BirkeyBlog

At the company I founded in 1996 called BIRKEY.COM, I was able to build a web design business first as a one man web designer, and then as a team when I merged with a software development firm. Most of my experience in those years was in designing sites for Windows servers using Microsoft based technologies such as Active Server Pages (.ASP) and SQL Server databases.

When I started Headstand Media in 2007, I had the opportunity to start designing for “open source” technologies in addition to Microsoft technology. This development has opened up a hole new world of possibilities from a design, usability and customer service perspective. It also affords my customers to harness the cutting edge Web 2.0 features that are built primarily in open source. Now I can afford to asses the needs of my customers and recommend the best design, search engine optimization AND web 2.0 technology to meet their needs! Fantastic!

One such customer is Sunshine Gospel Ministries, located in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago, near the University of Chicago. Sunshine is a non-profit Christian organization that exists to seek renewal in the city through ministries of discipleship, mercy, and justice. They do this through building relationships, teaching and mentoring, developing life skills, care and advocacy in their community. They’ve got a fantastic facility, a great staff and a great reputation in the community. They are a joy to work with!

Headstand Media was asked to assess the current Sunshine website, to help them define a web strategy for the future, and then implement a new Chicago website design and content management system and search engine optimization to meet those strategic goals.

We determined that an open source tool called Drupal (see Drupal.org) was the best content management system for Sunshine for a number of good reasons:

• Low cost - it’s FREE - and this is a non-profit ministry!
• No future license costs for upgrades - also FREE.
• Runs on a standard LINUX hosting package, which is extremely affordable - usually around $100 per year. (This sounded good to them as well!)
• Very large and mature worldwide developer community
• Very informative and easy to use website found at drupal.org
• Extensibility: loads of features can be added in a modular fashion - also free!
• Widely used by many other corporations, organizations and associations
• Very search engine friendly taxonomy and navigation - helps their site get found in the search engines.
• Written in open source PHP and uses the mySQL database (also free)

We also decided that Sunshine would be able to manage and maintain their website themselves with minimal training and orientation with this powerful Content Management tool. We were right!

My firm, Headstand Media was able to design a new interface and a new look to better brand and position Sunshine as a Chicago based urban ministry. We were able to wrap the new design around the Drupal CMS fairly easily. We finessed their new logo, and created other ministry logos to help them better position themselves and their brand visually. We integrated Flash animation and Flash video with ease. The Drupal CMS tool was great to work with.

The new Sunshione Gospel site was launched on March 24, 2008 - almost one month ago. In that short time, their website is now #5 for a Google keyword search on “chicago urban ministry,” and #3 for “chicago urban ministries.” It was virtually lost and very hard to find before this web redesign and SEO project. Their new site is competing with the other big Chicago-based urban ministries such as: Breakthrough Urban Ministries and Circle Urban Ministries.

I get a lot of personal satisfaction and fulfillment knowing that we were able to make such a huge difference for the better in such a short time. I believe in what Sunshine is doing and so the personal satisfactions is even greater! I am hoping that their ministry will increase and grow in part because of our contribution.

Check them out at www.sunshinegospel.org

I’ve redone my former birkeyblog website into a new one powered by WordPress. The old one was hosted under my Apple .MAC account using a software product called BlogStudio. This new WordPress site gives me a lot more control and access to cool new features that I’ll be adding over time.

Many of my old posts do not show up properly yet. I will be going through each one to clean up the code and make them work. Give me some time, and it will all be back, better than ever. I hope you like it!

Today I will have completed one month as a new business at Headstand Media. That’s something to feel good about. A lot was accomplished, but there is a long way to go yet ahead. I am encouraged with the progress, and trying not to be anxious about the future.

Not only am I now working with a friend (Benjamin Nelson), and with two great partners (David and Don), I have also met a lot of wonderful new people: Jason Z., Justin, Chuck, Aaron and Tracy, Tom, Jason P, Jackie, Ben and many more. It’s been a pleasure to go to the office and work around these new friends on a daily basis.

I have also been blessed by the many friends who have emailed, telephoned and stopped by to see me. Patrick Flanagan, Mark Goeke, Kyle Williams, Steve Tanner, Ken Wolgemuth, Noel Birkey, Chuck Thomas, Derek Taylor and Chris Arndt to name a few. Others have called or emailed to give support and well wishes: Barry, Lou, Cindy, Tim, Corey, Krystian and so many more. Thank you so much for your encouragement.

As with any new business, the customers are very important. I am excited to have met Joel, Lauren, Vincent, and others at Sunshine Gospel Ministries. I look forward to working with Brandon on all the DKG web projects. Thanks to Chuck, Steve, Kyle, Mark and Trax for the new referrals and opportunities! Dwight, the creative work is awesome. I’m going to owe you big time!

