VujaDay Creative Digital Agency
What is behind the name: VujaDay Creative Digital Agency? “To be original you don’t have to be first, you just have to be different and better.” This is a quote from Adam Grant, who has been University of Penn’s top rated professor for the past six years. Perhaps more importantly, he is overwhelmingly creative and original. Before you watch this talk, I have a simple one-question quiz for you that will help determine your job performance and commitment. Warning, you may not be happy with the results:
What Internet Browser do you use?
Please leave a comment in the comment section with your results!
Evidence shows that Firefox and Chrome users significantly outperform Safari and Internet Explorer users. According to Grant, they also stay in their jobs 15% longer.
Why?
It has nothing to do with tech savvy or computer knowledge. It is all about how you got the browser. Safari and Internet Explorer came pre-installed on your computer—you accepted the default option. On the other hand if you’re using Chrome or Firefox, you had to doubt the default, become resourceful, and look for a better alternative.
The bottom line, as suggested by Grant, changing browsers won’t make you better at your job, but you can become the type of person or company that moves beyond the default to find better options, and if you do, you open yourself up entire new creative possibilities.
Watch Grant’s Ted Talk on The surprising habits of original thinkers to hear an interesting vantage point on procrastination, creativity, and original thinking. I was fortunate enough to learn about Grant through one of my most inspirational doctoral professors, Rick Kantor, who has been a supportive driving force behind the development of VujaDay Creative Digital Agency. He was also the person who introduced me to Vuja De.
You are probably familiar with the concept of Deja Vu, which represents a feeling that people experience when they are in a situation they believe they have experienced before. Deja Vu is a recollection, something that you have already seen.
Contrarily, Vuja De is something you have never seen, it represents flipping the status quo to create something novel, creative, and thought provoking. VujaDay was built on the mindset that Grant outlines in his Ted talk that moves beyond default thinking, to look for better options.
This is the opposite of Deja Vu…Vuja De!
While developing the idea for what has become VujaDay Creative Digital Agency, Rick Kantor and I discussed a number of options for the name of the company, each of which, a play on words involving the last name “Day.”
New Day Innovations…
Creative Day Solutions…
There were others, each of which either sounded like a rehab, or an IT company…..
The idea for VujaDay Creative Digital Agency was cultivated through a sequence of events that folks in the creative industry would call synchronicity. I was enrolled in a doctoral program at Drexel University, meanwhile teaching Web / App Development, and Entrepreneurship at a K-12 independent school. Given my experience with technology, I was often approached to help folks build websites/apps, or to introduce people to others with the same skills. After initiating several connections, I had a moment of synchronicity in a vitamin store where the stars seemed to suddenly align. An idea that was incubating in my brain transitioned to the illumination phase of the creative process. Research in the world of creativity suggests that ideas are nothing more than a new combination of old elements. Think about the process of sculpting—an idea lies somewhere deep below the surface, after chiseling and sanding, viewers are amazed by a piece of artistic beauty. This moment of amazement can be likened to the moment of illumination.
Normally, I make all of my purchases online; however, this time I was driving home from work and I realized that I had run out of my pre-workout drink. Those who have taken a pre-workout will understand the image reference below.
The older I get, the more difficult it becomes to roll out of bed at 4:30 am to workout, so I had to make this stop. Otherwise, I would have simply ordered the supplement through Amazon. While in line, the customer in front of me asked the store owner why he didn’t have a website. To both the customer and me, it was an inconvenience to drive to the store to make purchases. We both preferred the convenience of online shopping. Meanwhile, I was in the midst of writing a paper focused on the development of a Web Design company. Listening to the conversation between the customer and the store owner, the wheels started to turn in my brain…the moment of illumination…I know somebody that could create the website for them! ME!
VujaDay Creative Digital Agency was born!
Why We Are Different
As an entrepreneur you are taught to innovate…to differentiate…to make your idea better than those that already exist. When I started a creativity and innovation program several years ago, I struggled with the difference between the two concepts. It was my understanding that innovation was the more important of the two given that innovation has become such a pervasive buzz phrase in today’s digital economy. Contrarily, one of the most important takeaways from the program was that creativity is generating original/unique ideas, while innovation is simply implementing them. The VujaDay ethos is rooted in creativity, our goal is not to re-use somebody else’s creative ideas, it is to cultivate and implement our own.
If you do a search for Web Development/Design, Search Engine Optimization, Digital Marketing, or App Development, for a given location, Google will return a number of options for you. While SEO will offer some companies a competitive advantage, consumers have to decide who will provide them with the best possible experience to meet their goals. KPI, ROI, ROA, ROE, P&L, are all important acronyms in the business world—credible agencies will understand what these are and how to market them to you to offer a competitive advantage. VujaDay has expertise in all of the aforementioned services, we also utilize each of the acronyms in our business processes; however, what makes us different, is the Vuja De mindset, along with the following important elements of a successful creative agency:
- Academics – We have decades of experience in education as a students, teachers, administrators, technologists and more. See this page on the VujaDay site with more information about my experience in education. Beyond teaching and learning, I have learned more about relationships, empathy, and listening in my time in education than I have from any other life experience.
- Empathy – We understand that being right, or knowing everything is not a strategy. Rather than telling you what you have to do, we listen to everything you have to say, then we make recommendations, and develop plans of action based on both of our experiences collectively, with the goal of producing the best possible results for your goals.
- Collaboration – Emotions and ideas are contagious. We recognize that it is easier to learn new ideas and productive processes from networks of people. We have our expertise, you have yours—collectively we can cultivate levels of creativity beyond what either of us could in isolation.
- Transparency – With a high level of respect, we share goals, knowledge, practice processes, results, and more. One of the main reasons VujaDay was built was because of people we know that were involved in business relationships with unethical agencies that would take advantage of business owner’s lack of technical knowledge. We assure you that everything we do is clearly communicated, and there are no questions that we will not answer.
- Cost – Our motto is 50% cheaper, 100% better. Based on our commitment to transparency, we assure you that for our level of expertise, our costs are far lower than our competition.=
- Personalization – We have developed a program that personalizes our services to your circumstances with an unmatched level of care.
Ultimately, what makes us different in a competitive industry is we provide EXCELLENCE in all that we do. Although this may sound intense, when I decided to pursue a doctoral degree…I was scared. At that time, I questioned my aptitude for success as only 1.7% of the U.S population have doctoral degree. I told myself, you’re going to succeed or die…In my mind, there was absolutely zero shot of failure. VujaDay Creative Digital Agency brings that same mindset to each and every client that we work with. If you want to build something great, stop procrastinating (although Grant’s views on procrastination are interesting). Decide what type of person or company you want to be, and let VujaDay help you outwork your competition toward unparalleled success.
