Goodness: A Greater Hope – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

“Those little bits of good put together … overwhelm the world.

Desmond Tutu

Shall we overwhelm the world with little bits of goodness? I’m in!

Here’s Bishop Tutu’s full quote:

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

We all try to bring the goodness daily, but it’s not easy. The opportunities sometimes present themselves, but we have keep a lookout for those chances to do good. Eva Ford and her daughter, Helena Lopez, found plenty of opportunities to do good. The foster parent system is complicated and difficult, and they help all parties navigate that system.

They bring hope for children. They bring hope for parents. A Greater Hope does good.

Naturally, when I look at the customers we help and have helped through the years who bring goodness, I think of A Greater Hope (nee Greater Hope Foundation For Children).

Goodness: An Interfanatic Quality

We strive to be good; we strive to do good. It’s projects like A Greater Hope that help us feel good about the work we do. We know we offer services for a fair cost – sometimes more than fair. It is our opportunity to do good for our community, both local and around the world by choosing our clients carefully. We love to work with those doing good.

We recommend our clients. If we’re not comfortable recommending them, we’re not comfortable working with them. Our clients are good people. They are good businesses doing good things. All that is how we get up and go to work every day! To help good people do good and do well.

I’m not saying we do enough. We’re always looking for ways to do more. By looking, we establish the intention to find ways to do good. It’s our way of doing some of those little bits of good Tutu speaks of – it’s our way of helping to overwhelm the world, one little bit of good – one deed – at a time.

A Greater Hope: Goodness Creating Hope

Greater Hope chose to service the highest-need areas of California – the California High Desert is rife with children who need foster care and good families who want to care for children. A Greater Hope brings children in need and families together. It creates greater hope for loving families and children in need.

They also facilitate adoptions. As an adopted child myself, I understand the blessing it is to find a family who will love you. It’s not always negligence of the birth parents that causes problems – some people just aren’t cut out to be parents. It’s a very huge responsibility to bring a child into the world and nurture them to become an active member of society, and some people just can’t. Things happen. Life happens. Ensuring a child who needs better care by placing that child with a loving family is like providing a winning lottery ticket for that child.

A Greater Hope brings children in need and families together.”

The process leading up to connection is usually extremely chaotic and mentally taxing for the child. The parents who are unable to care for their child also undergo extreme psychological trauma. Sometimes they recognize their situation isn’t good for their child and surrender the child to a better life willingly – and facing this is extremely difficult. But sometimes their child is removed from their care unwillingly. And this is an emotionally scarring experience for both child and family.

A Greater Hope provides behavioral health services for both children and parents. They try to ease the transitions, when those transitions are not easy. Again, they do good – they take the opportunity presented to bring goodness.

They also allow children to see birth parents under controlled circumstances, ensuring that all parties are cared for. They do their best to facilitate positive experiences.

Years ago, Greater Hope came to us in need of help with their website. We redesigned the site, produced new logos for the branches of their business. We built a couple of websites for them through the years, and it was always a great partnership.

They’ve grown so much, they now are able to have taken everything in-house. It’s pride inspiring to watch them grow, with our help, and now take off on their own.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Social Advertising with Set up for $1,500 Monthly Ad Spend

Want to spread the good of your business? Social Media is one way to reach new customers. But social feeds are filled – jam-packed, and difficult to stand out. You know how this works: you follow a few accounts, so you see their posts. Or do you?

As a business, you want to reach new customers. Even when you have thousands of followers, you still want your business publicized even more – to people who don’t follow you. You want to reach people who don’t know about you yet, or customers you know who don’t know you’re open to connecting and engaging on social media.

The answer is Social Advertising. We can create brand new custom posts and target them specifically at people who could use your products or services. Or, we can take a post your customers and followers really liked, and we can use that as a basis to get more eyes on your business. It also ensures that your followers actually see your posts. Often, their shown your post until engagement.

With $1,500, we will increase the reach of your post substantially. We might do this in your local area, or we may target an area that has the kind of customers you want. Either way, our tools and understanding of the data help us to improve your ad performance substantially. This is what we do. All the time.

Interfanatic: Backing Good

We’re doing our little bits of good where we are. We’re trying to get out, to find new ways and new places to do good. Want to join us?


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Goodness, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Goodness, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Little bits of good, like wildflowers bringing beauty to the world, one small bit at a time. After a particularly wet winter, the fields were in bloom over in PV. I took this from a hiking trail near Point Vincente. The sheer number of flowers was incredible. Little bits of yellow turned into blankets of gold against docile emerald hills.

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Strength: GKAD Architects – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

M. K. Gandhi

There are times an indomitable will is insufficient. If I were to try to take on Mike Tyson, for instance, in a boxing match, no amount of indomitable will would keep my head attached to my neck when he inevitably pops me one.

But outside of physical contests, in great measure will defines the level at which you can train to compete. Your training defines the level at which you can compete.

Gandhi was not a strong physical specimen, but his strength changed the world. His strength carried his voice through generations and around the world. Not bad for a little guy!

(We love fighting for the little guy by they way. We love to make the little guy into Goliath.)

But that’s not the client I think of this week. I think of a client who’s already strong and capable: GKAD Architects, in Frankfurt, Germany.

They’re a commercial architecture firm, and they design high-use facilities. They create restaurants for airports, and popular cafes and markets. Their design is up to code, resilient, and best of all, inspires and accommodates purchasing behavior.

