Prepressology

TweetUp – More than just a Party

Attending a TweetUp is more than just an excuse to party and have a good time. Don’t get me wrong it is about that too but if a TweetUp is done right, there can be a lot more benefits than just a social hour. In this post I am going to talk about what a TweetUp is and what benefits I find when I attend a TweetUp.

First we will start with what is a TweetUp? After all if you are new to Twitter you may not have even heard the term before. According to Wikipedia, a TweetUp is:

A real-life meeting organised on the social networking web site Twitter.

The name comes from the term that is used for a single message sent out on Twitter, a tweet. Then the rest is pretty self explanatory as TweetUp is instead of just MeetUp. A lot of times a TweetUp will take place at a bar, restaurant, someone’s place of business, an art gallery or even just a conference room. The idea is to make it somewhere that is easy for people to gather and for people to socialize. A TweetUp is very popular at technology conferences but can also be done on a smaller scale locally. It’s all about gathering the users of Twitter at an event or in a local area to bring their online social connection to a real life social gathering.

While there is a huge social and party aspect to a TweetUp. There are other benefits as well. While you don’t want to use a TweetUp as just a marketing ploy, it can be a great way to talk about what it is you do and hand out some business cards. It really can be a wonderful way to market. It’s important however to have fun at the TweetUp as well. Some people may just be there to talk about anything but what they do for a living, so be careful not to spend your whole time talking about your business. A TweetUp is also a great way to meet some new friends. You already have the use of Twitter in common and next you may find someone who also loves photography or is an avid gold player or who enjoys the same books. That’s why it’s important not to just talk about business. Talk about your hobbies and you might walk away with a new friend. A TweetUp can also be an excuse to check out that restaurant or bar that you have been meaning to go to or to check out the art gallery downtown that you know just opened.

Another little tip that I will throw in has to do with hashtags. If you aren’t familiar with what a hashtag is then check out my recent post on the subject, Hashtags – What are they? There is a hashtag associated with a TweetUp and that is #tweetup. A lot of times when you attend a TweetUp you will find there are others associated with the event. For example when I attended the TweetUp at Photoshop World DC this past March, we were all using the hashtag #PSW12 in our tweets, as well as #tweetup. This made it easier for other attendees to read what was going on during the TweetUp and also it was a great way to let a Twitter follower know where you were in the room. I met several photographers and designers who I had been following in real life for the first time that night. Which makes the connection even stronger now when we tweet back and forth.

A TweetUp is a great way to make real life connections with people you may follow or who are following you on Twitter. It’s also a great way to network for business but also make new friends with people who have a common love for Twitter. If you have the opportunity to attend a TweetUp in your area, I highly recommend that you do. Even if you are new to Twitter, it can be a lot of fun. You will also meet new people to add to your follow list on Twitter just by attending the TweetUp. It’s an excuse to get out to have a good time and who knows where a real life meeting with someone might go for business or for fun!

Hashtags – What are they?

I have been covering Facebook a lot in my social media posts lately and thought I would change it up a bit by talking about what are hashtags. Originating from the days of IRC chat, hashtags are a very big and important part of social media. So I thought I would take some time to explain what they are and where they are used in social media.

Let’s start with a definition from Wikipedia…

Hashtags are words or phrases prefixed with the symbol #, a form of metadata tag. They are used within IRC networks to identify groups and topics, as well as short messages on microblogging social networking services such as Twitter, identi.ca or Google+ may be tagged by including one or more with multiple words concatenated, such as those in: #Wikipedia is an #encyclopedia

Hashtags are very popular on Twitter and you can’t browse through a list of tweets without seeing at least a few of them. At first they may not seem to really make sense but once you get the hang of hashtags you will see the power that they have. Another social media platform that uses hashtags nicely is Google+ and with the recent update to their layout, they now have what is called “trending topics.” The list of topics almost always has a few hashtags in there.

Hashtags allow you to “tag” what you share on Google+ or tweet so that it is easy to search for. That is where the power of hashtags is really noticed. For example if I wanted to see what everyone is talking about on Twitter during an episode of Fringe, all I have to do is do a search for #Fringe. Then all of the tweets where people have used the hashtag will appear. The nice thing is for a more common word like apple, you can use #Apple to see what people are tweeting or updating about the company Apple rather than finding every tweet or update that might have the word apple. So a search for #Apple might return tweets about an upcoming announcement from Apple rather than an update about how someone had an apple for lunch.

