September 20, 2011 - What does it take to start and keep a small business going? This is just one of the many questions that Stephen J. Blakesley host of the internet radio show Entrepreneures-R-Us asked Vic Cherubini, President of the epic software group on this weeks show. If you have not yet tuned in, Entrepreneurs R Us is a gathering place for anyone who wishes to succeed in a business start-up. Blakesley, a Serial Entrepreneur, Author and Speaker has interviewed a number of successful entrepreneurs and provides the listener with ideas they can put to immediate use.
Blakesley: "Good Afternoon Vic and welcome to Entrepreneurs R Us. Glad you can join us today."
Cherubini: "Thanks Stephen - I am happy to be with and appreciate the opportunity to be on your show."
Blakesley: "Tell us about your background before launching the Epic Software Group."
Cherubini: "I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and attended The State University of New York at Geneseo where I got a degree in Photography. I worked as a professional photographer and taught Photography at Illinois Central College in Peoria Illinois in the mid-70's; I got interested in Industrial sales, and spent 15 years selling for Johnson & Johnson, Nitto Denko, and Shaw Industries. In 1987,I completed an MBA at The University of Houston, and launched the epic software group in 1990's; We are in our 21st year in business and operate epic from a state of the art production studio in The Woodlands, Texas."
Blakesley: "What does Epic Software actually do? "
April 9, 2011 - Our goals for this week were to get the building painted, get the water and sewer lines working, install the main electrical lines, and get started on the HVAC installation. By Sunday evening we had met all of our objectives.
Glidden was kind enough to extend a professional discount to us, so we opted to go with them for the exterior and interior paint on the project. We visited the local store and met with Jack Biggs, the Field Service Rep for Glidden who has years of construction experience, Jack asked us a number of questions about our project, then suggested a Glidden formulation that was developed specifically for external metal surfaces. This paint is not cheap, but we wanted something that will give us years of service and not fade. Mike Huffine of Silver Rock spent a great deal of time trying to get just the right color for the containers. We decided on blue, but were not sure of exactly what shade of blue we would go with. Jack gave us 3 samples of paint and suggested we do some tests. He offered to come by after the paint has set up (72 hours) to see the results.
December 7, 2010 - Over the past week, Mr. Brooks and his crew completed their dirt work on the site; then turned their attention to drilling the piles, setting the beams, and building the foundation walls. Besides a few clouds now and then, the weather has been near perfect. To say it is important to get the foundation right is a bit of an understatement. An error at this stage can cascade in all kinds of rework and additional costs later. This is the time to check and recheck all drawings.
November 15, 2010 - Sometimes it takes "out of the box" thinking to come up with just the right solution. Since the inception of the project, we had the Creative Co-Op building to the south of our studio. Since we have 3 acres to our south, and just a 1/2 acre to the north (ie. in front of our current building), it seemed to make the most sense to put it in the back. For the past couple of weeks we have been battling with this choice. What seemed to make so much sense in the computer, was giving us fits in the real world. The south placement would require a retaining wall, a fire lane, and other access issues that involved us (and our future tenants) making compromises.
Truman and David Cox posed the question of turning the building 90 degrees. At first I resisted (we had spent months moving things around and now it was "time to lock things down and get going on construction". There was no doubt that the suggested orientation would help, but for every problem it solved, another appeared in its place. That is when we came up with the idea of moving the building in front of our current studio. Instantly, we no longer needed the retaining wall, and fire access lane. By also turning the building 180 degrees, we could move the access ramp to the west side, and provide Silver Rock Productions with a much nicer entry option.
November 2, 2011 - It is hard to believe that almost a month has passed since we did our last blog entry on the project. Over the past few weeks we have made significant progress.
