Recently, I decided to update my website again. Although I was comfortable posting a brief history of my experience on the About Us page of my website, I have decided to replace that history with more explanation of the services I could provide as a company. But never fear, (if you did fear I am sorry and concerned), I have moved that history to here.
Our History
From the stage to television, from logical to creative, the experience that comes from us is more diverse than your average designer. My name is Brad A. Haines and I am the person behind BH Creative Design. Growing up, I felt I was going to do something creative. Art, band, photojournalism and computer science were among my favorite classes. Entering college, I found myself wanting to study interests such as architecture and motion graphics. I took a detour through theatre where I explored my creativity in scene design and directing. Enjoying the directing aspect of setting up a stage for something to happen for the audience, I also explored video editing. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing from Texas State University.
I went on to explore my interest in editing, seeking out television stations and companies looking for video editors. I took up video editing as a hobby, but found I could expand my technical knowledge about video editing and motion graphics. I earned an Associates in Multimedia from ITT Technical Institute, where as a student, I studied everything from HTML and Visual Basic to 3D modeling, animation, flash and graphic design.
I began building my portfolio with a few video projects. I built my first portfolio website and then my first client website. I left my position in television broadcasting and began working as a web and multimedia developer. Over the next few years I built numerous interactive presentations and maintained dozens of websites for our company's clients.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Busy week for a vacation
I found myself planning business trips and tasks during my upcoming vacation which was planned months ago. I feel grateful to have business tasks to plan and realize it'll help me divert from the mindless eating, smoking and slouching these vacations usually permit.
Didn't have enough time today to get everything done and got a busy week ahead. Went through the first client review on the development phase on my first CSS site. Contracting out my friend Jay for additional CSS work even though I realize I have broken ground on my learning and application of CSS. Realize I am behind from other developers and designers but it feels really good to have a tableless website now - and one I will be proud to display.
Realize I have 6 clients I have contacted in the last few days. Every once in a while I write this not to boast but to realize I am already living my dream and not far off or fooling myself on this. I am so thankful for some of my clients' positive feedback and the confidence and motivation I get from that feedback.
Didn't have enough time today to get everything done and got a busy week ahead. Went through the first client review on the development phase on my first CSS site. Contracting out my friend Jay for additional CSS work even though I realize I have broken ground on my learning and application of CSS. Realize I am behind from other developers and designers but it feels really good to have a tableless website now - and one I will be proud to display.
Realize I have 6 clients I have contacted in the last few days. Every once in a while I write this not to boast but to realize I am already living my dream and not far off or fooling myself on this. I am so thankful for some of my clients' positive feedback and the confidence and motivation I get from that feedback.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Social Media Seminar for Business
Tomorrow I will be attending a Social Media Seminar for Business sponsored by Katy Check-A-Pro with as a guest of one of my clients. They will cover social media, getting lost in the buzz, where to start, etc. I am very excited about this as I am participating in this search right now with my own business, and doing it for myself so I can do it for my clients later on.
I started this blog last year under a different name, and finally I have began to integrate social media for business into my web design business. My Facebook page receives from 0 to 10 hits a week. It seems like I put more effort into it than desired, but I love doing it. With 150+ friends, I would hope to catch a primary or secondary reference or visit. I haven"t seen many hits from Facebook yet. Yesterday I added one of my friends company page as a friend. I was very surprised to see his page and will check it out tonight or this week.
A few weeks ago, I received an email that looked like a job op, but instead was possibly a spam. The idea seemed very interesting though and this morning, broken links left me with a broken spirit for this email. Here is the link that works: http://atticusgraphics.info/. The product being pushed was called FanPagePop. Maybe it had overwhelming traffic and is having issues, or maybe it was all a hoax. A very well thought out idea but a hoax. It advertised a customized Facebook page in the same manner everyone pushed out customized MySpace pages and layouts years ago.
