Step Up Your Breakfast Game with an Acai Bowl

The acai berry has been all the rage among health and fitness enthusiasts for quite some time. But what exactly is acai, and what makes it a so-called “superfood”? With a texture and taste similar to that of a grape/blueberry hybrid, the acai berry is harvested from palm trees found near the Amazon Basin of South America. Known for its amazing health benefits, the acai berry can become a delicious morning treat for anyone willing to learn how to prep it accordingly. As a self-proclaimed breakfast lover and proponent of never skipping a morning meal, I decided to make my own acai bowl with the fruits and toppings of my preference. Feel free to swap out certain ingredients for those you prefer.

Elisha’s Acai Bowl Recipe

Ingredients to the world’s healthiest breakfast:

1 cup Chobani nonfat plain Greek yogurt
4 tbsp acai powder
½ cup almond milk
Handful dried bananas
Handful walnuts
Handful granola
1 cup sliced mangos
1 tbsp chia seeds
3-4 dried goji berries

Putting it All Together

It’s quite simple to assemble your very own acai bowl. Just add the acai powder into your yogurt and mix it well. There’s your acai bowl base. Then, add the fruits and toppings you’d like. In my case, I like to add a blend of fresh fruit such as sliced mangos or strawberries, along with dry ingredients like nuts or granola for texture. The chia seeds are optional, but it doesn’t hurt to throw in a few other superfoods to your bowl to really get the party started. There are several acai bowl variations out there, such as ones made with oatmeal, and there’s really no wrong way to make it. Just try and keep all your ingredients on the fairly healthy side if you can! And there you go. May waking up in the mornings be a little easier for you knowing you have a delicious and healthy breakfast calling your name.

Design Time: Steer Away from These Five Marketing Design No-No’s

Design is the aesthetic side of marketing which is intended to give your audience an enjoyable, pleasing, artistic experience while they consume your marketing text. It is meant to enhance your copy and drive home the points you’re trying to make – that your readers need help, specifically your help. Bearing that in mind, there are certain aspects of marketing design you should use, and things you . . . well, you should sooner attempt to beat out a fire with a sack of kittens than make these marketing mistakes on your website. Let’s take a look at a few.

Overexaggerated or Unrealistic Images

While cartoons are fun, they’re not real life. Potential customers are seeking to relate to you and your offerings, so they need to see real world applications to which they can relate. You want them to see an image and be reminded of something familiar which applies to them, or to want their life to reflect what’s in the imagery. Unless you’re writing a piece about a failed attempt by Wile E. Coyote to catch the Road Runner, keep it real.

Widows/Orphans

If you don’t know what a widow is – in the literary world, at least – it’s simply ending a paragraph with a solitary word on the last line. It’s also called an orphan. It doesn’t seem terribly egregious, but sharp eyes will always be drawn to them, and it appears sloppy and unprofessional. Seriously, how does this look?

Clashing Colors

Right off the bat, I – as a website reader – want to grab the nearest object over 10 pounds and hurl it violently into the screen, just from looking at the accompanying image. Always avoid color combinations which incite violence in your readers. By the way, this is a colorblind person’s nightmare. Your copywriters worked hard on the incredible content for the website. The least you can do for them is not make their readers want to turn off their monitors because of your unfortunate color selection.

Low-Resolution Images

Why do people wear glasses or contacts? They do so because it’s important to them in their daily lives to see things more sharply and clearly. Why, then, would you use an image on your website which NO ONE could EVER see sharply or clearly, even if they had super-Kryptonian vision?! Some people blow off the importance of higher resolution photos, saying, “Eh, I couldn’t find anything higher res, so this will have to do.” Wrong. There exist exactly 42.9 bazillion high-resolution images on the Internet, at least ONE of which will suit your purposes. The option to utilize a low-resolution image should be punishable by public caning.

. . . and the Mother of All Marketing Design Blunders: COMIC SANS

There are two justifiable reasons to use the Comic Sans font:

1. You are a Kindergarten teacher making signs for your classroom.

2. Every other font on the face of the planet has mysteriously vanished from all computers.

Otherwise, you are highly advised to avoid, avoid, AVOID the Comic Sans font. It is the definition – the very epitome – of unprofessionalism. Want to start the zombie apocalypse? Use the clashing color scheme mentioned above with Comic Sans. People will lose their fricking minds to such a degree, it will put George A. Romero to shame. (–and shame on you if you had to click the link to find out who he was.)

Let TRIdigital Be Your Marketing Design Guide

Our people have collectively been in this business for a long time. We know what types of images and layouts people will enjoy viewing, and the types which will trigger a Hulk Rage-esque reaction. Take a look at a few examples of our work, and if you’d like your website to look as nice as these, let’s talk.

