Today is a big day, a day I’ve been waiting a long time for.  If you’ve been following me for any extended period of time, some of this may not surprise you, but some of what I’m writing is brand new information.

In early November 2009, I wrote about my decision to go full-time as a freelance designer and developer.  Just before the holidays (December 22nd, 2009 to be exact), I quit my job at Starbucks and started preparing for the new year.  I had a lot to do, and am still, into the new year, getting things ready and lined up for the rest of the year.

But with that being said, as of today, January 1st, 2010, my design and development company, Bishop Creative LLC is official. I’m armed with a MacBook, Wacom tablet and ready to take on the world.  I have so much planned, and have so many goals for the future.  At this point, I don’t feel like there’s anything I can’t accomplish in the design and development world.  I’m not really sure what the future will bring, but I can guarantee that I’ll do everything I can to keep learning and growing as a designer.

Freelancing

I will still be operating and branded as myself, Thomas Bishop – Freelance Creative Design & Development, and will offer the same great design and development services I’ve offered over the past nearly 2 years, but I will now be available full time, so I’ll be able to focus 100% of my time to building websites and designing whatever it is that comes across my path.

Other Projects

In addition to my freelancing services, I am also involved in on-going projects like Flipicz, which is a Facebook application I built with my partner Simeon Dorsey, currently in Beta and will be fully-launched early in 2010, and StageBloc, a great new platform for bands, artists, labels and basically everyone in the music industry!

My vision for the next year is to build even more of a solid client base, developing great connections with all of my clients and growing as a designer, developer and business man.

I’m going to eventually partner with a fellow developer and form a small boutique agency, which I will have more information on as we start planning.

The Future

I couldn’t be more excited about my future than I am right now, as I venture out on my own into the business world.  I’m extremely lucky to have all the love and support I have from my girlfriend Nicholle, family, friends, loved ones and clients. I have a great feeling about the coming months and remain motivated and passionate about design.  So, with all of that being said, here’s to the new year!  Here’s to a successful year and one full of memories, relationships and growth.  Best of luck to all of you in all of your endeavors!

So the time has finally come where we can say we have officially launched Flipicz to the world! As of about 10pm eastern time last night (Friday the 13th of November), we pushed the website to a completely live environment! We were both on the road the night of launch, however were able to set it free to the wild without hitch thanks to the all-wonderful technology we are lucky enough to have access to.

We want to take the time to thank all of our private Beta testers. We are extremely grateful for all of those who helped us test, find and squash some bugs that we wouldn’t otherwise have found. Although we are fully-launched, we realize that websites and applications are never complete. The best websites around adapt to the times and adjust to fit the best mold of what the application can be. As a Facebook application, we also have that element to keep an eye on. Because Facebook is one of the most dynamic websites around, their system is changing continuously and will affect some aspects of our application, so if you find anything weird, please submit it as a bug, and we will be on it as quickly as possible.

Upcoming Features

As we roll out the site, we are adding a couple new features that make the Application even more fun to play with. A couple of these features include:

• Friend Tagging: tag your friends so they can start using Flipicz too, making sharing your photos super simple.
• Music Player/Auto-sync: you can choose from a list of recommended songs, which when selected make your Flipicz dance to the beat of the music.
• Enhanced Search: you’ll be able to choose what categories of the site you’d like to search.

That is all…Now go play!

“A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence.”

Making the Leap

When Ivory decided to part ways about 2 years ago, I was forced to buckle down and find a “real” job.  I was very lucky to find a job at Starbucks, who really take great care of their employees, especially for how gigantic their company is.  I have had the pleasure of working with and meeting some of the most honest, hardworking people I know (most of which became friends of mine).  Although I love my job and the people at Starbucks and very much appreciate how well I am taken care of, I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like my design and development skills are being hindered by the time I spend not focusing on being creative.

I’ve spent the last 6 months pondering what it would take for me to go into business on my own, waiting for the perfect opportunity or the perfect scenario, and everyone knows the “perfect” scenario just doesn’t usually happen like one would hope.

With that being said, I’ve decided I’m going to finally take the big jump into full-time self-employment.  Instead of waiting around for the perfect opportunity and waiting for work to come to me, I’m going to spend my days going after opportunities and determining my own success.

