ingenuity

“Above our modern socialism, and out of the worship of the mass, must persist and evolve that higher individualism which the centres of culture protect; there must come a loftier respect for the sovereign human soul that seeks to know itself and the world about it; that seeks a freedom for expansion and self-development; that will love and hate and labor it its own way, untrammeled alike by old and new.”

– William Edward Burghardt Du Bois

Du Bois speaks about respect for curious sentients. It’s a wonderful part of being human for many, to wonder about their place and do their thing. Sadly, it’s not possible for all people because that respect is insufficient, even 100 years after he wrote of it.

When our customers come to us, they have an idea. They have either acted on it, and need assistance continuing the pursuit, or they have just begun to work on that idea, and they need our professionalism. They need our respect, as we need theirs’.

Respect is a critical component of any relationship. As it is in life, it is in business.

W.E.B. Du Bois speaks of the sovereign human soul. We further that cause for the sovereign human soul’s will to be productive and useful through their business enterprise.

Respect: An Interfanatic Quality

Whenever we begin a new relationship, we start by filling out our Interfanatic Digital Marketing Manifesto, a lengthy document we created to understand the depths of the project, both long and short term. This is our way of showing respect for the business owner’s idea. It allows us to continue to respect their idea for the short term and the long term – hopefully the length of the project.

Plans change, but a completed IDMM puts us on the same page as our client so that we understand their problem fully and can execute in the best possible, most strategic manner.

It takes time, but our clients’ ideas are definitely worth that respect.

Fresh Fundraising – Borne from Respect For Educators

Some years ago, a couple of women came to us with an idea. They wanted to help teachers come up with interesting, fresh fundraising programs. They recognize how difficult education is for teachers, who often have to go out of pocket for supplies and other materials. It’s difficult enough to educate children – they wanted to help teachers take care of some of the other things.

We helped them, for a short time, with their blog. They chose to move on to another provider, and shortly after that, their project seemed to have ended. But while it was in our care, we took immense time to understand their needs and give them an effective outlet to explore their idea.

It was a good cause.

“…we took immense time to respect and understand their needs and give them an effective outlet to explore their idea.”

Respectful Storytelling:
Interfanatic Power Business Content Piece

One way we do right by our clients is through creating content from their perspective. We tell their story, we say what needs to be said, and we do it with the foundation of clearly understanding their business and goals.

It’s important to have a deep and clear understanding of a business before you begin writing solid, SEO-helpful content for them. Anybody can write, but not anybody can write well, nor with the intention of creating better sales and fewer still, writing that drives more valuable traffic.

Because we begin with our Interfanatic Digital Marketing Manifesto, we know everything we need to know about the customer’s business. We have the foundation to write great content from their perspective.

It’s not easy. It’s difficult writing. But it’s valuable content and we gladly produce it for great companies as we help them to their business goals.

Interfanatic and Respect

Everything begins with respect. Everything should end with respect. And respect should be paramount at every point in between.

That’s the Interfanatic way.

---

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

When I look at the moon, I think of the brave men and women of the Apollo Program (and all that lead up to it), who gave their everything to explore. I have immense respect for their deeds and their accomplishments. This includes those danged Ruskies who didn’t make it. Many of them also made the ultimate sacrifice for exploration. It was not an easy task, but it was a worthwhile one that has spurred and inspired generations.

---

Black Lives Matter.

The soaring words of Du Bois – “respect for the sovereign human soul!” Indeed. During a time where we so dearly need to have respect for all human souls, it’s obviously prescient. We show our respect by putting others first, but not all do. All ideas get our respect, and not all do. We do our best for the people around us, when certainly not all do.

This is America.

The beauty of freedom for all is that it comes from a fundamental respect of others. Some people choose to focus on a fundamental respect of themselves, and that is important. But the American idea is one founded upon respecting and working with others.

Democracy only works when everyone is given the same respect. Respect is not taken, it is given. When respect is not given to all people, all ideas, it is no longer democracy.

“The best substitute for money is ingenuity.”

– Patti Page

Money gives the ability to power through problems, so long as you have it. But it’s most often not the most efficient or effective way to solve problems. It can be. But not always.

Often, there is a much less expensive, much more efficient solution. And that solution is arrived at with your noggin’. Experience and ingenuity.

And Patti Page, a country starlet, saw problems solved both ways during her vast experience, no doubt. Her experience showed her that ingenuity could substitute for money.

Our experience is the same.

We love (LOVE) coming up with a clever solution that saves money. In that way, we feel we’re very efficient. It’s always our goal to save our customers money in a practical way.

Ingenuity: An Interfanatic Quality

There’s always a way. We love to find it.

It’s our team’s hobby to find novel ways to approach new problems with reliable and excellent results. You’ll find we don’t always jump on to the latest technologies. But what we do is find ways to make established solutions work in a new way – sometimes, a way that has never been considered.