3 Email Marketing Tips for the Holiday Rush

The busy holiday season is upon us. That means leaves changing colors, pumpkin spice everything, and finally some cooler weather. For email marketers, it also means planning your email marketing strategy around the holidays for effective and engaging campaigns. According to Mailigen, 89% of marketers say email marketing is their best source of lead generation. Make the most of the time you have now before the holiday storm sweeps in and leaves your email marketing in a frenzied muck. Here are some tips to help you prep for the busy season to come:

1. SWOT Analysis Applies to Email Marketing Too

A SWOT analysis – which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – enables organizations to gain awareness of all the internal and external factors that influence or affect the company. You’re probably familiar with carrying out a SWOT analysis on your clients’ IT infrastructures. But it can also apply to your email marketing and branding strategy as well. Here’s what to look for: Strengths – Find out what’s working well for your email campaigns. Ask yourself questions like:

Do my email campaigns have a professional design which attracts new customers?
Does my email marketing content stand out from my competitors?
Do my email campaigns use strong subject lines and powerful, curiosity-invoking call-to-actions?
Am I getting a steady number of email subscribers and updating my email lists regularly?

Weaknesses – Determine the weaknesses or areas of your email marketing strategy that may need improvement. When the holidays roll around, you don’t want to be second-guessing yourself on important matters like which subject lines are most compelling and which ones aren’t. Opportunities – The holidays are a great time to revamp your email marketing strategy. This includes doing things to expand your email subscriber lists like promoting special events, personalizing your emails, sending out holiday-themed emails with engaging content, redesigning your email templates to fit the season, or tracking the results of your email marketing efforts. Threats – Knowing your competition is key in this cutthroat world. Find out what makes you different. Maybe it’s your people, your culture, or perhaps your service delivery approach. Whatever it is, embrace what makes you unique and make sure that translates in your email campaigns.

2. Mobile is a Must

According to an “Email Analytics” report by Litmus, desktop represents 19% of all email opens – with webmail at 26% and mobile at 55%. By getting your emails to render on various mobile devices, like smartphones, tablets, or wearables, you can stay ahead of the game and engage more customers.

3. Test Out New Ideas – From the Subtle to the Bizarre

According to Yes Lifecycle Marketing, 13.4% more brands sent holiday-themed emails in 2015 (nearly doubling for specific holidays) than the year before, but the open rates of those emails dipped 5%. To stay fresh and innovative, don’t be afraid to test out new ideas like:

Using emojis in your subject lines
Using themed email marketing content rather than generic content
Changing the “From” email address
Testing different email deployment times and days
Incorporating personal photos in emails rather than stock photos

If you’re interested in learning more email marketing tips or trying to rally for the holiday rush, give TRIdigital Marketing a call. We’d be happy to share our IT marketing knowledge to help you prepare ahead of time for all the festivities to come.

Top 10 Sales Tips for MSPs: Part 2

Hopefully, you caught our first edition of Top 10 Sales Tips. This post picks up where the last list left off to help you drive sales and growth for your MSP. The success of a company depends on their ability generate revenue. Whenever we gain a new client at TRIdigital, we hold an on-site onboarding meeting to get to know the personalities and unique qualities of the company to best understand what to highlight in our marketing. When we ask about the existing sales structure of their company and how they generate new leads and bring in new revenue, 9 times out of 10 they will say all their new business comes from word-of-mouth. Here in 2016, relying on referrals is simply not enough.

1. You Are Not Above Selling

Sure, you have a doctorate in computer science or perhaps you are a semi-famous white hat known for your technical prowess. That does not mean that you have tested out from needing to put on your sales hat to grow your business and your revenue stream. The fact that you are more technically minded actually add credibility and create trust in your sales pitches.

2. It’s Not About You, It’s About Your Business

Remove your ego. Making cold calls is a humbling experience, but it is absolutely necessary to generate quality leads and close sales. So you gave a TED talk – that is not going to turn leads into clients for you. You need to remove your ego and focus on understanding how you can be helping potential new clients with your services and increasing your recurring revenue. “I spent 8 years in college” is not a good excuse to not call leads.

3. Follow Up With Your Leads

This point strikes a personal note. TRIdigital can generate hundreds of leads for a client, but if the client doesn’t take the time to call or email the leads it’s all for nothing. It can certainly be awkward, but it’s a hurdle you have to jump. “Hey! I saw you subscribed to our email list! What kind of IT needs do you have that sparked your interest in our company?” It doesn’t have to be rocket science. Pick up the phone or send a quick email. Your next big client could be a click away.

