App Development - The Beginner's Course To Building Your App

You may have heard me say this before but one of my all-time mentors and someone I look up to massively, Tony Robbins, said that success is 80% psychology and 20% skill. What this means is if you don’t have the right mindset, then no matter how much skill you have or the winning strategy you have in place, like this 10-step system for example, without a success mindset, you will ultimately fail. You have to have the right mindset from the very start to succeed. That goes for all businesses and not just apps. All the most successful people in the world have it and if you intend on ascending to the top, you’re going to need it too.

Okay so by now, you will have created your goals, written down your affirmations and your first five or ten things of what you’re grateful for, depending on how long you’ve spent between the last lesson and this one. Now you may have heard me say that the tasks of reading your affirmations out loud and noting down the 5 things you’re grateful for are daily tasks. For some, committing to doing that daily isn’t a problem. However, for others, it can be tricky. Where do I find the time? I barely have enough as it is and now you want me to do that? Watch this lesson to learn more.

You see once you’ve got yourself on a path to creating a success mindset, you need to maintain it. THAT’s the secret. It’s like building your ultimate physique of how you want to look in the gym. I’ve used The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, as an example before and I’ll use him again now. He’s got one of hell of a physique, we can all agree, right? But does he stop working out? Hell no! He has to continually exercise and work out according to his routine to keep that up. And that’s exactly what you have to do here.

Experts predict that the mind thinks between 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day which is an average of around 2500 – 3,300 thoughts per hour. That is incredible! The mind is so incredibly busy with thoughts left, right and centre that you wouldn’t even know it. We need to extract that one thought from your mind - that one idea immediately and how do we do this?

For those of who you don’t know what a vision or vision statement is, here it is. Your vision is your destination. It’s at the heart of every successful business including app businesses. Normally in the form of a statement, your vision clearly and concisely communicates what your overall goal, whether it’s with your app or any business. Note that word - overall. We’re taking the bigger picture here. Essentially, it’s a statement of intent of what your app business would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid to long-term future.

Now that you have your app idea and vision in place, it’s time to move on the next step which is the last step in the Discovery stage: Define who your app is serving. What do I mean by this? We used step one in this process to get your app idea down and on paper, but remember we also looked at what problem it was solving. Your app is providing a solution to that problem, but who is this solution for? Who is experiencing that problem? We need to define your app’s target audience.

Step three is the hardest and it may not have made much sense! But the simple matter is when you know exactly who your app is for and have absolute clarity on the idea, it will help to shape major elements of your app.

Now that we’ve completed the Discovery stage for your app in the 10-Step process, it’s time to move onto the Strategy phase. Here is where we start thinking about how we’re going to make your app a reality, and to start with in this step, we need to make a few decisions about your app, starting with deciding which platform to build your app for.

With the rise in different types of code available for app development, more and more people are asking the question on whether they should build their app natively to the iOS and Android operating systems, or use what’s called a cross-platform coding language. However before we answer the question, let’s clear up exactly what both are and decide how to build for your chosen platform for your app.

Here is where we start thinking about how you’re going to make money from your app. Of course, some of you may feel you want to focus on building up a user base first and not monetise your app at all in the first instance. But it’s still something to think about now, so do go ahead with this step even if monetising isn’t at the top of your priority list.

We’re going to look at what it takes for an app to be successful. As guys know already, I’ve collaborated with some of the top app developers and geniuses in the app game and after seeing many apps that have achieved success and many that haven’t, I’ve narrowed it down to four things. Four things you need to seriously consider when it comes to building your app. I call these the four critical factors to success. Now I must point out that I wish I knew these when I first started out and as I’ve been in the same position in you, I wanted to give you them so you can go out and get started on your app in the right way.

If you were building an app that allows user to book a local hairdressing appointment, perhaps it would have the feature to integrate Google Maps. Or a feature to message the local hairdresser. Or a feature to pay through the app. These are all features of the app. Now at this point people want to go crazy. They want this feature, that feature - every single feature in the world! They think “Oh what a great idea I have! And then what if we could do this? Oh and then users can do this! And also that too! Oh my god I’m going to make millions!!!” This is where I came in and tell you something you might not want to hear.

Okay, so this is the fun part and probably the part that most people look forward to - it’s time for you to start drawing out your app. I want you to take everything that you’ve just learnt from all of the steps that we’ve done so far and get to work on sketching your app. And before any of you guys are wondering where to start and what to do, don’t worry - I’ve got a specific process that I take our clients on which I’m going to walk you through that shows you exactly how you can get started.

You’ve heard me say this before but I’ll repeat it again because it’s important. You’re not only building an app, but you’re also building a business. A business needs more than one person to successfully launch, profit, grow and scale. You can’t do everything yourself. Now look, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to say “challenge accepted!” and you will try to do everything yourself. I’ve been there and to be honest, you can do everything yourself. You really can. But at what cost?

Unless you’re planning on hiring an in-house design and development team full-time, the two options you’ve most probably got for creating your app are using either a freelancer or an agency. The question is, which should you use? This is a common question I get asked because, well let’s face it, using a freelancer can be significantly cheaper than an agency particularly if you use a freelancer abroad, and that’s something I can completely understand. But just as there are advantages, there are disadvantages also. Similarly, using an agency has its advantages and disadvantages. So which one should you go for?

Startup ideas are a dime a dozen. It is estimated that nearly 90% of startups fail every single year. The reason for that can be chalked up to instability, unwillingness to follow through, not having a solid plan, etc. However, most of it can be chalked up to one thing: funding.

Now, just to recap, a business plan is a written document that describes how a business is going to achieve its goals, from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint. They are outlines of how you plan to proceed with your app startup once you have the resources to back it up. It details how you will not only put your plan into motion but how you will grow your startup into a viable, tax-paying, revenue generating business.

A pitch deck is one of the most important tools when you’re talking to investors. Getting into a room with your ideal investor, or any investor for that matter is no easy task and takes a lot of hard work. Don’t waste that opportunity by having a sub-standard pitch prepared, or worse, not having a pitch deck at all prepared to demonstrate what a great opportunity you have to offer. This is your chance to impress them, and it’s a chance some people don’t get. So really take advantage of it and create it to the best of your ability!

How long does it take to make an app? Does it take a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or even a few years? I get asked this question a lot because chances are if you’re launching an app for the first time, then it’s likely this is your first time building software and also working with a development team too, meaning you may be unfamiliar with the processes involved and the average time software takes to develop in general. Also, there’s a massive amount of conflicting information out there, from a simple Google search and talking to different developers on how long apps take to build. But one thing is for sure, and that is to not rush building your app.

Having a mentor was priceless to me. If you want to start and grow a business, whether it’s an app startup or not, find someone who you can model. They’ve been through the journey before, the ups, the downs. Find someone who you can look upto, ask questions, and who will walk the startup journey with you. I got this piece of advice from when I went to see Tony Robbins, he said it openly to everyone in the room, and I took it and it was the best advice I had ever taken. This is probably the fastest way to growing your business. So get one!