Awake at 5

Richard Charpentier Notes from Rich, RLC Design, Web Design Leave a Comment

This morning I found myself rising early.  Still completely dark outside but wide awake.  You know those times when you wake in the middle of the night and start thinking about a project, or something you didn’t finish?  Well, that was me this morning.  The thing is, nothing is “undone.”  We’ve wrapped up with our clients, everything is good, and I should enjoy a few days R&R…….

But why was I up so early?  Thinking about the next project, the next client, and where we’re headed next.

One of the interesting things about owning your own business is that it’s hard to “leave at the office.”  And in my case, the Airstream is the office.  Total mix of home and business in an aluminum tube!  So yup, wide awake thinking about finding the next client.

Of course there are 2 more opportunities in front of me, but neither would pay until I created the products

Databases R Us

Currently I’m entertaining 2 different databases for 2 different businesses.  That’s part of what woke me early.  One project sounds very feasible, while the other leaves me with concerns.  Neither is an immediate “must do now,” but the projects are on my mind all the same.

Of the two projects, one is totally unique, and geared toward an incredible niche market.  It’s the one I’m seriously working through in my mind.  A lot of data mapping to do, but several months to do it in.  That might be part of my sleepless nights.

Fun with our recent clients

I have to say, I’ve enjoyed the folks we’ve worked with over the past two months.  Very unique, and very different businesses.  A custom drapery in New Jersey, a flight school in Arizona, and a custom framing shop in Arizona.  Yeah, they’re a little different from each other to be sure.

With each group we work with, our goal is to create a usable, easy, and informative website.  We also strive to have our clients manage their own content going forward, so they’re not tied to us forever.  Sure, major updates, database work behind the scenes, we’re happy to do that.  But we like to see clients take an active role in their web updates when we wrap up with them.

The most recent client to finish up was North-Aire.com.  We’ve worked together for over a month now on site development, and the site is officially live as of November 19th.  What was really cool when we had our last website meeting on Wednesday was seeing the updates that North-Aire staff had done to the site.  Not only did they learn how to operate their website, they’ve already gotten involved in tweaking the look and feel of it.  Amazing!

Thinking warm thoughts

Well, that’s about it for this post.  And yes, my thoughts wandered all over the place.  It’s still early here, I haven’t gotten enough sleep, and this is what happens when a lot is on your mind and you’re blogging.

My final thought is simple.  Next client site should be in Southern AZ.  Why?  Because it’s so chilly here in the mornings.  The Airstream needs to seek out warmer climates to be sure!

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