Catching up on September wins and progress

A Creators Journey

So first of all, I have not had time to do the podcast because I have been working on a special event for my game, Endless Hurdles. I'll put a link in the show notes for it. It's free on iOS.

I wanted to put out a Halloween event this year. The event runs from October 12th to November 15th, and I had a lot of last-minute things that I needed to take care of. I planned for this and have been working on it over the last few months.

Everything went according to plan. So that's kind of a scary thing, but the exciting part is there were some technical challenges, and I won't get into them here because it's a software development-oriented thing, which is, not necessarily a lot of the audience for this Podcast episode.

But the learning curve on it was great because I had to do a lot of things I've not done before. I've never done time-limited events that unlock in games, so that was an exciting challenge. And also just taking the whole experience up to the next level.

By that, I mean not only in the game and tweaking everything and improving all the parts for the players but also on the marketing side.

That's really what I want to talk about here because, as a developer, I'm not great at marketing, It's as simple as that. But what I did this time around was I really went to town on working on the screenshots for the App Store. I did a promo trailer video thing for it to really kind of sell the idea of this event.

Now, this whole game and the event is free, this is just one of those passion projects, if you like. And also a learning experience, like I say, from a lot of the things in there and a lot of the marketing side.

But it's all been very valuable and time well spent, this will definitely help me going forward with other projects. That's the takeaway there. That's taken up a lot of my time.

I've also seen shockingly good growth on my Compile Swift podcast, which is great as well because that is my main side project. I don't make any money from it other than some of the advertising that I put in the episodes. You're never gonna make enough money to retire from that, right?

I'll be honest, I don't think it even comes close to covering the costs involved, but it helps. And that's kind of where I'm going with that. But a lot of the things I do are about the learning experience.

But I do feel that as we're reaching the end of the year here in the last quarter, I'm thinking about all of the things that I've achieved this year, that next year I really do need to stop and say to myself, "Okay, some of these side projects need to start giving me some kind of return financially”.

Because, as we all know, things are just continuing to get more expensive. Even things like podcasting and apps and all those kind of things, you know, that phrase, "Yes, it's a lot of the time free to consume, but it's not free to make."

I'm having to look at my projects and decide which are the ones that feel like they have longevity to them and will pay off in regards to not only getting the experience from doing them and everything else, but also maybe earning enough income from them to cover the cost.

That's all I'm really looking to do here is cover the cost of things. So, no illusion of becoming spectacularly rich or anything like that. I just want to cover the cost of the things that I make.

That's all my goal ever really is on that side. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts about that. We've had some episodes and some great guests on the podcast talking about passion projects and that kind of thing.

It's always difficult because you need the passion to really do a good job, in my opinion. Sometimes you get into a situation where you will push yourself further than you should as far as what it's costing you because it's a passion project.

That's something that I've got to stop and reflect upon a bit as we get to the end of the year.

So, that's just a couple of updates there.

I'm working on some other things.

I've been learning a whole bunch of stuff, like I say, I'm learning to get better at the marketing side of things and also reaching out to folks and saying, "Hey, would you like to come on the podcast? Are you interested?"

I feel really lucky because everybody I've asked to be a guest and everybody that's been on the podcasts have been fantastic. Nobody has said no, which is a real blessing to me because it takes time.

I'm asking people to take time out of their day and come talk to me. I don't know if it's going to help them or not, but I certainly hope that it does. So I always appreciate all of that. It's been working out great.

All the guests I've had on all my podcasts have been fantastic. I really hope that I get to do a lot more of that because it is great to talk and discuss things with people and bounce ideas around, have conversations. A lot of the approach that I take is just that, having a conversation.

Now, the last thing I want to talk about is the live streams. I took a little break, didn't get as many live streams done as I used to, but I'm trying to get back into it again because I've got a better routine.

There's no denying, and I'm sure a lot of folks have experienced this, all the companies and the day jobs that are returning to the office, it really puts a dent in things that you feel like doing in the evenings or at the weekends and having to manage, right?

Certainly I always know how much it takes out of me having to drive to and from the office. By the time I get home in the evening, a lot of the time I want to work on things and I do work on them. But on a live stream, it's tough.

It's real tough to do a day's work, come home, and then do essentially a performance, if you like, on a live stream because nobody wants to watch a live stream and someone looking tired or miserable. So, in that sense, it is a performance.

I'm lucky because the folks that come by my chat rooms, they're fantastic. Very motivational, very engaged, and very helpful. By the end of the stream, I'm just feeling fantastic.

The problem is, getting to that part where "Okay, forcing yourself to go live. It's gonna be great. Just start the stream and it'll work out." And I guess that's some of my advice to folks.

So, that's some updates in this episode. I'm catching up here, trying to get back into the swing of things.

Thanks to those folks out there who are listening to the podcast and reach out to me. Really appreciate you all and the kind words that you send. Thank you so much for all of that and all the reviews and everything else. You don't know how much that means to folks to just see acknowledgement of, "Hey, even if you don't like it, I took the time to listen to your thing." That means a huge amount to us podcasters.