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“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

– Frederick Douglass

Endurance: how much will we endure? How much must we endure when we are divided? It’s much easier to endure collectively, when everyone feels the same way.

Douglass, serving in congress just a couple of generations removed from the revolutionary war, had a different take on enduring tyrants. He was born when many revolutionaries were still influential. Jefferson and Adams died when he was 9 years old.

Jefferson had abolished the international slave trade, but slave trade within the United States was still somehow a thing in the 1830s as Douglass came up in these United States. So he knew all about tyrants and oppression and enduring bad situations.

Now, I’m going to shift to a better kind of endurance. I’m talking about the kind that Ron Guth embodies. As a successful professional numismatist at the top of his game for many years, he has endured as an author, a researcher, and a leader in the field.

Endruance in business is not easy, but he has managed it.

Endurance: An Interfanatic Quality

There are not many businesses in our realm that have lasted 20 years. Some of the difficulty enduring has to do with people, some of it has to do with competition, but most of it has to do with the same stuff that makes all business difficult.

We push through, to find a way when things are difficult.

Many projects are not as simple as they seem. They start out simple, but scope creep and technical complexities often interfere. Then, when you add in inconsistent labor, you can have a real problem on your hands.

It’s so much easier to trust us – we’ll take care of the difficult parts. Even if it takes time, we’ll make it work.

Another guy who makes it work: Ron Guth. He’s been in his business for decades. Guth has seen the highs, he been through the lows. He’s written plenty of books about it, too.

But through it all, he obviously endures. And what’s really special about Guth is that he endures in such a way that everyone likes him. That’s definitely not always the case in numismatics.

GermanCoins – Enduring at the Top of Google SERPS

GermanCoins.com – it’s a bit risky of me to bring it up. It’s tough for some people. German history goes back at least a thousand years, but a decade or two in the mid-20th century still dominates many peoples’ minds. Yes, there are nazi coins on GermanCoins.com. That’s because they’re part of the numismatic history of the country – a numismatic history that is mostly beautiful, complicated, and way longer than two decades. Of course, this single chapter makes many people uncomfortable. As it should.

So, if it makes you uncomfortable, look at everything else. Don’t focus on it. There are incredible, exquisite, beautiful coins from Germany that have nothing to do with it. And yes, there is a market for Nazi coins, so ignoring that history, while perhaps more comfortable, is in a way irresponsible. We can’t forget that history, though we don’t exactly want to celebrate it. We just have to remember, and try to prevent it from happening again.

Hint: it’s not working.

But perhaps the greatest task ahead of us back when we took over GermanCoins.com is that because of its endurance, its longevity, it had dominated the top of the search results. Before we took over, it was starting to fall down. We stepped in to help.

Try it: do a google search for “german coins.”

In an ever more competitive field, we’re doing our job.

“The results speak for themselves: In an ever more competitive field, we’re doing our job.”

As always, we approached this task as if it were our own. And we built a great website that works for Guth.

Digital Endurance Interfanatic Web Site Design & Branding

We told you last week that we love building websites. We do. But part of the fun is building a design that will stand the test of time. Being a part of great design, something elegant that outlasts trends – that’s the good stuff right there.

Enduring design and branding are tough. But it’s the kind of task we roll up our sleeves and dive into.

If you want great design or branding, we’re here for that.

Interfanatic and a Enduring

When you’ve been around as long as we have, you see a thing or two. You know what works and what doesn’t. You know how to see projects through to completion.

It is our pleasure to help you endure as we have.

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

Talk about design that endures! Have a go at this beauty. That right there is the heinee of a Buick Special. And it is lovely. I took this image at the El Segundo Driving Museum.