Ask any good designer, an obsession with perfection and getting something right visually allows for the best results. Ask any good great developer, an obsession with efficient, clean code leads to applications that run faster using less processing power with less bugs.

Make the last 10% of something the best 10%. If something isn’t right, rip it out and redo it. And then redo it again. Obsess with the details, the completion, the experience; all of it. If you don’t think you have something to obsess about, create something; or just stop reading my blog. I hope to only preach to the converted, it makes things much easier on me.

Personally, I’m completely obsessed with building a fence. What does that have to do with the internet or design? Nothing. I really just wanted to post that picture of me working on a fence in the dark – if that’s not obsession, I don’t know what is. And guess what, I re-dug several post holes, re-screwed several 2X4s, and re-cut several boards. All in the name of obsessing over the details. Getting them right gives your work longevity, for every detail you leave behind, it’s a detail you will regret.

a roof over my head and sneakers on my feet.

When I first entered the working world, I got a piece of advice that stuck with me and I often quote, “You either do what you love regardless of the pay, or you do a job you may not like that affords you the ability to do what you love outside of work.” While I would like to tell everyone to do the former, just like in 8th grade, not everybody can be Michael Jordan. Most people are forced into the latter and it takes either high-tolerance to cope or a lot of drive to get into doing something you do love.

The “have-tos”

don’t make relaxing your every day.

Imagine if you could pick out what you would be doing with every single second of every day. Now imagine the opposite. These are the have-tos. It doesn’t mean that you dislike what is being asked of you, it’s just not exactly what you would choose given the choice. Today I had to write a proposal, fix some code, finish a presentation deck, and gather tax documents – I don’t dislike any of these things (well maybe the taxes thing, however that’s another story), but given the choice, I’d probably be on the mountain snowboarding. These are requirements in my life that allow me to put a roof over my head and sneakers on my feet.

What is it that you have to do every day? Do you like it?

The “want-tos”

There aren’t a lot of pills more bitter than that one – getting ripped off sucks.

Ask someone what they like to do and the expediency of the answer often says more than the answer itself. Generally speaking, people with passions trend toward “the want-tos,” naturally. Want-tos needs a more definitive explanation. For some, “I want to sit on my ass every day and watch TV” may be a perfectly viable answer. I would argue it’s not. It’s actually sloth, a sin. Being lazy should never be your passion, it will never lead to anything good. I’m not arguing against taking a break in your day to relax and enjoy some form of mindless entertainment – just don’t make relaxing your every day.

The key here is to be doing something that gets you excited and away from the things you have to do. TV is an escape, but it rarely excites, and often depresses. If you feel you do not have any passions – go out and seek new experiences, the world is full of tons of fun stuff. Remember, only the boring really get bored.

The Lucky Ones

Remember the Michael Jordan example from above? Well, there is a higher percentage of people doing what they love for a living than there are Michael Jordans in the world. What you want to do and what you have to do can merge into the same thing. It takes a lot of drive and extra work to make this happen, but in the end, it seems to be more rewarding. However, there are two risks associated with this option.

I wanted to post up on the couch and kill characters in videogames – not good.

Risk #1 – Burning Out – When you like what you are doing, you tend to do a lot of it. I found a passion early on in web development and the internet.  While I think the info addiction will always be there, the web development part I have had points of burnout. Before the ’08 holiday season, I was tired of everything related to what I had to do and what I wanted to do. For the most part I wanted to post up on the couch and kill monsters in videogames – not good. The best thing to do to get away from burning out is to develop another set of passions that become your new “want-tos.” I like to play music, work in my yard, exercise, and snowboard – all of these things help me walk away from my work.

Remember, only the boring really get bored.

Risk #2 – Hating What You Once Loved – Often times there is something extremely contaminating about money – it can turn things dirty. I’ve heard a ton of stories of high school kids doing a little bit of web design and then getting ripped off by the people that hired them. There aren’t a lot of pills more bitter than that one – getting ripped off sucks. Being professional about what you do can stem that tide – don’t agree to doing something that isn’t fair, collect 50% of whatever up front, and always write it down.

