Category: professional life

Life Changes & Resulting Consequences

Posted on by D. L. Keur

Mid 2012 brought new medical crises for an elderly family member, which necessitated me taking a great deal of my time and devoting it to her care and needs. This situation persists into 2013 and will remain throughout the rest of her life…and, therefore, mine. So life changes have to occur in my life in order to accommodate this new reality. Since designing optimum systemic organization and streamlining operations is one of my most pragmatically useful areas of education and expertise, I sat down on January 1st and worked through the logistics of operational productivity, including realistic timelines for projects for which I am responsible. What came of it was a very practical and workable solution to the intruding chaos that has encumbered the last few months. It was with much relief that, by removing certain low return enterprises from my schedule, and by focusing on those areas that prove most beneficial to both bottom line and self fulfillment, I was able to create a functional plan based on prioritized projects that enables me to fulfill all new obligations and responsibilities while also continuing to pursue my life work.

When professional life, personal life, and the dire needs of an aging family member seem in conflict, a good operational chart adjusted to priorities can mean the difference between sanity and discouraging life disruption.

Life Update

Posted on by D. L. Keur

Life is a bit of a mess, but I’m managing…almost.  Worked on someone’s bookcover which I’ll post over on my art blog zentao.com later today or tomorrow when I get two breaths to “make it so,” doing a bid for a CD package, working on a leafy tee, practicing to play Zappa with Forrest in a guitar/flute duo, taking care of the home front, Mom, the animals, the plants, and trying to get up the gumption to finish a manuscript, something that’s been on hold since before Christmas.  Oh, and I have to prepare invoicing. In a word, I’m scramblingly busy.

Laughing

Posted on by D. L. Keur

Recently, someone requested a bid on a corporate website design.  I responded characteristically with a quote and my usual terms. They immediately replied, asking me to repeat what I’d already said in my response — what would it cost for just a mock-up of my design ideas?  I quoted myself and hit send.  I have yet to hear back from them, though I did receive a read receipt.

It always startles folks that they have to pay for me to mock-up a website design idea, but not commercial artwork.  They think that I should do the mock-up for free, like I do book covers, CD covers, and brochures.  Nope.  Here’s why: You’ll take my design, go over to some Indian coding group and have them reproduce it for pennies on the U.S. dollar.  You’ll be using my design and not paying me for my time and ideas.  In other words, I’d be letting you steal from me.

Three-hundred dollars for a look at my ideas isn’t outrageous at all, especially when you can grab a screenshot of my ideas and still head out to some second or third world country to have some starving coder do it for you for a few hundred bucks.

A mock-up isn’t XHTML and CSS, either.  Nope.  Nor is it search engine optimized by my team which is very good at getting your website up in ranking.  It’s a .jpg snapshot of a website that could be, no code included. I’m not in business to give away my ideas and my secrets. If you want them, regardless of where you have it coded up, you do have to pay for it, and, like I said, $300 ain’t much for a world-class idea.

A Lesson on Doers

Posted on by D. L. Keur

Recently, an online group decided that they would like to try their hand at commercial work. We’re talking a mix of professional people and skilled amateurs who are pretty dedicated to their avocation. All members are very talented people.

Of the pros, most are actively working, but, with the economy the way it is, it never hurts to have something cooking on the back burner.  Among the skilled amateurs are some people who are looking for work along with those who have jobs or who are retired.

So what happens? When it comes to a test “job” with a generous deadline, what we get are the professionals hopping right in and doing right away while the amateurs most in need of work wind up no-shows or making excuses.

Needless to say, the project is already failed before it’s even started. Odd thing is that, from the onset, a couple of us knew it was going to wind up just the way it did. It showed in the manner in which work was done in the group all along–a couple of initiators, the rest kinda sorta going along when it suited their tastes and their private schedules.

The lesson? There are doers, and then there’s everybody else.

The group? It’s still a functioning group, and I’m sure it will remain so, but it certainly demonstrated quite realistically and inarguably that, when it comes to succeeding in a commercial project, everybody has to hold a professional discipline or it just will never get off the ground.

Slow Down? HAH!

Posted on by D. L. Keur

I said I was going to slow down.  Am I?  No.  Just about the time I think I’ve cleaned my plate, somebody comes along who impresses me enough that, when I listen to their aspirations, their needs, hearing a keen integrity and honorable purpose, I’ll say “yes” to.  Then there’s the client who, despite the fact that their business is on the ropes because of the economy, I’ll keep working with.  Sigh.