$ cd ./blog
Writing
$ ls ./blog
I failed again
12 Aug 2026
I launched a new product and got 0 sales from an 50k audience.
I built a Mac database client you can chat with
6 Aug 2026
Indie hacking is dead.
I made $1m selling software (without SaaS)
30 Jul 2026
I’ve sold over $1,000,000 of software that is not SaaS, ie. no subscriptions.
$ ls ./blog/archive
Older posts from 2011–2018.
The Dark Side of Living Abroad
19 Oct 2018 · archive
Moving abroad feels like you’ve died, but there’s no funeral and no-one talks about you being dead, and you’re somehow a little ghost floating around observing everyone else’s…
Guest Interview On The Brand New Spoke Podcast
8 Aug 2018 · archive
I was delighted when Jonny McCormick invited me to appear on his new podcast series, which already has seven excellent episodes under its belt. We talk about my entrepreneurial…
Become Limitless: Let Go of Your Limiting Beliefs
24 Apr 2018 · archive
Are you happy with what you have achieved in your life? Or is your life a never-ending list of goals to be completed and dreams that are just out of reach? One of my favourite…
Why You Should Invest in Bitcoin (and How to Do It)
3 Nov 2017 · archive
Do you spend your money wisely or do you waste it? Do you spend every penny you make or do you save some each month? More importantly, do you invest any of your money in…
How I Ranked in Amazon’s Top 100 Bestsellers in 8 Hours Self-Publishing a Kindle Book
12 Oct 2017 · archive
I self-published my first Kindle book on Monday – "The Lifestyle Startup" [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0761WBVSN] – a guide to building an online software business while…
I've Published My First Book!
9 Oct 2017 · archive
My first book – The Lifestyle Startup [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0761WBVSN] is now live on Amazon! I share what I've learned from building and launching several software…
I'm Publishing a Book!
25 Sept 2017 · archive
I've always fancied the challenge of writing a book, and with self-publishing opportunities available to virtually everyone in 2017 I realised I didn't have an excuse anymore.…
Motivation Will Get You Nowhere
1 Sept 2017 · archive
Are you a perpetual consumer of motivational videos and articles? What if I told you that consuming this kind of content was actually preventing you from reaching your goals?…
Life as Location Independent Entrepreneur
24 Jul 2017 · archive
I wrote a guest piece for Belfast Live about life on the road as an entrepreneur working from tropical locations in south-east Asia. Enjoy! Read the full article…
Best Business & Personal Development Books 2017
26 Apr 2017 · archive
I probably don't need to tell you that reading and self-education are two of the most important components to success. I read a lot of books, and last year I read a book a week…
How to Become More Innovative & Creative Through Diversification
21 Apr 2017 · archive
My guest post for Digital DNA is now live! I share some tips on how to get your creative juices flowing by diversifying your interests and skills. Read The Full Article Here…
How to Start an Online Business and Travel the World
15 Apr 2017 · archive
Hate your job? Want to travel and see the world? Starting an online business while travelling the world might not be as difficult as you think. In my latest vlog I share some…
My First Week as a Digital Nomad
3 Apr 2017 · archive
I've just completed my first week as a Digital Nomad in Thailand, it's been a good week, but a little challenging at times. Click the video below to find out more.
How I Generated 46k Website Hits By Sending a Single Email
30 Mar 2017 · archive
Want to drive tens of thousands of hits to your website by sending a few emails that take less than a minute to compose? I'm going to share exactly how I drove over 46k hits to…
Why I'm Becoming a Digital Nomad
28 Feb 2017 · archive
In four weeks time, I'm going to be packing up my life in Northern Ireland and heading off to Asia to run my businesses remotely from exotic locations. I've started a vlog to…
Cheap Design Destroys Your Bottom Line
31 Jan 2017 · archive
I've been building websites and designing apps since the days of ear piercing modem dial tones and communicating with friends on ICQ (who remembers?). In the 20 years I've been…
5 Ways to Leave Positive Footprints on Your Travels
14 Jan 2017 · archive
My first contribution to wonderful Conscious Magazine in NYC is now live. In it, I draw from my experiences travelling the world and discuss how you can make a positive impact…
How to Be Yourself and Not Care What Anybody Thinks
9 Nov 2016 · archive
There is a terrible affliction that affects almost every human being – and that's the fear of being yourself. It's incredibly sad, because humans are wonderful beings with the…
How I Overcame My Fear of the Ocean
25 Oct 2016 · archive
For as long as I can remember, I've had an irrational fear of the ocean, especially deep water. I'm not quite sure why – I can't relate it to any particular experience but I…
Talking Entrepreneurship & Health on The New ZeroLivesLeft Podcast
20 Oct 2016 · archive
Absolutely delighted that Wayne [https://waynedenner.com] invited me to appear on the latest episode of the ZeroLivesLeft podcast. It took us a while to pin down a time to…
How We're Growing the Get Invited Team with Remote Workers
11 Oct 2016 · archive
Over the past few six months, we've been making a few additions to our team at Get Invited, but we've been doing things a little differently. In the past, we'd ventured down…
My Life is a Series of Failures
27 Sept 2016 · archive
People are often afraid to talk about the F word for fear of being judged or laughed at. I've also felt like that many times in the past but there is something beautiful, and…
My Digital Nomad Experiment
14 Sept 2016 · archive
Last month I undertook a somewhat, spontaneous trip to Thailand to work (and play) remotely for a month. Why? In large part, I just felt like it – but I've also been toying…
How We Landed The World's Largest Startup Conference (LAUNCH Festival) as a Customer
16 May 2016 · archive
It's a blistering hot spring day in San Francisco and I'm sitting with 13,000 people listening to billionaire Peter Thiel recount the story of telling Mark Zuckerberg – "Just…
The Startup Delusion and How It Put Me In Hospital
13 Apr 2016 · archive
Two months ago, while warming a pot of chicken soup over the stove for lunch, the room suddenly began to spin as if I was riding a waltzer after two bottles of Buckfast. I…
Get Invited Hits Sales of £1m
23 Mar 2016 · archive
We recently celebrated a milestone achievement at Get Invited – reaching £1m in sales. You can read the full coverage over on Sync NI.…
Happy 2nd Birthday Get Invited!
