Running an online business

🍎 💼 For Developers to win Apple doesn’t have to lose - why Tim Cook should listen to Steve Jobs

Wednesday, March 13, 2024 /good-job/

I am an Apple fanboy and happy user of their products: iPad, iPhone, Watch and iCloud and everything in between. However, as a developer of Nozbe which is available on both of Apple’s platforms: iOS and macOS I have very mixed feelings about the company. Actually, I’m disappointed in them and the way they guard the App Store “Services” revenue and exercise their position, making fun of anti-steering provisions or EU’s DMA laws. Instead of making their platforms better, they are doing everything in their power to keep the status quo. That’s why I think it’s time for Tim Cook and all Apple executives to listen to the late Steve Jobs from his keynote at MacWorld Boston in 1997:

💼 ✅ 🎥 🎬 Two Michaels walk into an office… and argue if virtual meetings are real!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024 /michaels/

I’m a huge fan of videos where there are two talking heads and both are the same person. Especially I’m a fan of Pitch Meetings by Ryan George. That’s why as I started my new @MichaelTeam YouTube Channel I wanted to try it out myself and finally yesterday as I had my favorite “Design Fight” meeting with my Nozbe team I decided to take this opportunity and try it out:

✅ 💼 ✏️ ⭐️ Nozbe - app for SMART business owners and teams - turns 17!

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 /nozbe17/

Last week, on February 1, Nozbe turned 17 years old and as I reflect over these last years I’d like to dig deeper into who is Nozbe really for? While working with Seth Godin’s marketing book I was thinking how to really convey to our current and future customers what we as Nozbe believe in. What’s our why? Because people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Not only our core values but also how we work, how we’re remote first, we don’t use email to collaborate, or have very few meetings. How to create this tension and play with status. How to say that people like us do things like this. Being a productivity nerd and loving the SMART acronym for goal setting, I decided to piggy-back on it and create my own way.

💼 🎬 ⭐️ Jeff Bezos and Day 1 thinking and truth seeking

Thursday, December 21, 2023 /day1/

Recently I’ve listened to Lex Friedman interviewing Jeff Bezos and I have a few notes that stuck with me, specifically about his Day 1 mentality.

💼 ✅ ⭐️ How we work on features and deploy Nozbe app weekly… while eating dog food?

Monday, September 11, 2023 /dogfooding/

Last week I did a guest webinar (in Polish) on how we ship Nozbe app and I gave all the details… In a nutshell, we break lots of “industry standards”, and we eat dog 🐶 food…

💼 ✅ ⭐️ Evernote - why I love(d) it, how it almost acquired Nozbe and what’s next for your “external brain”?

Tuesday, July 4, 2023 /evernote/

Last month new Nozbe finally got Evernote integration (v.2013.19), similar to the one we’ve had for years for Nozbe Personal. While we were working on this, Evernote was aqcuired which to me was kind of an end of an era. You see, I used to be a great Evernote fan and supporter, I have a long history with them - from integrating in 2009, through a failed acquisition in 2011 and later usage until I dropped it altogether. Today I decided to write this blog post where I’m sharing my history with them and where I see them headed:

💼 ✅ ⭐️ Pay-less upgrade - how to make plan changes for your SaaS customers completely effortless

Monday, June 26, 2023 /payless/

When designing new pricing for Nozbe customers I outlined 5 rules and values that guided me throughout the process. The last, 5th one, was the concept of pay-less account change. Actually, this idea is not new to this particular pricing change. We’ve had it since the beginning of new Nozbe and now after a few years of having it, we’re doubling down on it as we believe it’s the most effortless way for SaaS (Software as a Service) customers to change their subscription. Here’s why and how it works in practice (with examples!):

💼 ✅ ⭐️ 5 principles for designing a pricing scheme for SaaS companies - how to charge per user with savings and fairness in mind

Monday, June 19, 2023 /pricing-how/

Last week I wrote that we are changing pricing of Nozbe and today I’d like to explain the 5 rules that governed me when designing the new price list. Previously I’ve explained some of it on video but since then I think I’ve improved the system and came up with 5 principles for creating a pricing scheme that I believe to be as fair as possible. I also lay out the “gotchas” that I’ve encountered along the way. I hope this helps Nozbe customers understand where I’m coming from and fellow SaaS (Software As A Service) business owners design pricing for their customers.

💼 ✅ 3 compliments my customers gave me this past week: worth, investment and understanding

Tuesday, June 13, 2023 /compliments/

Many years ago I wrote about the concept of voting with a wallet which basically means that as a business owner you shouldn’t care about praise and rewards, but you should focus on providing value and being paid for it. Talk is cheap, but being paid with customers’ hard-earned money is the ultimate compliment you can get. Here are 3 compliments I received from our customers over the past week as we announced we were raising the prices:

💼 ✅ Nozbe pricing changes - how to raise prices, reward long-time customers and bet on the future

Monday, June 12, 2023 /pricing-new/

Running a business has its ups and downs. Right now I’m feeling like I’m on a roller-coaster of feelings. On one hand, I had to make a difficult but necessary decision to raise Nozbe prices. There’s a new pricing structure coming to both Nozbe Personal and Nozbe starting from July 1, 2023. This post is about the why, the how and the timeline of the whole process, with some lessons learned from the past. Here goes: