Developing Perspective

00:00:00 ◼   ► Hello and welcome to Developing Perspective. Developing Perspective is a podcast discussing

00:00:04 ◼   ► news of note and iOS development, Apple and the like. I'm your host, David Smith. I'm

00:00:09 ◼   ► an independent iOS developer based in Herndon, Virginia. This is show number 200 and today

00:00:13 ◼   ► is Wednesday, October 22nd. Developing Perspective is never longer than 15 minutes, so let's

00:00:18 ◼   ► get started. All right. So this last couple of days, and including today, I suppose, I've

00:00:26 ◼   ► I've had a couple of interesting milestones that have had me thinking about longevity,

00:00:30 ◼   ► sustainability, those types of things.

00:00:33 ◼   ► And I thought that would be an interesting topic to discuss on today's show.

00:00:37 ◼   ► So a couple of the things that have happened are coming up quickly.

00:00:42 ◼   ► So yesterday I was going into the developer portal, as I do unfortunately many times a

00:00:47 ◼   ► day to do provisioning things.

00:00:49 ◼   ► And I noticed at the top of the portal it said, "Your developer program is about to

00:00:53 ◼   ► expire."

00:00:55 ◼   ► And having learned from the past that you never

00:00:56 ◼   ► want to let that go along because if anything goes wrong

00:00:59 ◼   ► and your developer program does expire,

00:01:02 ◼   ► all your apps will be temporarily pulled

00:01:04 ◼   ► from the store and it's a huge mess.

00:01:06 ◼   ► So immediately, I go in and buy it.

00:01:09 ◼   ► It got me thinking, and I realized

00:01:11 ◼   ► that was the seventh time that I have given Apple $99

00:01:15 ◼   ► for the privilege of being a iOS developer.

00:01:18 ◼   ► And it's kind of crazy.

00:01:20 ◼   ► I went back and dug out my first email related to that.

00:01:24 ◼   ► And it actually took a while to find because back then there was no iOS developer program.

00:01:28 ◼   ► There was an iPhone developer program.

00:01:30 ◼   ► It was a long time ago.

00:01:33 ◼   ► And that was kind of a remarkable thing to think about.

00:01:35 ◼   ► That's seven times now.

00:01:36 ◼   ► I've paid my $99 to be in the store and it's been quite a ride since.

00:01:44 ◼   ► Coming up next month, I'll be celebrating my sixth year of having an app in the App

00:01:48 ◼   ► Store.

00:01:49 ◼   ► It's quite a long time.

00:01:50 ◼   ► That is an entire kindergartener.

00:01:51 ◼   ► In fact, it is my kindergartener.

00:01:52 ◼   ► I remember my son was born--

00:01:57 ◼   ► on the day my son was born was the first time I ever had

00:02:00 ◼   ► an app featured in the App Store.

00:02:02 ◼   ► So that was quite something, quite a day.

00:02:04 ◼   ► So I can always kind of judge things by how long I've been

00:02:07 ◼   ► doing this by how old he is.

00:02:10 ◼   ► And lastly, as I mentioned at the beginning of the show,

00:02:12 ◼   ► this is episode 200.

00:02:14 ◼   ► And while I don't want to emphasize too much that a

00:02:17 ◼   ► round number like 200 is something special, it's been a

00:02:20 ◼   ► long time that I've been doing this show, since I think it

00:02:22 ◼   ► It was July of 2011.

00:02:24 ◼   ► I've been doing roughly a show a week.

00:02:27 ◼   ► And all of those things-- and thank you for indulging me

00:02:29 ◼   ► for that walk down memory lane for myself--

00:02:32 ◼   ► but all of those things are just sort of interesting

00:02:34 ◼   ► to think about in terms of that's a long time to be doing

00:02:37 ◼   ► something.

00:02:38 ◼   ► And obviously, in many ways, I'm a young buck in our community

00:02:43 ◼   ► because there's a lot of Mac developers, people

00:02:45 ◼   ► who've been doing this, playing the Apple software

00:02:47 ◼   ► game for much longer than I have.

