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Temperance: Checkered Past Productions™ – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

When the going gets tough, the tough stay calm – that’s temperance. It’s easy to be faced with an overwhelming mountain of tasks or mishaps and to crumble under the pressure. It’s easy to lose your cool. But there are those experienced enough to know how to keep getting up, prioritize, and move forward. They use their temperance to their advantage to make progress through adversity.

That’s why we celebrate temperance this week. It’s easy to think of the best-tempered people on whom our lives depend: the veterans. As we thank them for their service, we think of all the adversity they pushed through and have to push through every day. May hard-learned temperance keep them healthy.

I immediately think of Chris Locke, of Checkered Past Productions. Locke is a living example of temperance.

Checkered Past Productions: Calm During the Storm of Production

Chris Locke is one of our favorite clients. (Wait, we say that about all of them, don’t we? Well, it’s true!) One of the key things you notice about Chris immediately is his calm demeanor. This is a key advantage when things get a little bit nuts. And during any kind of production (film, event), things get a little bit nuts. There’s little that can be done. As deadlines approach and pressures mount, some people lose their cool, at the very least they start to get excited.

And that’s where Locke makes a difference. He’s the calm one. Everyone else is frantic, but Locke knows how to put the right people in place, and trusts the process. He knows it will come together, because he’s done this before. And even when he hasn’t (it happens rarely), he’s been around this rodeo enough to know how to react and adjust.

Locke is a consultant for production companies engaged in the historic motorsports scene. “Vintage Racing” is another circus that travels the world that, if you’re not in the know, you may not know exists. But to the women and men who participate, it is a focal point of deep passion.

They just want to have fun. They just want to share their passion – to show their friends why they’re excited about their piece of the puzzle. And Locke helps them do that. Whether it’s creating a historic racing event or recreating an authentic, historic motorsport experience in-person or for film, Locke has done that. That’s what Checkered Past Productions is – it’s the tempered enthusiasm that keeps things moving smoothly.

A 40-second video showing a simple website we built for Chris Locke and Checkered Past Productions.

We like to have that influence, too. We like to be the calm in the storm. When a client is having difficulties with everything else, at least they know they can count on us, and our systems and processes, to keep our part of their project under control.

We did this very simple website for Chris Locke. As the pandemic finally starts to wane a little bit and everyone who wants to be is finally getting vaccinated, events begin again. Expect some changes to the site over the coming years.

Temperance: An Interfanatic Quality

Temperance to be a virtue must be free, and not forced.

C. A. Bartol

A couple of years ago, we highlighted a Sam Clemens quote about temperance. C. A. Bartol makes a similar point Clemens did: don’t force it or overdo it. Bartol’s point is that it’s best when it comes naturally. For it to come naturally, it must become habit, a part of you.

That’s why we try to build out our systems and processes. That way, there is temperance built into our work. Fewer surprises, fewer excitements – our projects just work.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Basic Website Production

Last week, we told you about Charmy Harker, The Penny Lady® and how she created a fantastic business with her quickness. We worked together with her to create a wonderful ecommerce website for business with Interfanatic Power Business Website Production at its core. This week, I’ll tell you about how we sometimes start small with clients. A place they often start is with our Interfanatic Basic Website Production.

Most businesses prefer to start small. Many successful people find it’s better to limit your outlay until you’re established. Once established, you can reinvest. Often, we deal with clients who are ready to grow, and their current team isn’t. But we’ve been involved with projects at every stage, and we love helping small businesses grow.

“We’ll put together a basic website for you for only $500.”

One of the things I like most about my business is our ability to work with clients through all stages of development. It’s how we’ve kept great customers for so many years.

So if you’re just starting out, you have probably put a lot of thought into how you want to do things and the story you want to tell. You can’t afford much yet until you have a few clients keeping you going. For you, there is Interfanatic Basic Website Production. We’ll put together a basic website for you for only $500.

This doesn’t have anything. This is bare bones! As with all our Basic products and services, it’s minimum cost and value packed. You have to trust us on design as there isn’t a budget for much adjustment. You have to give us all your content as there’s no budget for us to create it for you. There isn’t our typical strong SEO or lightning fast load because there’s no budget for it. (That said, there is some SEO built-in because we always do whatever we can with your budget – it’s just not nearly as strong as the Power build we do that is built around strong SEO). But it’s a solid start to get you going. If you want those other things, the price is $1,500 and up, which is just not acceptable to many very small businesses when they’re just starting out.