4. Keep Following Up

You might not receive a response the first time you reach out. That’s normal. Be consistently tenacious with your sales process. Every 2 to 3 weeks check in (unless they give you feedback to the contrary). Shoot across an email. See if their IT needs have been addressed. You might catch them right when they need your specific solutions and services.

5. “Be Cool Honey Bunny”

Be cool. Be like Fonzie. Leads are people just like you and me. Don’t hold them up at gunpoint or try to inorganically force a sale. Be cool. Learn about them, their business, and their IT needs. Talk to them about how you can help them save money and increase productivity with managed IT services.

6. Conversations Over Requests

Don’t submit your services and solutions to a potential client like a stuffy court summons or formal request. “Hey, How have you been managing with that new server array?” will always be better than “I can outsource your hosting for $1,000 a month.”

7. Do Your Research

Use LinkedIn or company websites to learn about who you are talking to and what their company does. Going into a conversation without the right knowledge or information discredits you and your services before you even start. Instead, hop on your browser and find out what you can about the lead to show them you are a trusted proactive professional.

8. Build Rapport

You don’t need to be best friends with everyone you work with, but long term clients require well-founded relationships. Get to know them. Learn about their work-life balance, how they make organizational decisions, and when their birthday is/befriend them on social media. It’s the small things that build trust and give you a competitive advantage. Trust is often more important the tech specs or price.

9. Don’t Throttle Your Attention

Financially quantifying your leads is important to setting priorities however that doesn’t make other leads less valid. You should still follow up with your “smaller” leads. They may grow or be acquired. Having a relationship in place could introduce you to a whole new set of business opportunities. Have you ever been told to treat the janitor like the CEO? It’s the same idea.

10. You Are Helping Not Selling

When talking to leads, don’t think in terms of selling. Think in terms of how you can be helping. The price doesn’t matter. If you have solutions that will revolutionize the way a company conducts business or perhaps just alleviate organizational stress, they will more than likely find a way to come up with the money. Focus on showing them how you can help. If there is value in what you are offering, then quantify the cost.

Enjoy the Process!

It’s not work if you are having fun. When prospecting and selling, realize these relationships can change your business and your future. Inhale a deep breath and take the necessary steps to increase your revenue and grow your business. It’s only awkward if you say it is. Have thoughts or questions about our sales tips? Reach out to us! We’d love to hear from you.

Top 10 Sales Tips for MSPs

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, especially those who are more technically inclined. You know the jargon, how the solutions work, and you know that your solutions and support are far more superior than all your competitors’. So why don’t your revenue numbers convey what you know about your business? Maybe you just need a few sales tips to help close some deals. Lucky you, we have 10 specifically for MSPs.

1. Be Aware of Your Body Language

Smile and be excited about the opportunity to interact with a new client. Look them in the eye when talking or listening. They will feel heard by your body language, regardless of what you are saying. Don’t cross your arms or put your hands on your face. You’ll come across as disinterested. This may sound arbitrary, but even the most seasoned sales professional can neglect to realize what their bodies may be saying on their behalf. Even if you are just selling over the phone, people can hear your temperament.

2. Bring Excitement to the Table

Ever have a teacher who hated her job? She never said anything, but the way she carried herself and taught class was just such a downer. On the other side, most people have experienced working with a passionate leader. Passion is contagious. So contagious in fact that it will help you sell. Jargon and technical details have their place in sales communications, but passion should be running through you like lightning.

3. Listen… Then Talk

Our current society is so connected and fast-paced that we created social media platforms just so we can blast our thoughts to millions at a moments notice. During a sales conversation is the right time to hold back a little. Not letting someone finish their thought by interjecting with an answer to the question you think the prospect is asking is not good – not good at all. Not everyone is good with words. Let them finish their thought completely and even let a little bit of air sit before you dive into your lengthy response. They will feel more comfortable knowing that you are at ease enough to let there be silence in the conversation, but more so that you actually care about what they have to say.

4. Keep it Light

Be humorous. Crack wise a couple of times. Show them that you are human like them and not solely focussed on extracting the maximum amount of money out of their budget. Keeping it breezy will help you build a better rapport and open up the gate for more meaningful conversations around life, dreams, and hopefully IT solutions.

5. Speak Clearly and Directly

Short sentences are better. You want the prospect or client to be able to make quick natural decisions. Cluttering it up with two part questions or a weird allusion to Bill Gates will make them confused and hesitant. Clear communication will take you far not just in sales but in life. Confusion leads to drama so be clear and direct. Be sure to annunciate and speak directly to a group or person.

