No Experience Required: How Benny Hsu Created an iPhone App That Made $30,000 in its First Month

By on September 12, 2011 in Conversations, Online Content Creator

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Sometimes it's not a lack of experience that holds us back. It's the fear of taking a chance/risk to better our circumstances and design the type of life we want to live.

Benny Hsu is a great example of this. Benny is a regular guy by his own admission. He blogs about personal development issues at Get Busy Living. If fact, he listed yours truly as one of 40 blogs to watch!  Benny wants to make a better life for himself instead of being relegated to work in his family's restaurant for the rest of his life.

So he took a chance by creating Photo 365, a $.99 iPhone app that documents your year in pictures with a spiffy calendar layout. He didn't have any iPhone development experience and didn't spend a dime to market the app. In it's first month, Photo 365 has grossed over $30,000 in sales!

I invited Benny to share the story behind the success. I also get Benny to share some of his past attempts at making money and what's different about Photo 365. Hope you enjoy!

More About Benny Hsu

Benny Hsu is the creator of Photo 365, an iPhone app that remembers your year one photo at a time. It gives you the ability to share your photos via Facebook, Twitter Flickr and email. You can also view your photos by month via a calendar layout.

Benny also blogs about personal development at Get Busy Living.

Say Hi to Benny on Twitter

Visit his website or check out Photo 365

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  • http://getbusylivingblog.com Benny Hsu

    Thank you Torrey for the interview! I had a good time. I still can’t believe I forgot to plugin my laptop during the interview. I saw the low battery signal popup!

    • http://grindandthrive.com Torrey

      you da man Benny!

  • http://www.KarmicKappuccino.com Steve Rice

    Great interview, guys!  really enjoyed.

    • http://grindandthrive.com Torrey

      Thanks Steve!

  • Lynn Lewis

    Benny mentioned taking your focus off the things you don’t like about your life and paying attention to what you do like. This is a principle I’ve adopted that has changed my life. Also outsourcing is an awesome strategy for getting something created if you don’t have the expertise yourself.

    • http://grindandthrive.com Torrey

      That’s great Lynn. Yes, outsourcing is a awesome resource!

  • http://twitter.com/SeleemaBlogs Seleema Miller

    Yeah! Nice of you Torrey to have Benny over. Benny’s story is very inspiring. Benny it’s really great to put a voice to the the guy behind the blog. This was a very informative interview and watching you talk so passionately about your journey and success is really motivational. Thanks for sharing Benny!

    • http://grindandthrive.com Torrey

      Thanks Seleema. Benny is a great case study for sure!

  • http://www.facebook.com/pamweezie Pamela E. Williams

    This interview has moved up to be my all time favorite.  I remember first reading about Benny from an article you posted on Facebook http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/taking-control-benny-hsu/.  My son and I have been talking about developing an app for about six months now and this article really helped me to understand some things. 

    I love how personable Benny is.  He just seems like a wealth of information and just an all around cool guy.  I definitely gained some perspective on some different things and was inspired.

    • http://getbusylivingblog.com Benny Hsu

      Thanks so much Pamela! I’m glad my personality showed through. Hope you and your son get an app developed. It can be a long process and your patience will be tested, but the rewards can be great as well. 

  • http://twitter.com/MAGAnet Mister Mo

    Interesting interview — inspiring site Torrey, great stuff Benny

    (Also, just wanted to notify you that the links in this article to Benny’s “Get Busy Living” blog home page don’t have the “blog” part before the “.com” in the URL, just so people don’t think his blog site is cancelled or down when they click on either of the links. [This part can be edited out])

    • http://getbusylivingblog.com Benny Hsu

      Thanks very much for listening!

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