Jesse Friedman

Apple iPad 3 Coming March 2012

Jesse Friedman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:46:42 +0000

I have a theory that Apple is going to continue it’s patter of releasing iPads in the spring. With that I’m assuming the iPad 3 will be out this March or possibly April. With that said, if anyone is interested in purchasing a beautiful iPad 1 complete with Zagg Shield, Apple Case and original packaging, look no further.

You Can Own Your Very Own iPad 1

Which is perfect for a gift because it has the boxes and is in beautiful condition for the low low price of $349.99. I’ll even ship it anywhere in the USA for FREE. That’s right folks, FREE! This is a limited time offer with an extremely low quantity of 1 so if you’re interested Act Fast!

Bidding Starts Here:

If you’re interested in making an offer go ahead and comment below or email me at highfive [ at ] jesserfriedman [ dot ] com

Is OPEN Just another SOPA or PIPA?

Jesse Friedman — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:24:41 +0000

SOPA and PIPA in a strange way made us all apart of history. Most likely if you’re reading this you were probably one of the 13 million people who openly opposed SOPA and PIPA. We were apart of the worlds largest protest and I’m proud to say that I did my part. I wrote several letters to my law makers and even called their offices. I signed petitions and worked hard to spread the word. Organizations like Automattic and Mozilla provided us with resources to make this all possible and last Wednesday several sites “blacked out” to show their disapproval of the bills.

Last night I got my first response from all my “crys” to stop the bills. Congressman Jim Langevin (email him here: james.langevin@mail.house.gov) emailed me with a rather long email describing SOPA, PIPA and now OPEN. His email is below for you to read.

It seems to me that our Legislative branch is hell bent on creating laws to protect big corporations form internet piracy. I continue to disagree with this being a US lawmakers issue. The corporations who have these bill writers ears are pushing their agenda and are more interested in punishing people who don’t follow their rules rather than solving the problem internally. The truth is there are always going to be pirates, people are always going to share music, movies and more… Shutting down these websites will just spring up new ways to circumvent copyright laws.

To be absolutely clear I do not wear an eye patch myself, I do not condone it, I don’t torrent, I don’t download software, movies or music. My point is that the companies most affected by piracy could create better solutions to consuming their media to help alleviate the “need” to be a “pirate”. A perfect example of this is Adobe, who was faced with huge piracy numbers of their software and instead of continually attacking their users they created a subscription model to create a lower barrier of entry for their products.

Congressman Langevin is a supporter of the:

The Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN Act), a bill introduced in the United States Congress proposed as an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and Representative Darrell Issa of California, a Republican – Wikipedia

Which at the moment seems like the lesser of three evils. The bill creates stronger regulations on how to define an “infringing site” and it empowers the United States International Trade Commission instead of the United States Justice Department to make the decisions regarding how to deal with those sites.

We worked together to shelve SOPA and PIPA, does this make OPEN a reasonable compromise? What are your thoughts?

Congressman Langevin’s email:

Dear Jesse:

Thank you for contacting me regarding internet piracy and recent legislative proposals to combat it. I appreciate your concerns and welcome the opportunity to correspond with you.

From my days registering trademarks as the Rhode Island Secretary of State, I have had a serious interest in protecting intellectual property. Artists and innovators in our state and around the country deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and creativity, and our national emphasis on strong copyright and patent protections has also fostered the growth of world-leading businesses and cultural institutions. Unfortunately, Americans are increasingly facing threats to their intellectual property from countries that lack our concern for copyright, and our government lacks the means to prevent damage to the economy from trade in counterfeit goods and the sale of copyrighted works.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), introduced in the House by Rep. Lamar Smith, and its companion legislation, Senator Patrick Leahy’s PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), were intended to provide internet service providers and law enforcement agencies the tools to combat foreign copyright infringement. Unfortunately, their methods are incompatible with both the openness that is the internet’s hallmark, and important cybersecurity protocols.