Earlier this year there was a glut of shipping containers and Hi-Cube Cargo Containers (Ocean Worthy Quality) were running about $1900 each for units that were just 5-6 years old. A variety of market forces has turned the container business upside down, and for the past 3-4 months, the price of containers has shot up 25-30% and the quality of the units has gone down. I checked with the container company that was so helpful to us in the past (EMS Containers) and talked with both Kevin Smith Jr and Sr. who were both helpful. Unfortunately, their inventory of 7000 units earlier this year was now 1800 units and most of them were being held for their customers.
October 8, 2010 - The Woodlands, Texas - this afternoon we got a call from the Permitting Department in Conroe, TX informing us that the Fire Marshall and County Engineer signed off on the building plans we submitted on September 6th. With the 4 permits in hand (TX Accessibility Standards, South Montgomery MUD District, Fire Marshall, County Engineer), we are officially into the construction phase of the project. Yes!
August 30, 2010 - Work on the Creative Co-op building continues at a brisk pace. Last week we reached a significant milestone on the project - We completed the technical plans and drawings for the building and our project Engineer - Ron Saikowski - signed off on the drawings. Wally Westbrook the President of Wally Westbrook Designs, was there for us every step of the way. For those who have not gone through the process, I will share with you what we learned. This phase of the project took way longer then I anticipated - but hopefully, all that hard work will allow our plans to go through the permitting process without too many changes or delays.
August 13, 2010 - Several years ago, marketing guru Seth Godin gave a presentation at the TED conference on the importance of standing out. We have all heard the term..."Best thing since sliced Bread", but did you know it took 15 years after the invention of sliced bread before it was widely accepted? Until Wonder Bread came along and SOLD the concept, no one wanted it. Your product or service must stand out for someone to first notice it, before you ever have a chance at selling it. The example he gives is... "you drive down a road and see a cow - so what? But if it were a purple cow, you would stop (or at least slow down) to take a closer look. If something is different or remarkable, it gets talked about. Average products for average people will no longer work. We live in an age of specialization. You sell to people who are listening, and hopefully those people will tell their friends." Bottom line - Don't be boring! Gordin goes onto say that "The riskiest thing you can do now is to be safe". So how can you apply this to your business?
May 18, 2010 - When our architects first mentioned using cellulose as the primary insulation for the Creative Co-Op, I have to admit it was not even on my radar screen. I have a great deal of trust in their material choices, but the idea of using recycled newspaper for serious insulation alluded me. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY in a bungalow style house built in 1922. When built, most of these homes had no insulation in the walls and attic whatsoever. Cutting holes in the walls and pumping in cellulose was how many of these homes were later retrofitted to provide some degree of protection from the heat and cold. It never seemed to do a very good job.
I started my online research not on Google, but on You-Tube. I wanted to "see" the latest in cellulose technology, not read about it. After I looked at some videos, I then went go to Google to locate a source. As I was doing my search, I heard a news report that it was YouTube's 5th Anniversary, and the narrator started spouting off statistics that were simply mind boggling (24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!). This was music to my ears. Since one of the key reasons we are building the Creative Co-Op is to handle the increase in business for sales and training videos our clients want for their corporate web sites.
May 15, 2010 - The idea of being inside of a large metal box in the heat of a Houston, Texas summer is a bit scary. The insulation decision is a big one because of its long-term impact on the comfort and success of the Creative Co-Op. The challenge is to get the building property insulated from the elements, keep the occupants comfortable, and do it in a cost-effective way. Part of the fun of building a non-conventional structure is doing the research to find out what others have done and their experience. The internet is excellent for this kind of research. Unfortunately, for cargo container insulation there is not one single source of great information, but I was able to glean some information from blogs, online forums, and web sites.
Below I will share my findings with you, followed by my ideas for an insulation system and some comments from our architects.
After months of watching government spending that is out of control, followed by dropping off our 2009 taxes at the post office yesterday, I was in the mood to express my frustration with the way our federal government is being run. And it looks like I had lots of company. At the Tea Party Rally at Sam Houston Racetrack, thousands of people came out to show their support for the cause.
