While reading Derek Siver's latest book, Useful Not True, I stumbled upon this excellent observation:

“Just because someone says something doesn't mean it's true.”

And I remembered the times this has proved accurate in my life.

In 2016, I made an Android app to quickly insert hashtags into an Instagram post by typing a shortcut.

This addressed a daily pain point, but it wasn't a complex app overflowing with features. It did the core job well.

I decided on pricing it $4.99 one-time, but I still wanted to get my friend's opinion on the pricing, who had launched an app earlier.

During our phone call, he said the price was too high for the app. People wouldn't pay $5 for such a simple app, and the price would only be justified if the app did more.

I believed the app solved a real-world annoying problem of having to manually copy-paste hashtags before posting anything on Instagram, and it saved the user quite a bit of time daily, so I went ahead with the $4.99 pricing.

Was the price too high?

I don't know. Maybe, maybe not.

All I know is that hundreds of people paid for the app, and it made close to $4,000 over its lifetime. It could've been more if I had spent more time marketing the app.

Therefore, the app “wouldn't sell at the $4.99 price point” didn't turn out to be true. Plenty of people saw the underlying value, and to them it was a bargain.

Now, my friend didn't mean any ill when he said that. What he said felt true to him from his experience and viewpoint. However, a personal judgement is not the absolute truth.

And that is what we should keep in mind when we go around asking other people's opinions. It's an opinion, not the truth.

Therefore, the next time someone says something to you that's not a universally accepted fact, don't accept it as the truth and base your decisions on it.

Take it more as a guideline to accept or ignore based on your gut feeling or worldview.

By the way, I need your feedback on the Hulry Plus membership.

If you were interested in the membership but didn't join, what has held you back?

You can fill out this anonymous survey to answer two questions. No email or login required. Be as brief or descriptive as you'd like.

I need collective feedback to understand how I can make this membership more valuable for everyone here.

Now, speaking of positive changes, have you tried the Checker app yet?

Before you move on to the rest of this newsletter issue, here are a few words from: