the power of a team
Posted: October 18, 2010 Filed under: clients, community, design Leave a comment »Over the last couple of weeks, we have been rather insanely busy with a new-and-improved business model for SheTech, a new-and-improved web site (still in development, so bear with us!), and a ton of related details.
It has been a great privilege to work with this crackerjack team we’ve managed to assemble–and I’m not just saying that. For some reason, some truly world-class talent have decided that this little agency is worth their time and attention. This is both invigorating and humbling.
The planning process for SheTech 2011 is fast-paced because it’s so important that we get this going sooner than later; it’s exciting; it’s exhilarating. The coolest part to me is looking around, totally trusting the team to play together really well. We kick ideas around and some great stuff comes up. Where one person lacks a skill or an idea, another more than fills the gap.
Not only are we doing this for ourselves (“eating our own dog food”) in the context of making vast improvements to SheTech and Company, our clients are already beginning to benefit from this richness of creativity as well. We’ve had planning sessions for clients, where some really amazing and innovative ideas have resulted. Man, do I feel lucky to be surrounded by such talented people!
We’re doing this for ourselves. But mostly, we’re doing this for each other.
We’re doing this for our clients.
And their clients.
And their communities.
Man, do I feel lucky.
the power of comparison
Posted: July 12, 2010 Filed under: blogging, clients, customer service, design, marketing, search engine friendly, social media Leave a comment »
Images Coterie Photography, Theresa Saxon, Photographer :: Reflection on the hood of a Ferrari http://www.imagescoterie.com
In a recent visit back to my HQ office in Tennessee (I’m still on contract with OppenheimerFunds in New York City), I met my business partner‘s twin sister. They live on separate coasts and look so much alike they fooled my mother–who has known Theresa for years! Theresa Saxon, my business partner, is a very talented photographer–and so is her twin sister. However, the comparison ends once you start looking at their images. They have quite different specialties and their creative impulses flow in different directions.
It started me to thinking about what SheTech and Company does and how we compare to other providers. We might look like a great many other providers out there, and offer some of the same services–on the surface. Yes, we have a low-cost do it yourself option, and so do many other providers. Where the comparison does and must end is when we start talking about custom work.
With access to top-notch designers and developers all over the country, as well as literally decades of experience in both technology and marketing, we offer a unique blend of expertise resulting in unique web properties designed specifically to meet strategic business needs.
That means that, no, we can’t do a custom web site for $500–often not even for $5,000 (we’re what I like to call “overkill” for that sort of service). But for small, medium and large businesses that have both a marketing budget and the vision of a digital strategy (or need a digital strategy), we are poised to make a web property go from merely good to truly great.
This is because in addition to web production expertise, we are consultants: we sit and work with our client companies to deliver far above and beyond the “cookie cutter” web site that many other, lower cost, providers offer. We ask questions: who is your target audience? What message are you trying to convey? What tone? Will you be including social media in your digital strategy? How? What’s the overarching purpose of your web properties: sales and marketing, information or support (it can be some combination of all three, but one really must dominate)? We research competitors; we research search engine optimization techniques; and so on…
By the way, when you start thinking about a web strategy, remember to focus on the differences between sales strategy and marketing strategy. It’s not always clear which is which, but your direction will be vastly different when you choose one or the other.
SheTech and a Ferrari -- are you ready?
In the end, comparing other web hosting companies with SheTech and Company is a bit like comparing apples with Ferraris. They’re both usually red, and SWEET, but do very different things.
Vrooooooom!
the power of community
Posted: March 19, 2009 Filed under: clients, design, economy | Tags: AIG, AIG scandal, bailout, business ethics, Cafe Femenino, coffee, community, compassion, economy, ethic, ethics, Haven House, local economy, obama, president, trickle-down economics, Vienna Coffee Company 1 Comment »
Haven House web site relaunched 18 March
Today we re-launched Haven House‘s web site (http://www.havenhousetn.org) with an upgraded version of the Joomla! content management system. We’re particularly excited about this launch!
The design of the site is mostly the same as the previous version, with a few minor enhancements, but that’s not what gets us so excited.
What really has us going is that we added a shopping cart.
What does an online shopping cart have to do with domestic violence?
For the first time, Haven House has an online platform to raise money for the shelter and raise awareness in the community in one fell swoop. We’ve started with a few items: an upcoming benefit ride, a car magnet, and awareness bracelets. Best of all, Haven House is offering Café Femenino coffee, with the help of another SheTech and Company client, Vienna Coffee Company.
Coffee?
Yes, coffee.
Every once in a while, a project or idea comes along that truly represents the “everyone wins” model. Café Femenino is one such project, and in this case, benefits the community here at home and the global community.
Let’s start at home
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Café Femenino either through the Haven House web site or through Vienna Coffee Company, directly benefits Haven House. This helps pay operating expenses and other costs associated with both maintaining the shelter and building awareness in the community.
Also, given that Vienna Coffee Company is a local business, the sale of the coffee helps maintain our own economy here at home.
Now let’s expand our view
Women now make up nearly 30% of the coffee growers in the world, while still having far fewer rights than men in their local communities. In response to this inequity, Café Femenino was formed as a coalition to help women growers gain the same rights as their male counterparts. The coalition, which started in Peru, now represents women coffee growers around the world. It has helped build social programs and support networks, aiding these women in their struggles against poverty and abuse.
Now take an even longer view
The coffee grown by Café Femenino producers is not only certified Fair Trade coffee, it is organic. So the communities in which the coffee is grown benefit as economic inequalities are remedied, and organic growing practices help ensure that the environment is cared for, promising a cleaner future for the green earth and its people and–let’s bring it back home–buyers get coffee that is free of damaging and dangerous chemicals.
See? Everybody wins.
The common good
In light of all the news about the economy, the shocking AIG bonuses in particular, we need to remember that ethical decisions are those made with the common good at their center. In his reaction to the AIG scandal, President Obama used the word “ethic”, which very few reporters seem to be picking up. “Ethic” does have a place in economic policy–or it should! It’s the lack of ethic that has gotten us into this pickle.
On a daily basis, in our normal, everyday lives, our community should be at the heart of our decisions. There’s nothing at all wrong with monetary gain; however, “Does it serve the greater good?” should be the question we always pose to ourselves. At top levels, for decades (centuries? millenia?) failed policies have been rationalized with a failed model (sometimes called the “trickle-down” theory). It doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for a long time, and now it’s falling apart before our eyes. Greed begets greed.
And compassion begets compassion.
Let’s keep compassion at the heart of our decisions.
Learn more
Buy Café Femenino at Haven House’s web site: http://www.havenhousetn.org.
Learn more about the Café Femenino project at their web site: http://www.cafefemenino.com
Rebekkah Hilgraves
Theresa
andyscherer
Peter Mancini
alexasteele
