Ryan Carson

Jackson said his first real words yesterday. I was giving him a bath and Candy, our ballerina like cat, sauntered into the bathroom. Jackson looked at her, pointed and said ‘at!’.

Whoa. I was dumbstruck.

That simple action reminded me that he’s a person, not just a ‘baby’, and my duties as a father are very important and very real. I know it’s important that I spend real time with him - time where I’m not distracted by work or other things.

I, like many of you, absolutely love what I do at work. Running Carsonified is tremendously fun, challenging and exciting. Often, without even knowing it, my mind will wander back to what’s happening at work. However, I’ll be damned if I’m one of those work-a-holic dads who is always staring at their iPhone, answering emails or talking about work.

I believe that the key must be putting the needs of your family before your own - becoming more selfless.

So how do you do this? How can you practice selflessness on a daily basis? Any dads out there have experience in this area that want to share some words of wisdom? What’s the best way to make sure you’re giving your family the time they deserve and yet be passionate about your work?

Everyone knows that times are tough financially at the moment. A lot of businesses are finding it hard to make it and many are closing their doors forever.

At Carsonified, we had to make the really tough decision to let some of the Team go. It was very hard, but it was the right thing to do. In addition to that, we’re generating brand new revenue (and profit) by doing new things.

Thankfully, we’ve established a good reputation in the web design and development industry, so we decided to start doing design, development and consultancy for the web industry. We’ve established three exciting partnerships that are generating over £80,000 of brand new revenue (which is mostly profit, as we have the capabilities in-house).

We’re also changing our sponsorship model for our events. Instead of just creating value for sponsors at the physical events, we’re starting to work with them throughout the year to help them reach new customers and generate excitement. Sponsors need more value in order to justify spending their marketing budgets, and we’re delivering that by being more creative and working harder.

Bottom line: Evolve or perish

If you aren’t prepared to update and evolve your business model, you might be in trouble. It’s important to create new profit that didn’t exist in 2008.

In the comments below, please share any ideas you’ve had for creating more profit in 2009.

[Photo Credit: flickr.com/photos/apsmuseum]

We were heading into town on Friday and I wanted to make it memorable. There’s so many times when someone says “What did you do over the weekend?” and I answer “You know, I can’t really remember. Just hung out, I guess.”

With that in mind, I decided to bring our camera and my mission was to try to spot unusual things in Bath that I hadn’t seen before. It was amazing the amount of detail that jumped out at me.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Gill bought me some Geo F. Trumpers shaving soap over a year ago … and I’m still using it. Compare that to your typical crappy can of Gillette Shaving Gel that is just as expensive, last a couple months, and is bad for the environment (aerosols, metal/plastic can, etc).

Instead, my little wooden bowl of soap from Mr. Trumpers is completely bio-degradable and, if I do say so myself, looks pretty cool.

I think there’s a lot to be said for products that last a little longer, are a little more environmentally friendly, and maybe don’t work quite as well as their super-modern-ultra-efficient counterparts.

Old fashion, FTW.

We all have things we want to do, but we struggle to find the motivation or time. This is the constant relationship I have with working out. I hate working out. I know it’s important, but I just hate it. So after reading the chapter Why we don’t do what we want to do in Predictably Irrational, I had an idea:

I would withdraw my monthly budget of spending money, in cash and then I’d then give it to my trusty wife. I asked her to dole it out to me in 12 chunks (three times a week for four weeks) and I’d only get it if I worked out. Here’s the kicker: if I didn’t go to the gym, I instructed her to burn the money.

Nothing good could come of me not working out - the money couldn’t go to charity, my wife, a savings fund … nothing. It had to be burned.

Guess what? I’ve worked out three times a week since the beggining of January, without missing a single day. It works.

[Photo credit: http://flickr.com/photos/whitecatsg]

I’ve really been enjoying Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers. There is a particularily interesting section from the chapter The Three Lessons of Joe Flom that I’d like to share:

Those three things - autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward - are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying. It is not how much money we make that ultimately make us happy between nine and five. It’s whether our work fulfills us. If I offered you a choice of being an architect for $75,000 a year and working in a tollbooth every day for the rest of your life for $100,000 a year, which would you take? I’m guessing the former, because there is complexity, autonomy, and a relationship between effort and reward in doing creative work, and that’s worth more to most of us than money.

Work that fulfills those three criteria is meaningful.

I really enjoy running Carsonified because it meets those three criteria. One of the main reasons I quit my last job as Lead Web Developer at Fingal Design, was because there was no connection between effort and reward. I remember we worked 48 hours straight to launch barF1.com (now defunct) and my boss handed me a beer at the end and a pat on the back. That’s when I knew I was going to leave. I didn’t want money, I just wanted to be appreciated.

