Time for some innuendo-filled climate tech jams? ☀️

You may know about my theme song. If you don’t, please take one minute to check it out (I am so proud, I linked it twice... and it really is exactly one minute long): Kirk Roberts theme song.

That catchy little ditty is 99% thanks to my esteemed brother, one Michael T. Roberts.

If you liked the humor and head-bopping of that one, I’d like to share a couple of his new songs that I think you might enjoy as well. And these ones have high-production videos! (sadly, not in claymation)

They are both full of innuendo so make sure to watch them with a sense of humor! Definitely turn on the captions so you can catch all the lyrics!

Oh, and both of them are about… green technology?!?!? Stay with me!

Song 1 of 2: “(I’m Your) Heat Pump”

Mike originally wrote this for funsies, marrying soulful and sexy R&B with his, um, passion for climate change activism. It got featured on NPR and eventually a pro-grade video was produced as a sort of commercial for heat pumps.

If you want to know more, Mike has an informative blog post about the song’s creation and how it turned into the video below. There are links in his post to even more information.

Video and lyrics below.

Song 2 of 2: “(Our Love is) Geothermal”

Heat Pump caused a bit of a stir, and then a company told Mike they wanted a song more or less like that, but for their thing: geothermal energy. Oh, and they needed it before the big “climate week” event in New York City which happened to be real, real soon. With a high-quality video. And they needed to perform the song live in NYC at the event.

Spoiler: it all happened. And this one is more uptempo and arguably more impressive than the first one!

For more info, Mike humorously (of course) talks about the whirlwind song and video creation on his blog. I love this part:

In July [the company CEO] sent me an e-mail with the generous subject header, “The heat pump song is amazing,” and an admirably concise body text:

Can I get you to do a geothermal gig as a follow on. Would love to discuss. Debut at NY climate week.

Jamie

Video and lyrics below.

Smart fun is good business

As a marketing/messaging pro I can't help but comment on the potential business impact of these initiatives. The songs are catchy, memorable, and share-worthy. If you never thought about heat pumps or geothermal energy before, you do now. If you thought about either before, chances are they seem more interesting and enjoyable now. You might say your relationship to them has... warmed. And the messages can spread like... fire. Get it? You're generating some serious HEAT. [I will see myself out now.]

Enjoy!

Videos & lyrics

“(I’m Your) Heat Pump”

“(I’m Your) Heat Pump” Lyrics

Baby, tell me what you want…

Cool days…? Warm nights…?

Yeah, sometimes we all need a little help

To make everything just right

Not too hot, not too cold…

Goldilocks

And what I wanna tell you, babe, is I got the tools to hit that sweet spot

Every time

I wanna help you, babe

Wanna blow your mind…

I’m your heat pump

When you want it hot, I’m hot for you

(I’m your heat pump)

When you want it cool, I’m cool witchu, babe

‘Cause I can do it all for you, baby

All you got to do is turn me on

And I’ll go on and on for you (check me out)

Part of me goes inside (inside)

Part of me goes out (all of me pumpin’ for you)

I’m precisely calibrated

To make you scream and shout (’cause I’m electric in yo’ hizzy)

‘Cause I can move heat in or out (in or out)

‘Til you feel what you wanna be feelin’

You and me + electricity (come on) = Climatic healing (Math y’all!)

I’m your heat pump (pumpin’ it, baby)

When you want it hot, I’m hot for you

(I’m your heat pump – blowin’ it out for you)

When you want it cool, I’m cool witchu, babe

Don’t matter if you’re livin’ in the sun or snow

Any place you go

I’ll be there for you

That’s all I wanna do

I’m switched on

Sippin’ on electrons

Never gonna burn fuel

‘Cause I prefer to keep the planet cool

All day, all night I keep hummin’

Keeping hydrocarbons quakin’ ‘cause I’m comin’

No time for waitin’, I’m-a get proliferatin’

In every state and every nation, gonna stimulate the conversation

It’s time to get BUSY

Cut your gas line, I’m electric in yo’ hizzy

(I’m your heat pump)

When you want it hot, I’m hot for you

(I’m your heat pump)

When you want it cool, I’m cool witchu, babe

Any way you want it, I got you, babe

I got you, baby

I’m your heat pump

“(Our Love is) Geothermal”

“(Our Love is) Geothermal” lyrics

Earth!