Conclusion

While doing what you love or doing what you need to do to enable the ability to do what you love are both good goals – the former, I would argue, is the only true way to find balance for the majority of people. Only the most steady and disciplined can go to work 40 hours a week at a job they dislike and cope with it – the rest of us end up unhappy or resentful.  Take risks, work hard, develop interests away from what you have to do, and always have outlets. It can be done, it just takes perseverance. How do you find balance?

Note Two: Arms out is the ultimate passion power stance.

So how does the, “duck & cover,” strategy fit into my bigger broader strategy of doing great work on the web? It doesn’t – it just means that I’m scared. I’ve started countless entries only to have them peter out into random generalizations. None of them have been post worthy, not one. If I’m going to write something, it better be good, or else what’s the point?  The web is already so full of noise.

Truthfully, I’ve been busy.  We the Media is working on some amazing stuff that will be unveiled over the next few months.  We also have new additions to our team which helps us fill out our service offering a little more. I’m learning a ton about process development and motivation. Oh and I am a husband now as well, that took up a lot of time – the following picture by an excellent Portland based photographer, Boone Rodriguez.

This site started as a place to share my thoughts and my work. Increasingly, I’ve been privatizing my thoughts and doing less of the nuts & bolts of web design. That leaves me with tales of management and process – so, I choose to “duck & cover” because I am too chicken to write my thoughts, or too private. Haven’t figured out which.

I’ll try to be better – fielding post topics in the comments.  It has come to this.

Thanks to Mr. Boyd for calling me out.

Before the internet we had TV or magazines to get information about bands. Back then, MTV played music, on television. Hard to imagine such a radical concept now. Anyways, this brings me to the topic of the post – Rolling Stone Magazine. One of the first Rolling Stones I ever picked up was the one showed below. Walking by it in the store, I had to have it. As with most kids, this involved begging and pleading with Mom. Eventually I convinced her of all the reasons it was necessary for me to obtain this magazine and she caved.

This was my first interaction with the magazine which I soon had a yearly subscription to.  I brought it home, read it cover to cover, and trusted its insight on movies, music, and television – culture basically. Part of what made it stand apart from the other was its larger than life format – the magazine was big. I knew when it came in the mail because it stuffed the mailbox.

When I stumbled across this article, courtesy of Mr. Gruber, it made a part of me die inside. They are killing the larger format in favor of streamlining operations. Reading in between the lines, it’s about profit. Which is understandable, but shitty from a brand/aesthetic/nostalgia perspective. And the money quote from, Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone.

“All you’re getting from that large size is nostalgia.”

Yea, that’s probably right. But for this one-time avid reader, it’s the last of a great standard – the big magazine format.  The background of this website is composed of advertisements from a stack of big magazines. And believe me – the experience of flipping through them is so much better than the throw away small format of today. The big magazine format is the equivalent of vinyl in music.

If I could wish a different fate on the magazine, it would be this: build a better website that has more tie-ins with the magazine. Offset costs of doing the bigger magazine (paper, printing, shipping, etc…) with a better digital presence. And for goodness sakes, put Silver Jackson on the cover.

“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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ok, here goes…

Nike

I do a lot of work for Nike, a lot… So much that I have had to build a team of very talented individuals to compensate for my lack of bandwidth. I can’t really say what we are working on currently but I can say what we have worked on in the past.

We launched nikecorre.com about a month ago and sportchangemakers.net a few months before that. Now we are working on managing both of these sites and doing consulting for a few bigger projects (I can’t name them and I won’t!). It’s been an amazing ride working with one of the most globally recognized brands in the world – I truly love it.

The stuff we are working on currently gets me all hyped up – I can’t wait to launch! Of course some of it will be over the course of a month, some of it all the way into January. Seems like awhile, but some of the stuff is really ambitious – we are learning how to, “Just Do It.”

Rahzel Live!

This is a project that came out of left field, but also one I couldn’t refuse. Working with Rahzel to help build him a site where he could manage all his merchandise and digital downloads has been a fun experience – the guy is the KING of beatboxing and I have been a fan since, “If Your Mother Only Knew.” This should drop soon as well.

