Hi, my name is Sam! I’ve been a web designer and developer for the last ten years (1999). I’d like to welcome you to my website, I hope you’ve enjoyed your experience thus far, and I invite you to send me your feedback as I’m continually making improvements throughout the site. I’m a very open, easy going guy, any questions you might have, don’t hesitate to send them my way.
Like a lot of web guys from the late 90s, I got my start out of curiosity, and not really the intent to make money. The aspirations for money and what not eventually came around, but what got me to where I am now wasn’t about that, I really just thought the internet was something out of this world, something really cool that I felt privileged to experience.
Keep in mind I was like 15 years old at the time, this was still a few years before MySpace ever launched. I guess you could say that it was more like a hobby to me than anything else, and I think that’s what made me good at it. I was having all this fun, time flew by so quickly and before I knew it, I learned enough to get me a couple gigs.
In a lot of ways I’m really lucky; if my clients back then hadn’t taken a chance with me, things might’ve never worked out. It’s kind of crazy handing over a kid a bunch of your hard earned marketing dollars, not really knowing if what you’re paying for is really worth what you’re going to get back in return. If any of you guys happen to read this, I owe you big for taking a leap of faith with me.
It wasn’t easy though; I had to beat out all the more experienced players on pricing and really try to convince people that I wasn’t just mowing their lawn. Sometimes I did work for free just to get an opportunity to prove myself. It’s kind of weird when you’re that young and trying to work a full-time gig while going to school at the same time, but I liked it a lot.
I enjoyed it so much I got kicked out of college for a few days my second semester. That’s what happens when you don’t study because you’re too busy working. Making money in the now is a lot more gratifying than reading a bunch of books and hoping to maybe make money later. I got that all sorted out though and still managed to graduate on time from the University California of Irvine.
Although what’s probably been most rewarding about this entire journey thus far is the fact that I’ve never once had to advertise outside of my own website to keep business coming in. My clients have been really amazing to me and have gone out of their way to tell everyone they know that I’m the go-to-guy for this kind of work, and it’s allowed me to survive without having to pay for leads.
Unfortunately, when you’re working 15 hours a day, it’s tough to have much of a life outside of work. I couldn’t believe how fast I was packing on the pounds from eating spicy ramen and drinking Rockstar energy drinks. No matter what anyone tells you, that sort of stuff does not qualify as staple foods. Through college I put on a whopping 45 pounds!
Since then I’ve been trying to balance my life out a bit, trying to only take on the jobs that I actually want to do, although it’s becoming increasingly difficult to turn projects down when the economy is in the toilet and screaming at me to be grateful that I’m still getting asked to do work, even if it may not be my favorite flavor.
Recently I got real serious about losing the weight and I’ve been hitting the local gym almost every day. On the weekends I’m usually surfing, snowboarding, or tracking my car at events with NASA or Speed Trial. If you’re ever in doubt as to whether I’m the right guy for the job, you can find me on the slopes, in the water, or on track and figure me out for yourself in person.
