things we like...
My files have disappeared!
The importance of being earnest [about backing up your stuff]
Hard drive failure is more frequent than you think; scan this WindowsITPro story from 2007: http://bit.ly/rXsFw2
I’m a fan of 3-way backup: At my desk, between my machines, and off-premises. I cringe at the thought of being left high and dry in the middle of a project. Here’s what I do:
Simple $89 Terabyte portable back up drive hanging off my primary machine. This backs up my stuff every day when I’m out to lunch. It’s the least robust because it’s just taking a snapshot at noon of what I’m working on and what’s residing in my client directories, but if calamity strikes I can pull the USB connection and plug it into another machine in my office. Here are links to portable drives at BestBuy, Office Depot or Staples, but they’re available in stores and online in a thousand places.
DropBox for all current work and repetitive client files, graphics, fonts, images used on all machines. I work on three machines: My main office Mac, my traveling Mac notebook, and a second big Mac at the office that is also used by freelancers. DropBox copies any uploaded file back to the other machines so they’re available immediately. I have a 50 gig $10/month account, which is twice what I need, but I never worry about file sizes and multiple copies of the same huge Photoshop file. I also keep all client graphics and logos on DropBox simply because I know that it’s the most recent current version and be reliably imported into any current client document.
Carbonite for continuing backup in real time: $50 a year for unlimited gigabytes. Carbonite backs up my main machine drive throughout the day as I work. Once the first upload is completed [which takes a few days], the Carbonite service somehow figures out when my machine is idle [often] and grabs the most recent changes. You can buy the service for an individual machine or for selected machines on your network, and control everything from your machine. Pretty slick stuff and once it’s set up it runs in the background.
A New Year’s Resolution that’s easy to keep: back up your stuff [earnestly]
He sports a pony tail, btw
Lon Winter, advertising writer
One will rarely find a writer who finds as much joy in turning a phrase or playfully corrupting a string of words on behalf of a lucky client as Lon.
My work with Lon Winter has been limited to buying his writing talents, but his Orlando agency appears to do a variety of things. My best work is done with great writers and I always look forward to working Lon.
Lon shares with me the understanding that core words and visuals are often applied across a range of diverse materials — from identities, web sites, brochures, direct mail, advertising, radio, TV and even huge billboards — and rarely appear in a vacuum.
If you’re going to hire Lon, be sure to hire me as well (he needs a good art director/designer to make his great work even better).
Robert Long
WordPress code writer and designer
WordPress designer Bob Long is our ‘go to’ guy for complex web sites. Before our clients see our creative presentation for an Internet site, Bob has already given us his thumbs up or down on what works and what won’t, and we’ve altered our design to make sure it all works as planned. Bob understands the prickly creative sensibilities of most designers and goes out of his way to translate our design vision into something remarkably similar to what we presented to the client.
Tom Trush, direct response writer
Tom Trush, Direct Response Writer
Tom Trush is a direct-response copywriter. I have worked with Tom on a couple of projects. He is very focused on making advertising, web sites and printed materials work as hard as possible for clients and their customers. Tom is a no-nonsense writer who follows a very simple philosophy that is explained in his books and web site. Check it out. Based in Arizona, you can reach Tom at 602.305.6755.