If you own a chain of restaurants and you want to build a location at a high-volume metro or train station, go to GKAD. They have the strength and knowledge to finish your project at a level so high, you’ll be profitable at your new location in no time.

That’s why, when I think of strength, a number of our clients stand out. But this time, I want to focus on GKAD.

Strength: An Interfanatic Quality

We didn’t last over 20 years through weakness. The Interfanatic Way is to keep after projects until they’re done – and successful. We are inspired by the strength of our clients and we love to inspire strength in our clients.

Interfanatic does that by being there for them when they need us. We have the experience and the creativity to bring fresh perspective, to help them build a foundation for better business.

GKAD Architects: Strength Through Architecture

Goeckmann & Kleespies are phenomenal architects and designers based in Frankfurt, Germany. They don’t build houses; GKAD create places people want to spend money.

Their niche of architecture is highly technical and highly emotional. Building a cafe in an airport isn’t easy – the regulations are enough to put most architects off the job. Who wants to deal with that kind of red tape? Well, GKAD does.

They make a place that is to code, of course. But then they also make it comfortable. And beautiful. And that is special. But then, the beauty must last. You can’t build a restaurant with cheap materials because after the first 100 customers, it will begin to look poor. When you have hundreds of customers per day, you have high-frequency architecture that has it’s own special needs. GKAD takes care of that. But yet, on top of that even, they then bring more psychology into their masterworks – they make a place that inspires spend. They design architecture for their clients that not only meets the need, it ensures their clients will make money.

The strength of their architecture is definitely within its physical capacity. But they do so much more – they make money for their clients by moving to – not the next level beyond – the next order of magnitude beyond. It is their indomitable will to create something amazing and so highly functional and timeless that makes them the best architects in Germany.

“GKAD create places people want to spend money.”

We’re quite proud to work with GKAD. We had an idea, we worked together to hone it, and the result is something interesting and special. This isn’t your average website. It displays their ingenuity, their strength, and their capability.

It was a step in an opposite direction for us. They don’t want their website to be found. They only want their website being seen by people they talk to. Usually, we want to create a volume of traffic. Not this time.

We love working with unique and interesting projects – it’s always an opportunity to learn. It’s always an opportunity to grow in strength.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Website Management Packages

The bedrock of all website function is its management. We have hosting and management packages for budgets of all sizes. It’s fun to work with new, small businesses; it’s just as fun to have an impact on established businesses. Watching owners light up because of great results is satisfying no matter how long they’ve been around.

We handle your hosting and updates. We keep your site up and running. When new technologies emerge, we help you evaluate and implement the ones that make sense for you.

We do that because we’ve been there before. We’ve been doing this for over 20 years. We may not have seen it all, but we’ve seen most of it. And we know what works, what’s going to stick, and what to pass on. We’re here to help you make money, and we do that very well.

Interfanatic: Designing, Building and Supporting Strength

Let’s make something beautiful. Let’s make something effective. Interfanatic and you can build something strong that will last.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Strength, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Strength, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

I saw this pretty image while on an outing with my wifey. We popped up to PV one day and on our way back down the hill, I saw this view – Los Angeles through the palm trees. I had to stop to take the picture. Sadly, modern phone cameras are terrible. I miss having a real camera to work with! But the sentiment is there: tall palm trees that can take the beating of wind and thunderstorms, and the strength of powerful buildings of downtown Los Angeles. There is strength in this image.

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Family: Medawar Fine Jewelers – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Everyone needs a house to live in, but a supportive family is what builds a home.

Anthony Liccione

“A supportive family is what builds a home”… Wise words from the young man Liccione. And its true – we all need support. We will not make it without support. At some point or another, we all have needed a little (or a lot of) help. For many of us lucky ones, it’s family that sticks it out with us.

We work hard for our customers. We try to treat them like family. Our best customers treat us like family. They trust us like family because they know we work extra hard for them. We measure our our results in our customers success. And they measure our results in their success.

So, we try to build a supportive framework for our customers. We help them build their home with our talents. It’s hard work, but when it pays off, it pays off big.

I grew up in a family business. And so did the Medawar brothers. Robert Medawar has built a beautiful home in his business by treating his customers like family. And whenever they need help with digital marketing, they come to Interfanatic.

While I celebrate family, I celebrate the success of the Medawar family – a tradition on the Palos Verdes Peninsula for over 40 years. We’ve done business with the Medawars for about three-quarters of that, and we’ve been involved in their digital marketing now for over a decade. It’s a good partnership because it works. We understand family business.

Family: An Interfanatic Quality

We’ve been a part of or worked with family businesses for a couple of decades. We know how they work. We understand the intricacies, the particular difficulties that can arise as part of family business. It’s not like working for a regular business.

And you know that saying, “nobody will ever treat your business like you do”? We’re familiar with that. And it’s something we strive against daily. We treat all businesses as if they were our own – as if the owner is part of our family. And I don’t just mean our Interfanatic family. I mean part of our family – a brother or sister, mother, father, daughter or son we want to help succeed.

Medawar Fine Jewelers: A Family Business, and a Tradition on Southern California’s Palos Verdes Peninsula for over 40 Years

Working with family poses its own unique challenges. There may be sibling rivalries, paternal or maternal expectations that seem impossible, or it may simply not be your calling. Rivalries between parents and children are a constant challenge in family businesses. The next generation wants to try new things, and often the generation that built the business insists on relying upon what works – what got the business where it is.