As of Friday, January 1st, 2010, I will be on my own, designing full-time out of my office.  It makes me so happy to be at the point where I’m confident enough to put my skills on the line and go for it.

If you know me, you know I have a huge appreciation for design and art.  I have spent almost all of my free time over the last two years dedicated to learning as much as I can about it and in the back of my mind, I’ve always been hopeful that I would be able to someday be my own boss, designing all day every day.  It’s the best feeling ever knowing that day is fast-approaching.

Wish me luck…Here goes nothing!

We will be sending out invitations for those who are interested in testing out Flipicz Beta tomorrow, Friday, October 30th. We are looking for people to test Flipicz privately before we launch to the general public later in November, so if you’re interested in getting a sneak peak before the general public gets to see it, or helping us test and get all of the bugs out, please leave a comment or send us an e-mail at flipicz[at]gmail.com and provide your First Name, Last Name and E-mail address so we can send you an invitation!

Flipicz is an addictive photo-sharing web application built for Facebook. It empowers users to connect directly to their Facebook account with one single-click and create interactive photo pairings, called Flipicz.

We will be launching as a Beta because we will still be working out some of the kinks, however it will be fully-functional and ready for public viewing by release by the 13th of November.  We will be sending out invitations for a Private Beta testing on Friday, October 30th, so if you’d like to get an early look at the App, please leave a comment or e-mail us.  If you’ve been lucky enough to get a preview of the App already, please let us know what you thought of it and what features or fixes you’d like to see!

Flipicz

Flipicz is something I’m very, very excited about. A few months back, a good friend of mine, Simeon Dorsey told me about this idea he had for a Facebook application, and asked if I’d want to partner up and handle all design and front-end development. Given his past success with Facebook apps, I was more than happy to give it a shot and see where it took us.  Flipicz is about halfway through the development phase, so I can’t reveal much, but simply put, it will be an addictive way to share your photos with the world and your Facebook friends. Even Sim and I have to hold ourselves back from playing around with the Flipicz, and that’s a good sign that it might catch on.

We should be releasing the Beta version sometime in November 2009, and the full-featured version shortly after that, so keep an eye out!

StageBloc

Over the past couple months, I’ve begun work at a great new company called StageBloc, Inc.. I am lucky enough to be a part of the early stages of the company, in which I can lend my skills to help the company grow. StageBloc has built a complete internet platform for the music industry (naturally called “The StageBloc System“) which allows bands/managers/labels/etc to develop, integrate, and maintain their entire online presence from one central location. This is a really exciting product that I think will take the music industry by storm, making it extremely easy for bands to control everything they need to from one place.

Clients will be able to update their own websites with such content as Shows, Journal/Blog, Music/Video Playlists, Fan Sites, Social Networking Status (and much more) from one place, and then watch it automatically sync that information across all of their associated sites. Artists will no longer have to log into 7 different Social Networking sites, just to copy and paste a status update, a blog or even worse a long list of shows! Artists will also have powerful filtering/search of all content and data which provides advanced control over all their information. The possibilities with StageBloc are endless.

With all of that being said, StageBloc also offers custom Web Design and Development services such as Websites, Myspace Layouts, etc. Our in-house team is able to tackle any challenge that arises. Our first design & development client is Smartpunk.com, which just recently launched.

StageBloc officially launches October 5th, 2009.

And finally…

On top of all that, I also work part-time at Starbucks and doing some freelancing, as well as working on some WordPress themes…So as you can see, I’ve been keeping busy.  There is also a job I am hoping to get.  I can’t say much about it, but IF I do get this job, I will be working full-time as a designer and will be able to travel, get more creative and live life a little more comfortably.  Like I said, I can’t say much, but I’m crossing my fingers.  You will hear a lot more about this if I get the job.

But I’ve come to offer you a hand, in the form of some friendly advice from another creative professional who has been in that position more than enough times.  My hope is that at least one of these steps will work for you and get your creative juices flowing, so you can continue on with your day productively.

Step 1: Get out while you can!

The second you start sensing a creative block coming on, my advice to you (if possible) is to get the hell out of your office!  Because I work from my home office, this usually means getting out of the apartment and either going for a run (personal favorite, gets ideas flowing 99% of the time), getting some fresh air, taking a shower, or even just getting up and walking around for a bit.  The point is to do anything that lets you relax for a moment and get your mind off of what you’re doing, even for just a few minutes.  This might feel like you’re wasting time, but in actuality getting mad and spinning your wheels is doing nothing but wasting time.  Another good idea is to get a snack and/or some sort of drink to re-fuel and re-energize.

