S03E36 – Summer of 21
Good morning 👋
My boy goes back to school tomorrow. The summer holidays are up. I didn’t work as much as I needed to over the past six weeks. But not any more than I wanted to. It took to my 30s to realise – probably after having a kid – that life is simple. It’s always a matter of priorities. What is the more important thing at any moment. If I wanted to get more done over the holidays, I could have walked to the nearest coffee shop and code in peace. I love what I do. It’s not work. It’s a passion. But there’s nothing I’m more passionate about than being with family. The path I’ve taken with independent development enables me to maximise this time. What is the point of an iOS release if it’s at the expense of my presence. Not enough.
Fortunately, I’m still profiting from the business strategy set when I launched Appy Weather on Android two years ago. Specifically going with subscriptions without a lifetime purchase option. This combined with last year’s relentless pursuit to appeal to Dark Sky users who were looking for a new weather home has meant I could afford to get away with a summer that has little to show for in terms of progress. August 2020 was my blockbuster month when Dark Sky became unavailable. Although I knew I won’t make as much this time around because subscription retention is a difficult business – despite now taking 85% of each sale – I made more than I was expecting. Somewhere around 70% of last year’s figure. Not bad for an app that’s been in effectively maintenance mode for the last 12 months.
And with school reopening and darkness beckoning, there are four months to go – and 16 more newsletter episodes – for me to re-prioritise to get through as much as possible before the year is up. A year that began with me outlining eight projects I aimed to ship within the next 12 months. Even if I bring my A-game to the time remaining, it’s still unlikely I’ll end the year with anything other than the book to show for it. But the goal at this point is to start 2022 really strong. These next few months will be critical.
Have a great Sunday!
Best,
Bardi