You’re smokin’ hot

I mean, you got hot springs... steam vents... liquid hot magma, baby...

May I call you “baby”?

’Cause you know you're my world

And I haven’t always been good to you, baby

But I'm ready now

Ready to take our thing to another level

Deeper...

Deeper...

Girl, I been dirty, but I tell ya — I’m learnin’

Gotta clean it up, keep our turbines — a-turnin’

Break through the surface, I don't wanna stay skin-deep

’Cause down, down underground

Baby, you’ve got a power — I feel it

Burning like the sun, maybe we could — reveal it

Steam it up, Mama, with a white-hot energy

We can free this love to light the world

We can right the world

With an endless electricity

Our love is geothermal

I break a sweat gettin’ next to you, baby — oh, yeah

Our love is geothermal

I feel the heat deep inside of you

Go... deeper

Go... deeper

Go... deeper

Tunneling down, down deep I feel your fire — wherever I go,

And done right, it’s gonna last us — forever, I know

Check out my tools, I’m getting faster, stronger all the time

Yeah, it’s time to end the hurt

So many ways I wounded you, girl

But I swear, under there, we’ll make a whole new world

Scale it up to sing in infinite harmony

Can you see us living hand in hand

In a lustrous land

Tappin’ heat right where we stand

Our love is geothermal

You're like a steamy dream comin’ true

Our love is geothermal

I feel the heat deep inside of you

Yes I need you, baby

And I know you care for me too

So let’s tap this reservoir of love inside you, girl

Deep in your inner space

Where your fire burns day and night, everywhere in the world

’Cause we don’t have forever

And if we wanna clean it up, we gotta go down... deeper

Go...deeper

Go...deeper

Go...deeper

Our love is geothermal

I’m drippin’ sweat gettin’ next to you, baby

Can you dig it, girl?

Our love is geothermal

’Cause your sun inside never sets

And I wanna let it shine, girl

Our love is geothermal

Let the power flow from the heart of you

No battery required

Our love is geothermal

I feel the heat deep inside of you

I will be a hummingbird

Years ago my kids starting watching videos through the website The Kid Should See This (aka TKSST, highly recommended for everyone, not just kids).

Aside: I sometimes joke that the TKSST videos are educational-ish enough that you will feel okay-ish about your kids watching them all day. Seriously, though, there is a lot of interesting viewing there, curated and organized for your convenience.

One video that struck a chord with me was the animated fable I Will Be a Hummingbird from "Dirt! The Movie". Check out the short video and story (also partially shown in still images and text on TKSST) by clicking on the link or watching the video below.

If you don’t want to watch the video I’ll give you the gist: a hummingbird helps to fight a raging fire, a drop of water at a time. Other animals label the hummingbird’s efforts as insignificant, but the hummingbird is insistent that it is helping in the way that it can.

Remembering the message of the story helped me finally decide to put a Black Lives Matter banner on my website and write about it here.

I know it’s a tiny gesture on an even tinier speck of the internet.

But you’re here with me now, so I’m talking to you. Not trying to convince you of anything. Just letting you know how I feel about it: black lives matter.

For some reason this message hit home most when I saw a take on the “All Lives Matter” response to “Black Lives Matter”. Basically, it was this:

Yes, all lives matter. But all lives can’t matter until black lives matter.

Equality, y’all.

I don’t want to pretend like racism doesn’t affect me.

Putting up a website banner is something I can do to show solidarity. Maybe it will be a stepping stone to other personal action.

Yes, it’s a drop of water on a raging fire, perhaps only significant to me but still significant in that it is something rather than nothing.

I didn’t want to live with nothing anymore.

Thank you for reading.

You are what you do

Professionally at least, here is what I’ve been (doing) lately.

Subcontractor with design companies, using Squarespace

Yes, Squarespace. I take design companies’ ideas and extrapolate them out into full sites using Squarespace. It can be a satisfyingly fast and inexpensive way to get a high-quality website online. This process fits a wide range of lower-budget projects that don’t require full-custom design and development, and we might add on custom widgets or third-party services if needed. Everybody wins.

