News items and updates related to OpenPotion and our internal operations.

Meet Our Accounting Goddess

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For the last several months, you’ve had the opportunity to get to know our team in this series, Meet the Team.  At OpenPotion, we pride ourselves on building awesome relationships, and the transparency that goes along with that creedo.   We’ve given you a peek into the lives of all of our team members, and now we would like to introduce you to our bosses.

Jason and Ashley are the founders, co-owners, and CEOs of this company- without them there would be no OpenPotion. Partners in life and business, this dynamic duo inspires all of us to do better, learn more, and perform at 110% every single day.  Next week you’ll get to read the exclusive interview with Jason.  Today, I would like to introduce you to Ashley.

ashleywithkids

 What’s your background as far as work?
I have been working as the co-owner of OpenPotion since we started the company in 2008. Before that I worked as the Marketing and PR Manager for a consulting company. I have also worked as a coffee barista, a file clerk at an insurance company, and an office manager at a chamber of commerce.

What do you bring to our Team that is valuable?
I am really good with numbers, and I handle all of the accounting. I also handle all of the corporate filings and documents and  help manage support tickets and billing issues. I pretty much do anything that Jason asks me to take care of.

Where do you live, and with whom?
I live with the love of my life, Jason, and our four children; three girls and one boy.  We also have 2 dogs 🙂

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love to read, sing, and be artistic and creative. I also love being on the PTA at my son’s school and doing volunteer work.

Where do you hang out at when you’re not at work?
For me, work and home are the same place so I am mostly at home.

If you didn’t work for OpenPotion, what would your dream job be?
I would love to run a non-profit organization or open a bakery.

What is the best part about working from home, and one of the biggest challenges of working from home?
The biggest challenge in working from home is being able to separate my personal life and work. They overlap all the time and it’s difficult to set boundaries. I love working from home because it gives me the freedom to be more involved in my children’s  education and volunteer at their schools.

What is your favorite advice that you like to give to clients about their website?
If they do not have a website that sells well and/or has functionality built into the site that cuts down their workload, they are missing out on a valuable tool to help their business grow.

What has been your funniest moment working at OP?
I don’t have a specific incident that was funny, but I sure do enjoy sitting in the team chat room online and watching all the funny memes that everyone creates.

What’s your favorite food?
Sushi, cupcakes, pizza

What would your rapper name be?
Suga Rush (like sugar)

Favorite movie?
Oh man, this is a hard one. I love The Lord of the Rings movies. I love Across the Universe.  And all of The Avengers movies.

If you had a super power what would it be?
I would definitely want the power of telepathy.

Share a favorite meme from the internet.

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-Starr Bryson, Content Goddess

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Meet Marcelo: Website Developer Extraordinaire

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Welcome back to our, “Meet the Team” series.  If you’ve been following along, you’ve had the chance to meet our team members through personal interviews and get a peek at the people behind the scenes of OpenPotion.   So far, you’ve had the chance to get to know our customer service expert and web developer Morgan, our awesome projects manager Esteban, our British assistant to our CEO Helen, the members of our content team, Adam the Content Wizard and Starr the Content Goddess, our visionary designer Mike, and our fabulous web developer, Fabricio.

Today, we’d like to introduce Marcelo, a very talented and knowledgeable website developer.

"Life is not meant to be understood, but to live."

“Life is not meant to be understood, but to live.”

 

What’s your background as far as work?
I studied and graduated as a Systems Engineer from U.M.S.S. in Cochabamba, Bolivia and then did other courses on Preparation and Evaluation of Projects also in the U.M.S.S. until 2005.  After that, I developed custom systems for different companies in the surrounding areas for about a year, until I was hired at XpertSolutions to create different desktop and web applications for companies in Germany and Bolivia. Earlier this year I left my job there to begin working at OpenPotion.

What do you bring to our Team that is valuable?
I bring 10 years of experience in advanced programming in web and desktop applications to OpenPotion, which will help us as we grow and move forward into the future.

