Square

I jumped on the smartphone bandwagon a few months ago; it was either June or July. I know, I’m a few years late to the race, but I don’t feel like I missed too much. I held onto the old resistive type touchscreen and the physical keyboard buttons; they worked much better with guitar nails. And, of the new phone options, very few had those nail-friendly screens or buttons… Eventually, though, I was several years overdue for a new phone and the old phones I was using were dying on me left and right (mostly due to old age, not misuse or neglect).

But I wasn’t about to pay for a phone with comparable functionality to its predecessors, roping me into a 2 year contract. It was time to enter the smartphone era.

So I tried a few out and opted for the HTC One. I thought about jumping in with Apple, but the screen wasn’t big enough for me to text with the guitar nails. Seriously, if you’ve got ‘em grown out, you need more room. And several of the phones I burned through prior to this were Samsung, housed in a cheap plastic case, so I was turned off to that (If you make a high-end phone, don’t house it in cheap plastic!). The HTC it was.

But I’m not here to pitch you a phone. It’s a phone; I’m happy that I can talk, text, and get on facebook and craigslist. I’d be just as happy with an iphone or the latest Galaxy or even a Nokia. It’s a phone.

And mostly, I’d be happy with a phone that didn’t do the internet, too. That is still not synonymous with phone, for me at least.

But… what I would miss, and what pushed me towards the smartphone, is the era of the smartphone credit card swiper.

I first heard of these probably about 2 years ago, in a Lefsetz post. It was back when the Square Card was pretty much the only option. Before it was in stores, you could email them and they would send you a Square Card reader for FREE! I almost emailed them just so I would have it for whenever I would make the smartphone jump.

Instead, I waited. For both; the smartphone came a few years later, followed shortly thereafter by the Square Card. And I had to pay $10 at Target, but Square Card credits you $10 with a card you get. And you can still just email them through their app in order to get a free one, but I didn’t know that until after I made the purchase.

And at this point in the game, it’s not just Square Card. There are 3 or 4 other options: intuit, paypal, payanywhere, and probably a few others I’m forgetting. Portable credit card readers are now accessible. And they’re affordable; Square Card, at least, will pay you back for your purchase, has no annual fee, and charges 2.75% on CC purchases, without any hidden fees.

Over the past several months, I’ve started to see more and more of them in public; everywhere from mini golf to cafes to musicians. They’ve become the quintessential tool of the mobile small business. I’ve even seen some craigslist ads saying that they take credit card via smartphone card reader!

Because who carries cash? Cash is bulky, has more liability, and is dirty. A card has insurance, rewards points, and isn’t bulky. I saw someone pull out a checkbook at the grocery store the other day. What the heck??

In this day and age, most people just expect to pay with a card. Sure, it’s led countless Americans into staggering debt, but if you’re not spending beyond your means, it's the preferred convenience.

Historically, this has been a downfall of the small business owner, the mobile business owner, and the musician. Unless people plan on being somewhere where they’ll need cash, a lot of times they’ll only keep a limited amount on them. And if someone like that stumbled into your small business or happened to see your show, you were out of luck. Maybe it doesn’t happen often, but the number of times I’ve heard “sorry, I don’t have cash,” have certainly added up through the years.

Since I’ve gotten my own card reader, that issue is a thing of the past. And the few CD sales and tips I get from cards actually ads up to be able to pay for my data plan most of the time. That is income I would otherwise have not gotten.

But here’s the thing: I only do this part time. Part time as in, with my next few shows, my show count will be 11 for the year.

It got to the point to where it didn’t make sense for me to not have a smartphone anymore. And it was primarily because of this capability. I couldn’t afford to lose potential fans because I didn’t have a way to accept money from them. If I see someone, regardless of how great they are, I’m much more likely to follow up with the artist if I have something tangible in my hands leaving the show.

You may never have a second chance to make a fan or make a customer. Every additional way you can accommodate others will make them more likely to repeat your story.

And as a small business owner or musician, you can finally do that in a way that monetarily benefits you! At the price of a handful of small fees.

It makes sense. The entry level for old credit card readers was something like $250; that’s a lot of sunk cost for a small business. And on top of that, you still had the card fees. Now, for the cost of a phone data plan, which you probably already have, you can have the same thing.

But some people don’t get that. Businesses, especially around where I live (Central Pennsylvania), can’t see past the fees. Kelly and I had to turn around when we got to the front of the line in a very well established ice cream parlor down the road from us because they didn’t take cards. The soft pretzel lady at the grocery store was lucky I had cash after taking my pretzels and finding out that they didn’t take cards. And there’s a sandwich shop in my hometown that directs you down the street to an atm…

It’s a disservice to customers and a disservice to yourself to not utilize technology so readily available.

Plus, the smartphone swipers act as a sign that you actually know what you’re doing trying to run a small business or make a career out of music. I’d much rather my business go with the well-informed entrepreneur with an up-to-date business model than to the one stuck in the past.