People also use hashtag searches to find others who share common interests. For example I am a photographer and I have used the hashtag #photographer or #photos to search both Twitter and Google+ to see who I want to follow. I have done the same with #foodie or #recipe when I want to find something related to cooking and baking. As you can see the real power of hashtags comes in the form of being easy to search and they allow similar updates or tweets to be grouped together.

One thing to keep in mind though is Facebook does not use hashtags. Twitter and Google+ are the two social media platforms that use them and Twitter is by far the best example of their use. With the limitation of only 140 characters on Twitter, hashtags have become a small way to help your tweet stand out and be found. I will go into how a business can use hashtags in their tweets in a later post. For now I recommend you check out how others are using them and do a Twitter or Google+ search to see what hashtags are being used. This will help you better understand what hashtags are and how you could use them yourself.

You can find me on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn at the links below. If you have questions about hashtags or other questions having to do with social media, please feel free to reach out on any of these platforms.

Prepressology on social media:

Google+ : http://goo.gl/o1Yvv
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Prepressology
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Prepressology
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jakevanness

Whalen Chevrolet and MV-1 of Upstate NY Facebook Brand Pages

Prepressology is very happy to announce the completion of two Facebook Branding projects. Earlier this year I was approached by Whalen Chevrolet out of Greenwhich New York and it’s brand new sister company MV-1 of Upstate New York to help them establish a strong presence on Facebook. Both companies recognized the power of Facebook as a marketing and communication tool.

The goal was to brand their pages in a way that would be clearly recognizable by visitors they told about the Facebook Brand Page or for those who had done a search internally on Facebook. Something that is happening more and more as the #1 social media network continues to grow.
 

Whalen Chevrolet

The following items were created for Whalen Chevrolet’s Facebook Brand Page project:

You can visit Whalen Chevrolet on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/WhalenChevrolet

MV-1 of Upstate New York

The following items were created for MV-1 of Upstate New York’s Facebook Brand Page project:

You can visit MV-1 of Upstate New York on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MV-1-of-Upstate-New-York/244127158983840

Facebook Brand Pages are a new and exciting way for a business to create brand recognition and engage with visitors. Working with Prepressology, we can work together to create a compelling Facebook Brand Page and also a strategy on how to engage with your visitors. If you are interested in learning more about how Prepressology can help your business grow on Facebook, please contact Jake Van Ness through the contact form.
 
 

Gain Facebook Likes Using Offline Methods

Likes for businesses on Facebook are wonderful avenues for marketing and connecting with customers. Recently I wrote a post called “Likes” Are Good for Business which talked about this in some detail. Have the number of new likes started to plateau a bit? Today I thought I would talk about how a business can use offline methods to help kick start a new climb in likes on their Facebook business page.

Word of Mouth

It seems like a no brainer but sometimes it’s easy to forget to tell customers about the Facebook business page when having a conversation. The same way the website for the business is given out, give customers the address for the Facebook business page. Explain that it’s a way for customers to find out about events, special deals, new products and even have questions answered. Share some of the items that the business has recently posted about to help peak interest in checking it out.

One area that seems to be doing this very well is radio. You can’t listen to the radio with out hearing someone talk about finding the business on Facebook. More and more businesses are realizing that customers are already on Facebook and the business needs to utilize the platform to market and engage. The announcer will usually just throw in a quick “Find us on Facebook” at the end of the commercial.

While it may not be effective the first time or on the first customer, it is about getting the message out there. Giving customers the information and ability to find the business on the most popular social media site on the internet will open up more communication with those customers and greatly increase the possibility of securing them as a customer or having them return as a repeat customer.

Printed Marketing Materials

Just as a business needs to tell it’s customers about their Facebook business page along with their website, they also need to be sure this information is on their printed marketing materials. Specifically on their businesses cards. Even in the age of everything going digital, business cards are still the biggest way to share contact and business information with someone. It’s a perfect place for the Facebook business page address to go, right with the business website.

