1. Corex CardScan- This cleverly named product helped me scan in over 150 business cards in a couple of minutes. The software that came with it then turned all this scanned information into digital format, no problem. The corrections I had to make to my new database of names were small and easy to make. Two thumbs. (And thanks to Damien for letting me borrow it.)
2. Campaign Monitor- Best, most indepth stats you could ever ask for from an email campaign. I've wasted way too much time this morning checking out every available stat. Awesome.
Amsterdam, wanting to be known for more than legal pot, is paying for a bunch of bloggers to tour the country. In return, the bloggers have to put some advertising on their site, but don't have to blog about the trip if they don't want to do so. (I imagine they all will.) Brilliant.
The Simpsons are now in Arabic. No more beer or donuts (Which is just crazy because we all know no beer and no TV make Homer go something, something.) and Ned isn't even a Christian. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit.
When we first started OrangeCoat everything was fun. Design, sales, marketing, hell I even enjoyed writing proposals. I spent a lot of time on each proposal, wrote jokes into the proposal, and tried to give each a personality of its own. I no longer like to write proposals.
And that, in a nut shell, is why companies have to grow. The same person can't do the same jobs forever. Sooner or later, he loses his edge. Repetition grinds on the soul and that is something that a creative company can not afford. That is why in year three of OrangeCoat we have plans to grow. We can't afford not to do this. It is not just an output formula (x number of people can create y websites at z profit), it is a quality formula. We need that fresh blood to inspire, challenge, and push us. We need to see the creative world through other peoples eyes. We need growth.
For those interested in starting a business or if you are running a micro business right now growth might be a hard step for you to take. I know it was for me. Letting go of the work, trusting outside people to create for you and trusting yourself to create enough work to pay for these outside workers are all tough things to do. But it is worth it. You will see an improved product and hopefully a more profitable product too.
This is an exciting step for us- it is time to grow and to let others inspire us and, hopefully, inspire others.
For now, all I can tell you is stay tuned, with growth comes pains and we will be writing about this step more in the future. It is an unknown path for us and we are looking forward to the journey. For those looking for work, send us your resume (info@orangecoat.com). We aren't hiring tomorrow but we will be hiring and we are looking for talented web people. For companies that didn't hire us in past because we only had two people- no more f'ing excuses. OrangeCoat is growing.
$100 Million for a friggin' roller coaster. The good news, the theme of the roller coaster is a search for the Abominable Snowman. Maybe Disney will pay OrangeCoat $100 Million to create a website in search of the Orange Yeti. OK- we'll do it for $10 mill but not a penny less.