6. Exude Confidence

Put on that suit you feel most confident in. Practice your sales pitch in that suit. Make that suit your Iron Man suit. When you have it on you are James Bond, Abraham Lincoln, and Michael Jordan all at once. Keep tapping into that mindset and soon enough you’ll find yourself selling to the C-suite like a pro. People will feel your confidence and trust it.

7. Tell the Truth

Don’t make things up! Some people have perfect memories and will call you out or simply not do business with you if you say conflicting statements. If you do not know the answer to a question, be confident in your knowledge. Say you don’t know the answer but are excited to figure it out! (Honestly, you should be. Not knowing all relevant information in a meeting is a big no-no.)

8. Know the Details, part 1 – The Solutions

If you are going to sell something, knowledge is critical. You could be the most charismatic person of all time, but if you don’t know what exactly you are selling and why it is valuable to your target audience, you should do something else. You need to know all the technical, financial, operational, and time-related details tied to your offerings. The client needs to trust you, not trust that you know how to use Google.

9. Know the Details, part 2 – The Client

Use LinkedIn to research their work history and passions. Do your research on the people you will be selling to and on the company as a whole. If time allows, do competitive analysis to see who they are working against. Knowing that level of information will impress and open up short-cuts to different conversations. Effortlessly relating to other people is the tell of a true sales expert.

10. Never Stop Learning

There are COUNTLESS approaches to sales. Each is effective in their own way, but every sales interaction, every person, every solution is different. Knowing this, never stop learning. Social norms, the economy, the political landscape, the solutions… really everything is in a constant state of flux. In order to stay on top of your game as a sales professional, you need to always be learning and adapting along with the times.

Want More Advice?

Reach out to us! These are just few broad tips. Sitting down with one of our consultants for an hour could change your life – and your business.

Create Engaging Screencast Videos with This After Effects Template

Screencasting can be utilized for a variety of purposes. Whether you’re looking to showcase a new product, or trying to educate end-users with a quick tutorial, screencast videos allow you to convey information simply and easily. But when screencasting isn’t done properly, you can end up with a boring video that no one ends up watching. Check out this guide to shooting your laptop screen with the right techniques to make your next screencast more professional and exciting.

Welcome: Screen Magic After Effects Template

After Effects now has a new Screen Magic template to liven up the screencasting experience. With a Screen Magic After Effects template, you can make visually engaging screencasts without a camera. The template allows you to skip past the whole process of filming your screencast on your computer. All you need is your screen capture footage – then you’re ready to go.

How Does the Template Work?

A screencast that’s stuck at the same camera angle and view throughout the whole video ends up coming across as slow-paced and monotonous. The Screen Magic After Effects template allows you to change the framing of your screen in just a simple click of a button. That means you can show the exact part of the screen that you want to highlight without having to record completely new footage. If you need to adjust to a particular angle, you can change the position and scale of the corresponding layer. The template also comes with additional features like slow zooms and subtle pans. Jeremy Wick, Head of Video at Sticker Mule, recommends editing your screencast before adding it to the template. That means having all scripting, voiceovers, and screen recording done beforehand. Once you have the edited screencast footage ready, export it at the highest resolution and drop it into After Effects. You’re also able to change up the background screen of your video while keeping all the camera angles. See for yourself:

Background 1:

Background 2:

Create Engaging Screencast Video with This After Effects Template

Here at Tridigital Marketing, we’re always on the lookout for new tools to help our clients market themselves in more engaging ways. If you’re interested in learning more interesting tips and knowledge, don’t hesitate to give us a ring today.

What the Cultures of the 2016 Olympic Games Taught Us

What is it that makes the Olympics special? Think about it. Every four years (well, every two if you count Winter Olympics), we see the same nations of the world competing in the same sports for the same medals. But huge numbers of people across the globe watch it religiously. Since the first modern Olympiad in 1896, adults have marveled over the events over the water cooler at work. Kids continue to be inspired and want to “do that” when they grow up. What is it about the Olympic Games that vexes everyone and captures our hearts, even though it’s always the same thing? We know what it is. It’s what makes individuals different. It’s what makes nations different. It’s even what makes your business different from your competitors: It’s culture. It’s where the people came from that brought them to this point. It’s the story behind the journey. It’s the family, the friends, the people who stayed by their side every single step of the way. One place these cultures were heavily embodied in the 2016 Olympic Games was in the opening ceremonies. Let’s take a quick look at some of the strongest moments.

