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Do You Need A Website?

Do you produce or sell a product? Do you provide a service? No matter how small your operation is today you very likely need a website. Even if you enjoy meeting and talking with your customers face to face or over the phone, they may prefer to get their questions answered on their own time and in their own way.

Finding New Ways To Connect

Take me, for an example. I’m an introvert. Social connections wear me out. I need quiet and space to recharge. Like the majority of internet users today, I will ALWAYS research online first to find out what my options are, what I should expect to pay, whether or not I can do it myself, and who can provide the service or product I want. By the time I contact the provider or store, I’m already a very well informed customer.

Why do you have a telephone? Is it so people can call and find out about your services, locations, business hours, and price check? The vast majority of adults today use the internet and business websites to do all those things and more – all without calling your century old technology, the telephone. Now, I’m not suggesting that you get rid of your telephone. I’m saying that you probably need to add a new way that so many your (potential) customers and clients would prefer to use.

So Many Questions

So maybe by now you see the business need for getting a website. I’m sure you’re thinking , okay, what’s this going to cost? and who’s going to keep it updated, because I don’t have the time or knowledge! Those are good questions and not too difficult to answer. We’ll tackle the cost in a future post, but for now I’m confident that it’ll be less than you’re probably thinking. Regarding the question of who’ll keep it updated? We’ll make it easy for you to edit your information yourself. If you really want someone else to edit content and add or remove products, we have a cost effective solution for that too.

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Thoughts On Las Vegas

I’m at the end of a week attending a technical conference on the Las Vegas Strip and all I can think about is how much I miss the quiet, calm, ordered home in which I live with my my wife.

The Driven, Party City

This city is the poster child of loud, in-your-face, busy, showy, over-the-top living if there ever was one. I’ve had to walk around young women on the sidewalk dressed, or rather undressed, in a manner that would not be shown on the five o’clock news. I’ve walked passed multiple people, mostly men, sitting on the pedestrian bridges with their cash jars out, requesting your donation so that they can get some weed, or in one case a prostitute. The beating sounds from the casinos and clubs loudly push out any chance of having a personal thought. I’m tired of saying no to the endless requests from mall workers for just a few minutes of my time and an offer of a free sample. I’m struck by the uneasy decision I’ve made to not look others in the eyes as I walk down the sidewalk for fear that they’ll push another stripper girl calling card in my hand.

Shortcomings

As I think about the reasons why I don’t care for this place, I’ve day-dreamed a bit about Jesus, wondering what his response would be walking through the malls, across the pedestrian bridges and along the sidewalks. I see him looking at the down-and-out straight in the eyes and letting them know they have value. He’s not in a hurry and bothered by the masses either.

This city has some serious shortcomings. So do I.

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Finding My Sweet Spot

Hi, I’m Brad. I’m re-launching my web consulting business after a few years of quietness because I want to live in my sweet spot. What’s a sweet spot? There’s a few definitions, but the one I like best goes something like this: Your Sweet Spot is where your talents and abilities overlap your interests while meeting a need in the marketplace. A couple of books that have really impacted me on this topic have been Max Lucado’s book: Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot and Ken Coleman’s book: One Question: Life-Changing Answers from Today’s Leading Voices. My sweet spot includes Learning, Sharing, Building, and Celebrating.

Learning

I really enjoy learning about new technologies that meet the needs of small business. So much has changed since I first started creating web pages and building web sites in the late 90’s. It used to be esoteric languages and groups of technologies that were required to code a web page, create the images, and a good bit of money to set up a hosting server that was connected to the internet. Now, if you have a bit of creativity, the time, and the desire, it can be done for free or nearly free. Who woulda thought?

Sharing

I like to share what I learn with others. My dad was an elementary school teacher for 40 years, so I’m well versed in the ways of teaching, learning, coaching, and leading others. I like being able to take a complex concept with lots of acronyms and restate it in a language the end user can grasp. It’s not super difficult to learn, but most people don’t need to (or want to) learn technology to the depth that practitioners need to in order to accomplish our goals.

Building

I like building things. One thing I’ve noticed other the years is that I like doing things that have a visual completion. I like doing things like mowing and edging the lawn – and then resting with an iced tea or coffee and seeing the difference I made to beautify the yard. Sometimes before building you have to tear down the old; old wallpaper comes off before texture and paint go on, last decades web content needs reviewed and rewritten before it gets submitted to the new website.

Celebrating

Success is worth celebrating. Everyone needs to be encouraged to keep achieving and moving forward. I believe we need to celebrate goals that are met, milestones that are achieved, and projects that are completed. I haven’t done enough of this in the past with myself or with those around me – and I know that it has affected my outlook on life. I’m committing to celebrate successes around me every day.