Is that right? Years ago? MySpace? Will Facebook be the same. It will if they charge for it and very quickly. If Myspace guy, Tom, wants his people back, he should be ready to welcome back his people - if they will come back. How many people go back and get the old dog from the pound when the puppy got hit by a truck? That old mut is still as cute as ever. My sisters dog is about 8 years old. Last year, my sister got a kitten, and that dog has more life now than we have ever seen. Could these social media networks work together to improve each other. It seems like they started. Myspace changed it's layouts. Facebook integrated music apps. But it seems both just went stagnet after that. Twitter came up and stole their thunder and like an old juggling act, they seemed to have went to the dressing room and cried.
Last week, out of curiousity, I finally looked at a Twitter page. I let myself get overwhelmed ad shelved it for the time being - knowing it may benefit me rather than hurt me.
So much more to discuss, but I gotta go to work.
I will report on my experience as soon as I can. I am in the process of getting ready to move again. I have much excitement about my new office space and will be going with my woman to pick out a desk in these next two weeks.
I started this blog last year under a different name, and finally I have began to integrate social media for business into my web design business. My Facebook page receives from 0 to 10 hits a week. It seems like I put more effort into it than desired, but I love doing it. With 150+ friends, I would hope to catch a primary or secondary reference or visit. I haven"t seen many hits from Facebook yet. Yesterday I added one of my friends company page as a friend. I was very surprised to see his page and will check it out tonight or this week.
A few weeks ago, I received an email that looked like a job op, but instead was possibly a spam. The idea seemed very interesting though and this morning, broken links left me with a broken spirit for this email. Here is the link that works: http://atticusgraphics.info/. The product being pushed was called FanPagePop. Maybe it had overwhelming traffic and is having issues, or maybe it was all a hoax. A very well thought out idea but a hoax. It advertised a customized Facebook page in the same manner everyone pushed out customized MySpace pages and layouts years ago.
Is that right? Years ago? MySpace? Will Facebook be the same. It will if they charge for it and very quickly. If Myspace guy, Tom, wants his people back, he should be ready to welcome back his people - if they will come back. How many people go back and get the old dog from the pound when the puppy got hit by a truck? That old mut is still as cute as ever. My sisters dog is about 8 years old. Last year, my sister got a kitten, and that dog has more life now than we have ever seen. Could these social media networks work together to improve each other. It seems like they started. Myspace changed it's layouts. Facebook integrated music apps. But it seems both just went stagnet after that. Twitter came up and stole their thunder and like an old juggling act, they seemed to have went to the dressing room and cried.
Last week, out of curiousity, I finally looked at a Twitter page. I let myself get overwhelmed ad shelved it for the time being - knowing it may benefit me rather than hurt me.
So much more to discuss, but I gotta go to work.
I will report on my experience as soon as I can. I am in the process of getting ready to move again. I have much excitement about my new office space and will be going with my woman to pick out a desk in these next two weeks.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Waiting for gold
Yesterday morning I spent my pre-work time signing up with webdesignfinders.net. I opted not to pay $190 for a platinum listing and went for gold. The gold listing requires you to cross link on page your home page back to the website.
I immediately woke up this morning and checked the analytics on my website to see if I had any new traffic. I am on a mission to spread out my traffic sources. Currently ( am very heavy on direct traffic and very sparse on search engine and referral traffic. My two clients have signed up with local agencies for their industries - their traffic on their websites have been even spread.
I did come up as the last listing on the first page for houston, tx, which I was plased with. Here are the links for the search results and the link, I think, to my info page:
http://webdesignfinders.net/texas/houston-web-designers.html
http://webdesignfinders.net/details/7765.html
I immediately woke up this morning and checked the analytics on my website to see if I had any new traffic. I am on a mission to spread out my traffic sources. Currently ( am very heavy on direct traffic and very sparse on search engine and referral traffic. My two clients have signed up with local agencies for their industries - their traffic on their websites have been even spread.