Where do you live, and with whom?
I live in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with my wife, whom I recently married in January of this year.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like watching movies and taking long walks in the park.

Where do you hang out at when you’re not at work?
With my family and friends.

If you didn’t work for OpenPotion, what would your dream job be?
If I didn’t work on OpenPotion, my dream job would be owning and operating my own Software Development company.

What is the best part about working from home, and one of the biggest challenges of working from home?
The best part of working from home is that I can work at different times and make my own schedule, without the need of going to an office, saving time on commuting back and forth.  The biggest challenge of working from home is keeping yourself motivated, disciplined, and working on your own limitations to meet deadlines and achieve your personal goals.

What is your favorite advice that you like to give to clients about their website?
Don’t be afraid of using more colors and nice images in your design so users enjoy viewing it. Let’s get over the minimalistic designs!

Which projects have you enjoyed working on the most and why?
I don’t have one in mind in particular, but I like doing my job, and enjoy doing all of the projects I work on because I know I was a part of them and I always feel good when our clients provide great feedback and are super happy with their new websites.

What’s your favorite food?
I love almost every food around, but my favorite would be grilled meat,  paired with a great wine.

What would your rapper name be?
MC Cello!

Favorite movie?
The Butterfly Effect

If you had a super power what would it be, and why?
To be able to teleport, because there’s so many places I would like to visit without wasting time on traveling from one place to another.

Share a favorite meme from the internet.

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-Starr Bryson, Content Goddess

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Meet Our “Fab”ulous Web Developer

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For the past few months, we’ve been taking you on a tour of our rock start team here at OpenPotion, giving you a VIP backstage pass and an insider view of our fantastic team members.  Getting to know us on a more personal level lets you see the real people behind the scenes of the magic we create.

So far you’ve had the chance to get to know our customer service expert and web developer Morgan, our awesome projects manager Esteban, our British assistant to our CEO Helen, the members of our content team,  Adam the Content Wizard and Starr the Content Goddess, and our visionary designer Mike.

Today, we’re happy to share our interview with Fabricio, one of our developers and technicians.  Fab works on the  development, coding, and technical stuff that makes our clients’ websites so great.  Without him, we would certainly be lost.

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What’s your background as far as work?

I graduated from UPSA (Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz De La Sierra).   After graduation, I worked in a Software firm Called TSE-Win, a Bolivian software factory for Madrid, Spain.  After that I worked for InforFactory, another Bolivan software factory for Madrid, Spain.  After InforFactory, I branched out as a freelancer and worked in the following areas:
Web System Development for My Institute of Insurance (a Miami Insurance Institute), as the head developer for a London Firm Called SKYCIG (Electronic Cigarette sell business), and for several USA based businesses building and maintaining their Joomla and WordPress sites.   I currently work for OpenPotion.

What do you bring to our Team that is valuable?

With more than 14 years of website and web-system development, I bring a lot of technical knowledge to the team.

Where do you live, and with whom?

I live in Santa Cruz, Bolivia with my wife Maria Jose and my two boys Leonardo (10 years old ) and Agustin (17 months old).

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to stay at  home and watch movies or go out with my family to enjoy their company.

Where do you hang out at when you’re not at work?

I do not have a place I hang out.  I  just enjoy visiting my friends or having them over to my house.

If you didn’t work for OpenPotion, what would your dream job be?

My dream job is doing what I do.  I would like to learn mobile apps at some point, though.

What is the best part about working from home, and one of the biggest challenges of working from home?

The best part about working from home is the flexibility with my hours and avoiding driving in rush hour traffic (too much stress).  The biggest challenge is to let go of the old habits of the conventional job in an office.

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

Give your website the importance that it requires in order to obtain benefits from it.

What has been your funniest moment working at OP?

I do not have one funniest moment there are a lot,  especially in the team meetings, both chat and video.

Which projects have you enjoyed working on the most and why?

There is no one project that I like the most.   I would say all of them that offer some pressure to finish them on time, there is a moment when you realize you’ve finished ahead of the deadline and say it’s DONE and you feel good for a job well done.