Brazil’s Most Famous Celebrity, Gisele Bündchen, Takes Her Last Catwalk to Brazil’s Most Famous Tune

While we can’t say too much for the talent of modeling – especially against the raw talent of world Olympians – it’s what Gisele does best. She recently chose to retire from the catwalk life which propelled her to stardom and, as she’s from Brazil, decided to embrace her homeland and make her very last catwalk there. Not only that, she made the choice to do so to Brazil’s biggest international hit song of the last century, The Girl From Ipanema. Gisele showed us – no matter how successful you become – never forget the place, the people, and the culture from where you started.

For the First Time Ever, An Olympic Refugee Team is Allowed to Compete in The Games

This is a tale of not one culture, but many. Historically, if an athlete were forced to flee their home country, they could no longer represent their (or, for that matter, any) country in the Games. That all changed in 2016, when the world’s first Olympic Refugee Team walked into the Opening Ceremonies for the very first time. Hailing from such countries as South Sudan, Ethiopia, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo – these proud Olympians managed to find a way to make their former countries proud of them, even while entering the arena waving only the Olympic flag. This incredible team taught us you can still be who you are and represent your origins – even under the most unusual of circumstances.

BONUS: New Zealand Rugby Team Performs Tribal Haka Before Demolishing Wales

Okay, this wasn’t technically in the opening ceremonies, but the culture was so strong, it garnered placement here. A tradition of the native Māori people, the Haka is performed just before battle – utilizing blown-up cheeks, widened eyes, and extended tongues – to intimidate and frighten enemies – which they performed before the game began. It apparently worked, as New Zealand trounced their opponent, Wales, in the match. New Zealand reminded us that our culture not only makes us who we are, it can also reinforce us and give us the strength to overcome insurmountable obstacles.

TRIdigital Wants to Embrace Your Culture

Who you are and where you come from sets you apart from everyone else. No matter who else might be playing your game, how you approach it as an individual (or as a company) will define how you play the game. Let TRIdigital be that support system who nurtures that background and individualism, keeping you focused on the end goal every step of the way. With the right focus, we’ll begin your journey together in IT marketing to make you the best you could ever be.

