How I Saved Myself over $3000 Dollars

And Learned to Code

A while back I wrote about my experience with going through the process of hiring a coder for an iPhone App that I wanted developed. The App was very simple game but one that I really wanted to see come to fruition.

I had read about other’s bloggers experiences with hiring and outsourcing iPhone App Developers from Elance and Odesk. I thought to myself that I wouldn’t waste any time and would put my project into action.

After spending a lot of time going through all the applicants and sorting through who I thought was best fit for the job. It didn’t take me long to find out that the lowest quote that I got was $3200 dollars!

$3200 dollars blew way past my budget. My budget was $500 to $1000 dollars tops. Spending over $3200 would get me around 225 hours of programming labor.

Sadly, I had to scrap this project.

Time for Plan B

I really wanted to see my creation come to life. What were my other options?

My other thoughts were, ok if I do spend the $3000+ dollars that means that I am already in the Red $3200 dollars and I have to sell X amount App plus another X to cover the annual Apple Developers fee.

Basically I had to sell over 4714 Apps. And that’s just to break even!

The numbers were not in my favor.

Obviously, even if I do decide to go with a programmer from Elance or Odesk; I still have a lot of ground to cover in terms of just breaking even.

I then proceeded to weigh everything out.

I can spend the money and get App and not know if I will break even in my investment at all (ROI).

Or.

I can spend some Time and invest in learning a new skill, which in this case is Objective C and code the Apps myself. Doing this gives me ultimate flexibility and control.

More importantly it gives me a life long Skill that I can use to build more and more Apps without having the risk or losing any money at all.

The best part about learning Xcode 4, Cocos2D and Objective-C is now I don’t have to spend money every time I want to submit a new App to the App Store.

I just have to spend the time and make it.

Risk vs Reward

I thought to myself ok, wait a minute. I set myself a goal. I knew that I could learn how to program and code my own iPhone App well within spending 225 hours or less of my time. So, I set myself the challenge.

I did and I did it.

Both iPhone Apps that I currently have in on the App Store were designed and coded by myself. Lone Ranger Style.

I now have 2 iPhone Apps on the App Store, and counting.

All of which I can happily say are in the Black. Pure profit for me.

I’m not going to say I won the App Store Lottery like our good friend Benny Hsu, the creator of the Photo 365 App. Which I have bought and use everyday. And like all products on my blog. I fully endorse.

But, I as I stated above. I currently have 2 Apps in the App store, with many more in the works.

If I Can Do It

You can do it. I’ve been busting my tail learning Xcode 4, Objective-C and Cocos2D to help create my iPhone Apps. It is a lot of work but I’m here to tell you that if I can get my head around it, so can you. I am definitely no Ray Wenderlich and probably never will be.

The cool part is everything is getting easier. A lot easier.

But spending some quiet time and putting your nose to the grind stone, you too can persevere. Whether it be programming iPhone Apps or setting up a blog. Buckle down and learn a new skill.

It is something you will have for a lifetime. And, it’ll save ya a few bucks!