Da Vinci once said that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. I’m no expert on art history here, but he might have been talking about business.
I say that because when it comes to business, too many entrepreneurs overcomplicate things.
Here’s what you DON’T have to worry about when it comes to building your first app business:
Having a million app ideas
This is like thinking you need a million flavors of ice cream if you want to enjoy a great sundae. Nah, keep it simple. You just need vanilla and chocolate and some sprinkles on top, and you’re good to go.
You only need ONE app idea to start making money … and it doesn’t even have to be a NEW app idea. It can just be a slight improvement to an app that someone else has launched!
And once that first app makes a return, you now have capital to reinvest in your next app idea and then your third, and so on.
I’d much rather see someone build 1 good app at a time than a million badly designed ones. Quality is way more important than quantity, and it’ll show in your revenue.
Market saturation
Every week I get questions about this.
“Aren’t all the good app ideas gone?”
No. If anything, your competition only validates to you what the market wants. They’re doing you a favor and they don’t even know it.
And like I said before … you don’t have to come up with a brand new app idea. Your app idea can just be an improvement to an existing app that someone else has created. That could be as simple as improving the graphics or interface design.
You don’t have the resources of a corporate marketing department, so you need other ways to test your market. Your competition helps you do that, and for very cheap (or free).
I kinda hate the word “competition” because the idea pits you against all the other app entrepreneurs out there. I see competition as opportunities for new ideas and business partnerships. You should too.
Non-disclosure agreements
Too many developers worry that before they can produce their great idea, they have to protect it. As if someone’s waiting in the wings to rob them. Sadly, they spend so much time worrying about this that the app never gets built!
Ideas are easy. Execution is much harder, which is why fewer people do it.
98% of people with an app idea never take any real action. Sad but true.
The best way to protect yourself is to be part of the 2% who take decisive action to make your app idea a reality. Then what other people do doesn’t affect you.
Even if someone got their hands on your idea, would they actually do anything with it? Probably not. And even if they did, there’s no guarantee they’d do it well.
Frankly, I just don’t hear about idea theft in the app business. I can’t remember the last time I ever heard about it happening to someone. It’s not the epidemic you think it is.
Idea theft is like the monster in the closet from when you were five years old: fake, but does a good job of scaring your pants off. You should be more worried about distracting yourself from getting your app made!
Here’s other things you don’t need to worry about when it comes to getting started:
- A business website. Most of my students don’t have one when they start.
- A business name. Not important right now.
- Tons of money. Ok, you DO need some money to start. Expect to pay hundreds to a couple thousand dollars to develop an idea. There are ways to keep costs low (skinning, etc). But you certainly don’t need a millionaire’s checkbook to get started.
So, what DO you need to start an app business today?
You need 2 things:
First, you need a validated idea. This means you’ve tested the market and are 100% sure you have something people are able and willing to buy.
There’s a great story about a marketing legend named Gary Halbert. People said he was the greatest copywriter who ever lived.
One day Halbert asked his students, if they wanted to set up a hamburger stand, what would help them sell the most burgers?
Their responses:
“Better beef!”
“Low prices!”
“Good location!”
Halbert shot down all of these answers. He said what he wanted most was a starving crowd. Simple, right?
To sell a great app, you need to find YOUR starving crowd. The other stuff doesn’t matter as much. When people want what you have, your product sells itself.
Your starving crowd is already on the App Store downloading other apps in all sorts of categories. Find out what’s already selling and what people are already downloading, and start there!
Second, you need a good team of professionals to help build your idea. You don’t need to know code. You don’t need to be a designer.
(Full disclosure: I don’t know how to do any of those things … I’ve never coded … or done the graphic design on a single app that I’ve ever made money from!)
There are plenty of developers out there who can handle that stuff for you, and they’ll often do it for very reasonable fees. There’s even entire development houses where you’ll get a team of developers and designers who’ve built the most sophisticated apps you see on the market today.
These people are easy to find … if you know where to look and how to hire them.
A great looking app that sells like gangbusters is well within reach. And you don’t need to be a tech expert or a millionaire to make it happen.
But here’s the bottom line:
You should never depend on luck for building apps.
When they’re developing products, the most successful businesses NEVER rely on guesswork. Neither should you.
Successful businesses use strategies they KNOW will work, because they’ve consistently made millions of dollars over and over again.
I’ve been making money from apps since 2008. Now I have over 50 successful apps in the Store. My students and I have hundreds of millions of downloads combined.
Point is, I know how to build a successful app business from scratch … fast.
If you want to avoid a lot of frustration and dead ends, and actually start making money from apps this year, I wrote down my entire action plan on how to get your app business running in the next 10 days.
“10-Day Action Plan” is your guide to:
- Guarantee you always pick bestselling app ideas [page 12]
- Build a winning app (even if you have NO coding or design experience) [page 17]
- Hire the best developers (without breaking the bank) [page 26]
- The best monetization models for your business [page 35]