A Camp for Hope

It’s 1993, I am a pale six year old child who fervently loves everything Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, playing on his Nintendo game system, and recently fell in love with this crazy new movie about dinosaurs being brought back to life through their DNA. I was a tiny ball of energy, always laughing and giggling about something, even when being tormented by my older brother two years my senior. Well, at least on my best days I had that kind of energy. A fair amount of that time in my life was spent in and out of Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, you see, because just a year prior I was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare malignant tumor involving striated muscle tissue. Yeah, that’s a weird sounding and extra long word, it took me until I was thirteen to even learn how to properly spell it. I was fondly known by the nursing staff as “rhabdo kid” because who wants to take the time to say seven syllable word? My time at the hospital was bittersweet in a lot of ways, because I was so young at the time that I had little comprehension of what was going on except that I knew I was sick and the nice doctors or nurses were going to make me better. My treatment over it’s entirety required vast amounts of both radiation and chemotherapy, about three surgeries, and eventually a bone marrow transplant as a last ditch effort because the doctors needed to be as aggressive as possible since my cell counts were still bad. The hardest part about cancer treatment can be a psychological one, where you feel weak all of the time, continually nauseous from chemo, and generally grumpy. Seeing yourself or a loved one in that kind of physical and mental pain is hard to deal with, which is why I am thankful I was too young to completely understand what was going on. One thing that’s inevitable though, no matter what age you are, is that you will come to terms with mortality and your own possible death. So, imagine a tiny, bald, rather chubby (thank you steroids!) kid who will break into a fit of laughter at fart noises but also speak frankly about not being afraid of death. That was me, in a nutshell. [av_image src=’/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/4300_663591969450_5078185_n-206×300.jpg’ attachment=’3672′ attachment_size=’medium’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-90r6gc’][/av_image] That doesn’t sound very fun, now does it? Especially for a child of only six years old. About ten years before in 1982, a man by the name of Mr. Bridewell (a fellow cancer patient himself) approached Children’s Medical Center about establishing a fund to provide a summer camp experience for children treated for cancer. After his passing, the Bridewell Foundation was established and the development of the camp began. The camp was aptly named Camp Esperanza, esperanza meaning “Hope” in Spanish. It became a week long camp that is held near the end of every summer. Originally established at Camp Sweeney in Gainesville, Texas, the camp later moved to Camp John Marc located in Meridian, Texas in 1992. [av_video src=’httpss://vimeo.com/89796517′ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-6yc7jw’] Fast forward ten years later back to ’93, my parents were approached by the staff at Children’s Medical Center about whether or not I would be interested in attending this camp. Now remember, this is a time in my life when my parents were constantly at my side before the term “helicopter parent” even existed. I am sure they, like any other parent would be, were apprehensive at the thought of allowing their child who has a serious illness to go away for a week with a group of strangers out into the woods somewhere. After some time, we determined that I should go, and I cannot tell you how my life has changed forever because of that choice. [av_image src=’/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/3217_663081362710_1910648_n-273×300.jpg’ attachment=’3661′ attachment_size=’medium’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-kayjw’][/av_image] Over the next ten years, I was able to attend a total of nine times, nine of the best weeks of my entire life to date. Camp Esperanza offers every sleep away camp experience you can imagine and so much more. They offer activities like horseback riding, a newly revamped ropes course, archery, boats, fishing, arts & crafts, pottery, sports & games, swimming, and all kinds of other activities that have become long standing traditions. The real draw of camp and what makes it so magical aren’t the activities though, it’s that Esperanza’s main mission and goal is to help these kids feel like themselves again and show them that there’s still fun to be had no matter the difficulties they’ll face through their treatment. As a child in those circumstances, it’s easy to feel like you are in a plastic bubble, too fragile to live like the other kids around you who are always running and jumping around without a care. To be around other kids their age and even older who are going through the same thing, someone to relate to, helps them feel much less isolated. Needless to say I fell in love with Esperanza and attended until I was fifteen years old, the age when campers “graduate” from camp. [av_image src=’/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/13882187_10104749580729180_5331697577687477558_n-1.jpg’ attachment=’3671′ attachment_size=’full’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-4pjh1o’][/av_image] Fast forward nearly fifteen years later, I have just returned to a wonderful team from my fifth year as a counselor at Esperanza. That week is easily one of the highlights of my year every time without fail. As a former camper, this place becomes a second home in so many ways. I feel safe and steeped in the knowledge that this is one place in the world where magic still exists. Whether it’s in the form of overcoming your fears or making friends that truly do last a lifetime, it’s a place to remind yourself of the good in the world. This year marked the highest amount of former campers as either Esperanza counselors or Camp John Marc staff, with a total of 25. There’s a reason that the number of former campers coming back as counselors continues to grow, the majority of us were inspired by our own counselors, some of whom are still there even after 20+ years of volunteering. Every year is truly a gift to be able to meet and get to know the campers, from seeing them hit a bullseye at the archery range for the first time in their lives, to seeing the determination they show as they climb up the ropes course. We’re talking about the majority of kids who are currently going through chemotherapy while they’re at camp, but still finding the strength and confidence to achieve their goals, it’s truly inspirational and I am humbled to get to be a part of that. Aside from their achievements at camp, their personalities shine through in a manner that might not often be seen by the outside world as they settle in and begin to feel comfortable. Their humor can surprise you sometimes, such as a camper this year said “You know, I’m cool, I’m not sky-diving cool, but I’m cool.” It can be the little things that remind us why we’re here. [av_gallery ids=’3667,3668,3669,3665,3664,3663′ style=’big_thumb’ preview_size=’portfolio’ crop_big_preview_thumbnail=’avia-gallery-big-no-crop-thumb’ thumb_size=’portfolio’ columns=’6′ imagelink=’lightbox’ lazyload=’avia_lazyload’ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-34fczg’] As I said goodbye to the kids this year, it was more of a see you later than an actual goodbye because camp is forever in our hearts no matter where we go or how old we get.

Step up Your Creativity With the Bacon Weave

What does bacon have to do with MSP marketing? Not a damn thing. However, it’s important to remember that we aren’t just a company; we’re a group of individuals who come together to help inspire creativity within one another. By doing so, we can offer our clients creative marketing campaigns that both induce curiosity and convert prospects to leads. In that spirit, I’d like to help inspire your kitchen creativity by introducing you to a game changer, the bacon weave.

crust of bacon weave pizza — The “crust” of a bacon weave pizza.

History of Bacon

Before we get into the bacon weave, it’s important to take a look at how prolific bacon has been throughout our history. According to some sources, it may be one of the oldest cuts of meat in history; going as far back as 1500 B.C.E., when the Chinese cured pork with salt. Then, during the Roman era, we see bacon becoming a staple at the dinner table in two forms. Ham (perna) was prepared by getting baked in flour with paste, while shoulder bacon (petaso) would be browned and served with pepper sauce. Then, in 1924, Oscar Meyer changed the history of bacon forever. They became the first company to introduce pre-packaged and pre-sliced bacon. Now, the average American consumes roughly 18lbs of bacon a year. That’s roughly 24 – 12oz packages…. My personal consumption is admittedly closer to 35+ packages a year.

