Clock is ticking

Talked to Vince about his site yesterday. We talked for about 5 hrs getting things straight with the design, pricing, logos, etc. He bought his site name: www.hausmannhomes.com Here's hoping Randy will jump on the bandwagon after he sees how good Vince's site will be. He gave me an example using smithrothchild.com as far as how he wanted his site to look. Simple enough for me. I like the site. Clean and neat. Just like Vince, ironically enough.

Went to 'work'. Keisha, Sasha and Bryan are still saying they are leaving in Aug. So I had to start cutting some deals with people. Keisha agreed to do some forms for me if I design her site. Hutch is really digging into the flash books. I think he's better than me with the flash, so I'll definitely keep him in mind. August 8 is the day the trio is leaving. If I say, it'll be me, Hutch, Matt and Carl. That doesn't sound too appealing. I left early to get some designing done for me and Vince.

I talked to Ian today about his new job. He says they gather info for anything. Then they can give you the info in digital form or print out. That could come in handy. I text him today saying I could design his site for free and help him get some cards for really cheap. One of Vince's tenants has a business making business cards. The cards are pretty cool. They are made with some sort of plastic instead of regular card stock. He has some good deals on his site. Ian said he's down for it. He might as well be. No need wasting good talent. He's still trying to break into the Logo design and card design field.

I started my content writing today. I'm going to break down the definition of each service we, as solardragons would offer. Then I'm going to use the 6 'w's for explanation, Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Here's hoping I can give enough info to inform consumers about our services and at competitive prices. If this works out with Vince and Randy, I might be able to kick Doppler to the curb sooner than I expect.

Time will tell.

Another day another... oh yeah. Nevermind.

So I get to work around 10am. Bryan and Matt are talking about link campaigns. I thought we were outsourcing our link campaign and Matt said we have to do it 1st. He was saying what if someone screws up that we outsourced to, who's responsible? We are. Which is a good point. So he wants us to do the link campaigns and then outsource later. Bryan leaves and me and Matt are talking. He asks if I wanna go to Florida to train the salesmen so they can sell the SEO packages we put together. I told him I hadnt planned on being around that long. He asks why and I told him about Randy and Vince and some other freelance people that were lined up. Then he's like, "What about after that work is done? What are you gonna do?" Another good point by Matt. So I need to stay here to see where things are gonna go. He told me that Carl wanted to wait until August to start paying me. Which is right around the corner.

He mentioned the other SEO guy that was here before me and how he screwed up stuff. I told him to pass me the extra work so I could fix things and start to get these people ranked. He said some of them are #1 in Google, just under crappy keyword searches. Who knows? We'll see how that goes. I have some people that are ranked either #1 or are on the 1st page for certain search keywords. I've been keeping track of them. I need to put comment tags in there so I can go to people and show them what I did. I also need to call them on a regular basis and try to get some SEO references for if/when I leave...

I'm still debating about the freelance gigs though. Mr. Noels business alone could have me set. Plus Vince was talking about different ways for us to get his site up and running. In addition to that, I have to get my site redesigned. I've been working on the design and Vince will help with the content.

A lot of people are leaving Doppler in a few weeks so I might wanna ride that out but Matt has a point. I need a consistent gig. Period. With the SEO thing up my sleeve, I'm thinking about calling Robert Morris and setting up and appointment to see them and find out whats cracking in chitown.

Speaking of SEO, I finished SEO work on JC Builders, Modern Mirrors and some tax site Carl popped up and wanted done. Then had the nerve to want it on the 1st page of the search engines. I look at the site... and there's no content! It's just a form saying fill this out if you want to be updated about taxes! And we just told him last week and the week before about Google 'sandboxing' all new sites for around 6 months! Geez... Whatever...

This weekend is gonna be superbusy figuring all this out...

Another day...

So I get to work yesterday and the nets down... Great. I was all set to SEO jcbuilders and modern mirrors since I started them yesterday. So we bacically sat around doing nuthin, just politicing about what we're gonna go after we leave this joint. One of the designers, Josh, was fired, so now Hutch is the only designer. Man I feel sorry for him. Not that we are super busy. Just the fact that any site after today that comes in and people dont like, its gonna be Carl down his throat. This company has the potential to make a ton of money. Carl is just running it into the ground... Anyway, I stopped being anti-social and went into the main room with everyone else. My room was turned into a storage room, so Keisha and Sasha didnt have any room to stay. I did though. Yay for me... So I spent the day making sure that these guys can trust me if/when I jump ship.

I went to the Noels house after work. They live way out in the boondocks. He showed me what he does. He sells candles, rents rug shampooers, redecorates places, just some of everything. He had offered me a job but told me honestly that I might make more money staying in my own field. That's cool. He didn't have to say anything. Nuthin personal, just business, y'know? So I was explaining what my job is as far as web design and fortunatly I have Matt now, so I throw out some web proggramming stuff. He says if he did have a website that he'd need someone to manage it and do the usual upkeep. Man that sounds like a plan. He talked about ppl that work for him get health insurance too. I told him I had some freelance gigs in the air and I dont know when things would land or if they would. So we agreed to talk in a couple of weeks to see what happens on my end.

Me and Vince agreed on meeting at least a couple of times a week. He has a new job with some insurance ppl. Right now he's only working 1 day a week for 2 months, then the job goes full-time and some.

You Got Served

So I'm sitting here at my non-paying 'job' when a sheriff walks in and gives Matt some papers and tells him, "You've been served". Matt passes them right to Carl. I'm starting to think my decision to leave this joint is the right one. On the other hand, there's still SEO work I could be doing. I mean, if I leave, I'm working on my site and Vince's, I guess. If I tough it out, there is potential for more work, therefore I can prove I'm good enough to pay as an SEO. I just don't wanna waste time, y'know? I hate wasting time. I got a family now. This isn't like when I was working with Phyllis and living at home with no bills. It's time for action. I guess the question is: What action?

Maybe I should rearrange my schedule here so I can fix my site and Vince's, plus all the stuff thats been going on. I'm gonna have to think on it. I have to prioritize so that everything can get done smoothly and in decent fashion.