Blog Posts

Fear is an interesting emotion. It’s much more deceitful and sneaky than, say, happiness or sorrow or anger. When I’m happy, it’s pretty obvious. When I’m pissed off, it’s even more obvious. But often, I can go for long periods of time, completely unaware that my decisions are being driven, or at least influenced, by fear — whether as a father, a husband or as a business owner.

In honor of what would have been the 96th birthday of Les Paul, today’s playlist is dedicated to guitarists who’ve rocked the instrument of his namesake. Enjoy.

Most people are familiar with James Carville’s proclamation, made during the 1992 presidential election, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Birthed in a moment of “war room” frustration, it became a mantra of the Clinton campaign, focusing attention on the country’s recession—attributed to then-president George Bush. It’s a great quote for wrangling people in to the core issue at hand.

Sure, it’s technically been a short work week… But sometimes you still need a “pick me up.” Here are a few tunes from my playlist to help get you through the day. Enjoy.

How do you establish a solid presence on the web? Again, it’s not a hard-and-fast formula. Everyone has different needs and objectives. But there are common foundational elements that go into building an effective and engaging website for your business. The following ten tips will set you on the right path.

I don’t typically like to write about tech-related issues but, after having the same disturbing chat with a few different clients and friends over the past few weeks, I figured this topic might be of interest to some people — at least to those of you who are interested in protecting your private information online from those interested in stealing it.

A while back, one of my business mentors offered a gentle but welcomed admonition not to forget the 80-20 rule—80% of your productivity comes from 20% of your work effort. The context for this was that, as a creative, it’s especially important to recharge my batteries if I want to remain sharp and effective. But he also was reminding me that life is more than just work. He’s right, it is. As important as Taproot Creative is to me and as seriously as I take my work and my reputation, this job isn’t who I am—it’s just what I do.

The team at Taproot Creative would like to extend out heart-felt congratulations to our Director of Research & Development, Richard Stanley. He married his longtime sweetheart—the lovely Sarah Lomonte this weekend in St. Augustine, Florida. We wish them all the best in their new life together.

When Sean Doughtie launched Taproot Creative in 2005, he had a singular focus — to “save the universe, one pixel at a time.” Although Doughtie may not yet have saved the universe, he has been able to grow his one-man show into a thriving company in challenging economic times. Over the past five years, Doughtie has taken Taproot Creative from a website design firm to a full-service public relations and social media/marketing shop. And he has done well enough to be hiring new staff during the recession.