Sounds like a funny thing to say considering I’m in that business. It’s just that I’m particular.

• I don’t want to be the guy holding the brush while you tell me where to paint. I want to be the guy painting something based on your stated goals and requirements.
• I can’t promise next day turnaround on every request. I can promise an organized process and reasonable time estimates.
• I can’t promise we’re the cheapest and I’m sure we are not. I can promise that we’re fair about our billing practices and usually go above and beyond what we bill.
• I can’t promise we’ll jump on every tech bandwagon. I can promise that we’re always testing new ideas and we’re open to new ideas.
• We won’t do everything you ask without question. We will always provide advice and guidance.

At the end of the day, we don’t want to deliver something we’re not proud of. eLocomotive isn’t here to turn the crank. Some people are looking for that. They need someone else.

Those that want to excel; that want advice; that are willing to take advice; They need us.

I was amused by this quote I saw on someone’s Woot comment:

“There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand Binary and those who don’t!”

Since Convey Computers moved into the building, things have really started to get geekier. I did my part with the C++ refrigerator magnets but they really elevated things with the “Decaf” and “!Decaf” signs.

I may be working on a Saturdays but at least I’ve still got my sense of humor.

This year seems to be about reshaping, retooling, and refocusing at eLocomotive. We’ve finally admitted to ourselves that we don’t want to do sub par projects. We aren’t going to work with customers who don’t want the same. You’d be surprised how many people want mediocrity. We’ve made major strides to improve operations and define our process. We’ve stopped acting like a startup and started acting like a small business.

Now it’s time to step on the throttle. A tough economy doesn’t change things for us. We always watch our expenses. We’re always selling because our team knows that solid performance is the best sales tool. Our changes are about our own growth and drive.

We don’t want to be mediocre and we don’t want to do it if it’s not going to be great. Now that these changes have started, we’re going to step it up.

After talking with one of my clients recently I was stumped. They want to include personal details about their team but it just didn’t seem to fit with the company’s brand or business model. I realized we might be missing a key ingredient: Why do those personal details matter?

Take me in relation to eLocomotive. I could tell you that I was a Honda certified mechanic before I went to college, that I love hiking, or that I have an extremely athletic mutt that still acts like a puppy at 8 years old. None of this seems relevant in the context of eLocomotive.

I do tell people things like:

• I’m an entrepreneur at heart and that spirit makes increases my understanding and interest in your business. Three of my mother’s siblings ran separate, successful businesses. So did my grandfather. When my wife’s parents were telling her to do well in school so she could get a good job and work there to retirement, my mother was telling me I’d never be happy or secure if I didn’t run my own business. I work with a lot of start ups and single owner businesses and this speaks to them.. They know I mean it when I say I love business and that I’m interested in theirs.
• A thirst for innovation drives me. My grandfather taught me a valuable lesson that’s always stuck with me. He told me that he was never the strongest or the fastest but he was always able to devise tools that made his jobs easier. That put him ahead of others on the job site and made him successful. That’s what technology is to me. I love building tools that make it easier to run your business.

It may not be relevant that I’ve played soccer since I was 4. It probably is relevant that when I was young my father’s company installed AS400s and I started working on computers when I was 8.

Telling a story in your website is much more compelling than stopping at buzzwords. If all you say is the facts of what you do you risk becoming a commodity among your customer’s websites. Find a way to bring the relevant personality to your marketing and your website.

After 4 years of waiting, eLocomotive is beginning a mobile website campaign targeted at events and businesses.

We tried selling websites formated for mobile devices in our first year of business. Although everyone thought it was interesting, few were ready to buy. Now, with mobile phones in every meeting, we’re going to begin recommending them to clients again. At this point, it seems foolish not to create a version of your website formatted for customers on the go. We’re bringing it to our partners now and will make a big push first half of 2008.