There are other printed materials that can provide a way to get the information out about the Facebook business page. A good example is when a restaurant prints the Facebook logo and their Facebook address on the menu so customers can “check in” or share a status update tagging the restaurant. Another good example is when a catering company provides a brochure about their services, they provide the Facebook business page address on there along with other contact information. Some even go as far as to use catch phrases like… “Join us on Facebook” or “Like us to learn more” or “Follow us on Facebook for the latest coupons and deals.” All things that can help encourage them to seek out the business page and click on like. There are many other printed materials that the information can be shared on such as postcard direct mail campaigns, printed newsletters, flyers, letterheads, invoice statements and many, many more. Just think about where the business contact information is on any printed items and add the Facebook business page address the next print run.

Facebook provides access to some of their brand logos on their website here: https://www.facebook.com/brandpermissions/logos.php
While they do have specific guidelines to follow, these logos are a great way to have the Facebook business page stand out in your printed marketing materials. The Facebook “F” is widely and easily recognized, so use that brand power to the businesses advantage.

Signage

It’s hard to walk through a mall or through an area of downtown shops without seeing the Facebook logo somewhere. More and more businesses are having signs printed or are purchases signs that have the logo on there. One of the biggest items I have talked with customers about is window static clings. They come in all different sizes and are a great way to display the Facebook logo and Facebook business page address on a glass door or a store front window. Again, because of the brand strength of the Facebook logo, it catches a customers eye and is instantly recognizable.

Another area that is good for a small sign about the business being on Facebook is at the check out counter. A small tent style sign can give that customer a last minute message to find the business on Facebook. In todays world of smart phones customers may even go to the Facebook business page while they are waiting in line. It doesn’t take a very large sign to get this message across. It’s good to find the high traffic areas of the business to place these signs but it’s important not to bombard customers with the message through out the business.

Facebook is by far the social media site of choice and businesses need to find ways to utilize the service. It starts with creating a business page but it continues when the likes grow. There are tons of methods to help spread the word and grow likes online but businesses need to remember to spread the word offline as well. Telling customers about the Facebook business page is a great start and then carefully placed signs can help reenforce the message. A simple addition to the business printed marketing materials again reenforces the message. It is important however not to annoy the customer with this information and finding a good balance is partly getting to know your customers. While Facebook is online, it is important to use offline methods to help drive customers to the Facebook business page in order to engage with those customers online and strengthen the businesses brand.

4 Changes to Facebook Brand Pages

In February of this year, Facebook made a formal announcement that it would be changing the way Facebook Brand Pages display. They announced that the look was going to the timeline style, just like the way Facebook Personal Profiles appear. This may have some businesses scratching their heads about what these changes will mean to their existing Brand Pages. So I thought I would give 4 specific areas that are changing and talk about how a business can using these changes to really stand out from the competition.

1. Cover Image

Facebook introduced large cover images with the change of profiles over to the time line layout. This allows people to display a large image at the top of their time line and now brands are able to do the same. While this is no replacement for the landing pages that used to be a staple for businesses using Facebook, they are a wonderful way to catch a person’s eye and tell a quick message about the brand. The change to time line does mean that there is no longer a way to set a default landing page, this does not mean it has to be the end of growing the “likes” of your business page. Brands are already making great use of the cover image to make a strong statement about their brand. The easiest way to describe the cover image is that it is the first impression someone will have of the businesses brand. Taking the time to come up with a compelling image and message is an important part of your businesses social media branding.

2. Star a Status Update

The idea of time line is to have a line that shoots down the center of the brand page and has status updates on either side of the line. Going down goes back further in the businesses status updates history. While the length of a status update varies based on the amount of text, if there is a link associated or if there is an image, they do have a consistent width. This width can be changed and the status update can be much more prominent by “starring” the status. This will cause the status to become a bit more than twice as wide as normal and stretch across the whole page over the time line. This is really great with photos because it makes them much larger and really stand out. It is also a great way to bring attention to specific status updates about events, new products, awards or other such announcements. These items will stay this way until they are unstarred. While you can star a lot of the status updates, it loses it’s importance and ability to stand out if it is done too much. Being selective with the status updates that are starred can make those messages do some serious work for the businesses brand.

