what is my passion and why is it important to me? or to you?
ever since i can remember, i have had a passion for creating stuff. well, stuff is a very vague word, right?
well, let's go back, way back. some of my earliest creations were drawings i made in middle school that would best be described as "futuristic downtowns". they were these really wide drawings i would make of cool buildings in a downtown setting that would take up 5-10 pages all taped together. i did them with my best friend, ed seidenberg, and we thought we were way too artistic.
then i branched out into photography, which i still do today (i gave up the drawings shortly after middle school). next came interior design where i collected a degree from the university of north texas in denton, texas.
some time after this i discovered the internet (actually it was described to me as "the world wide web" at the time) and decided that i could really use this new medium to create lots of stuff.
so i made a decision...from now on i would make my new career on the internet alone and earn all my income from this new medium. i started out by resigning from my sales position and running a home business selling "found gems" on eBay. this was a bit of a struggle on my own so i sat down, thought about it and asked myself what i really wanted to do professionally that involved the internet.
designing was perfect for me. so i enrolled in a 2-year degree plan at the community college and started taking courses in web design and development. working at night it took me over 4 years to complete the degree plan while working for a collectibles company selling product on eBay.
finally i had a degree and i set out to find a good job where i could create all day long, learn more about my craft and even get paid for it too. i worked with hitchfinder.com from march, 2006 to june, 2008 and increased my skill level many fold transforming a bunch (the company had 10+ sites) of "old school" e-commerce web sites into databased modern sites with a team of two others.
in december, 2008 i began a full time position at the university of texas at dallas (ut dallas) as a web specialist in the university's web services department, which is a department of the office of communications. this was a great opportunity to really push my skills to the next level.
in september, 2015, i moved to another position in the school of behavioral and brain sciences at ut dallas as a web developer. in 2016, katina mcafee, the other web developer in the school and i launched the redesign of the schools' website (BBS). i am responsible for maintining the school site, plus, i develop faculty labs for professors and maintain the faculty and staff database. i also am responsible for putting all school events on the university calendar and keeping the schools' twitter account updated.
i have created gushinDesigns.com to allow myself to work on web sites, print and photography in my open time. yeah, that's where it comes back to the "or to you?" question.
give me the opportunity to transform your idea(s) into a creative, polished, custom finished product that you will be proud of.
my goals
with any project, you must have a set of goals.
respect - when working with a client, the goal is to always have integrity in interactions. i try to put myself into their shoes and ask myself "how would i like to be treated as a client?"
email/phone - i always strive to have quick and open communication with clients. an email question at 2am is one i will usually answer first thing the next morning or if i happen to be up, right then.
listen - this is a biggie. i believe, that to be really successful with a client, you gotta listen to their ideas and plans, then give feedback. if you constantly spurt out what you think is needed, then you have failed to listen. simple.
accountability - in any project, i believe in keeping the client up to date on how the budget and timetable are going. you have to be able to discuss the financial aspect of the project so nobody is surprised or unhappy at the end.