00:02:49 ◼   ► But it's certainly something that I think about,

00:02:52 ◼   ► that have been doing this a long, long time.

00:02:53 ◼   ► At some point, this is the longest job

00:02:55 ◼   ► I think I've ever had.

00:02:57 ◼   ► Previously, before I was independent,

00:03:00 ◼   ► the longest I ever stayed at a company

00:03:01 ◼   ► was probably a couple of years.

00:03:03 ◼   ► And I've been doing this now for six years.

00:03:06 ◼   ► So I started to think about, what are some of the attributes

00:03:08 ◼   ► that are necessary to have a sustained output of something,

00:03:13 ◼   ► whether that's software, whether that's

00:03:15 ◼   ► trying to build a business, whether it's

00:03:16 ◼   ► trying to do a podcast.

00:03:18 ◼   ► I was trying to think of what attributes of that

00:03:20 ◼   ► important to be able to sustain it in the long term.

00:03:24 ◼   ► And I ended up with four.

00:03:25 ◼   ► And for the purposes of today's episode,

00:03:27 ◼   ► I'm just going to kind of unpack what those are.

00:03:29 ◼   ► And hopefully these are useful to apply

00:03:31 ◼   ► to a variety of different subjects and topics.

00:03:33 ◼   ► But these are kind of the four things

00:03:34 ◼   ► that I think are important to make something sustained,

00:03:37 ◼   ► to keep something going with longevity.

00:03:41 ◼   ► So the first one, the first point I think you need

00:03:43 ◼   ► is you need to have a purpose behind why

00:03:45 ◼   ► you're doing something.

00:03:48 ◼   ► You could say a purpose, you could say a reason.

00:03:50 ◼   ► You have to be doing something for-- there

00:03:54 ◼   ► has to be something driving you.

00:03:56 ◼   ► And in my experience, that thing needs

00:03:58 ◼   ► to be something that you are really engaged with.

00:04:01 ◼   ► Some people would say passionate about.

00:04:04 ◼   ► I struggle with the word passionate

00:04:05 ◼   ► about these types of things, because I'm not really

00:04:07 ◼   ► passionate about software development.

00:04:09 ◼   ► It's not something that I would say that I have passion for.

00:04:12 ◼   ► It's something that I'm fairly good at,

00:04:14 ◼   ► and it's something that I have a lot of experience with.

00:04:16 ◼   ► But at a certain point, it's not so much about passion

00:04:19 ◼   ► as it is about interest and engagement and enjoyment.

00:04:23 ◼   ► These are words that I think are much more

00:04:25 ◼   ► practical to think about.

00:04:26 ◼   ► Is what you're doing something that you enjoy doing?

00:04:29 ◼   ► Is it something that you-- when you wake up in the morning

00:04:32 ◼   ► and you're like, you know, I'm going to go write some code,

00:04:33 ◼   ► does that make you excited?

00:04:35 ◼   ► Are you interested in doing that?

00:04:36 ◼   ► And obviously, it will be day by day.

00:04:38 ◼   ► Some days, I really don't want to program.

00:04:40 ◼   ► And some days, I don't program.

00:04:41 ◼   ► Sometimes, I just go on vacation.

00:04:43 ◼   ► But at its core, you have to have a purpose behind why you're doing it.

00:04:48 ◼   ► And you have to be able to properly articulate that.

00:04:52 ◼   ► I've had conversations with people where they're like, oh,

00:04:54 ◼   ► I'm going to start a podcast.

00:04:56 ◼   ► And it's like, why?

00:04:57 ◼   ► Well, it's kind of the cool thing.

00:04:59 ◼   ► Everyone's got a podcast.

00:05:00 ◼   ► I'm going to have a podcast, too.

00:05:01 ◼   ► Or I'm going to have a blog.

00:05:02 ◼   ► Or I'm going to write an app.

