Christmas Gift: 3 Quick-Start Business Ideas The end of the year is fast approaching and soon we will all be wrapped in Christmas bliss and holiday cheer. But what afterwards, during the long cold months of January and February? With a new year comes new beginnings – why shouldn’t one of those beginnings be the start of your new business? We’re all buoyed in the first months of January, after gifts and family time, after vacation and sleeping in; it’s the perfect chance to get a fresh start on a new idea. Fortunately for the entrepreneur out there, owning a business these days can be as simple as creating a winning app or website. This is the age of the mobile app and business is booming. Why shouldn’t you get a slice of the pie? The app industry represents a unique business opportunity for a variety of reasons. Let’s take a look at some of the top factors. In the spirit of the holiday, we’re going to then provide you with 3 great ideas that can be ramped up quickly. Dynamic and Sustainable The world of app making is diverse, ever-changing and unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon. That’s because an app is more of a service than an actual product. It’s way for you to interact with your device and can cover any number of things. Just think about it – a navigation map alone combines a map, GPS, directions, and traffic alerts – in one bundle- check out how to build your personal navigator app; and on the complete opposite end are apps like Angry Bird and Clash of the Clans. Both are apps, but they’re incomparable. In other words, as long as apps are the way we interact with our devices, apps will keep making money. Other excellent reasons to get involved include: • Costs The starting costs for an app are exceptionally low when compared to other enterprise ventures. An app can be built for under $5,000 – compare that to something like a restaurant which requires an investment of easily $75,000! • Time Our development team has over 200 programmers with 5 years experience at least– we can take a project from concept to launch in a matter of a few weeks. You could see a return on your investment as quickly as 6 months. Very few other industries are as lucrative. • Market No matter what solution your app provides, the market for mobile applications is global and digital. This means your business isn’t bounded by geographical constraints. You can service anyone around the globe, from anywhere with an internet or LTE connection! So now that we’ve demonstrated why this is a growing market in which you should be involved, let’s go over some great ideas for an app business. 1. Media Players The world is scrabbling for a media player that meets all of our needs. Yes, there are many options out there from Youtube to Spotify – but none are perfect and most have serious flaws. Just look at Youtube: it’s incredibly popular, but we’re still getting people calling us weekly, desperate for a new option. Youtube has the advantage of a first movement, but it’s a giant organization these days and is quickly becoming out of date. Users are desperate for a new media platform that offers robust services such as music and video playing but with improved features. Users need a more robust search engine, more unique features, and more cutting-edge innovations. 2. Meetups We live in a global modern world. Increasingly, even SMBs have a remote and geographically diverse workforce. This has resulted in the resurgence of an old problem – how do you have clear communication between employees who are never faced to face. In the early 80s, the financial industry handled this well through the integration of phone conferences. Why a great solution for the time, there were some issues as well: • Hard to tell if people are paying attention to an audio-only meeting; • No way to easily share documents or other pertinent information in-meeting. • Without a stenographer, recording the meetings becomes much more difficult. The 90 ’s sawed an explosion of email, which helped with information sharing and even made a manual recording (i.e. typing) of a meeting that much easier. But there were still issues, especially with miscommunication – after all, 90% of communication is nonverbal and most of that gets lost in translation. Today, digital meetups are an excellent solution for a widespread workforce. Meetup apps can connect people visually and auditorily, record the meeting and even provide a place to share screens and documents. Even better, users can join meetings from their computer or from a mobile device – without loss of functionality or a degradation in the overall experience. Contact us to develop your own online meetup group. 3. Social Media More than the era of apps, this is an era of sharing. People love to share every aspect of their lives today, from pictures of food to their very location. While there are the big contenders like Facebook and Twitter, there is a vibrant niche market for SM. There’s no reason to go up against the Giants – in fact, there’s a growing rise in social media websites that focus on a specific topic – fishing, acting, cooking, sporting, etc. These are websites that connect people with similar interests, just like Facebook but have a much more narrow focus. However, the general features of all social media sites are the same: • People need to be able to communicate; • People want to share; • People want to post pictures; and • People want to meet others with similar interests. Social media sites are hot right now, especially ones designed to go hand in hand with a mobile app interface. Figure out how to get started by calling the number provided below. Start the New Year with a Bang SDI is a Bay Area app and website development specialist. We work across all levels of the industry, with clients small and large, global and local. We know what it takes to survive and thrive in this industry and we can turn your idea into the next big thing. Call us now at 408.802.2885 or email us directly at team@sdi.la to take advantage of our holiday special – get 40% off your first project.