Home sweet home

One of the things we discovered last spring wast that there is no footer at all under the front porch. This wouldn’t be “too” terrible if it were a small porch tied in to the house. But this is a massive concrete porch that runs nearly half the length of the house. This spring it finally started to settle. In the span of a couple months it dropped over and inch and a half away from the bottom of the front door creating this gap between the wall and the porch and a little step that was going to catch someone sooner or later.

But how do you fix something like this without tearing the whole thing down and doing it all over? I took the economical way out and gave the guys at 3d Structural Solutions a call. For about $700 they said that they could stabilize the porch and lift it back up in to place with  process call mud jacking. Basically they drill a few holes and inject a concrete /epoxy mix under the concrete until it lifts back in place.

Porch separating from the house

The guys that came out to do the mud jacking, the first time, appeared to have it all under control so I took off and left them to do their work. When I checked in before they left we had a problem. Not only had the porch not lifted up to where it belonged, It had actually pushed away from the house about an inch. I had gone from not great to wow, that pretty much sucks. Having been a business owner for most of my adult life I decided to not freak out on the guys doing the work and called the owner to have a chat. He impressed me by coming out to the house himself to see what happened.

Dan was great. He took one look at the porch and said that he would have his guys back out to do it right. Apparently how much the person doing the work weighs is a factor in how well mud jacking works. A one inch hole is drilled through the concrete, a hose is inserted in to the hole and the operator stands on a step built in to the pipe. Then they pump until the concrete lifts or the operated is shot up in to the air like a pogo stick. For heavy objects there is a different technique that requires more holes and a few jacks to take up the load while the mud is pumped under the concrete.

Look, it's fixed!

The second attempt went great and I am thrilled with the final results. Far cheaper and easier than tearing out the porch and building a new one. Most importantly to me, however, was how well the guys at 3d dealt with a problem when it landed in their lap. They could have easily thrown their hands up and said that’s how these things go some times, and I have deal with contractors like that, but they chose to stand behind their work and their product. And that means more to me than getting right the first time.

Now all I need to do is find the time to grind it all down a bit and put a new skim coat on top to make it look like new.

Seems like just a couple months ago I was talking about re-opening my internet marketing company, Metal Monster Marketing, and here I am again with another change.

It’s time to leave the jewelry business entirely. Effective Christmas Eve I’ll be leaving Images Jewelers as a full time contractor. I’ve loved the last 6 years there and learned a lot about something I knew nothing about when I started. I’ll miss the ladies, the designing, and just about everything else about the store. I’ll still be returning from time to time to give guidance on their web presence and help them continue to develop that side of the business, but it’s time to move on.

So where am I moving on to? Creadively, llc. I’ve taken over the position of director of Search Marketing at Creadively, LLC. Creadively can be classified as a startup company and for now we are working on internal projects only, but the opportunity to get in on a startup, and all that entails, again is just too good of an opportunity to pass up. Juggling several projects at once, training a new staff as we grow, and until Christmas, working two jobs will be a real challenge to adjust to again from the one customer one project life I’ve been leading.

I can’t wait.

Wow, look at all the categories this one drops in to.

Just a quick note to let the loyal readership, all three of you, that I’ve decided to expand my company again and branch out from a single customer jeweler / web guy and hang out my developer shingle again..

Large Orange Pop is the name of my new internet marketing company and will be a sub division of SG Design Studio.. I’ll be offering internet market help, SEO, and web development as appropriate and needed.. While I have no real intention to stop “doing the jewelry thing” I find I miss the fun of helping build up a new business online and look forward to working 90 hours a week again.. Well, maybe not that last part so much..

I expect the marketing / SEO parts of this website to be absorbed in to LOP shortly, and hopefully this site will go back to being a little more fun with some geek stuff and generic weirdness..

I’m off to get my intravenous caffeine port hooked up –

I don’t say that very often.. It’s sort of anti everything I try to do.. But it’s time..

I have been a partner at ForTheWeb.Com since it was founded more than 7 years ago.. We started out as a small web design and hosting firm with 4 partners in Northern California and we have done a lot of good work in that time.. The company has grown and evolved in those years.. But somewhere along the line it quit being “fun”.. A couple of years ago we lost our first partner.. Personality conflicts and other issues kept coming up and three of us decided to buy the fourth out..

With that came more change and some growth.. But lately the “job” has stopped being fun.. It became something I dreaded doing and the extra hours spent on it, above my passion for designing jewelry, just left me tired.. And being a bit of a take or leave it kind of guy, I chose to leave it..

It’s always tough to leave something, especially something that isn’t “finished”.. Over the last 20 years I’ve owned or managed 11 businesses.. Some of them successful, some not so much.. ForTheWeb falls in to that vague middle realm.. The company makes money, has great clients, but doesn’t offer much fullfillment other than that..

This is an amicable parting of the ways, and I expect Shannon and Joel to do quite well in the future with ForTheWeb.. But my days of banging out code for food are behind me now.. Well, except for a couple of pet projects that is – you didn’t expect me to quit cold turkey did you??

This may seem obvious to everyone, it may even be something that you think you do every single day, but probably the single most important thing you can do as a small business owner is communicate with your customers.. It seems so obvious but some many of us forget to do this basic thing..

Take this recent post on one of the jewelry forums:

Hi I ordered a custom (ring) from …. and last contact with him was Sept. 21 stating payment recieved will be in touch soon….It’s been almost a month now and I have sent a few emails to him with no response. Anyone have any ideas how I should proceed…all I want is an update with an estimation of completion…I feel funny to email him again I don’t want him to think I’m some kind of crazy stalker…hehehe….Just worried the ring won’t be here in time for my wedding which is Nov. 12.

All she wants is for someone to tell her that everything will be ok.. At this point she isn’t even all that upset and thinking that she is the one at fault.. But you can see the stress starting to build..

Even first contact with a potential client requires an immediate response, even if that response is “I’m really busy at the moment, I’ll get in touch with you tomorrow.”.. It really is that simple..

You will be amazed at how much easier it is to work with your customers by simply talking to them.. Even when you are having problems with a project, falling behind schedule, unforseen issues, whatever, avoiding your customer is the worst thing you can do.. In fact, by picking up the phone and calling your customer to explain the issue, and more importantly, how you are adressing that issue, you will find that the vast majority of them are understanding and willing to work with you to reach that resolution.. They issues too and will understand yours..

If I have one complaint about the new internet age, it’s the lack of communication.. Email is great, but there are so many sites these days that offer no other means of communication.. In the example above there is no phone number listed on the website, and no phone number provided to the customer when they begin the project.. Yes, constant phone calls from customers can interrupt your work day, but without those customers you won’t be doing much work..

~Fey