Make Apps, Not Businesses
Even if business is what I need
I have a career goal. I want to be able to make a living by building apps that help me with my life, and hopefully help other people out there with the same problems. Basically, a solopreneur focusing on app development. My plan? Build 10 apps and hope that one of them turns out profitable. If not, build 10 more apps.
So? What stops me?
- Bad financial situation
- No ground-breaking ideas
- Inexperience in being a solopreneur
- Being an introvert
- Struggling with perfectionism
I’ve been a programmer for more than 10 years now. I like building apps because I have been doing it for so long. Technical? Ticked! Business? Zero.
This year, I finally convinced myself that it’s time to start building apps regardless of how I feel. It’s been 3 months building my first app, and I get exposed to all sorts of things that I never really had to handle before. I found out that there are so many things contributing to making an app successful. Just making an app is not enough. The challenges I face are different from before. Instead of making a button look like the one the designer provided, I need to come up with the design myself. On top of thinking of how to make an app faster, I need to think of how to make a profit from the app.
- What about the app name? What sounds good to others?
- How to design a beautiful app icon?
- What should I put in the app screenshots?
- How to write a good app description?
- What should I do to promote my app? Social media? But I don’t like social media.
- How much should I price my app?
- … wait! Who’s going to pay for such an app? Too few features. There are so many similar apps out there with so many useful features. Why this app? Reduce the price? Make it free, maybe? No! I need to make the money. Bad financial situation, remember? So justify the price. Make more features. These current features are clearly not enough. Don’t release it. People are going to laugh at how basic this app is, and you even want to charge for it? More features first and release later. But it’s been 3 months now building the MVP alone. Isn’t it too much time already? Grrr… Why am I so slow? I barely make any progress.
Thinking. Thinking. More thinking. Overthinking.
I’m doing the thing I always wanted to do, and yet I’m feeling so stressed. Every day is about me doing something new that I had no idea of, and my success relies solely on me doing those things very well.
Random search
I randomly searched for something and landed on this article.
Interesting. Did someone just say… build apps without thinking of them as businesses? Interesting.
It’s fun.
He said.
He’s right. Building apps is fun. Building businesses is not. Of course, I love the money. I build apps because I want to make a living with it, but also because I find it fun. But if I don’t think of this as a business, can I even make a living with it? I was told to treat building apps like a business. I was told that if I don’t, it will always end up being a hobby project that can’t become a real business.
But wait? Who wrote that article? Who’s the author?
Sahil Lavingia
No idea who he is.
Founder and CEO, Gumroad
Wait. I know Gumroad. It’s a profitable business. And he’s the founder? *Shocked* 😱
The original article was written in 2010, and he found Gumroad in 2011. So whatever it was he was doing at that time ended up working for him in the future.
Reflection
The article resonates with me quite deeply. I imagine myself building apps I find useful without worrying if they make financial sense or not. It feels free.
There’s a part of me believing that if I don’t think of it as a business, I will never profit from it. But there’s another part of me that believes what the author wrote in that article. If it works for him, maybe it works for me too?
If I’m planning to be doing this for a long time, I should find a way to have fun with it, right?
I’m writing this as soon as I finish reading that article. I’m not writing this as a reflection on the past where I have already “made it” or anything like that. I’m just so inspired by the idea that I want to write about it and commit to try it out.
Will I be able to carry on that mindset for long?
Is it going to hurt my career in the long run?
Will I change my mind?
I have no answers to any of these. My future me will be able to answer these better, but the present me is just as clueless.
For now, I’m just going to keep building things. Make it free if I need to. Charge for it if it makes sense. The only requirement is it is useful for someone even if that someone is me alone.
Let’s see where this takes me.