Bacon Makes a Comeback

In the 21st century, bacon is everywhere. Bacon onesies, bacon band-aids, and even bacon toothpaste have popped up on store shelves around the world. It’s interesting to see how creative people can get with such a simple slice of meat. I’ve even tried my hand at making bacon infused whiskey before! Tip: Don’t waste good alcohol when trying to create this infusion, and definitely don’t use peppered bacon. So, back to the bacon weave. I’ve always experimented with food to help keep things interesting. I’ve made many many mistakes and have made food that would be considered an abomination by someone with even the most forgiving of palates. But you can do no wrong when you’re working with a bacon weave. Here are my top 3 foods to make with a bacon weave. Forgive the quality of the photos… I took them with an old flip phone back in college.

Bacon Bun/BLT

It’s best to start with something simple when first trying your hand at the bacon weave. A simple weave makes an excellent layer in your BLT or replaces your hamburger bun for a paleo friendly burger. If you’re unsure of how to create the weave, watch this video by Justin Chapple. httpss://youtu.be/4vF-YiLoeTQ?t=10s Justin bakes his bacon, which works, but I like to pan fry mine when making something this simple.

bacon bun burger — Shown as a hamburger bun with sweet potato fries.

Bacon Pizza

Next up is the bacon pizza, now this I do bake. Take the weave you saw at the beginning of the post and throw it in a preheated, 400-degree oven for about 10 minutes. Then take it out and top with marinara, whatever toppings you’d like, some cheese, and throw it back in for 10 minutes. Cut into personal size squares and serve!

[av_promobox button=’no’ label=’Click me’ link=’manually,https://’ link_target=” color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ size=’large’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ box_color=” box_custom_font=’#ffffff’ box_custom_bg=’#444444′ box_custom_border=’#333333′ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-3a11rm’] FUN FACT: Bringing home the bacon has nothing to do with a man’s ability to make money, but rather his ability to maintain a happy and healthy relationship with his wife. A man who attended a church in the English town of Dunmow would be promised a side of bacon if he could swear to his peers and God that he had not fought with his wife for a year and a day. This practice is now known as The Dunmow Flitch Trials, and is held every four years. From: httpss://www.englishbreakfastsociety.com/history-of-bacon.html [/av_promobox]

Bacon Tacos

Now we’re going to increase the complexity a little bit. Take your simple bacon weaves and create a taco sized tent for them out of foil. You’ll want to kind of ball up some aluminum foil into something cylindrical and then use some more foil to create a tent over that. The cylinder creates a base for your tent to sit on. These you’ll bake until done. From there you just need to fill your bacon taco shells with whatever toppings you like!

Now I don’t have any pictures, but if you really want to get creative… check out this post on making Meat Turtles. I’ve made these before but sadly do not have any pictures. I hope this post inspires you to get creative in the kitchen, to then influence creativity elsewhere in your life. At TRIdigital, we pride ourselves on our ability to create unique content and designs for our clients. Check out some examples of our work to see just how creative we can be.

Canvas Day

A Pivotal Day for TRIdigital, Owed to Pixar

[av_hr class=’short’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-69a2n5′]

What is Canvas Day?

Canvas Day is a day dedicated to the improvement and continuous innovation of TRIdigital. It occurs the first Friday of every month. For each Canvas Day, we divide our entire staff into four equal teams of five, thirty days in advance. The teams are selected completely at random using an automatic team generator. The assignment is as follows: for this day only, TRIdigital is a blank canvas, and the assignment is for each team to work together and create a new amazing idea that will help improve and transform TRIdigital. Positions and titles don’t matter on Canvas Day. Everyone has an equal voice, and their ideas can be heard in front of the entire staff. To make it even better we all vote at the end to see which team had the best idea, so it remains fun and competitive. There are no rules other than everyone must attend and participate, the rest is up to the creativity of each team.

What Does the Agenda Look Like?

8:30 am – 8:45 am The day kicks off with a little all hands meeting. We’ll remind everyone to have fun, work together, and most importantly of all show off their creativity. Immediately after the teams break away and claim a portion of the office as their lair by hanging premade signage with their team names. [av_promobox button=’no’ label=’Click me’ link=’manually,HTTP://’ link_target=” color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ size=’large’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ box_color=’custom’ box_custom_font=’#ffffff’ box_custom_bg=’#353e47′ box_custom_border=’#4289c9′ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-3vjftd’] “Now remember, we never said they had to come up with team names or signage, but they did it anyway. It just goes to show how passionate the team is about Canvas Day and how much they enjoy it. As a CEO watching all this I gotta tell you; it’s pretty awesome!“ [/av_promobox] 9:00 am – 12:00 pm – Teams work on their ideas 12:00 pm-1:30 pm – Everyone has to stop working to have a social lunch which comes with and an organic ice cream bar for dessert 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Teams work on their ideas and finalize their presentations. 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Teams present their ideas to the staff 5:00 pm – 5:15 pm – A winner is chosen and glorified with a wrestling championship belt! 5:15 pm – 5:30 pm – Meeting to wrap up Canvas Day and thank everyone for their contributions

What are the results of Canvas Day?