00:05:03 ◼   ► And if it's just because, if you don't really have a reason for something,

00:05:08 ◼   ► it's most likely going to be kind of a flash in the, you know,

00:05:11 ◼   ► sort of just a flash in the pan. It's not a problem. Like

00:05:14 ◼   ► there, they did perfectly fine to just for fun, make something

00:05:17 ◼   ► or for fun, start something. But if your purpose is for to be

00:05:22 ◼   ► sustained, I think you need to make sure that you have a good

00:05:24 ◼   ► understanding of why you're doing it. Are you doing it to

00:05:27 ◼   ► make money? Are you doing it to have to be famous? Are you doing

00:05:29 ◼   ► it because you love it? Are you doing it because you don't know

00:05:33 ◼   ► what anybody else to do? Like you need to be able to

00:05:35 ◼   ► conceptualize, wrap your arms around what it is and you're

00:05:38 ◼   ► doing and why you're doing it before you can even start. And

00:05:41 ◼   ► I thought that's something that I, you know, sort of, I found

00:05:44 ◼   ► very helpful. Like I do what I do, because I enjoy making

00:05:47 ◼   ► software. And I enjoy making having my own boss or whatever

00:05:53 ◼   ► you want to call it. Like, I like that aspect of what I do. I

00:05:56 ◼   ► like that I can choose what I want to do, and have flexibility

00:06:00 ◼   ► in that. And that's largely why I'm independent. If I could do

00:06:03 ◼   ► those same things in another environment, I probably would. I

00:06:06 ◼   ► I do it like there are many very negative sides of being independent.

00:06:10 ◼   ► It's really rough.

00:06:11 ◼   ► But it's one of the few environments where I can do what I do, where I just kind of come

00:06:14 ◼   ► downstairs in the morning and be like, you know what, I'm going to make this app.

00:06:17 ◼   ► I'm going to do this.

00:06:18 ◼   ► And I can feel that freedom to be good, to have that creativity and that process that

00:06:24 ◼   ► I really enjoy.

00:06:25 ◼   ► That's largely why I do it.

00:06:28 ◼   ► Your answer for that is going to be very different than mine, almost sort of necessarily.

00:06:33 ◼   ► Next is diversity.

00:06:35 ◼   ► this is apply. It's easiest to explain this in terms of business, but I think it does

00:06:41 ◼   ► apply to a lot of different things. But if you want to have something sustained over

00:06:45 ◼   ► the long term, it is very difficult for that to be too focused, too one dimensional, that

00:06:55 ◼   ► especially in business, and that's where I'll start by unpacking now, but I think you can

00:06:58 ◼   ► apply generally, like my business, and I've made my living, I support my family and pay

00:07:06 ◼   ► my mortgage and all those types of things out of the products that I sell and make available

00:07:12 ◼   ► for free in the App Store.

00:07:13 ◼   ► Like that is how I make my living.

00:07:17 ◼   ► And the process by which I got there, and the reason that I've been able to do this

00:07:20 ◼   ► for such a long time, I think, is in many ways a result of diversity.

00:07:25 ◼   ► It is something that is a bit of a joke that I have too many apps, and I do.

00:07:30 ◼   ► I have lots and lots of apps.

00:07:32 ◼   ► I've tried and failed more times than most people have tried.

00:07:36 ◼   ► And as a result of that, I've been able to have an incredibly diverse portfolio that

00:07:42 ◼   ► in aggregate is able to weather the storms and the challenges and all of the problems

00:07:48 ◼   ► that being an independent developer faces without, you know, putting with without hit

00:07:56 ◼   ► running me into problems that I'm able to do what I do because I have tremendous diversity

00:08:01 ◼   ► in income. I was actually looking this morning, you know, if I look at my business in my kind

00:08:06 ◼   ► of profit and loss statement, and I look at my income streams, my primary income comes

00:08:12 ◼   ► from nine different buckets in terms of apps and services, things that I do. There's nine

00:08:20 ◼   ► different places that I'm getting revenue, and they're not even all within the App Store. Of

00:08:26 ◼   ► those, about five or six or six of those are coming from the App Store. So I have things

00:08:33 ◼   ► outside of the App Store. I have different platforms, things. I have lots of different

00:08:37 ◼   ► ways that I'm getting revenue, you know, almost all of them are products, but they're just

00:08:41 ◼   ► different. And the largest of those is only 28% of my total revenue. So it's fairly diverse.

