Hijacking Music taking 10+ artists to Austin for SXSW

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That’s right, we at Hijacking Music have put together an Atlanta Music showcase at this years South By South West event down in Austin Texas.

I am not going to lie, this is HUGE for us.  I’ve never been to Austin and can’t wait to see what SXSW is all about.

We’ve picked a line up that includes some of ATL’s finest performers to represent our city and let people know it’s time to stop sleeping on Atlanta.

PAY ATTENTION WORLD, Atlanta is bubbling with a crazy amount of talent and is ready to explode.

Hopefully, someone on this list will walk away from this SXSW experience with a situation…a good situation.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

Stay tuned, I’ll be post more information here, as well as keeping a live photo feed streaming through my blog and the HJM site during the event.

Moving WordPress from Godaddy to WP Engine in under 5 Minutes

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Earlier today I had to make my bi-weekly call to Slowdaddy reporting that my websites were all unresponsive…In the age of fiber optics and 50mb download speeds, I can not deal with slow websites, especially my own.

It’s been a long time coming, so I decided to go ahead and move my personal site over to my WP Engine Account.

WP Engine is a WordPress exclusive hosting company. That means the ‘support’ channels will know exactly how to help you, and more importantly, their servers are going to be TWEAKED OUT!

I am ready for speed and really excited to start using their service. My traffic hardly requires the “supercharged” hosting they offer, but I plan to scale… :)

Moving WordPress sites from one host to another is something I do often enough, but this time I thought it would be a good idea to video document the steps for future converters.

It’s actually much easier than you would think.

What Are The Steps?

This article and video assume that you have access to a Godaddy account and a WP Engine account with a working WordPress installation on both.

  • Download /wp-content folder from Godaddy
  • Export Database from Godaddy
  • Import Database to WP Engine
  • Upload /wp-content folder to WP Engine
  • Point domain name to WP Engine

What is “/wp-content” ?

This is where WordPress stores your Theme and Plugin files, as well as any content you upload through the dashboard. You do not really need to download any other WordPress files.

You’ll need an FTP application and know how to ftp files, as well as the login credentials for your hosting account.

Download it from Godaddy and then upload that folder to your WP Engine account.

Note: WP Engine requires you to use SFTP for security reasons, any FTP application should be able to handle this.

Exporting and Importing the Database

Both Godaddy and WP Engine use phpmyadmin, which is an easy to use browser administration area for your database.

This software makes it easy for us to download a copy of our entire database, and then upload that to our new database.

Export your database from Godaddy, and then Import that file to WP Engine.

You can access your WP Engine administration area at http://my.wpengine.com.

The username and password for database access to your Godaddy site can be found in the wp-config.php file being hosted by Godaddy.

Point Your Domain To WP Engine

I followed the simple instructions laid out on the FAQ at WP Engines site for “how do I update my DNS“.

You need to ‘park’ your domain at Godaddy, which means your DNS settings will be at Godaddy but your hosting can be anywhere else.

Then you’ll need to update the A record for that domain. The change you’ll make is an IP address that you can copy/paste from inside your WordPress dashboard at WP Engine.

In the top left of the dashboard, you should see a tab for WP Engine, click this to retrieve your IP address.

After you make that change, all you have to do now is wait.

Misc notes:

You may need to change the WordPress URL and Site URL in your WordPress settings. It should have copied over when you imported your database, but in the event that it did not, you can simple make the change yourself.

You’ll find this at the Dashboard level under Settings / General.

Site URL and WordPress URL should be your domain name and not username.wpengine.com.

Note: This is only AFTER you’ve made the A record change at Godaddy.

Thanks For Reading

I hope this helps. If you have any problems during the course of your move, contact the WP Engine support team. They are awesome.

PS. Use the ticketing system by email before you call. They are very responsive.

Do not have a WP Engine account? Click here to get one today.

Updated My Website, New WordPress Child Theme for Twenty Eleven

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Before and AfterSince WordCamp Atlanta 2012 I’ve had the itch to create a new theme for this website.