We understand all of this – we’ve lived it. We’ve watched it, we’ve even intervened in it using our experience. Not often – that’s not our place. But since we have this unique experience, it sometimes helps.

Medawar is a large and successful family in the jewelry business. And Robert Medawar and brother Roy have created a successful business on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Medawar Fine Jewelers, by treating their customers as we treat ours – like family.

“…Robert Medawar has created a successful business on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Medawar Fine Jewelers, by treating their customers … like family.”

The jewelry business is adjusting, as is every business right now. Things are changing, not just with time, as usual, but with the demands of our business environment changing to new realities. More people are shopping online. More people are shopping on price, rather than relying on quality people to work with. It’s not a good adjustment, and things will change again. But that’s the reality we must adjust to that is in front of us.

We’ve worked with Medawar for over a decade. We began with minor tweaks to the site, then an all-new site design. Now, we’re doing it again. We’re adjusting to the changing demands of business and Internet.

They came to us because we’re family. Not literally, but our families have worked together now for close to four decades. They’ve tried other companies in the past, but in the end they know they can rely on us because we treat them as they treat us: like family.

And they do the same for you. When you need something really unique and special for a member of your family – or perhaps somebody you’d like to make part of your family – they’ve got it. They have phenomenal jewelry at all price points from the best, most exclusive makers in the jewelry business. They have and fix jewelry. They have and fix watches. They have and fix clocks – one of the few family businesses that fixes clocks left in the business. Gold rings, earrings, diamond rings, diamond watches, gold watches, necklaces, pendants, charms – Medawar Fine Jewelers has the right thing.

They also have unique gifts for people. If you’re like me, there are at least a half-dozen people in your life who are very hard to buy gifts for. Medawar has the right gift. I rely on them regularly to get the right item for the right person. Like I said, they, like us, can work with all budgets.

Call or go in. Feel the warmth of family, and find exactly the right thing at Medawar Fine Jewelers on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Social Media Advertising

Social Media has changed business a number of times. Every time there’s a new “it” platform, people flock to is, and businesses follow, schlepping their wares.

It’s inconsistent. Once social media becomes saturated, it’s no longer fun. It often becomes a place simply filled with banner after banner of advertisement, driving users nuts. But, for people who know what they’re doing, it can also be a goldmine.

It’s an opportunity for a business to interact with customers and potential customers in a very relaxed, informal way. It’s a chance for brands to interact with their constituents in a way that wasn’t possible before – it can feel very personal. You can message your idol, or make a product suggestion, or request assistance, all through social media. And if you as a business don’t respond, you may incur the wrath of disgruntled entitled social media followers.

For that reason, some brands avoid Social Media. Others dive in and revel in it.

But to get out there, you must first begin. And to get your posts seen by thousands when you don’t have thousands of followers yet, you must advertise.

We can help with that. We’ve been doing social media advertising for close to a decade – not as long as we’ve been doing social media – but we know the ins and outs. We know how to maximize spend, and we love helping our family of customers succeed.

Interfanatic: Providing for a Family of Businesses

We’d love to have you in our family. We love working with businesses of all kinds and sizes. Family businesses, corporations, and sole proprietors – we work with them all. Big budget, small budget, somewhere-in-between budget, we can work with that. We’re here to help you be more successful.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Family, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Family, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

This flock of pelicans… Looks like a fun family to me. I see there’s one interloper there, but they don’t seem to fussed by him. Just caught this one day while walking down the beach.

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Tranquility: MASSAGESMITH – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

When we develop patience, we find that we develop a reserve of calm and tranquility.

His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV

The goal is peace. To rest easy, knowing all is well. That’s why we work, to rest easy that the families we support will remain supported. To help our customers rest easy, knowing that we’re taking care of our part of their business so they can focus on supporting their families.

Peace requires patience. But the more patience you have, the more calm and tranquility you have, too. So says the Dalai Lama – and he might just know.

When you seek tranquility, find patience first. When you seek calm, go to the MASSAGESMITH, Eric Smith.

Eric recently rebranded his successful massage practice. He’s a great local businessman we’ve worked with for a couple of years now. Another customer we love to refer and we’re pleased to help.

And when I’m looking for more patience, I think of Eric’s calm demeanor and giving mentality. He’s one of the good eggs. Naturally, the oasis he provides, whether in his office or in his patients’ home, is one of peace, calm, and tranquility.

Tranquility: An Interfanatic Quality

Try as we might, everything is not always tranquil. It’s a goal – a journey. And on all of our journeys, at times there is a rocky road. But that is our goal, both for ourselves and for the customers we serve.

When things get rough, I think of the Dalai Lama’s words. I try to increase my patience and empathy for others who have a difficult time. I try to think of how I can help their situation, and I act on it.

We all do here. It is our goal to bring tranquility to our customers, that we might bask in some of that, too.

MASSAGESMITH: A Respite of Tranquility

Eric Smith, the head massage therapist and owner of MASSAGESMITH, goes out of his way to bring you tranquility. Massage therapy is about relaxing sore, tired muscles, and giving them space to heal. Smith provides the environment necessary to bring about that relaxation and healing, whether you go to his office in Torrance, CA, or he comes to your home.

“Massage therapy is about relaxing sore, tired muscles, and giving them space to heal. MASSAGESMITH provides the environment necessary to bring about that relaxation and healing…”

During COVID-19, he has exceeded all safe practices to keep both himself and his clientele safe. He goes the extra step to ensure you feel relaxed and ready for a tranquil oasis away from hectic and stressful life.

