I've Spent $38,745.96 Building an App for Nurses.

Hey

This week.

That's when Map My Pay goes live. In just a few days, 8 months of work, stress, and nearly $40K will finally be in the hands of nurses across the country.

Want to know what it really takes to build an app from scratch?

Let me show you.

It Started With a Learning California Has Affordable Homes

Back when Monica and I were living in NYC, making $45 and $47 an hour respectively, we thought California was impossible. Everyone said it was too expensive. The Bay Area houses we saw online were out of the question.

Then we visited my friend, also a nurse, in Roseville.

We pulled up thinking he rented a small apartment. Nope. This guy owned a brand-new house—just 8 months after leaving NYC. That's when he told us about Kaiser nurses making over $100 an hour.

My mind was blown.

We found our sweet spot in Sacramento. Similar cost of living to Austin, but with Bay Area wages. That gap between what nurses earn and what they think they can afford is how the idea for Map My Pay came about.

The Real Numbers Nobody Talks About

Here's exactly what we've spent building this app:

That's real money. My money. Our money.

Finding Someone to Build It

I had zero clue how to build an app.

So I did what any nurse would do—I researched online. Found a development team. They quoted me $16,000 for a basic version. I told them I only had $14,000.

They said yes.

Looking back, I should've asked more questions. Their communication style lacked in some very important areas. When I described a feature, they built exactly that. No suggestions. No improvements. No "hey, that might not work well because..."

Nothing.

This meant I had to learn to think like a developer.

Enter Sumeet

One month in, I knew it was going to be a financial struggle.

That's when Sumeet, my coworker at Kaiser, stepped in. She saw what I was trying to build and immediately got it. We went 50/50 on everything from that point forward.

Without her, I would've had to sell some of our stocks to pay for the app.

The Hidden Costs of Building an App

Nobody tells you about all the random stuff you need:

Data Sources: We needed access to:

• Real-time housing and rental data

• School ratings and information

• Crime statistics

• Demographic data

• Salary information by location

Finding the right combination of data providers took months. Some were too expensive. Others had bad data. A few didn't work at all.

The total cost of these sources has been over $2,000 just for data access.

Business Requirements:

• Business registration and legal structure

• Trademark protection (crucial!)

• Developer accounts for app stores

• Business bank accounts

• Tax ID numbers

The trademark alone was $350. But without it, someone could steal your app’s name or logo.

The D-U-N-S Number Nightmare

Here's something nobody mentions.

If you want to put your app on the App Store as a business, you need something called a D-U-N-S number. It's like a social security number for your company. Takes 30 days to get.

And I found this out the hard way.

What Building an App Actually Looks Like

Imagine it's 11 PM. I just worked a 12-hour shift. My brain is fried. But the developers are messaging, and they need answers at this time because it’s 11 AM in India.

"What should happen when user clicks this button?" "How should error messages display?" "What if they skip the onboarding process?" "Should this data refresh automatically?"

Questions I never thought about. Questions that cost money whether I answered them or not.

Some nights I just stared at my laptop thinking, "What am I doing?" even though I loved seeing my vision coming to life.

The Turning Point

Month 5. We're $25,000 deep. The app works, but it's ugly. Like, really ugly.

I'm showing it to nurse friends, and they're being polite. Too polite. That's when you know it's bad.

So we increased our development budget. Brought in an extremely talented Software Engineer to direct our team in India. Suddenly, the app looked real. Professional. Something nurses would actually trust with their financial data.

The weekly cost hurts—we’re spending $1,650 per week on wages—but it is worth it.

Marketing to Nurses

Most of our marketing is free. I have a YouTube channel and over 100,000 followers across all of our social media platforms, and this means I don’t have to pay to advertise to them.

However, we are testing paid marketing. We’ve spent $903.50 for a booth to promote at the American Nurses Association conference in NYC on October 9th through the 11th.

We’ll soon find out if it’s money worth spending.