You’d be surprised at what the teams produced in less than 6 hours. Each team had great ideas and presented them in well thought out articulate presentations. Most of the presentations were very funny and super entertaining. Our winning team “Juan Direction” put together what I call a “Canvas Day master class.” Not only did they choreograph a team dance with introductions of their fictitious names, but also leveraged the specialized skill sets of each team member to bring their idea to life. The team produced well written and professionally designed internal and external facing documents that could be put into production immediately.

What was their idea?

Based on feedback we received from one of our great clients IT Direct and a core value that we’ve adopted from them, “The 5 P’s” (Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance), team Juan Direction wanted to make it possible for all deliverables to come out perfectly on our first try. They then created a series of questionnaires for every single deliverable we’ve ever been asked to create to ensure we had sufficient information from our clients to meet their expectations. They then created steps in our process where this information is shared and strategized as it passed through departments. They did this by mapping out a very efficient workflow for the team can begin following immediately. [av_promobox button=’no’ label=’Click me’ link=’manually,HTTP://’ link_target=” color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ size=’large’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ box_color=’custom’ box_custom_font=’#ffffff’ box_custom_bg=’#353e47′ box_custom_border=’#4289c9′ custom_class=” av_uid=’av-23yk4h’] “That is what Canvas Day is all about. We all have ideas to improve the companies we work for every day. A lot of the people voice their ideas all the time and when it is not implemented they feel their opinion is not valid. What’s worse is when someone else presents the same idea (only with a better presentation) and then it gets adopted. The person who originally came up with the idea feels even worse. Canvas day allows you to work with people you don’t normally work within a focused environment. They then learn the strengths of each person and leverage them to get their idea across. The best part is they then lean on each other in their everyday work which produces even better results all around.“ [/av_promobox]

What does Pixar have to do with Canvas Day?

Everything. TRIdigital’s operations run on the philosophies outlined in Ed Catmull’s book Creativity Inc. For me, Creativity Inc is the greatest business book I’ve ever read. It struck me emotionally in so many ways. My passion for art came from relentlessly rewatching Disney and Pixar movies my entire life. I grew up wanting to be an artist and would show my renderings of characters from various infamous Disney titles such as The Jungle Book, Oliver and Company, and Aladdin. The magic of Disney and Pixar has captured my heart and my mind for my entire life, and I am glad that I never grew out of it. To this day, I zone out with my kids and rewatch movies like Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and Zootopia, over and over and over again. In this book, he talks about his journey from a child who admired the magic of Disney to becoming a Software Engineer set up on creating a new form of art through the power of technology. Spending 20 years pursuing that dream and accomplishing it only to uncover a new passion about how to be a good leader and how to inspire a new age of creative individuals that are both technical and artistic. His detailed interactions with his leadership team which includes John Lasseter and Steve Jobs to his detailed interactions with hundreds of his employees. How he learned with dealing with the unforeseen problems and failures that innovation brings about and how to get everyone on the same page to overcome those challenges and create something truly great.

Canvas Day is a product of two very specific lessons this book teaches you:

- The key to a healthy creative environment is collaboration.

Constant feedback and input from your staff allows you to create innovations and overcome lingering challenges.

At Pixar they had collaboration figured out. Story and Design sat at worked together. Steve Jobs designed the Pixar Campus to be the perfect environment for communication and interaction. They had experts that would cross train the entire staff in all aspects of the company. However, constant feedback and input from their staff were a hurdle for them. The staff loved Pixar so much they just dealt with whatever issues or bottlenecks the company had. They felt that if they brought it up, it would draw unwanted attention to themselves. So Ed Catmull created Notes Day. This is an annual event where Pixar employees are allowed to send feedback anonymously to the Pixar leadership in the months leading up to Notes Day. Then the Pixar leadership would establish an agenda based on the feedback from the staff and had open conversations in smaller classrooms about how to implement some of the ideas and how to overcome certain challenges the staff was facing. The Pixar and Disney team love notes day, and fortunately, the TRIdigital employees love Canvas Day. Although we are a much smaller operation than Pixar, our team is just as passionate about creativity as they are. We feel very fortunate to have successful company co-founded by every individual that comes to work every day and gives everything they have in the pursuit of transforming marketing for the IT industry.