One thing is for sure. I can’t do this alone! It takes teamwork, friendships, communication and relationship building to make it work. It’s really all about people… not jobs and tasks, projects or the bottom line. Understanding that it’s all a gift from God is key. I don’t control this new thing. It really isn’t mine anyway. I’m just a steward of what I’ve been given. The question is, what am I going to do with it? How will I make it grow and multiply? Will I be found faithful, having invested wisely and accomplished much?

I aim to give it all I’ve got. We’ll see what happens.

MORNING
Week three is almost over. Today I need to finish up a scope document for our first client: Sunshine Gospel Ministries, as well as meet with Derek Taylor and Benjamin over lunch.

I remembered to bring in my tools today, so we can take down a workstation wall that will allow Benjamin and me to see each other from our desks. We are wanting to open things up more in our work area for easier communication and collaboration.

AFTERNOON
We had a good lunch break with Derek Taylor today. He came on over to the Headstand Media office and shared some good Maggiano’s Italian food! This reminded me that I did some illustrations for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises some years ago for Maggiano’s. I’ve included a few of those sketches here.

One of the things we discussed over lunch was how to manage and keep really good web developers. Derek had some experience at one of his former jobs of losing key people because as the marketplace changed, and management didn’t really keep up with those changes. They would give key people minimal raises, then those people would find much better jobs elsewhere. Management would also go through phases of staffing up, and would pay new people more than the people who had been there and earned their stripes. This would tick off the people who had ben there and sacrificed already, and they would quit and move on. All of this kind of change is a huge disruption to a company, the momentum and the team building that you need to maintain in order to grow. I had some of my own experiences along these lines to share as well. It was good to know that we are not alone and that many companies are facing similar challenges in today’s changing marketplace.

EVENING
This evening is the Breakthrough Urban Ministries annual fund-raising benefit dinner, with guest speaker Tony Evans. I will be leaving the office early to get there on time, since Deb and I are table hosts. I am looking forward to having Michele Dillon join us, the Guyer’s, Miller’s (great news you guys!), Jeb, Kathryn and Noel, as well as seeing Arloa, Von & Vilma, Brenda, Keith, Donny and Mary, and many other friends who will be there.

Thanks to: Ken W., Chris A., Kyle W., and Derek T. - for visiting us this week!. To Taylor B, Noel B, Marshall B, Nicole H, Patrick F, Karen N, Laura and Debbie B for feedback on logo designs! To Russell K: thanks for calling me at my new office number!

Today I had lunch with a friend named Chris, who worked for me a short while at BIRKEY.COM. Chris was a recommendation from another friend, Steve T, and did some web design work for us on a freelance basis when we were going through a busy spell. We met at the second floor food court at the Merchandise Mart, and ate Billy Goat Tavern burgers and fries while we talked… “Coke - no Pepsi!”

It turned out that Chris was offered a job working for Moody Bible Institute not too long after BIRKEY.COM had been one of the finalists in responding to an RFP from Moody, to help them redesign and redevelop their websites. Chris took the job at Moody and became their Department Manager: Web Communications. He is actually now working with the companies that won that project: Change Design, and The C2 Group out of Grandville, MI.

It was good to reconnect with Chris, hear about the process of how his job came about, and to understand that all these things have worked out for the best.

Chris is an avid photographer as well. You can view his work online at iStockphoto.

Thanks Chris!

Another step was completed in the New Identity process. We narrowed down the direction of our potential new logo design, and sent HBN Design our feedback and request for development of round 2. Thanks to all of you who gave us your feedback on the preliminary concepts we showed you. It has all been very helpful.

A former employee who worked for me at BIRKEY.COM came to visit with Benjamin and me today. Kyle W’s first task at BIRKEY.COM in 2000, was the production of the Scholle Corporation website. Ironically, Scholle was a customer who eventually hired Benjamin. We talked together about search engine optimization (SEO) as it related to the new Headstand Media business, our website, and our customer websites. We also discussed the latest trends in Web 2.0 technologies, and how it is affecting the corporate marketplace that we are serving.

I remember Kyle as a very enthusiastic young guy about all of this cutting edge search engine technology. Back in the day it was Google, Yahoo, MSN, PageRank, backward links, sandboxing, domains, etc. He branched out on his own in 2003, managing Survive Outdoors for his father, as well as a number of his own website ventures. Even though Kyle has grown and matured as a person in the remaining years (including marriage!), the “Internet” passion hasn’t changed. Everyone needs to be passionate about something positive… and this is definitely Kyle’s “thing.” It was good to see it still alive and well!

