local business

Goodness: Smoll – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.

His Holiness, Dalai Lama XIV

As we sit, America is in tumult, reaping exactly what she sowed. It’s a lot to take in.

So let’s take a moment to appreciate goodness. There is innate goodness in all people. Some people choose to celebrate that, while some people choose to focus on our differences.

The Dalai Lama, despite his life’s journey, chooses to give us a positive nugget in this week’s quote. The roots of goodness come in the appreciation of goodness. Apparently, the corollary is also true; when goodness is lost, we have to deal with the roots of discontent, which lie in appreciation of discontent.

Right now, we have more people interested in us hearing that we can’t tell them what to do than we have people interested in speaking for the greater good. When you assert your liberty over someone else’s, the result is oppression of the other. That’s not real liberty.

Appreciating the good of others begins the growth of all goodness. And that’s what Smoll does.

Smoll appreciates the goodness of great small businesses around our country. It celebrates that goodness. It makes itself a root for goodness and appreciation for good small business.

Goodness: An Interfanatic Quality

At the end of the day, I choose to take or reject a client based on their goodness. I have a tough client right now. Extremely difficult to communicate with. But I knew that going in, and I decided to take on the project because I believe him to be a good person. I appreciate the goodness and in this case I’ll work with that despite otherwise intense difficulties.

That’s not the case with Smoll – they’re great to work with! And I think much of that comes from the innate goodness they work toward.

But, we know what it’s like to work with difficult clients and we know what it’s like to work with great ones. We always prioritize being great to work with because that’s how good things happen.

Smoll, Celebrating the Good of Local, Small Businesses

Where do you go when you need something? You go where you know. You go where you trust. Often, what you know, what you trust is a big chain. It’s the McDonald’s model. When I’m in Shanghai, I know with certainty that a McDonald’s is not the best hamburger I can get. Shanghai is filled with excellent restaurants, with even some that have hamburgers, and surely a couple that make great hamburgers. But if I don’t feel like seeking out that restaurant, when I want a burger quick and I see McDonald’s on the corner, that’s where I go. (Not me literally; I’m the type to seek out the burger if that’s what I want. But…) You know what to expect. Probably a reasonably inexpensive Big Mac and you have a pretty good idea of what it will taste like.

Then, there’s Yelp. Yelp is extortion. Often, I see small business beholden to Yelp for their shady business practices. When people go to Yelp, it’s to air grievances much more often than it is to share praise. And being beholden to Yelp is expensive. Unless you have an excellent system and process in place to ensure a good working relationship with your customers, you’re likely to get bad reviews that soil the good ones.

So that’s why there’s Smoll. It’s designed around celebrating and helping to promote the great small businesses in your community. It features special businesses from every community around the United States so that you can find businesses you’ll want to work with that you may not know about. Maybe they don’t do Yelp and maybe you haven’t heard of them. But there’s a great, hardworking team at that local small business you would really enjoy working with.

And that’s why we work with Smoll. That’s exactly what we want and what we want to do: celebrate the goodness in our local communities and small businesses.

Interfanatic: Finding and Celebrating Goodness

Let’s take a moment to find the goodness in each other – the common ground we can agree upon. We should not focus on our differences. Let’s appreciate the goodness in each of our perspectives.


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.

The purity of sunflowers – that’s some righteous goodness. My wifey bought these for our table and I couldn’t help but revel in their beauty and splash of color. It’s nice to have beautiful things around to remind you of goodness.

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Tranquility: Palos Verdes Coin Exchange – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

…it is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation that give happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson

Tranquility gives happiness. Of course it does; the opposite of tranquility (whether it be good or bad) doesn’t let the mind rest.

We chose this quote as it’s a good reminder to let competent professionals take care of their parts of your business for you, so you don’t have to worry about it.

This Jefferson quote, from a letter to his newlywed sister, is actually kinda funny when taken in context. He’s almost making excuses for her new husband, allowing as how he doesn’t know the man to be great, but he will do for her. He’ll keep her happy through tranquility. Not through acts of greatness, but by keeping things calm and being occupied. It’s like he’s telling his sister, “Anna, I don’t this guy that well, but I’m sure he’ll be just fine.” Hardly the glowing platitudes you would hope for.

Ah, older brother looking out for his sister.

But the point of all of this is: Isn’t it better to not be stressed out? Yes, of course it is. So let Interfanatic do our job for you so you can focus on your greatness.

Tranquility: An Interfanatic Quality

In a crisis scenario, it’s easy to get excited. A website goes down, a credit card API breaks, a home page stops showing up in search results – these are all things that can stress a business owner out.

We don’t like being stressed out, either.

That’s why we have systems and procedures in place to make sure these bad things don’t happen often, and when they do, we fix them quickly. We keep this stuff from happening. Of course, stuff happens – you can’t always keep it from happening. But our policies and procedures help everyone keep a cool head and we minimize the impact to the businesses we work with so they don’t have to stress about them.

And that’s how tranquility is a quality and a virtue that we strive for. To keep things calm on our end so you can focus on other things. (It helps us keep our sanity, too!) There’s a reason there aren’t many businesses around like ours after twenty years. And there’s a reason we still are.

