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 8+ years.Par Charles Perry and Joe Cieplinski

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 for the upcoming year. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac an…

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 we evaluate his progress in 2021. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have t…

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 did this year. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time to discuss on th…

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. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of Mac a…

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 progress, and a newly discovered issue with Charles’ e-signature tool that could be catastrophic if it is not quickly fixed. Mailing Lis…

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 read the tea leaves a bit to try to better understand how the court might respond to some of the ways Apple might implem…

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 some work while on vacation and how that work can be minimized, and the inevitable catch-up that is required onc…

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 the announced changes as everyone else seems to be. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the busin…

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 asking: “Why take funding now, after so many years of bootstrapping?” Mailing List Every month there ar…

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 to answer the question Charles and Joe were both asking: “Why take funding now, after […]…

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 is required to cancel all auto-renewing subscriptions. Until today that is. (Maybe.) Mailing List Every […]…

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 of a customer that he fired after only one day. Mailing List Every month there […]…

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 has been announced about the settlement, and then we read between the lines to try […]…

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 order this year. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about […]…

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 of getting away and disconnecting on vacation. Mailing List Every month there are more great […]…

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 of the talks that were presented (including his own keynote), and get his thoughts on […]…

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 for your website. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about […]…

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 logos, and talk about the importance of creating different versions and formats of the same […]…

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 are upset, and why this is probably the right move for 1Password despite the controversy. […]…

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 a conference in the midst of the pandemic, and he reflects on how the iOS […]…

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, attending in-person conferences, when we think we’ll be attending conferences again, and how the few […]…

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 has responded so far, and what lessons we can draw from this when we consider […]…

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 talk about growth bottlenecks, automation, finding contractors you can trust, and more. Mailing Lis…

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 time to develop? We consider when to start a marketing push, when to keep testing […]Par Charles Perry and Joe Cieplinski

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 feeding “the hungry ghost”, the danger of your indie/bootstrapped business turning into “a successful failure”, […]…

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 response, and how that outcome could have been avoided. Mailing List Every month there are […]…

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 what they have seen will affect the businesses of iOS and Mac developers. We discuss […]…

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 on privacy will affect marketing efforts, changes coming to the App Store, developing and deploying […]…

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 to step outside your comfort zone to market your business, and exploring alternate real-world chan…

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, strategies for targeting higher value customers, and the importance of developing trust when selli…

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 conclusion. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business […]Par Charles Perry and Joe Cieplinski

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 a more general look at affiliate marketing and learn some of the nuts and bolts […]…

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 and his partner are setting Rewardful apart from its competition. Mailing List Every month there […]…

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 using to manage the program, and all the supporting documentation and web pages that had […]…

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 for 2021, and how he’s going to contact the members of a number of professional […]…

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 allowed to keep their current pricing? Should they be forced to change plans, either immediatel…

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 about these new pricing tiers. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and […]…

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 potential contracting clients over the years, the role of indie iOS development in today’s overa…

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 affected his business and employees, how Tapadoo has adjusted to going fully remote overnight, and […]…

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 team. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business […]…

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 is adapting to the change, and Charles talks about how this change is affecting his […]…

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 2021 goals. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the […]…

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. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of […

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. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about the business of […]…

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 the next year or two. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and […]…

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 new role has required a new way of thinking about the work he’s doing. Mailing […]Par Charles Perry and Joe Cieplinski

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 take the job. Mailing List Every month there are more great articles and content about […]…

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 this potential business opportunity. (This episode was recorded on December 30, 2020.) Mailing List Every […

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 articles and content about the business of Mac and iOS development than we have time […]…