The Lazy Method: How I Build $10K/Month Apps

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Video Summary

Will, a serial app entrepreneur, reveals his "lazy method" for building profitable iOS apps that generate over $10,000 monthly with minimal effort. Instead of grueling 80-hour weeks, Will focuses on identifying proven app concepts, refining their design, and leveraging paid advertising, particularly TikTok ads, to drive subscriptions. His strategy prioritizes validating ad creatives over initial app ideas, as he targets categories like fitness and appearance improvement that already have established markets. Will aims to build apps to a point where they are attractive for sale, allowing him to reinvest in new ventures and maintain a lifestyle that balances work with personal interests like gaming and fitness.

Short Highlights

The "Lazy Method": Focuses on maximizing income while minimizing effort by finding the easiest path to achieving goals.
Profitable Apps: Will built two iOS apps, Glowly and Overload, generating over $10,000 per month combined, with Glowly earning around $10k and Overload $800.
Paid Advertising Focus: Utilizes paid ads, especially TikTok ads, for their efficiency and scalability, allowing him to "live on them" for months after creating winning creatives.
App Idea Validation: Prioritizes improving existing, popular app concepts with a unique design angle rather than inventing entirely new ideas.
Viral Features: Ensures apps have a clear, easily understandable viral feature that can be showcased in a single screenshot.
Onboarding and Conversion: Employs a multi-step onboarding process (12-15 steps) to sell the app's transformation story and increase conversion rates at the paywall.
Building to Sell: The ultimate goal is to validate an app, reach a revenue threshold, and sell it to a buyer who can scale it further.

Key Details

The "Lazy Method" Defined [00:00:00]

Will defines his "lazy method" as finding the easiest possible way to get things done.
This approach allows him to maximize income while minimizing effort, freeing up time for personal activities like playing Roblox, going to the gym, and meeting friends.
"Lazymaxing to me is just finding the easiest possible way to get what I want done, right?"

App Portfolio and Revenue [00:01:00]

Will's two main iOS apps are Overload, a fitness app for logging reps and building muscle, and Glowly, a "looks maxing" app that analyzes facial appearance and provides improvement tips.
Glowly is generating approximately $10,000 per month, while Overload brings in about $800 per month passively.
"Glowly is doing around 10k, and then Overload is doing like $800 a month passive."

Entrepreneurial Background [00:02:00]

Will started experimenting with various ventures at 16, including dropshipping and selling social media followers.
After university, he moved into crypto startups, specifically NFTs, before finding success with freelance web design.
"My freelance skill is really what accelerated me being able to invest in startups quite rapidly and testing new ones and eventually find something that worked."

The "Lazy Strategy" with Paid Ads [00:03:00]

Will prefers paid ads over methods like UGC influencers because they require less hands-on management and offer clearer attribution for subscriptions.
He can create a few successful ads and rely on them for months, finding this approach more efficient.
"That's why I'm so attracted to paid ads. The thing I like about ads is that I can just make a few winning ads, throw them out and basically live on them for the next four or five months."

Building Apps for Sale [00:04:00]

Will's goal is to build apps, validate their success, and then sell them to individuals or companies capable of scaling them further.
He enjoys the process of validating a concept and achieving a certain revenue level before moving on to the next venture.
"For me, all I want to do is validate that something works and get it to enough revenue that I can sell it and then continue doing that same process over and over, which I think is the most fun part."

Leveraging AI for Content Creation [00:05:00]

Will uses AI to generate multiple video ad variations for platforms like TikTok, experimenting with different formats.
He focuses on achieving a good Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), aiming for a CPA significantly lower than the Lifetime Value (LTV) of a paying user.
"This is like a subscription campaign. So it's costing me like $16 per subscription. My LTV per paying user is around about $30, $35. So that's a very good CPA."