meet_the_team

Our team of rock stars are the super stars of the web design industry- from our developers and designers to our content writers and management team, we employ only the best of the best. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to give you an inside look into the lives of OpenPotion’s team. We believe in transparency, and there is no better route to that then to introduce you to our team members and give you a realistic look at the people behind the scenes.

Last week you were introduced to Morgan, one of our developers and support techs. This week, please meet Esteban, our Project Manager and resident Rock Star.

Esteban Zenteno,
Project Manager
“There’s always a bigger fish.”

What’s your background as far as work?
I studied Systems Engineering at UCINF University in Chile until 2008, and then I did an internship at ABBOTT Laboratories in Santiago de Chile. I went back to Bolivia where I begun working as a Jr. Project Manager for GCGi and quickly made it through to become a Project Manager, handling teams of web development programmers and learning both SEO/SEM and QA.

In the last 4 years I’ve worked with several web design companies in the UK and USA mostly, making websites and e-commerce stores for security companies, hospitals, dentists, e-cigarettes, universities, churches, clothing and designer stores among others until I joined OpenPotion in 2013 and started focusing on Property Management websites.

What do you bring to our Team that is valuable?
Commitment. I’m the kind of guy you know is willing to run the extra mile to get things done right, whatever it takes, and always makes sure clients are happy with the results.

Where do you live, and with whom?
I currently live in Cochabamba, Bolivia, renting an apartment with my cousin. My whole family is here and I try to spend as much time with my parents and my younger brother and sister as I can.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I spend my time listening to music, which I have always loved, and also enjoy hanging out with friends and playing video games over the weekend.

Where do you hang out at when you’re not at work?
I’m usually at a friends place, my parents house, or at a bar.

If you didn’t work for OpenPotion, what would your dream job be?
My dream job would be to be an executive at Apple or Google.

What is the best part about working from home, and one of the biggest challenges of working from home?
Working from home is great because you don’t have to spend time commuting every day to work, which means having more time to focus on work and more free time to spare. The biggest challenge of working from home is keeping everything as organized as possible to ensure non-work related stuff is not getting on the way during working hours.

What is your favorite advice that you like to give to clients about their website?
Keep it updated, and optimized. Security issues come up mostly on older websites that haven’t been updated for months, and if you have a website that is Search Engine Optimized for doing it’s job, which is an on-going process, you’ll find yourself with a growing business all the time.

What has been your funniest moment working at OP?
There’s not a single one, but almost every morning at the team meeting there’s something funny happening. Someone always ends up cracking jokes that make the rest of us laugh our asses off.

Which projects have you enjoyed working on the most and why?
I enjoy most of the projects I’ve done so far, but one that comes to mind right now is Property Management Select, because working with Nick to get his website done was a breeze. Things went as smooth as possible, and we did a great website for his business.

What’s your favorite food?
Barbecue. Can’t beat a well grilled meat with some fries and a fresh salad.

What would your rapper name be?
Me, a rapper? I would be a rock star instead, but I haven’t put thought on the name yet.

Favorite movie?
Star Wars, of course. Can’t beat the best saga ever.

If you had a super power what would it be, and why?
I would like to live forever, there’s just too much to enjoy, and very little time!

Starr, Content Goddess

Here at OpenPotion, we hire the rock stars from our industry to craft a team of knowledgeable, experienced, and awesome team members.

Meet Morgan, one of our website developers. Morgan lives on the East Coast of Canada, a few hours drive from Maine. He spends a lot of time at work, so you’ll usually find him at his computer. Get to know Morgan with an exclusive peek into his world in the following interview. I think you’ll like Morgan as much as we do.

Morgan Farris Website Developer

Tell us a little about your background in website design:

I began my professional career as a Graphic Designer. I started freelancing for a couple of New York’s marketing firms including Hachette, Fillipachi, New Media, and Primedia just to name a few. I have worked on projects for Nissan’s Altima and Pathfinder, Chevrolet Corvette, Car & Driver, and ELLE magazine.

One day, I found something called Joomla. I loved it ,and it enabled me to create an entire dynamic website all by myself, without requiring a team of programmers anymore. Since that time, I focused my energy more on websites than graphic design. I learned a lot about Joomla, created some interesting sites, and am always excited for each new release. In the last year or so, I’ve also been creating with WordPress, and plan to test out PageKit when it’s officially released this fall.

Sometimes I marvel at how times have changed – when I started, a good website cost clients $10,000 to $15,000. In fact, I even worked on a website project whose total cost was in the $100,000 range. Today, you can get a website that does MORE than those sites did for a fraction of the cost!

Tells us about your work for OpenPotion:

At OpenPotion, I spend a good chunk of time handling Support Tickets. What I like most about handling support is that in order to fix some of the issues, you need to know a lot about all of the various parts of the website — this keeps me on my toes. I learn new things every day.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Bike on nearby trails and play “Assassin’s Creed” or Battlefield 4” on the PS4.

What is your favorite advice that you like to give to clients about their website?

I typically ask clients to think about the ONE THING that they want their website to do – the one goal they want their website to accomplish for them – and then we’ll make the website do that for them successfully.

It’s not that websites only do “one thing” – but it’s that often clients want their website to do EVERYTHING, and that results in a website that, quite frankly, doesn’t help the user accomplish what they came to OpenPotion for in the first place. By asking the client to think about the most important goal they want their website to do, they realize the importance of a focused website.

What has been your funniest moment working at OpenPotion?

There’s a couple, in the sense of chatting with the team members. Everyone is pretty cool, so you can joke around with everyone and have a good time.

What’s your favorite food?

Pie.

What would your rapper name be?

I can’t rap. So that’s not even an option.

Favorite movie?
A L | E N S and Critters

Share a favorite meme from the Internet with us.

I’m more into classics than fads. So I tend to ignore things like that.

If you had a super power what would it be, and why?

Never thought about it. Not something I usually fantasize about, I suppose.

Editor’s Note: If you ask us, Morgan’s super power is his super sonic speed when it comes to support tickets. He works fast, expertly, and handles everything with aplomb and excellent customer service skills.

~Starr, Content Goddess

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Meet One of Our Awesome Website Developers

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OpenPotion Website Design