Client Spotlight: Titan Farms

In 1995 Titan Farms President and CEO, Chalmers Carr, came to Ridge Spring, South Carolina to manage R.W. DuBose & Sons, Inc. This was a family owned peach operation that had been in business in this area for many years. Chalmers and his wife, Lori Anne, were able to lease the farm in 1999 and Titan Farms was born. The Carr’s were able to initiate a complete buyout from the previous owner in 2001 and since that time they have expanded the farm from 1800 to 4000 acres of peaches in production and have added 300 acres of bell pepper and 275 acres of broccoli to the operation grown in both spring and fall.

Titan Farms is proud to participate in the H2-A temporary worker program. Each of its workers enters to the United States with a passport and visa to work at Titan Farms. They house and transport these 400+ workers everyday while they are on the farm. They are proud of their workforce and realize the impact they have on the overall success of Titan Farms. Quality is the #1 goal at Titan Farms and it can be seen every day through their employees and their commitment to producing high quality fruits and vegetables.

Titan Farms is also committed to assuring their customers that their peaches, bell peppers and broccoli have been produced and handled according to the highest possible standards in the marketplace. They do that through a thorough food safety program and by utilizing some of the latest technology available in the industry in the areas of date collection, irrigation and land management.

Titan Farms continues to operate as a family farm despite its size and scope. Chalmers and Lori Anne work hand-in-hand with the managers and supervisors on every aspect of the operation. Chalmers’ father, Hap Carr, is responsible for the operation of the packing facility and is the coordinator of the food safety program and his mother plays a role in a seasonal part of the business. Their young children have begun to work in the business as their schedules allow. With the number of hours required in this year-round operation, close friendships and relationships have developed among the employees thus enhancing the family atmosphere at Titan Farms.

New Consulting Policy

Effective immediately we will offer potential clients an initial hour long consultation at no cost. 

Additional consulting will be charged at $80/hr payable in advance of consultation. Existing clients receive consultation about their services free of charge.

We have created a frequently asked questions page http://www.ethyrial.com/faq/ to address some of the common question. Any question not answered on the page should be addressed to info@ethyrial.com.

We will start our monthly webinar series beginning June 6, 2012 at 1PM and will take place the 1st Wednesday of every month at www.anymeeting.com/etslsii1. We will accept questions via text and video during webinar.

Starting in June we will also be publishing a weekly email newsletter that highlights our client portfolio as well as offering occasional suggestions and tips! If you want to be included on our mailing list Subscribe to our newsletter

We thank you for your continued support and business!

Client Spotlight: Braman Bentley

Braman Bentley proudly serves as the premier Florida Bentley dealer. We’ve been in business in South Florida for over 30 years, and our professional sales staff has always been dedicated to serving all your automotive needs. Whether you’re looking for the ultimate driving machine, Bentley parts, or repairs and service, our professional sales team is here to provide you with assistance and superior customer service. If you’re interested purchasing a new Bentley, contact us today.

Braman Bentley is located at 2060 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, making it the convenient choice for all Fort Lauderdale Bentley customers. If you’re in South Florida, it’s easy to visit us. We’re only minutes off I-195, I-95, and I-395.

The "Real World" Guide to working with Your Designer or Developer

"Real World" Series

Every now and then it's good to do these types of posts, because sometimes we forget that everyone doesn't do what you do and sometimes we expect a little too much of people. Now the other-side of this equation is I get tired of hearing my self talk so it's simpler to write it out and refer people to it.

This is part one in our "Real World" series where we attempt to give viewers a real world viewpoint on things. Hopefully by alleviating the fluff this series drives home some good information.

First: Define the purpose of  your website or application

This part sounds really easy, but in the wrong hands even simple things can become hard.

Ask yourself these question?

1. Is this a personal site?
2. Is this a business site?
3. Is this an e-commerce site?
4. Is this site for generating leads, interest, branding?

 If this is a Business, e-commerce, or branding site here is your guide.