Home Skillet Fest ’08

In another life I used to be a commercial fisherman in Alaska and it was around this same time that I co-founded a record label called Home Skillet Records. About three years ago we started throwing an annual music festival in Sitka, Alaska called……Home Skillet Fest (we’re kind of a one-trick pony). We just wrapped up this year’s show and this had to of been my favorite year. We were well organized, we had tons of merchandise, and we put a little money back into the label – that was our goal. If you follow this sob-story of a blog, you may remember my last post that was questioning the whole project. I am over that now – the festival is a great thing and my hometown is truly a special place. 

For the first time I walked away from Home Skillet Fest stoked and ready to build the momentum for next year. It’s turned into a family project for me, with both my parents and older sister helping with the organizing – it made it so much better. In having such a solid team in PDX I was able to call on people to help with design work – which is good because I’m really only decent at web design, the print world is perplexing.

Wrap Up

All in all business is good and growing. Our team is rad. I am getting married in September. My set didn’t suck at Home Skillet Fest. I am running for my health, so I feel better, AND…

…I am more happy now than I have ever been in my life. I think I am ok with that too – it’s ok to be happy for once.

Occasionally, I hit a speed bump. Something that doesn’t feel quite right in my gut, something that brings me to the uncomfortable conclusion, yes, I still have much to learn. Don’t over-extend-promise-deliver, all of these things get you in trouble in one way or another.

“Why Do It?”

Currently I feel over-extended in the planning of Home Skillet Festival. When it was the only thing in my life that I really did for myself (as I was working for someone else), I didn’t question the why do it? But now, with We the Media moving ahead at full steam, I am questioning the why. A music festival in my hometown of Sitka, Alaska where there are multiple bottlenecks – why?

Growing up there, I remember other people tried to do things like Home Skillet Fest and it would only last a couple of years. There was something so sad in the informative moment, “they’re not doing it this year.” All I could think of was, “why?” Now with the third festival right around the corner, all deadlines inching painstakingly closer, I know why.  Because it is fucking hard. It’s not hard in the doing or the known – it’s hard in the unknown.  Will our catalogs be printed in time? Will these tickets sell? Will these artists get on the fucking plane?

Somewhere, instilled deep inside, there is a fire that pushes me through moments like these. Everyone must find their internal burn. You have a choice.

(Holy shit I published this)

(Happy Independence Day)

Granted the Wii came out in November of 2006 and Twitter in March of 2006 – they really didn’t “blow up” until 2007. The Wii continues to have shortages and Twitter ballooned after SXSW 2007, where I first signed on. I had a conversation with Snook once and he talked about (and continues to blog about) staying away from hopping on any bandwagon as well as staying fair and balanced. This post will not be that way – I will gush and adore praise for my three favorite things of 2007.

The Nintendo Wii

When news of the Nintendo’s new console first started coming out, I must admit, I was a skeptic. Nintendo had become an afterthought in my mind when it comes to the latest and greatest consoles. Then I saw the Zelda: Twilight Princess video on YouTube. The whole shooting arrows, slashing with a sword, and fishing bits all in 360 degree motion sensing bliss is really what got me all hyped. The new controllers – which seemed like a novelty – actually could be contribute to adding another layer of substance to games.

I stopped buying the newest console after the first XBox – somewhere between starting a career and having a serious relationship, my gaming time fell off the map. I figured it would be a long time before I ever bought another console – but then my fiancee played Wii bowling at a friends house, and won. It went from, “videogames are boring 2000,” to “the Wii is sooo much fun, let’s get one!” Done.

Since then we’ve had a great time with family and friends bowling, playing tennis, and golfing – all of which come with the box. In fact, it wasn’t till six months after the Wii that we got any other games. One of which, Mario Party 8, is nothing to write to the motherland about. In the last five days I have gotten Madden ’08 and Woods ’08 as well as Zelda, which I had rented before. All in all the Wii does something no other console has done – bring games to the non-gamers. It’s why there are still Wii shortages and why when we pull it out at parties, non-gamers say, “I want that.”

