nuts

“Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.”

– Les Dawson

Let’s take a break from the severity of it all to recognize the importance of family.

This is a near-unique time in American history. We have siblings pitted against each other, and parents against children, for the first time in 165 years. The Civil War centered on divisive issues and it split families. And this president has somehow failed, with all of his “charisma” and “charm” to unite the country, and has in fact divided it more than ever.

Protests go on daily in every major city and many minor cities in America. Racial issues have been brought to the forefront of national attentions again (definitely a good, if painful thing) after repeatedly failed attempts to minimize the issue by some in authority.

Les Dawson’s own family suffers a mighty schism if the tabloids are right (though not a political one – one around – you guessed it – money.)

But family will always be there for you, even if you don’t always agree. It’s one of the cores of our humanity that we can rely on our family, even if they’re nutty, or salty, or somehow otherwise remind you of fudge.

I think of my own family’s business: Del-Jen, Inc. It was truly a business built on and around family.

Family: An Interfanatic Quality

Perhaps because I was raised around business and one that treated its people like family, I treat our customers as family.

At its height, some of my fondest memories are of my father, my mother, both of my sisters, and both of my brothers-in-law all working at Del-Jen. That’s a lot of family. But the company had over 4,000 employees, and we did our level best to treat them all like family.

A lot of that was longevity. We’ve been working with the Smith family to sell books for over 20 years, something like Del-Jen, Inc.’s contract at Los Angeles Air Force Base, which lasted over thirty years. That was something my father is proud of, and I take pride in working with Carroll Smith’s family for over 20 years. Government contractors tend to outlast web design companies, so for me it’s even more important.

I remember being 12 or something, welcoming employees to a new contract that we won. I handed out their ID badges to Del-Jen’s new employees. These were folks that had worked at their location for years, but were nervous about their new bosses, unsure what would change and what would stay the same. They were real people with real issues, just trying to work in a way that was good for them. I did my best to quell their fears with a smile, but what did I know, and what could I do?

Often, I welcome new companies into our fold – into our family – with the same kind of reassurance. We’re here, we’ve been here, and we’ll continue to be here. “You’ve got us on your side now. Welcome! We’re here to help.”

Del-Jen, Inc. – A Global Family of 4,000

Del-Jen, Inc. (DJI) was a large company, working with United States government agencies all over the world. But everywhere you saw DJI employees, you saw one famous common denominator – the Del-Jen hat.

I still see Del-Jen hats out in the wild from time to time.

The other common denominator was a smile. Most always – and this definitely comes from my sheltered, nepotism influenced perspective – the Del-Jen people I met and saw were wearing a smile. Hopefully it was because they were genuinely happy and not because they wanted to put on a brave face in front of the boss’ son. But, I do remember seeing lots of smiles.

Years ago, Del-Jen needed a new website. …I could say we, but it was really I (there was no “we” yet), created a new one for them. Not long after, that website went away as Del-Jen, Inc. was brought into Fluor Corporation.

“Years ago, Del-Jen needed a new website…. Not long after, that new website went away as Del-Jen, Inc. was brought into Fluor Corporation.”

It was an incredible opportunity to produce a great website for Del-Jen, Inc.

Join the Family with Interfanatic Basic Site Migration

The modern website requires constant care and feeding. It used to be that you could build a website and let it be. Then, it became clear that Google liked freshness, so we needed to perform regular revisions, adding and changing front-facing content for websites. Then, hackers started giving us a hard time and all these beautifully produced data-driven websites were fodder to be exploited.

So now, we have to update every website regularly – to stay ahead of the hackers and to keep the website content fresh and at the top of the SERPs.

And if you’re not doing these things, your search performance is hurting and you WILL be attacked by hackers. Even doing everything doesn’t make your site 100% safe. But locking the door is surely better than leaving the window open.

Let us take care of all of that for you. It’s what we do. We’re here to help.

Interfanatic: Bringing together our Fam

No matter what happens, we all need to listen more. Because in the end, we’re all brothers and sisters. We’re all family. We need to all be here for each other, especially when we disagree.

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

This was my birthday cake from this year. It is a chocolate cake shaped and decorated like Darth Vader. Come on, that is awesome. Created by my family – my mother. Does it get any better than this? If you have to think about it, you’re wrong. No, it does not get any better than this.