By Charles Perry and Joe Cieplinski
The Business of Online Businesses
Episode 450! Today we announce that this will be final episode of the Release Notes podcast. We talk about what led to this decision, what comes next, and we take a look at the journey we shared for the last...
It’s the end of 2021, so today we look forward to 2022 and what we hope to achieve. Joe talks about the upcoming inflection point he faces with his current long-term contract, and Charles discusses his marketing and technical goals...
Today we continue with our look at how we did living up to the goals that we set for ourselves in 2021. Last week we focused on Joe. This week it’s Charles’ chance to be in the hot seat as...
As is our tradition, today we start taking a look at how we did living up to the goals that we set for ourselves in 2021. In this episode we review Joe’s goals and get caught up on how he...
Today we discuss Charles’ ad campaigns in 2021 and look forward to 2022. We talk about why RelaNet’s final advertisement in 2021 was rejected, risks that this cancellation have revealed in RelaNet’s marketing plan, and RelaNet’s advertising plan for 2022....
Today Charles takes his turn on the couch and talks to Joe about some problems he’s been dealing with. We talk about a feature update that has taken much longer than expected, how to push a contractor to make more...
Today we are again discussing the Apple vs Epic lawsuit. This time we talk about the recent court order that denied Apples motion to delay removal of the App Store anti-steering provisions, what Apple’s next move might be, and we...
Charles has returned from Hawaii, so today we discuss how indies can plan ahead to have more relaxing vacations. We talk about things you can do before your vacation to minimize work interruptions, the seeming necessity of doing at least...
Today we talk about the recent Apple Event and the new line of laptops that Apple announced. We discuss the new technology in Apple’s new CPUs, the return of ports on MacBook Pros, and why Joe isn’t as thrilled with...
We are joined again today by Jonathan Rhyne, CEO and Co-Founder of PSPDFKit. We invited Jonathan on the show again because PSPDFKit just raised its first round of funding. Today Jonathan continues addressing the question Charles and Joe were both...
We are joined today by Jonathan Rhyne, CEO and Co-Founder of PSPDFKit. We invited Jonathan on the show again because PSPDFKit just raised its first round of funding. Jonathan gives us an overview of the company, and then he starts...
In this episode Charles shares the story of how he can’t get Apple to quit sending him money. Charles hasn’t had an app available in the iOS App Store for years, and yet he hasn’t found the magic incantation that...
Today we catch up on the goings on in our businesses. Joe talks about dumping the Apple Card and selecting a new credit card, we discuss the differences between personal and business credit cards, and then Charles shares the story...
Today we look at the recent settlement between Apple and the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) that will allow so called “reader apps” in the App Store to direct their customers to outside payment methods. We talk about what exactly...
Today we’re talking about the recent Apple event, and the hardware that was introduced. We discuss the trouble that Joe ran into ordering his new iPhone, all the new hardware that was announced, and which iPhone Charles is going to...
Today we talk about a grab bag of issues that have been on our mind. Joe talks about a tax problem that he’s run into, Charles shares a nice resource for writing checks, and then we talk about the importance...
Joe attended a conference! Live and in-person! So today Charles talks to Joe about his time attending 360iDev in Denver. We find out what it was like attending an in-person conference in the midst of a pandemic, hear about some...
Today we continue the discussion about website design that we began last week. We talk about how to select great fonts for your website, being careful with contrast, and some considerations to keep in mind when looking at stock photography...
Today we’re talking about design, specifically website design. We start with an brief introduction to color theory and talk about tools that can be used to help you choose color schemes that look great. Then we shift gears to discuss...
Today we talk about the latest fuss to overtake our technology community: 1Password and its decision to use Electron for the next version of its password manager rather than native technologies. We discuss the background of the change, why people...
Today we’re joined by John Wilker, organizer of 360iDev, to continue last week’s discussion about conferences. John tells us what we got right and wrong in last week’s episode, he shares his first-hand experience of what it’s like to run...
Even if we can’t attend in-person conferences these days, we can at least talk about them. So today we talk about the conference outlook for the rest of 2021—at least as we see it. We share our thoughts on travel,...
Today we talk about some of the “strong opinions” that exist surrounding the changes that have been made to Safari in the current betas of iOS and MacOS. In particular, we discuss public reactions to these Safari changes, how Apple...
Today we catch up with Charles and the email advertising campaign that he recently ran for RelaNet. Charles shares some numbers on the performance of the campaign, and he expresses frustration about his inability to run promotions more frequently. We...
Today we talk to Joe about an issue he’s been facing with the product he’s contracting on: How can you tell when it’s time to put your foot on the gas, and when does your product need a little more...
Today we’re talking about an article from Justin Harter that really resonated with us. It’s a story of someone who owned his own services business, struggled to make it work, found some success, and burned himself out. We talk about...
