Drew Schug Industries

Saturday morning Rachelle delivered our beautiful baby girl Hazel. Born at 8:07am March 27th and weighing 7 lbs 6 oz. Mom is healthy. Hazel is getting a few extra tests but doing well. We think she is one of the most beautiful people we have ever met.

I recently purchased the Macheist nano bundle. It seems well worth the money so far, but it’s tough to tell if I will ever use some of the software again. Clippings, RipIt and MacJournal all seem to have some promise. I think my wife will enjoy the games once they are ulocked. As for blogging – this was written with Mac Journal, mainly as a test and also to see if it helps focus my blogging efforts. The bundle is only $19.95 and a portion of proceeds go to the charity of your choice. I specifically sent mine to the Prevent Cancer Fund in honor of Karen Proff, the mother of a good friend of mine who lost her battle with cancer last week. She will be missed.

If you get a chance check out the bundle, seems like you always find one or two gems that make the purchase worth while.

You may have noticed, but 2 years later, I finally updated my website. Please leave a critique in the comments below if you feel so inclined. This revision has been in the works for some time. So much has changed over the course of two years time personally and professionally. It is exciting to work with all the wonderful people

Personal thanks to Kira Stoops at Flying Bicycle for helping line me out on some of the writing. If you need a talented content writer who is professional, intelligent and great to work with, I highly recommend her.

I’m still working out some of the design and content details and feel strongly that I can make some improvements to my own site as time allows. Hopefully this gives me a flexible platform to start adding some more interesting features, but for now, it is what it is and feel it is a great improvement over my prior website.

Tomorrow I am going to write a blog post about procrastination. Watch for it.

A few years ago I was home visiting my parents one weekend. My mother asked me why I hadn’t been to church in a while and why I didn’t like going. To which I frankly replied, “because I don’t get anything out of it”. Her humble response has stuck with me through the years. “I don’t go to get something out of it, I go to give”.

If you truly heard those words, that statement is pretty powerful. It is timeless for any relationship. Whether you are going to church, married, or with your business relationships. If you are going into a relationship with the idea to get something out of it you will more than likely feel dissatisfied with the outcome. But when you give, you receive back more than you could ever imagine.

For business I go into every relationship to build a better outcome and give what I would hope for as a business owner. For my personal life, at times it almost takes more work but I try every day to give more than I receive.

What are you giving to your relationships?

I am excited to announce that I will be teaching the ART-366 at Montana State University for the Spring ’10 semester. The class covers teaching web design to future graphic designers. It is a great honor and I am deeply humbled at the opportunity to teach at my alma mater.

Thanks to all the people in our lives this year. We truly appreciate all the friendships we have made and the ones we have continued to enjoy. We are truly thankful.

Sitting in a coffee shop in Billings, Montana, as my Dad got out of a 13 hour heart surgery late last night. Snow has blanketed most of Montana, including 20 inches at my house in Bozeman where my pregnant wife of 5 months sits at home. Luckily she does not have to go anywhere.

As last night’s winter covered the state, I posted a message to my Facebook page asking if any ‘super good friends’ wanted to help my ‘prego’ wife shovel our walk. When I got a response from an unlikely source. One of my clients offered to come over with his 8 year old son. A truly amazing, selfless offer from someone who I know primarily on a business level. My mind is racing with thoughts. This is the type of client I want to work with. These are the people and businesses I want to bend over backwards for. These are the people I want to get to know on a personal level. This is the type of customer service that people are looking for. If he is willing to help out one of his vendors, I can only imagine the type of good work this person does for the customers he serves. This certainly sets a higher bar for me in my relationships and serving the greater good. In my opinion, these core values are what makes a person/business a success. It may be a pre-emptive Thanksgiving message but I am truly greatful and blessed for all the amazing clients and partners I have worked with this year.

What are you doing to improve your customer relationships? What are you doing to improve your relationship with the people that serve you?

Okay so I admit I was a slacker yesterday. We received 6-8 inches of snow and it just finally stopped. I am going to get back on the wagon this afternoon and this weekend