SOPA and PIPA would allow intellectual property holders to bring suit against infringing sites and could compel internet advertising services and payment processors to cease doing business with a site, cutting off its two largest revenue generators. The definition of “infringing site” used by both acts is overly broad and could easily result in legitimate sites being cut off from funding.

SOPA and PIPA also provide for civil action initiated by the Attorney General, which could ultimately require “infringing sites” to be delisted by search providers and blocked by internet service providers. The original proposal for blocking sites would have completely undermined the secure domain name system (DNSSEC), one of the building blocks for improved cybersecurity. Although that particular provision may be removed before the bills reach the House floor, any site blocking or web-search censoring runs directly counter to American values and also gives cover for repressive regimes that currently use such measures. The US is the world leader online, and we should lead by example by continuing to ensure the government has the lightest touch possible when regulating the Internet, only making exceptions in cases where our citizens are directly threatened or harmed.

For that reason, I was proud to join my colleague Rep. Darrell Issa in introducing the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act. Unlike SOPA and PIPA, the OPEN Act uses a constrained definition of “infringing site,” to ensure that only those who willfully engage in counterfeiting or other intellectual property theft will be targeted. The OPEN Act confines its reach to payment processing companies and advertisers, making it a powerful tool for law enforcement without censoring the open web. Finally, the OPEN Act relies on the International Trade Commission (ITC), a well-respected panel of copyright experts, to determine whether a site is a violator rather than relying on general courts. I am confident that the swift passage of the OPEN Act will protect intellectual property owners and maintain the open nature of the internet.

Thank you again for contacting me on this incredibly important issue. I will continue to fight for internet freedom and cybersecurity as PIPA, SOPA, and OPEN move through their various committees. I also invite you to sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on active legislative issues. Finally, please don’t hesitate to contact me on this or any other area of concern.

Sincerely,

Jim Langevin
Member of Congress
***
If you would like to sign up for my e-newsletter, please click here.
For more information about my work in Congress, please visit my website.

Google Maps GPX Plugin and Foursquare

Jesse Friedman — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:37:00 +0000

Last year I wrote a little script to pull my last Foursquare checkin on a Google Map. In fact you can still see that in my footer.

Today I decided to play with a neat little plugin called Google Maps GPX which allows you to create Google Maps on the fly with WordPress shortcodes and define parameters like style, size and even the source of a kml file.

This was just a fun little test to play with the plugin. My next feat I will be creating some WordPress Custom Post types to house business locations and their addresses then using a WP_Query call to generate a dynamic kml file so I can use this plugin to show the location of all the businesses registered in my site on a map.

I will follow this post up with a detailed tutorial on how to do this. In the meantime enjoy this map made up of my last 10 Foursquare Checkins

Adobe Creative Suite Subscription Model

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:26:35 +0000

I have a friend at Adobe and he and I discussed the need for a subscription model years ago. When he told me it was coming I was so excited not for me necessarily but for my students. This is a huge leap in a positive direction for any new designer or developer.

At JWU I teach Web Design and Development classes and I went from experiencing the Adobe Woes myself to now seeing it in my students (I wrote about this topic back in 2008). Sure Adobe offers great student and non profit discounts but they really don’t make it easy for freelancers to get started because those discounts are not meant for commercial use.

If you’re a student at a university getting ready to graduate and you want to go out on your own, you’re now looking at a large startup cost. Obviously this number is going to be far less than that of business startups in other industries but still significant.

Pirating May Have Been Their Only Choice

Until now, these freelancers would likely have gone straight out and downloaded the same software from a torrent site. Pirated software isn’t that hard to come by and there are a lot of “hackers” out there working to make it even easier. I’d love to see some numbers on how many websites were built on pirated software cause I imagine the number is astounding.