1 Oct 2015 · archive
Today we're celebrating our 2nd birthday at Get Invited [http://getinvited.to]. It's been an amazing journey so far, with plenty of ups and downs along the way. We put together…
5 Digital Steps to Make Your Event a Success
11 Sept 2015 · archive
Do you organise events? Use these 5 digital steps to market your next event and make it a success.
NI Launch of Small Business Saturday UK
8 Sept 2015 · archive
I was very excited to be invited to speak at the Northern Ireland launch of Small Business Saturday UK [https://www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com] – a wonderful UK-wide…
How We Built a $1,000,000 Company as a Student Project
12 Aug 2015 · archive
How we built the early Get Invited product and team then got our first customers onboard, enabling us to raise venture capital at a $1 million valuation.
My Startup was Laundering Money from Stolen Credit Cards
4 Aug 2015 · archive
Cybercrime is a real threat for any online business. Here's the full story of how my startup was unknowingly laundering thousands from stolen credit cards.
Six Lessons from Spending £250,000 in 18 Months
28 Jul 2015 · archive
Have you raised, or are you seeking to raise a seed investment to grow your startup? Here's what I learnt (and the mistakes I made) spending £250k.
How to Overcome Your Fears and Start Your Own Business
15 Jul 2015 · archive
Do you dream of running your own business and waking up every day to do something you love? Are your fears holding you back? Here's how to overcome them.
Coping with Startup Stress – How to Build an Emotional Bomb Shelter
30 Jun 2015 · archive
Apply these techniques to develop self-awareness, reduce stress and cope with anything that life throws at you.
6 Tactics for Delivering Exceptional Customer Service
27 Jun 2015 · archive
Apply these six tactics to your business to increase customer retention and acquire new customers by turning your existing ones into evangelists.
8 Lessons I’ve Learned from Delivering 50 Startup Pitches
3 Jun 2015 · archive
Use these 8 tips to deliver a slick, well articulated and professional pitch to investors or while participating in competitions.
How I’m Getting a 29% Response Rate from Cold Emailing
26 May 2015 · archive
Use these 9 simple steps to build a cold sales email that gets results. I've been getting a 50% open rate, 29% response rate with a 5% conversion.
The Magic Formula For Writing a Startup Financial Forecast
19 May 2015 · archive
A simple guide to creating realistic financial projections for your startup. Includes a free spreadsheet to help you calculate your projections.
Pay It Forward
26 Mar 2015 · archive
Karma. What goes around comes around. Treat people the way you would like to be treated – whichever label or definition you want to attach to it, helping other people is a…
Tips for Visiting Silicon Valley on Business
20 Jan 2015 · archive
I recently attended an intensive three day workshop on penetrating the US market, hosted by US MAC [http://usmarketaccess.com] during their recent trip to Belfast. Having made…
5 Startup Lessons from our First Year in Business
14 Jan 2015 · archive
2014 was our first year in business at Get Invited [http://getinvited.to]. We moved into our office, hired a team, launched a product and started acquiring our first customers.…
A Guide to Startup Funding in Northern Ireland
23 Sept 2014 · archive
I've recently updated this information and packaged it into a handy, downloadable PDF guide available from Get Started…
10 Tips for Creating a Great First Impression
2 Sept 2014 · archive
Interacting with other humans is an activity we engage in on a daily basis and often requires little cognitive thought when we're engaging with friends, colleagues and family…
Staying Lean Vs Getting Your First Customers
13 Aug 2014 · archive
There's a lot of buzz around the practice of staying lean and saying NO to the many feature requests that you will inevitably face on your journey of building a product.…
Building a Flexible Layout using EMs and the Golden Ratio
29 Sept 2013 · archive
Building a responsive website can be a lot of work, especially if you're going about it the wrong way. Until recently, I had been constructing my layouts using a mixture of…
MA Multidisciplinary Design
20 May 2013 · archive
As I approach the final hours of my Masters in Multidisciplinary Design, I’d like to share my experience of the course and offer some reflective thoughts. This may be of…
Pixel Perfection is Madness
15 May 2013 · archive
The web is currently undergoing a major shift in user interaction patterns, these changes demand new techniques and approaches to designing for the medium. With more browsers…
Groovedeck Design Process
3 May 2013 · archive
Groovedeck [http://groovedeck.it] is a fun little web application that plays your Soundcloud [http://soundcloud.com] tracks on a turntable. If you’re not familiar with…
Scarcity - Encouraging Immediate Action
30 Apr 2013 · archive
You’ve decided to purchase a new laptop. You set off to your local retailers and discover two models that interest you. It’s a tough decision with many factors involved; price,…
Industry Conference 2013
26 Apr 2013 · archive
Earlier this week, I ventured over to Newcastle upon Tyne with the rest of the Get Invited [https://getinvited.to] team to attend Industry Web Conference…
How to Use Social Proof to Increase Conversions on Your Website
9 Apr 2013 · archive
In The Art of Online Deception [http://kylegawley.com/dark-patterns-the-art-of-online-deception/], I explored the darker side of online persuasion, the techniques described in…
Dark Patterns – The Art of Online Deception
5 Apr 2013 · archive
8 examples of dark patterns used in eCommerce to trick the user into making subconscious decisions.
