I have a lot to write about my trip to NYC, and many pictures to post, too. Yes, I had fun. Yes, it was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had for several reasons. But that’s not what I want to blog about tonight. I want to blog this conversation because I need a “bookmark” that I can refer to later.

Keep in mind that I first started chatting with this guy only a few hours ago. Although we’ve known each other for quite a while, we’ve only been “Internet acquaintances” and have never chatted before. (Screen names changed to protect the innocent.)

[22:40] Me: I should just admit that I’m not really into the whole serious relationship thing… I get bored too easily.. but something in the way I grew up makes me feel guilty for thinking that way :-/
[22:41] Me: I love that first night… it’s so erotic… but I quickly get bored
[22:41] Me: After a couple months I want someone new and exciting so I can have that first moment again.
[22:43] Guy: ar you that way with jobs, too?
[22:44] Me: No, I’ve been running Simpli for 4+ years, and I’ve been full-time with it for about 18 months now
[22:44] Me: I love Simpli 🙂
[22:44] Guy: so see, if you love something it doesn’t get boring. 🙂
[22:44] Me: I haven’t had a FT job working for someone else since like 2003.
[22:44] Me: FT W2 job since 2002. 1099 since 2003
[22:45] Guy: but Simpli gives you new challenges all the time right?
[22:45] Me: Yes, it’s true… I created the company, so I can do whatever I want with it… that’s part of my passion… I can do whatever the fuck I want.. it’s a great feeling
[22:46] Me: I can sell it off for several hundred thousand dollars and just wander around the world if I really want to, at any time
[22:46] Me: Or keep working at it and make millions
[22:46] Guy: so you’re a control freak… so it would SEEM that you’d want a guy that would do whatever you want… but that’s wrong, you need a guy that you have to work at
[22:46] Guy: someone who’s as ambitious and controlling as you are.
[22:46] Guy: someone you have to work at to keep you both happy
[22:47] Me: I’ve gotta have someone who wants crazy adventures all the time too… and someone who loves traveling and seeing new places… and fucking in those new places. 😀
[22:48] Guy: EXACTLY!

And after an hour of talking to me, he pretty much summarized it. Imagine my shock that someone who didn’t even know me could so easily summarize what I wanted in a guy. Because, see, it’s not really about the car he drives, or any of that stuff (even though I’ll mercilessly tease about those sorts of things.) It’s just that I want someone who’s going to make my life new and exciting on a regular basis, and who knows when to take control and when I want to be in control. Which is a challenge, I admit. But then, I don’t think I ever said that I would be easy to please! 😉

(This blog’s for you, Andrew!) 😀

Woooooooo!!!

*Erica stops running around the room long enough to type a blog*

Most of you know that I designed the Simpli website years ago (in 2002, to be precise.) It has since not really changed. While it desperately needs a facelift, I don’t have the time for it and I can’t really afford to hire a designer (even though we have some great ones hosting with us at Simpli!)

So when I saw a contest for web hosts where the prize was a free website redesign, I submitted Simpli.

The field was narrowed to 20 contestants last week and I was asked to submit answers to several questions about why we wanted a website redesign. Since I’m best with essays, I turned it into an essay… and even attached some pictures of our staff! Here is the first part of my essay:

Last month, I received a phone call from a potential customer. “We’ve used your service before and you guys were fantastic,” he said. “We’re interested in a dedicated server for a new project, and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions.”

“Sure!” I said.

“We looked at your website, but we can’t figure out what we need from it,” he said. “Honestly, we really love you guys, but if we would have stumbled on this website without having used your service, we would have not ordered from you.”

“Oh?” I asked. “Why is that?”

“It looks unprofessional and I can’t find the answers to my questions on it,” he replied. “That’s why I called you.”

This customer went on to place a $1,690.00 order with us for a year upfront of a dedicated server on October 21, 2005. That’s $1,690.00 that we undeniably would have lost due to our website design had he not worked with us previously and known our service and level of professionalism.

My conversation with that customer is what made me apply for ReInvention.