Adobe Adopts a Subscription Model

Adobe’s Subscription model is going to severely reduce the barrier to entry for freelancers. Instead of having to fork over $1,799 to get the adobe suite they can instead pay $89 a month. The software is installed on your machine all the same but it only remains accessible if your subscription is paid for and up to date. You can also subscribe to specific applications instead of entire suites which has it’s benefits as well

The Numbers Speak Volumes

$1,799 for Adobe CS 5.5 Web Premium is a lot of dough. Then you have to assume that the suite will be updated every 18 months which is $399. So if I’m a freelancer starting in 2012 by 2015 I will have paid $2,597 plus tax. Over three years and two upgrades this is a lot of money. Its even harder to hand over your credit card for such a large payment when you know the same software is out on the internet for free and all I have to do is wear an eye patch (bad pirate joke).

With the subscription model you pay $89 a month. Over 3 years (assuming the price is the same) you’ll pay $3204. This is a little more money than the pay once option but doable.

Over three years:
One Time Payment = $2,597
Subscription Model = $3,204
Difference = $607 or $16.86 a month (over 3 years).

If I was a freelancer today I’d subscribe to just Photoshop which is only $35 a month use a different IDE than Dreamweaver and if I need Illustrator or Flash I would get it on a month to month basis which you can read more about here.

Web Designer Black Friday Deals

Jesse Friedman — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 19:50:46 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

If you’re anything like me, the idea of running over soccer moms to get the best deal on an xbox game seems ridiculous. On top of that at 4am tomorrow morning I’ll still be in my triptophan coma and will have no intention of getting up for Black Friday deals. So…

Here are a few Black Friday Deals just for us Web Designers & Developers

Monster Meltdown is stacked to become the gold standard in online inspirational resources. Patrick MacNeil author of the Web Designers Idea Book series has put together thousands of screenshots organized in easily consumable categories to help you better understand design principles involved in building specific types of websites. Today you can get the Monster Meltdown pack for half price. Enter code “2FOR1″ at checkout.

Themify is having a great Black Friday sale that’s continuing through Cyber Monday. Use the coupon code “blackfriday” at checkout for a 40% discount on individual themes and club memberships (which have already been reduced).

My top 5 Responsive Themify Themes

Tisa

Grido

Suco

Elemni

Wumblr

OvernightPrints has a lot of great print products for already low prices. I just had to order all new business cards since I gave them all away at FOWD a few weeks ago. Use the code “FRIDAY” to get severely reduced prices and double VIP Points on your purchase.

Media Temple is not having any specific Black Friday specials that I could find but they already have such amazing prices. I switched to Media Temple last year and haven’t looked back. They’re servers are amazingly fast and so reliable. I also haven’t had much need for MT customer service but the little I did need was great. I also hear nothing but awesome things from other MT users.

Sugar Sync is my favorite file sharing and cloud backup service. I used to be a huge fan of Dropbox and I still use it at Neal Advertising. However I use Sugar Sync for all my personal and Freelance files. You can get space up to 500 gigabytes which is insane.

You can also designate any folders you want to easily sync. A great example of how I use this is when I build WordPress themes on a local server. Instead of backing up the entire WordPress install all I do is right click on the theme folder and tell it to sync. Very easy to use and very reliable. I wrote an in depth article covering the benefits of Sugar Sync on SEJ.

How to Make Mad Lib Contact Forms in WordPress

Jesse Friedman — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:45:11 +0000

I love Mad Libs, they are so much fun. I remember as kids we’d worry about getting into trouble because we’d always fill the blanks with colorful expletives. There’s something fun about “filling in the blank” whether it be Mad Libs or a game or in this case a form.

I decided to put a Mad Libs style form on this site because of two reasons. One, I thought it’d be a fun styling challenge and two I’ve heard that they convert better. There are a few articles out there referencing this, most are referring to Jeremy Kieth’s Huffduffer Sign-up Form shown below.

Now I am not asking people to sign up for a service so creating a narrative around filling out a contact form may not increase conversion. In fact it may inhibit it. If I’ve gotten people to the point where they want to send me information or request a quote and they find this form style difficult then it can have a negative effect. However I’m willing to try and see how it goes.

