[rooster8]

First off, yours is a great message to send out to anyone reading this. You can mitigate risks like this by having a more direct relationship to your users, and this was a wake-up call to me.

That said, a few counterpoints:

1. Something like 70% of all installs, for all apps, come from App Store search. It's the most popular way for users to find what they're looking for.

2. My business had to come alive before it could grow to be robust. I built this app from scratch. I didn't have an audience. I just built it, and App Store search connected me to people who were looking for an app like this, and it grew to the point where I could do it full-time.

Has the time come for me to take steps to make my business more robust? Yes. And your advice is great in that regard.

But a fledgling business must first survive before it can grow to be robust. This is a tale of me hitting an inflection point. I hope to learn from it, and grow.