Every once in a while, if you have enough projects and enough clients in your rear view mirror, statistics provide that you will get an easy one.

Geoff and Caitlynn were an adorable couple right at 20, bright eyed high school sweethearts who were excited about attacking life together. Their first mission, fairly obvious to any young lovebirds, was to open a business breeding chameleons out of their house. They posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a website assist and that was how we came to be in a meeting.

Everything in my pitch was clean and simple: a sitemap, a number, a payment plan. No filler. In their reply and agreement to meet they mentioned the clarity and brevity of the bid being the standout.

“We’re having babieees!”

Geoff and Caitlynn were not like the kids I remember from herpetology club, your typical reptile nerds. They were as cute and bubbly as any cheerleaders you would see at any pep rally. Caitlynn was extra excited about the new clutches being hatched, Geoff had the perky patience of someone who loves reining their partner in.

We meet in a cafe, buzzing through a discussion about the site ideas and comparing notes on independent business in Oregon. They were pumped because I knew my interwebs, I was intrigued at such an unlikely racket for Ken and Barbie to be into. And we were all sincere espresso addicts, it was smooth from the first sip.

Have you ever observed a chameleon? They are really bizarre little creatures, even in the world of reptiles. They sort of bop along when they walk, they have weird little pipe cleaner legs, and then there’s the whole skin color shifting thing. And the unlikelihood of G+C’s obsession with these strange monsters inspired me to come up with a design that reflected all of the fun happening in the room.

The site wound up reflecting their bright nature, and even with only basic CSS and having to accommodate IE7 with crazy shivs, we had a nice little home run. A couple of post launch tweaks, adjustments and buffs. Good feedback from users on Facebook and Twitter. Everything was looking good, the final payment was made, and we were all square.

A few months later, they came back for followup work, I got to expand the visual language of their site a bit and have more fun… Storks bringing eggs and chameleons in diapers. A little PayPal integration and they were now able to take online orders for local pickup. More good feedback, another easy paycheck.

We’re Having a Baby

Things changed for Geoff and Caitlynn when they found out that the two of them were going to be three. It seems that they did, indeed, live life in celebration. The chameleon thing was a fun adventure while they were young, but with a little one on the way and a family to prepare for, they agreed that shutting down the business would be their best bet.

With his niche experience in breeding, Geoff went out for a niche position in reptile care and landed it. After two years as a stay-at-home mom, Caitlynn was able to get a gig with a PetSmart (or similar) and worked her way up the chain. A few years later they had another little one running around, they are as bright and sunny as ever.

That part would be great, if I knew that that was what happened.

Unfortunately, I lost touch with them after a final email saying that there was a baby on the way and that the site was coming down. They thanked me for all of my help, told me they would recommend me wherever possible, and that it had all been great.

Some people you keep in touch with, in your career, some you don’t. Like the expression says, easy come, easy go. I hope G+C’s story was as amazing as I imagine it to be, I’ll never know. Some things should live in the imagination.

Blink of an Eye

The only downer in the whole affair is that the site was only up for seven months. While a lot of things that I built at that point in my career had a limited shelf life, I would always hope to get at least a year with a certain URL. I suppose it felt like the karma of the situation being that the result of the easiest project in years would come and go so quickly.

Still, despite its limited life, the site did its purpose in my own career. It was one of the pieces that got me into a cushy position in a Korpi Software house (a lot of meetings full of smartphone junkies not paying attention) with good benefits (petty shit in the office worth stealing and nice scrill). So even though it was only up a short time, it was in the right place at the right time to help me get up.

For that, thanks to Geoff + Caitlynn, who I would gladly jump into another project with.

Hope that they are all easy projects, but truly appreciate and savor the ones that are too easy to be believed. It’s doubtful you’ll have more than one or three in your career -ever-, so if you find yourself in one just give in and enjoy it. The only time that work ever feels like that perfect waterslide in that perfect summer day.

Hangin out. On rocks. Like chameleons.