Hi, this is a minute of Overpass, my name is Eric and I make apps.
Now this week, I wanna talk about "app vultures".
Okay, so anytime you do something where you put yourself on the line and really put yourself
out there, there's always gonna be people out there trying to take advantage of that
and feed on your insecurities and get you to spend money with them doing different things
and the app industry is no different.
Ten years ago when I first started Overpass, I read this book here called Go It Alone by
Geoff Burch and it's a really good book and one of the things he talks about is his anecdote
about how when you start a shop, or small business, there gonna be somebody who comes
along and tells you how great your business is and they'll say, "What would make it even
better is if you have like a really nice cash register or copy machine or whatever.
And just as coincidence would have it, they happen to be selling the cash machine, or
the cash register, or the copy machine.
And pretty soon they talk you into buying this piece of equipment that you don't really
need and you can't really afford.
The app industry is exactly the same.
So I call them "app vultures".
When you release your first app, or your second app - when you release any app, within a few
days you'll get an email from somebody saying, like for me with Mandarin Bubble Bath, I get
an email saying, "Hey, I was just playing your game Mandarin Bubble Bath.
I think it's great.
Have you thought about trying to get more users?
My company has this service where we can help you get more users" all these kind of stuff,
and you think, oh good, I'm glad somebody's using it.
But then, when you release your next app, so like say a few weeks later, I released
Arabic Bubble Bath, and I'll get an email saying "Hey, I was just playing your game
Arabic Bubble Bath, it's really great.
Have you thought about increasing users?
My company blah blah blah" so it's just a form letter, it's designed to look personal
but it's not.
And you know what it's like, you get spammed all the time.
Spam is spam.
However, one of the things that really bothers me about the app guys is that what they're
doing is they're feeding on your insecurities that you don't know what you're doing.
None of us, when we released our first app, or second app, or even now you know when we
release an app, we don't know a hundred percent for sure whether or not it's gonna work.
So when somebody calls you up on the phone or they send you an email saying they have
all the answers, all you have to do is hire their company, we're a little bit more susceptible
to it than most people would be because we're basically putting ourselves all out there.
Everything is on the line for us and if somebody comes saying "I could take away all these
risks.
I could take away all these problems.", we kinda like that.
In the app industry, among other app developers, we talk about the gold rush.
The app industry, I mean, there's no secret, the app industry is the gold rush at the moment
so we're all kind of hoping to become the next Pinterest or whatever.
So we're all there but the thing about the gold rush is the people who made the most
money during the gold rush are the people who sold shovels, right?
So this is like the in joke among the app industry.
The people who maybe they did apps before but now they sell shovels.
They sell their course, or they sell their marketing service, or they sell their service
that will help do keyword research for you.
They haven't been able to get it done themselves so what they want to do id to get you to pay
money.
'Cause money coming from you is guaranteed money.
Money for you from the app, coming from ads or purchases is not guaranteed money.
So, it's less risky to market yourself as an app marketing company than it is as an
app developer.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that these people have not entered the ring like
you have.
They have not faced the same risks that you have.
Or they have and it didn't work then they went on to do something else.
So you and I, or if you haven't released an app yet, or if you have it yet you're about
to, we put things out there.
We don't know if it's gonna work.
We have ideas that's gonna work and we tell people "Oh this is gonna be a shoe in" but
we don't know.
We're taking risks every time.
We're spending our own money, we're using our own time, we're using our own credibility,
and we're putting stuff out there and there's loads of people out there, I call them the
app vultures because once you release something, they'll come and they'll try to get you, they
feed on your insecurities and try to get you to spend money with them when like the old
adage: "Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.", it's the same thing.
They haven't been able to make it in the app market.
If all the things they said worked, worked, then they'll be doing that to make money that
way rather than trying to market to you.
So, anyway this week my message is watch out for the app vultures.
They're out there and once you release your first app or if you've released lots of apps
already, you know they're there.
So, anyway, that's it for this week, I'll talk to you next week.
Hey, thanks very much for watching the video.
If you like it, please do me a favor and just click on the like button down below.
I'd really appreciate it.
Now I do this video once a week, every Friday, so if you're interested in seeing more, then
just go ahead and subscribe to the channel and you'll see a pop up in your feed once
a week, and then I can tell you everything else we learn about in the future, about the
app market.
And finally, if you could be so kind, please leave a review.
If you're like me, you hate to leave reviews, I never leave reviews, so I'm gonna make it
easy for you.
If you like the video, just leave the review "Gnarley" right 80's, if you hated it say
"Bogus', and if you couldn't think anything of it , go ahead and just put "Eh".
That's it, i'll talk you next week.Thanks.
Bye!