SwansonX
Brainerd and the lakes area

Custom business software in Brainerd.

Most software sold to a small business up here was designed for somewhere much busier and much less seasonal. I build the thing that fits, one piece at a time, and you own it.

  • From $950 for one module
  • Fixed price, in writing
  • I reply within 24 hours.
The angle

Seasonal businesses break the software they rent.

A tool priced per user per month, all year, for a business that does most of its trade in five months, is a bad trade before you get to whether it fits. And plenty of lakes-area businesses are paying twelve months for something they open in April.

The shape of the work is different too. A guide service, a resort, a rental outfit and a repair shop all have the same underlying problem — bookings and enquiries arrive in bursts, from people who aren't here yet, and the details you need are specific to you. Generic booking software is generic exactly where you need it not to be.

And the seasons are the part nobody builds for. Off-season is when you should be building, not when you should be paying. A build you own doesn't charge you anything in January.

What it costs

Published, and the same wherever you are.

Start with one thing and add when it's worth it. Each step is a decision you make once the one before it has proved itself.

One module

$950

The single worst part of your week. A lead inbox, or quoting, or booking — one thing, built properly, working on its own.

Two or three modules

$1,950

The pieces that only make sense together. Enquiries feeding jobs, or quotes feeding follow-up.

Back Office

from $2,995

Everything connected: leads, customers, jobs, booking, review requests and a dashboard over the top.

Larger than that

Quoted in writing

Priced before anything starts, the same as every other number here. No hourly surprises.

Year one is in the price.

The price includes the first year of it running: hosting, database, backups and keeping it working. No monthly fee in year one.

After that it's $79/month to keep it running, cancellable any month. Nothing renews on its own.

Half up front to book, half on launch. The Partner Plan at $300/month is a separate, optional thing: me as your developer for ongoing work, not a fee for using what you already bought. All prices →

Where I work

Across the lakes area, and the rest of Minnesota.

I'm in Brainerd, so this is home ground. The work itself runs over email and video calls, and if you'd rather sit down about it, that's easy to arrange here.

  • Brainerd
  • Baxter
  • Nisswa
  • Pequot Lakes
  • Crosslake
  • Breezy Point
  • Little Falls
  • Aitkin
  • Crosby
  • Staples

Not on the list? It almost certainly still works. Tell me where you are.

Looking for a website instead? Web design in Brainerd →

Questions

What people ask.

Are you actually in Brainerd?
Yes. SwansonX is run from Brainerd and it's where the business is registered. There's no storefront address on this site because it's a service-area business, and inventing a shopfront would be dishonest.
My business is seasonal. Does a build make sense?
Often more than a subscription does, for the obvious reason: a build costs nothing in the months you're closed. The honest catch is that it costs something up front, so the free audit does the arithmetic with your real numbers before you decide.
Can we meet about it?
Yes, if that's what makes you comfortable. Most of this gets done over email because it's faster, but I'm local and a coffee isn't a problem.
Is a build overkill for a business this small?
Sometimes, and I'll say so. That's what the first tier is for — one module, one problem, rather than a system you have to grow into. If even that doesn't pay back against what you're spending now, the audit says keep what you have.

There's more local detail on Minneapolis and St. Paul and Minnesota.

Tell me what you're paying for.

Send me your monthly software list and I'll write back with what each tool does, what's worth replacing, and the one thing I'd build first with a fixed price on it. Free, and I reply within 24 hours.

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