Passion Matters
Understanding the passion of a dentist for his work was the key to creating the perfect web site for his practice.
by Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
Sometimes realizations strike you like a thunderbolt. As I was working
on a new web site design for a highly successful southern California
dentist, I was struck by his exceptionally strong passion and love for
what he does. The new design also came together so easily. When I asked
the Wise-Women list for feedback about the design, I was getting amazingly positive responses. I reflected on what was going on here. The magic ingredient was passion.
My client's passion added fuel to my own, and I was immediately
catapulted to an even higher energy level than usual designing his site.
This magic ingredient was being reflected in the client's web site.
I find that taking a genuine interest in what the client does makes a
gigantic difference in the overall web site development. Learning as much
as I can about a client's business, personal interests, likes, and
dreams provides tremendous insight, helping me narrow in on what the
client is really seeking for a web site. I also genuinely care about
people and have fun learning about different professions, small
businesses, companies, what individuals do, etc.
Once I learned about the unique qualities of my new dentist client I
thought of adding a Before & After Tour and a Press & Publicity page
because 1) he's done such exceptional work, 2) he is a highly recognized
expert, 3) he's been voted the #1 dentist in Santa Barbara for the past
4 years in a row by the local newspaper and another organization, and 5)
he wants to promote his cosmetic dentistry specialty more. He's truly
quite exceptional, and I wanted to bring these things out.
We also didn't know all these things about him until it finally came out
after quite a bit of email correspondence as I continued to ask him
about his practice (he's quite humble about it all!). So after we had
the site over half done, the content writer, search engine expert, and I
worked on how to best bring out his unique qualities as part of
advertising his dental practice.
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Learning as much
as I can about a client's business, personal interests, likes, and
dreams provides tremendous insight, helping me narrow in on what the
client is really seeking for a web site.
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He also bought the domain http://www.exceptional-smiles.com for his new
site, which to me represents his feelings about what he genuinely wishes
to accomplish. From what I've seen, he certainly accomplishes his goal
and then some, so I'm not at all surprised to see all the glowing
reviews and awards that he's received.
My impression is that passion in what we do is like adding sunshine,
water and healthy soil to a seed. The passion helps the seed turn into
something awesome and exceptional. Without passion it might still grow,
but it's not the same, either. Passion is one of the results of great
love for what we do and who we are. (Don't worry -- I won't get into my
philosophy of life here...)
A strong example to me is a famous musical artist. How boring it would
be if the performer sang with no expression and sang in a monotone!
It's an entirely different experience when the performer lives the
music, feels every word and nuance of the melody, and pours out
everything from his/her soul. The song comes to life, and the listener's
experience is catapulted to a different dimension right along with it.
It's been my observation that tremendous passion comes through, whether
as a musician, a web site developer, a dentist, an architect, an author,
a spouse, a mom or dad, a caregiver, a construction worker, whatever.
I instantly recognized the passion that my dentist client feels about
what he does, and I feel it's my job as his web site developer to reflect
his passion. So I really think that people's very kind comments about
this new web site are because of my own passion in designing an
appropriate site for a client who's also very passionate about what he
does (he's also such a nice person!).
Think for a moment about some of the people you've seen that are great
at what they do, whether they are famous or not. I think you'll probably find tremendous passion and love of whatever it is they do. I'd love to hear about what you do find and your observations - send me an email!
It's also a whole lot easier to do well at something we feel passionate
about and love doing. I've had jobs that felt like torture to go do each
day, and by experiencing that I understood the importance of getting up
each day and loving what I do. I can now honestly say that I genuinely
enjoy getting up each workday to do something I absolutely love doing
all day long. I don't even think of my business as "work" at all. That
word doesn't fit.
On this great discussion list are so many highly creative individuals
who are passionate about what you do, too. I know that's why so many of
us win awards, get some incredible news coverage and recognition, and
have many doors of opportunity open up to us.
Shirley Kaiser is the owner of SKDesigns, a web site design and development
business she started in 1996, specializing in website design and graphics, architecture, and team projects. In addition, she's a mother of two, and she has been a professional musician most of her life, with a master's degree in piano performance and literature, giving concerts and workshops. Her new CD "Journey Within" will be released soon.
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