Beyond that, his demeanor is one of calm and peace. He is a kind man, happily married with a great life. He’s somewhat new to Torrance, and fitting in well. He also engages in a large number of community activities through his Rotary Club and other philanthropic activities.

We’ve worked with Eric Smith a few times over the past couple of years, most recently to give his business a boost through Search Advertising. Using a modest budget, we’re driving more traffic to his website, and getting him more appointments.

And it’s a good feeling to help a local businessman! It’s a good feeling to help him feel more tranquil when he works so hard for others to revel in the tranquility he brings them.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic The Works Marketing Package

Marketing is daunting. It’s also mission critical. When other businesses are pulling back, it’s time to double down. Like Baron Rothschild said, “The time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.” Well, there’s blood in the streets. If you’re able, you should be spending now. Buying your competitors.

I know, I know, the dog eat dog world is hardly a tranquil one. But you can scale back, or you can double down, and set yourself up for the next decade. Of course, it’s your choice.

Not sure where to start? No worries. We are. We’ll evaluate your situation and give you multiple options for the perfect digital marketing plan within your budget. Not sure what your budget should be? No problem, we’ll help you get results within your comfort zone.

This is what we do. Trust us. Trust the process. We’ll help you get where you want to go.

Interfanatic: Bringing you Tranquil

What can we do to bring you tranquility? We will do that. It is what we do.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Tranquility, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Tranquility, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

A beautiful day with friends near a calm mountain lake. All that could have made it better was Yo-yo Ma on his cello. Or Eric Smith handing out free massages! Ooh, I like that idea. I’ll keep it in mind for our next vacation.

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Simplicity: Privy® Kitty – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

Frédéric Chopin

The ultimate goal is simple. It is the essence. After all the fluff is melted away, it is the core story that is left. Chopin – and I take great care taking only the best inspiration from Chopin – knew about melting away fluff in art to create something of grandiose beauty.

“After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes…” If you have listened the Polonaise, you know the man played notes and more notes. But there was a story under all of that which Chopin told us. He carried us through an adventure the most beautiful and the most interesting way possible. Under the vast quantity of notes, what is left is the beauty and drama of the story. The result that sticks with us is the core story and the emotional responses we had. The result is simple: great art.

And seeking this simplicity is the task of every story teller. Every novelist, every musician, every painter, every photographer, every blogger, every digital marketer seeks to produce the concision that is great art. They seek to melt away the fluff and leave you with simply great art.

I immediately think of one of our newest clients, Sharon Goddard and her Privy® Kitty. Sharon is an inventor who sought to simplify life. She seeks to simplify her life, that of her family (including her cats), and that of pet owners all over. She couldn’t find the simple solution she sought, so she created it.

So this week, when we focus on simplicity, I’ll share it with, as always, from a few different perspectives.

Simplicity: An Interfanatic Quality

Last week, it was about endurance: ten percent more try. This week it is about simplicity: 90% less. How can we remove the extra to be left with the essence – that which is most important.

This is what we do.

I recently got a new phone. It comes with a nifty dock. The charging system is a classic over-engineering catastrophe where the engineers forgot their jobs. They forgot to simplify. They forgot to seek the simple solution, and in the process created a monster. This dock acts like a case around the phone. The phone charges with a USB-C input. So the engineers for this phone company thought it best to create a small magnetic dongle that magnetically attaches to the dock, this case, that can take a USB-C input. The case has a male USB-C port that must be handled carefully or it will break off. The dongle is small and easily lost. I’m sure it all works fine. But they didn’t do what we do. They forgot to think it through. They created a complex, fragile system that is expensive and difficult.

All they had to do was cut a hole in the case for the USB-C to pass through.

But they didn’t. There was enough right about the rest of the product that it was still the best choice for me. But this over-engineering nightmare certainly makes me consider the rest of the product carefully.

With this kind of over-engineered complexity, it’s no surprise the manufacturer is getting out of the business of this product.

We always work to find the simple solution. The easiest way. We seek to boil away the fluff and find the essence of the project. Sometimes projects require complexity. Trust me, the companies we work with work hard to make things complicated. But often, there is a simpler way. We find it. It’s better for our customers that way.

Privy® Kitty: Simplifying Pet Ownership and Care

Owning cats is difficult. And, I just said that wrong… I’ll fix it: Allowing cats to own you is difficult. One of the trickier parts of cohabitating with cats is giving them a good place to take care of their business.

“Sharon Goddard created simplicity for herself and for other pet people through Privy® Kitty.”

Most places have litter boxes. They smell up the house, they’re dusty and messy. But they work. But Sharon Goddard had a better idea. Why not punch a hole in the wall and make a little restroom just for your cats. That way, the smell and mess is contained outside. It gives your pet a place to go while making your life easier.

So that’s just what she did. She’s working on ways to adapt her Privy® Kitty to different climates as we speak. But for the warmer summer months and for milder climates, the solution exists. She made it. Have one or have three. Have one for each cat, or have your kitties share one – any way you look at it, it frees up space in your home and simplifies: makes everything better.

She came to us, referred by a business colleague, in need of some simple updates to her website. We took care of them. That’s, simply (see what I did there?) what we do.

The point is that Sharon Goddard created simplicity for herself and for other pet people through Privy® Kitty. That’s why we feature her and her business this month, because we’re celebrating simplicity.

When you seek a little simplicity in your and your cat’s life, get yourself a Privy® Kitty.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Basic Fortnightly Email Marketing

As you may have gathered, I feel it is our job here at Interfanatic to simplify the lives of our customers. One way we do that is by handling our customers’ email marketing.