If you’re interested in how I did it, I’m using the Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress. Below is a screenshot of the Contact Form 7 settings so you can see how it looks. I combined the “placeholder” attribute with some css to create the desired effect.

If you’re using a “Mad Libs” type form on your site I’d love to see how you do it and know if it actually converts better for you.

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Coming to Providence Tomorrow

Jesse Friedman — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:59:36 +0000

After doing some research at my local Verizon Wireless store I found out that not only is Providence, RI getting 4G LTE tomorrow but other cities are getting it too, including Warwick. I can’t wait for 4G, my past experience with 4G in Orlando and Boston is that it’s faster than most public wifi networks. My Droid Bionic will be screaming fast!

14 New Cities:

Little Rock, AR
Savannah, GA
Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, IA
Lexington, KY
Starkville, MS
Kansas City and Springfield/Branson, MO
Lincoln, NE
Orange County, NY
Greater Providence, RI
Rapid City, SD
Roanoke, VA
Appleton and Oshkosh, WI

4 City Expansions:

Louisville, KY
Grand Rapids, MI
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Pittsburgh, PA

5 Bad Day Cure-alls

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:53:19 +0000

Having a Bad Day, huh?

It’s likely that your current woes were caused by an outside source. This could be a boss disappointed in your work (regardless if it’s justified or not), a spouse upset with your lack of attention or countless other things.

The first thing to do is take a deep breathe. I don’t mean that metaphorically I mean it literally, increased oxygen to your body and brain can help you relax.

Next I want you to perform these 5 to-do items. If you haven’t yet, sign up for basecamp or other task management service do so and enter these things into a list. If you perform all 5 tasks and are still upset, tweet me and I’ll give you a hug.

#1 Listen to some fun toons

My current favorite listening candy for overcoming a poor attitude or bad mood is “We No Speak Americano” by Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP. This is just one of those tracks that will make your feet move and your mouth turn up.

#2 Walk the Dog

No that’s not a euphemism. Walking the dog, playing with your kids, running, riding a bike or aqua yoga (not sure if that’s a real thing) all release endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals produced by the brain which relieve anxiety and pain. Exercise creates a surplus of endorphins which is why getting your blood pumping can help you feel better and think clearer.

If you don’t have a dog, Astro needs a home. That’s right, I just went there.

#3 Watch This

#4 Do Something Nice For Someone Else

Being altruistic is great but doing something about it is even better. This can be anything from a small office task, to donations to a charity. You can decide what you want to do today but do it for someone else. Even The Grinch’s heart grew three times the size when he returned the gifts to the Whovillians. You’ll feel better that you did something nice for someone else.

#5 Make Someone Smile

This is not as easy as you may think. Getting a polite grin may be simple, but getting a genuine smile from someone can be tough. A smile is a really powerful thing and bringing one out of someone else will make you feel better.

Here’s the thing you can’t get someone to give you a real smile if you’re frowning. They may give you a pity smile or a cute frown or something but we don’t want that. So get out of your chair, stand up in the office and tell a bad joke, tickle your kid or give someone a real “look them in the eye” compliment.

Making others laugh and smile will make you feel 10x better guaranteed or your smiles back… haha see I got you started.

A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. – Author Unknown

Have any good additions to the list, share them. Still feeling bad? One Click Hug Request.

It’s 11-11-11 at 11:11am

Jesse Friedman — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:10:28 +0000

That’s a lot of 1′s! Ok back to work!

Future of Web Design Creates a Future for Web Designers

Jesse Friedman — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:56:00 +0000

I’m writing this on the C train heading back to Brooklyn after a long and fantastic day at
FOWD NYC 2011. I gave my talk today, it went really well and I now feel like I can relax. After we all filter out of the New World Stages we all looked for what to do before the big after party.

I met up with some old friends, new friends, fellow speakers and a few others and we all went to this amazing churrascaria restaurant across street.

