FortySeven Media Blog

The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 41

2013-05-21T21:50:15Z

Dancing, electric longboards, punching and pictures printed on wood! All this awaits you in episode 41.

Spacebox is a Simple Way to Accept Payments Using Stripe

2013-05-16T14:08:23Z

You've probably heard us talk about Stripe before. It's a great alternative to Paypal or a merchant account with your bank. But it's built for developers. Trying to just sell one off products or classes with it - or maybe even accept payment for a service is kind of difficult.

That's where Spacebox comes in. Spacebox lets you setup “spaces” to accept payment. For example, Nate has used it to get paid for photography gigs. My wife has used it to get deposits on sign making classes that she teaches. It's mobile friendly and you can even use it to deliver digital files securely!

And as of recently, they've added recurring membership billing which is very interesting. We're going to keep an eye on it for sure.

If you have a product or service you want to get paid for online and you don't want to spend a lot of time setting it up go check out Spacebox. It's pretty cool.

Let’s Talk About Accepting Digital Payments

2013-05-09T12:03:11Z

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!

Paypal

Fees: 2.9% + .30 per transaction

The Good: Paypal has been around forever and is super easy to setup. Most of the time you literally just put in the email address you have on file with them and the invoicing software will make the magic happen. There are no monthly fees, and everyone knows who they are.

The Bad: Paypal is notorious for holding on to your money. They can just lock it up whenever they see a transaction that they feel is a red flag. Then you spend hours and hours proving to them why they should let you have your money. Also, moving money from your Paypal account to your bank account is a 4-5 businessday manual process.

Stripe

Fees: 2.9% + .30 per transaction

The Good: Stripe is the new kid on the block and very developer friendly. They don't freak out and hold onto your money - they act like a real merchant account without all the hassle of signing up for one. No monthly fees and the control panel is really nice and easy to use. Also, money is transferred automatically instead of manually, but…

The Bad: …It takes 7 whole days before they transfer it to your account. At this point I feel like I'd be better off accepting paper checks. I personally love Stripe and we use it for Kicktastic, but if I'm accepting large payments that need to cover paychecks and expenses that money needs to clear quickly. Wasn't that the whole point of accepting payments digitally?

Authorize.net (or whoever your bank uses)

Fees: $15-$20 per month, variable rate + .15 per transaction

The Good: This runs through your bank so it has direct access to your accounts. As a result, it gets deposited the next day. Now that's what we're talking about! Your percentage rate can be quite a few points lower, too because of the added security measures in place. It is variable, though - I can't even begin to list out all the reasons a transaction could have a higher or lower percentage rate. It's kind of like voodoo. Short story, though - it will most likely be less that Stripe or Paypal. The control panel also gives you a level of granular control for accepting payments that neither Stripe or Paypal offer.

The Bad: It's a huge pain to get setup. Think lots of documents and legal stuff. It's expensive (I think we had to pay a $100 one time fee plus that monthly fee). And most of these merchant accounts are huge corporations with crazy rules/regulations and general corporate stupidity.

What did we do?

We ended up going with Authorize.net for our payments because even though there was more setup time and cost on the front end, money got deposited much faster and automatically. Paper checks were a bottleneck to our business and the less time we spend screwing with it the more money we can make.

Another thing to think about. Stripe and Paypal only deposit the amount you actually get. So if you had a $1000 payment come in they deposit $970.70. This means when you go into your accounting software to reconcile the deposit it won't match. You'll have to do the math and add a line item to the invoice subtracting the fee. This could be good for tracking very specifically where these fees go, but we found it to be a massive pain when marking invoices as paid.

Authorize.net reports the full amount has been paid and then does a monthly batch withdrawal for your fees. For us this is much easier and saves us time when doing accounting.

So, as you can see there are a lot of variables involved with this stuff. I'm sure I've only scratched the surface here, so let us know what other good and bad aspects you've run across accepting digital payments.

New Plans, Standalone Products Now on Kicktastic

2013-04-23T02:10:31Z

Let me tell you that creating our first product has been a grand adventure. Our little web design business training membership program has gone through a ton of changes. Some big (like bringing a partner on) and some small (like the endless tweaking we've done).