I did come up as the last listing on the first page for houston, tx, which I was plased with. Here are the links for the search results and the link, I think, to my info page:
http://webdesignfinders.net/texas/houston-web-designers.html
http://webdesignfinders.net/details/7765.html
Monday, March 29, 2010
Marching On
Every once in a while, I have to advertise and sell myself on my business. I have to put the dreamer against the accountant and hope they come to an agreement. I have to believe I can do what I do. One day came recently where I wanted to throw in the the towel for a round. The respect for a boxer comes after he fights round after grueling round, and he only breaks for water and fix up before he gets back in the ring and continues to fight. Many of us wouldn't last the first few rounds, especially after brutal blows, our confidence gets shaken.
I lost my first client last night. After getting paid for designing the website, the client had not responded to proceeding on to develop the website. They went with an industry organization that sells templated sites. I went through my natural reaction of disappointment as I read the news on my Blackberry in bed with my girlfriend. My curiousity is why she would pay for the design and not extend the payment a little further for the development. And I fell asleep forgetting my victories and remembering my losses.
Currently I am working with an old employer as a contractor. Recently, my hours have increased and at one point, my business was quiet. I had a thought of trying to approach my old employer with hopes to work my old job again. I was going to do it with a need for stability. But before I approached it, I put out the feelers to all the quiet clients. Out of five quiet clients, two of them got in contact and are active clients again, two have not responded, and one chose something else. The victory was the two that chose to proceed on. As promising as the lost client site was, the active clients' site is just as promising. The most positive aspect of the lost client is that I now have a templated site to sell to a future client.
And in the corner, I have my client that has been supplying me work for the last couple years. Although his website has no bells and whistles, he is the client that I have developed a work relationship with that I shoot for with other clients. And as I write this, I become as grateful for this client as I do for the active clients and the lost clients. Regardless of the outcome, I have had the opportunity to do this work. I have a computer, the skills and the know how, the time, and the home to work from. I have the family and girlfriend and friends that support and encourage me in my endeavor. I have the fans, the cheers, and the manager in the corner that takes my spit. I have the ability to change my perception of what is going on and how it affects my present and future. And finally, I have the present and the future which means I March on through the end of the March Madness and continue to work.
I lost my first client last night. After getting paid for designing the website, the client had not responded to proceeding on to develop the website. They went with an industry organization that sells templated sites. I went through my natural reaction of disappointment as I read the news on my Blackberry in bed with my girlfriend. My curiousity is why she would pay for the design and not extend the payment a little further for the development. And I fell asleep forgetting my victories and remembering my losses.
Currently I am working with an old employer as a contractor. Recently, my hours have increased and at one point, my business was quiet. I had a thought of trying to approach my old employer with hopes to work my old job again. I was going to do it with a need for stability. But before I approached it, I put out the feelers to all the quiet clients. Out of five quiet clients, two of them got in contact and are active clients again, two have not responded, and one chose something else. The victory was the two that chose to proceed on. As promising as the lost client site was, the active clients' site is just as promising. The most positive aspect of the lost client is that I now have a templated site to sell to a future client.
And in the corner, I have my client that has been supplying me work for the last couple years. Although his website has no bells and whistles, he is the client that I have developed a work relationship with that I shoot for with other clients. And as I write this, I become as grateful for this client as I do for the active clients and the lost clients. Regardless of the outcome, I have had the opportunity to do this work. I have a computer, the skills and the know how, the time, and the home to work from. I have the family and girlfriend and friends that support and encourage me in my endeavor. I have the fans, the cheers, and the manager in the corner that takes my spit. I have the ability to change my perception of what is going on and how it affects my present and future. And finally, I have the present and the future which means I March on through the end of the March Madness and continue to work.
Monday, March 22, 2010
March Madness Update
With one week left in March Madness, and one week left before I turn older by another year, I am somewhat satisfied with this month. I have felt like the Madness and the March have both been present, but will I reach the finals?
