0 1 00:00:00,570 --> 00:00:08,190 Okay. So the next thing I want to talk about is blogging and this is remarkably underutilized and yet really 1 2 00:00:08,190 --> 00:00:09,300 quite successful. 2 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:14,490 Now we were talking about blogging nowadays the predominant way that people go about doing this is using 3 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,230 medium.com. Medium 4 5 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:24,720 if you haven't used it, is just this beautiful minimalistic way of creating content and consuming content 5 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:26,360 that is the written word. 6 7 00:00:26,370 --> 00:00:33,300 So one of the ways that you see founders leverage medium for their launch is by creating a blog that 7 8 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:38,030 essentially follows the journey of how their app got created. 8 9 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:43,390 So from the very beginning of idea conception, what are they doing, what are the problems that they come 9 10 00:00:43,490 --> 00:00:43,860 across, 10 11 00:00:43,860 --> 00:00:45,310 how are they selling them. 11 12 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:51,110 And as humans we're kind of suckers for storytelling. We really really like a good story. 12 13 00:00:51,210 --> 00:00:57,510 We want to know you know what challenges are the hero facing, how are they fighting it, how are they getting 13 14 00:00:57,510 --> 00:01:00,830 over it and every step of their journey. 14 15 00:01:01,050 --> 00:01:03,060 So there's a few good examples for you to check out 15 16 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:12,450 and the first of which is a Mac app called Desk and the guy who created it essentially documents a timeline 16 17 00:01:12,450 --> 00:01:20,070 of how he went about creating this thing. And and even in the very beginning, you know 11 years before 17 18 00:01:20,070 --> 00:01:23,020 creation, he started blogging about the idea. 18 19 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,500 I know a lot of us are suddenly going to tense up and say you know "Oh my gosh. You know my great idea if I just 19 20 00:01:28,500 --> 00:01:33,240 release it out there into the internets, what's going to happen? Somebody is going to steal it and then 20 21 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:34,550 it will be lost." 21 22 00:01:34,980 --> 00:01:42,630 So my answer for those people is that you vastly underestimate how much people procrastinate. 22 23 00:01:42,630 --> 00:01:49,440 There are so many people that I've met over the years either through running London App Brewery or working 23 24 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:57,720 in tech that have had amazing fantastic ideas and yet they lack that internal little hand that pushes 24 25 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:05,220 them beyond the idea and getting them to actually work on it and pour their blood, sweat and tears into 25 26 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:06,510 this project. 26 27 00:02:06,510 --> 00:02:09,380 So I really wouldn't worry about people stealing your idea. 27 28 00:02:09,450 --> 00:02:15,980 And I can bet that if you go around telling every single person you meet your grand idea, one in a 28 29 00:02:15,980 --> 00:02:20,180 hundred of those people will be tempted to steal it but then they go home 29 30 00:02:20,190 --> 00:02:23,750 and then there's Game of Thrones and then there's ice cream and then they'll forget about it. 30 31 00:02:23,790 --> 00:02:30,300 And also if your idea is really truly that great, then you can bet that at least five people right now 31 32 00:02:30,300 --> 00:02:32,440 on earth are working on it. 32 33 00:02:32,490 --> 00:02:33,800 So don't worry about it. Instead 33 34 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,670 be transparent. Blog about it. 34 35 00:02:35,790 --> 00:02:38,650 Tell people what you're doing and how it's going. 35 36 00:02:38,670 --> 00:02:44,550 And one of the great benefits of that is that you a) build up a following. 36 37 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,800 And this is a slightly different following to those people that you have on your email list because 37 38 00:02:49,860 --> 00:02:55,800 you ask them to take action once only and they might have declared that they're interested in downloading 38 39 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:56,530 your app. 39 40 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:02,670 But when you have a group of people who are following you along your journey of creation, those people 40 41 00:03:02,670 --> 00:03:08,470 really care and that is the difference between a fan and a customer. 41 42 00:03:08,610 --> 00:03:14,650 So there's a really great blog by the guy who created Looseleaf. 42 43 00:03:14,790 --> 00:03:17,790 And again all the links are in the text below 43 44 00:03:17,910 --> 00:03:19,400 if you want to have a look at them. 44 45 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:25,290 But basically what he did was he documented his journey for creating this app and every step of the 45 46 00:03:25,290 --> 00:03:30,690 way he face problems or issues and documented some of his solutions. 46 47 00:03:30,690 --> 00:03:36,540 Now some of those solutions are technical regarding how he coded certain things and other ones are more 47 48 00:03:36,540 --> 00:03:39,180 related to the product or getting it out there. 48 49 00:03:39,450 --> 00:03:46,230 And at the end of the day, he had a whole bunch of followers who were really really vested in the success 49 50 00:03:46,260 --> 00:03:47,140 of Looseleaf. 50 51 00:03:47,150 --> 00:03:50,400 Like people who cared about it, myself included. 51 52 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:56,670 The emotion is very different because you really want that guy to succeed, you really want the app to 52 53 00:03:56,670 --> 00:04:01,590 succeed and you care so much that you're willing to shout about it, you're willing to tell your friends 53 54 00:04:01,590 --> 00:04:05,560 about it even though it doesn't benefit you at all and you're probably paying for it. 54 55 00:04:05,580 --> 00:04:09,660 That is the difference between a true fan and just a customer. 55 56 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:17,400 So I highly urge you to start writing about your journey of creating your product and gather your fans 56 57 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:21,720 around you who will support you, who will help you spread the word, 57 58 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,060 who will care about the success of your product. 58 59 00:04:25,110 --> 00:04:31,320 So have a look at some of the examples in the text below and see how you can start emulating it. 59 60 00:04:31,590 --> 00:04:36,320 And I would highly recommend just starting out with Medium. It's really low effort. You 60 61 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:43,080 sign up and you get your own beautiful blog. Writing in it is as simple as writing in Word and adding 61 62 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,210 pictures is pretty much just drag and drop. 62 63 00:04:45,210 --> 00:04:52,050 Forget about all those high effort ways of you know buying a domain, setting up hosting, getting a WordPress 63 64 00:04:52,050 --> 00:04:53,560 theme installed on it, 64 65 00:04:53,670 --> 00:04:58,000 fiddling around with the settings, changing the layouts blah blah blah. 65 66 00:04:58,140 --> 00:05:04,080 You don't need to do any of that. Just get a Medium account and start posting. The content is what matters.