The Genius Blog

You are an artist

You are made to be creative. We all are.

I bet you started strong. There was undoubtedly some refrigerator art and play dough sculptures and possibly even some crayon on the wall that had to be scrubbed clean. Creativity is hardwired in all of us. And that make sense really – because everywhere you look, from the intricacy of the tiniest flower to the vast canvas of a sunset – you can see the fingerprints of the great Creator that your life reflects.

	My dad still makes eggs each year and this year agreed to make one in honor of our SignUpGenius Easter Egg contest! Not bad, eh? It's not an official entry, but be sure to check out our other eggs and enter yourself!

That’s something that was breathed into me from an early age. My parents made everything a creative adventure. There were the elaborate Christmas cookies that were almost too detailed to eat… the over-the-top sand castles… the ingenious hand-made Halloween costumes… and around this time of year, the Ukrainian Easter eggs. We did everything with passion.

That was some fertile creative ground – and it definitely shaped me. As a college student and in my twenties and early thirties I had an insatiable drive to create. I studied film/video, moved to Los Angeles, and was obsessed with creating culture-shaping, paradigm-shifting projects. I was never satisfied and was always trying to figure out how to create the next big film.

In the last decade, though, the realities of mortgages and minivans and pee-wee soccer leagues gradually caught up to me. As happens to a lot of folks, the big dreams had to take a back seat to life. To be honest, it was a little depressing. When the dreams got shelved, it felt like the creative side of me had to be boxed up with it.

But lately I’ve been realizing that I was missing the whole point of all those early lessons in creativity. I’d been doused in a culture of Oscars and Emmys and American Idol… and I started to believe that being the artist I was created to be meant that I had to be the best and become world famous and change everything.

I think that what I missed from those early lessons in creativity… is that all of life can be art. We can reflect the creativity and excellence of God in every small thing that we do. There is an absolute beauty in baking the perfect apple pie for your family. Or in coming up with a creative way to teach fractions to your 3rd grader. Or in picking out the perfect colors to paint your home. Or in making a flower arrangement for your spouse. Or in photographing a cousin’s wedding. Or even writing a blog post.

Nobody needs to text in their vote for you or hand you a gold statue in order for you to create beauty that enhances those around you. You were designed for this. You are an artist.

So break out the refrigerator magnets.

SignUpGenius Joins the Pinterest Craze

Ask anybody how they’re doing these days, and the most common response you’ll get is, “Busy!” So who needs another social network to join, right? That was our first thought when we heard about the new Pinterest craze. Once we checked it out, though, we realized what a great site it is for our core users who love to organize, share ideas, and make everything, including online sign ups, look oh so attractive.

So moving forward, whenever you create a sign up, you’ll have the option to pin it to one of your Pinterest boards. And you know all of those informative planning resource articles on our site that provide you with helpful tips for coordinating school events, family get togethers, and sports activities? Yep, you can pin them, too. You can even follow SignUpGenius on Pinterest and browse through our boards for creative ideas to repin. So what are you waiting for? Let the pinning begin!
 

NEW: No-Ads Sign Ups & Email Reporting

Spring is here and the signs are everywhere: the weather is getting warmer, the trees are budding… and here at SignUpGenius, we've got new features blooming all over the website! Today we’re excited to announce two major upgrades.

No-Ads Genius!
You asked for it and we listened! While using our website will always remain FREE for anyone that uses our advertising-supported sign up pages, you now have the option to pay a small subscription fee to remove any advertisements from your sign ups! It's easy and super affordable - and payment can be made by credit card or Paypal in a one-time payment or a recurring payment.

FIND OUT MORE!

Email Delivery Report
As our membership has increased dramatically… the number of email invites and reminders that we send daily has become staggering. We've been working hard to refine our back-end infrastructure to better track all these messages and provide feedback to the sign up creators.

Starting today, as the first of several email upgrades, we will be sending a notification report to sign up creators when their emails are not delivered! With this new report, it's easy for sign up creators to tell which of your emails bounced, which people were “out of the office”, or even which group members utilize a spam verification service that requires action for delivery. Our system compiles all the non-delivery information daily. If we spot any problem with the emails you sent to your group members, you will receive a single email report detailing all the issues approximately 24 hours after you sent the original email. This way you can correct any mistakes and make sure everyone gets the message you intended!
 

Look Who’s Talking… about SignUpGenius

It’s always a little scary when you go to the mailbox and pull out an official-looking government envelope that is addressed to you. Not that I have anything to hide… but I guess I’ve seen so many science fiction movies that my imagination goes a little wild. I received an official government envelope the other day at my house and I am happy to report that the letter did not involve a summons to report to Area 51 for a top-secret experimental human trial. Whew.

No, the letter was actually from North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan. Apparently she must have seen the recent article in The Washington Post, which featured SignUpGenius and talked about how it can be used to plan meals for people in need. Her letter read:

Dear Mr. Rutledge,

Congratulations on the success of your website, SignUpGenius.com. Thank you for your efforts to provide food, support and resources for families during their time of need.

Your virtual sign-up sheet allows citizens across the nation to organize their giving in a simple, effective and efficient manner. I am proud that North Carolina is able to boast such an innovative project and I encourage you to continue these endeavors. Congratulations once again.

All the best,
Kay R. Hagan

I am going to keep this letter and if the government ever does try to lock me away and run experiments on my brain, I will definitely contact Kay Hagan for assistance.

Oh - And in other news… SignUpGenius was recently featured in an article at Faith Village as one of the “Top Online Tools for Small Groups.” Check out the article!

Anyways, I gotta get going... there's already an unmarked white van parked outside the office. I may have said to much...

 Follow Dan Rutledge on Twitter

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