2000 strong for Google Fiber in Greenville! Our party of three was in the little ‘g’.
(c) Mike Bergen
Creativity by Default
posted March 15 by Chase Finch
tags: Creativity
A guitar’s tuning is rather strange. The strings are separated in pitch by inconsistent intervals that were designed to make a few chords and patterns easier for your fingers to form. Listen to folk music with an untrained ear and you’ll hear familiar changes and progressions. They are pleasant and time-tested, but hardly represent the possible combinations of sounds that can be made with six strings worth of tone.
New Photoshop users proudly produce images with fat drop shadows, big linear gradients, lots of glowing and fuzz, mostly because they are easily accessible options — simply double click on a layer and check the effects you want. Though Adobe produces a very powerful piece of graphic editing software, a large chunk of its users develop their taste and skill around these early-learned features.
And so, the tools built to enhance a skill have been around long enough that they begin to define it. We have more than enough 4-chord pop music, glossy billboards, and clip-art flyers.
How different would mainstream music sound if guitarists spent their growing years learning minor 9th chords? …or learning a mandocello instead?
Blake Ross, a local artist and good friend, tells gallery viewers that the varied methods and tools with which he manipulates paint is very important to the final value of his art.
Perhaps a certain creativity can be found in simply varying the starting point.
Automation
posted January 4 by Chase Finch
tags: Reflections
I love automation.
As I juggle the professional hats of business co-owner, Creative Director, web programmer and part-time salesman, I am becoming increasingly aware that I am not a multitasker. Add to that the endless decisions that come with planning a wedding in 3 months, the responsibilities of being a landlord and a tight entrepreneur’s budget, the end of 2009 found me scrambling to tie up loose ends, and doing so poorly.
I strive to impress in many areas and skill sets, but a big limitation is that I must do them in big, concentrated blocks. Also, I program computers. The result? I get a sadistic sort of satisfaction in automating the tasks that otherwise would need constant care.
For those of you like me, I offer this list of tools, lessons, and thoughts.
- Things by Cultured Code • I dropped $50 on this gem of an OSX/iPhone combo app about a year ago, and it is invaluable to me today. It wipes out my forgetfulness, reminds me of my priorities, and allows me to schedule my big-chunk-at-a-time blocks of creation, planning and communication.
- It takes a certain amount of discipline to switch focus. Morning workouts, weekly meetings, and expected daily phone calls from my lovely fiancé at lunch keep me from getting too lost in one task or project to remember that some things are just plain important.
- Use an iPhone, if solely for the purpose of instantly saving notes of things to handle later. You won’t forget the important stuff that randomly comes up, but you don’t have to switch focus from the situation at hand. Just make sure you have a system in place to check for, and handle, those notes every day.
- Personal interactions can’t be automated. Rule #1: Loved ones are always allowed to interrupt focus. Those of us with a one-track mind require more discipline to invest in family & friends properly, and such discipline should be carefully protected.
- Find and trust counterparts who are excellent at multitasking. Ashleigh and Chris, here’s to you.
Engenius + Veribu
posted November 20 by Chase Finch
tags: Clients
Last week we finalized negotiations to work on our second major social network, a website called Veribu. The business-minded fellas that own the project have done their part to define their goals. They hired Engenius to make it work like a charm and look like a peach.
We’re taking it in a Web 2.0 direction, starting with this new logo and ending with a professional product that will integrate video chat, phone calls and text messages into a simple social network. Veribu just may be the next step towards blurring the lines between traditional methods of communication.
PR Shots
posted October 28 by Chase Finch
tags: Photography
Last week, I had the rare pleasure of a visit from my dear friend, Scott Childs. He is a graphic designer a la Clemson who moved to Texas some 3 years ago.
Each visit from Scott is followed by a few weeks of graphic design gifts through email. This is today’s:
Thanks buddy.
On business funding, and underfunding.
posted October 26 by Chase Finch
tags: Business, Entrepreneurship
Recently, I came across this discussion on the #1 reason that new businesses fail: underfunding.
Perhaps this has to do with lack of confidence in a product; perhaps a failure to understanding of the word ‘investment.’ From my frequent coffee breaks with would-be entrepreneurs I’d say that neither is the bulk of the problem. In fact there is often quite a bit of assuredness about the product, and even a common risk-it-all mentality associated with new business ideas.
Instead, I think inexperience is to blame. When a business arises out of expertise in an industry, the entrepreneurial skills must often be gleaned on the fly. The planning phase fails because no one anticipates the cost of benefits for the first handful of employees, or the price-per-click they’ll need to pay to use Internet advertising to get in front of their target market.
The answer? Advisors. We push people towards small business incubators like NEXT and TechSTARS, but the available seed funding is usually not the main reason. The science of starting companies can be learned, and there’s nothing quite as valuable as a good mentor to explain how much capital is needed, and then help decide what (and what not) to do with it.
Hint: The result is a rock-solid business plan that will prevent both underfunding and unpredictability.
The Big Leagues
posted September 22 by Chase Finch
tags: Business, Greenville
I grew up in Mauldin, SC, close enough to the Greenville Braves stadium to see their 4th of July fireworks from my front porch. I lived in the same house until I left for Clemson a week before my eighteenth birthday.
Greenville is my home.
Every time I made the 45 minute drive back to town, Greenville changed a little bit — new buildings, new events, and new energy. By the time I left college, it was a different city. The people were the same, but their personality became tangible, reflected in the comfort of the downtown area, the generosity of the volunteers, and the welcoming nature of the business community.
Meanwhile, Engenius was born. Chris and I began from a desire to help companies and organizations understand how powerful of a tool the Internet can be. As we approach our second anniversary in business, we are reminded of how much we’ve grown. Our designs have improved to a high standard in creative and professional quality. Our approach to a project has naturally switched focus to the client’s individuality and purpose. We even speak differently than before, with a confidence in our services that only comes with experience and tested results.
Two years ago, we knew this day was coming. We knew that we would soon be able to point proudly to our portfolio, speak from experience, and provide true value to companies in the big leagues (that is, smart businesses run by smart people.)
What surprised us, however, was the personal nature of this particular community. Business relationships in Greenville are based on trust. When we reflect on the turning points of Engenius, the polishing of our product doesn’t seem quite as important as the steps we’ve taken to earn the trust of our clients or the relationships we’ve formed through common interest.
We’re proud to offer excellent services. They have been refined by experience and a whole lot of advice and research. We are especially proud to offer them in Greenville, because to us, that means contributing to the community that defines our hometown.
