LaMae Archives

Road Trip – Hello Festival Mozaic

Since Covid, our desire to visit clients has increased and last week, we had the opportunity to head up the coast to visit Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo County! Although mid-festival and a flurry of activities, we had the opportunity to chat with the team and see a breathtaking performance. As you can see, I took the opportunity to pose with David George – General Manager.

It was a delight to meet the team as they prepared for an event! What a pleasant, helpful and fun group. I also took advantage of the SWAG table as well (a few shirts, wine tumbler and, of course, a tote bag).

To our good fortune, we were able to attend a concert by Brian Stokes Mitchell. Wow!!! I was awestruck. If you aren’t familiar with his Broadway history and 2 Tony awards, you may remember this – it’s a quick but great watch:

I can’t sign off without telling you a bit about Dream Warrior Group’s work with Festival Mozaic. The Festival’s website is on our premiere Arts product ARTdynamix® – a content management system with unique features designed for the arts. In addition, Festival Mozaic added a private area for ease of information distribution to their BOD.

Thanks Festival Mozaic for the beauty you bring to the world — and allowing us help, even just a little.

~LaMae

Communities: Ukraine

We all are part of various communities — clubs, family, neighborhoods and work. Sometimes communities are social, purposeful, or just because there is a commonality — sometimes we help – sometimes we ask for help.

Right now one of our communities, technology experts from Ukraine, is in circumstances I can’t fully fathom but I know we should do what we can to help. I think of all the developers and IT specialists who are unable to work right now as they are protecting their lives — but I also imagine they are wondering what will happen to their job. The other side of this equation is the challenge this must be causing for those companies that are struggling to maintain their work, create new projects and serve their customers.

Here’s how we will help with the goal of helping Ukrainian developers be able to return to their work.

When we agree to take on a job from those in a war torn region, we ask that they return the work back to original techs once they are able to do so. We also be proactive with the technologists pass back the work the moment they are ready. In this way we act as a project caretaker and not a project taker.

If you need assistance whether technologist or client, let us know how we can help during this distressing time. Let me know how we can help: [email protected]

To my technology friends and competitors: please think about jumping in to do the same. Not so that we can gain work but so that we can help our communities displaced by war.

~LaMae

Breaking up or Together Forever?

I (LaMae) have probably advised you on vendors, set-ups or other miscellaneous curiosities. I’m always happy to chat and advocate for you.

One of the things we talk about most often is how to determine vendors and whether to use a vendor with packaged services or purchase the services individually. My answer still remains -keep them separate. But when you consider how to make that decision, think about control, integration, and cost. I’ll offer some examples that may help.

Credit Card Processing: As you know, you will need a Merchant Account, a Gateway, Bank Account, and a form/cart/shopping tool. You have the option to use an integrated service such as Stripe and quickly add your bank account and that can work great. Or you can put things together on your own, work a bit more upfront and pay less over time. I have selected our gateway provider and merchant processor separately and then linked them together. Why? So if one doesn’t work out, I can quickly find a replacement to connect in and I have not lost a minute. If I purchase everything together, I feel a bit at the other’s mercy. If an all-in processor turns out not to work as expected, you have to start all over.

Domains: Always own and keep access to your own domain — end of the story. (I’ve spent hours and hours helping folks untangle domain ownership)

So with these examples in mind, here are my general guidelines

Make sure control is key — you should own what is yours and have an understanding of what an exit path may be.
How much work is it to change…both from figuring it out and the actual changes needed.
Read reviews
Ask an expert

And for the cost decision — that will probably become clear when you review the above items. Technology is becoming more flexible, interchangeable, and cost-effective.

Compare apples to apples and do your homework.

How can we help? E-commerce? Virtual Interaction? Questions?

Now is not the time to profit – so please know in advance that our consultations will be free and our pricing will be at sustainable rates for our team.

DWG understands how dramatically your business/life/business-life have changed in the last few weeks and perhaps, minute-by-minute. Perhaps we can help….24/7.

Do you need online access to your business such as selling products online, updating your clients, hosting your digital messages? DWG will brainstorm and implement promptly. We stand ready to be your digital support whether you are a long-time client or someone with a new need. Let’s talk.

Phone: 818.610.3316
Email: [email protected]
Top Software Companies in Los Angeles

LaMae and Nami

Ticketing – We are Switzerland

While that may be a bit of an exaggeration, it is how we approach the ticketing vendor options both within DWG and to our clients/potential clients. Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Very often, clients are in the midst of making a decision regarding a ticketing/development/CRM vendor. We are happy to consult and provide our expertise to help them make the correct choice.? But, there is no one size fits all answer.

First, we ask these questions:

What do you / don’t you like about your existing ticketing vendor?
Who are your internal constituents?? (marketing, box office, development, finance)
What must it have?
How do you price?
Cost considerations?
Do you have any specialty events/uses that are important?? (i.e. very complex CYO, donation add-on, products, integration with another system).

After that conversation and a some discussion, we can give you some ticketing vendors to consider.

In most cases, this is a discussion about features and functions.? However, there are ticketing vendors that we know provide great customer service and are open to working with us to meet customer needs….we will certainly pass along those impressions.? And, if we have a vendor that hasn’t played well with others, they probably won’t make it on our option list.

—–LaMae