Company News Archives

WP vs. MT Blog Post for iThemes.com

June 4, 2008 by Kevin D. Hendricks

My first blog post for iThemes.com, a WordPress themes site, just went live: WordPress versus Movable Type: The Smackdown Comparison. It's the first of hopefully more blog entries to come. Note: The picture isn't me.

Monkey Outta Nowhere Redesigns. Again.

April 11, 2008 by Kevin D. Hendricks

One of the hardest things about helping others communicate is figuring out how to help yourself communicate. It's like the old saying about the cobbler's children being barefoot. Sometimes we're too busy with clients to worry about ourselves.

That's definitely been true with Monkey Outta Nowhere and something we're trying to remedy. We've reworked our home page (again) and de-coupled our blog from the personal blog of our head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks. We're trying to highlight the projects we've done on the homepage instead of a bloated, out of date portfolio.

We're making it less reliant on frequent updates (less face it, we don't have very frequent updates) and putting the focus on the work we do. Hopefully we won't be redesigning next year.

NextGen Summit Article Online

March 5, 2008 by Kevin D. Hendricks

I spent my New Year's in California covering the Foursquare NextGen Summit '07, on assignment writing an article for Advance magazine. The article I wrote, "Generation Change" is now available online.

Start Seeing Art on MNSpeak

January 30, 2008 by Kevin D. Hendricks

My little side project, Start Seeing Art, made it on the Twin Cities blog MNSpeak today. I'm pretty excited about the exposure. And a little frightened--though so far no one has mocked the rudimentary design, and for that I'm thankful.

Adopting a Spider Monkey

December 28, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

To celebrate the holiday season Monkey Outta Nowhere adopted a Spider Monkey from the nearby Como Zoo. And no, that doesn't mean a primate is doing light office work at the Monkey Outta Nowhere headquarters. It just means we're supporting a local urban zoo that's a great, low-cost attraction.

We hope you and your family--and the spider monkey's--have a happy holiday.

Monkey Outta Nowhere Launches Local Art Site

December 5, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

About a week ago Monkey Outta Nowhere launched its first independent project, a local art site called Start Seeing Art. The site is all about finding and identifying public art in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, so it can be enjoyed and appreciated.

Too often I've either not known a work of art existed in my neighborhood and missed out on it entirely, or I've known about the work but I can't find any information about the artist or the name of the work. So the site is an attempt to find that local artwork, identify it and chart it using a Google Maps mashup so others can more easily find and enjoy it. You can look at the map and see all the works of art across the Twin Cities.

So far Start Seeing Art is in the very early phases (only 11 pieces of art so far) and isn't much to look at. I'm focusing on content and the technical side before I worry too much about design. In general, I'm trying to follow 37Signal's Getting Real approach and building Start Seeing Art quickly and cheaply. I'd rather get the content out there and get it working now, even if it doesn't look so hot, rather than wait six months for a beautiful backend system that costs thousands of dollars (which I don't have).

We'll see where it goes and if it turns into a self-supporting media empire. If you know of anyone interested in advertising or sponsorship, please contact me.

Church Marketing Sucks Gets Press

October 30, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The church communication and marketing blog Church Marketing Sucks, which I've been writing for since the site's beginning, has been scoring some press lately, including How magazine, an Issue Dynamics interview with yours truly, and the November/December issue of Ministry Today will feature the Communication Toolbox from the Center for Church Communication (the nonprofit parent of CMS). CMS also recently celebrated its 1,000th post.

Blacklisted for Church Marketing Sucks

October 10, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

I've been blacklisted because of the word 'sucks' for the first time since starting work on Church Marketing Sucks more than three years ago. OK, so 'blacklisted' may be a bit harsh (but it makes for a good story). In reality one of my clients will no longer publish my work because of my involvement with Church Marketing Sucks, specifically because of the use of the word 'sucks.' You can decide if that warrants the word 'blacklisted' or not.

It wasn't a personal thing and I don't know enough details to take it personally. 'Sucks' is a controversial word (especially in conservative circles) so this wasn't exactly a surprise. The bigger surprise might be that it took three years. (Check out my defense of the word 'sucks' if you agree I should be blacklisted.)