Palos Verdes Coin Exchange: Tranquility for Customers During a Stressful Time

Thus, we think of Ron and Vincent at Palos Verdes Coin Exchange. They’re coin dealers in Palos Verdes who know how to instill tranquility in transactions.

People go to coin dealers for a few reasons. The most popular are:

  1. Somebody they know has passed on, and that person had a coin collection.
  2. They’re a coin collector and they’re looking for a deal on a coin they need for their collection.
  3. They found something in their pocket they think could be valuable and are hoping they won the lottery.

None of these mindsets is tranquil. When you lose a loved one, it’s stressful. No matter the situation, settling an estate is stressful.

Shopping for coins is stressful. You don’t know if the dealer is being fair or if you can really afford to spend this much money on your collection even though you really want to.

Thinking you won the lottery is stressful – it’s exciting, and can be fun. But it’s still an experience outside the norm, and therefore, stressful.

Ron and Vincent know this – indeed they carry wisdom beyond their years. They look young, but the fact is – THEY KNOW THEIR STUFF.

I’ve known Ron for a long time. When I worked at PCGS, when I worked at a coin shop, when I used to collect, Ron always impressed me. Vincent has learned everything from Ron, and he knows his stuff, too. Ron knows how to buy coins and how to sell them. He’s settled plenty of estate coin collections, he deals with dealers and collectors daily, and he knows what coins are valuable and which ones are not, even as they confuse experienced and amateur collectors alike.

That all comes from years of experience.

So, it’s with great tranquility that those of us who know Ron and Vincent deal with Ron and Vincent. We know they’re pros. Their offers are fair. Their prices are fair. When we buy or sell coins, we know we’re getting a square deal – maybe better. And I always think of Palos Verdes Coin Exchange when I make a referral to a local. The other “dealers” around here who deal with the public don’t get my referral. (Shapiro is great, but he doesn’t have a public storefront.)

…it’s with great tranquility that those of us who know [Palos Verdes Coin Exchange] deal with [them].

I never hesitate to send collectors, estate settlers, and other professional dealers to Ron and Vincent at Palos Verdes Coin Exchange. We know the transaction will go as well as it can go.

When I found out Palos Verdes Coin Exchange had expanded into a storefront, I was thrilled and proud. Interfanatic does not help them with their website for now, but we are handling a modest digital advertising campaign for them, and it’s going extremely well. It is our great pleasure to deal with Ron, Vince, and PVCE, and to aid them in their success.

Interfanatic The Works Domain Concierge

One of those niggling things business owners have to deal with is their domain name. Keeping hold of your domain name is absolutely critical. A missed payment, or a payment to the wrong company can spell disaster. There are so many fraudulent practices out there, stealing, hijacking and holding hostage domain names.

That’s why it’s a valuable service we’re happy to provide for many customers. We know what’s real and what’s fake because we do this every day, and we know how to take care of domain names. We have hundreds in our accounts.

So, take a step toward tranquility for you and your business. Let us handle your domain names so you don’t have to worry. That’s what Interfanatic The Works Domain Concierge is all about.

Interfanatic and Tranquility

Jefferson is such an interesting character of his time. Many love, some loathe, but none rightly protest the idea that he was a man of action. Aside from being a President of this country, a revolutionary, and a Statesmen, he was a creative visionary. And yeah, he was other, not-so-positive things. But one thing he sought – not for himself, but for the people of his country (whether he considered them all or not) – was tranquility.

Today, we read his words, “…that all men are created equal…”, and I, for one, choose to interpret that phrase to say that “…all humankind are created equal…” A lofty ideal, which we take to be self-evident. Not everyone was or is treated equal, but it’s something to strive after. And I know not everyone shares that aspiration when they read Jefferson and Franklin’s Declaration. But that’s how I choose to view it. And for me, working for true equality among all people will create a great, global tranquility. It’s an idealistic, perhaps naive vision. But the work is worth it.


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.

This was a fun, old-timey still life I created for this week’s social. We see the Sea of Tranquility. Some old coins. Old stamps. When there was no TV, and when a radio in a household was yet a novelty, coin collecting was a great American pastime.

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Resolution: Affordable Bookkeeping & Payroll – Interfanatic Customer Spotlight

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.“⁠

– Abraham Lincoln⁠

Candy Messer is a powerhouse.

It was fun working with her. She runs a tight ship, and she does a great job for her customers. And it is that way because she decided it would be that way. And she makes it that way. And she set down the law that this is how it shall be at her business.

Mind you, she’s not a miser. She’s just determined.

Like Honest Abe tells us, it is our own resolution to succeed that matters most.

Perhaps it was Lincoln’s resolution that brought the end of the Civil War. Perhaps it was a little divine intervention.

It could be the same for Candy. A champion for women-owned business; a champion for small and local business.

We had a lot of fun working with Candy, first updating her website, then designing her a new one. Since then, her company has grown, and she’s taken her site in-house. But she and her business are just the kind of local small business we enjoy working with.

Candy Messer’s Affordable Bookkeeping & Payroll is an inspiration of resolution.

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