But the best news is that we can work with you. And over time, as you’re able to reinvest in your business, we’ll help you grow your website to reflect your needs.

Interfanatic: Tempered to last.

If you’re tired of hearing stories, or listening to excuses, or getting unwelcome surprises, we’re here to help. We don’t like those things either. We do everything we can to avoid them. Stuff still happens, but with Interfanatic systems and processes in place, it’s less often and less extreme. Temperance built right in to all our project. So call us now. No matter your budget, we have the answer.


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Gratitude: Checkered Past Racing – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Every day, remember gratitude. Be grateful for what you’ve got rather than avarice for that which you do not.

I always think of Chris Locke. Not only is he a grateful guy, I’m personally very grateful to him. He is a dream customer. He’s the kind of customer every business wants.

And the quote we focus on is a good one. I feel like it’s been beaten into cliche, but Sterling Brown gets credit because he quoted it to a popular rag. I’m guessing it may have been passed down to him, but regardless, it’s a great sentiment.

Being thankful isn’t hard when you have so much to be thankful for in life. It can be easy to lose focus when things aren’t going your way. But gratitude is a great way to get your head on straight again.

Checkered Past Racing: A Grateful Life, Fulfilled

Locke and I met through our mutual passion – racing. Long ago, in a galaxy far away, Chris and I used to race together, albeit he up the track further than I, usually. He created CheckeredPastRacing.com so many moons ago to share his schedule with his friends and family. If they wanted to come watch, they have an easy, memorable website to go to to find his whereabouts.

When we did the original project for Chris – so long ago – man, that was a fun one. We did a Flash intro animation, which was all the rage at the time. My friend and colleague Zane Kohler was the cartoonist behind it, and it was awesome.

Time moves on, Flash is no longer en vogue; now it’s all about big pictures and simple UI. So that’s what we went for when we redesigned the site for Chris a couple of years ago. It serves its purpose now better than ever.

A demonstration of CheckeredPastRacing.com.

Last week, we spoke about how all of our fresh websites are responsive. It was one of the chief design requirements when we did this site a couple of years ago to ensure it works well on mobile devices. The old site worked okay – you could find and see stuff. But we designed this site from the get-go to work on desktop and mobile.

Check out this quick video that shows some of the highlights of the site: https://checkeredpastracing.com

Gratitude: An Interfanatic Quality

Always have an attitude of gratitude.

Sterling K. Brown

No matter what’s going on, you’re here. That is quite likely better than the alternative. This, too, shall pass.

And when things are really going well, remembering gratitude keeps your attitude in check.

Gratitude at times comes easily. But we choose to combine this week’s quality with last’s: diligence. It’s important to be diligent with gratitude. We try to ensure we work it into our daily routine over here. Not obnoxiously, but such that it is always there.

We are so grateful for our wonderful customers, upon whom we have built this business. We work hard for them as our way of showing gratitude.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Basic Management

Last week, we reminded you about how all our fresh design/build projects use responsive design. This week, I’ll remind you one way we express gratitude for our clients daily: by managing their websites effectively.

When I say we manage your website, I mean hosting, SSL, email, and labor. We have management plans for customers of all sizes. If you want excellent, active and adaptive SEO, we have management plans with that built right in, too.

“That’s what our management is. It’s active, rather than passive. It’s preventative, rather than reactive. That way, our customers sometimes even forget we’re there.”

See, we’re always working for our customers, whether they know it or not. We’re always on, trying to ensure we take care of any problems that arise before they even know something’s happening.

That’s what our management is. It’s active, rather than passive. It’s preventative, rather than reactive. That way, our customers sometimes even forget we’re even there. Which is, really, how it should be. We do our thing for you so you don’t have to worry about it.

Interfanatic: Grateful, always hungry to be more grateful.

We’re here for you. We appreciate you. We’re grateful our customers are in our lives. And we work hard to make sure they know it, whether they see it or not. And we’re always willing to do more for them. Ask, and we’ll answer the call. We’re here for you, and we’ll do our best for anybody you recommend.


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Adaptability: Allen Berg Racing School – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Adaptability enforces creativity, and creativity is adaptability.

