Earnings Report for the Cocoa Nomad

Why Share This?

When I started blogging a few years ago about my development experiences, it was about sharing information. The iOS dev community was particularly welcoming and always willing to share with me. Additionally, I’ve always appreciated the transparency of developers and entrepreneurs who shared their sales data. It’s important to show the entire transition so as to never incorrectly access future successes as instant.

Documenting this experience is also about accountability. I’m making lots of mistakes by commission or omission and making note of them is only part of the process. Quantifying those mistakes is equally as important as sharing them. As Peter Drucker famously stated “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”.

December 2016 Report

Consulting: $0

I’ve not done any consulting work. After leaving my full-time job, I took a 6 month sabbatical as I needed to recharge and wanted to explore other business opportunities. This will most likely change in the next few months as I’m working toward a balance between my passion projects and some paid work.

iOS App Store: $17.20

This number is not the least bit surprising. My existing apps haven’t seen updated in 4 years and the sales reflect that. I have an updated version of Capoeira Songs that needs a bit more art work and it should be ready for release soon. While I don’t expect a huge increase in revenue for this app, I felt the rewrite was worth the effort. Next up is the Team Tryouts rewrite.

Amazon: $13.92

This is the most disappointing figure. My experiment with retail arbitrage has not been nearly as successful as I’d hoped. The toys (which few exceptions) have not sold well and the expected Christmas bump just didn’t happen. I naively assumed that everything would be gone by the new year. I may have been too aggressive/optimistic in selecting products. I could’ve paid closer attention to the sales ranking of certain products instead of focusing so much on margin. What good is high margin on a product that doesn’t sell? I’ll be faced with decisions about how to handle the inventory if the storage fees start to become a problem.
Total: $31.12

You probably have more money in your wallet right now than I made last month. Despite the low numbers, I’m pretty excited about 2017. I have a renewed interest in development and the amazing travel experience of 2016 was vital to that.