TLCmagic White and Nerdy

We heard this Weird Al Yankovic song off the Straight Outta Lynwood album for the first time this morning and just had to mash it up with this clip from our Office Closing. Yep, we're White and Nerdy, but tomorrow we will go live with our new Black and Beautiful Site!

To Take Risks or Not To Take Risks

A few days ago I (Misty) was walking through a little grocery store and looking at all of the old people. I had a moment of wondering what I would think when I was their age and I looked back at my life. I wondered if I would have any regrets. Normally I don't believe regrets are a good thing because every choice I have made, good or bad, has usually taught me something, and helped make me who I am. But, I could conceive of being older and regretting one thing, and that one thing was: Not taking enough risks and letting my fear control my decisions.

So, what is a risk? I know there are many different ways people think of risks...like in the video surfing a big wave, or sky diving. I'm talking about different risks, like starting a new business or making a big move across country. Mostly I think of these as risks because it's not guaranteed that I will be improving my life if I do these things, and I could fail bigtime, and the thought of failing is a scary one.

So, next is working through the fear. Fear is a tough one for me and I have many ways of dealing with it, but my two main ones are ignore it and push through the scary thing, or step back and take a bigger picture look. I think the "healthier" approach is the step back and take a look at the bigger picture. You may wonder how I do that. Well, let's see if I can explain it.

Example: Bill and I are moving our business in the direction of Design.

What's the risk or the fear in the example? We could lose all of our money and die from starvation. We might suck at Design and everyone might hate us. What if no one wants to pay us money and then what if we have to get jobs working for other people? The fear goes on and on.

What do I do to stop it? I decide to stop the thoughts where they are, and then I look at the worst thing that could happen: We could slowly lose money and have to get regular 9-5 jobs. Then I think about the best that could happen: We could be wildly successful and achieve all of our dreams. Then I think of what will happen if we don't take the risk: Nothing...things will probably stay the same. We won't improve our chances for success, but we won't die an ugly death either. Once I know all three of those answers (Worst, Best, and Middle) then I take a look at my overall life and goals and decide whether or not the risk is working towards my goals. If it is then just knowing the answers to those questions is enough to help me move through the fear and get on with the Risk Taking.

If anyone is wondering about Bill's process...Well, it's simple. He's fierce. If he feels fear he crushes it, and then becomes more fierce. He's also very arrogant, so he thinks he is wonderful at everything. His process is much, much different from mine!

Working With Your Spouse

If you have read our blog much, you know that we are married and we work together. Most people have ideas about what it is like to work with your spouse, and some have experienced it first hand. Of course, like everything in life, there are pros and cons to it. As you can tell from the pictures, it takes a whole lot of wrestling, and working back and forth.

Pros:

• You love the person you work with (at least you should if you are going to work together)
  
• You know each other very well and get to speak in Raw Format
• Working together adds adventure and a sense of accomplishment to the relationship
• You get to kiss and hug a lot without sexual harrasment lawsuits

Cons:

• Working together can add more stress to the marriage (but if handled correctly can bring the two closer)
• You can't just quit your job easily because you live with the partner you own the business with
• You have to look at the same person 24/7, and anybody can get annoying after that long (remedy: get out and take breaks with friends)

Most of the time we love working together. Sometimes Misty wants to rip Bill's head off, and other times Bill wants to growl at Misty like in the pictures below. When we stop and think about it though, we both would hate not getting to work together.

South Park Ninjas

We often watch South Park episodes at night after the Kids are off to bed. In this clip Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny transform into ninjas. For now we transform with Stealth.

Zero to Hero or Hero to Zero

Yesterday, we had a service call at Mike Byler's house, a.k.a the Iceman, and he had a hard drive that was dying. Mike let us know in Raw Format that if we didn't get the data we would be a Zero, and if we did get the data we would be Heroes. Turned out we got to play the Hero role this time! We understand how these roles fluctuate, and just as easily we can be the Zeroes again. Anyways, we like the Iceman and we love Raw Format. Yesterday we talked about who our ideal public was, so we have a new quality to add in the ideal customer:
We love it when customers give us Raw Format!

Puppy Print Update

We saw a post about Hugh MacLeod's Puppy Print on eBay, so just for fun, put one up ourselves. It sold to a chap from Australia for $41.00 plus shipping, not quite as high as the first one for $56.00, but not too bad. So a print from a South African company, lithographed in England, goes through Arkansas, before landing in Australia. And the Global MicroBrand rocks on. Krikey!

Who We Love and Who We Hate

Who do we love? Who do we hate? Who is our public? Who is our ideal customer?

These are all questions that we often ask. In the picture above, we have Sheila, a.k.a., The Salsa Lady! We love Sheila and her Salsa, but you may ask why do we love her. First, she makes wonderful salsa and is amazingly friendly, she usually has a positive outlook on life and a smile waiting for us. Second, she's alive and she can see things and get things. Third, she's in love with her husband after 20 odd years of marriage. She's a truly fun person to be around. No, she is not a customer, but does contain qualities we look for in customers.

So, who do we hate? No, we aren't going to post a picture example on this one. We hate people who have a bad attitude, people who won't return phone calls, and people who aren't alive. We hate it when people are not happy to pay us and don't get that we like to do good work. You may get stumped on the people "not happy to pay us" and think "why would anybody be happy to pay anyone?" Well, two examples:

1. We love to pay our attorney Norman Wilber whatever money he asks for and as soon as we get the bill. Why? Because he does a kick ass job and we want him to get that we appreciate him

2. I (Misty) loved to pay the Roto Rooter man whatever he wanted when he pulled out a glob of toilet paper that my son had stuck in the toilet. Why? Because I couldn't get the stupid toilet to flush and even though it was just toilet paper he made it happen and I appreciated that!

So...who is our public or our ideal customer? People who are alive, people that get things and are often taking a fresh look, people who are capable of appreciating, people we can connect with, and most importantly people who get the joy of us doing work for them.

You can lead a carp to water, but you can't make him duck.

Last Sunday we went down to the fish dock at Bull Shoals Lake and spent a couple quarters to feed the carp and ducks. That day it was warm and sunny, but today it is cool and foggy. As the weather changes direction, so do we, to get unstuck from the same old same old.

TLCmagic Ninja Masks

We transform TLCmagic t-shirts into Ninja Masks as we transform Twin Lakes Computer Magic into Design Ninjas. But we are still in Stealth Mode, so can say no more.

Serial Website Killer

This screencap to the top left shows the site that was and still is online. It, of course, is several years out of date. Why not take it down or update it?







This to the right is the site we did last year, it is still online, and it has not been updated either. Why not take it down or update it?







This to the bottom left is the site that came out last week. It appears that no one has explained to these people that you can use the same URL and change the design of the site by uploading new files. It also appears no one has explained to these people that it will be hard for people to just stumble on the correct site if you keep multiple websites up at the same time. How long until this one is abandoned and folks have to start looking again for the Twin Lakes Soccer Association? What are these people thinking? What is their Design?