Introducing DesignHope 2016!

by Jonathan Longnecker in Design, Business, Design Hope, Personal

DesignHope

Eight years ago we launched DesignHope - the economy had tanked, people were getting laid off and starting their own projects and we wanted to help. We promised a logo and website for the winner. Hundreds of people applied and sponsors jumped in to help. It was one of my favorite moments at FortySeven Media - for real.

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A Tale of Two Restaurants

by Jonathan Longnecker in Business, Personal

A Tale of Two Restaurants
Obligatory Soap Opera Title Card

Did I mention my family and I are traveling full time now? In case you missed it, check out our blog here. Let's just say that in the past 6 months I've run across a ton of brands in bunch of different places. This is one story of a lesson I learned when dining in the Adirondacks.

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Big Changes at FortySeven Media

by Jonathan Longnecker in Business, Personal

Nate and Jon Having Fun

Friends, I have a lot to tell you. So sit down, pull up a chair, grab some milk and cookies and get ready. It's story time!

The Discontent

It all started several years ago - a slow, subtle gnawing in the pit of my stomach. Our business was great, my kids were healthy and happy, and my relationship with my wife was better than ever. But I couldn't shake this feeling that most of our day-to-day lives seemed - empty.

I was asked to give a talk at a gathering of guys who were trying to be better husbands and fathers - and before I knew it I had an entire presentation of why I was discontented. I dug into books like “Linchpin,” researched all kinds of statistics about home ownership and global income, and realized that I was having trouble reconciling all the time and money our big beautiful house was costing us.

In fact, I was having trouble reconciling what the American Dream was necessitating on multiple fronts - from debt to consumerism to education and beyond. The things everyone else seemed to care about and spend so much time and money on were slowly losing their meaning for me.

My wife felt this, too and had talked many times of traveling more. Exposing ourselves to people and situations outside our comfort zone. Maybe even of traveling full-time, ditching the house and mortgage and exploring the US on our own terms. We knew a few people who had done it. Could we do it, too? With 4 kids?

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A Surefire Way to Build a Business That Lasts a Decade

by Jonathan Longnecker in Design, Business, Personal

A Surefire way to build a business that lasts 10 years.

Guys, did you know that 2015 marks 10 years of 47m? I'm having trouble computing that statement. Hold on. Cleansing breath. Ace Ventura face. Forehead wipe. Ok - better.

It also happens that 2015 is bringing about some ginormous changes, and I've been thinking back to how we got here. Needless to say there were lots of things that were thought, and the thinking gave me a few nuggets that I'd like to start sharing with you.

First up? Perspective.

When we start out we do it for the love of the craft. Mine was art and design - and soon became clean, standards based front-end markup that evolved into a full stack process from branding all the way to a finished content-managed site.

My drive was to do an excellent job artistically and technically, making a truly awesome brand and website for my clients.

While this obviously still exists, I've come to realize it's not the most important thing. (You may be having trouble computing this statement. Bear with me, keep reading. I'll get there.)

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Pre-Filtering Clients

by Jonathan Longnecker in Business, Store

Pre-Filter Clients

When you're starting out, any job is a good job, right? Without that steady stream of income, you move into fight or flight mode and take whatever comes your way. And that's ok in the beginning.

But pretty soon you'll start to notice patterns. Some projects go really well and others don't. Some clients are great to work with and others make you want to break stuff.

Now there's probably an entire book that needs to be written about “why” certain clients and projects don't mesh with you. Maybe I'll get to that soon. For now, though - I'm going to assume you're smart enough to know the kind of people you want to work with (hint: they have the same beliefs, goals and integrity system that you do).

All that to say - there will quickly come a point where you'll need to start pre-filtering your clients. How do we do this? Here's a few ways:

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Make Your Web Shop Freakishly Profitable!

by Nate Croft in Design, Business, Kicktastic,

frank

Alright, it's almost March. So that means you've got those feeble New Years Resolutions wrapped up and you've got your googly-eyed Valentine's Day mushy stuff taken care of for the year. What does that mean? It means it's business time!

That's why we (FortySeven Media and Bright Newt) are all kinds of excited to tell you that our newest business course is available! This is a streamlined, focused look at making the most money your business can make. What's it called? Freakishly Profitable.

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Don’t Give Up

by Jonathan Longnecker in Business, Personal

Don't Give Up

Overnight successes rarely happen overnight. It's easy to look at those around us that have “made it” or “arrived.” It's easy to imagine them with their perfect lives, enjoying every aspect of their success, rolling in piles of money while genuinely enjoying every single thing they do all day.

The truth is rarely that simple, though. Hard work is hard. It's not always fun. And you'll probably have to do a lot of it before you finally see your passion project catch and take flight.

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