opportunity

Cap Web Solutions 3.0

by Matt · Jul 2, 2015

Live Without a Hitch. Gotta Love It.

Pulled the trigger right around 5:00 pm UTC-5 yesterday. Thanks to the excellent DNS change documentation from WP Engine, everything went smoothly and the newest incarnation of capwebsolutions.com went live. I actually needed to do some tweaking on the WP Engine hosting end of things since I was running a completely new instance of the site.

Version 3.0

Yep, that’s correct. Version 3. Cap Web Solutions LLC has been officially a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania entity for one year now so I thought that it was appropriate to give the company the gift of a complete online presence makeover. The previous site, which was more focused on the website maintenance and support service, can now be found at it’s new address – TopHatTotalCare.com. I really hope that the name clicks when you read it. ‘Top hat’. ‘Cap’ Web. Get it?

That was actually version 2.0 – a complete rewrite of the inaugural site that was launched just over a year ago. Version 2 came out in late winter 2015 as a full Genesis website rocking the parallax effects for the front page images. There’s a little more detail on the portfolio page of our new site. Check it out.

This incarnation solidifies Cap Web Solutions’ focus on developing websites fully utilizing the Genesis Framework. As our portfolio demonstrates, we are gaining more and more experience in the Genesis camp. I have found that the framework is well written, appropriately documented, and after having a couple of advanced classes under my belt, very easy to customize to accommodate any design requirements that I have come up against.

Community is Where Its At

I continue to be awestruck by the WordPress community, both here in the suburban Philadelphia area (shout-out to the Philly ‘Burbs WordPress Meetup ) and nationwide. That sense of community runs even stronger within the Genesis camp. WordPress enthusiasts, be they users, administrators, or hard-core designers and developers, tend to always want to help one another, offer support to strangers, improve the technology, all in the name of moving the WordPress project forward. I recently attended my second Philadelphia WordCamp and came away from the day with renewed excitement for the path I’ve chosen, the people I’ve met, and the opportunities yet to be explored.

Onward and upward.

Stick With It.

by Em Are · May 7, 2015

Sometimes its uncanny the way things work out. Call it divine intervention, coincidence, a higher power looking over my shoulder, or whatever, but there’ s something at work out there to help me keep my head in the game.

My wife and I were having a rather heated discussion last evening about the state of my business. Well, let’s be honest, I was doing most of the talking, she was trying to listen and figure out where I was coming from.

The problem is, this [email protected]$t ain’t easy. What [email protected]$t do you mean, Matt? Why, running your own business, of course. Building a platform. Nurturing a start-up. The stuff dreams and hopes are made of.

Call it what you will. I’m just over 10 months into it now and I’m still hearing that very loud sucking noise at the door. You know, the sound of the little remaining cash being sucked through the gaping hole in my financial base.

The uncanny part … podcasts that come along just in time. This morning I’m out on my walk and my “on the go” playlist included Michael Hyatt’s latest inspiration. This weeks episode is called The One Way to Guarantee You Won’t Succeed and I tell you, it hit me right between the eyes. How to stay inspired, stick with it, focus on the why, take small steps, and, it ALWAYS takes longer than you think.

There’s nothing in life worth accomplishing that doesn’t come with resistance.
– Michael Hyatt

Truer words haven’t been spoken, at least to me, this morning.

So what do I do with this? Well, go back to my original planning docs. Look at it hard, revise, rework, reset and get moving back on track to the target. Avoid the distractions. Break things down into smaller bite-sized pieces. I can do this. I want to do this – still. I have a goal and I plan to attain it.

The opportunity is real. The exploration of it has merit and a future. Stick with it.

Onward and upward. Let’s do this.

Photo credit: Joshua Earle

An Excellent Week

by Em Are · Mar 13, 2015

This week was excellent! My business, Cap Web Solutions, launched two new sites this week, actually three, if you count the announcement of the completely re-worked service as a service business model on capwebsolutions.com.

