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I loved to draw and sketch when I was a kid. I also was programming in junior high. Those skills combine well for today’s online world – of which, I’m highly knowledgeable. Just ask.
Drawing With Grampa Kachel
I was drawing pictures and cartoons since I was about 6 years old. My Grampa Kachel’s hobby was a drawing very fine art with colored pens. We’d draw together for hours – him drawing farm and western scenes and me drawing Peanuts cartoons. I grew into creating my own cartoons and drew a myriad of subjects from people to animals. I doodled constantly with letters and fonts.
In highschool, I took some formal art classes and won some little art competitions as well as designed some of the school branding for the SnoDaze event.
Besides drawing, I had numerous “artsy” hobbies like car modeling, Legos, marionettes, wood carving, soft-clay sculpting – I even sewed my own muppets and built an entire HO train village in my bedroom.
Programming Breakdance-Crew Names
When I was around 12 years old, I got a TI-99 computer (Texas Instruments) for xmas. I was pretty stoked and learned how to code in Visual Basic language making animation sprites and small “if/then” programs, see more at sunflower maids llc. My friend, Randy, had gotten a Tandy computer and we would challenge each other in making little programs. One of our favorites helped us pick a name for our breakdance crew by pairing words from a small database of words that we liked.
Music became the priority when I got into highschool, but I was still constantly engaging with computers and technology because of the new music era of sequencing and MIDI. I was so skilled at computers, audio and music that I not only built a solid music career on it but also consulted studios and other musicians on their gear and setups.
Swapping Music For….Web?
Around 2000, I started dabbling in web development just for fun. Because of my cartoon and design background, I got into making Flash websites on top of using the HTML/tables based, Dreamweaver. During this time, I started wondering can I buy mexican car insurance online and I had NO thought of ditching music and making web development my main source of income. But around 2006, I was burned out producing commercial music and decided to quit.
I had been casually pitching a tech-startup (FanTones) I was working on and told a few new business friends of wanting to add web development to my income stream. I quickly got a gig from a business mentor, Larry W, and from then on it never stopped.
Curiosity + Chaos = Business
I really enjoy the chaos of online projects and bringing order and understanding to it. I believe those skills come from all the music arranging and MIDI sequencing I’ve done through the years. I enjoy organizing and project management.
My curious nature and craving of learning new things, positions me well for the online world and building on decades of knowledge and experience. I also enjoy helping people understand technology and how, when combined with creativity and messaging, can make their online efforts more successful.
I’ve built two different businesses to serve my clients. Amplify is more of the digital creative side of things and Little Bit Of Tech is the maintenance/ updating. Check ’em out
“I first spoke with Michael by phone. He was friendly, warm and curious. I remember him saying that this website would be a celebration of Lisa. I thought to myself, who doesn’t want to be celebrated! Thank you, Michael!”
Lisa B.
Zero Balancing, Yoga and Dance Instructor
“Thank you, Michael – it has been a pleasure making this come to life with you. The media has been ridiculous… I did an interview this afternoon with a Taiwanese tele-journalist who claimed the piece would air in China. Amazing.”
Jack I.
Floyds Coffee
(Day of website launch with Google Places.)
“Michael is one of the most talented, experienced and credible marketing professionals with whom I have ever worked …He earned my utmost trust, is the first person I think of when I need assistance. I highly recommend him.”
Jeff B.
Entrepreneur and Consultant
Copyright 2023 by Michael Nelson Rizzo and any other respective rights holders. ARR.