Step 2: No pressure

After you’ve relaxed and re-fueled, it’s time to get focused.  Even if you’re on a tight deadline and need to wrap your project up by yesterday, worrying and putting pressure on yourself isn’t going to get it done any faster.  Just relax and remember, you’re in the driver’s seat.

Step 3: Stay organized and comfortable

Chances are you’re hitting your creative blocks mid-project, but it’s never too late to get organized and keep things simple.  After I’ve made my way through the first two steps, I usually like to clean my workspace and get comfortable.  Even if you’re not aware of it, desk-clutter can surely translate directly to mind-clutter.  Getting your tools together, cleaning up your files, papers, and even changing into comfortable attire can really make a difference when you’re having a hard time getting into a flow.

Step 4: Build on simplicity, don’t get a head of yourself

Regardless of where you are in your project, I’ve found keeping things simple as possible is always a good habit to get into.  Keeping things simple throughout a project can really help the flow of a project, because you don’t seem to get caught up on ideas as often.  You will notice if you are keeping things simplistic, you’ll have more ideas in the end and you’ll have a better plan of attack.

Step 5: Don’t get too creative

That might sound a little weird to you, but getting too creative is another big contributor to creative block.  Our creativity will naturally blossom with experience, and although it is smart to push ourselves, it’s not always good to expand yourself too far beyond your boundaries.  Similar to Step 4, the idea behind not getting too creative is to do what you know how to do and do it well.  There will be time to learn new things and expand even more, but when you’re going through a creative block is not the time to push yourself too far.  This is also an easy time to start panicking and looking around for inspiration, but I recommend not going down that road, because when you’re not in a creative mindset, that just adds to the feeling of being lost and idea-less.

Step 6: Get feedback

If you’re still not feeling the creative vibes, it’s best to bounce ideas off of your friends, family or best of all, other Freelancers or artists.  This can really help get an outside perspective on the project and gives you ideas that you would’ve never thought about.  You have to be careful not to rip off other’s ideas if they aren’t yours, but it usually sprouts new ideas of your own and allows you to visualize a new approach to the project.

In conclusion

If these steps haven’t worked for you, I would then recommend to try Step 1 (“Get out while you can!”) again.  The main focus on killing creative block is to take a big step back, relax and then figure out your plan of attack.  Obviously this is my own pattern that I follow when I sense an oncoming block, but I’m confident this will work for just about any other creative professional battling with block.

With that being said, I decided after about 6 months of having that site online that I desperately needed to re-design, re-brand and re-organize.  I spent a good deal of time studying websites I loved and why I loved them.  I then went through about 10 ideas and 1000 sketches before even jumping into the project, which was extremely helpful in the long run.  I hadn’t handled it that way with the previous design, and it ended up pretty chaotic.

With this design I also opted to go almost 100% CMS.  This means just about every aspect of my site is controlled by a CMS (Content Management System), which I was able to create with the help of a great WordPress plugin called Flutter, which allows you to create custom write panels and makes just about anything possible as far as making a basic CMS in the WordPress environment.  Setting up the site and the system it runs on took a good amount of time, but later on when I’m in full swing, it will be saving me a lot of time, because I won’t have to hand-code anything at all.  If you’re new to the world of CMS, you know how much of a relief this can be to finally figure it out.

Shifting to the design of the site, my number one hope for this site was that it would be very clean, organized and content-driven.  I also wanted it to be a little darker, sleeker and have good use of subtle lighting effects, all of which I feel I’ve accomplished here.  I know I’ll eventually hate this design, because that’s just how it goes.  It has always been that way, whether I’m playing music or designing websites; the “old stuff” is never as good as the “new stuff”.  But for now, I’m very happy with how this design turned out.

Feel free to take a look around, drop a comment or Contact Me to say “hi”.  If you would like to follow what I’ve got going on, feel free to Subscribe to the RSS Feeds or Download My Dashboard Widget (Mac)!  Also, if you like any of my blog entries, please share them with the world by clicking the Share This Post banner at the bottom of each post!