First we went live with a website for the local Episcopal church in Downingtown, PA. Check it out: stjameschurch.ws. We are really proud of this site and the initial response from the congregation was overwhelmingly positive. How cool is that?! When I think back to what the site looked like a month ago, I can feel really good about the end result. I worked with a great team at the church, headed by Rich Carango.

Then I went live with the new MattRy.com website. It’s a combination of the Exploring New Opportunities blog from WordPress.com and the blog from CapWebSolutions.com. The more I thought about it, the more realistic it felt to bring the two together. After all, Cap Web Solutions IS my new opportunity. I’m exploring it to it’s fullest. Sometimes, I look at it as my third child. It was born. It lives. It has it’s ups and downs. It has to be fed constantly and occasionally changed. And it needs lots of attention. I’m have to put so much effort into it, but it’s still too early to get the benefits. Let me clarify that – too early for the financial benefits. I’m getting one of the most important benefits I can imagine – strength, confidence, and an opening of my eyes to my abilities.

Will this change as it matures? I’m sure it will. Doesn’t everything?

Spring is right around the corner. The snow is (almost) gone from my yard. I mentioned last night in my men’s bible study group that I can almost hear the crocuses trying to push up through the muck that is my front yard. Almost, but I know they are there, just waiting until the right time to pop up, open their petals and bring me joy.

Now that’s an opportunity to look forward to – joy!

Image credit:
APRIL 2013 CPM Art… by COLORED PENCIL magazine

I Am Happy With The One I’m Using Now

by Em Are · Sep 19, 2014

Missed a couple of assignment days in the Blogging 101 course I’m enrolled in. Life happens. Priorities change. People adapt, or at least I try to. The assignment for today …

Today’s assignment: try out at least three other themes — even if you’re happy with the one you first chose. Try one you’re drawn to, and one you would never use.

I am happy with the one I’m using now, else I wouldn’t be using it, right? For you techie types out there, I’m using the free Illustratr theme offered by wordpress.com. I was drawn to it initially after seeing a blog post about it a few months back. It is minimal, focuses on what I have to say, doesn’t distract me with sidebars and widgets and social media links and about pages and contact us and, well, you get the point. It is designed to show off a portfolio. I don’t have a portfolio, but it felt right.

That being said, I am in this course to help me expand my perspective and learn new things as a blogger. Learning new things as a blogger is helping me to learn new things as a blog designer and web site developer, so it appears that it all feeds back upon itself. My whole premise is to “explore new opportunities” as they present themselves to me. I need to shake up my status quo since it really isn’t doing it for me in the recent past. Okay, so let’s look at the other options that are out there, ones that I may have considered, and ones that I would just pass over as not even the remotest of possibilities.

I first looked at the Eighties theme, well, just because that was a very formative decade for me, having just graduated college, starting working full time, getting out on my own, royally screwing up a couple of relationships, meeting my forever partner. But that felt so out of touch right now. Cross that one of the list. Sketch is a newcomer with possibilities, but not quite the look I wanted. I realize that the preview for it is a little cutesy, but some of the sites I’ve seen using it have done good things. Then I came across Writr. It felt right. It is minimalist and responsive, but with more options for a little flair and individuality. Taking this course, I’ve looked at so many blogs in this past week I know that I’ve run across someone that is using it. Not trying to copy that person, but something made the images and the layout stick in my mind.

So there you have it. I settled on the Writr theme, a free theme developed by Automattic. It uses some of the colors I like and I might as well give the old avatar on the screen a try for a while. Business entrepreneurs need to push the branding all the time. I try to use the same avatar / profile pic on most of my social media accounts. This theme even asks me about my social accounts and auto connects them for me. Another plus.

A new opportunity, and it’s only 10:00 am here on the east coast of the US. I still have the entire day ahead of me to see what comes my way. Met with a new business client prospect yesterday. Submitted a proposal. Maybe, just maybe … well, one day at a time.

Thanks for hanging in there today with me. Enjoy the weekend.