Again, not new: getting an exceptional email marketing plan together can be difficult. However, great email marketing always leads to sales. It is a very reliable method to use to generate leads and customer interaction. Every single one of your emails should lead to a sale. It should most definitely pay for itself.

As is almost always the case, the tools for digital marketing may be overwhelming. Click rate, open rate, subject line optimization, “why did this person label my email spam when they told me last week they wanted to hear from me!?”

You can try to wade through this yourself, or you can have us do it for you. We know how to write the right subject line and configure send timing to get more opens. We also know how and where to insert the right call to action to get more clicks. And, we know how to develop a landing page for your email so that you’ll get more conversions. It’s what we do.

So you can try to figure all that out on your own, or you can trust professionals with decades of experience. Whatever you think is simpler. If you have time and you’re happy with your results, wonderful! If you seek to simplify your life, we’re here to help.

We can do any digital marketing you need. If you want help your email marketing and you want to improve results, we’re here for that.

Interfanatic: Simplicity in Action Help You Drive Your Business

Is there a simpler way to do it? We’ll find it, so long as it’s better. And simpler is almost always better. Like Chopin, our goal is to create that which is simple, because that is the best work can be. Is your life simple enough? If not, we’re here to help.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Simplicity, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Simplicity, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

The greatest artists of every time have tried to duplicate the delicate simplicity and beauty of the rose. Few have succeeded. I found this rose sitting our table; my wife clipped it from our garden to brighten our dining area. A quick snap of the phone and here we are, an attempt to capture the beauty and simplicity of a lovely rose. Of course, you’re not richer than I am for the experience – you don’t get to smell it!

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Endurance: Sheri Messerlian Commercial Real Estate – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Choose victory by gracious endurance.

Lailah Gifty Akita

Gracious endurance – that’s BEAUTIFUL. What a statement. That’s what I like to believe we do. When I read those words, I think, “yeah, we do that.” We outlast and out-effort our competition. Words to aspire to. Thank you Ms. Akita.

We know some other people like that. We try to surround ourselves with them. One example that immediately comes to mind: Sheri Messerlian.

Half of finishing the race is just finishing. Ask any 24-hour race entrant, and they’ll tell you you can finish in the top half if you can just finish. Such is the attrition of 24-hour racing, whether it be on tire or on foot. You have to push yourself or your vehicle to compete, but it can be a great accomplishment to simply push yourself just enough to still be there at the end.

And that’s what Sheri Messerlian does. She got into the commercial real estate game a long time ago. There are a lot of people biting at her heels. But rather than rush, she focuses on what’s needed to close deals. And she’s on top of her craft.

Endurance: An Interfanatic Quality

10% more. Ten percent more patience. Ten percent more effort. Just ten percent more asks. When you’re already trying hard, sometimes that’s all it takes. Just ask one more time. Just push gently one more time. Last just a little bit longer.

And then it all comes good. Sometimes. Not always, but enough. When hope pushes you a little bit further, it’s often enough to out-compete.

Sometimes the winner is the best. Always, the winner is the person in the right place at the right time. With so much competition in our world, it certainly doesn’t hurt to be the best, or close to it. But often the best just means sticking it out a little bit more.

But do know when to quit.

Sheri Messerlian, Commercial Real Estate: Endurance in the Commercial Property Market

Sheri Messerlian doesn’t know when to quit. She has no reason to. She is the expert in South Bay / Torrance for commercial real estate. Need your business to have great frontage? Sheri knows the building for you. She’ll get you in and up and running on-budget every time.

She didn’t get there by accident. She’s been at this for a while, so she knows the competitive landscape and all the players.

“Messerlian is a connector: she is able to put the right business in the right commercial property.”

Sheri Messerlian has made a business of bringing and representing the best Los Angeles South Bay commercial properties to market. She’s a connector: she is able to put the right business in the right commercial property. You know what they say about business – it’s all about three things: location, location, and location. That right there is Messerlian’s specialty.

A little bit ago, we helped Sheri update her website. We helped her list some new, important commercial properties in Torrance, CA, and remove a few she had already helped to lease. Whether it’s a big website management issue or a small one, we’re here to help.

If you’re looking for a great property in Los Angeles’ South Bay, call Sheri Messerlian.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Hacksecure Business Website Hosting

One place you definitely need endurance in your digital business is in your hosting. Our management services include our Hacksecure business hosting that keeps your website up, up-to-date, and running smoothly. This often includes a number of things that you don’t even know about that we do as we constantly improve our systems and processes to keep your website safe and secure.

It used to be you could upload some files, upload some pictures – a friend reminded me of animated gifs – and voila, you have yourself a website. Through the years, it’s continually gotten more complicated. We don’t just write HTML files in notepad anymore! Now running a website involves orchestrating a symphony of software to ensure smooth operation. The better the hackers get, the more sophisticated we have to be in our defense of your business website.

Give us a call and have us manage your website for you. It’s what we do. We do us so you can do you. You, professional, focus on what you’re good at, and have us, other professionals on your team, handle what we’re good at.

Interfanatic: Enduring to Assist You With Your Goals

Over 20 years ago, I started coding my first HTML files for the new Microsoft thing called Internet Explorer, and this new iteration of Netscape Navigator. And then we learned about Google, which was kinda like Yahoo!, but without all the rigamarole. And immediately we wanted to figure out how to get websites listed there. The more some things change, the more they stay the same.

