Gregg Davis

Website Developer, Coach, Skateboarder, Snowboarder, Photographer

Projects

WordPress Focus and a Redefining

I’m beginning a large project, based on my years of work in designing websites and then transforming my company into a WordPress web design self-sustaining business. If you know me, then you know that in the winter I teach and coach snowboarding, and I live a great lifestyle. Many know me in the capacity of my winter activities: riding every day, training snowboard instructors, working for Vail Resorts at Breckenridge Ski Resort, and examining aspiring instructors towards their certifications. For 23 years I’ve been on that path.

As a winter seasonal employee, I basically get fired every spring, and re-hired in the fall. I can’t collect unemployment, or I’d just take a 6-month vacation (seasonal worker laws prevent this), and so I have a need, like many in my industry, to get a summer job. For lots of years I worked for a sign shop (I’m an artist), but in the mid-nineties a friend and I saw the burgeoning internet and started making website for local businesses. We figured out how to resell hosting for the websites, design and create them, and bring in a positive and recurring income from it.

Fast forward to today, and I have a small business, lots of paying clients, and a great working-for-myself lifestyle in the summer. I’m keeping up with the latest technology, updating and creating modern websites from scratch, and hosting clients’ websites.

I wrote a book (as yet unpublished), more than a year ago, about how to create your own website business, following all the lessons I’ve learned over the years, and now it’s time to expand my reach, publish the book, create a following, and most importantly, free up my time so I can focus on some life goals outside of business.

I hope you can join me on this journey, either as a spectator, or a participant. I’m creating a course on Udemy.com, finishing my book, building a community of WordPress Developers and business owners, and having fun along the way. This is the first post of that journey.

Gregg

Skateboard Coach Network

CIMG2382This is a new project, around the SkateboardCoach.com website. I’m setting up a social network, where two types of people can register for free on the site: skateboard coaches, and skateboarders themselves. In this way the network can grow two groups that can interact with each other. The coaches can post info, tutorials and tips, and the skaters can browse the material or access it through a mobile device. Coaches can build their own businesses locally, setting up lessons and camps at their local parks, while taking advantage of the collaborative information provided by other coaches.

Members who are skaters can also register as coaches as soon as they have some insights or tips to share.  Skaters can also submit videos of themselves for analysis by the resident coaches. Coaches can offer services and have a personal website on the network to advertise their businesses.

This is the basis for the Skateboard Coaches Association – I’m building a group of like-minded skateboard coaches who want to share and collaborate on skate learning. The association will eventually provide insurance and business advice fro skateboard coaches starting their own local businesses.

CIMG2518The Skateboard Coach App will aggregate all the best content from the coaches in the network. Skaters can look up tutorials, get advice on learning specific tricks, and find tips on skateboard skills they want to learn. They can also find coaches worldwide through the directory in the App or on the website.

Complete MySnowPro.com re-design

msp-website1I just completed stage 1 of the MySnowPro.com redesign, that’s been pending for quite a while now. I’ve used tools from WPMU.org to come up with a multi-user system, that gives a free website for instructors, and then adds lots of valuable functions and other features for a small fee.

My personal MSP website is at: MySnowPro.com/greggdavis.

This change has been a long time in coming. It seems like the tools I’m able to use have just come along in the last year, to allow me to create such a robust system, without having to code or program the website as a custom project. I was able to line up the functions and system I want to offer, without doing any programming at all.

msp-website2MySnowPro.com is a ski and snowboard instructor directory, and also provides a way for instructors to communicate with their students in a modern and meaningful way. Instructors can post pictures, blog about their daily teaching adventures, and through this system, stay in touch with clients as well as find new ones. It benefits instructors and students in this way, as well as providing help and guidance for those new to snowsports or new to a particular area. Vacationers can get exclusive and professional insight into where to go, lodging and rental information, discounts and recommendation for food and restaurants, and advice on finding a professional instructor.

The new system adds Facebook and social network connections, easy photo uploading and display, a website at your own private domain name, a variety of Themes to choose form for changing your site’s look and feel, among other possibilities. I’m proud of the new design and functionality, and you’ll see the offerings and features expand even more over the next few weeks, as I add other features to the system.

Check it out at MySnowPro.com, sign up for a free website of your own, or look around at our directory of instructors around the world (eventually).

Root Rocks Project

root-rock-webI’m working on compiling all the “Root Rocks” images I’ve shot over the recent years. Let me explain. Sometimes, here in the mountains of Colorado, you come across old downed trees that have their roots sticking up into the air. A lot of times these roots have spent years growing around rocks in the soil, and when the trees fall over, they pull the rocks out of the ground. Then, as wind and water wash away the dirt from these exposed roots, the process creates a very artistic form, which is the roots “holding up” the rocks in the air. If you try to remove the rocks, you’ll realize that they are stuck there, gripped by the long-dead roots and displayed like a piece of naturally-created art.

I’m creating photography pieces, including prints and a coffee-table book to display the hundreds of beautiful images I’ve been able to capture of these root rocks. Stay tuned for more information about seeing these images, and participating in a Kickstarter project to get the process started.

Transworld Snowboarding

CIMG7405I was honored to participate as a Technical Adviser to the pro riders and the Transworld Snowboarding Magazine team during the first six days of the 12 day shoot. We were shooting the video and images for both the 4th annual 20 Tricks DVD, and the entire year of Trick Tips in next year’s print magazine.

CIMG7898

Here’s a video:

httpvh://youtu.be/CnmqYICQHuI