Soup-to-nuts small business/organization marketing website creator

For these projects I often get to put on all my hats: project manager, strategist, copywriter, designer, architect, technician, coach, cheerleader, and more. Clients are sometimes surprised how much time we spend upfront developing messaging and writing content rather than jumping into what the Home page will look like. For every client-specific little thing that comes up chances are I have a well-worn hat that will address it.

Digital “hands”, consultant, and overseer for DIYers

I had a client recently (not a designer) who came to me with site layouts pre-made in Microsoft Publisher. She needed help getting her domain back under her own control, consultation about what online services to use (such as an online site builder, email marketing, and domain-based email), and someone who could reliably provide guidance to help get the project off the ground while pulling any necessary technical strings. It wasn’t glamorous, but when the client is thrilled with the project I feel really good.

Maintenance-engineer for certain types of “legacy” websites (and sometimes migration facilitator)

These are cases where someone else built the site and for whatever reason that person is out of the picture now. If it looks like I can help I step in and provide fixes and improvements as needed. In a couple of recent cases separate clients each had a site built on an old version of Expression Engine that we eventually transitioned to Craft CMS along with overhauling the design.

Website performance evaluation and improve-inator

It’s amazing how a little attention to improving the load speed of a site can make a HUGE difference. Faster sites make a better impression, keep people engaged, and perform better in search rankings. I recently worked on a small site that saw a 75% weight loss with just a few hours of diagnostics and improvements. (that sounds like a personal weight loss ad… results may vary… haha)

What have YOU been (doing) lately?

The Hourly Billing Renaissance

Maybe hourly billing isn’t the bugaboo I’ve been led to believe.

In fact, maybe it’s EXACTLY what I need to have my dream professional life, and maybe it’s actually better for my clients, too.

In other words, perhaps ALL the work I do should use the Flexible Retainer model.

I’ve tried it a few times now, and am happy to report it has gone really well.

Projects get started faster. I still need to estimate, but the estimates are much more “ballpark” and presented in a range. Project agreements are simpler.

Projects tend to launch sooner. We focus on producing rapid improvements. I can switch roles fluidly as needed to help the project succeed. Flow is enhanced. It simply feels easier and more natural.

My clients trust me, and I work hard to earn that trust. The relationship feels even more like a collaborative partnership rather than vendor/buyer.

For years and years I was told (and believed) that fixed-fee was the best way to work.

Now I realize that hourly work may have much broader applications and benefits than previously thought.

New Website & Studio Update

First, the big news: I have a new website.

I knew my site needed to be more logically segmented, more clear, more concise, more revealing... just more better all-around. I even added some links to example sites and put real testimonials on there.

And… I’m eating my own dog-food by launching with a bare-bones version and gradually working down an evolving list of improvements.

Please check out my new site! Constructive feedback is welcome (just reply to this email).

Six months in

It’s been about six months since I opened the new business. Some might say “re-opened”, because I’m doing very similar work as I did at Kirk Roberts Design. That’s true, yet it feels very different.

In short, I’m much happier to be here. The year off — a sort of sabbatical — was a good thing. Investigating other potential lines of work was a good thing. I re-centered and realized how important conscious life design is. In some ways it was a surprise to come back to this work, but it feels good in the head and the heart. I’ve unburied my love of the medium and am noticing and correcting the less-than-positive patterns that contributed to the decision to take time off. I’m generally refreshed and re-committed to service and lifelong learning.

It’s been interesting to have a mix of clients who have “come back” from the previous business and others who are new to me. I’m really glad to have the opportunity to help each one as best as I can. It’s an honor and a privilege.

Let’s collaborate

My availability can be spotty — that’s the nature of freelance work — but I’m always happy to offer a free consultation to discuss potential new collaborations.

Maybe you have a website project coming up, or maybe you know someone else who does (referrals mean the world to me).

In either case, I’m here to help.

Let’s connect to discuss the possibilities.

OMG I Have a Theme Song!

Thanks to my talented, hard-working, amiable, and fun brother (and his cohorts) I now have my own theme song. Or at least my business does.

If you have a spare minute (literally, it’s only a minute long) please turn on your audio and take a listen.

The Kirk Roberts Theme Song