Pearl Zhu

This time we’re in requires adaptability. Many people resist adaptation under the auspice of not liking to be told what to do. They may not like that, but also likely: they don’t like change.

Change can be scary. But you either embrace it and go with it or resist. Resist you may with all your might, but the fact is you will have to adapt, at least on some level.

The Internet and of course digital marketing were completely different in 1999. I remember hearing about this new thing called Netscape Navigator while I was in college. Then hearing about this thing called Google. It was supposed to be better than AOL or Yahoo. It was certainly simpler.

And then came widened connectivity as people started to ditch modems. Then phones had internet connections, and people could text. Then facebook. And now, the current flavor of the month is…?

Through it, we had to adapt. We adapted as people. And here in this digital information realm especially, businesses that adapt can thrive. Others have tried to go too far and failed. But through it all is a major change in the way we find and process information.

If you refused to adapt, you might be okay. You may still get some calls from the Yellow Pages, but there are companies who thrive with tons of leads from nothing but social media. They adapted. They went with the change.

One such company who chose to adapt is Allen Berg Racing Schools. When I think of adapting, I always think of that fighter Allen, who insisted upon succeeding. He adapted, and in doing so put himself in a place to succeed.

Adaptability: An Interfanatic Quality

Adaptation is not unique to the business of the Internet. Adapting is almost always a difficult piece of progress. Adaptation requires compromise. Most people don’t like to compromise – they want to keep things the way they are, so they’re comfortable and know what to expect.

But there are some that relish the challenge. There are some people that recognize the need for change and for adaptation to that change. There are some who exploit changes with their ability to adapt. Others give up and fail. Those who succeed adapt.

For me, I enjoy doing what works. Unfortunately, there are many people of ill will who exploit what works to their advantage – but to the detriment of others. So, “what works” in our business unfortunately changes rapidly and regularly. And so we must adapt. The sooner we adapt, the sooner we’re back to what works.

Zhu explains that adaptability and creativity are one in the same. Being creative, bringing a creative approach to a problem is adapting to conquer it.

The Indomitable Spirit of Allen Berg, He Who Adapts to Succeed

The industry of motorsports racing schools is a difficult one. There have been many players, and most have fallen by the wayside as they struggled to adapt. Allen Berg marches on.

“Berg continues that success with what has become one of the largest open wheel racing school on the planet. He did it with adaptation.”

Allen Berg is a Canadian man who raced Formula One with Michael Schumacher. Well, even he would say that he raced in the same races with Schumacher, but not really with him. To succeed in Formula One, as in life, as in business, you must have a critical combination of skill, perseverance, and perhaps most important: luck.

Many people fail to acknowledge that last one. Luck is perhaps the most important factor. And yes, I’ve heard time and time again, “we make our own luck”, but the truth is we do what we can and others around us may help. There are plenty of great ideas and nearly successful people out there who are able to recognize the importance of luck. There are some extremely successful people who are unable or unwilling to recognize that luck played an important part in their success because they’d rather believe they did it all themselves.

Allen Berg is both. He made it to the top tier of motor racing, only to be stymied before further progress. But making it into Formula One is and always has been an incredible feat in itself.

Now, Berg continues that success with what has become one of the largest open wheel racing school on the planet. He did it with adaptation.

The plucky Berg would not be defeated. It is that determination that has made his own luck and helped his school to be successful. He continued to come up with creative ideas, to enlist the help of bright people, and to work hard until his school became the prominent one that it is.

So when he came to us years ago searching for new ways to adapt his website and his digital marketing to a changing world, it was a great honor and pleasure to consult and work with Allen Berg.

It’s easy for successful people to talk about their success. Now that Allen Berg has adapted to create success, he can tell you his story.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Site Production

Interfanatic‘s brand of website production requires constant adaptation. Adapting to the constantly changing digital environment of 2021 is demanding, but we’re up for the challenge. We do what works until it doesn’t, or until there is a better way. Then we add that better way into our systems, into our processes, and that becomes what works. Until it doesn’t, and then we adapt again. We’re always on the search for and implementation of what works.

But we do so slowly – not quickly abandoning what has worked. Sometimes what worked in the past will work again. Sometimes what seems like a better way forward is not after further testing and more experience. So we take our time to adapt – we adapt to do what is best, but not for the sake of change. We want our customers to trust our systems and processes.