3. Pinning a Specific Status Update

With the lack of landing pages businesses need to find a new way to compel someone to “like” the page. One way that this can be done is by the use of a very engaging status update. While normally the status updates move down the time line as a business would add more, there is a now a feature available to make a specific status update stick to the top of the time line. This is known as “Pinning” the status update. This will keep that status update at the top left of the time line for seven days or until another status update is “pinned.” This can be a great way to get a message out about a new product, a business news item or a specific advertisement you want people to see when they first land on the brand page. Again, it is no replacement for what used to be the landing page feature, it is another great way to encourage your visitors to like the page and to tell them about why they should. The area is much smaller than a landing page but it doesn’t mean you can’t do a “call to action.” The “pinned” item is in one of the most viewed areas of a time line.

One small detail that I did notice while working with starred items and pinned items, you can not do both. So if you star an item and then decide to pin it, you will find that the status reverts to the standard width. Maybe in the future we will see the ability to have a pinned item that is nice and wide at the top but for now that is not the case.

4. Business History is Important

With the new time line layout, the history of a business has become even more important and can be a real treat for a visitor if it is display creatively. Originally time line only went back to the year 1800 because no individual using Facebook profile would have needed it to go back any further. Now with brand pages Facebook has changed the latest to be the year 1000. This can allow businesses to put in the significant date of when the business was started. I recommend that as a business you look back and see what significant events can be added to the brand page time line. Such items as awards that were received or when a big product was launched or when some other milestone was reached by the business. This gives the brand page time line more depth and character. It tells more of the story of the business rather than just when it started using Facebook. You can add these items by choosing milestone instead of status update. This allows you to assign a specific month, day and year to the item, as well as a photo. It’s just another great way of taking the business brand page to the next level and give a visitor that much more reason to become a fan and “like” the brand page.

While change is never fun, nor easy and Facebook has rolled out some significant changes, this is not a time to shy away and not take advantage. This is the perfect opportunity for a business to present a creative, compelling and engaging brand page for it’s visitors to enjoy. Many businesses are using the opportunity to rethink and reinvent their Facebook strategies. Time line for brands has a lot of nice features that businesses can really take advantage of to grow recognition of their brand. Don’t be left behind!

Prepressology specializes in working with businesses to develop strong Facebook brand pages to grow their “likes” and grow their community. Allowing those businesses to have a larger group to share with, engage with and market to. After all the more “likes” a business brand page has the more their message will spread. Contact Prepressology today to start growing your businesses presence on Facebook!

Photo Credit: Question Box by [F]oxymoron

A Way to Block Pinning to Pinterest

A couple of days ago I posted about three businesses that I thought could get some good use out of Pinterest. However there are some businesses and people out there that are not keen on the idea of someone being able to pin an image from their site. Most of them are concerned about copyright infringement.

Pinterest has made a move to help these people and Mashable posted a good video about what Pinterest is doing.

While the step is not perfect it does discourage people from pinning images from your site and seems to be satisfying most people that are concerned. Here is the specific code that you’ll want to copy into your site so it prevents pinning.

<meta name="pinterest" content="nopin" />

Could Your Business Use Pinterest?

If you are at all curious or involved with social media then you most likely have heard about the new player in the game called Pinterest. With astonishing growth over the last month or so you can now find over 10 million registered users on the service. People are definitely pin crazy! However, you may be wondering if your business could benefit from a Pinterest account? So here are a few businesses I think will find Pinterest beneficial.

1. Real Estate

Since Pinterest is a very visual book marking service it is an excellent way to showcase some of the homes you want to sell. You can set up a board for a specific location and pin a photo for each of the homes you have for sale in this area. If you wanted to promote a specific property you could set up the board for that property and pin a series of photos showing the interior and exterior.

However it’s important not to be all about self promotion, you want to pin other items that might interest people too. You could pin some images of work done by some of the local landscapers, architects and builders you deal with. Pin a cool DIY project you saw on another site or the latest gadget that someone might find useful in their home. You could also pin a photo from a local parade or sporting event in the area. Show people why they should be looking to move into the area you are selling. Tell a bigger story about the community with your pins.