And that's not including the content. In fact, since we launched last year we've created over 65 videos and nearly 30 blog articles. Dang. Nap, anyone?

But back to the changes. We've got some exciting news for you guys:

New Plans

Now we have a range of plans that should make it easier for everyone to be a part of Kicktastic. Here's a quick rundown:

Our Free Plan gets you weekly short video tips on all sorts of business advice.
Our Awesome Plan gets you access to all our videos - tips, long form content and interviews for only $12/month.
Our Kick Awesome Plan gives you access to all the videos, plus unlimited downloads of the transcripts, worksheets and MP3's associated with them for only $25/month.

Signup & Get Started!

Stand Alone Products

“But wait,” I hear you say! “I don't want any of this long term monthly stuff!” Totally get that.

So we're also excited to announce that select courses from Kicktastic will now be available in our stand alone store. You can get our first one - Branding, Attention & The Power of Video right now! Learn how we made 50% more last year by combining these three things into a trifecta of fun, awesomeness & profit.

Go Find Out More

P.S. If you share the link to the product when purchasing you can save 20%! Just look for the Facebook and Twitter buttons.

LessConf - A Beautiful Gathering of Misfits

2013-04-19T02:05:35Z

Nate and I became internet friends with Allan Branch & Steve Bristol of LessEverything about 6 years ago when they wrote a short post about our “Don't Hire Us” page. Many tweets and recriprocal blog posts later, we finally got to meet them at their second LessConf. And we found an even closer friendship with those guys. They totally got us.

Back to LessConf, though - we really enjoyed that conference and came back every year after that, but I think it wasn't until the 5th and final one last week that I fully understood what LessConf was.

You see, Allan & Steve like to make a spectacle. They know how to create things that people talk about. Seven hour hugs on stage. Gourmet popsicles. Milk and cookie breaks. Complimentary massages. The list could go on. Trust me.

And when there's so much spectacle, sometimes it's easy to miss what a conference is really all about: people.

Now don't get me wrong. LessConf #5 was full of mighty spectacle. Dunebuggy rides. Ziplines. Talks on the beach. Talks in the ocean. A circus act. Knife throwing. Tight-rope walking. Sand sculptures. Live music. Handcrafted marshmallows.

Beneath the crazy this year's LessConf had a loudly beating heart. So loud that it eclipsed the spectacle.

But that was all just icing on the cake. You see beneath the crazy this year's LessConf had a loudly beating heart. So loud that it eclipsed the spectacle. It had become was a safe place for those of us that didn't fit in anywhere else.

It was the talks that cemented this for me. I've never been so mesmerized, challenged or pulled out of my comfort zone as I have those two days.

There was an ex-military fighter pilot who built a 24 hour coding team for his product. An ex-con who spent 2 years in prison for insider trading, got out, married his wife and started a web company. A former financial guy making 6 figures on Wall Street who quit it all to travel with his wife, find his art and passion, and help those who need it. A marketing guy that challenged the whole way I use email. A guy who built a brand with his beard and watched it get torn to shreds by telveision editing.

And that was just the first few talks on the first day. Other speakers bared their souls and told us about things like depression, bipolar and ADD, the emptiness that comes with being successful and how biased we are against working with other cultures and countries. And failing. Lots of failing.

Somehow, even though I knew so few of the attendees last week, we felt like a family. A fearless assembline of rebels, hoodlums and crazy people. A beautiful gathering of misfits.

And that is what I will miss the most about LessConf. Thank you Allan & Steve for being brave enough to bring all of us together. We hope you change your mind and bring it back soon.

Freakishly Profitable Workshop Coming to ConvergeSE

2013-04-17T02:05:52Z

What are you doing next Thursday? Maybe you'd like to learn how to make your business freakishly profitable?

Turns out the Kicktastic crew is doing a 3 hour workshop at ConvergeSE on Thursday, April 25th about that very thing!

