My Pinewood Derby, Web Design & SEO Obsessions
Have you ever raced in the Pinewood Derby? If you grew up a Cub Scout, or are the parent of a Cub Scout, you know that the Pinewood Derby is an event where kids build a car from a kit…
Author: Mike Spakowski
The Adventures of Loaded Nachos & Fast-Casual Branding
I was on a new business call this summer, walking up and down my driveway, listening to what I thought was an inconceivable idea for the summer of 2020: someone wanted to open a new restaurant. Not just any restaurant,…
Hunting Sales, Farming Leads and Making it Rain
I was talking to a buddy of mine recently about a conversation he had with a business owner looking for a new sales person. This was a smaller company, around 15 people, and they were looking to hire a rainmaker.…
20 Great Audiobooks for Marketers, Entrepreneurs and Creative Professionals – Updated for 2024
As a father of 3 sons, I’m always concerned about time. Time to wake up, time for school, time for practice, time for dinner, time for your game, time for homework, time for bed. Squeezing everything that has to be…
Building an Iconic Brand for ClaimChoice
“I love that chair—I’ve always wanted one,” the voice said from the other end of the speaker phone in our conference room. “I just love modern design. It’s timeless—and that’s exactly the thing I want for our brand.” The chair…
Websites Are Back — How to Make Yours Work for You
“Listen, our website will never sell anything.” I tend to write about topics that I hear repeatedly from clients and prospects, and this one got me thinking this morning. “This isn’t like Amazon, where you can buy what we do…
Toilet Paper & Tacking: Lessons On Running a Small Business
I don’t have to tell anyone that COVID-19 has caused a hell of a tear in the business world. Companies are going through gut-wrenching times, and leaders are flying blind not knowing what is going to happen next—or how to…
The Boundaries of Problems
I was at the grocery store the other day, and they were out of bread—and hotdog buns, hamburger buns and anything bread-like. The shelves were barren. Our physical office is basically closed, with all of our agency’s team working remotely…
Designing Differently: A New Website for Lawrence Group
I didn’t always work at Atomicdust. Before we started the company 19 years ago, a couple of the founding partners and I worked at Lawrence Group, an architecture and design firm. I loved my time there, I learned a lot,…
Branding for Recess – Making Saturday Every Day
“Do you know what makes a city great? A little weirdness. We need to do something weird.” It’s an idea I heard from a colleague and good friend of mine when we were planning events for St. Louis Design Week…