Customer Spotlight

Resolution: Cartrack – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“Perhaps there is no more important component of character than steadfast resolution.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Resolution. Gone too far, it’s stubbornness. Gone too short, it’s weakness. Finding that happy medium: as TR so eloquently and verbosely (in his way) puts it, “steadfast resolution,” is a trick that every business owner must master.

We must remain resolved to complete the task at hand as promised. I mean, that’s what we do here at Interfanatic. Fail, and customers lose faith. Succeed, and they know they can trust you.

Resolution: This Week’s Interfanatic Virtue

Resolution is having the heart and the guts to get the job done correctly. It’s also knowing when to cut your losses as some jobs aren’t as big as the company. Resolution is a critical component to running a successful business.

Resolution is also a chief requirement of establishing a business in a new market. Or establishing a new product on a saturated market. It’s no easy task. It’s one Cartrack is taking on.

Cartrack: Resolved

Cartrack is a South African company that is dominating the market in Africa, and is well-established in Europe and Asia. But its intimidating competitors here in the United States have so far kept them from establishing a foothold.

Cartrack worked with Interfanatic on some marketing initiatives to better understand and identify opportunities with American customers. It was a fascinating project and one we’re very proud of.

Cartrack resolved to enter the US Market against mega competitors. And when the time is right, they will.

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Industry: M A Trading – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all things easy.”

– Benjamin Franklin

Well now, hold your horses there Ben. Excuse me, poor Richard! It doesn’t make things easy, but industry certainly makes things easier…

Industry – doing things regularly and efficiently – does make things easier. But it doesn’t get any easier than sloth. Of course, nothing gets done with sloth, and everything gets done better with industry. But doing nothing will always be easier than getting things done.

That’s why we have vacation.

Industry: This Week’s Interfanatic Virtue

Keeping at it. Grinding away. Keeping your head down. These are the recipe of industry and, when focused on useful work, a primary element required to get things done.

At Interfanatic, we’re all about the unglamourous side of things – the industry of getting work done with positive long-term and short-term results. It’s not sexy. It’s not exciting. But we’re results-driven.

Industry in Action: M A Trading

When MA Trading came to us a few years ago requesting that we put their various catalogs on-line, they immediately impressed us with their industry. They’ve found a way to take artisans from all over the world and help them reliably and predictably create beautiful, hand-made home decor. It’s industry at scale, and it’s beautiful.

It was our pleasure to bring their websites into the modern era. They had, like so many of our clients, tried to get away with doing things the cheap way, and it blew up in their face. We got the right people on the job and created something both useful and beautiful for them and their customers. It was great working with them.

We love working with companies all over the world. And, as in this case, local companies, too. Their offices are just up the street from ours, in southern Redondo Beach, in the south part of Los Angeles, California. We’re on Skype calls at all hours of the day and night dealing with fabulous clients, so there’s something warming about getting to drive (or even walk) up the street to shake hands with a good customer you’ve gotten to know so well.

Walking up the street is not always industrious, but it is pleasant. And that’s what makes life worth living. At Interfanatic, we do the industry so we can afford the pleasant company of our great customers. Like M A Trading.

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Honor: Ace Small Claims Service – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“Life every man holds dear;
but the dear man
Holds honor far more precious-dear
than life.”

– William Shakespeare

Going back thousands of years, it is almost an axiom of writing that the honorable hold honor more precious than life itself.

We at Interfanatic do not disagree. We love to work with people who do as they say they shall. Therefore, we model that behavior in all we do.

Honor: More Precious-Dear than Life

A great way to earn trust is to do what you say you will. The best way to lose trust is to not.

When people choose to work with Interfanatic, they do so because they want to take some burden away from themselves and let us take it on. We want our customers to know: we got you.

Ensuring Honor

Jeff Levine of Ace Small Claims Service ensures that businesses and individuals do as they say they will. Of course, the best way to do this is to model that behavior. Which is why we trust and enjoy working with Ace Small Claims Service. We did not create his website for him, but we aid him in understanding his site’s performance. We choose our customers carefully so that we don’t need to worry – but when things go wrong (and they do) it’s nice to know we have Jeff to trust.

Levine was curious how his website performed in Search. So we did an Interfanatic Basic Local SEO Check-up for him and he learned a lot. We also helped him understand what he needed to do to improve his site’s performance – how to make it work better for him.

And, if a customer ever decides to stiff us (it happens, but rarely), we can rely on Jeff Levine’s honor through Ace Small Claims Service to get things straightened out.

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Beauty: ClosetLook – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“You will love beauty, which is the shadow of God on the Universe.”

– Gabriela Mistral

The great Nobel Laureate relays instructions given to her in a vision, and creates poetry.

Beauty: the Shadow of God on the Universe

What a beautiful sentiment.

Beauty, like all virtues, comes in different volumes. For some, it is naturally apparent, but for others it must be enacted. But it is universally appreciated.

Finding Beauty or Creating Beauty

As Michelangelo said, the beauty is there, you just have to chip away to find it. So it is in business. It is there, we must find it and expose it to our customers.

