Business


Building RelaNet: Email Marketing

Posted on June 15, 2017

This is the second installment in a periodic series about my efforts to launch RelaNet, my business that provides websites for accountants, along with other online services like email and client portals. First things first: I have my first RelaNet customer! And I must say, the exclamation point at the end of the last sentence doesn't do justice to my excitement. In addition to providing my first bit of revenue (sweet, sweet revenue!), this ...

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Building RelaNet

Posted on May 30, 2017

In case you haven't seen me mention it on Twitter or heard me talk about it on Release Notes, RelaNet is my new business that provides domains, websites, email, secure client portals, and more to small accounting firms. I call it "managed online services," but you might just think of it as a full-service one-stop-shop for all the services a small accounting firm needs to market themselves online and protect their clients' information. I've ...

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Serious Business

Posted on January 12, 2016

In October 2015, Pieter Omvlee of Bohemian Coding gave a great talk at the inaugural Release Notes entitled The Great Pretender: Pretend to be More Than an Indie. In his presentation, Pieter talked in part about his experience selling a professional app to professional users. One of the things he suggested is that indies should consider pretending to be a bigger company than they really are in order to instill confidence in the mind of the ...

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The App Store and Form 1099-K

Posted on March 28, 2015

If you're a U.S. taxpayer with apps on the iOS or Mac App Store, you may have received from Apple a Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions, which reports to the IRS your gross revenue from App Store sales. You may have also noticed that the amount reported on your Form 1099-K doesn't bear much resemblance to the payments actually received from Apple. There are a couple different reasons the amount Apple reported might ...

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Metakite Software

Posted on November 24, 2013

Today we're announcing that Leaf Hut Software is changing its name to Metakite Software. This change wasn't made by choice, but because another company asserted their trademark over the word "leaf." Although we maintain that our use of Leaf Hut Software did not infringe upon their trademark, it was decided that changing our name to Metakite Software was the quickest way to put this distraction behind us. So what does this mean for all of our ...

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Accessibility Consulting

Posted on June 4, 2013

I've been doing a lot of speaking over the last few months on the topic of accessibility in mobile software. ((For the benefit of non-developers, "accessibility" in the context of software refers to making software as usable as possible for people with disabilities, usually physical disabilities.)) The part that I enjoy most about these speaking engagements is the opportunity it gives me to talk to other mobile developers and designers after my ...

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Sustainable Pricing in the App Store

Posted on October 22, 2012

The subject of App Store pricing has popped up on my radar a lot recently, and I'm a bit surprised since I thought that debate had been long-since settled. After all, prices quickly dropped after the launch of the iPhone App Store, and it's been downhill ever since. Today, anything above 99¢ is regarded by many to be a "premium price," as so-called "freemium" pricing is becoming the norm in many categories. I started ...

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