After weeks of negotiations & preparations, the new world order is finally upon us. Jay’s first official day is today. Computer, check. Network connection, check. Email, check. Pens, whiteboard, file folders, Post It notes (JB’s addicted to them) - check, check and check.
Our morning (and much of the afternoon) has been occupied with looking at new office space and helping Jay get a handle on this mad-house of a business.
Now the fun starts.
Anyone having a working relationship with me knows I like the power of the outdoor medium (done well!). Here are two simple rules to follow for great outdoor executions. One, start with a great visual and make it large enough for people to see and comprehend quickly. Two, keep the main headline to a short word count (5 or less is optimal). Click on the image to see a flawless execution - I stumbled onto this board on my google reader feeds a couple weeks ago, it is from somewhere back east I believe.
I tripped over my skis getting to the computer, but hey, I made it! For the two of you reading these posts, you’ve certainly been made aware the skiing in Utah is off-the-hook currently. As a matter of fact, as I write this, I’m waffling on whether to ski again today (I mean the Cottonwoods have reports eclipsing the 20″ mark again). To be honest, the body probably needs a rest for the family ski day we are planning for tomorrow at Deer Valley.
So what is the point of rubbing all this skiing your face? Well, the answer is logically this. If I’m the CEO of an outdoor products company or a local restaurant (or any business looking for partnership with an agency), I want a fresh team working on my account. Not a team all wound up because they had a 2 hour bumper to bumper freeway commute, or the respite they get is a walk to the corner Starbucks. No, I want clear minded, Happy I live where I live, glad to be alive today people working with me. Think about, I’m sure you might agree…and certainaly will if you are a frequent visitor of the mountains. I’ll leave you with this: Go to the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flow into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. by: John Muir
Until next time, I look forward to my official start date on April 20th (and promise to partake in as many powder days as possible between now and then).
While I Believe it’s important to have open lines of communication between partners, it’s getting out of hand.
It’s Friday. I’m on deadline & trying to put the week to rest. JB blasts a Tweet my way : @Jride13No - it wasn’t a digger. All day face shots!http://twitpic.com/2ry61 There’s nowhere like Utah. And photographic evidence to boot.
At least he’s having a good time. I gotta unplug some wires.
As one who has been in the business of building websites for nearly ten years I am constantly amazed at just how this technology has evolved. Back in the day you’d sit down with a white screen in front of you and a thick HTML how-to book by your side. Then after a couple of hours you’d finally conquer placing an image into a table with some text just below. Then you’d test it on another browser and it’d all go to hell. Frustration would ensue and then you’d call your buddy who’d check out your code and point out the errors and make you feel stupid because it was so obvious (or not).
Quite frankly the process was painful and even at best this super-awesome site would basically serve as an online brochure that was a static brick of information. Content was stagnant as the process to update was left to the code jockey’s and not geared for the common desktop publishing man.
So, when we were discussing the development of this site I proposed building it on Wordpress. Sure, lots of agency’s have these fancy Flash sites (which are cool) but we don’t really do a whole lotta Flash and I didn’t think it’d be the best solution. Besides, maintaining a Flash site is a royal pain unless you have a really really expensive CMS that can handle it all.
So to ask again, why Wordpress? Simply put: Wordpress is awesome and it was the best Solution for our needs. We wanted a site where we could interact and show that we’re alive and kicking and inspired about our work. We also wanted a site where we could employ some wonderful technologies that we’ve steered our clients to use. We wanted to Tweet and Flickr and blog and link to our little hearts content just to show you, our loyal readers that our hearts beat just like yours.
Yes, we are alive and kicking and excited to come to work every day. Yes, we embrace these wonderful technologies that connect people in new and exciting ways. Yes, we’re excited to sit down and strategize with you about how to best implement these new mediums of communication.
So c’mon back as this site will be continually be populated with new and engaging stuff.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for Jay having a month off to transition into partnership. His daily calls and emails are strewn with enthusiasm and purpose that will be valued assets moving forward. But what he seems oblivious to is that I’m working here! Besides running the business operations, I still need to maintain a threshold of billable hours. I could read every book, reference article and white paper he sends my way - if I just cut out sleep from my daily routine.
Case in point: last week, I was planning my day, balancing my weekly partner’s meeting with Jay and a full day of meetings and deadlines. 8 a.m. my phone rings, Jay: ‘hey, it dumped last night, let’s hold our meeting at Solitude. It’s going to be huge.’ Me: Got a full slate today. Can’t.’ Jay: would it be OK if we moved to this afternoon?’
This is a case of too much connectivity. During the day I was bombarded with tweets and updates as to just what I was missing. One particularly annoying tweet included photographic evidence: @jayride13: Noooo, you go first. No, you go. Ok, if you insist. Noon @ the tude! http://twitpic.com/2h1jo
I love my work. But sometimes, it’s torture.