2. Restaurants

One of the largest uses for Pinterest is for food photos and recipes. While I can understand a restaurant may not want to give away it’s recipe, they could benefit from pinning a few photos of the items on their menu. Make the potential customers mouth water and give them the craving to pull up a chair at your place. While I recommend you have a professional photographer come in and take the photos, it doesn’t have to be by a pro. Just be sure it looks attractive and it will surely get repinned by others!

The photos you pin don’t have to be just of your food. Take a few photos of the outside of your restaurant and the inside areas. Show off the coziness of the place and make potential customers want to stop on in. Take a picture of the sign and pin it so your potential customers will know your place when they come across it. Help them remember your brand!

Remember that it shouldn’t all be about self promotion. Pin information on events in your community, like food festivals or wine / beer festivals. Share some of the other attractions in the area like a nice park with a playground or a local golf course. Help potential customers find something to do in the area and then think to stop into your place for a bite to eat.

3. Creative Services

This relates to graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, painters or any other creative person or business. The first part is kind of a no brainer… pin examples of your work. Show people what you can do and see what items get repinned. It’s a great way to see what work you are doing is the most compelling to potential clients. An idea I saw that was rather interesting was a series of pins showing the process of a logo design. You of course want to be sure you have the permission of the client to do this but it can be a great way for others to see how you work.

Again (I think you get the idea by now right?) don’t make it all about self promotion. Pin what inspires you and pin creative resources like fonts, color pallets, equipment you are using or interested in purchasing. If you are a photographer pin photos from places or events you want to shoot. Just be sure to label them appropriately so people don’t think they are your photos. If you are an interior decorator you could pin photos of ideas you really like and think your potential clients might enjoy seeing. Pinning photos and information on the vendors you use for paints, papers, fabrics, equipment, etc is a great way to let your potential clients know who you work with to bring them high quality work.

 
Those are just three of the many types of businesses seeing a benefit to using Pinterest and the community there is still growing like crazy. No matter what business you are in, if you have a photo of something on your site that you sell… make it easy for people to pin it! There are already a lot of plug ins available that can be added to your site to make it easy for people to pin something. Talk to your web developer or designer to see which one will work best for you. If you don’t have a designer you can ask, please contact me through my form and we’ll talk about how we can get a “pin it” button on your site right away!

4 Ways Restaurants Can Use Social Media

With the social media explosion many businesses are looking for ways they can utilize the tools available to market their business. Restaurants are no exception and in todays post I thought I would share with you 4 ways restaurants can use social media to help get customers at their tables.

1. Daily Specials

It used to be that a customer would have to walk by the restaurant or even be siting at a table before they would find out what the daily specials are. Why make them wait until then? With social media avenues such as Facebook and Twitter, you can now let your followers know those specials ahead of time. This is a great way to attractive them to the restaurant. Let that new chef creation give them the incentive to make it a night out! You already have to plan the specials, maybe write up a menu insert and chalk up the daily special board. Take another quick step and put it out there for your social network to see. Post a Facebook status update with the whole list or entice your customers with a single special item in a Tweet. Does your restaurant website have a blog? Go ahead and post it there… tweeting a link to the post. The more people know about your daily specials the more opportunities you will have to see those people sitting at your tables.

2. Live Music

Music seems to go nicely with a beautiful meal. Whether it’s the soft sounds of a piano or the local acoustic duo strumming away, restaurants feature live music all the time. Many restaurants use live music as a big selling point to attract customers. If you are featuring a local artist, connect with their social network pages. Post updates to the restaurants pages with links to the artist, music samples and schedules… even if it shows other dates not at your restaurant. This can help in a few different ways. It shows the artist that you care enough to promote them, making them more likely to give a stellar show and it shows your customers that your restaurant is supportive. Take a few minutes during the day and evening to snap a few photos of the artist to share with your network. Makes those who didn’t make it want to participate the next time and it gives your customers a way to share their own comments of the experience. Just like the daily specials, remember to post your upcoming schedule so people can plan an evening out with great food and great music.