What’s your favorite food?

Churrasco (it’s like a BBQ)

What would your rapper name be?

Real Fab

Favorite movie?

From Paris with Love

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

Mind reading, to know what’s coming in order to make a good business decision.

Share a favorite meme from the internet.

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-Starr, Content Goddess

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Meet our Graphic Designer

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Happy Friday and welcome back to our ongoing series, “Meet the Team,” where we’re giving you a chance to get a personal look into the lives of our fantastic team members here at OpenPotion.  So far you’ve had the chance to get to know our customer service expert and web developer Morgan, our awesome projects manager Esteban, our British assistant to our CEO Helen, and the members of our content team,  Adam the Content Wizard and Starr the Content Goddess.

This week, we’re interviewing our visual virtuoso and graphics guru, Michael.

"Never give up!"

“Never give up!”

What’s your background as far as work?

– Started my career as a freelancer graphic designer, operating my own business for 5 years
– Worked for a year in the marketing department of Rockwell Automation as a marketing coordinator
– Worked as an ad coordinator for a farming magazine for a year
– Worked as a graphic designer for 5 years at Greentec – electronics recycler / Thinkrecycle – electronic recycling fund-raising program
– Worked for one year as a graphic designer at Bailey Creative – web design agency

What do you bring to our Team that is valuable?

– 17 years of design knowledge and experience

Where do you live, and with whom?

I was born and raised in Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario Canada, HQ of Blackberry (formally RIM) and the largest Octoberfest next to Bavaria. I currently reside in Stratford Ontario Canada, hometown of the likes of Lloyd Robertson, Peter Mansbridge and Justin Bieber. I live with my partner Carri-Ann, her two children Hannah and Grant, toy poodle Maxwell and teddy-bear hamster Charles. My son Kyle also live with us on a part time basis.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

– Train in the martial arts
– Watch movies…love movies
– Road trips…explore new places
– Send time with my son Kyle
– Draw, read, camp

Where do you hang out at when you’re not at work?

Working from home, I don’t get out much…when I do go out, it’s usually to the dojo where I train twice a week in Aiki Jujitsu and Goju Ryu Karate.

If you didn’t work for OpenPotion, what would your dream job be?

Honestly, I have a passion for designing mobile apps. I’d love to do more of that type of work. I think I’d do well teaching martial arts at my own dojo as well.

What is the best part about working from home, and one of the biggest challenges of working from home?

Best part – The flexibility and freedom to set my own schedule and hours
Biggest challenge – Staying focused and disciplined and avoiding distractions

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

I like to remind clients that “it’s all part of the process”. Developing a website consists of incremental stages that build on one another to create the final product. Not to worry, the wire-frame isn’t how the final website will look, it’s just the beginnings of the process.

What has been your funniest moment working at OP?

I find it amusing that the team feels compelled to say my name with a British accent all the time. Now I just need to convince them to add “Sir” before it.

Which projects have you enjoyed working on the most and why?

I like working on the projects that require multiple components such as logo, wire-frame, style tile, mock-up, business card, etc. This way I can help clients to build a brand, not just a website.

What’s your favorite food?

Sushi and chocolate, not together though.

What would your rapper name be?

Throw down

Favorite movie?

Sooo many to choose from… I’ll go with “Saving Private Ryan” for the purpose of this interview.

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

The same one Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark have.

Editor’s note:  So, Michael wants to be a highly intelligent rich man with lots of fun toys.  I can dig that. 

Share a favorite meme from the internet.

aliens

Starr, Content Goddess

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Meet our Content Wizard

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Welcome back to our Meet the Team series.  If you’ve been following along, we’re taking the time to introduce our fantastic team of experts via a fun interview and Q &A session.  Here at OpenPotion, we hire only the best designers, developers, and content writers in the industry.  We scour the world for these rockstars and are pleased to have each and every one as part of our team.