Specifically the core values of the Tea Party Patriots include: Free Markets, Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Upholding the Constitution. The folks at the rally were wonderful, and the speakers did a great job of expressing the dissatisfactionfelt by many in the crowd with our national politicians and the policies they've introduced. We have a 12 trillion dollar deficit, spending that is out of control, and the economy is in a mess.
March 1, 2010 – When we started planning the Creative Co-Op project, we knew we wanted a building that was unique in style yet structurally sound. Our plan has always been to use upcycled, recycled, and sustainable materials where possible. This made economic sense, but it also appealed to creative nature. Just go to a weekend crafts fair and you will be amazed how an artisan can take something destined for the junk yard and turn it into a work of art that is truly beautiful. So, before we got too deep into the project, I decided that we needed to have an architect involved from the conceptual stages through construction, completion and occupancy.
Not having used the services of an architect before, I was not sure what to do. I turned to my friend Professor Tom Diehl in the School of Architecture at the University of Houston to ask his advice. Tom knew about epic because in 2006, he had one of his upper level classes visit our studio, walk the property, and create concepts for the best ideas for developing the land. The results from his students were nothing short of spectacular. We used one of the concepts from a student to buy a used cargo container and convert it into a retail store.
February 2, 2010 – Anyone who has spent any time at epic can tell you we take internships seriously. We have worked with student interns from the inception of the company. At times we have had as many as eight interns doing everything from programming to 2D and 3D animation, and video production. I expect a lot from an intern, and most rise to the occasion and deliver. I first learned about the internet from an intern (he was using an early version at A&M University), and interns usually introduce me to cool things well before they become mainstream.
Sometimes when an internship is over, I wonder if the experience was a positive one, and if the student got anything out of it (besides course credit). So when an intern from the past sends me a note to let me know how they are doing, it really makes my day. Recently I got one such note from Lucas Wagner, who did his internship at epic in 1993! Luc was hardly a model intern. He had been transplanted from Ohio to Houston and uprooting a high school student can be tough on them (and all those around them).
January 29, 2010 - In order for our engineer to properly design the foundation for our new studio building, he asked that we provide him with a topographic survey. A topographical (or topo) survey is the tool engineers use to design and manage drainage. Surveying is done by gathering information through observations, measurements in the field, and research on surveys on file from nearby properties. The topo survey measures the elevation of points of the land, and presents them as contour lines on a plot. The topo survey would also help us to accurately establish boundaries and the elevations of the property.
January 10, 2010 - Over the past two days, Houston has been experiencing a cold snap that has plunged temperatures into the low twenties. My blood must have thinned out over the years because twenty degrees here feels far colder than the same temperature up North. I learned to take the cold seriously after a pipe burst in our kitchen wall in 1999, causing several thousand dollars in damages. So, as we watched the cold front move Southward on the TV weather map, we insulated the pipes on the outside of the house and relocated some potted plants indoors.
By Sunday afternoon I thought the worst was over. It wasn't. When I returned home at 3:00, I found water bubbling down the exterior wall of our home. I shut the water off and went inside, where I found the laundry room and my study flooded. Over the next two hours we moved everything outside to dry, and mopped up most of the water. A couple of small circulating fans did most of the drying.
December 22, 2009 – Earlier this month we got a call from an international oil field services company asking us to bid on a virtual photographic tour of their new offshore workboat. This is no ordinary ship. It is the world’s largest coiled tubing vessel, and is truly spectacular in both the size and the technology it employs to service deepwater oil wells. The virtual tour sample they sent us showed a traditional 360 degree panoramic photography, best known as a “QuickTime VR Tour”.
These panoramic tours have been typically used by real estate agents to provide prospective homeowners with a better understanding of a property. I have never been a big fan of this type of photography, because the quality of the images are usually poor, and it seems more of a gimmick than a truly immersive experience. Some tours may require a plug-in be downloaded, which can reduce the size of the viewing audience as many people just won't (or can't due to company policies) do it. I decided to use this bid opportunity to see if anything new was happening with panoramic photography. I was blown away by what I found.
