Category Archives: Hi ho

my last day at blurb is this friday.

in the tech world, people stick around for 18 months before moving on to the next big thing and the next bigger paycheck. but not me. i linger on. i fall in love with the people and the place, i wallow in being comfortable, and i just keep on being there.

but i’ve known that i should expand my experiences and portfolio and that san francisco in 2014 is the wrong place and time to plan for a lifetime with one company. so i put out feelers every once in a while, and the last feeler just took hold. i’m starting at a new job on the 7th.

even if i end up hating it, which i doubt, i feel confident that going through the process of change and exploration was the right thing to do. but it is hurting an awful lot to make the exit from this place and the people.

so long and thanks for all the photo booths.

I work at Blurb, a software and web company that provides the tools and platform for anyone to be able to make and design a beautiful coffee table style photo book.  Or text book, if you’re novel inclined (I’m looking at you NaNoWriMo people!)

This is not a sponsored post.  I mean, Blurb does pay me and all.  Cause I work here.  But they’re not sponsoring a blog post.

Anyway!

I’m not a Blurb pusher, but I do really like what we do and I would definitely recommend trying it out if you are photographically inclined.  I love the idea that you can get your photos off of your computer and into a book, without all of the hassle of putting together a traditional photo album.

We’re offering a friends and family discount through November 30, so I just wanted to post that for anyone to use if you’d like.  It’s good for 20% off 2 or more books if you enter FORFRIENDS during checkout.

Here’s an example of a book I made with the first year of photos of nephew #1.

MAX | Make Your Own Book

And another that’s more of a portfolio style collection of photos.

A Fraction of the Whole by Maggie Hannon | Make Your Own Book

And since there are so many people more clever and creative than me, there’s a bounty of inspiring books on the Blurb website.

aren’t you supposed to feel brand new?

inspiring you and stuff?

cause you know…

And as much as a part of me wants to go spin around in a circle in Times Square, instead I crawled back to my hotel room, fell into the very nice white sheets, and put on Grey’s Anatomy.  Then I  took out my travel funnel and proceeded to pour the entire contents of my snack bar into my gullet.  You think I kid.  But seriously.  The only thing that’s left over there is some pretzels.

i’m here working in a trade show booth, telling people about my company’s wares and what’s new in the print-on-demand photo book world.  it’s great and fun and different, but it’s SO different from sitting on my rumpshaker and not-talking except for the telepathic communications i have with my computer, that i am rendered flopsome.

tomorrow then.  it’s new york.  there’s nothing i can’t do.    may the gods of rally find me after a 2nd day of trade show flooring…

I just finished an eight month long branding and messaging project last night.  My team gave a presentation of all of the deliverables to the board; they gave us three cheers and some hearty handshakes, and off we went.  The client had already started using some of the messaging, even before this final sign-off from the board, so I feel pretty good about the reception of our work.

My team was comprised of two talented marketing visionaries, a copywriter, and me, the project manager.

We did market research on the organization’s competitors, we gathered existing data about the organization’s current branding – or lack thereof, and we spent a lot of time consulting with the client time to really nail down what it was they wanted and why.

Having this new and consistent branding means that client will be better able to leverage themselves for increased funding and will, generally, have greater visibility.

All pretty standard hum drum, really.  Except we were all working for free.

I volunteer for The Taproot Foundation, this amazing nonprofit that provides service grants to other outstanding nonprofits in need.  You can apply for a grant to improve your brand, like the project I just finished, or you can get a website redesign, or a strategic staff development plan, or any number of several other options.  Working with Taproot means that a nonprofit can get help with the kinds of essential strategy and work needed to be successful, without having the resources to complete that work themselves.

I used to volunteer to do things like stuffing envelopes or giving directions at events.  Always for a worthy cause, but the 3 hours of minimum wage level work donated felt unsatisfactory.  They weren’t getting a whole lot out of value out of me and I wasn’t really being fulfilled by the experience.

I started volunteering at Taproot 2 years ago as a way to bolster my resume, but now feel like it really is the best way to do volunteer work.  They run projects in SF, LA, NY, Chicago and Washington; if you’re local to one of those areas, I’d highly recommend that you check Taproot out.