Twitter

Twitter first came across my radar a few months before SXSW ’07, where it really gained traction. And honestly, I had the same thought as most people, “Why would I care and why would I use it?” For some reason the buzz about it (when I was at SXSW) outweighed my skepticism and my reluctance to sign up for another web service. twitter.com/georgehuff was born.

Six-Hundred and Fourteen twitters later I can finally say I have my head wrapped around the service and why it is not only greatly useful but also why it is highly innovative. Twitter lives in the world of one-to-many communication. While being slightly intrusive, depending on how many subscribers one has, it’s completely opt-in/opt-out. Are you subscribing to an acquaintence that seems to do nothing at all? Unsubscribe. I must say I partake in much less small talk when those who I am having a conversation with are also on Twitter. After all I already know What Are You Doing?

The iPhone

As I write this post – I am driving around Portland trying to figure out which of the Christmas items I need to exchange are available at which store. I opened up Google Maps, typed in Joe’s, and proceeded to call the closest Joe’s available till I found the Roxy Snowboard jacket (for my fiancee) in a size small. I then proceeded to call different Les Schwabs in the Portland-Vancouver area to find which could put on my snow tires the fastest. While it’s not difficult to imagine doing something like this in front of a computer – it is difficult to imagine doing it while sitting behind a steering wheel cursing at all the bad drivers.

Google Maps is one of the many things on the iPhone that is done really well – and really, the device is simply a joy to use. It’s not perfect, it can’t do everything, but what it does do, it does better than any other phone available. With the opening up of the device for native apps – I expect to be writing about it again at the end of 2008.

Conclusion

And now you have my biased, one-sided, fanboyistic, love and adoration for three things in 2007 which I have truly enjoyed. It’s not often we get spoiled as consumers as we have this year. The Wii will change the way we think about games, Twitter will change the way we communicate, and the iPhone has provided us with the closest thing to the all-in-one holy grail of consumer electronic devices.

Most people will agree with the Wii and Twitter topping my list – the iPhone however, may draw ire from the iPhone haters. There are two huge reasons why it is probably the number one device of the year. The first being the fact it corralled a major telco to change their network and their policies to fit a phone – this is a step in the right direction and will hopefully lead to more of this sort of thing. Could you imagine if Comcast told you what kind of computer you could use? It would be ridiculous. The second reason why I picked it is the way it raised the bar for all phones being released. Nobody is putting a phone on the market right now without the iPhone in the back of their minds – this will lead to better design and usability amongst all phones, which is no doubt a good thing.

I had a few other items which have really been hot this year – but perhaps I am missing something?

Happy New Years.

Notable Mentions

• XBox 360
• 2008 Scion XB
• MacBook Pro
• Aluminum iMacs
• Facebook
• Virb

The “e” means we are empowered. As consumers, as professionals, as social networkers, as voters, and as evangelists. Believe me, you want us on your side. What we lack in numbers we make up for in determination and knowledge. Leveraging the internet to make real changes is second nature – and it will happen. We can’t be bought or sold by a television network – we really aren’t into TV, it’s too – linear, too “photoshopped,” or too fake. Our real news media has become satirical and our satirical news media has become real, and we recognize that.

We are fearless, bold, and fresh. Yes, we are a top heavy country consisting of many baby boomers who failed to topple the old guard – but that won’t stop us, you see, for we have the internet. Whereas America has been the melting pot for different cultures and race, the internet is the melting pot for ideas – and the best always come bubbling to the top.

I have been fearful of my generation being complacent to all of this – do we really care about our country and the world surrounding us?

Last night I was at a dinner full of the influencers – people who are striving for social change not only with their words, but their actions. They make a strong case that we do care – that we are empowered, and that we do live up to the hype. I think it’s only a matter of time before we wake up and turn the old guard on its head.

Our ideas are strong and our hearts are pure – we get the new world and we have embraced it. We have big corporations lobbying Washington D.C. to get their way – followed by the same corporations limiting which candidates the American public see (and in what light) on their broadcasting networks. This is an example of the competition, deceit, and old guard mentality which is taking our country down a path of destruction. If you’re getting your news from a TV, consider it skewed – not one major news network has a clean reputation. They all do it.