00:08:48 ◼   ► Most of them are kind of in the low teens, kind of evenly split out of my income. And

00:08:53 ◼   ► that diversity helps to be sustainable. And I think you in general, having something be

00:09:00 ◼   ► diverse is just, in some ways, it's just common sense. But it's also something you have to

00:09:04 ◼   ► think about, that if you're trying to start something that is going to be so focused and

00:09:08 ◼   ► so one-dimensional, that you aren't in some ways necessarily, you know, it's like you're

00:09:13 ◼   ► going all in on something. You're either going to win big or you're probably not. And you

00:09:19 ◼   ► have to understand that if, depending on what you're trying to do, being one-dimensional

00:09:23 ◼   ► might be very problematic. It's important to have flexibility. Like even in the show,

00:09:28 ◼   ► I've done different types of show. While it's 15 minutes of me talking for the most part,

00:09:31 ◼   ► I've also done interviews. I've also done different kinds of shows where I'm talking

00:09:37 ◼   ► about coding, sometimes I'm talking about business, sometimes I'm talking about other

00:09:41 ◼   ► things. Having that flexibility and diversity in it is really important in order for something

00:09:46 ◼   ► I think to be able to have a sustained attribute to it.

00:09:50 ◼   ► Next, I think you need to be flexible and ruthless. This is something that is inevitably

00:09:57 ◼   ► in the process of trying to do something. You're going to put time, energy, and effort

00:10:01 ◼   ► into something that will ultimately fail.

00:10:04 ◼   ► Some attribute of what you're doing is not going to work.

00:10:06 ◼   ► In my case, say it's an app that isn't selling well,

00:10:09 ◼   ► or is suddenly non-profitable.

00:10:12 ◼   ► I need to be able to say to not get too wrapped up

00:10:16 ◼   ► in the sunk cost of that, and say, oh, man,

00:10:19 ◼   ► if I could just keep working on it,

00:10:21 ◼   ► if I just keep trying something, it'll

00:10:23 ◼   ► finally turn around eventually.

00:10:25 ◼   ► And maybe it will, but more likely than not, it won't.

00:10:28 ◼   ► And you need to be able to be flexible and ruthless.

00:10:30 ◼   ► And in the startup world, I think they call this pivoting.

00:10:36 ◼   ► But I don't really know what that means.

00:10:38 ◼   ► But I know for myself is if something's not working,

00:10:41 ◼   ► I need to be able and flexible and ruthless enough

00:10:44 ◼   ► to work out what would work and not get too tied up

00:10:47 ◼   ► in things that I think should work for whatever reason.

00:10:51 ◼   ► And some of this is just having the humility

00:10:53 ◼   ► to understand that maybe that thing that you thought initially

00:10:56 ◼   ► that would work doesn't work, understanding

00:10:59 ◼   ► why it doesn't work, and then learning from that and going again.

00:11:03 ◼   ► There's a very strong iterative nature, I think, to doing anything in the long term,

00:11:06 ◼   ► that you have to be learning from your mistakes because you will be making them.

00:11:10 ◼   ► And if you don't recognize them as mistakes, that's when you really start to get into trouble.

00:11:16 ◼   ► And lastly is the perhaps the just sort of like buck up there.

00:11:20 ◼   ► It's just patience and tenacity.

00:11:22 ◼   ► And in many ways, this loops back to the purpose of why you're doing it.