A direct comment about my last theme choice from Mr. Mullenweg might have been that itch… either way it was way paste due and I am looking forward to this update.

I’ve been wanting to create a sleek child theme that I could offer for other people to download and use.

On that note, this weekend I decided to take the plunge, and as you can see, have made some progress. Here is a quick overview.

What Do I Need And Want?

Minimalist Clean Theme

A super clean theme with minimal distraction from content. This is good for me because I would like readers to focus on my content.

Graphics do make websites look great, but as I am not a designer, nor are most people downloading and using free themes, I don’t have that option.

What I can do though is post pictures in my content that look great, which will make my site look great, on this slick white background.

Feature Box on Home Page

Add a custom widget area at the top of the home page to be used as a Feature Box.

Instead of hard coding this content into a custom template, I wanted it to be dynamic so that I could make changes easily. Using the Title and the Body of a standard Text Widget gives me great flexibility.

Sidebars on all POSTS

Twenty Eleven does not have sidebars on POSTS by default. This is in an effort to showcase the content and be less distracting.

I want my sidebars!!

Sidebar Width

Something else Twenty Eleven could change by default is the sidebar width. They allow a tiny area where everything gets smooshed. There is plenty of padding and margin available for content, so I am going to use it.

Share Buttons

I am not a big fan of the ‘share on ALL SITES buttons’ plugins that are available. I only want to make it easy to share my content for the main social networks at this time.

Automatic Facebook Preview Image

When sharing a link on Facebook, it will try to offer a preview image based on the images it finds on your site.  We have a way to specify what that images is in our header data.

To make it really easy, I want to specify the image in this order

Use Featured Image, else use First Image, else use Default Image.

Why a Twenty Eleven Child Theme?

The main reason I am all for Twenty Eleven is the responsive design. Easily allowing any platform to view my website and my content is a must…and I do not want to design two websites(browser and mobile).

I’ve not yet, but would like to start using the new Post Formats.  As these are already built in, I will have to do minimal customization to get started using them.

The Twenty Eleven theme comes default with all WordPress installations which means there is no need to purchase a premium theme framework. Everyone will be able to use this theme right away.

In keeping with the mantra of work smarter not harder, I would like to continue utilizing the built in WordPress functionality. Things like menus, header image, link and page background color, galleries, etc.

Most of what I want is already available in the default theme, but I want to customize that and make it my own unique website.

What Have I Done So Far

I’ve done a good bit so far and my ‘child theme’ has 7 files now. My main objective was to strip away as much of what I did not need as possible, then start adding.

Starting with the CSS changes, I minimized graphics and maximized my use of space. Then started working on adding the functionality I needed. Adding the widgets was a breeze and I already had the code for some of the other functions.

CSS styling affected the following:

  • content and sidebar width
  • padding and margins
  • sidebar titles
  • navigation bar
  • post comment bubble

Added functions to do the following:

  • sidebars on all POSTS by default
  • Widget area in place of Search form field
  • Widget area for Custom Message on home page
  • specify first image in content is Facebook preview thumbnail

The share buttons were easy using the Sharing part of Jet Pack, which let’s me use plugins hosted by WordPress.com.

The real fun part was getting everything set up so that my website automatically sent a link out to Twitter and Facebook ONLY when the post was ‘published’ from my phone…which is why the auto generation of the Facebook preview thumbnail is important.

Now, that is all automated and I’ll be shoot more pics and videos to this site where you’ll see them in your social media streams first.

So What’s Next?

Over the next few weeks I will be tweaking this theme to my liking. Once most of the kinks are worked out, I plan to release it for free download.

Most of the remaining tasks are styling. As I need functionality I will add it, but do not want to bloat this child theme. I want to facilitate the bare minimum for showcasing great content and converting readers.

Before I do release this, I want to make sure that it is easy for someone other than myself to understand and work with.

Keep your eyes peals and let me know if you have any suggestions. :)

Increasing Productivity By Clearing Out The Fluff

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For the past year or more I have been clearing out things I do not need from all aspects of my life.

