About 3am Coffee
This short sentence is a signal of what just was, is no longer, and what was to come, is now.
What’s next?
Jed Bartlett
I lose my job, industry, and entire concept of what the previous 4 years had been building towards in three short hours between 9am & noon-o-clock on March 11, 2020 sitting at the kitchen table of an AirBnB in Long Beach, CA.
What’s next?
Within six months I am implementing a plan that rises from the ashes of yet another career. What goes around comes around, and I have a history of looping back at past lives to re-up when it’s time for what’s next.
I am building the internet (web development) that feels a lot like the old days at ONST Creative/Versett, designing more than ever, and providing small business consulting relying on six years of agency life, and the last four years making a freelance photo journalism career work.
My hours of operation are based on my natural circadian rhythms, so Coffee at 3am is common, often, and usually results in the best work days before the city even wakes up.
Currently Working With Mile2Marathon (link)
When Dylan mentions managing almost 200 athletes monthly payments with Google Sheets & Forms, I throw up in my mouth a little bit. Actually. Buried deep in an ambitiously torrent pace of work, I hear a business owner lay out a pain point like that, and I simply can’t help myself.
Nearly a year later, we launch a thing that does some stuff. Six months after that, a global pandemic, and we’ve got quite a polished little piece of our own internet web site including:
- Complete re-brand project that runs as smoothly as your first mile race
- Full modular site design reflective of the new M2M identity and business goals
- A WordPress/WooCommerce based monthly subscription billing & invoicing system
- Custom coach matching on-boarding & registration with notifications
- Multiple membership levels/abilities providing gated functionality throughout the site
We have defined the business model of M2M in the process, and have a sustainable growth plan laid out for the future.
I am now integrated as part of the team, collaborating with co-owner Elly Woods on business decisions, designing and producing marketing assets, developing a complete merch line, managing fulfillment, bringing the teams social media in-house, training of system admin staff, all the while continuing to build features — aimed solely at achieving business goals — into the increasingly efficient web site.
We have finally free’d Dylan up to be the complete leader he is for his coaches and athletes — for Canadian running. We no longer manage our monthly billing with a spreadsheet — it manages us.
The Future
In addition to getting businesses off the ground with my Digital Asset Management package, I am always on the lookout for interesting projects — doing actual good in the world — I can throw my skills at. I’m a good second or third person in a room.
If you are early days into something…