3. Events

Restaurants are no stranger to Beer Weeks, Food Festivals, Wine Tastings, Charity Events and other such gatherings. Some of these events can draw huge crowds and the way they are doing it is through advertising. More and more events are turning to social media to spread the word and restaurants need to take advantage of connecting with these events if they are participating. If your restaurant is part of an event, you need to follow the events Facebook page and Twitter account but more importantly you need to talk about the event on your own status updates. Tell your network that you are involved and that you would love for them to come out to enjoy the event. By being connected to the events social media outlets, it is another way for you to increase your restaurants online marketing by increasing the number of people you are connected to. Don’t just share before the event. Post updates during the event and share your thoughts after the event. It’s another way to be social and to get a message out to your network.

4. Coupons and Giveaways

For those who are already following your restaurants social media outlets, coupons and giveaways are a great way to thank those people. Placing a 10% off coupon on Facebook that your fans can print out or even just mention is a great way to make them feel appreciated. The best part is when your current fans see these exclusive updates they will tell their friends and family about them, so they too can take advantage. This increases your network and your ability to get your message about your restaurant out to a larger number of people. To tie this in with two of the other points from earlier, you could work out something with the live music of the evening to do a CD give away or a code giveaway to download their music and you could promote an event coming up by giving away tickets to attend. Just one more reason to get customers in your door and sitting at your tables.

So I hope this gives you a few ideas about how your restaurant can benefit from the use of social media. Whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or many of the others that are out there. Connecting with your customers is a great way to make them remember your name the next time they are looking for a place to enjoy a date night.

Photo by Rick from Flickr
 
 

“Likes” Are Good For Business

In 2011 my independent graphic design business Prepressology took an interesting turn and I found myself working a lot more with businesses on how they can use social media. Specifically I have worked with several of them to make their Facebook Business Pages look more professional and give visitors a clearer idea of what exactly their business is about. One of the questions that has come up a lot from owners has to do with why it is so important to get “Likes” on Facebook. In my opinion “Likes” are good for business!

One of the key components to an effective Facebook Business Landing Page is the call out to “Like” the business. It seems like something simple but it is really amazing how often someone goes to the Facebook page of a business and never clicks on that “Like” even if they really do in fact think the business is great. This isn’t good because it becomes a lost opportunity for that business. If someone doesn’t “Like” your business page and they travel on to another part of Facebook or the internet, they won’t receive your posts in their feed.

Let me take a moment to explain how this works… When someone comes to your Facebook Business Page and they “Like” the business, this means they have opted in to receive posts from the business on their Facebook Feed. So every time a business updates about a new event and new product or just a message to wish it’s followers a good weekend, that message falls in their feed. They have opted in!

“Likes” are a bit of a numbers game and have become a bit of a symbol of how effective a brand is. For example an independent graphic designer such as myself has about 50 or so likes but a huge corporate brand such as Nike or Coca Cola have millions and millions of “Likes.” As a small business you have to be realistic about how many people will like your business but it doesn’t mean you can’t use Facebook for marketing in the same ways these huge corporate brands do. One of the biggest reasons Facebook, as a social media powerhouse has become so important to businesses is because they allow you to use their network to reach people for little to no cost. In most cases for a small business it is no cost because they can do the posts themselves. The only cost they may have is to work with a designer such as myself to create an effective Facebook Landing Page. In the simplest terms the more likes you have the more people your message has the potential to reach. With social it doesn’t just stop there. The more likes you have the better chances are your message will be shared and there for generate more likes. It’s a nice little pattern of growth.

It has become more and more apparent that Facebook wants to keep it’s users in their world. Pulling in more and more services like Skype and Spotify. With this trend comes the fact that Facebook users are using the search functions with in Facebook to find out about people, places and businesses. Making it more important than ever that businesses, especially local businesses, have a better more professional presence on Facebook. In a lot of cases the Facebook Business Page has become yet another website. Listing key information such as contact info, directions and other details about the business. By getting more and more people to “Like” your business page, you move up in their search results as well. Yet another reason it’s important to gain those “Likes” for your business.

In today’s economy businesses are looking for more cost effective ways to get their brand and their message out to potential customers. What is wonderful about Facebook is that potential customers have already chosen to opt in to receive the information and that information is generated for free (in most cases). Businesses need to take advantage of the opportunities Facebook can provide for them. This is why “Likes” are good for business.

Are interested in taking advantage of the power of “Likes” on Facebook? Contact me today at Prepressology and let’s talk about how we can develop a more effective business presence on Facebook. Also don’t forget to stop by my own Prepressology Facebook Page and give me a “Like”!