I guess you would say it’s a lifestyle?

When I moved around this time last year, I knew I didn’t want to take ALL the ‘stuff’ I had with me for multiple reasons. Sold of some of it, trashed some of it, and even after we moved, continued to get rid of things I no longer needed.

What I have now is a very lean ‘stuff’ inventory, and more space in my mind and my physical location to think and get things done.

I’ve been applying this same mind set to my ventures, here’s how.

Fixing The Hijacking Music Identity Crisis

At the turn of the year, we as Hijacking Music had been going through an identity crisis.

Up to this point, we have been a collective of musicians and friends helping each other out with the resources that we have.

Between all the members of all the bands, there are some pretty serious skill sets. These skill sets could allow us to do all kinds of things.

Our intention is to monetize this ‘collective’ somehow, but without a true focus, it had been proving to be difficult.

Without knowing what we were, how could we do it better? We needed to find out and make a decision so that we could stick to it and see more growth faster.

It took us about a month and a half but we did it, ready to know how?

Find Out What Works

I am not exactly sure which book or blog or person set me up for this, but what I wanted to find out was the following:

  • What have we done as Hijacking Music? List EVERYTHING.
  • Of that, what were the most successful?
  • What were the biggest failures?
  • List any possible business ideas based on our resources.

By doing this, we were able to take a high level look at all the things we as Hijacking Music accomplished over the several years we’ve been working together. This really opened our eyes to how spread out we were.

Looking over our successes, we started to notice a pattern. This was very important.

Also, finding out what our biggest failures were let us know two things.

1. If say, one part of something failed that we found on the Success list, we knew we needed to fix that.

2. If something failed completely, we know not to do that every again.

Lastly, listing out all the business ideas we had based on the resources available to us gave us a look at what we are not.

What We Are Not

Digging this far down to find out what we are not, eventually gave us a much greater vision of what we are and what we should be focusing on.

We are not a record label, a recording studio, a music school, a venue, a booking company, graphic designers, web developers, and SO MUCH MORE.

Knowing this allows me to immediately toss out the idea of working with someone in those capacities. This does not mean I can not point them in the right direction, it just means that if Hijacking Music is approached in such a fashion, we can say no.

By saying no, we are able to say yes more to the things we are good at and do well.

What We Are

What we are is a promotion company. We find talent, put together events, and promote them in an effort to showcase the talent.

In order to continually give back and help grow our community around that, we also act as a resource for DIY musicians.

If someone comes to me and asks “Can you teach me how to play this instrument?”, I can say “NOPE!….but, I know a bunch of people who can, here’s their contact info”.

Pass it right through, and not think about it again.

How Does This Help?

We’ve stripped away all thoughts and wasted energy on the things that we are not. As more distractions come at us each and every day, we are now fully equipped with the knowledge of what we are, what we should turn down, and what we should take on.

Being able to spend that extra energy thinking about how to do what we do better, instead of how to build something additional to become all encompassing, will help us see growth faster.

The Wrap Up

I fully intend to continue ‘clearing out the fluff’ in every thing that I do in an effort to become more efficient as well as spend more time focusing on the things I enjoy and am good at.

I encourage you to take a look at things in your own life that you can start to remove, giving you a clearer picture of how to increase your success rates at whatever it is you do.

If you enjoyed this, share it!

Online Marketing for Restaurants

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EDIT: We’ve given the business a name. We call it Foodrunner.

END EDIT

Most of you know my efforts in the world wide web have mostly been focusing on WordPress website development and Search Engine Optimization.

You might not have known that I’ve also spent years studying, learning, and growing my skill sets as a social media marketer for some of the businesses I work with.

As of Jan 1 2012, I’ve been doing online marketing for restaurants.

This is a new business venture I’ve decided to move towards that is more of a marketing effort than development.

Here’s the scoop (you like how I used a word from the food realm as a describer? That’s how serious this is).

Who:

Restaurants in Atlanta that have good product. Food is #1, if the food is foul, I can’t help. If the entire experience that the restaurant offers is excellent, yet their online presence is weak, that’s who we want to help.