While sitting at a very large table in a fantastic restaurant with all these people I find myself taking it all in. There’s about 15 of us and among the speakers are a few attendees and a volunteer of the conference.

The volunteer is actually a student of mine who I introduced to the conference producers so he could volunteer and attend the conference something he otherwise would not have been able to do.

I can see that my student understands the gravity of the situation. He’s an up and coming web designer, a student and he’s eating dinner with some of the biggest names in our industry.

I myself was in his exact same place just a few years ago. This was my second time speaking at FOWD and until Ryan, Cat and the rest of the Carsonified team gave me the opportunity to speak I was just like my student. I was mystified and honored at the idea that I could have a beer, eat a meal or just enjoy a good conversation with the Web Industries Godfathers/mothers.

I want to be clear on this point. The only thing that has changed between myself then and myself now is that I don’t expect celebrity elitism anymore.

We come to these conferences and watch people speak on topics and we see them as celebrities or athletes who we should expect a high five from, maybe an autograph and nothing more. I was in the same mindset and I am still truly honored and humbled by how I’ve been treated and the opportunities I’ve received. Except now I know that everyone in this industry feels that way.

Without naming specific names, take a look at the speakers list of FOWD this year and last year. These individuals are the movers and shakers, the big wigs, the elites in our industry but do they act that way? Absolutely not!

I have spent time with almost all of these people and there are no inflated egos, no “holier than thou” attitudes and certainly no celebrity mindsets. These guys and gals are so grounded and down to earth, they are humbled and honored and they appreciate us all of us.

This is something truly special that we only see in our industry.

You will not see the new low level lawyer eating dinner at “The Palm” with his boss a world renowned attorney and partner at the firm. You’ll never see the mail room guy having a beer with CEO of a financial institution. And pigs will fly before a surgical resident has a night out on the town with the countries #1 surgical oncologist.

But here sits my student, some attendees of the conference, myself and others with the most talented, successful and powerful names in the business. You might ask how we all got there but thats really the wrong question. The right question is why are these rockstars so accessible?

Its because they know how important it is to spread knowledge they’ve gained, the experience they’ve earned and the success they bled and sweat for. They’re doing on to others as others have done on to them.

We should all feel lucky to work in this industry and do what we do. I for one am so blessed to be afforded my opportunities especially since all I had to do to get where I am going is to shake some hands, smile and share my passion and ideas.

We are a community, we learn from one another, grow with each other and shape our world like no other group.

These are great times that I am so happy to share with all of you and thank you all for your support, kind words, smiles, hand shakes and talent.

Amazing View from Print

Jesse Friedman — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0000

I had the honor of dining and drinking with some our industries greatest leaders last night with this view.

A Little Life Amongst the Metal

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:06:00 +0000

Quite a beautiful thing to see this tree push and fight to live and grow.

A Stroll Through Brooklyn

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:54:00 +0000

Just a quick walk before dinner with some friends

Fat and Fearless Squirrels

Jesse Friedman — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:38:00 +0000

I have these insanely overweight squirrels in my yard, who just don’t care. I mean short of getting with in a few feet of them they will ignore all attempts to get them to scatter.

Code Thieves

Jesse Friedman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:06:33 +0000

At this day in age is it really necessary to steal someone’s css, markup, scripts or design?

In case you’re planning on making the argument that nothing is original and that we all steal something at sometime. One “SHUTTY!” and two:

The use inspirational sites like CSS Mania and others is common practice, and yes there are times when an idea for a design stems from someone elses work. In some cases trendy designed sites can end up all looking alike. You could argue that “Web 2.0y” sites all look the same and there are so many sites with similar looks and feels. I say own up to it. If I see something I love and I want to use it on my site or a design I’m working I’ll use it as a foundation to build something unique and I’m happy to give credit.

Don’t pretend to be completely original because almost everything we create has been inspired by something else. The best designers in the world are just better at sourcing inspiration from abstract elements. They’ll draw inspiration from street signs, architecture and other physical items.

