Going…

going…

gone.

245 Commercial was good to us. When I first started it was only me full time with Ryan working two-and-a-half days a week, and Suzanne part time as well. Many days it was just me in the office.

During our tenure my two girls, Maya and Sophie, were born. I saw the Patriots win three Superbowls and the Red Sox break the curse. We celebrated with a "7 Year Itch" party nearly three years ago. I was there for 9/11. Suzanne moved on to work with animals and I hired Gloria and later Robin. We added Heather, then Beth for a new position of project manager. More recently Réal came in when Heather left.

By the time we left there were six of us in that space above. It was basically SRO: standing room only.

I have a lot of good memories of our time at 245. I met a lot of interesting people and listened as they talked about their businesses, goals and dreams. I hope we helped make those goals and dreams just a little bit more attainable.

We’ll continue on in our new space at 136 Commercial St., just down the street. On Wednesday Jonathan Braden will join the team, and we begin looking for someone to replace Beth take the position of project manager.

Things change…things stay the same. Here’s hoping you get as many great memories out of your job or business as I’ve gotten out of mine.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Owner

(I’ll post photos of the new place once the dust settles.)

Wanted: Talented Project Manager with Passion and Experience

We’re an energetic, successful Web development firm located in Portland, ME, looking for a Project Manager to help us expand and provide outstanding service to our clients.

If you are up for a challenge, if you want to make an impact, if you want to leverage your talent and creativity, if you want to be recognized for your efforts, flyte new media is the right place for you.

You are an enthusiastic, detail-oriented, experienced Project Manager with great communication skills who enjoys working with clients, employees and contractors. You are responsible to allocate resources, schedule and track multiple projects through completion, assign tasks to employees and contractors, update clients on progress, and keep projects on time and on budget.

You report directly to the president…and to all of our clients. You love what you do, you know you make a difference and you look forward to coming into work each day.

If you also know HTML and have worked in a Web design firm you are our ideal applicant!

For more job details, please visit our ad on Jobs in ME.

Rich Brooks
Web Designer, Portland, Maine

I was looking forward to meeting with Beth when we first decided to hire a Project Manager. My wife Cybele–who vets all incoming resumes for me–said she was a "must interview."

Beth came here from Alaska because her husband Kevin was going to school here in Maine. School lasted two years, and Beth had no strong ties here in Maine; her family was back in Alaska and she described herself as a "west-coast girl." It was quite possible I was hiring someone who would only be here for 24 months.

However, she had been a Project Manager for a Web design firm in Alaska. I felt she could help us get organized and put systems in place so that we could develop sites more effectively and efficiently. I decided to take a chance; at least I would get an experienced project manager for two years. Anything else was gravy.

Some of the ideas that she helped implement include:

• getting finalized content before we start design
• creating intake sheets to improve client content
• reviewing client content and providing feedback with an eye towards search engine optimization and usability
• establishing a production calendar
• offering site reviews and audits
• creating a paid Discovery phase for bigger projects
• offering paid Web strategy consulting for clients who need it
• adding Information Architecture as one of our core skills.

I pretty much told her that all those ideas "probably wouldn’t fly here." Thankfully, she didn’t listen to me. (That happens a lot around the office.)

Besides getting all these ideas implemented, Beth also saw every project here through to completion. I never had to worry once I handed a job over to Beth that it would get done. I can’t tell you what a relief that was, since up until we hired a Project Manager I was the defacto PM. I’m sure everyone else in the office was glad to get someone in the position who actually knew what she was doing.

Recently, Kevin was offered a great job in Cooperstown, NY. They’d have to be idiots to turn down this kind of opportunity…and, they’re not. So, unfortunately, Beth will be leaving us in mid-December.

Besides losing an excellent project manager, we’re also losing a good friend. Beth energized the office, regaled us with stories of her childhood in Alaska, and spread her love of wine and cheese (not necessarily in that order.)

The good news? The silver lining? Well, with this Internet thingy, we can continue to work with Beth. Although we need our Project Manager to be in the office, Beth will continue to work with us on Information Architecture and Web site audits and reviews. She has a great eye for how information should be organized on a page, and we’ll continue to work with her as long as she’ll have us.

Beth, I speak for everyone here when I say that you’ll be missed. (Once you leave that is. You still have to work through December 15th. And that’s a full day.)

Rich Brooks
Interim Project Manager?

One position that’s been sorely lacking at flyte these past couple years is a dedicated account manager to work with our clients. Someone to review Web sites, handle updates, and suggest new Internet marketing opportunities as they come up.