My belief is that free marketing on social media beats any other type of marketing and not only because it’s free, but because of the instant feedback. Nurses have been telling us exactly what they needed:

• Comparison between multiple cities

• Take-home pay after taxes

• Whether they could afford a house

• School ratings for their kids

• Crime data

Every comment shaped the final product.

The Mistakes That Cost Me Money

Let me save you some cash:

1. Time tracking software: $287.31 for something that didn't work with our team structure.

2. Multiple data providers: Spent months and thousands testing different sources before finding the right mix.

3. Background check services: $368.69 we never actually needed.

4. Legal templates: $155.32 for documents I could have created for free with ChatGPT.

5. Not negotiating early: Accepting the first price always costs more.

6. Fire early and often: If your new hire is not proactive and is costing you a lot of money—let them go ASAP.

Building Something That Matters

You know what keeps me going?

Messages from nurses like this:

"I thought I'd never afford California. Your YouTube channel changed my mind. Now I'm at Stanford making $115/hour."

"Moved from Florida to Sacramento. Doubled my income. My kids are in better schools. Thank you."

That's why Map My Pay exists.

If You're Thinking About Building an App

Listen.

It's harder than you think. More expensive than you budget. Takes longer than planned.

But if you've found a real problem that needs solving—do it.

Here's what I wish I knew:

1. Development costs will be your biggest expense. Budget at least $30K to $50K.

2. Data access is expensive. And it's recurring monthly.

3. Every state has different business requirements. Research first.

4. Get the D-U-N-S number NOW. Seriously. Today.

5. Test everything with free trials first. Don't commit until you're sure.

6. Your first quote is always negotiable. I saved thousands by asking.

7. Find a co-founder. Splitting costs (and stress) makes everything possible.

What's Next?

Map My Pay launches on the Apple App Store by June 20th.

After 8 months and $38,745.96, we're ready.

The app will show nurses:

• Exact take-home pay in any city

• Real cost of living comparisons

• Whether you can afford to buy vs rent

• School ratings

• Crime statistics

• A community where they can share paystubs and contracts

• How to pay off their debts faster

All in one place with no more guessing.

The Bottom Line

$38,745.96 is a lot of money.

That's a year of nursing school. A down payment on a house. A nice car.

But knowing it'll help thousands of nurses make better decisions about where to live and work, or knowing some nurse in Ohio might discover they could triple their income in California, or knowing a single mom might find the perfect balance of pay and schools for her kids…

That’s worth it.

Every penny.

Every late night.

Every stress headache.

Because at the end of the day I have to prove that we nurses can learn how to solve problems that we’ve never faced before.

P.S. Want early access when Map My Pay launches? Go to our website and join the waitlist.

P.P.S. If you're building something of your own, hit reply. I'll share my lessons learned and help you avoid my expensive mistakes.

-Jason

Do you want to make more as a nurse?

I built the Nurses to Riches Accelerator to help you:

• Relocate to Northern California the smart way

• Secure a high-paying hospital job (we’re talking $200K+ a year)

• Learn to calculate your real take-home pay

• Work fewer hours—without sacrificing income

• Start investing + paying off debt like a boss

I’ll even show you how to compare hospitals, filter by pay and shift type, and fast-track your move so you’re not spinning your wheels for another year.

Use code LOYALTY10 for 10% off the program

Weekly Update:

1. Watch our latest YouTube videos:

   • The Nursing Paycheck Lie No One Talks About

   • Why All Nurses Should Avoid These 10 Cities… Even Though They Pay $100k/Year Or More

   • This Is Why Some Nurses Make $100/hr… and You Don’t

   • What I'd Tell Any New Nurse Before Their First Job

   • I Make $109hr As a NURSE—And I'm NOT a Travel NURSE

2. Browse our selection of spreadsheets to help you find a city and hospital that will pay you what you deserve to be paid

3. Book a 1-2-1 call

4. Join our Nurses to Riches Accelerator