So far you’ve had a chance to meet Morgan, one of our developers and customer service experts, and Esteban, our project manager.  Today, I welcome you to meet Adam, our content wizard.  Adam came to us only a few short months ago, but in that time has proved himself as a talented, invaluable addition to our team.  Adam brings his amazing creativity to the table, and coupled with his expertise in marketing and sales writing and tech knowledge, he really is a content wizard.

Adam Z., Content Wizard

Adam Z., Content Wizard

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

What’s your background as far as work?
I got into the content creation game while living in Paris. I had the opportunity to intern in the
offices of a luxury real estate company during my five year tenure in Europe, and in that position
I worked extensively with the British press. I guess you could call it a “light bulb” moment, as I
began writing for a myriad of companies after that experience.

What do you bring to our Team that is valuable?
I thoroughly enjoy the branding process, and I feel quite fortunate to have worked with a
plethora of multinational brands. Working with the big boys has equipped me with an intimate
understanding of the ins and outs of digital marketing, and I love working with small business
owners to breathe new life into their respective companies.

Where do you live, and with whom?
New York City, with my Cocker Spaniel, Oliver.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m an avid reader and spend a significant portion of my free time
devouring any book I stumble across. I also enjoying playing my guitar, exploring the city with
friends, and seeking out that elusive perfect cup of coffee.

Where do you hang out at when you’re not at work?
Local cafés, Washington Square Park, and independent bookstores dotted across NYC.

If you didn’t work for OpenPotion, what would your dream job be?
Working as an independent contractor IS my dream job!

What is the best part about working from home, and one of the biggest challenges of working
from home?
I’ve always been a bit of a control freak, and I appreciate the solitude of working at home. I find
it easiest to brainstorm, create, and pull out the red pen when I’m left with my thoughts. On the
flip side, working independently means I have to remain self-motivated…and everybody has
moments when they just want to stay in bed for an extra 15 minutes!

What is your favorite advice that you like to give to clients about their website?
Your website is an extension of your brand; make certain it reflects your vision and serves as a
cohesive link to your external marketing endeavors.

What has been your funniest moment working at OP?
Working long hours makes all of us loopy, and I constantly collaborate with the other members
of the OpenPotion team via video conference and chat. At the end of a long week, we’re all a bit
punch drunk really, and as you can imagine, hilarious hijinks ensue.

Which projects have you enjoyed working on the most and why?
I really appreciate the chance to work with property managers and real estate groups, as it affords
me the opportunity to research the neighborhoods in which they operate. It’s like a virtual field
trip!
What’s your favorite food?
It’s hard to beat a great taco, but I’m still a kid at heart, and you can always win me over with
candy.

Favorite movie?
So many choices, so little time.

If you had a super power what would it be, and why?
Teleportation; I’ve had the chance to experience life in so many places across our beautiful
planet, and I’d love nothing more than to spend the day with some of my favorite people, many
of whom are far, far away.

 

Starr, Content Goddess

Starr Bryson

Meet Our Awesome Project Manager

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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."

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

Starr Bryson

Meet One of Our Awesome Website Developers

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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

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

Starr Bryson

Video Announcing Our New Website

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Announcing Our New Website

I was outside our home in Pacific Palisades, walking with my almost 2-year-old and my 6 year old nephew and decided to record a quick video. This was a big leap from our old Joomla site and took quite a while to develop… there are still several things on my todo list, but it is up and it is better than our previous site… so… progress!

Some of the things that went into this…

  1. Migrating content
  2. Planning out a simpler, smarter structure for our search engine friendly URLs
  3. Setting up 301,302,307 redirects to redirect old pages and to new locations
  4. Integrating ScheduleOnce
  5. Researching lots of WordPress addons to find the best ones
  6. Setting up site-wide SSL (https)
  7. Enabling and tweaking page caching (W3TC)
  8. CDN integration (CDN77)
  9. Integrating ZOPIM Live Chat
  10. And a LOT more…

 

Why did we switch to WordPress? I’ll write another post on that.Looking to migrate from Joomla to WordPress? Need a new website designed? We can certainly help with that.

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