📱 Building a $40,000/Month Mobile App with No Coding Experience

👨‍💼 Introduction to Steven Creada

• Currently makes $40,000 per month in recurring revenue from his mobile app "Puff Count"
• Has amassed over 12 million downloads across all his apps
• Recent earnings: $43,000 in the last 30 days, $112,000 in the last 90 days

💡 Why Mobile Apps Are a Great Business Model

• Unlimited scale: Build once, sell millions of times
• Global reach: Can reach anyone on the planet
• Low barrier to entry: Doesn't require coding experience
• Untapped market: Not many people are developing mobile apps

🔍 Finding the Right App Idea

• Solve your own problems: Take mental notes of issues you face daily
• Be your own ideal user: Makes product development more intuitive
• Focus on transformation: Weight loss, quitting vaping, etc.
• Look for painful problems: When you solve real issues, marketing becomes easier

✅ Validating Your App Idea

• Market research: Use tools like Sensor Tower to analyze competitors
• Check Google Trends: Look for growing interests
• Social media research: Steven saw vaping videos going viral on TikTok
• Commit to your idea: Don't give up too quickly (Steven didn't make money for 4-6 months)

🛠️ Building Your App (No Coding Required)

1. Brain dump everything: Features, competitors, app functionality
2. Sketch the app: Use paper and pencil to draw out the interface
3. Use 99designs: Upload sketches to get professional UI designs
4. Hire developers on Upwork: Preferably from Eastern Europe for quality/price ratio
5. Pay per project: Not hourly, only when the app is complete
6. Start with templates: Use ThemeForest for affordable starter templates
7. Keep it simple: Launch an MVP first, then iterate

📣 Marketing Your App

• TikTok is king: Best platform for marketing mobile apps
• Study viral content: Save successful videos in your niche to understand what works
• Entertainment first: Make content entertaining, with a quick call-to-action at the end
• Leverage successful organic content: Use well-performing organic content for paid ads
• Work with influencers: Find affordable creators who can make content for your app

💰 Monetization Strategies

• In-app purchases: Best for utility/tool apps where users don't spend much time
• Subscription model: Weekly, monthly, or yearly payments
• Hard paywall: Unskippable screen that requires payment to access features
• Free trial: Get users to commit to a free trial before accessing features
• A/B test pricing: Steven tested prices from $4 to $12 to find optimal pricing
• Focus on LTV: Lifetime Value is the most important metric

🧰 Essential Tools

• Upwork: For finding developers
• 99designs: For UI design
• Superwall: For A/B testing paywalls
• Revenue Cat: For analytics and user lifetime value data
• AppsFlyer: As an MMP (Mobile Measurement Partner)
• TikTok & Facebook Ads: For paid traffic
• Mixpanel/Amplitude: For in-depth analytics

🔑 Key Advice for Success

• Health niche is profitable: Apps helping people improve their health tend to do well
• Iteration is crucial: Keep improving based on user feedback
• Be patient: Puff Count took 4 years to become profitable
• Build a team: Outsource what you're not good at
• Launch simple: Go to market with something basic and affordable
• Talk to users: Get feedback and iterate based on data

🌟 Final Thoughts

Steven emphasizes that building successful mobile apps doesn't require technical experience—just determination, willingness to learn, and persistence. The key is to solve real problems, understand your users, and focus heavily on marketing.