steps you through using the Reminders app for sharing grocery lists. You can also use the app for sharing other lists — you are only limited by your imagination!  Click below to view the video:

Share your grocery list with iPhone Reminders

Click above to watch the video

 Direct Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoa5e2y18Sk 

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article of the day was helpful to you. I would also like to hear your stories and understand strategies you’ve used for reducing your development costs. Please leave a comment!

#ArticleOfTheDay: The 5 Practices That Bring Us Closer to Our True Selves

With a life that is rapid pace and hectic, it is really easy to lose sight of who we truly are. We serve others, we look after our kids, we worry about our parents, and we try to please others in hopes of building a better life. But at the end of the day we find that we really have not focused on ourselves enough.

Written by Julie Ostrowiski, today’s article of the day spotlights practices that we can do daily to bring us closer to who we really are.  My favorite tip is #5 because when you travel you are forced into a culture that is new and different than your own. It forces you to empathize with others and to realize that the American way of doing things is not the only way.

If I had one more practice to add this article, it would be to hang out with friends that you can totally be yourself with and not pretend that you are someone that you aren’t.

Without further ado, here is the full article: http://bit.ly/1uZ4wjV.

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article of the day was helpful to you. I would also like to hear your stories and understand what brings you back to your true self. Please leave a comment!

#ArticleOfTheDay: 3 Issues That Scare Appreneurs, But Shouldn’t

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am an #appreneur (an entrepreneur that focuses on app development) and am working on bringing my first app to the Apple App Store (coming very soon).  It is important to me to share my experiences and to let you know how others are doing in app development.

Written by Chris Meier, today’s article talks about 3 things that tend to scare people away from app development. I generally agree with Chris’s observations.

In my experience thus far, I would say that it is a bit more complicated than some people lead you to believe. For example, you really have to learn some new skills. You need to be able to create a good RFP, you need to have a vision of what the app should look like and how it will operate, you have to be tech savvy enough to learn software well enough to make your job easier.

But I do believe that most people can do it. If you are a self-starter, willing to learn/adapt, and somewhat computer savvy, you can certainly do it.

Without further ado, here is the full article:  http://bit.ly/1wg8W17

Related article: How to Build a Product Website for your App

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article of the day was helpful to you. I would also like to hear your stories and understand what scares you about app development. Please leave a comment!

#ArticleOfTheDay: How to Overcome Nervousness: 7 Simple Habits

nervousAt some point, every one feels nervous and having solid coping techniques can be very helpful.

Written by Henrick Edberg, today’s article of the day focuses in on things you can do to get rid of those butterflies in the stomach. So if you have a big presentation or social situation coming up soon, take a few tips from this article.

Tip #6 is my favorite. My wife always says “You would not care what people thought of you if you knew how little they do…” — funny but very true!

Without further ado, here is the full article: http://bit.ly/1xIgUm3.

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article of the day was helpful to you. I would also like to hear your stories and understand what makes your nervousness subside. Please leave a comment!

8 Keys to this Entrepreneur’s Happiness

Are most entrepreneurs happy? I’m not sure, but of the ones I’ve met, most seem to be. I’ve always had a feeling of happiness, ever since childhood. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have down days, everyone does. But for the most part, I am really happy and I started to ponder why that is. In this post I will share with you a bit of my self-reflection.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi

8-Keys-To-Happiness

8 Keys to this Entrepreneur’s Happiness

After a bit of reflection, I’ve identified things that have created happiness for me:

  1. Exercise – As a kid, I spent lots of time outside: hunting, riding my bike, playing sports, and walking the farm where we lived. Once I graduated college, I started working out with weights and doing cardio every week. Now 30 years later, I continue to workout every week and intertwine lots of outside activities into my day (cycling, hiking, walking, golfing, etc.). Although I did not start working out to feel happy, it just happened. Exercising increases your self-esteem and it releases endorphin, the happy chemical.
  2. Relationships – I try to surround myself with like-minded and positive people. I have an incredible wife, great kids and friends that I try to do things with weekly. It may be just a chat or a golf outing, but it is important to build and maintain relationships.
  3. Being Nice – Being nice to others is rewarding. I like to greet people with a “hello” or “good morning” and strike up conversations with people I don’t know and I say “thank you” and “please”. I don’t try to monopolize conversations, I learn a lot about a person by just listening. And I love hearing about people’s successes, no matter how trivial or monumental.
  4. Money – As they say, money can’t buy you happiness but neither does poverty. I do think that a certain amount of money can aid in happiness– at least enough that satisfies your immediate needs (food, clothing, housing and health care). Past that, “wants” tend to disguise themselves as “needs”. I’ll admit that I could be much more frugal but I do get a rush of adrenalin when I under spend my budget for a month.
  5. Optimism – I am wired to think that everything is going to work out well and many times it does. When things don’t, I try to learn from it and use that knowledge in the future.
  6. Hobbies – Work hard but play harder. I’ve met lots of people who consume themselves with work and when they get a day off, they don’t really know what to do with their time. Having hobbies will make you happier. What are mine? I love to cycle, play golf, fish, travel, hike, swim, hang out at the beach, boat, watch college and pro football — just to name a few! I also set goals for my hobbies (like cycling 50 miles in 3 hours, hiking a strenuous mountain, and lowering my golf handicap).
  7. Being Grateful – I realize how lucky I’ve been. My parents sent me to college but they nor their parents or their grandparents had the opportunity to do it. I couldn’t have built and sold my software company without learning from some incredible mentors. I am lucky to have an incredibly supportive family and our kids have grown up to be something we are truly proud of. I survived cancer at just over 30 years old. I’ve been really blessed.
  8. Faith – I don’t consider myself a religious person but I do consider myself a spiritual person. I grew up in the church but don’t attend regularly. However, I have a close relationship with my maker and pray everyday. I’ve personally witnessed the power of faith.

This Article Was Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app.

aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager

Every few days, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought-provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier. If you would like to receive these articles in your email every few days, sign up below.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

If you prefer to check Facebook for the blog postings without getting an email, you can LIKE my Facebook page here and the posts can be seen from there or follow me on twitter.

Conclusion

Hopefully these 8 keys are helpful to my readers. I would also like to hear your stories and understand what makes you happy. Please leave a comment!

#ArticleOfTheDay: 6 Qualities That All Great Leaders Exhibit (by Lily Jenkins)

Today’s article was written by Lily Jenkins, she nails the qualities of a great leader. A lot of people believe that leadership is a naturalized trait given at birth. I don’t really subscribe to that idea. Sure, some people innately have leadership skills and some are more extroverted than others. But leadership skills can certainly be learned — I’ve mentored many leaders during my time in the corporate world and it is very satisfying to see leadership skills take form and grow.

I don’t want to steal Lily’s thunder but my favorite quality she listed is “Great leaders pave the way for others to succeed“. Ready to read the entire article?  Alrighty, here it is: 6 Qualities That All Great Leaders Exhibit (by Lily Jenkins).

Leadership

 Article of the Day Brought to You by 2HourAppreneur

This article was brought to you by 2HourAppreneur, makers of the aMemoryJog Password Manager app. Each day, 2HourAppreneur publishes an article that we think is cool, thought provoking, motivational, or makes life more fun and a bit easier.

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aMemoryJog: Best Password Manager