Edenia Lima of ClosetLook uses her natural beauty to showcase the beauty of others – of their products.

Everyone gives influencers a hard time, but that’s mostly because many behave entitled. Properly influencing for a brand takes leardership, coordination, and hard work. A campaign can take weeks or months to build, even though it looks spontaneous and easy. It looks easy because experts are coordinated to work together to make sure it looks easy.

Edenia Lima works extremely hard to make sure the brand comes off in a positive light, and to make sure they get what they’re paying for. She uses her own vision and brand to bring products, fashion, and trends into a beautiful light.

It is our pleasure to work with Lima to showcase her work and help her achieve her vision. Her brands are grateful for her efforts too, as they keep coming back to engage more of her influence.

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Quickness: CoinSniper – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“We gain so much by quickness and lose so much by slowness.”

– Seneca the Younger

Seneca saw personally how being quick on your feet can save your life – or end it.

Quickness is a virtue for business owners. Without it, the market will change around you, leaving you behind. Agility – the ability to adapt quickly – is one of the most important aspects of business in 2020. Those businesses not quickly adjusting to market forces are falling away.

Rusty Scropper: A Scrappy Business Numismatist

Scropper had the idea to create a numismatic penny auction. He insisted on treating his customers fairly, on being honest. And he listened. He listened to them well.

Rusty Scropper tweaked his business model ever-so-slightly in a quick, continuous manner early on, making sure his customers got bang for their buck. The result was that his customers overwhelmingly loved his business. It was his agility – his quickness – that helped his business grow over five years while many of his competitors failed within just a few months.

Digital Marketing is in Constant Flux

What worked in digital marketing 25 years ago is no longer even a thing. The problems we faced then no longer exist; in fact, in many ways they are the exact opposite. Doing business online undergoes a major tectonic shift every few years, and many scramble to go the new light.

And go to the new light we must. But through 20 years of business, Interfanatic has learned which lights to pay attention to, and which to let go.

But we remain agile, adjusting our product and service offerings to what works for our clients.

It was our pleasure to work with Scropper to quickly adapt and remain agile to customer demands. It was gratifying to watch his customer list grow, and to see their loyalty swell over CoinSniper’s many years of business. It was great fun to watch and help CoinSniper react quickly, and to ultimately succeed.

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Diligence: Solskinn og Latter – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

– Confucius

Confucius is prolific in his writing. No doubt, due to diligence in thought and in writing.

Worked for him!

Diligence – care and consistency in tasks, even if they’re mundane. It’s an Interfanatic Virtue because not everything we want to do is sexy, but we must do it. That’s what we’re here for.

We can do diligence.

Colleen Skibsrud: Diligence in the Startup Arena

Skibsrud is familiar with the requirements of diligence. She’s had to keep after her new business like a shark stalking prey. In her new business helping the senior community of Kristiansand, Norway, she’s had to adapt and overcome the difficult obstacles that present themselves to all new business. And, some that aren’t too familiar.

Skibsrud’s goal has always been to keep her community healthy: fit, and enjoying a life of purpose. She’s able to do that through exercise classes, her smoothie and coffee bar, and the sense of belonging and invitation her community creates.

Diligence Through the Tough Times

When you’re starting out, and everyone is busy pointing out why you’re going to fail, it can be difficult to persevere through those tough workout classes with just a few clients. But Skibsrud has done that, trusting herself and trusting her process. The result is a full, busy place of business. It’s just taken time, sticking to her guns, and diligence.

She has continually sharpened her tools of business.

We’re so pleased to have assisted Colleen Skibsrud with her website. We’ve consulted, performed maintenance, and assisted with translations and transition to new booking software. And it has been our pleasure to do the diligent technical work so that Skibsrud can focus on giving her customers more of what they want. Because that’s what Skibsrud wants.

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Kindness: My Little Greek Bakery – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight, Partners

“No kind action ever stops with itself.”

– Amelia Earhart

Earhart, aviatrix and heroine, champions kindness.

Kindness is so simple, and the ripple continues forward, outward and around. Kindness makes everything better. Good-hearted people everywhere know this, and use it to their advantage.

Earhart might be shocked to see the kindness attempted on her legacy. Books, movies, search operations with few parallel have all been wrought to understand her final days.

Christina Peters: My Little Greek Bakery

An example of kindness that comes to mind (and many, many do, but I’m singling out one) is Christina Peters of My Little Greek Bakery. Christina comes from a family of chefs. She’s been a serious foodie and maker her whole life. So when she turned her attention to My Little Greek Bakery, we all knew we were in for something good.

But besides her phenomenal tasty treats, which most people undoubtedly remember her for, her kindness also stands out. She is a kind and gentle person. No, really, she is! (If you know her, you surely know her a gruff, blunt and in-your-face. And she’s that, too.) But underneath it all, she is a warm and kind person, a daughter and a mother, and a kind person who chooses to do kind things.

Kindness Always

Kindness is always a good idea. We practice it regularly and it comes back in spades. We like to celebrate kindness this week, this first week of December. When you’re out and about, shopping and writing lists, think of the kindness you can do. Let that person take that parking space away from you because undoubtedly, they feel their day is going worse than yours.