December 10, 2009 – At 1:35 this afternoon the truck from Geotech Engineering and Testing arrived at our property, and by 1:45pm the crew of two field operators had their rig set up and prepared to drill the first of two holes into the earth for our soil survey .
This blog entry will give you a little information about a soil survey. Just about every structure requires an understanding of subsurface features unique to the area. The geotechnical consulting engineer determines the characteristics and behavior of subsurface soils, then interprets this data and makes recommendations on soils parameters which may be used for design or remedial purposes.To make our decision we called three soil survey companies.
Their bids consisted of the following:
Geotechnical engineering services which included - A. Mobilization and demobilization, B. Field exploration, including Two (2) borings to a depth of 20 feet, C. Laboratory testing, and D. Engineering analysis and report.
Drilled footing, strip footing and floating slab recommendations
December 08, 2009 – For most of us, the economy has been a real challenge over the past year, but for recently minted college grads, it has been particularly hard to transition from school to the world of full time work. I know this because it hits close to home. Our daughter Ali, graduated Louisiana State University (LSU) in August, and is one of those folks trying to kick start her career land her first meaningful job. She came home for Thanksgiving and we worked on her resume and cover letter and talked about moving from Baton Rouge to a city like Dallas where the job prospects would be better for someone with a BS in Psychology.
I wanted to give her the best advice I could. I found no shortage of online resources including articles, podcasts, videos and other reference items offering tips and techniques for the job seeker. But I wanted to give her more than that – I wanted to help her realize her passion, figure out a strategy, and come up with a game plan to make it happen. That is something you can’t find on any web site I’ve ever been to. While it is natural for a parent to want to provide “all the answers”, the journey she is about to embark upon is personal, and everyone is different. What I was hoping to do was to provide her with some tools she could use to draw a road map that is uniquely her own.
November 28, 2009 – When the Nikon D5000 debuted last summer it looked like the perfect camera for me. It has the image processor of a D300, along with a 2.7” title/swivel LCD screen. The fact that video can be recorded at 720p, it allows for interchangeable lenses and can shoot at 4 frames per second were just icing on the cake. Since I like to shoot both down low and high over head, I have come to rely heavily on the tilt screen in my Panasonic FZ50. So I felt the D5000 (on paper anyway) should give me everything I needed for just about any shoot I would have to do.
Besides, my Nikon D200 was starting to show its age, and a quick review of recent sales on eBay confirmed I could sell my D200 outfit (body, winder and a couple of accessories) for about the same price as a new D5000. I listed it, and seven days later sold it for $55 more than I needed for the new camera. Amazon was among the first online stores to have the new Nikon in stock, so I bought it just slightly under its list price (shipping was free).
Over the next several months I had a chance to use the camera, but in each case, it was usually an important shoot and I didn't want to risk any problems. I just did not feel confident enough with the D5000, so it came to each shoot as my backup camera, and typically saw only light duty. The Panasonic did all the heavy lifting. I have used the FZ50 so much over the past two years, I don’t even have to think about it – it has truly become an extension of my hand. What I really needed was a full day with the D5000 in a real world, non-critical shoot.
November 24, 2009 – Dallas Shooting Supplies is a relatively new web based shooting supply company. The company is owned by Morgan Richie and Vic Cherubini Jr. who both have a passion about rifles and weaponry. Vic was coming home for the holidays, so I asked him to bring some of his guns so we could do a photo shoot.
I had not seriously photographed weapons before, so in preparation of the shoot, I spent a couple of hours scouring the web for ideas on composition, lighting, and tips on how to make guns look their best. The best sources turned out to be stock photography sites, all of which had hundreds of examples showing guns at their finest. I collected my favorites and used these images during the shoot for guidance.