Buzz worthy restaurants that do not have the time or knowledge to handle their online marketing efforts.

What:

Our main tasks for online marketing is in the form of social media management, engagement, and strategy.

To back up this process we have experience with email marketing, website development, blog posting, and content creation.

Where:

Starting in Atlanta, we want to build our clientele where we can actual visit the restaurant and talk face to face. Being able to visit the restaurant and interact will allow us to learn more up front that we’ll be able to use later.

We want to build up our systems that WORK in order to scale outside of this area in the future. For now, we have to continue learning, refine our systems and processes, and help those directly around us.

When:

Last year I dabbled in social media management for several companies, but let that go to focus on WordPress development. At the turn of this year, 2012, I made a conscious decision to go down the path of this business idea.

In the first month, I was able to bring 3 restaurant clients on board, places you have probably heard of.

During the same time, I’ve found two potential partners who are already in this space and ready to go big with me.

3 smart, talented, creative people who LOVE FOOD, marketing, and possibly working on YOUR restaurant… you would want that right?

Why:

I LOVE FOOD, I need to continue paying my bills, and I have knowledge that can help restaurants get more people in the door.

Around December last year, most of my development business slowed WAY down. No one was spending money in December and waiting for new marketing budgets in January.

This gave me time to thing and review what worked and what did not from the last year of business. During my review, I saw that the place I was able to help the most, that also gave me a residual income stream, was social media management.

Just about any business can utilize social media and online marketing to increase their business, but I am not passionate about most businesses.

The things I AM passionate about are music, food, and community. Funny thing is they all revolve around each other and if I play my cards right, I’ll be focusing on those things and all the other fluff will be outside my peripheral view.

So What’s Next?

Over the next several months you’ll be learning more about the business we are building, the clients we are working, and the fun we are having doing it, so stay tuned.

While we gather clients and figure out how to make this work, we’ll be a bit underground as a scrappy start up. In the near future we’ll be launching a website with our portfolio, resources, and more information.

If you are or know a restaurant that serves up the BEST food and atmosphere, but could use some help with their online presence, contact me and shoot me some info, I’ll take care of them.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

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The other night, our neighbor came by to let us know we were playing music way too loud for a week night.

We certainly were stretching our limits, I believe it was about 9:30pm.

As a way to apologize for keeping them and their babies awake, we wanted to bake them some cookies.

This morning, I whipped together what could possibly be the BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made.

Since I am such a nice fellow, and because I want to keep building my online cook book, I am hooking YOU up with the receipe.

You’ll notice, this is very similar to my Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe.

Ingredients

2 egg
1 cup or 2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flower
2 cups chocolate chips, I prefer Nestle Milk Chocolate Morsels

Steps

Before we get to the dry ingredients, let’s mix up the wets and the sugar.

In a large bowl, mix up eggs, sugar, vanilla, and butter(it helps to soften the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds).

After you have that blended up nicely, add the remaining dry ingredients flour, baking soda, baking powder.

Now for the icing on the cake…well, in the..cookies.

Add the chocolate chips! Mix it up!

We are ready to bake.

1. Set your over to BAKE at 350 degrees
2. Use foil on top of your pan, or spray some oil or button the pans. This will keep your cookies from sticking and or burning
3. Use a spoon to create little balls of cookie dough on your pan. Leave space between for them to expand.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, keep an eye on them.

If you can stand it, let them cool, if you can’t dig in right out of the oven :)

Got comments? Hit me up!

Why My Dog is Good For My Business

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In 2010, on my birthday, my roommate woke me up and said “there is a puppy on the deck”.

Bewildered, I arose and we investigated.

This fool, aka Major Tom, was TINY, up on the deck, and scared to come down the steps.

We brought him down and played with him some. He had a collar so we figured he had an owner that would be looking for him.

As we had plans for a party this same day, we let him hang in the hopes that his owner would come looking.

