I’m always reading these “how to blog” lists, well not so much of late, but I was reading them.  They all say consistency is key!

“Blog on a consistent basis, if it’s one time a week, then make sure you do it…”

In reading that, it seemed easy enough - but nope! Anyhow, it’s retarded for me to even blog about blogging (no offense to the retards who read my blog). I’ve been so busy doing that I haven’t had time to really tell about any of it - so here goes.

Wait! I have to share this video from Home Skillet Fest - I think it’s rad.

Ok, here goes…

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Popularity: 1% [?]

I’ve talked about education before, but yesterday I was blown away (again) by someone who decided to forgo school (for the most part) and forge on with a self-taught design career.  The first person I met that did this I worked alongside for a few years (at our first and only jobs) and was always blown away by his natural talent.  I suppose I can “lump” myself in the self-taught category, but I did go to college, just not for design.  I didn’t self-teach however, I borrowed, stole, and pillaged from a very talented design team.

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Popularity: 23% [?]

It’s difficult to tackle any web project and avoid attempting to, “shoot the moon.” Ideas are plentiful and examples even more so. I rep We The Media - that is my sole position. Finding work and finding talent are what I do by day, by night I design, code, and fight crime. I get to wear many hats, which is both burdensome and rewarding. Variety is the spice of life - and a busy life goes speeding by.

Speed is a trait of the entrepreneur, we make things happen quickly, we all think “I can do this or that.” It’s what makes us quit our jobs, it’s what makes us just start things for no reason other than our own thoughts, it’s also, as time goes by, a huge weakness. It’s super tough to rely on anyone else, but it is also absolutely necessary. Often times we think up a strategy and execute without consulting those who have proven valuable. Often times a knee-jerk reaction comes across as a painful execution and an even more painful blunder.

With the WTM website - I could have just designed and built the whole thing. But I know someone who can do it better - and without his help, WTM wouldn’t be where it’s at. It’s been a very slow rewarding process building out wtmworldwide.com piece by piece. We have more that we would like to do - but we are not rushing it. Well, maybe I am pushing it, but have realized a slow marinade is just what the site needs.

Why the entry then? We have carefully launched the We The Blog. WTB, I guess, is an aggregate of all We The Media member blogs. I’m already feeling the pressure because Nick Onken blogs way more than me - I need to keep up! It is just one more channel for us to spread our message of love for the creative souls out there.

Check it out.

Popularity: 34% [?]

As many people know, SXSW is coming up this week and as all should know - it’s pretty much the place to be for a geek. Where else can every random conversation be about topics like design, user experience, and community building - geekgasm!

Anyhow - I’m staying at the Hampton Inn with my good friend Jeff Reynolds - we will be kicking ass in one way or another (but mostly just representing the up and coming group, We The Media). I’m also looking to get invited to some really pretentious, exclusive parties - like I would be ok being the only one that is allowed to enter the room. That would rock. If you’re staying in the Hampton Inn or close - let’s greet up - it’s time to meet some geeks baby! Oh yea, be sure to get our grey (purple) buttons - they are pretty much fresh to death.

If you aren’t going to SXSW and are disgruntled, sulk the entire week at your current job so that your employer really knows how badly you want to go for next year - or - come to this site and I will be posting daily updates and pictures of all the crazy happenings.

Hope the world is treating you well.

Popularity: 30% [?]

As a creative, I once looked wearily upon “networking.” Never because I thought the ideas generated between people or the relationships they had were inherently bad - I was skeptical of networking because it never felt natural to me. A forced relationship at most - brought about by people leveraging each other for personal gain - what good could come of that?

networking gives me tears

Moving from college where one has a pseudo-something to offer to a professional setting where one gains their real value - I have experienced some profound insight. No, nothing new or original - but my tendency to learn by doing and emulating has given me the real reward of what networking truly is - connecting others.

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Popularity: 40% [?]

Theresa Tran, of Tease Marketing, once said something to me in a conversation that resonated heavily, “You have good, cheap, OR fast, you get to pick two.” After mulling it over in my head for a little while, it made perfect sense. And as I broke off to go start my own business, it’s something I chalked up as a cardinal rule.

“You have good, cheap, or fast, you get to pick two.”

I have been on my own freelancing (or running my own business) for nearly six months, a few things have occurred to me. Cheap is a relative term - relative to the client paying the money as well as relevant to what you’re making across the board for all projects. Good, when doing business for yourself, isn’t so much an option as it is a requirement. And lastly, fast is the speed at which we do business period - people want everything yesterday. So do clients really ever pick two out of three? Or do they just automatically assume to run the table. After all, the customer is always right.

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Popularity: 54% [?]

We designer types are a finicky breed. Rarely is something just right and we don’t really like the words time and budget. Good work takes time, a lot of it. That being said, when I launched version 2.0 of eleven3.com I was really excited, I felt I had achieved good work. I’m not sure if it’s just me, or if other designers do this as well, but when I design something I like; I stare and stare and stare.

With any creative work, the longer you expose yourself to it, the more stale it becomes. That’s why, about three months ago, I got the itch to redesign my site.

So here we are, one year ago and change I launched version 2.0 of eleven3. Today I launch version 3.0 - and yes I am just as excited as my last redesign. There are a lot of reasons for my excitement, but mainly it’s just a new look, a new focus, and more flexibility. Gone is the rigid and closed-source Movable Type and arriving is the flexible, fluid, Wordpress.

Continue reading for the off chance of relating to the requirements of the relaunch, the design phase, the challenges of coding the front-end, and the use of Wordpress and a plethora of plugins that now make up the site. A lot of work went into it, my hopes are that it is well received. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 74% [?]