PJRVS

I suppose birthdays are a time for reflection, so here is a list of 34 things I’ve learned in my 34 years of (semi) consciousness.

Phrases like “save the planet” or “save the environment” don’t make much sense. The planet and the environment were here long before us, and will continue to be here long after us in some form, regardless of what we do or how we shape it. The earth doesn’t need to be saved. what we really mean is that we want to save ourselves and keep the environment tolerable (and even suitable) for us to live in.

Something that’s come up a lot lately in my life is watching people “lose their shit” when something in their work life doesn’t go the way they hoped or thought it would. Whether it’s a boss/leader falling from grace for reasons of humanity or even just an industry changing focus due to consumer demand.

For those of you who don’t use the internet (I assume that can’t be many of my readers), you may not have heard of Instagram. It’s a social media photo sharing app for iPhones (and now android devices!) that lets you post pictures and like or comment on other people’s pictures with filters that make you look like a better photographer than you really are.

I just finished writing a book, Eat Awesome: a regular person’s guide to plant-based, whole foods. It includes practical pantry-stocking tips, kitchen-hacking tricks, and most importantly, over 30 nourishing recipes and meal ideas. No dogma, just deliciousness. Veganism is love, baby!

I’m sick of reading articles on why men should do yoga, since they invariably mention “it’s a great place to pick up women!”. Your intention shapes your practice, so if your intention is vapid philandering with the opposite (or even the same) sex — enlightenment is more than just a few peak poses away.

A lot of times people contact me for new web design/development work, and offer the potential of work down the road or multiple projects, in lieu of full payment. While I think it’s a great idea to work with the same client multiple times and develop a relationship – that’s how I enter every project, so this shouldn’t be factor in the price. At least half of my clients are “repeat offenders”, and I am extremely stoked to work with these amazing people more than once.

Since I am often very busy and booked fairly far in advance, I get the inevitable question “why don’t you hire more people?”. I’ve been asked this for 10+ years, and my answers have always stayed the same… I figured I’d share them here.

Chances are you’ve been there — a client (or potential client) asks you something that’s just not possible in terms of time or budget. Just yesterday I got an email asking me if I was able to do a project that I calculated out to be less than minimum wage in British Columbia if I took it on.

The first question I am invariably asked when someone wants to work with me is “what do you charge for websites?”. I unfortunately always need to answer with “it depends”. To avoid this initial volley with any web designer or web design company, here is a list of 6 key points you can prepare when you’re thinking about having your website designed (or redesigned).