It’s not easy to be kind always. And that’s why it’s this week’s Interfanatic Virtue. Kindness makes everything better, but it sometimes takes work to keep it in your heart.

Perhaps that’s why it’s wonderful to think of Earhart when we think of kindness. So much accomplished, all through work, but surely through the kindness of others who allowed her to break barriers when it was uncomfortable to do so. And sometimes, she broke barriers even when people weren’t kind. But she never forgot those whose acts helped her, and to help others with kindness because it was the right thing to do.

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Loyalty: Checkered Past – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Cool Stuff on the Web, Customer Spotlight, Motorsports, Partners

“I’ll take fifty percent efficiency to get one hundred percent loyalty.”

– Sam Goldwyn

Samuel Goldwyn is no saint, but I suppose the tired excuse that he was a product of his time fits. But what he was, was an incredibly successful businessman. And if he will take loyalty over efficiency, I’ll believe him.

We’re all about efficiency. At Interfanatic, we’re all about systems and processes that ensure success, are efficient, and are sustainable.

But loyalty – sustainability in people – is a beautiful thing. Having somebody you can depend on is about as good as it gets.

Immediately, I think of Chris Locke. Locke’s Checkered Past Racing and Checkered Past Productions™, and all of his successful business relationships, are surely built on his loyalty. Not just being good to everyone he meets, but being good to the right people.

Locke has enjoyed being a major proponent of the Lotus brand in historic motorsports for decades. And a fine purveyor of their story, he is – driving everything from Jimmy Clark to Mario Andretti’s Formula One cars. And many other wonderful historic race cars.

But now, as he establishes himself as successful in event and film productions, he’ll surely look to rely on and practice more of his famous loyalty – with the right people.

We work hard to earn loyal customers. And our hard work has paid off. And we remain loyal to our customers, working hard for them when times get tough so that we can all enjoy the spoils when things get good.

So is having somebody we can trust more important than having somebody who will finish the job quickly? Over the long haul, yes. We aim for both, but we know that when recessions hit and things get bleak, we want to be with the right people, and have the right people.

It was Sam Goldwyn’s way. It’s the Interfanatic way. And that’s Chris Locke’s Checkered Past way.

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Adaptability: Team Tyrrell – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Cool Stuff on the Web, Customer Spotlight, Motorsports, Partners

“ …the most successful people are those who accept, and adapt to constant change.“

– Paul Lutus

The Internet is a sea of constant change. We must be like water, and conform to its incessant morphing waves.

Through 20 years, we’ve watched revolution after revolution, heard about millions of “shortcuts to success”, but stuck to doing things the right way.

In that, we’re reminded of Team Tyrrell, Ken Tyrrell’s Formula One constructor dating from the 1960’s. In the early days, Ken’s only job was to give the brilliant Jackie Stewart a good enough car to win. Ken did his job.

The way to make a car win a race is to engineer it so that it’s easy to drive. Tyrrell’s most successful cars weren’t easy to drive at first, but with hard work, they adapted the chassis to the job. And with a brilliant driver up to the task, they were able to make the aspects that were most difficult into absolute advantages, securing easy wins with regularity.

The cars were so good in fact, that Jackie’s lesser-known team mate won and could have won many more races. Francois Cevert was an excellent driver, but no Jackie Stewart. Nonetheless, because the cars were adaptable, Cevert was able to beat Jackie Stewart on his day with the same machinery – no easy feat.

Tyrrell had to remain vigilant, his cars adaptable to the ever changing conditions and tracks around the world.

We must remain vigilant and adaptable to the ever-changing environment of online business.

It has been our pleasure to be associated with Team Tyrrell during its vintage motorsport campaigns. Many of the cars that were successful in their day are still fan favorites, running around the country at historic motorsport events. We at Interfanatic are pleased and humbled have our name associated with such an iconic brand as Team Tyrrell.

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Courage: The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Cool Stuff on the Web, Customer Spotlight

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.“

– Anaïs Nin

Nin knew about courage. My goodness, did she know. So she saw the effect of courageous behavior, both first- and second-hand many times through her life.

Life expands. Life shrinks. But we’re here for business, and we’re here for expanding business. It takes courage.

Life definitely expanded for Wally Parks, the namesake of the National Hot Rod Association Museum. He was a pioneer, a journalist, and an advocate. He increased the safety of drag racing with incredible effect, mostly by making sure there were safe venues for racing, instead of letting it continue on the streets.

In a macho world, fresh off the loss of thousands in wars, when we accepted drastic loss as a part of living, Wally Parks stood up and made a difference.

It took courage.

And when you go to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, you see how much courage the drivers of these insane vehicles had. They took their life in their hands regularly to push the boundaries. To be faster. To make progress.

And Parks pushed for that progress, safely.

So when we think about courage around here, we think of our old partners at the NHRA. It was our great pleasure to work with them on a beautiful website design that their museum kept for about a decade of existence. The NHRA is all about the courage it takes to make progress.

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