The Secret to Money

Q&A with Paul Harrington from The Secret

What do you believe is the key to the success of the Secret apps?

The key to the success of The Secret apps is that they provide a user experience that is consistent and faithful to the core concept and themes of The Secret series of books in a practical and accessible manner – we take The Secret direct from the pages of a book and place it right in the middle of our readers’ daily routines.

Why did you choose to branch out into apps?

Our books are designed to inspire and change the lives of our readers in fundamental ways. However, once the book is read, REAL change is only achieved if our readers are willing and able to incorporate the teachings into their busy lives. These apps are designed to allow readers to continue practicing The Secret every day in ways that books, audiobooks and DVDs could never do on their own. We also felt that we had substantial valuable creative content that could be easily adapted into apps that our readers would enjoy using, and that has certainly been proven to be true.

How important are mobile apps in The Secret’s business strategy?

Our mobile apps have allowed us to use pre-existing creative content within a new platform to generate solid and dependable revenues streams with the key advantage of immediate financial reporting and direct response to our social media marketing strategies. While current revenues are very pleasing, they are really more complimentary to our core business of book publishing. Nevertheless, these platforms and their revenues have opened up potential opportunities for delivery of new content in the future.\\

“Thanks to DreamWalk, we were also steered away from some rookie errors in terms of screen layout and design”

How close is the finished app to your original vision?

The finished app contains most of the content and practical elements that we originally planned. However, the final design and functionality are both quite different to what we had imagined. Working with DreamWalk, we moved towards a cleaner, fresher and more up-to-date look and a more intuitive and easy to follow interface that is ironically much closer to The Secret design philosophy and direction than what was initially envisaged. Thanks to DreamWalk, we were also steered away from some rookie errors in terms of screen layout and design that would have slowed the app down, created untold problems down the track, and ultimately resulted in a frustrating user experience.

Are there any tips you’d give a first time app entrepreneur?

The advice I’d give to a first-time app entrepreneur is to be prepared to provide tech support for your customers long after the app is completed and released, and retain some contingency in your budget for late changes and corrections after release. I’d also suggest at the design stage, to be wary of over-complicating your app. It’s important to create the best app that you can within your budget, and if there are products already available in a similar vein to yours, then you really need to provide a point of difference. But at the same time, you should avoid throwing too many clever ideas in, especially if these are essentially filler, or if they are more flash than substance. With too many moving parts, problems inevitably crop up with newly released operating systems or newly emerging phone or tablet technology, so it is best to stick to your core concept and do that as best you can. And of course, choose an experienced, capable and creative app developer who understands your needs.

“be wary of over-complicating your app. It’s important to create the best app that you can within your budget”

How would you describe your experience working with DreamWalk?

Working with the team at DreamWalk has been a delightful experience driven largely by their enthusiasm and sensitivity towards the subject matter, their belief in our product, and most of all, by their desire to provide the best user experience for our customers. I have also very much appreciated their timely response to any technical issues that emerge, especially following the release of OS updates or any other unforeseen circumstances.

What’s next for the Secret franchise?

We are constantly developing new projects for The Secret across a range of media. We have a feature film in development, we are in the early stages of research for a new book, we have a series of audio books being recorded, and we are scoping out some ideas for potential new apps. We are also monitoring the app space, the emerging technology as well as the marketplace, to ascertain whether any of our traditional content, either back catalogue or still in development, could benefit from re-versioning as an app release.