We are looking for a website that really showcases our commitment to our customers and our personal service. We want a completely unique website that we can be proud of. One thing that I really want to get rid of are those stock photos of “happy telemarketers” that are on so many websites. Our current website has some, too. I have attached two pictures that are the “real” Simpli — one is of one of our employees, Ben, building a server, and the other one is of me cheesin’ with some RAM and processors that we recently ordered for a customer. These are the kinds of things I want to put on our website. I really want to give off the vibe that we are REAL people who care about our customers, and that customers can always reach us when they have a problem or concern. That’s what has garnered us hundreds of satisfied customers so far, and our current website shows none of that. I also want to post some in-depth testimonials from current customers — we can furnish audio and customer pictures, which I think would be a unique way to do a testimonial.

The winner was announced today — and guess what…it was Simpli! 😀 Simpli has won a $5000 website redesign courtesy of Template Monster. With the redesign contest comes lots of free publicity, too, since this is like a reality TV show for the web where they go in-depth explaining every piece of the redesign and why they made the decisions they made.

I’ll keep posting with the results as we get them, but expect a complete facelift of www.simpli.biz in a few months. It certainly deserves it. I can’t wait to see what we come up with!

P.S. James of TemplateMonster explains why they chose Simpli.
Edit 8/15/2008: Since this link is now dead, I pulled James’s post from archive.org to save for posterity here:

I received 13 briefs we (David (CEO of Template Monster), Paul, and me) had to choose from.

Now we are ready to announce the winner of the contest. It is… www.simpli.biz!
Our congratulations to Erica Douglass!
We really like her brief and the company of course but not the website as it really needs some help on design.

I now quote Paul on the reasons why we have chosen simpli.biz:

Quote:
1. She is the most open to changes and new direction when it comes to
her company image.

2. She can readily identify why her current site isn’t working, not just
whether she likes or dislikes it, but how her business is directly
impacted by the design and engineering of it.

3. Her needs are manageable. Her site is sizable, but not overwhelming
for a first-time Reinvention project.

4. She expresses herself better than any other candidate. She will be
easy to work with when it comes to keeping the project moving and
working with her content.

5. From a visual design perspective, she needs help about as badly as
anyone, worse than most 🙂

We would like to thank all the applicants who took the time to send us their briefs.
Most of the sites submitted need some design help but we are limited with our resources and cannot help each applicant. We are really sorry about it. But we hope that you will stick to ReInvention so you could learn how to produce good design.

A week from today, I’m off to New York City!

I haven’t been on a vacation in a few months, and the past couple of weeks have really underscored a need for me to take some time off and think about things. Plus, I had 50,000 frequent flyer miles that were just begging to be used. Last week I was thinking about it and I decided to burn the FF miles and head off to NYC. So I’m out — from the 16th to the 20th.

I’m both really excited and really nervous. I’m excited because I’ve never been to NYC and I can’t wait to meet some of my Internet friends in person! I’m nervous because this will be my first vacation longer than 24 hours where I’m completely on my own. Previously, I’ve always traveled with other people or met up with other people once I got to my destination. Even though I have plans to meet with people there this time as well, most of the time I’ll be on my own, without a tour guide or anyone to show me around. (I plan to buy a travel guide and mark off several places I want to go; hopefully I’ll get to all of them while I’m there.) Part of me wishes I had someone to share this trip with, and part of me says “Hey, it’ll be fun to not have anyone else around, because you can do absolutely anything you want.”

I think that second part is what frightens me; despite my tough “master planner” exterior, I’m perfectly content to let someone else have the reins for a while, as long as I get to do what I want somewhere in the plan. “Vacation”, for me, has always been defined as letting someone else make the choices. Since my entire life is filled with me constantly making choices for myself and other people, it’s nice to be able to relax and let someone else think about stuff for a while. I am mentally preparing for the fact that this vacation won’t be like that, and in some respects it makes me a bit sad. I seriously wish I had a significant other whom I could trust to go with me and make decisions for me while I sat back and relaxed and did whatever we both decided would be fun. On the other hand, I will use my ridiculously-well-honed planning skills to make sure I have a fun vacation without trying to plan things out while I’m there.

Overall, I’m optimistic about the trip. I hope this will give me the courage to continue going places on my own and to not have to wait until someone else thinks it’s a good idea to go. Also, I think most of my friends think it’s weird that I’ve never been to NYC. Now I can finally tell them to hush. 😉

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

Score: California citizens 1, Governator 0. 😀