As for this guy:

This is just blatten disregard for hard work and dedication to a craft. Especially since it’s so easy to just grab a theme or template site. At the very least if you’re going to steal someone’s css don’t link to it from their server, that’s just salt in the wound.

Should we work harder to protect ourselves as AlfredApp?

Wow, That’s an Impressive Tongue You Got There

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:31:00 +0000

The attack of the crazy cow tongues!

A New Design For My Site

Jesse Friedman — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:44:13 +0000

I am in the process of consolidating my network of sites down to a single site. Right now I have this site, Brain to Blog and SWORD Studios. I am shutting SWORD Studios down and will be doing all my freelance work under my name. As for Brain to Blog, I haven’t been able to update it in a while and I think it’s time to choose a single location to post ideas and other things.

So here is a preliminary shot of my new site design. You can follow me on Forrst and Dribbble for more updates.

A Few Things Us Web Designers Can Learn From a 3 Year Old At Disney

Jesse Friedman — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:00:41 +0000

About a month ago I took my 3 year old son Landon to Disney and he had a blast, of course. While at Magic Kingdom I noticed a few things from his point of view that totally relate to what we do everyday.

Don’t Let the Asses Get In The Way of the Real Fun

I never really saw it before but when my son and I are walking through a crowd of people, he sees a lot of butts. I mean a lot of butts, they’re everywhere and at his point of view sometimes it’s all you see. We wonder why our kids can get so easily aggravated with the simple things, it’s easy to get impatient when you’re staring at butts all day.

As a web designer working for an agency and occasionally freelancing, I see my fair share of difficult clients. However, for every ass in your face there’s a really great smile out there somewhere. Maybe we can all learn something from Landon. He realized if he’s patient and behaves well through the sea of butts he’ll get to ride Splash Mountain.

Clients aren’t always going to be easy or fun and sometimes we can’t choose them they choose us. However if we work to educate them and help them understand our process it usually makes for a better experience. In the end if they can’t or won’t be changed then buckle down, get through it and eventually you’ll be having the time of your life.

Standing In Line Doesn’t Always Mean You Get to Meet Mickey Mouse

One of Landon’s favorite things to do is meet the Disney characters and get his photo with them. I’m not sure if he thinks the guy in the Goofy suit is actually Goofy or he just likes it for what it is.

Either way we waited in line for a while to meet Mickey Mouse. Landon was so excited. After a while we were next in line (with a decent crowd of people behind us) and just as we were ready to walk up and meet Mickey we were informed that he had to “take a break” and he’d be back in about an hour.

I was furious, it wouldn’t have taken much effort to tell us when we were at the end of the line that the people in front of us would be the last people to meet Mickey before his break. Landon was devastated and actually took it very personally, “why doesn’t Mickey want to meet me?” he said. As a Dad I half wanted to cry and half give Mickey a piece of my mind. As a Web Designer I realized this is something we have to deal with all the time.

No matter how hard I work, no matter how great my portfolio is, no matter how well written of a proposal I send out I still may miss my chance to work on a great project. It can be for a ridiculous reason like not having designed enough red color schemed sites before (no joke that was an actual reason a client turned me down) or because I truly don’t have the same level of skill as a competitor. Either way we have to keep our head up and move on.

Later that Day Landon got to meet Goofy who is his actual favorite character of the bunch. If we had met Mickey I may not have been so inclined to wait in line again. The same goes for client work. Maybe you miss out on one project so you’ll be available for an even better one later.

Rubbing Shoulders Is Fun

When Landon finally got to meet Buzz Lightyear he was a bit nervous to say the least. His anticipation quickly grew into hesitation when it was his turn to go up and meet Buzz. I see this often when at conferences or at meetups. All too often you might have an opportunity to introduce yourself to some of our industries biggest names and you don’t, either because your nervous or don’t want to look “uncool” in their eyes. I have had coffee and bought beers for some of the most well known designers, developers, authors and entreprenuers in our industry simply because I walked up and introduced myself. We tend to forget that these people are just that, people. They started right where we are and for the most part they remember that or don’t even realize they are “celebrities” in the web industry.