The Importance of Onboarding
1 Mar 2013 · archive
When a user first signs up to a new application, it can sometimes be a confusing experience, especially if the application has many features. Even with a carefully crafted…
Responsify.it
25 May 2012 · archive
Responsify [http://responsify.it] is an incredibly useful tool for creating responsive grid templates. Whether you are a guru or simply learning about responsive design, this…
Let Your Product Promote Itself
12 May 2012 · archive
Seth Godin, in many of his books repeatedly highlights the problem with interruption marketing - a traditional advertising technique were companies target the mass market and…
How To Price Your Web App
9 May 2012 · archive
One of the most difficult questions facing every digital startup is how much do I charge? While application pricing can be somewhat of a black art, there are some…
Sharing Experience with NRC Students
9 May 2012 · archive
I recently visited the Northern Regional College in Newtownabbey, where I delivered a short presentation to the current students studying for their Extended Diploma in…
Just Do It
7 May 2012 · archive
Perhaps you have a great idea for a product – you’re excited about transforming your idea into something real, something people will love. There are a lot of steps required in…
The Chicken & The Egg
23 Apr 2012 · archive
The most important element of any product is its users, especially if your product relies on user driven content. This creates the problem of the chicken and the egg - which…
Reading List
22 Apr 2012 · archive
The books I have read over the course of the last year have contributed to a huge shift in my thinking and broadened both my skills and design thinking capabilities. I’ve put…
Tale & Teller
22 Apr 2012 · archive
If you appreciate exceptionally high quality illustration work, then you should definitely follow Tale & Teller’s blog [http://blog.taleandteller.com/] - run by fellow Masters…
Public Speaking Tips and Advice
19 Apr 2012 · archive
Public speaking was once one of my greatest fears, I’d do anything to avoid it at all costs. This fear was borne from school; I’d given plenty of presentations on topics I had…
eBootcamp 2012
16 Apr 2012 · archive
Last month I received an email informing me that I’d been selected from over 500 of the worlds best student entrepreneurs to attend eBootcamp 2012, held at Stanford University…
Creative Camp 2012
4 Apr 2012 · archive
Last Friday I attended my first Creative Camp in Belfast, hosted at Media Zoo studios. For those unfamiliar with Creative Camp, it’s a small conference where anyone can sign up…
The iPhone as an Extension of Self
15 Feb 2012 · archive
The iPhone is an object most of us are all familiar with, whether we own one or not. Since its release only four years ago it has generated boundless media attention and…
Bear CSS
9 Jan 2012 · archive
I recently launched a handy little time saving tool for web designers called Bear CSS. Simply upload your HTML file, and have a stylesheet template automatically generated for…
Overcoming Design Perfectionism
5 Jan 2012 · archive
Design perfectionism can be a crippling characteristic that drives many designers insane; and in extreme cases ensures that projects never see the light of day. The tendency to…
Virtual Barber Shop
10 Dec 2011 · archive
This short video demonstrates the incredible immersive experience of 3D binaural audio. Use headphones and close your eyes to experience the full effect. It’s surprising this…
Emotional Design in Customer Service
21 Nov 2011 · archive
As part of my research into emotional design, I wish to illustrate an example of exceptional customer service and investigate the key principles involved in creating a service…
Rapid Application Prototyping
5 Nov 2011 · archive
One of the principle ideas behind 37 Signals’ book ‘Getting Real‘, is the production of real software in favour of excessive planning, wireframes and Photoshop mockups which…
The Aesthetic-Usability Effect
18 Oct 2011 · archive
“Using a Apple Mac will make you a better designer” - this was a common joke I used to hear in the studio where I once worked. At the time I didn’t think much of this other…
Challenging Your Competitors
10 Oct 2011 · archive
I’ve just finished reading the excellent ‘Rework’ by 37 Signals; a book aimed at challenging the traditional working process of many companies in favour of creating a more…