You watch me…
Just watch me.
I’m calling…
I’m calling and one day all will know.

Here is ARC Design showing off at Showbiz… Best booth location, which is fitting since we are the best website design, graphic design and ad firm in the region. Showbiz is a great way to meet new people, highlight your business’ skills and specialties, and generate leads. Great for small and medium businesses!

Without further ado:

Rick and the Candy!
Talking to Clients
Rick and Ryan
The girls
Rick the Ladies’ Man
Ryan and Adam
Awesome Display

It has been ages since I updated this blog… Hopefully it has not sunk into the crazy dark depths of the Internet-Sea. That was poetic… or pathetic, lol.

Nevertheless… I haven’t had time to breathe in the last two weeks! After visiting New York City I busted tail on MWR, Hutchens, Senter & Britton, P.A, Professional Early Intervention, the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and PDS POS. I’m approximately… half done on each of them. I get stressed out because there’s only one of me… and I have a lot to do. But I’m being smart about things, working hard and taking short lunches.

I want to thank Rick and Ashley for helping me every time I need something done. We work as such a good team here. Ryan says over time we’ve developed a fairly consistent work flow. So I work till I can’t work anymore and then pass it off… Soon, all those sites will be out the door and we’ll be having an awesome group dinner on Ryan! (hint, hint Ryan!)

I want to also write a note for everybody not to forget the things they are passionate about. Like… music or art… or video games or literature… Whatever it is, remember it. Because, not to be cheesey or contrived, it is that thing that makes work more fun. Look forward to that thing. That trip or that show. I work hard because I love my job, true. But also because working hard means I get to experience things that I love that aren’t related to work.

Like meeting this guy:

Or watching this show:

Or visiting this:

Or traveling with these people:

The long awaited day has come! We received our Horizon Interactive Award. Yay.

Awesome!

Ryan and Adam.

And these are from the office and Cici’s… because we said so. What a great job when you can all get together and eat out. No other job

Ash, Isa and TJ

Charlie’s Angels

Whaaaa?

Jessie

Adam, workin’ it.

So it has been a while since I’ve blogged… I broke the rules of consistency- one of the blogging deadly sins. However, I will attempt to rectify the problem at this time.

So much has been going on here at the office in the last month. It seems the family has grown so much in size! We’ve added Ashley. Word on the street is that she blogs novellas, so have a few moments before you sit down to read. And we’ve added Landon. He’s kind of a ghost around here, working really strange hours. I have learned to appreciate everybody’s nuances. Rachael has turned out to be a Godsend Cube-Mate. She makes work entertaining in the slightly sarcastic and quiet way.

Recently we have taken a client of ours and rebranded her company, name and all, for really complicated reasons. We’ve taken her company name and focus and given it a fresh outlook and idea. She could have taken this complication as a negative experience… one that could squash all of her ambition and drive to succeed in her business. Instead she chose to use this as a positive experience. Together we can make her even better than she was before. And believe me… her business was booming and will continue to do so. It is people like that which inspire me on a daily basis.

Additionally, we have recently finished ComForcare. I would like to put a quote from her latest email:

“I think my corporate office will be pleased. I know I am!! And I absolutlellllly believe my business will grow.”

I love to hear things like this. But primarily I think it acts as motivation for us to do a good job. Adam always says “what’s good for their business is good for ours.” He’s usually referring to SEO… but I think the concept is more wide-spread then that.

On a personal note… I’ve been reading like CRAZY lately. I finished most of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down was phenomenal. Harry Potter, yes I’m a dork, is coming out tomorrow. And I will be reading it. It’s the only reason I’ve postponed starting another book. I also went to the Biltmore Estate last weekend… we went on the roof. Thank you, Ryan, for giving me Friday afternoon off so that I could go. It was an AMAZING experience.

Now I must get back to work. We can only live on Southern Style Chicken Biscuits and Sweet Tea for so long. Payday is tomorrow: Rejoice!

Quote:

“I go wherever the truth leads me… Lurie, if the Torah cannot go into your world of scholarship and return stronger, then we are all fools and charlatans. I have faith in the Torah. I am not afraid of truth…” From In the Beginning by Chaim Potok

Tunes:

Shower Scene by Brand New

Picture:

I couldn’t be more excited. Today we got a letter saying we won a Bronze Award for the Horizon Interactive Awards (in the category of Consumer Information). Not only am I honored to be a part of a company that is in the process of… excuse my language… kicking ass and taking names, but Star Leasing (the company who’s site won the award) is the very first project I worked on and I wrote all of the content on that site. So I have a bit of personal pride in the fact that it has won both a Gold Addy and now this Bronze Horizon Interactive Award.

