“You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself.” — Seth Godin

My app was downloaded 500,000 times! Honestly speaking, I never thought I could achieve this. I’m just a freelancer who is working on my own. I have no company to back me up. I have no big budget for advertisement. And I’m not a social influencer who has the support of millions of followers.

Before I was able to accomplish this, I was a simple blogger. I had my own website and a decent number of followers, but I’m not an app developer. I’m more of a writer although my college degree isn’t related at all to any of the areas I’ve mentioned.

For more than ten years, I have worked as an external and internal auditor. I’m a Certified Public Accountant who just happens to have a passion for writing and who has a bit of an entrepreneurial streak to attempt to do everything I’ve ever done for the past ten years.

So if I could do it, I can sincerely say that you can do it, too. You don’t have to be a genius. You don’t have to be an influencer. But you must have a business mindset that would propel you to accomplish your goal of having a viral app.

Here are the business mindsets that helped me develop a viral app:

1. Boldness

Before I launched my app, I had no prior training in coding. I’m not a programmer and I never planned on hiring one.

What gave me enough confidence to accomplish my goal were the various experiences I’ve had at my regular job and at my years of blogging.

When I worked as an auditor, I had to learn many things prior to each engagement. There are many things you have to familiarize yourself with for a limited period of time. You can’t learn them all in school. You must learn them as you need to deal with them.

As a blogger, I’ve also had many experiences in learning new things as the need came. I’ve learned how to put up and maintain my own website. I’ve learned how to design my blog and how to install plugins that work.

Boldness is the ability to take risks and having the confidence to deal with the many difficulties you need to handle along the way.

“Almost everything worthwhile carries with it some sort of risk, whether it’s starting a new business, whether it’s leaving home, whether it’s getting married, or whether it’s flying into space.” — Chris Hadfield

2. Resourcefulness

Not having any formal training requires a lot of resourcefulness. You must do your research well. You must have the discipline and the perseverance to study on your own.

To develop an app, I’ve had to search for every possible reference material I could get to accumulate the data I need. I’ve read websites and visited forums. I’ve researched techniques that helped people like me to launch my own app.

It’s not easy. Sometimes you’d read so many things just to discover they’re not relevant at all to what you want to do. Sometimes you’d encounter articles that are far from being helpful. You have to know what sources you can trust and what materials could ruin your work.

Here are just some of the helpful resources in developing an app:

If you are new to developing an Android app, this may help you have an idea:

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” — Ernest Hemingway

3. Perseverance

Learning how to do something is not the same as actually doing what needs to be done. For this, you need a lot of hard work. This is especially true when you’re just beginning to familiarize yourself with everything.

I can’t remember the countless times I had to revise the app to make it work the way I wanted it to. I had to keep on adjusting it. I had to keep on asking questions to help me fix what’s wrong.

You have to have the patience to keep on being wrong until you get it right.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell

4. Patience

Even when you get it right and even when you think you’ve done everything you could, you must still have the patience to wait for the results of your efforts. Hardly anything great can be accomplished in a day. You may launch your app and promote it to everyone you know but you may not instantly see the numbers you’re looking for.

You don’t have to give up then. Give it some time. Even good fruits need enough time to grow.

“Patience is a conquering virtue.”― Geoffrey Chaucer

5. Humility

I must admit that the idea for my app was suggested to me by a friend. It was not a deliberate effort on my part to come up with the best app I thought would be downloaded by many people. It was the result of listening to suggestions from other people.

Even while I was working on the app, I have to listen to mentors that knew better about developing one. If there was any defect or weakness in the app, I must learn how to correct it. More often than not, there is a person who could help you to do so.

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”― Mahatma Gandhi

6. Curiosity

One of the things that helped me start this project was my curiosity. I found the idea of developing my own app very appealing. “Could I do it? What if I could?”

I wanted to find out the possibility of actually doing it and that curiosity began my research and self-study. I wasn’t thinking of the huge task of accomplishing everything. I was just trying to satisfy my curiosity one step at a time.

Eventually, one step led to another. One door opened to reveal another one. Before long, I found myself developing my own app.

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it…”― Wilferd Peterson

7. Passion

You must be able to enjoy what you’re doing. If you don’t enjoy it, you’d be counting each second you spend doing it. Sooner or later, you’d get bored or you’d get tired trying to achieve your goal.

When you have passion, you don’t easily get discouraged by failure. This is because you’re not just looking at the end product of your work. You are already tasting the satisfaction of being able to do something that you love.

“May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For,
May your arms Never Tire.”
― D. Simone

8. Foresight

“The easiest thing is to react. The second easiest thing is to respond. But the hardest thing is to initiate.” Seth Godin

You must be able to see what other people cannot or do not want to see. Many times, business opportunities are like that. Many people would wonder why you’re spending so much effort on something that hasn’t been done before or on something that couldn’t work.

Later on, they would realize that you were one of the few people who was able to see because you were willing to try.

When I launched my app years ago, many would have failed to see how it could be downloaded 500,000 times. The same was true about my blog. I was among those who first ventured into it when the internet was not yet as saturated as it is today. Or perhaps, even that saturation is something that only hides other opportunities we need to see today.

“It’s not about what it is. It’s about what it can become.” Dr. Seuss

9. Instinct

Some call it a sixth sense. Others call it “gut feeling”. But I think there is such a thing as business instinct. And this instinct is very much related to the kind of foresight I’ve just discussed.

There are times when you just feel that something is right. You can’t quite describe it. You don’t have a lot of data to prove it right away. But somehow, you feel that it could just work.

While it may not be advisable to always listen to your gut feeling, you need not always ignore it either. Just consider it. If you want, do some research about it later. Sometimes, there is an inner voice that is already guiding you on what to do next.

“There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.” — Malcolm Gladwell

10. Simplicity

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” Dr. Seuss

Many times, we think that in order to be successful, a product also has to be complicated. We think of ways to make it stand above the crowd. We become too busy trying to make it appear sophisticated when all we need to do is to make it as simple as it should be.

People don’t want products that deceive them. They just want simple answers that could address their needs.

By the way, if you want to check my app, you can search for “God’s Promises by Jocelyn Soriano” at Google Play.

Here are just some of the apps I’ve launched with more than 100,000 downloads:

God’s Promises in the Bible: 500,000+ downloads

Hope in Difficult Times: 100,000+ downloads

Self Confidence and Healing: 100,000+ downloads

My Daily Inspiration: 100,000+ downloads

When I developed my app, I just wanted to provide spiritual nourishment to people who need to be encouraged when they feel down. I wasn’t thinking about the latest fad. I wasn’t thinking about a new religion. I just wanted to share something that would remind them about the faith they already had.

Other mindsets that could help you launch a successful app:

• positivity
• flexibility
• creativity
• openness
• confidence

Final thoughts

Many times, we become overwhelmed when we start to imagine how difficult our goals can be. Our fears also keep us from taking the risks we need to pursue something we’d like like to accomplish.

The secret is in doing what you love. When you have passion for what you’re doing, you also gather the courage you need to keep going.

Do things one step at a time. Keep things simple. Overthinking sometimes takes us away from the natural instinct that allows us to venture into new and productive undertakings.

Opportunity often comes to many but only a few are able to take it. Be among the few and claim your success with courage and perseverance.

“Hard work is about risk. It begins when you deal with the things that you’d rather not deal with: fear of failure, fear of standing out, fear of rejection. Hard work is about training yourself to leap over this barrier, drive through the other barrier. And after you’ve done that, to do it again the next day.” — Seth Godin