I watched Oprah introduce Barack Obama in Iowa and she said it best:

“I’m not here to tell you what to think, I’m here to tell you to think”

What we need is transparency and open doors. I’m a fan of Barack mainly in part because he is a fan of the transparency ideal. Transparency is something we all need to get behind.

For now, I have placed an Obama ’08 badge on my site for a candidate that stands for so much, but most importantly acts presidential. Grab the code, do the same.
<a href=”http://www.barackobama.com/index.php”><img src=”http://www.eleven3.com/wp-content/themes/eleven3/images/cause_obama.jpg” alt=”Vote Obama ’08″ style=”margin-right: 10px;”></a>

“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.

First off, if you aren’t looking at the project as your project, then you will never be able to manage expectations correctly. We aren’t building and selling widgets here – we have a process, it takes time, and we know how long it will be. People come to us for this expertise, and us getting walked on isn’t part of the deal. Good, cheap, or fast is as much your choice as it is your clients.

If you don’t care so much about the work as you do about getting the business, then cheap, fast, and shoddy may be your ideal option. But always keep in mind, shoddy work doesn’t ever get you more clients. Not everything need be brilliant, but maintaining your own standards, regardless of the client is important to sustainability and longevity. Most importantly, it cements a reputation.

The problem with doing work fast is the risk involved. How often do we take on work where there may be a few “hairy” areas that we haven’t quite done it before. It may be browsers issues, it may be programming functionality, or it just may be a whole lot of work we don’t see. If you agree to do work fast, make sure you are getting paid enough to bring in more people if need be.

Again, cheap is a relative term – almost one that can be thrown out the window. I think the most important thing is to be able to walk away from a project if you don’t feel happy about price tag. Remember, the promise of exposure only applies to 5% of the times it is promised. Don’t work for free. Don’t overcharge.

Avoiding the Big Carrot, or Not

As with any “advice,” all of this stuff is easier said than done. In fact, as I began writing this post – I had a project that had to be good and fast – go awry.

The bigger the carrot the bigger the bite – I committed to something because in theory it could be done (assuming nothing went wrong) and it was a client/project that when added into a portfolio made it considerably beefier and more legitimate. Thankfully when this project did go awry, there was budget to pull in extra people with fresh eyes. You stare at anything long enough and you’re just going to make your problems worse.

“Grandma always said, haste makes waste”

So the lesson learned, for me, is to set realistic goals with fall back plans – a goal isn’t realistic if it involves my team working 16-18 hour days trying to build something complex. When you’re tired, work gets sloppy. The culprit in this case can easily be guessed, IE6, and troubleshooting bugs at the eleventh hour when you should be arriving at a solution is painful. We ended up having to put up a placeholder page to encourage users to download IE7 or Firefox 2 – something I have never had to do. We had a fix within a couple of days, but missed our deadline – the one we agreed to.

Shackleton would shake his head, “Leadership on the Edge,” is stressful – not your little web project.

Hopefully, the character of our little conglomerate was defined in crisis and we can move forward with a fresh set of lessons learn – or maybe we cave and lick our wounds behind desks at an agency, but for some reason I don’t think that will happen. The big eye opener for me with this particular project was the stress – working for yourself is just bigger. Bigger projects, bigger dollars, and bigger stress – handling that is a skill set in its own. My goal is to practice what I preach. Best of luck to me, and to anyone who reads this.

First off, congrats to Tease Marketing, for they(we) have officially refreshed their homepage to include a sign up for their new newsletter, “The Tease Effect.” Sign up, these ladies throw lavish parties and seem to know just about everyone. The newsletter is for upcoming events they sponsor.

1) NBC is pulling out of iTunes. This isn’t about anything but greed. Apple wants to keep the price of the shows the same, NBC wants to double it. We’ll see what happens, my bet is they will be back. Especially with new iPods in the works. Also to read, an open letter from he who runs ipodlounge.com.

2) iPhone to Flickr – Finally! We were talking about how nice this would be the other night. It still feels a little hacky and a native app would be much smoother, but hey I’ll take it.

3) Speaking of the iPhone and recent developments, take a look at this goodness, dock crazyness.