Recently, a small logo project came to me. Right away I knew the resulting concept would fare well if a team of designers was on the project. Only one small problem. The first meeting would have blown the entire budget. So, rather than tackle the problem on my own, I opted to engage an entire community of designers. Which is fairly easy to do these days. However, the easy part stops once the work begins. Crowd-sourcing a logo may sound like an easy task. On the contrary. There’s nothing easy about it. First, you must provide a set of clear instructions to a group of total strangers knowing you’ll never meet them face-to-face, never talk to them on the phone and never exchange e-mails.

People have all kinds of reasons for not wanting the summer to end. No more trips to the beach, weekends at the lake, or diving off the side of the pool. Children and teachers watch helplessly as their three month vacation comes to an end. The Beach Boys even wrote an entire album about it. While I certainly enjoy my weekends by the water, what I will miss most about summer is my wardrobe. This summer, a sampling of my office attire would include a formal gown (with Converses), a camo hat and just-barely-appropriate jean skirt, and actually rolling out of bed and coming exactly as I was. And that’s not even the worst of it.

Tim has a talk coming up soon, and he does love to talk. So we can all know that at the very least, this talk about two of his Tim’s favorite things (redpepper and Kirkland’s) is sure to be entertaining. Tim will be speaking at the IABC Professional Development meeting on August 11th in Nashville. (IABC stands for the International Association of Business Communicators. Want to register for this event?) Tim is no stranger to sharing his insights and experience with others, including several events for the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.

There’s an old writing adage that says, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” The phrase gets echoed frequently around our office, particularly in reference to ideas that are quickly spiraling in a complicated direction towards never-getting-done land. Luckily, we have an advocate and champion for simplicity, and his name is Matt. See to Matt less is usually more, and when most people see an absence of complication as feeble-minded, cursory, or maybe even shallow, Matt can recognize this “lacking” as purity.

People sometimes ask if we ever get any work done around here. And if we’re friends on the interwebs or you’ve graced our office with your presence, you’ve probably noticed that we have quite a bit of fun in the halls of redpepper. Themed dress-up days, dogs panting around the office, impromptu soccer games – we can see where you would get the idea that we’re all play and no work. So we thought we’d clear up the confusion a bit. We at redpepper are insanely dedicated to productivity, and perhaps we’re slightly insane. But all in the name of pushing our work forward. So many people in this world get caught up in the idea that work should be for putting food on the table, that they forget to pursue endeavors that fill their passions and strengths. We believe that if you love what you do, you are free to create work that can benefit others.

Since everyday at redpepper seems to be fairly casual Friday, we’ve decided to play the opposite game. Thus, the second Summer Fun Friday is going formal. But not just regular formal. Anyone can do normal formal. This Friday, redpepper is renting the limo. Matching cummerbunds to dresses. Getting our hair did. Awkwardly trying to grope our dates while dancing in front of chaperones. And of course, figuring out whose older brother is going to buy the booze. That’s right. We’re doing redpepper prom.

From now until June 30th, redpepper is accepting applications from Nashville and Atlanta non-profits for our annual CreateAthon event. During CreateAthon, redpepper spends 24 hours (with no sleep, but lots of coffee and Red Bull) dedicating our talents to provide marketing services to non-profits. Every year, we are inspired and awed by the many ways our local non-profits reach out and help people in our community. The people working at these non-profits are often unsung heroes who bring hope where there was once despair.

I’m sure by now you’ve heard us mention our “planned growth” – which is basically being intentional about your personal growth. Part of being intentional about your growth is coming up with a plan that you can be held accountable for. I’ve not only learned things from my growth plan, but I’ve also unexpectedly learned how I best learn. For me, I benefit the most from having someone personally teach me. I know a lot of my peers would rather hole themselves up and learn by trial and error, and I benefit from this as well, but I most enjoy the collaboration of one-on-one instruction.

I just joined the real world. This time is currently filled with transitions, big and small, smooth and scary. While I’m excited to have completed college, I must admit I’m still holding on to my “student-hood” with a white knuckle grip. The sweet relief of commencement flew gracefully in followed by a frantic struggle to cling to the life I’ve lived for years. I’m happy to say farewell to the late nights filled with projects and deadlines as well as the circus-savvy balancing act between homework and work-work, but there are so many things that I do not want to ever forget.

Ever done job shadowing? Instead of asking someone you aspire to be like to create a teachable presentation, you looked over their shoulder. In this way, they aren’t stopping their process just to make something that’s not finished look like it is. Every Wednesday one pepper shares something insightful and inspirational to the company – but sometimes this event becomes an ‘I-have-to-make-something-new-and-I-only-have-a-week-left’ sort of ordeal. Not to Alan. He decided to peel back the curtain, right where he is and let you see it raw.