Lessons Learned from Running an iOS Consultancy: Part 2

Communication is Key

Clients, team members and investors will never know what you’re thinking if you don’t communicate. If you’re running behind on a project, keeping it to yourself doesn’t help anyone. A quick email or phone call can clear things up with a client, reset expectations and circumvent larger issues.

Likewise, asking more from your team when things aren’t going right and being honest with them about their performance can help you exceed the client’s expectations.

Communicate frequently with everyone you work with, and above all, be honest with yourself about your feelings as these “gut instincts” are often harbingers of larger problems.

3) Make a Good First Impression

Mobile is fast-paced and sometimes too fast. The mentality that’s common to Web 2.0, “Ship now and fix later!” doesn’t work anymore. Bloggers, influencers and most especially users often give an app just one chance.

If you ship something that is incomplete, buggy or performs poorly, not only will you damage your reputation, you’ll lose market share that can be difficult to recover down the road.

As a mobile consultant or product maker, you live and die by your reputation. While it can be hard to see the wisdom in slowing down and doing things right, it’ll really make a difference.

Lesson Learned: Handshake

In 2008, I worked on an app called Handshake that eased the process of sharing contact info with another iPhone user. The app would scan the user’s address book on the first launch and compare it with the cellular number stored on the device. This allowed Handshake to detect the user, saving the user a few precious taps to select their own contact info.

The system worked great for my fellow developer and me. However, we didn’t have massive phonebooks. When the app got into the hands of bloggers who did have massive phonebooks, the process took too long and triggered WatchDog — the OS would determine the app was taking too long to launch and exit.

This simple mistake cost us positive first-day reviews and diminished our share in a market that proved hard to recover. While we thought we did thorough QA, we didn’t take the time to think through everything, and it cost us dearly.

4) Prioritize Networking

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

This adage is absolutely true. It cannot be overstated how important it is to expand your social and professional circles. A world of possibilities will open up when you procure and foster a professional network.

Not only is it important to attend CocoaHeads, meet-ups, conferences and trade shows, it’s also vital to talk to new people at these events. Everyone needs something and everyone has something to offer, often it is beneficial to do favors for people in your network. Even an act as simple as introducing one contact to another contact can pay you back exponentially.

Validation and Respect

You would be surprised at how often you can email someone to ask for advice or help and they happily point you in the right direction. Everyone wants validation and respect. Simply writing an email to ask how to break into a new field, or to see if your contact knows anyone looking to hire offers your contact instant validation can be a very positive experience for both of you.

You might get some sound advice you’d not find elsewhere, or learn of an opportunity nobody else knows about. Your contact might then reach out to you for help and voila, you might find your next new partner or rockstar employee.

The worst-case scenario is that your contact will be unresponsive or unable to help, and at the very least he or she will now know your name and a little bit about you.

Avoid Solitude

Even the most talented developer that works in solitude is extremely handicapped against his or her peers. I have always been an introvert, and it’s often to the detriment of my career.

It took me many years to embrace professional networking, and even now I wrestle with my natural drive to work alone. For introverts, being in social situations is exhausting, but for extroverts those same social engagements are revitalizing. Networking is equally important for both, and in some ways more important for the introvert who struggles to make connections.

Dale Carnegie wrote “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in 1936, and despite a brash title, it is the best book on working with people that I’ve encountered.

Never be afraid to meet new people, do them favors, ask for advice and take advantage of opportunities to grow your professional circle. You’ll be surprised by how often people in your network are able and willing to help, and you might also be surprised by how much you get back from helping them.

Where To Go From Here?

Running your own company is fun, rewarding, interesting and excellent for building character.

Yes, you’ll make mistakes — likely a lot of them. What’s important is that you learn from those mistakes and that you stand yourself back up after falling down. As long as you don’t repeat them and have the dedication to keep trying, you will persevere.

You can learn a lot from others, but the lessons probably won’t be as strong as those you learn for yourself. Take the opportunity to learn when you can and follow the path of those who came first, your journey will be the easier for it.

I hope this was helpful, and if you have any lessons you’ve learned that you’d like to share, please join the forum discussion below!