Strategy Games and Building a Business
Posted by: creativescientist on: March 11, 2009
I was a serious gamer back in the day (when I still had the time). I wasn’t as hard-core as my brother but I could give him a bit of a headache when it came to ‘beat ‘em ups’. My true love however, was for strategy games on the PC (think Warcraft, Age of Empires, The Settlers) and although I knew I shouldn’t have been so occupied with them ignored chores, battered body clock, life passing me by, etc), I just couldn’t bring myself to stop playing for a very long time. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled unto an article that confirms (in my mind anyway :-p) that the time I spent staring at my computer screen, clicking away like a maniac was not for naught. In this article, Collis Ta’eed (a very respected web entrepreneur) explains how the logic involved in playing strategy games could be applied to growing a business.
Don’t believe me? See for yourself here.
The Art of Seduction
Posted by: creativescientist on: January 18, 2009
- In: Wow
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I don’t usually watch King of Queens. In fact, I only knew about Kevin James from the film Hitch. Nevertheless, I don’t think I’ve ever been as impressed with anyone doing anything as I was with him while watching this. To all the height-challenged, overweight men out there: Watch and learn baby. Watch and learn.
Life in Pictures II: Pensive
Posted by: creativescientist on: October 29, 2008
This shot of my brother is one of my favourites. He had a lot on his mind that day that he was ‘not’ talking to me about when I took this (I have a short attention span). ISO setting wasn’t on which is why the image is a little blurry. I think it turned out ok considering he wasn’t exactly posing for the this shot. Sony Cybershot – a bit of PS for contrast and depth.
Web Templates – A Necessary Evil?
Posted by: creativescientist on: October 12, 2008
Website templates. Mention those two little words anywhere near a bunch of web designers and you’d get everything from mild disgust to outright rage. Some examples:
“Devaluing what we do as designers”
“Yuck”
“Cheap designs, bad code, and a good chance of copyright infringement”
“A freelancer?s nightmare”
“The Template biz is killing our Business”
Website templates have long been regarded as a blight on the web design industry – an industry largely made up of creative-types. Many feel that these templates cheapen their profession and skew the expectations of would-be clients. They are often viewed (by designers) as ugly (some are), non-standards compliant (many are) and uncreative (also true of many). Many web design firms boast on creating ‘bespoke, built-to-order websites’ some of which truly are works of art. However, here’s the thing about bespoke, built-to-order sites:
Life in Pictures I: Vision
Posted by: creativescientist on: September 25, 2008
This is a photo I took of my sister a few years ago. We were just hanging around one night and generally being silly when I decided to test out the macro settings on my (then new) Cybershot. This was the rather surprising result. Minimal Photoshop – a bit of contrast and a smidgen of sharpen.
Life in Pictures
Posted by: creativescientist on: September 21, 2008
Apart from being an evil scientist and budding entrepreneur, I also like to dabble in a bit of photography. And I use the term dabble quite loosely. By dabble I mean stick my toe from time to time into the vast ocean that is the world of Photography. I’ve never studied the subject, I know squat about lighting and angles. In fact I’d go as far as to say that I don’t do Photography with a capital P – I take pictures. Sometimes.
I haven’t got any fancy gadgets either – just a Sony Cybershot and my Nokia 95 for when I’m on the go (stop laughing).
The thing about photography though is that you can never really predict when you’ll get a good picture. Sometimes I take a shot of something I think is interesting and the photograph comes out … well, let’s just say it won’t win any awards. Sometimes I just think “what the heck?” and whip out my trusty camera and the result is breath-taking (in my opinion). So far I’ve only got one of those ‘breath-taking’ ones, a few nice ones and lots of ‘meh’ ones. Your punishment for reading this blog will be that you’ll have to look at them once in a while. Don’t worry, I am not unreasonable – I’ll try not to make that too often.
It will make more money for us
Posted by: creativescientist on: September 12, 2008
Remember my post on the cost of a good reputation? It looks as though a few business owners don’t quite grasp the principle of putting the well-being of your customers first. This week, another company caught with its pants down is E.ON. According to the London Paper (a free, daily publication that I read religiously), a senior executive’s response to a question on how high gas and oil prices would be affected by a harsh winter was:
“It will make more money for us.”
This was said at an industry seminar a day before the UK government was due to announce a package tackling fuel poverty.
Am I invisible?
Posted by: creativescientist on: September 9, 2008
I was reading an interesting article the other day where ‘usability guru’ Jakob Nielsen was interviewed. The guy made a sufficient amount of sensible statements (in my opinion) to warrant me wanting to know more about him. A quick Google search led me to his homepage (no comment on the design). One of the links on the News section let me to this article. So there I am nodding along to all the points that make sense when I come to the end and see this:
“If your site is not listed on the first page of search results, you might as well not exist.”
Ouch. Harsher words have ne’er been spoken. Granted, this article was written in 2006 but I find that this is a rather common sentiment among web aficionados today. Read the rest of this entry »
My Motivation
Posted by: creativescientist on: August 28, 2008
- In: Business
- 5 Comments
I don’t want a billion dollar empire. I don’t want a million dollar empire. I just want make enough to keep me doing what I love doing – making a difference to people’s businesses and organisations. I had dreams of grandeur when I first started Wai Designs. How much money I would make, what I would do with it, etc. Then I got my first ‘proper’ client. She was pretty much everything I wanted in a client (and I told her so). Apart from needing my services, she was also easy-going, friendly, creative and knew what she wanted (an invaluable quality if you ask me). At the end of the project her degree of gratitude warmed my heart. She told me how much her friends and family had liked the site and how much she did too – her excitement was evident even over the phone. It was then that I decided that I didn’t want my business to be a money-making scheme. I wanted it to be something that would illicit the same reaction I got from my client that day. She could have chosen a cheaper option. She could have chosen a quicker option – but she chose me. And didn’t regret it. That is my motivation. I want people to know they can choose me and not regret it. That, to me, is worth much more I could ever hope to make with this business.