Today we tackle the question of when to part ways with a customer. Charles shares the story of a customer that he recently had to fire, then we do a postmortem to consider whether firing the customer was the right...
We’re joined again today by Curtis Herbert, developer of Slopes, to discuss WWDC. Last week we talked about announcements that made the keynote. Today we dive into some of the WWDC sessions that Joe and Curtis have watched and how...
We’re joined today by Curtis Herbert, developer of Slopes, to discuss the WWDC keynote and how the announcements that Apple made will affect the businesses of iOS and Mac developers. We talk about new Swift language features, how Apple’s focus...
Charles is preparing for another round of cold email marketing, so today we continue our discussion about email marketing. We talk about doing the pre-work that’s necessary to make sure your pitch is relevant to the recipient, developing a willingness...
Charles is preparing for another round of cold email marketing, so today we discuss some of the considerations that go into a cold email campaign. We talk about getting over the uncomfortable feeling that you’re bothering people with your advertising,...
Today we catch up with Joe on what’s going on in his world. He gives us an update on the status of his 2021 goals, and shares a funny story (in hind sight) about his taxes that came to a...
We are joined again today by Brady Cassidy, co-founder of Rewardful, a SaaS to help you run an affiliate program for your business. Last week we heard about Brady’s journey as an entrepreneur and learned about Rewardful. Today we take...
Today we are joined by Brady Cassidy, co-founder of Rewardful, a SaaS to help you run an affiliate program for your business. We talk to Brady about his experience bootstrapping Rewardful, how he got into that business, and how he...
In this episode we continue talking about Charles’ plan for marketing RelaNet in 2021. Today we discuss Charles’ plan to start an affiliate program and focus on state-level organizations. We talk about affiliate rates, the affiliate software that Charles is...
Improving his marketing is one of Charles’ main goals for 2021, and with the end of tax season quickly approaching, he finally has a little more focus about what he’s going to change. Today we talk about Charles’ marketing plans...
Today we continue talking about the changes that Charles is making to RelaNet pricing tiers. In particular, today we discuss how to handle customers whose pricing would be different under the new pricing plans. Should these customers be grandfathered and...
Today Charles talks about his plan to change his pricing tiers for RelaNet. We talk about RelaNet’s current pricing tiers, the problems he’s found with this current pricing, the changes he has in mind, and how to best present information...
Today we continue our conversation with Dermot Daly, founder of Tapadoo, one of the premier iOS client services outfits in Dublin, Ireland. In this episode, we talk about how the pandemic has affected Tapadoo’s customer pipeline, changes he’s noticed in...
Today we talk to Dermot Daly, founder of Tapadoo, one of the premier iOS client services outfits in Dublin, Ireland. We wanted to talk to Dermot today about how his past year has gone. Dermot shares how the pandemic has...
In today’s episode, we talk about creating product roadmaps, each from our own perspective. Charles discusses prioritizing what comes next in the context of a one-man operation, and Joe tackles the issue from the perspective of someone working with a...
Today we talk about the imminent demise of the iOS Identifier for Advertisers (or “IDFA”), and how we expect to be affected by this change scheduled to be introduced in iOS 14.5. Joe shares how the project he’s contracting to...
Today Charles and Joe catch up on what’s been going on. We talk about a variety of topics, including office and desk setups, paying back technical debt, the pain of third-party dependencies, and some progress Charles is making on his...
Today we continue our conversation about a refresh of the RelaNet website that Charles recently completed. In this episode we talk about favicons, updating website content, comparing RelaNet to competitors, and why Charles finally broke down and added a blog....
Today we talk about a refresh of the RelaNet website that Charles recently completed. Some of the things we discuss include website templates, changes to marketing language, making the website faster, and the start of an SEO effort for RelaNet....
Today we talk about how we’re maintaining our network after almost a year of pandemic restrictions. We talk about what’s helped us keep up with colleagues, how we’ve sometimes failed, and what we expect to see on this front over...
Today we talk to Joe about a new role that he’s taken in the contracting team he’s been working with: sole iOS developer. We talk to Joe about how this came about, how his responsibilities are changing, and how this...
Charles put in an offer on the e-signature product that we discussed last week, so in this episode we talk about how things turned out. We talk about negotiations, sales terms, and what to do when no lawyer wants to...
Charles has reached an inflection point where he either needs to purchase several licenses to the e-signature solution he’s using, or he needs to purchase the entire product outright. Today Joe helps Charles think through the pros and cons of...
In this episode we continue looking forward to 2021 and what we hope to achieve. Today we talk to Charles about his plans, and discuss his strategic, marketing, technology, and other goals. Mailing List Every month there are more great...