Never happened, he stuck around for a few weeks as we put up some flyers and hit up the local vets. Eventually, after he was quickly house trained and learned a bunch of tricks, I decided to keep him around.

While he can be crazy as hell sometimes, and definitely requires regular attention, he’s actually helped me in many ways.

Time To Wake Up

The first thing that he helps me with in my business life is waking up on time to actually get anything done during the day. LOTS to do so need to maximize the hours I am awake.

Given the opportunity, I would like to lay in bed and catch up on rest just about every morning. My alarm is set for ‘early’, but my body does not always agree and my hand tends to hit the ‘snooze’ button real fast.

Major Tom does not agree. When the sun is up, it’s time to go potty. When my hand hangs just a little bit over the side of the bed, I’ll occasionally feel a gross dog tongue on my hand.

More often than not though, Major Tom will start batting at my hand with his paw. He’ll do a high squeaky yawn, and sometimes if I take TOO long, he’ll start to bark.

This is pretty much how and why I’ve woken up every day for the past two years that Major Tom has been around.

Regular Routine and Scheduling

As a entrepreneur, it is important that I keep a routine and be sure to schedule out my time to make the most of it.

Major Tom is a responsibility I have chosen to take on and to be sure he is taken care of, I’ve got to schedule in time for him as well.

Keeping this regular routine helps stay focused and actually get things done.

The routine, at least as far as Tom is concerned, usually looks like this.

  • Wake up
  • Go outside for potty
  • Throw a stick or ball to take the edge off before the walk
  • Come inside, he runs to the leash and harness, and we get set up to walk
  • We walk
  • Upon returning he gets a treat and fresh water
  • Bret eats breakfast and gets to work
  • After lunch, potty break, Tom gets fed

This is just one aspect of my day that is in a regular routine. By setting this routine up and sticking to it, I have honed it into a process that is now very efficient time wise.

I apply this same idea to much of the regular work that I must take care of.

Exercise In The AM

Like most, when I awake I feel groggy. My eyes are heavy, puffy, and full of crust. My nose is stopped up and needs to be voided.

I generally feel like falling back into the bed and sleeping till I no longer feel this way…that is, until I get my blood flowing.

While most people turn to coffee in the morning, I can’t do that. If I have coffee in the morning, I crash by lunch, and spend the rest of the day being a miserable irritable person…no one wants that.

Instead, the morning walk with my dog gets my body moving, blood flowing, metabolism kick started, and brain activated.

Match this up with a nice breakfast and I am just about unstoppable.

Even if you do not have a dog, I recommend a 10-20 minute walk or run when you wake up. Just make yourself do it, your body will follow your lead.

Making Sales

Believe it or not, Major Tom has been the source of new jobs for me in the past.

Here is an example of how having a dog, and using social media, has landed me work.

You might have seen I like to randomly post pictures of things that are going on to this blog. Sometimes that might be Major Tom.

There was an instance where Tom was LAID OUT on his pillow next to my office desk. I snapped a quick photo and posted it to the site with a title of “My New Office Assistant”.

The link shot to facebook and twitter automatically, driving traffic back to my site.

Shortly after I received a message to this effect…

Saw your super cute dog on your blog. I see you build websites, my boss really needs a new site for the business maybe you can help?

See what happened there? I posted a picture of my dog to my blog, completely unrelated to web development, and because I make it clear that I build websites, someone in my network saw it and contacted me about a job.

Who would have thought? This has happened on several occasions for similar things….(note: post more pictures of Tom)

Should You Get One Too?

Dogs are cute, they are fun, they bring the laughs, warmth, and a bunch of other good things.

They can also be a huge pain in the ass when not trained properly.

Over the two plus years I’ve been taking care of Major Tom, we’ve spent many hours in training. Both at home and going to dog school…and he’s STILL crazy.

I do not recommend everyone get an animal because I know many people are just not cut out for it.

With that said, if you have a big heart and are responsible enough to take care of another living creature, owning a dog or any pet for that matter can bring you much joy and help keep you on track.

Hit me up on Facebook or Twitter and tell me about your pets.