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In podcast 19 of the Niche Pursuits Podcast, I was able to sit down with Elaine Heney and discuss her business of building mobile phone applications. She has currently built over 200 iPhone or Android Apps and only started about a year ago!
I was completely amazed at the success she is having, and knew I had to have her on the show.
Elaine has an interesting story because she's not a programmer and was just tired of working for someone else (sound familiar?). After creating her first app, she saw a little bit of success…not much, but enough to keep her intrigued by the app market. As a result, she did something that I could never do…she quit her job before she was really making much money!
She decided that she was going to give herself a few months to do nothing but work on her iPhone app business…and well, it turns out that it worked big time!
She has now built over 200 mobile phone applications and is comfortably living off this full-time business. She share tips on building iPhone apps and more on her blog at: TheChocolateLabApps.com.
What's Covered in the Podcast?
During the course of this interviewed, I personally learned a lot. And I've built an iPhone app before!
One of the most intriguing tips that Elaine shared was the fact that you can buy existing source code for mobile app! And you can often do it for very cheap. She shares her methods for doing market research, finding what's selling, and then finding existing source code for very cheap to match those hot selling ideas.
So, rather than spending $3,000+ to get an app built from scratch, Elaine is able to get her apps up and running with original graphics, etc for less than $500 many times.
Overall in this podcast we cover these topics and resources:
- Elaine's background before building mobile apps
- Why she went into the app business
- The story of her first successful app (its about horses).
- The life-cycle of an app – from finding an idea to selling it.
- How much money she is making from her mobile phone apps
- Why she feels that people starting right now can still be very successful
- Websites to buy source code from: ChupaMobile.com, SellMyApp.com, and SellMyApplication.com
- Resources to use for market research: AppCodes.com, SensorTower.com, and TopAppCharts.com
- You can also check out ALL of Elaine's apps right here (will open iTunes): https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/elaine-heney/id532878323
- Follow along with Elaine on her blog at: TheChocolateLabApps.com.
Overall, this is an information heavy podcast on how to build an iPhone app business from the ground up.
I have to admit that my head is swimming with ideas now after doing this podcast. Too many ideas, too little time.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, or questions below. Thanks for listening!
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18 Comments
Conversation
Spencer
I know you’ve covered “app selling” and “app dev” in the past.. this podcast here is a great reminder and example of why we should diversify our income/assets portfolio; moreover, it taught me that’s not hard to create practical products and make money online – even if you have no experience or programming skills…
Elaine is phenomenal… 200 apps in less than a year? Incredible…
I’ve built a network of 300+ niche sites myself, but it took me several years… Elaine, congrats for your record speed success! I know it takes time and devotion to reach results such as in your featured story…
Fantastic post! I’ve always talked about ideas for apps/games with a friend of mine, but never tried, since neither of us can code. Might have to rethink it….
Hey Elaine,
Congrats to your success! I am also more into niche sites right now, but this is an interesting area and I’m sure there’s lots of money to be made!
Interesting. I’m definitely more into niche sites right now, but I’ve always considered trying my hand at apps. This is very inspiring!
Congrats on escaping the rat race.
Really interesting to hear your journey so far
WOw i am actually going to start to learn developing and programing this in 2 yeas program wish me luck
Thank you Spencer. This podcast is very timely as I’ve been toying with the idea of building my first mobile app.
You are welcome…best of luck Ryan with your first app!
I was very inspired from hearing this podcast, until I read the reviews on her itunes page… almost every review complains about the amount of ads.
Is that what has to be done to get $2 a day? What about the user experience?
I’ve been up for many nights working on my first app, and even though I would love to make money from it, I really want it to be fun to play, and not just a bunch of annoying ads every 5 seconds…
I hope that that model will also be profitable.
You can either go the free route with ads, or of course make it a paid app. We didn’t discuss the amount of ads on the podcast, so can’t really speak to what works and what doesn’t there.
Building apps and selling it online is no joke . I’ve some similar intentions too and would start doing it once my blog generates some income . Thanks for sharing this podcast .
Best of luck Pramod!
Thanks guys, I appreciate all the comments 🙂 Glad you found it interesting. Elaine.
Hi Spencer
I have only just finished listening to this podcast. It was great. So jam packed with useful information. Elaine is awesome and so open with the information she provides. I will definitely be listening to this one again.
I have heard others talk about App development in the past but this podcast has seriously made be feel inclined to try it.
Thanks Elaine. Thanks Spencer again for providing really useful information.
You are very welcome Sara!
Nice interview. I prefer you do podcast and talk about people’s success stories more than you write to your blog.
Listening to success stories is way more motivating. Reading blog is when we want information, such as your niche sites creation!
Good job Spencer!
good information, it’s usable for me, but i am busy now : (( i want to know everything about web/wap…
i am really interested creating mobile applications
good job Spencer Haws!
Would love to have enough time to dedicate to building an app……thanks for the podcast.