One thing that has stayed the same: we have endured to put our experience to work for your success. Just like Sheri Messerlian does for her clients.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Endruance, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Endruance, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

A beautiful Pacific sunset: it signifies you have made it through another day. Now, if you have a margarita in your hand, you’re really doing well! (Kidding.) (Sort of.) The ocean endures. Our planet endures. We endure, but our definition of endurance is small compared to the vastness outside our tiny lives.

What will you do with your gift of tomorrow?

Endurance: Sheri Messerlian Commercial Real Estate – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Sincerity: ACE Racing Engines – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Sincerity is sexy, and my cynical heart notices.

Nicola Yoon

Sincerity in love is necessary for a lasting relationship. Of course, this is all true in business, too.

And racing.

As in every business, there are many fly-by-nights with lofty claims and broken promises. You know who that does not describe? Stef Rossi and his ACE Racing Engines. You want a 2,000 horsepower engine? He’ll deliver that to you. Reliable, 2,000hp. Seriously.

And you know what else is sexy? Reliable 2000hp+ engines.

There’s a lot of cynicism in the auto industry, especially where horsepower braggadocio is concerned. And there’s a great deal of cynicism in business for all the same reasons. Like Rossi at ACE Engines, we at Interfanatic work hard to ensure our claims are sincere.

Sincerity: An Interfanatic Quality

We haven’t gotten where we are without sincerity. Now, don’t get me wrong, we’re not infallible. We don’t always get things right, but when we get it wrong, we work sincerely to fix it. We want our customers to know we mean what we say, and we stand by our work.

An example: we recently took over the management of a website for a customer. They asked us to make all of the appropriate updates, as they were severely overdue. Unfortunately, the site was so out-of-date that “routine updates” broke the site. Rather than giving up or throwing the problem back to the customer, we took care of it. It took a lot more time, but we did the job right. We did what we told the customer we would do. And, we did it all on-budget.

We worked to our word.

ACE Racing Engines: Sincerity in Race Engine Builders

My old friend Carroll Smith used to tell me, “horsepower sells engines, but torque wins races.” Stefan Rossi of ACE Racing Engines knows this.

You know what else sells engines? Results. Less talk and more action. An engines that does one dyno run at 2,124 hp at 7,500 RPM and then grenades passing the 1/8th mile marker: the racing engine world is filled with those. Stef Rossi doesn’t do that. He’s sincere with his claims. And the results of his engines speak sincerely for him.

Stef Rossi builds LS, LSX and turbo LSX engines to customer spec. His engine shop is cleaner looking than many hospitals. He employs the latest technology to ensure precision, and the results are reliable, safe, and incredibly powerful engines with tractable, usable power.

The result: customers sincerely singing this Southern California race engine builder’s praises.

“ACE Racing Engines are sincere with their claims. And the results of their engines speak sincerely for them.”

So next time you’re in the market for a two-thousand horsepower racing engine, call up Stef. If he doesn’t already have exactly what you need, he’ll build it exactly as you want. And I say that sincerely.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Social Media Advertising

We talked a little about our social media last week. When you’re ready to take social media seriously, you have the option to significantly increase your reach with Social Media Advertising.

There’s a few ways to do this. The method everyone unrealistically depends upon is choosing to expect their great post will “go viral” and attract millions of viewers overnight. In reality, this is akin to playing the lottery. It happens often enough for people to think it will happen, but almost never demand.

Another is to take your most successful posts and show them to a broader audience through boosting. If your posts are topical, or time dependent, this might not work as well as you’d hoped. So what we do is we take elements of your most successful posts, create fresh ones that will last, and get them in front of more people through highly targeted boosting.

Social Media platforms have made a business of making sure your posts only go to a very small, hyper specific audience. You want your posts seen by people that don’t know your brand? They’ll do that, but you gotta pay ’em. There’s a certain amount of sincerity that comes with that good ol’ American dollar.

So, do you want to trust the platform to spend your money, or do you want to have some professionals make sure your investment is handled carefully, efficiently? Well, that’s where we come in. We’re here to help.

Interfanatic: Sincere Work Toward Your Goals

We’re here for you. We apply our talents to your problems daily to help you accomplish your goals. It doesn’t happen in one day. Progress takes time. We’ll be around to make sure we’re moving your project to your version of success. Every day. We wake up to work for you.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Sincerity, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Sincerity, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

I was driving down the road, on the way home from a meeting with a client, and the light was just gorgeous. I had to stop and try to capture it. There’s something about the road disappearing into the hills and the golden hour light shimmering through the eucalyptus I found magical that day. The light at the end of the tunnel.

Sincerity: ACE Racing Engines – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Love: Beach Cities Tutoring – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

-Zora Neale Hurston

Gosh, this is just a beautiful quote. Isn’t it?

Much like the lovely Zora Hurston – a beautiful woman, a beautiful soul. And somebody loved her, lucky for us, because her soul crawled out and blossomed into the beautiful body of work she created with her life.

She reminds me, in a way, of Ivie Sherman, the teacher turned tutor behind the Beach Cities Tutoring network of online and in-home tutors and test prep professionals based in nearby Torrance, CA. (Not to be confused with Beach Cities Student Tutoring, who came later basically stole Ivie’s business name).

Ivie definitely sees it as her job to help her students and mentees crawl out from their hiding places. And she does an excellent job, with love!