Unlike most things we shoot in the studio, these objects have the capability to shoot back. I am quite comfortable handling guns, and respect their power. At age 11, I participated in the Brooklyn Boy Scout Marksmanship Program, and every Saturday for two years we took the LL train to the US Armory in Bedford Stuyvesant. The first two weeks of the program were all about gun safety, and I can still see Mr. Prebble pointing to the NRA sign on the wall with the three basic rules we all memorized by heart:
ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
November 21, 2009 – 28 years ago when I moved to Texas, I heard about the Texas Aggie Bonfire and watched it a number of times on TV. I always wanted to go to one, but never seemed to find the time. Then, ten years ago, a tragic accident claimed the lives of 12 students. Texas A&M University banned future bonfires, and with the ban, my hopes of ever experiencing one was over. That changed this past Saturday night when we attended (and participated in) a commemorative bonfire put on by an Aggie couple in Conroe, TX. How we came to be part of this special event is an interesting story as well.
This past summer a number of very old, very large pine trees on epic property died. The drought made the trees susceptible to invasion by pine bark beetles. Some of these trees were 60-70 feet tall, and measured 36 inches in diameter at the base. One was close enough to our building that there was no doubt it needed to come down (in a very controlled way). I was not sure the best way to handle this, so I called the Montgomery County Extension Service to see if the trees could be harvested by a timber company, and to find out what to do with them after they were cut down.
November 18, 2009 - Congratulations are in order to BMA Houston 2009 Lantern Awards Chair Stephanie Robertson and her volunteer committee for yet another successful event, and an evening to remember. Over 380 people attended the awards ceremony, and in the process, have helped kick off the funding for our 2010 student Internship and Scholarship programs.
While most marketing budgets were severely cut this past year, you would not know it by the quality of the work displayed on the 43rd floor of the Petroleum Club. I always like to attend these events because I come away inspired by the work of those who are faced with communicating information about complex products and services to the business community.
November 12, 2009 - The purpose of this blog entry is to take you through the process of converting a shipping container into a fireworks stand - from concept to creation. I have included a number of photos to help others who may want to use a container to build a Fireworks Stand, Concession, Storage Unit or similar structure understand the process. You will hear people refer to these steel boxes as cargo containers, intermodal freight containers, but, when they are "upcycled" in this fashion, the proper name is an ISBU or Intermodal Steel Building Unit. One EXCELLENT source of information on the subject is the ISBU Organization,
University of Houston, College of Architecture faculity member Tom Diehl helped me to realize that a used cargo container could be turned into a very effective building structure. In 2005, Tom's 5th year architectural students visited our property and as part of a class project, they provided me with a number of very interesting concepts on how best to develop our four acres of land.
The front of our property is on Sawdust Road, a very heavily traveled street. It is the first southern entrance to The Woodlands, a 28,000 acre master planned community less than a half-mile away. It is a perfect spot for a retail establishment, but our deed does not allow for any permanent structures to be built on that part of the property.
November 12, 2009, In the first part of this blog post I talked about the branding components of an Advergame. In part 2, we will discuss what makes for a great Computer Game, and in turn a great Advergame.
Think back to time when you first discovered video games – the thrill and excitement of actually interacting with some element on the screen was enthralling. Now, stop and think about your favorite video game. What made it so special? Was it the graphics, the action, the story, the music, or a combination of things that simply immersed you in the experience? Why would you spend hour after hour in front of your computer screen being transformed into an altered state? You can almost hear your mom calling from the other room “Stop playing that stupid game and get back to doing your homework. No one is going to pay you to play video games!"
Today you can indeed make a living playing computer games, and even though it is hard work, developing computer games can be very rewarding. Let’s take a look at some of the elements that go into great game design and answer the question – “What makes for a great computer game?”
November 11, 2009 - If you are looking for a way to build your brand, and at the same time make your site more "sticky", you should consider developing an Advergame. What exactly is an Advergame? Simply put, "An Advergame uses interactive gaming technology to deliver embedded advertising messages to consumers". These games incorporate the company brand or product as a key element in the game. And, unlike a "product placement" in a movie (where you may only see the brand name for a brief moment), an Advergame is typically built around the brand, product or service, and is an integral part of the story.