1. Treat business sites as business, never design a sight around a personality, but rather a brand. Too many times, clients want to design their site around what they like rather than designing the site for a purpose. A business site is not about "you", but rather your product or service, your brand, and your clients. If you have not done the homework to know how to design a business site, choose your design partner wisely and trust them to get the job done. A good design partner will meet with you, gather your ideas, assimilate your thoughts, and translate those thoughts for the purpose of what the site is designed for. 
2. Stay in your lane if you are not a designer or developer, please don't try. One of the worst thing that we have to deal with on projects are clients who have attempted to do their own website before. It's like a amateur athlete feeling like they can go pro and compete. It's puts the designer in a very bad position, especially if the customer wants to use graphic elements that they have designed, generally these elements are crap, and now I'm forced to tell you that. Take your ego out of the process and be objective, otherwise your site will become a giant monument to your inability to control your ego. Even designers and developers suffer from this also, we have to be able to design for purpose, not for the sake of showing off.
3. Websites are "employees"not family members - don't become attached to your websites they are meant for a purpose and must evolve. A properly built site these days should be a modular, content/design should be easily able to moved, switched, changed, or updated. Ask your designer to build your site using a content management system. This will allow the user to change or update information easily. 
4. Assign one point person too many people involved in the design process can lead to convolution. Believe it or not a good designer or app developer also plays the part of psychologists. We deal with many different personalities and have to always walk a line between the customer is always right and the customer is nuts. While it make since that when you hire a professional to do a job you should let them do it, but too many times the contractor is subjected to far too many opinions and contradictions. This is what turns 30 day projects into 6 week projects. Designing a website is like designing a home, and their is a reason why you wouldn't bring your entire family and all your friends onsite to give their opinions on the process. Also asking for too may opinions on the design of a website will not give you the desired result that you are looking for. Design is too subjective, ask them about how the sight functions. If you ask 10 people how they feel about a certain color the ranges of response will be extreme dislike, to extreme like, to whatever. Colors on a website are their to enforce predefined psychological responses to what some colors mean, for example black means luxury. 
5. Be decisive in answering questions - Do you know this person? I ask them a question about an example website and their answer is something like," I don't hate it." For the record, "I don't hate it" is never a sufficient answer to any question. If this is you, you are the most difficult person to work with and here is why? Inconclusive answers is a sign that a personal is a non committal.  Not be able to fully commit leads to clarity issues and and genuinely difficult time overall. One of the problems with non committals is they can tell you what they don't like, but never what they like or what they want. This leaves us constantly guessing, with no real direction. This takes us back to number 1. If you don't know what you want trust the person you hired.

In all projects the client is the X factor in whether the projects goes smoothly or not. Most of us struggle with the question of how much to include clients in the process. The one thing we do know is that once the client is involved it can be awesome experience, as I have become close friends with some of my clients, or it can be a destructive force of nature. Here is what you must know as a client, we will only fight for the purity of the project for so long and after that we will give you what you ask for, even if it's a mess. 

Client Spotlight: CeilingFX

STARSCAPES® is the original, custom painted 3-D mural of the starry night sky, painted exclusively by licensed Artist-Illusionists worldwide. As a licensed “Painter of Dreams”, I create the STARSCAPES in your bedroom, home theater, or any room; including hotels, motels, resorts, and B&B’s in just a few short hours (without moving any furniture).

This STARSCAPES *trompe loeil artwork creates a very impressive illusion of having a clear glass ceiling above you as you lie down in your bedroom at night.

What you see up in the sky is the same as you would see on a cloudless night, high up in the mountains, with thousands of twinkling stars.

Ancient constellations like Orion, Pegasus, Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), Gemini, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Crux (the Southern Cross) will be in their astronomically correct locations.

The crescent moon and famous stars like Polaris (the North Star), Vega, Arcturus, Antares, Aldebaran, Sirius and even Betelgeuse can be found along with a beautifully visible section of our own Milky Way galaxy.

Little boy’s fantasies can be brought to life with an exciting star war, battle ships and cruisers shooting photon torpedoes at one another. While girls have their choice of pretty fairies and angels to inspire their dreams.

When the walls are included as part of the work, STARSCAPES becomes the world’s first Cosmic Environment Simulator™. Imagine sitting up in your bed as it floats among the stars.

This painted artwork is in a class by itself, as it’s not normally visible during daylight hours. The ceiling looks the same as it did before the work was produced. The stars in the painting only come out at night.

Using a very special paint, called Creation Paint™, which contains rare earth phosphors, the painter creates an illusion of the night sky, and over 2,000 stars can be seen… which is about a hundred times more than most people see in any given city in the world.

Since the night sky is always changing, you have the option to choose a scene that will depict and commemorate the same day you were married, the day a child was born, or any other important day in your personal history!

The benefits of enjoying this celestial masterpiece are great. It’s relaxing, stress-relieving, educational, awe-inspiring, and romantic. Children can even learn the constellations inside and then take their parents outside and point them out.

Along with their one of a kind STARSCAPES, clients receive an individually numbered Certificate of Authenticity, signed and dated by the Artist-Illusionist, and also their owner’s manual titled ”The Art of STARSCAPES®”.

Non Profit Spotlight: Black Card Circle Foundation

The Black Card Circle Foundation (BCCF) strives to raise awareness for IRS recognized not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizations that promote self-reliance and sustainability. BCCF unites volunteers and hosts charity events with strategic partners like the Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt Regency, Tiffany & Co., Microsoft, and many other socially conscious organizations. BCCF raises awareness for non-profit organizations that serve one of the following 5 core areas:

• Education
• Environment
• Health Care
• Community Development
• Poverty Relief

The Black Card Circle Foundation (BCCF) believes that society, as a whole, rises when those who have been marginalized are given the opportunity to thrive. Humankind benefits when each person fulfills his or her potential and contributes to his or her fullest capabilities.