Read the kickin’ Press Release.

On a different note, I’m graduating on Monday. The differences between what they teach you about Advertising firms and what they’re really like… is sort of like night and day. For example… we have a mini bball hoop. No one told me that was gonna happen. My boss and I both attended the same Jack’s Mannequin and Panic! concert. No one told me that either.

Everybody has a hand in every project. Period. That may be because ARC Design is so small… that we’re close enough to have our input into every product that leaves the door here at ARC. And it goes without saying that when one of us succeeds… we all succeed. They didn’t teach me that either.

And we seem to be succeeding rather well.

Current Music:
Dirty Little Secret, All American Rejects
Today’s Quote:
Do not tell me the sky is the limit… there are footprints on the moon.

I find that it’s the slow days at work that I like the best. When Rick keeps trying to sink Adam’s little pink poof ball into one of the two basketball goals on his wall and Jessica brings back double cheese burgers from the McDonalds. Imagine making your fortune one $1 double cheese burger at time.

I was excited to find out that we won our first big government contract this week. The Fort Bragg MWR’s site is a little hard to navigate right now. Despite the logistical nightmare that will be trying to group and organize the LOADS of information on the current site, the prospect of signing big government contracts looms above our heads. Combine that with the forward momentum we have right now and you cast a happy glow on the faces of our small but productive team here at the ARC Design.

I’m taking a break today from work to go with my dad to buy a bookcase for my room at my new house. A graduation present from my parents. I’m really excited.

Back to work. Word on the street is that websites don’t build themselves.

 Current Music:
Wordplay, Jason Mraz
Today’s Quote:
“That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment.” -  Dorothy Parker

I find it another crazy day here at ARC Design. Like what happens when I’m supposed to have two meetings at the same time due to an unfortunate not-scheduling near-disaster. Luckily, I only had to deal with one client… who turned out to be very laid back and appears to be easy to work with.

Which, in turn, leads me to:

punc·tu·al·i·ty – /ˌpʌŋktʃuˈælɪti/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[puhngk-choo-al-i-tee] – noun

1. The quality or state of being punctual
2. Strict observance in keeping engagements; promptness

And now for a few words from the definitive word on Advertising Copywriting:
Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.
- David Ogilvy

In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.
-David Ogilvy

What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.
-David Ogilvy

Current Music:
Hey There Delilah, Plain White T’s

I wonder to myself… “Self, how much time can you kill eating at the Hamburger Heaven?” And myself answers: Indefinitely.

So that’s exactly what I did. I enjoyed lunch at the Hamburger Heaven. Tasty.  Ryan, Jennifer, Jessica, TJ and I spent an hour there. Consider it time for the creative juices to flow… or we were hungry.

Nevertheless, lunch reminded me of the “Eat More Chikin” campaign (as a munched down on my Carolina Favorite Burger… which has hamburger and chili. Ironic.) And the “Eat More Chikin” drew my mind to the new ARCmail campaign I’ve been working on with Adam.

In order to sell more newsletter tools, I’d like to mention how much it saves on paper. Printing costs are expensive. And although they’re worth it, small businesses have a lot to gain from email campaigning. It’s flexible, fast, customizable and there are no limits to what you can do with this tool. It even integrates with a pre-existing websites. Genius.

Most importantly:  it’s environmentally friendly. I’m going to try to avoid a scene like the one I made when Victoria’s Secret refused to use recycled paper.

Very simply: Eat Hamburger Heaven. Use Email Marketing. Save trees.

 Current Music:
He Stopped Loving Her Today, George Jones
Today’s Quote:
“Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ”
H. D. Thoreau

As an avid blogger but constant rambler it will be difficult to stay on topic during the course of this blog…. just a fair warning.

I suppose since everyone else in the office is jumping on this Blogging-Bandwagon, I will hop on too. Jessica is tearing this blog thing up.

In addition to all of the other things I have to do with graduation in less than two weeks, work will be picking up soon. The “busy season” is due for the next few months and I remember what that was like last year. In retrospect, the entire year I’ve been here seems like it’s been one busy month after another. Truth be told I’d rather it be busy than slow.

I’m at the point where graduation from a four year university is converging with all of those grown-up things that they always tell you about but you’re never prepared for (ie moving into a house, paying bills, full time career, etc)…

It’s odd to think that this month both Rick and I graduate… meaning we’ll come to work full time… Imagine all of the projects we can blow off the board once we’re in here eight hours a day. What a happy day, lol.

Current Music:
Geek in the Pink, Jason Mraz
Today’s Quote:
“And the raven, sitting lonely, on that placid bust spoke that word as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.” The Raven, E. A. Poe