At epic, we try our best to find ways to incorporate Advergames into client sites. Over the years, we had developed a number of applications, and in 2004 when the publishing company Charles River Media asked us to write a book on the subject we accepted the challenge. Advergaming was coming of age. That year, computer game revenues passed those of box office receipts, and the internet was filled with excellent examples of awesome games - all available for free.
I am writing this blog entry for those companies trying to decide if developing an Advergame is a good use of their precious marketing dollars. Since there are two key parts of an advergame, we will divide this post into Part I - Branding, and Part II - Game Development.
September 24, 2009 - In doing research on container structures, I have come across a number of excellent reference items, Articles, photos, videos, and other things that I wanted to assemble in one spot and share with others. You may want to bookmark this page since it will grow as I find more information for it.
September 11, 2009 - I started the day by thinking about the events of eight years ago. Having worked on the World Trade Center as a welder's assistant, the Twin Towers have always held a special place in my heart. There are some images in our Photo Gallery Section (Retrospective) I shot back in 1971 that show the building during construction. That is the way I like to remember them.
Today I headed over to my alma mater, the University of Houston, but not to the School of Business (class of '87 - Go Coogs), but to the School of Architecture. I spoke this morning with Professor Tom Diehl, a Registered Architect and instructor who helped me out years ago with concepts on how best to utilize our land (we have 4 acres, but the property is a odd long and narrow shape). In 2005, Tom had his class visit our studio, and walk the land. They came back three weeks later with designs that were simply stunning. An idea that one team had was to use shipping containers for a variety of applications (mostly retail).
September 9, 2009 - Usually when we get a call to do a photo shoot at a client's location, we get a shot list of images that are needed specifically for a web site, brochure, trade show, etc. So when we got a call from Tim Wold, president of Wold Marketing (a B-2-B Ad Agency in Conroe, Texas) we were surprised to learn there would be no shot list for this particular shoot. Wold's client, Cook Compression, had recently acquired Mechanical Field Services LP (MFS), and Cook needed some photos for the corporate library. Tim said we would be going out after "Shots of Opportunity". At first I was not sure of exactly what gear to pack, but when Tim said to think of the shoot more of a photojournalism assignment, I packed lighter then I would if we were going for a specific shot or series of shots. We were not sure what we were getting into, but decided to treat it as an "adventure" and make the most of it
August 25, 2009 - There is always a feeling of serendipity when I'm thumbing through a trade magazine, surfing the web, or watching TV and come across an illustration, photo or animation epic created, and now see it actually being used in context. Sometimes, we work weeks or months on an assignment, turn it over to the client, and never see how it was actually used.
That happened recently when the latest issue of Drilling Contractor landed on my desk. While looking through it, I came across an illustration we did for BJ Services for their DirectStim product ("provides acid stimulation for broader payzone coverage"). We were commissioned to create the illustration for their Annual Report and for corporate sales presentations, so we were happy to see it was also being used in the trade press.
August 14, 2009 - at epic any excuse to get a new piece of photo gear is good enough for us, so when a new client asked us to help with an animation showing the shot peening process on their reconditioned Sucker Rods - we invested in a 4" 0 Photo Softbox Lighting Tent. It was the first time we used this piece of equipment, and we were very pleased with the results. So here is the back story to the product photos shown here. We also did some 3D modeling of the metal rod which is included as well. .
__large.jpg "Adding a little excitement to a sucker rod photo.")
__large.jpg "Pump jack showing sucker rod assembly.")
__large.jpg "Close up of Sucker Rod profile")
__large.jpg "A sparkler did the trick.")
__large.jpg "3D Sucker Rod close up showing shot peened surface.")
__large.jpg "3D Sucker Rod Illustrations with reflections - by epic software group.")