00:11:25 ◼   ► And if you have a good purpose, if you have a good feeling of why you're doing something,

00:11:28 ◼   ► it's easier to be patient and tenacious about it, but understand that it is going to be

00:11:33 ◼   ► hard effort to do anything for a sustained period of time. That's why there aren't that

00:11:39 ◼   ► many people who have been able to do it. The people who are able to have sustained success

00:11:44 ◼   ► over a long period are the people who are patient. I mean, when I talk to some of the

00:11:49 ◼   ► people who've been making software for, you know, three or four times more than I have,

00:11:53 ◼   ► The thing that I'm most often struck by is how patient they are, how they don't get too

00:12:00 ◼   ► wrapped up in the various bumps along the way.

00:12:02 ◼   ► They just keep on carrying on.

00:12:05 ◼   ► And over time, that means that they're able to succeed in a way that other people wouldn't.

00:12:10 ◼   ► When other people would get discouraged, they just kind of say, "Well, that didn't work,"

00:12:13 ◼   ► or "This kind of sucks."

00:12:14 ◼   ► And they change direction and they keep going.

00:12:17 ◼   ► And that's, I think, an attribute of something.

00:12:19 ◼   ► If you want it to be sustained, you have to have that type of tenacity, that the first

00:12:22 ◼   ► time you get knocked down, you don't just say like, Oh, well,

00:12:25 ◼   ► that was fun. You learn from that, and you get back up and

00:12:29 ◼   ► you try something else. And if you can't do that, it's going to

00:12:33 ◼   ► be very hard for you to do something for a sustained period

00:12:35 ◼   ► of time. So that's kind of what I was thinking about today. Like

00:12:39 ◼   ► I said, it's a little bit nostalgic and a bit hand wavy.

00:12:42 ◼   ► But sometimes I get feedback that you guys love when I just

00:12:45 ◼   ► kind of wave my hands around and chat. So that's it for what I'm

00:12:48 ◼   ► going to talk about today. It's kind of a remarkable thing. And

00:12:51 ◼   ► just as a side note about developing perspective, I just

00:12:53 ◼   ► wanted to take a minute to thank all you listeners. It's kind of

00:12:57 ◼   ► a remarkable thing that, you know, this is 200, the 200th

00:13:00 ◼   ► time I've sat down with a microphone, and just talked and

00:13:04 ◼   ► you know, talked into my closet. And it's kind of crazy that the

00:13:08 ◼   ► number of people and the number of people I admire and respect

00:13:12 ◼   ► even who think it's worth listening to each week. I try to

00:13:15 ◼   ► keep it short. So that helps with that. But it's kind of a

00:13:18 ◼   ► remarkable thing. And I just wanted to thank you for

00:13:20 ◼   ► listening. It's quite something that this show has been able to have the longevity that

00:13:25 ◼   ► it has. Because while I can say all those kinds of things about purpose, diversity,

00:13:29 ◼   ► flexibility, and patience, if nobody was listening, I probably wouldn't be doing this show. And

00:13:33 ◼   ► so its existence is due to people like you who are listening to it, who then provide

00:13:40 ◼   ► that encouragement that motivates me to keep it up. So thank you. That's it for today's

00:13:45 ◼   ► show. As always, if you have questions, comments, concerns, or complaints, I'm on Twitter @_DavidSmith

00:13:50 ◼   ► you can email me, david@developingperspective.com.

00:13:52 ◼   ► Otherwise, I hope you have a great week.

00:13:54 ◼   ► Happy coding.

00:13:55 ◼   ► If you're getting a new iMac, as I am, have a fun week.

00:13:59 ◼   ► When that arrives, it's something

00:14:00 ◼   ► I'm pretty excited about.

00:14:01 ◼   ► I guess the new iPads are out too.

00:14:03 ◼   ► It's kind of fun whenever you get to open these new boxes

00:14:06 ◼   ► and try some stuff out.

00:14:07 ◼   ► So enjoy that.

00:14:09 ◼   ► Bye.

00:14:10 ◼   ► [