I think that’s why we have built many great customer relationships through the decades.

Interfanatic: Continual Adaptation

2020 and 2021 surely require radical adaptation we as a people are not accustomed to. When adaptation is convenient and comfortable, we hardly notice how much things have changed. But when it is inconvenient and uncomfortable, our default as a society is to resist.

Sometimes the price of resistance is too great. At Interfanatic, we have grown comfortable being uncomfortable so that our customers don’t have to be – so our customers don’t even have to notice.


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

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

A sunrise of a new day. 2021 did not bring with it a clear, bright new future. 2021 will be hard. But hopefully, it has brought us all a renewed spirit to adapt, do what’s right, and understand that life will not always be as we wish it to be. But the more we work together, the better we can make it for ourselves, for those closest to us, and for everyone.

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Love: Laguna Seca Raceway – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

Aristotle

A single soul inhabiting two bodies. A beautiful thought… It reminds of marriage vows… and of racing a motor car.

You probably have a different thought when you think of racing a motor car than I do. But doing it well is especially reflective of a beautiful love affair.

When you’re racing a car, when you’re in the zone, you feel the cars tires as an extension of your own body. The two of you become one and glide fluidly through space, without drama. Everything else disappears and the lap times fall, relentlessly.

At first, it’s just you, and your car. Then, the car becomes you, and it’s just you. It all just happens.

So it is with Laguna Seca Raceway. I think they call it WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca these days. But when we designed and built an incredibly high-tech, forward thinking website for them fifteen years ago, it was Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The track, at the time, was run by SCRAMP: love for motorsport and the cherished circuit inhabiting many bodies. Now, there will always be protagonists and antagonists, but the fact remains: everyone does it because they love racing.

Love: An Interfanatic Quality

We designed and built an incredible website for them. It was incredibly high-tech and advanced for its time. Some thought too advanced. Perhaps a little before its time. But we created Laguna Seca’s site with love.

Interfanatic created Laguna Seca’s site with love.”

If you don’t know Laguna Seca, let me try to explain it to you.

In the middle of an Army ordinance range, some crazy folks decided to create a racetrack. They ran a ribbon of gray asphalt around a small brown mountain. Then they hurled their bright red, blue, orange, yellow, and silver sporty cars around that ribbon of asphalt. And it became racing. And it was good.

Laguna Seca has a character all its own. If you know what I’m talking about, skip ahead. There are only so many descriptions of the corkscrew a real racer can take. But if you don’t…

After coaxing your beast up the back of the hill, it reaches the top, breathless. It’s time to dig your heel hard into the binders and dance your hands and feet into second gear. A hard left and the world disappears beneath you as you lift off the brakes and accelerate. Your steed searches for footing, you gently coax her right and catch third in the air. When she settles in, you’re heading to a fast left with all hell screaming behind you.

When Phil Hill first hit that fast left in the Chapparel 2J, everyone held their collective breaths. There was NO WAY he could make it through Turn 9 at that mach number. But he did. And Jim Hall was right, and ground effect in motorsport was borne.

It’s a track filled with history. Young James Dean passed on driving his Porsche to Laguna Seca. Mark Donahue hustled the mighty “if you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower” 917/30 there. And Alex Zanardi gadzooked Bryan Herta, turning his IndyCar into a rally machine to make a nutty pass stick for the win.

It’s a place I kinda grew up.

Laguna Seca Raceway: A Project We Cannot Forget

So when Laguna Seca approached Interfanatic (nee Web Site Maintenance & Design) after hearing Carroll Smith crow about our site, it was a thrilling moment.

We love doing cutting edge. We love doing what can’t be done. And we, like the people behind Laguna Seca, love racing.

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

To make up for last week’s screenshot, this week we have a real photograph. An image of love. I took this slide with love; love for my father, love for motor racing, and love for photography. This, for me, has everything. I took this photograph at a dinky little throwback track called Moroso. It was phenomenal. I remember there wasn’t much in the way of safety back then. As I recall there were gators in a culvert at one of the turn exits. You didn’t want to get upside-down there (not that you would want to get shiny-side down anywhere). But apparently some guy got himself eaten after tipping over there the month before. But the lack of guardrails and corner-workers who gave a damned what I did allowed me to do this. To get the image I wanted. And, for me, it remains glorious.

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