We've been there - getting worn out on small processes and tasks, not making enough money, getting lost in tedious client work and having cashflow problems. We want to help. We'll give you practical tips for turning pain into profit - and we'll have lots of fun doing it.

We'll also cover:

Using side projects to increase your brand and land better jobs
Using your brand & contact form to pre-screen clients
Streamlining your workflows
Pricing for profit
Invoicing for better cash-flow
And a whole heck of a lot more

Did we mention that the mythical Carl Smith of nGen Works is filling out the rest of the business track that day, teaching how to design a business that won't kill you? Because he is. And you know that will be awesome.

So listen, if you want some really solid business advice from Carl and the Kicktastic crew come to ConvergeSE and signup for the business track. We'd love to see you there!

Note - full conference day tickets also available here.

The Kick Awesome Show: Episode 40

2013-04-04T13:12:18Z

Yes, we know it's been a year since the last Kick Awesome Show. But today we're back! We've got tons of high fives, our favorite spam comment, a cool new shirt and we'll explain where we've been for a whole year!

Watch it on kickawesome.tv

IdeaPaint CLEAR - Write on Anything

2013-03-28T13:32:43Z

This has been out for a while, but it's still super cool. IdeaPaint CLEAR lets you create a whiteboard on top of any wall without turning it white! So if you have a rad neon orange wall that you'd like to be able to write on with dry erase markers this will make it happen. It's not cheap, but if your high end hipster office needs some functionality on top of the meticulously chosen colored walls go get some IdeaPaint!

The Making of John Mayer’s ‘Born & Raised’ Album Artwork

2013-03-21T12:53:35Z

I don't think I've ever seen a more patient, talented and humble craftsman. This video of how John Mayer found David Smith and commissioned him to do the artwork for the cover of his album is just astounding. Not only does David come up with the album artwork, but also creates two beautiful reverse glass panels and the whole thing is documented for you to see.

The sketches alone at the end of this video make me want to never pick up a pencil again, but the level of detail and artistry that goes into each of David's pieces is just mind blowing. It's a must watch!

So we made some T-Shirts

2013-03-11T20:40:15Z

For Christmas last year, Nate and I wanted to do something special for our clients. We pondered and thought and decided, “what better way to show our clients we love them than to send them a custom designed t-shirt that says we love them!?!?!?!” Clearly because we are geniuses.

After much sketching, hand crafting and designing we came up with “Two Hairy Guys in Tennessee Love Me.”

We packaged these with hand crafted notes and illustrations of ninja pickles in boots and other random things. It was lots of fun.

Would you like one of your very own?

Here's the thing. We have some of these shirts left over. Quite a few actually. We liked them so much that we thought you might, too. “What, you're making products now?” Yes, apparently we are.

Did we mention we're really picky about this stuff? That's why we're using tri-blend fitted t-shirts with water-based inks - they're crazy comfortable and fit like a glove. And yes, we have fitted women's shirts as well. None of that stupid American Apparel unisex one-style-fits-all crap. Word.

So pick one up before they're gone! Sorry, we’ve run out of these for now.

Don't worry, even if you don't get one of these shirts, these two hairy guys in Tennessee will always still love you. It just might be harder to prove it

Unconfirmed Tip: Knee Cap Discounts

2013-03-05T14:02:06Z

Continuing our apparently violent tendancies towards client advice, we look to the best way to deal with deliquent payments. Keep an eye on those line items!

Go Watch on Kicktastic

Chasing Your Dreams

2013-02-14T02:00:27Z

Like our strange little dentist friend in the picture above, we all want to be that happy doing the work we have dreamed about doing. Most of us come preinstalled with a desire to do work that we enjoy. It is as if we know that it is possible to provide for ourselves and not hate doing so.

Unfortunately, most of us are also completely terrible at pulling this off. Even if we have pretty good jobs that we mostly like, it seems like that magical dream job is always dangling just out of reach. Why is that?

The next time you hear someone talk about their dream job, listen to how they describe it. Most people I've heard usually have a very vague idea of this dream of theirs. There are usually one or two concrete ideas buried under a mountain of happy and unspecific warm fuzzies. A lot of feelings with little substance.