Love: An Interfanatic Quality

It takes passion and work to keep customers satisfied for decades. We’ve watched many fly-by-nights come and go in our business. But we’re back, day after day, because we love our customers and we want to help them succeed. We put love into our work for our customers, and it shows.

We love working with customers who love doing what they do. Almost all of our customers are wonderful to work with, and most are loving people. It makes it easy to get excited about helping them when they’re excited about loving what they do. It helps us love what we do.

Beach Cities Tutoring: Loving Students, Helping their Souls Flourish

When I read this Hurston quote, I knew immediately we’d be featuring Ivie Sherman this week. It’s perfect. Sherman helps her students’ souls crawl from their hiding places. She, and the network of tutors she directs, give students the tools they need to be confident, to comprehend, to learn, and to study for success. She and her network of tutors give love.

Ivie came to me a few weeks ago looking for help with her website. She wanted to get more traffic. We quickly settled in and got working on an Interfanatic SEO Situation Reports. We found where she was doing well and where her site was under-performing, and we came up with a laundry list of tasks to attack for her. We’re working through that now.

“Sherman and the network of tutors she directs, gives students tools they need to be confident, to comprehend, to learn, and to study for success.”

It is absolutely our pleasure to help a good, hard-working teacher help students. Her investment in our area, and our investment in her, will help our kids grow up stronger and more confident. We hope in the long run her students will bring their brand of success back to our area to reinvest.

That’s what we’re here to do. We want to build up people all over the world. What better place to start with love than right under your nose?

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Basic Social Media Marketing

Social Media is an excellent opportunity to show love to your customers. You can celebrate them there (as we do), and you can interact with them, often in fun ways you wouldn’t otherwise.

But, let’s face it: Social Media (done right, at least) is a LOT of work.

If you don’t have the time or energy to produce great content and schedule your posts, we can do that. You should still interact with your customers – you or your service department – but at least we can keep the ball rolling for you. And when you have more successful posts, we can help you with advertising them, to get them to a larger audience and land you some new customers.

We have many options for all budgets. Talk to us and we’ll get your social media rolling!

Interfanatic: Feel the Love!

We love our customers! Customers like Ivie are easy to love because they love what they do, and we get to be a part of their success. Come be one of our customers. Let us take care of you, so you can take care of your customers and your business.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Love, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Love, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

The yellow rose of friendship. It’s a beautiful rose; more beautiful than reflected in this picture. But it conveys the point: roses express love. When you receive a rose, it helps your soul to crawl out from its hiding place and feel the warmth of acceptance, compassion, and appreciation. I share this rose with you.

Love: Beach Cities Tutoring – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Order: The Berns Company – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

“Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.”

-Julie Andrews

Order and discipline are inseparable. Discipline and order are an absolute requirement to running a successful business. Luckily, we do our part for you and your digital marketing.

During International Woman’s Month, I found a number of quotes about order – but I like this one from Julie Andrews. She overcame adversity to fly, and to take us on those flights with her.

On the other hand, forklifts are firmly rooted on the ground. When I think of the requirements of order and discipline, nobody beats tracking the many warehouses filled with forklift parts and compound parts of The Berns Company. The Berns Co is a Southern California institution, and it was our pleasure recently to assist them with some digital marketing consultation.

Order: An Interfanatic Quality

To keep the ship going the right direction, you have to keep adjusting the sales. It takes order to keep everything running well. We’ve spent decades coming up with systems and processes to ensure success for our clients.

Those systems and processes work, and we continue to regularly improve them. It’s part of the orderly nature of the way we do business to seek out improvements and apply them.

And we’re not alone. This isn’t uncommon. But keeping it up for a long time – that is uncommon. Especially in our business.

The Berns Company: Order or Demise

When you track hundreds of thousands of parts over a half dozen warehouses around the United States, keeping track of your inventory is a daunting task. Order is a minimum requirement. We’re not talking all new-in-box parts here, either. We’re talking many raw parts, slightly used, pulled from forklifts or still in forklifts. If you don’t know how to get that item when your customer wants it, your sunk!

Steve Berns came to me a few months ago, referred by a satisfied customer. Immediately, we set about getting to the core of his problem and assessing a solution for him. As are all things, it wasn’t simple.

“Tracking an inventory of hundreds of thousands of parts over a half dozen warehouses around the U.S. is daunting. Order is a minimum requirement.”

But we came up with a plan and we helped him to get on track to the results he wants.

Something like The Berns Company, we’ve been around for a while. They’ve managed to successfully help businesses all over the world since 1956 – we’ve got some catching up to do! But the reason they’ve lasted is the same we have. We keep at it, and we do so with order as our ally.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Web Site Maintenance Management Package

Part of our order to keep things rolling for you is the way we manage websites. It used to be you could write some code, upload some images and that was it. Then there were PHP forms to to email inquiries from your site. And then content management came, and the game changed.

Now, because of the way content management is done, it’s immensely complicated. Your typical website is an orchestra of software working together. Because of this, websites are pretty easy to hack.

We do what we can to prevent these problems. The way we do this is through order – through systems and processes developed as best practices through decades. It’s not perfect, but we make sure it gets a little better every day.

We keep the orchestra of software updated and working. It’s not easy. Sometimes, these updates break the site. They conflict with other parts of the site or software, making it a complicated task. The more complicated the site, the harder it gets. It’s easy for a site owner to find their website crashed without any recourse.

That’s what we’re here for. Let us handle it so you can focus on your business. You do you. Let us do your website management.

