ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Strüb has happily called Austin home for 10 whole years. While that doesn’t make him a native, he feels it gives him sufficient rights to the popular Austinite catch-phrase “I remember when…” In addition to talking about the unpaved used car lot that gave way to Whole Foods' World Headquarters, he enjoys Alamo Drafthouse, dining outdoors, shopping and traveling. But nothing brings Mark greater joy than spending quality time with his 5 year old son, Jack, at their home in Hyde Park. Mark has a B.S. in Radio-TV-Film from UT and makes his living helping people buy and sell homes.

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July 28, 2010

KISS :: keep it simple...

A couple of years ago, when Jack was still a toddler, I re-learned a valuable lesson about how to communicate über important ideas. Clearly. Directly. Simply.

I was feeling overwhelmed with happiness about being Jack's Papa [you know, the usual], and I said to him very emphatically, "Jack, I could NOT love you more."

He looked sad. I was surprised. "What's wrong, buddy?!"

"You said you you didn't love me..."

WHOA! I can't really be sure that my copious amount of explaining and reiterating the message in more simple, audience-appropriate verbiage ever truly reversed the initial impact of that original interpretation. An expensive lesson indeed.

You may have noticed how the design and presentation of my company's identity strives to be concise. I sorely hope you do, anyway. We put a lot of thought and concern into it. We want our flyers to present the meaty details in an aesthetically pleasing way, for example. We hope the website is easy to navigate. We like our business cards to feature the info most important to you in a way that makes you want to see it more than once. These are all very deliberate ideas.

Of course, we are a work in progress. Professionally and personally. The road to improvement is winding and long with no opportunity to simplify that I'm aware of. Drop me a line if you find a shortcut.

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