It may seem awkward or weird to put yourself out there but don’t be afraid. Get out there, tweet, post, email or even introduce yourself in person. The more people you meet, the more great impressions you make the more opportunities will appear.

Patrick MacNeil runs Design Meltdown, and now Monster Meltdown. A few years ago he was a guy who ran an awesome site and author to an awesome book “The Web Designers Idea Book”. I loved the site and wanted to submit some of my work to it and the book in hopes of seeing it published. I didn’t want to rely only on the submission form as I didn’t want to be one in a hundred thousand submissions.

So I emailed Patrick and we got to talking. In a short time not only did this website (http://blogsville.us) get submitted to the site and the book but I was asked to contribute to version 2 of the book. I wrote the chapter on Blog Design which was a huge honor and now Patrick and I are great friends. He and I share stories, ask each other for advice and he’s even asked me to contribute to his newest book coming out in the spring.

Whether it’s the keynote speaker at a awesome conference or the guy sitting next to you, introduce yourself, make a great impression and converse. It’ll all eventually pay off.

Starbucks Gold Level Status

Jesse Friedman — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 14:40:45 +0000

I told you I spend a lot of time at Starbucks. I just hope I never figure out just how much money I’m spending here.

Sign a New Client by Making a Donation to Charity

Jesse Friedman — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:04:42 +0000

How many of you have sent out a proposal and offered a “friends and family discount” or “partnered discount” to a potential client you just met on the phone about 2 hours ago? Ok that might be an exaggeration but whether you’re freelancing or working at an agency it’s very likely that your have tried to win a new client by offering some sort of discount, easing the pain of a probably already reduced budget.

I’ve played with a few different techniques in the past to try and extend some form of a courtesy or discount. I’ve taken money off for giving me credit for the work in the form of a link in the footer. I’ve seen the friends or partnered discounts on countless proposals and many other forms of “justified” reduced prices.

I think most of us do it because we have a sense of what our clients can afford and sometimes we need the work regardless of what the project is really worth. However instead of just getting to that number we try to point out the value of our services before the discount and rightfully so.

A Win Win Win Situation We Can All Start Doing

I have recently started something new and it’s not because I want to “win” the client but rather because I want to help out a charity. Many of you probably know about the recent and tragic loss my family experienced when my 16 year old niece died last August. Since then her family (me included) have worked to create the Elanna L. Zuller Memorial Sports Fund.

As much as I’d like to donate every extra dollar I make to this memorial fund, in this economy it’s just not going to happen. However I did find a way that I can help support it, even if it isn’t directly.

I take on the occasional freelance project and while these budgets usually aren’t anything to write home about there is opportunity make everyone happy. Instead of offering a 10% partnered discount to a potential new client I am now offering a discount in the form of a match in funds towards a donation to the Sports Fund.

Let me explain that a bit better.

I will discount the clients budget up to $500 by matching their contribution to the sports fund at 200%. So if they donate $150 to the fund I’ll take $300 off the budget. If they donate $300 I’ll take $500 because that is my maximum in this instance. However we all win because that discount probably would have been there anyways, the charity benefits from the donation and the client saves up to $250 and gets a $250 write off in the form of the donation.

I’m not suggesting this for everyone in every instance but by doing this you can make a little bit of a positive difference in the world and feel better about occasionally doing a project for less than what it’s really valued at.

This happens to work beautifully for me because I am very close to this particular Charity/Fund. If there is a charity that you would really like to help out, you could offer the same type of discount to your new clients and start making a difference every day.

There are clear disadvantages to this strategy. For one I don’t get the write off for the donation and if I have a return client they may expect the same discount a second or third time. I have made the decision to over look these things and just be happy knowing that I am doing something to benefit the fund where I may otherwise not have been able to.

What are your thoughts, am I crazy or does this make sense?