Interfanatic: Our Order Keeps You Moving

We’re here for our customers. We’ve worked with some of them for decades. We work to build great relationships that last. We do this using a process that helps them feel comfortable and it builds their trust in us through steady and safe work.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Order, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Order, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

This is now a bittersweet image. I got to go flying with my uncle, who passed on in that blue aircraft at the right just a year or so after this was taken.

My uncle was a great pilot. But accidents happen. That said, when he passed, he was on his own. He wasn’t with his buddies. They drilled hard to keep their act safe. They had a lot of fun together, and they did so through discipline, through order. They practiced formation flying with safety at the top of their priority list.

I was in his buddy’s plane here, and my nephew was with my uncle. It was a pretty great experience, absolutely unforgettable. It came about by the pilots all continually working together with an unerring dedication to order.

Order: The Berns Company – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

Temperance: Checkered Past Racing & Chris Locke – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.

Thomas Paine

Moderation in temper is always a virtue: check. It’s never a good time to lose your temper. Moderation in principle is a vice: check. It seems like now more than ever we need to live by guiding principles to hold our society together. And while we need patience and temperance to understand and further common goals with people not exactly like us, being temperate in principle is a bad idea, says Thomas Paine.

But temperance is a wonderful way to be. Not too much. Not too little. Just right.

I immediately think of our customer Chris Locke, and his Checkered Past Racing. Locke is the model of temperance. He rarely if ever loses his temper, even in situations where it would be expected.

I can always rely on Chris Locke to be a voice of moderation. It’s an inspiration in my dealings with others, and in business.

Temperance: An Interfanatic Quality

We have spent decades building systems and processes to keep an even flow. To keep websites running, to keep workflow steady, to keep excellent relations with our customers, we rely on temperance. It makes a better experience for everyone when things go as planned.

It doesn’t always work out that way. But that’s what we’re gunning for every day. Not too fast, not too slow, just right. And completed properly.

Checkered Past Racing™: Temperance in Action

In a sporting setting, it’s easy for things to get heated. I’ve seen Locke race many times – and get into sticky situations. Most are not his fault. He seldom, if ever, gets excited. He’s able to keep his head down and complete the race, often with the result he wants, without losing his cool. That’s temperance.

“…cool, collected drivers must maintain temperance to ensure the exciting but safe execution of a historic racing event. Locke always executes.”

In racing, it’s really easy to get yourself in a bad position if you don’t keep your head. Racing a car requires massive concentration, and the consequences of losing concentration is exacerbated by the vintage machinery. Racing is always dangerous, but the cars Locke races are immensely more dangerous than their modern counterparts. They have many safety improvements, but inherently they’re not as safe as being built with the latest technology. As such, cool, collected drivers must maintain temperance to ensure the exciting but safe execution of a racing event. Locke always executes.

His cars are beautiful and historic. Chris Locke races a Lotus 27 Formula Junior, a Lotus 77 Formula One, and most recently, a Merlin Formula Ford. Look for upcoming articles about the Merlin.

The Lotus 27 is the culmination of mid-1960s formula car technology. It’s light, lithe and nimble, and powerful for its type. Unfortunately, many of the other cars in his class are similar in power, so Locke must keep his wits about him. Locke maintains his concentration, and carries more speed through corners than his competitors to win.

The 1978 Lotus 77 is in a whole other world of power and technology. Although there’s just over a decade between the cars, the Lotus 77 is a quantum leap forward. Colin Chapman’s next Formula One design, the Lotus 79, would prove to be yet another quantum leap in technology, so this car contains the beginnings of a Formula One revolution. None other than Mario Andretti raced Locke’s Lotus 77.

When operating a 500+ horsepower, high downforce Formula One Lotus as Locke does regularly, an erratic right foot will create a disaster. Only Locke’s addiction to temperance helps him cross the finish line every time.

When I look through our book of business, it’s hard to find a character more devoted to the even keel than Chris Locke. It is our pleasure to work with him through his Checkered Past Racing.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Marketing Package

To keep business flowing evenly, a solid and predictable marketing plan will keep an even, solid and predictable flow of customers coming in. Without sales, you have nothing.

A diverse marketing plan that includes digital ads, reputation management, content marketing, email marketing, and social media will keep your business’ presence top of mind for prospective customers. Properly managed, you can turn up and down the flow of customers evenly.

Not sure to start? No problem. That’s exactly what we’re here for. We’ll learn about your business, get you to answer a few questions, and custom tailor an entire marketing plan to your budget.

Interfanatic: Temperance Keeps Us Steady

Day in, day out, our customers depend upon us to get the job done. We can’t always do everything at once. But we can keep the steady stream moving to ensure their project’s success.


This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Temperance, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.
Temperance, an Interfanatic Quality. Interfanatic Digital Marketing founder Ryan Delane takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

For life to flourish, there must be temperance. Whether it’s the depths of the ocean or a mountain forest, that region must remain temperate. Extremes destroy, in politics, in life, and in the ecosystem. This pretty little succulent is a reminder of how good we have it here in California. And it’s an inspiration to keep things going the right way by avoiding extremes. As Paul Simon said,
“…Goldilocks and the three bears
Nature in the crosshairs
And how we all ascended
From the deep green sea
When it’s not too hot
Not too cold
Not too meek
Not too bold
When it’s just right and you have sunlight
Then we’re home”
Excerpt from Hurricane Eye, You’re The One, 2000

Temperance: Checkered Past Racing & Chris Locke – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight Read More »

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