BCCF serves as a clearinghouse for other not-for-profit organizations, by verifiying other non-profit organizations and raising awareness of these organizations through creative campaigns and awareness raising networking events.
BCCF develops strategic partnerships with organizations locally and around the world to create ongoing, sustainable change. BCCF believes that mobilization, networking and awareness are catalysts to facilitating change.

To learn more about how the networking organization Black Card Circle® & the Black Card Circle® Foundation work together, please visit Business Week’s Business Exchange for more information.

See the redesigned website: http://blackcardcirclefoundation.org/

New Monthly Webinars starting June 6, 2012

Ethyrial will be offering a monthly webinar starting in June

The webinar will be the 1^st Wednesday of every month at 1PM EST

The first webinar will be June 6, 2012 at www.anymeeting.com/etslsii1

When you click on link it will ask you to run java (click yes if you want to start your camera) otherwise you can simply watch and type questions for us to answer

Both Corey and Lionel will be available to answer and address any questions regarding the use of technology in business development

If you miss the live webinar it will be recorded and available as a podcast first on our site then on iTunes.

We will also place a public calendar on the www.ethyrial.com website that will show our webinars, production schedule and our various future work/speaking engagements.

We look forward to talking with you every month!

Client Spotlight: Leave the Light on

Leave the Light On Foundation was created to care for you as you care for your aging parents.

We know who you are and what you do without the expectation of a "pat on the back".

You as a "caregiver" but we know you simply call yourself daughter, son, niece, nephew, husband, wife, cousin or friend.

Because we have been in your position we can now provide you with a "shoulder to lean on" and an "ear to listen".

Client Spotlight: Anytime Fitness Greenwood

one membership, thousands of clubs

As a neighborhood-style fitness club, we are right where you need us. Close to home or close to work, we've got you covered.

Unlike most gyms, your Anytime Fitness membership allows you to visit more than 1,800 clubs worldwide, at no extra cost.

affordable memberships

It doesn't cost a lot to achieve your fitness goals at Anytime Fitness—with awesome equipment and the support and encouragement from our club staff, you get far more than you would expect for the price.

Additionally, your club may offer reimbursement programs. Many health insurance providers and employers will subsidize monthly dues based on how often you workout each month

Client Spotlinght: Total Home Solutions

TOTAL HOME SOLUTIONS installs commercial and residential A/V, HVAC, lighting control and security state of the art solutions. Our staff of professionals ensures that your components are installed and configured to maximize your investment.

Our wire installations are clean, invisible and robustly built with precision using only high performance wiring, these are designed to expansion and versatility to accommodate future components and additions.

We integrate all components to operate with symbiotic efficiency. With the use of servers and high speed networks, our installations effectively all your components:

AUDIO/VIDEO+SECURITY+LIGHTING+HVAC allowing you to monitor and control everything in your home from your home, office or a anywhere in the world.

TOTAL HOME SOLUTIONS provides quality brand name components at competitive prices .

THS is a trusted name that has built a reputation by surpassing the expectations of elite customers around the country.

Client Spotlight: Trinitee Group & Associates, LLC

TGA brings over 35 years of experience to the organization and enhance the organization's overall purpose by providing extensive quality services to the public.

TGA offers a wide range of services to non-profits in all fields, including arts and culture, human and social services, education and youth, science and health, and community development.

Solutions include:

• Comprehensive grant writing services 
• Grant search and prospect assistance, 
• Non-profit business consulting 
• Organizational strategic planning services 
• Board & staff development training 

Whether you are a small organization new to grant procurement and in need of guidance and an overall development infrastructure, or a large, established organization seeking new strategies and expert assistance in expanding your funding streams, Trinitee Group & Associates will develop a work plan tailored to meet your unique needs.

Client Spotlight: Omni Integration Partners

Launched in 2004, Omni Integration Partner, Inc. focuses on delivering excellence by providing innovative techniques that transform business processes, reduce costs and improve business performance for its clients. Our vision is to be a respected technology advisor and systems integrator, delivering quality service and deploying effective business solutions. Services are based on extensive industry and top-tier consulting experience.

Our senior management team has over 40 years of integration experience.

Our delivery focus has been on supporting large, complex business processes across disparate platforms. Omni supports and addresses the quality assurance, governance, project management and sourcing disciplines. Quality assurance practice provides comprehensive testing services using adaptive processes at competitive rates. We provide alternative solutions to solve resource constraints when there is demand.

Our services are designed to assist in reducing a company's capital expenditures and increasing revenue by reducing operational cost. We are an innovative, performance driven company that is committed to delivering tangible value to our clients . We understand that each client is unique and our solutions are tailored to drive distinct value for each client. Our experienced resources apply a rational and incremental solution approach to provide for short-term return on investment. The combination of experienced resources, robust methodologies and competitive pricing models provides immediate client value.

As a diversified company, we focus on providing equal opportunity to all individuals searching for business advancement.