Is your work meaningful? Why or why not?

Gill and I decided to spend a week of holiday at home instead of flying somewhere. Gill got the idea from watching 1940’s House, a show about what it was like during World War II in Britain. It wasn’t safe or affordable to travel for holidays during the war, so the government encouraged people to stay at home.

How it works

1. Chores and all normal duties are off-limits (great excuse to dodge household tasks).
2. Make a list of ideas for each day. This keeps you from sitting around in your pants and browsing the web all day.
3. Plan your meals ahead of time and buy all the food you need (this is where grocery shopping online makes perfect sense). This makes it more fun as you have gorgeous food all around during the week.

Why it’s great

1. It’s cheap.
2. It encourages you to explore new things around the area where you live.
3. It’s much less stressful than flying to a holiday location.

What we did

• Day One: Exploring Bath and Geocaching (photos)
• Day Two: Day trip to Glastonbury
• Day Three: Movie Day at home
• Day Four: Pig Hunt in Bath (photos)
• Day Five: Trip to Blenheim Palace
• Day Six: Boat trip from Bath to outlying villages
• Day Seven: Walking on the canal and swimming at the Bath Thermae Spa
• Day Eight: Movie and PJs day (I know we’re too old for Harry Potter but I don’t care)

If you’ve done anything similar or have ideas, please share with us in the comments.

Little Jackson Bee (he looks like a bumble bee when we swaddle him) was crying this morning, so I thought I’d take him for a spin in the Baby Bjorn (or ‘Front-loading-baby-holster’ as Keir calls it). It was a stunning morning so I thought I’d shoot some photos and share a little video. The music is from the soundtrack of Pride & Prejudice which I was playing on my iPhone speaker while we walked around.

My new son + beautiful music + stunning countryside + crisp morning = happiness.

Hope you enjoy the vid.

Walk with Jackson from Ryan Carson on Vimeo.

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I sent out this question on Twitter: “Outside your day job, what are you passionate about?” I got some really interesting answers:

	mhalligan : @ryancarson World Domination! (2008-04-12 15:42:40) Reply
	calvintychan : @ryancarson passionate about meeting new people, playing basketball, playing Texas Hold’em :) (2008-04-12 15:15:18) Reply
	ralovely : @ryancarson It’s awful. Thanks to your question, I realized that I have none, beside my family and my work…. (2008-04-12 13:40:23) Reply
	Whatleydude : @ryancarson - nicely reminded, I love dance, acting and hugging… that’s outside of my day job. (2008-04-12 13:27:17) Reply
	doncampbell : @ryancarson in answer to your Q: what are you passionate about: I’m learning Jazz Piano right now and can’t get enough of it (2008-04-12 12:46:23) Reply
	reybango : @ryancarson I’m passionate about paintball. (2008-04-12 12:14:17) Reply
	vadavia : @ryancarson Gardening, reading, traveling, and cooking! (By the way, Gill’s gardening blog is brilliant :) ) (2008-04-12 12:04:06) Reply
	dotsara : @ryancarson outside the day job, it’s photography for me. (:http://flickr.com/photos/do… (2008-04-12 11:24:18) Reply
	terrisCA : @ryancarson Social justice and inner space. Veganism, yoga, and meditation. (2008-04-12 10:59:08) Reply
	bealers : @ryancarson spicy foods, real ales and (any) motor racing (plus my family of course)(2008-04-12 10:54:55) Reply
	silencematters : @ryancarson my future wife! (2008-04-12 10:32:55) Reply
	ironicpete : @ryancarson My relationship (there’s probably a million and one answers identical to this) (2008-04-12 10:24:19) Reply
	jtnt : @ryancarson Passion: supporting live music, keeping up with old friends, breakfast. Not necessarily in that order all the time. Good Q, BTW. (2008-04-12 10:18:43) Reply
	ccolmenar : @ryancarson dance-all kinds (2008-04-12 10:12:43) Reply
	ryanrumsey : @ryancarson restoring VW’s, reupholstering furniture, live music, sharing any knowledge I might possess, my wife and our animal roommates. (2008-04-12 09:25:42) Reply
	replete : @ryancarson: Music, faith, and tea :) (2008-04-12 09:21:33) Reply
	iworx : @ryancarson Changing stuff, doesn’t matter wat. As long as I can change it. (2008-04-12 09:14:53) Reply
	truebluetitan : @ryancarson passionate about close family bonds, continuously learning, and health/fitness (2008-04-12 09:12:45) Reply
	gehernando : @ryancarson Im passionate about the Flamenco guitar! (2008-04-12 09:11:45)Reply
	boboroshi : @ryancarson besides working with @amyhoy (day job thta rocks) i play in a touring band: http://myspace.com/honorbya… (2008-04-12 08:51:11) Reply
	spencerlavery : @ryancarson Photography and music, you? (2008-04-12 08:35:45) Reply
	charliepark : @ryancarson - Since starting PearBudget, that’s my main passion. It now happens to also be my day job. Others: family/friends/tech stuff. (2008-04-12 08:26:23) Reply
	MonstersEtc : @ryancarson Photography. (2008-04-12 08:26:22) Reply
	boosty : @ryancarson music (2008-04-12 08:20:06) Reply
	othello : @ryancarson family, architecture, gadgets, good coffee, sunshine on crisp winter mornings… (2008-04-12 08:16:07) Reply
	deburca : @ryancarson “Passionate about…” North East England -http://www.northeastengland… - great “passionate” campaign (2008-04-12 08:14:33) Reply
	gilliancarson : @ryancarson vegetable gardening, literature and you! But you knew that :)(2008-04-12 08:12:45) Reply
	ilovetypography : @ryancarson “type!” (2008-04-12 08:10:11) Reply
	wnas : @ryancarson my two sons and my wife, books, music and arts. (2008-04-12 08:09:33)Reply
	Dutchcowboy : @ryancarson new music like the new Ladtron http://tinyurl.com/5aoj5y (2008-04-12 08:09:13) Reply
	jfc3 : @ryancarson passionate about food, wine, travel, and meeting new people. (2008-04-12 06:42:03) Reply
	tylerwillis : @ryancarson dancing (2008-04-12 06:30:43) Reply
	pyrophoric : @ryancarson tattoos. I’m obsessed! which reminds me, I need to give my tattooist a shout… (2008-04-12 06:06:42) Reply
	ciaranj : @ryancarson music; obvious but true (2008-04-12 05:53:46) Reply
	pixeldiva : @ryancarson: photography, knitting, food (2008-04-12 05:33:24) Reply
	kitsandmortar : @ryancarson: building my own house! one day… that’s why I started KitsandMortar.com :D Oh, and period jewellery too. (2008-04-12 05:28:51) Reply
	prisca_eyedea : @ryancarson - friends, music, food - design as well (in+outside work) - how about yourself (Gill+Jackson excluded, goes without saying! :) ? (2008-04-12 05:18:36) Reply
	Finucane : @ryancarson information, communication, baseball, photography, history, integral studies (spiritual, psychological, philosophical), pizza! (2008-04-12 05:15:30) Reply
	matthewpennell : @ryancarson: Film. (2008-04-12 04:53:56) Reply
	AlunR : @ryancarson motorsport, family, travel (2008-04-12 04:48:46) Reply
	keirwhitaker : @ryancarson modernist architecture/ideals and transport network maps (2008-04-12 04:44:37) Reply
	tmilewski : @ryancarson music… and. well, i’m lucky enough, like yourself, to do something I’m passionate about in the workplace as well as out. (2008-04-12 04:43:48) Reply
	laura_eyedea : @ryancarson photography, food, cooking, friends and the sun :) (2008-04-12 04:42:58) Reply
	JayGreasley : @ryancarson and web apps (my day job is more complex enterprise apps)(2008-04-12 04:29:12) Reply
	JayGreasley : @ryancarson raisins. (2008-04-12 04:24:14) Reply
	paulfabretti : @ryancarson just run this “outside your day job” concept by me again Ryan! ;-)(2008-04-12 04:23:36) Reply
	olliekav : @ryancarson music and DJ’ing (2008-04-12 04:07:01) Reply
	manp : @ryancarson Aviation! (2008-04-12 04:04:11) Reply
	waugaman : @ryancarson I am pretty keen on building skills/strategy/tools that allow individuals to help their community - viva las volunteer! (2008-04-12 04:02:28) Reply
	sevitzdotcom : @ryancarson tough Q.What’s the difference between “really like”&”passionate about”. Shouldn’t you be passionate about everything you like? (2008-04-12 03:59:38) Reply
	cwcrawley : @ryancarson Probably teaching my martial arts…. (2008-04-12 03:59:04) Reply
	sarahparmenter : @ryancarson musical theatre, totally. (2008-04-12 03:58:47) Reply
	larspind : @ryancarson Food and cooking (2008-04-12 03:58:42) Reply
	thedevguy : @ryancarson I’m passionate about making my ideas into reality (2008-04-12 03:57:46) Reply
	cabad : @ryancarson family. (2008-04-12 03:56:20) Reply
	quakeboy : @ryancarson Music - singin n dancing ! (2008-04-12 03:58:31) Reply
	DrBaher : @ryancarson sociology, philosophy, photography among others (2008-04-12 03:58:07)Reply

It’s so easy wishing you life was different. Here’s a simple tip to battle that.

No more wishing from Ryan Carson on Vimeo.

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