I’m proud to announce Jonathan Braden as our new account manager. (He’s the one wearing shorts.)

Jon officially joins our team November first, but you can learn more about him on our crew page.

Rich Brooks
If That Chicken Doesn’t Produce, We’re Having Him for Lunch

Flyte’s looking for talented graphic designers with experience in designing Web sites interested in freelance opportunities.

If you have experience in designing Web sites and can deliver layered PhotoShop files, please consider contacting us and providing us with these three items:

1. Examples of your work (links to URLs would be best; let us know what part of a project you worked on)
2. Your rates, whether hourly or by project
3. References we can contact, whether the client or a general contractor you worked with.

No phone calls, please.

Rich Brooks
Web Site Design

[Be sure to check out the update to this story.]

This morning on my voice mail was a voice mail (wav file) from Congressman Tom Reynold’s assistant informing me that he "wants to recognize me with a National Leadership Award" and to please call back.

Today was a busy day so I didn’t have a chance to call right back, but as I was looking at furniture for the new office and picking up the power cord I left at the Web marketing course I taught last night and writing up a few estimates for new clients I got to thinking….

• Why does a congressman from New York want to recognize a business "leader" from Maine?
• Why does the Business Advisory Council (a project of the National Republican Congressional Committee) want to recognize a democrat?
• Who nominated me? Why do I deserve such an honor?

My curiosity piqued, this afternoon I Googled "National Leadership Award" and found this article about a fellow winner of the award…and a fellow democrat. In short, after winning the award, Ronald Silver was hit up for $300 and asked that they could include his name on a media blitz they were doing. Here’s a snippet:

"The question is, do you want a tax cut?" Matt asked frankly.

"Well, Matt, it depends," I said. "We’re on the verge of a war. Tax revenues are down. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The United States has one of the lowest tax rates in the civilized world. And gasoline prices are cheap enough to allow every Jones in the country to drive a Sport Utility Vehicle. I suppose it depends who’s getting the break, and who’s going to suffer for it. Now, what is the story on this award?" I wanted that plaque.

I told the story to Beth, my project manager and registered Republican (with non-partisan leanings), who asked incredulously, "Is Tom Reynolds selling National Leadership Awards for $300?" I didn’t think so, but I had to get to the bottom of this.

I returned to the voice message and called Brenda at the Business Advisory Council (BAC). Although I didn’t get Brenda, another woman looked me up and saw that I had in fact won the National Leadership Award and asked if she could play a message from Congressman Reynolds that would only last 35 seconds. I said yes.

After hearing the message that reminded me that I was being overtaxed by my government and that the government should be helping small businesses (I really wish I had a transcript of the exact recording) I wondered what the BAC’s take on Net Neutrality was.

When the next operator (a 3rd person, a man this time) picked up the phone I was about to ask him when he confirmed that I had won the award and it came with a gavel and a plaque. (Mmmmm…gavel.)

He also asked if I would be OK with the BAC using my name in a full-page ad they were taking out to support further tax cuts and to defeat the Democrats in the upcoming elections and would I make a donation of $500 to support this "media blitz."

I begged off and asked him if the BAC had a position on Net Neutrality. He said that the BAC was a project of the National Republican Congressional Committee. It seemed he was saying how could they support this as Republicans, but I informed him that Net Neutrality is a non-partisan issue and even the Christian Right supports Net Neutrality.

He said, "oh." I asked if he knew if the BAC had taken a position and he said he didn’t know. Then he asked if $300 donated anonymously would be easier for me to afford.

I told him that I didn’t feel comfortable making a donation or having my name appear in the ad, but I was definitely looking forward to the gavel to "keep my employees in line." He told me that I needed to go to the BAC Web site and fill out a form to get the paperwork started.

I must have missed the URL the first time he gave it to me because just before he hung up I told him that I couldn’t find the link to the form. He repeated the URL and this time told me to put "slash info" at the end. (It’s possible I didn’t hear this the first time.)

I’m not sure if you can register for a National Leadership Award without hearing from a congressional leader first, but if you want to try, here’s the sign up page.

I can’t wait for my gavel.

[Be sure to check out the update to this story.]

Rich Brooks
National Leadership Award Winner

Here are some related links:

• Jim Frizzell and the National Republican Congressional Committee
• Don Kiely’s Technical Blatherings

We just got back the poster from Kinko’s announcing our imminent move. In case you’re not walking down Commercial St. in Portland, Maine today:

Rich Brooks
Good to Grow