Let's get up, look fear square in the face, kick it in the nuts and go on chasing down that dream and make it ours.

I think this is a defense mechanism. Dreams are just that. They aren't real and it's fun to talk about them. But if your turn one of these dreams into a goal, well that's scary. Goals are definite and require us to get off our butts and do something. When you turn a dream into a goal, you are now squarely in the realm where failure is a possiblity.

And aren't we such funny creatures that we let fear of failure boss around our dreams like some middle school bully?

You get to do life one time. Once. Uno. Let's get up, look fear square in the face, kick it in the nuts and go on chasing down that dream and make it ours.

Write down that dream of yours. Right now! Put it on paper and post it somewhere you have to see it. Turn that thing into a goal. Set a hard date and be very specific about what success looks like. You can do this.

Practicing What We Preach

It's very easy to write that kind of hard stuff, but it is a whole different thing to walk it out. But that's what we've been doing. We've done our yearly business review and set out some crazy goals for ourselves here at FortySeven Media. Man, it's tough chasing down a dream! Those things are like trying to tackle a buttered cheetah.

But it isn't stopping us and it won't stop you either.

We've set out to have our best year ever and we want you to have your best year ever too. If you need some help getting started, check out the Best Year Ever course at Kicktastic for kick start. We are going to be digging into every part of our business to make it the best it has ever been and we're inviting you to join us and do the same.

DREAMS > GOALS > ACTION > DOMINATION

You got this.

ConvergeSE 2013 Tickets On Sale - Come hang out with 47m!

2013-02-01T15:11:06Z

It's that time of year again, folks! Our favorite conference, ConvergeSE is back and the tickets are on sale now. They sold out in about 2 hours last year so speed it up and get on over there. Converge will be held in Columbia, SC on April 25-27.

We're super excited because this year we are doing a Kicktastic workshop on the first day of the conference. It will be a blast, we promise!

So go get your tickets now before they're gone. Trust us, you need to come to ConvergeSE 2013.

Best Typefaces from Google’s Web Fonts Directory

2013-01-17T13:53:53Z

Chad Mazzola at Hello Happy has put together a page showing off and pairing the best typefaces from Google's Web Fonts Directory. Which is great, because it can be a little hard to find good typefaces there. Because most of them suck.

Fortunately, Chad has great taste and has given me hope that I, too may one day use Google Web Fonts. Thanks, Chris!

View Beautiful Web Type

Seth Godin’s Pick Four Workbook

2013-01-07T16:04:37Z

In case you hadn't heard, we're shooting for this year to be our Best Year Ever at FortySeven Media. While we were doing our planning for 47m, Kicktastic and Bright Newt with Austin, he pulled out a curious looking, sprial bound notebook with a bullseye on the front. “What is this madness?” I asked and he replied, “Why, it's Seth Godin's planning workbook, of course!”

Being a Seth Godin fan I ordered the 4 pack immediately, but only recently got to sit down and look through them with my wife as we planned for this next year. It's a really simple concept, based on a program from Zig Ziglar - you take some time to identify goals that are the most important to you, make sure you are balancing between work, home, fitness, money, etc…, and then pick the 4 most important ones to work on for the next 12 weeks.

The book is setup for daily notes on each goal, and that's why I think it's such a great idea. Often wanting to do something like “start a new business,” or “loose weight,” take time. Lots of time. And it's easy to get discouraged or forget about it or get halfway done. But if you're spending at least a few minutes each day on your goal, then you can't help but make progress, right?

Seth Godin likes to use the phrase “Drip, drip, drip, things get done.” And he's right. Having a single place to keep track of my 4 most important goals is fantastic. Plus, after the 12 weeks - it's on to a new set of awesomeness to conquer!

A pack of 4 is only $24 bucks. When I bought mine it was $15, so keep an eye out for discounts. But seriously, why not grab a pack of these and start planning your next year? I think you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Buy it Now

*Link above is an affiliate link - if you buy one we'll get a small kickback.