2011 The Year of Leaps

So here we are in 2012. Where the heck did 2011 go? Honestly the last month of 2011 really did fly by and that is why it is the 9th of January 2012 before I finally get a chance to post a little reflection of the year. It sure was a crazy, busy year but I am pleased with many of the outcomes. So let’s look back at 2011 and some of the things that happened with me…

Early in the year I left a local print shop where I had been working for several years with the idea that it was time to move on, time for change. It was a bit of a sudden change but it definitely was one that set me on a path to much better things. I took a little time to think about what I wanted to do and eventually settled on a job that had nothing to do with design or printing. It was a traffic data collection job and was just something to help pay the bills. Wasn’t a bad job and really gave me some great opportunity to do some photography. Also gave me a lot of time to think about what it was that I wanted. During that time of thinking I kept going back to how much I truly wanted to work for myself and grow Prepressology into a full time business. I was still doing projects as a freelance designer under Prepressology but wasn’t really finding that I had enough time to market things well.  As the hours got longer and longer with the traffic data job, it just came to me one evening driving home that I had to jump. I had to make the leap and I had to make it NOW! So I did.

In beginning of September I made the ultimate jump and decided to make Prepressology my main focus. No more working for someone else and trying to do design on the side. It was scary and maybe a bit crazy but I have no regrets! Since that leap it has not been easy but it has been my own thing and that makes all the difference in the world. I am proud to have made the leap and know that if I hadn’t done it the way I did, I probably still wouldn’t have done it. It’s kind of like that bandaid you hate to take off. What do they always tell ya? Just rip it off… Don’t go slow! Well guess what?! That’s exactly what I did. While Prepressology was started back in 2004, finally in 2011 it was my main focus. I finally was pursuing my true dream and I started working as an independent graphic designer. What an amazing feeling!

Going back a few months before I made the jump with Prepressology I had the privilege of being asked, along with Kitty,  by Adam Hay to take over Rookie Designer. Kitty and I had been very active on the forums through the years and always enjoyed Adam’s wonderful work on the podcast. When he approached us we were both excited about the opportunity and it fell right into place with some ideas we had been brainstorming. As we both really enjoy podcasts and design we had thought about starting our own podcast but we didn’t have to with this new opportunity placed in front of us. The best part was sharing with Adam that Kitty and I were dating as well and had originally met through the Rookie Designer forum. He was surprised with this news and even more excited that he had decided to make use the offer. We both felt the project was that much more special to us because of our history with Rookie Designer.

In May 2011 we launched the new website, new brand and new podcast for Rookie Designer. I have to give credit where it is due as Kitty was responsible for the entire project up to where I came in as a co-host for the podcast. She did an amazing job creating a brand and site that really fit what we wanted it to be. Adam specifically asked that we make the changes and make it our own. While some were surprised and disappointed to hear Adam was no longer the voice behind Rookie Designer, his following was very accepting of the change. It has been a lot of fun writing for the blog and recording podcasts, however it has not been as frequent as we had hoped. A lot of that had to do with me going full time on my own and with other big projects we both have been handling. We have talked extensively about how we want to make a change in 2012 to bring more content and more frequent podcasts to our listeners. So be on the look out for that!

The last half of the year was very busy with me working hard at Prepressology and us both working when we could on Rookie Designer. However 2011 did really go out with a bang as I had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday seasons with Kitty and her family in Guatemala. While Kitty has been up to Upstate New York several times of the last few years, this was my first trip to her home country of Guatemala. I spent two weeks with her, her family and her friends over Christmas and New Years. The whole trip was an awesome experience and it was wonderful to spend time with them. It was a nice break from work for the most part. I still handled a few emails during the trip and we did spend a good amount of time talking about what our goals are for Rookie Designer. The trip was nothing short of a spectacular way to end 2011 and everything that has happened.

It was not an easy year but it was one of great change. I am thankful for the changes that happened and for the path that I am not on. 2012 is now upon us and I look forward to what it has to offer. There are projects in the pipes and business has steadily grown. I have no doubt that 2012 is going to be anything but adventurous and amazing!

I wish you all the best in 2012!

Happy New Year!      Feliz Año!