Let’s Talk About Accepting Digital Payments

by Jonathan Longnecker in Business, Kicktastic

For many years, the only way FortySeven Media took money was by paper check. That check then had to be taken to the bank and deposited before the money would be in our account. This worked ok when we were sending invoices spaced out between project phases, but we recently moved to tracking our time and invoicing every two weeks. Obviously more checks were going to be going out, and the time tracking software we were using (Harvest) had built in support for accepting credit cards.

It was time to start taking digital payments.

Harvest (or just about any invoicing software) supports a lot of different gateways and merchant accounts so we did some research before settling on one. I'll just be covering the “big three,” as these should be available for most apps, but let me know in the comments if we should be talking about some other ones.

Finally, we're based in the US so some of these may not be available if you're out of the country. Let's get started!

Do You Have a Plan for New Business?

by Jonathan Longnecker in Design, Business

We get asked all the time how we get leads for new jobs. For those of you just starting out, it's really daunting. Overwhelming, really. Hopefully we can give you a few tips and places to start. But whatever you do - have a plan! Be proactive and work hard for it. Sitting around and waiting won't get you anywhere.

Do great work

First of all, let me get this out of the way: If you're doing bad or even mediocre work you have to get better. Nothing else I say will help if your product sucks. We get so many emails from people asking us, “How do I get better stuff in my portfolio if I don't have the work to add to it?” It's like the chicken/egg problem, right?

It sounds hopeless, but there are lots of ways to do this. Try working on passion projects – or find a cause or community you believe in and hone your skills there. We're not advocating for you to do all your work for free, but you have to take action if you want to get better. Don't sit around and wait on clients to magically appear out of thin air. They won't. Don't sit around waiting on awesome portfolio project to show up, either. Make your own. Also, see Branding down below ↓.

Kick Awesome Video, Photography, and Media! - New Services

by Nate Croft in Design, Business, Music

Hello Everyone!

Today is an exciting day for us. Why? Because it's today that we realize a goal we've had for FortySeven Media right from the start.

Since the early days, we've been building some of the best looking and hardest working websites around. But once you have one, it is in constant need of fresh content to really draw and keep people's attention. Which, let's be honest, can really be a pain. Who has the extra time and brain power to write and shoot a product overview video, or capture the right images to portray what it's like to stay in that exotic resort you run?

We do.

Running a Profitable Web Design Company

by Jonathan Longnecker in Business,

Here's the problem. Many of us who run small businesses aren't great at being profitable. We want to do a great job for our clients, charge a fair price, and focus as much as we can on our craft. Those are all great things, but barely making it brings a whole host of problems. Stress? Check. Not having enough money to pay your bills? Check. Being totally screwed when tax time comes around? Double check. At that point I guarantee you you're not doing a great job for your clients or focusing on your craft because you're too worried about how to pay your light bill.

What if instead of rushing to the bank every time a check came in you could wait 2-3 weeks before depositing it? What if you had several months' cushion in your savings account? What if the actual money part of the business was the last thing on your mind because you had taken the steps to setup a web shop that was profitable enough to actually keep you in business?

We've been on all sides of this, and after 8 years of doing this web design thing we wanted to share a few tips we've learned.

Vanilla To The Grave

by Nate Croft in Personal

If you could design your perfect life, what would it look like? That's not a rhetorical question. Take a moment and let it sink in. What would you do everyday? What would your scedule be like? Where would you live?

People at conferences and seminars, authors, and “lifestyle business bloggers” often talk about this kind of thing to get you motivated about your dreams. And while sometimes a little cheesy, I think they are on to something in that “you can't hit a goal you don't have” kind of way.

The thing they don't mention is the hard and awkward work that lays before to take action on those dreams. Why? Because you have to change. You can say you like change all you want, but what you really mean is you like change you have control over.

I'm currently working towards this and I'll be transparent here as I relate my adventures in dream chasing and change. Ready? Here goes.