We don’t reinvent the wheel. But we do find ways to make it roll easier.

FARUS, LLC – Innovators Using Ingenuity as Their Capital

FARUS came to us about a decade ago. They had ideas. But they needed credibility. They needed a website.

So, we created one for them. It was quick and simple and a great project.

It was fun because it was the classic founder situation. Some college buddies had figured out how to make stuff work better, got together, and after graduation they made the stuff. And it worked better.

Their work has led to medical breakthroughs in optics and helped millions of people. It’s one of the unseen companies quietly doing its thing.

“…the classic founder situation. Some college buddies had figured out how to make stuff work better, got together, and after graduation they made the stuff.”

Their American Dream played out in front of us. We’re so pleased we could help them find the credibility.

An Ingenious Method:
Interfanatic The Works AI-Powered Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing. The platforms want you to think the best way to increase your reach is through paying for ads. And that is a good way to increase reach.

But what if you were able to up your post count with minimal effort? You wouldn’t reach non-followers as much as you would with paid boosts, but you could be sure your message is being seen consistently by your loyal follower base.

That’s where our AI-Powered service comes in. It’s an extremely cost efficient way to up your post count and increase engagement from your existing audience. We use a tool that does much of the heavy lifting, but we proof it and make sure the messages are on point before scheduling them.

We augment existing Social Media marketing campaigns with our AI-Powered tool. You wouldn’t want to run Social Media standalone, but if you’re already posting a couple of times per week, how nice would it be to be hitting your followers feeds a couple more times per week? A couple more times per day?

Talk to us. We’ll get you set up. Get your Social Media working for you.

Interfanatic and Ingenuity

We use proven technologies in novel ways to solve problems cost-effectively for our customers. We’re all about ROI. And, as Page says: the best way to ROI is to think yourself there, rather than spend yourself there.

---

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

As you may know, following the release of Ford v. Ferrari last year, Carrol Shelby was quite ingenious. Let’s take a lightweight British car, put a powerful American Enigne in it, and see what happens. Well, unless you don’t know anything about anything, you know that Shelby’s Cobras won a lot of races. It was that kind of ingenuity that made Shell a legend. I was lucky to visit the Shelby facility here in Torrance, and I snapped these two looking like they were ready to remove a layer of asphalt from a strip.

---

Black Lives Matter.

Ingenuity. It may not seem ingenious to some, but looking at people as if we’re 99.9% the same is a genuine breakthrough for some people. Our differences strengthen our culture, but we’re all one race. What we’re taught is what’s different. Overcoming intuitive tribalism and poor education, overcoming insecurities – that’s hard. Working together to build something will always be harder than tearing things down. Weak leaders show us how to tear things down. Strong leaders lead us to be greater together.

This is America.

We can do better.

I recently had an interesting conversation about Lewis Hamilton. It had come to some old white guy’s attention that two old white guys thought Hamilton was overdoing it with his anti-racism messaging. I told him I didn’t think it was the place of old white guys – who never see real racism – to comment.

Why don’t we have more black racing drivers? People of all races excel in all sports. If you don’t see the obvious answer in front of your nose, it’s not that you’re ingenious, it’s because you’re racist.

Yes, generally speaking, if you’re quick, the best will pick you up. But there’s more to motorsport. You have to be good with sponsors, too. And some sponsors – wittingly or unwittingly – may not be smart enough to figure out how to work with drivers they’re not used to. Could it be systemic racism stops black racing drivers from succeeding?

And, everyone knows you have to start when you’re four. How many people can afford to put their kid in a kart when he’s four? Do you think there are greater or fewer black parents than can? Could it be systemic racism stops black racing drivers from succeeding?

And, let’s be fair – there are PLENTY of wealthy black parents. Not as many as wealthy white parents, obviously. But to get into something, you have to be exposed and you have to want to. Where are the heroes?

Well, we have black one right now in F1. His name is Lewis Hamilton. And if you don’t like him, it’s probably because you’re racist. Because he is overcoming and excelling and succeeding. That means there will be more black racing drivers from all over the world in the coming generations. The world moves on. Come with us or stand aside.

A black driver winning World Championships for Hitler’s favorite auto manufacturer. If the rest of the world can move along like that, you prove to us you’re not ingenious when you cannot.

Side note: I was weak. At Austin a few years ago, I did not kneel at the USGP during the national anthem. I wanted to. I knew it was the right thing to do. In fact, I remember I was sleepless because of it. My family wouldn’t approve. We were in Texas. I could legitimately get shot or beat up if I did the right thing. And I did not because I was weak.

Hamilton recently fessed up that he made the same mistake. It made me feel so much better. But now we’ve made that mistake, and we’ve learned from it. We won’t do it again.