Maintenance clients have driven the court for these games. The guys on the bench stepped up and scored financially while the draft prospects and future stars trained for their day in the sun. And it's the quiet ones on the end of the bench sometimes that give you the reward.
Two web designs were completed. And I am waiting on the clients' responses. One client has been promising, the other has gone dark for now. A T-shirt design came out of nowhere and was completed and printed. A maintenance client returned for an update to his site and is now working with a technical writer to enhance his content. Another client has increased his speed ad kept me busy throughout the month, developing a new photo gallery for his site.
More details later, as I write this hours after I should be sleeping, and now am ready to sleep hard and well.
Maintenance clients have driven the court for these games. The guys on the bench stepped up and scored financially while the draft prospects and future stars trained for their day in the sun. And it's the quiet ones on the end of the bench sometimes that give you the reward.
Two web designs were completed. And I am waiting on the clients' responses. One client has been promising, the other has gone dark for now. A T-shirt design came out of nowhere and was completed and printed. A maintenance client returned for an update to his site and is now working with a technical writer to enhance his content. Another client has increased his speed ad kept me busy throughout the month, developing a new photo gallery for his site.
More details later, as I write this hours after I should be sleeping, and now am ready to sleep hard and well.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Excited about March Madness
What I hope March Madness to be in terms of this business is an addition of many new jobs to work on and a closure to the handful of jobs in design and development.
Currently working on two website designs, one which the design is done and I'm waiting for the client to give the go ahead on the development, and the other is a new design in which I have created two design options and have to finish up the secondary page on the first design and finish the entire wie screen design.
Also working on a business card in which I have a little bit of cut and past and doctoring to do to a background image. If all works out, it will be a very nice business card with a new logo to post also. If not, I will be stuck with an overworked project which I had high hopes for. In addition, I created a t-shirt design a few weeks ago. The client said he had put the printing on someone else and feared it would not work through to an actual shirt, but if it does or doesn't I will still post the design somewhere. Probably on this blog if it never gets printed. Finally, back in January, I created a half-page ad for Yellowbook and am waiting for the new phonebooks to come out so I can add that sample ot my portfolio. If all works out, I will have strengthened my graphic design portfolio. And let's not forget about the new BH Creative Design logo.
For the business side of BH Creative Design, I have recently drafted an Agreement and a Website Form which are both in review. I also look to create a Rate Sheet and post portions of that on my website. I still have to gather generic samples of alot of my work with my former employer. After 3 yrs and many projects in Flash and other interactive project, I have little to show that reflects my experience and skill becuase our main client and those projects were not for public viewing.
So, February was a bit of a frenzy. Hopefully March Madness will get the gears turning and then April will result in more consistent and continuing projects and clients.
Currently working on two website designs, one which the design is done and I'm waiting for the client to give the go ahead on the development, and the other is a new design in which I have created two design options and have to finish up the secondary page on the first design and finish the entire wie screen design.
Also working on a business card in which I have a little bit of cut and past and doctoring to do to a background image. If all works out, it will be a very nice business card with a new logo to post also. If not, I will be stuck with an overworked project which I had high hopes for. In addition, I created a t-shirt design a few weeks ago. The client said he had put the printing on someone else and feared it would not work through to an actual shirt, but if it does or doesn't I will still post the design somewhere. Probably on this blog if it never gets printed. Finally, back in January, I created a half-page ad for Yellowbook and am waiting for the new phonebooks to come out so I can add that sample ot my portfolio. If all works out, I will have strengthened my graphic design portfolio. And let's not forget about the new BH Creative Design logo.
For the business side of BH Creative Design, I have recently drafted an Agreement and a Website Form which are both in review. I also look to create a Rate Sheet and post portions of that on my website. I still have to gather generic samples of alot of my work with my former employer. After 3 yrs and many projects in Flash and other interactive project, I have little to show that reflects my experience and skill becuase our main client and those projects were not for public viewing.
So, February was a bit of a frenzy. Hopefully March Madness will get the gears turning and then April will result in more consistent and continuing projects and clients.
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