We had lunch at Giordano’s, ate good pizza, reconnected, and told Benjamin stories about the “golden years” with Corey, Daniel, Nicko, and the rest of the team at BIRKEY.COM. It was also fun to dream about the future together, not as “boss - employee” - but more as friends and peers. I prefer it that way.

Thanks for the visit Kyle! I look forward to working with you more again!

Morning
This morning we sent out a PDF file to a group of friends and associates that contained about 10 logo design directions. We have asked for feedback and comments from them. Once we get all those back, we will ask HBN Design to move forward on some final directions for our new identity.

We’re also taking a look at the office floor plan and doing some space planning thinking. We’re looking at creating more clusters of workgroup spaces, for small teams of people to use more effectively.

One of the great things about this new endeavor are the amazing resources that I am surrounded with. Today I met and talked with a software architect who is in the process of getting his MBA from the University of Chicago, and is changing his role here in the office. While finishing his degree by April, he will be focusing more of his energies on the growing number of new business start ups that are here in the office… including Headstand.

As Headstand moves forward, I am so excited to be able to provide solutions to our customers in virtually any technology… we have the freedom to be technology agnostic. It doesn’t matter what our new customers may need, we can do it. We can supply Microsoft classic ASP and SQL Server solutions hosted in the Windows server environment, as I had been supplying for the last 8 years at BIRKEY.COM. We can also supply “Open Source” solutions using PHP, MySQL, Java, XML, AJAX, and many more in a UNIX/LINUX server environment. We also have access to engineers who are adept at many legacy systems and languages.

The first day of having a team member here was also great. We had to do a fair amount of et up like setting up email accounts and software (We’re on an Exchange Server here), gaining network access, installing Firefox and various plugins, and more.

We had a chance to meet with Joel Hamernick, Executive Director of Sunshine Gospel Ministries to discuss that web project. It was good for Benjamin to meet him and get a little oriented with that ministry and project. We need to develop a project scope document this week.

We had lunch purchased across the street at “Pockets”… my first experience, but an old favorite for Benjamin. Not too bad.

Well, it’s been two weeks since I officially launched a new business. In the process, I’ve rediscovered that building a new business is really fun and exciting. There are a ton of things to do and to think about. It gets my creative thinking engaged and energizes me. I already have more than I can do each day, so I have to prioritize and pace myself.

Looking back over the first two weeks I’d have to say things are going very well. In that time I:
• Moved into a new office space
• Set up network access and Internet connections
• Learned the basics of managing a web server
• Got a new VOIP telephone
• Decided on a company name
• Hired HBN Design to design our company logo and identity
• Put up a temporary webpage at HeadstandMedia.com
• Met with a new customer to get an exciting new web project rolling… Sunshine Gospel Ministries
• Completed an SEO research study for my friend Chuck Thomas at CTCreative
• Hired the first Headstand team member other than myself - Benjamin Nelson
• Purchased new computer hardware and software, and got it all installed and configured
• Read a book on the EL: “Death by Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni”
• Found a stapler to use
• Rode my motorcycle to work at least 4 times
• Got my Chicago Card for easier and quicker CTA navigation
• Got my security pass for the building I’m in
• Took care of a myriad of other office related details

I also I’ve had many great visits from friends and colleagues: Mark Goeke, Steve Tanner, Benjamin Nelson, Chuck Thomas, Steve Wilson, Kyle Williams, as well as my son Noel.

MORNING

This morning arrived the new computers and software that will enable Headstand Media to do it’s thing: (2) MacBook Pro 17″ laptops, and (2) 22″ Samsung flat screen LCD monitors, and (2) Adobe Creative Suite 3 Premium licenses. I spent most of the morning installing and configuring software on Benjamin’s machine.

Then my friend Steve Tanner showed up for lunch, which we had together at a nearby Potbelly’s. It was good to catch up on his life, his work at Kidology, and other life related things. Thanks for the visit Steve!

AFTERNOON

Back at the office, we were joined by Benjamin Nelson! After saying goodbye to Steve, Benjamin and I headed over to HBN Design, to review the first round of corporate logo and identity design ideas they had prepared for Headstand Media. We met with Dwight Nelson, Anne Chipman, and Emily Andre. They had prepared quite a range of good ideas, which were fun to discuss and brainstorm about. Benjamin and I selected a short list and brought back all of the ideas to the Headstand office for further review and feedback. There are some really great ideas to contemplate! Thanks HBN for the great start!

Benjamin and I debriefed about the meeting and direction over Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee, and talked about his start day on Monday, October 22, 2007

After Benjamin left I completed some more software configuration and answered email.

It feels good to be making steady strong progress on a daily basis. This new business is feeling like it is going to actually take off!