If anything, I'm bummed that I won't have further opportunities to write for this client. You always hate to lose clients as a freelancer. And this one, well, sucks because I enjoyed the projects I had done for them. I was hoping to do more.

Oh well, that's how it goes. Things may change in the future, so we'll see what happens.

We Do Low Quality Video Production

September 17, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

I'm proud to say that Monkey Outta Nowhere now offers sub-par video production services. Well, not exactly. But we can do low quality, home made video with the best (or worst?) of them.

I've been working on marketing for the Foursquare NextGen Summit '07 (which has a fancy new web site). We were coming up with ideas to promote the What's Your Cause? Video Contest and a video seemed like a no-brainer. But when Foursquare's professional video department was swamped, I stepped up and said I could do it. The less-than-professional standards I could meet seemed more in line with a do-it-yourself video contest anyway.

So Monkey Outta Nowhere added video production to its portfolio:

Big time thanks to everyone who helped out with the video (especially Melanie, Bronwyn, Marie and Tobin). And stick around for the credits. I think the "I Like Puppies" song has some break out potential.

Foursquare NextGen Summit '07 Gearing Up

August 17, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

One of the projects I've been working on this year is the Foursquare NextGen Summit '07. I haven't talked about it in a while, but it's the first youth event the Foursquare denomination has put on in over ten years. And it's looking to be pretty huge, from the line up (Switchfoot, Rick Warren, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne) to the causes (embracing orphans, stopping human trafficking and fighting poverty). It's a lot of fun to be involved with an event that's so intently focused on good causes.

I've been doing a lot of writing for the event, including a ton of blogging. I'm also headed to L.A. next week for some event-related meetings and earlier this summer I actually did something I'm really bad at and created a video. I'm not sure if the video is going to see the light of day, but let's just say you can't hide the Puppy Song for long. You can watch the student video for a tiny taste of my handiwork (at about 2:35 in you get a thumbnail view of some shots that were filmed by yours truly at the Monkey Outta Nowhere studios).

60 Years at Trout Lake Camps

July 9, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Last week Trout Lake Camps celebrated their 60th anniversary with a "Buddy Check" reunion and the launch of the Project 365 fund raising campaign. Monkey Outta Nowhere did some writing and editing work on the "Buddy Check" brochure last year and we worked extensively with Taylor Design Works on the 32-page Project 365 booklet, which included detailed history and personal stories.

Writing someone else's history can be kind of maddening at times (like when a separate publication does a similar story that renders details a bit differently from how you had them, forcing you to re-check everything), but I really love digging into history (in case you couldn't tell), especially when it's personal and detailed. I love seeing the connections of time and place and having it all come to life. Even something obscure as a camp in Central Minnesota I've never attended.

'Ask a Kevin' at Church Marketing Sucks

June 21, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

If you head over to one of the blogs I write for, Church Marketing Sucks, you can check out an interview with yours truly: Ask a Kevin. Our CMS intern, bless his heart, thought it might be fun to do an interview with me since I haven't been writing for CMS as much lately.

I'm not sure I say anything brilliant, but rather predictably U2 comes up and I go off about how cool web 2.0 is. You know, the typical fare.

Levity for Longevity: Humor at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

June 4, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

An article I wrote for TheHighCalling.org was just posted. It's a fun little reflection on humor in the workplace, featuring some of the behind-the-scenes highlights you wouldn't expect from my years at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association:

For two and a half years, I worked in the Internet Department of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. We were young, tech-savvy folks who could have worked at dotcoms but instead chose to work for an aging evangelist. The job had its share of stress--crashing servers, last-minute changes, and webmaster emails from people who didn't know how to copy and paste.

We coped--in part--thanks to humor.

There were the Monday mornings when laughter would spread like the plague through our department. You could almost tell when the latest flash-animated cartoon had been released on HomestarRunner.com and nearly everyone in our department would pause to watch the disgruntled StrongBad answer his latest email in typical mocking style.

Read the rest, and be sure to click through to my author bio for a great pic.

Monkey Outta Nowhere Rebooted

May 1, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

In an attempt to communicate better about myself I've redesigned the Monkey Outta Nowhere site. I've also merged the Monkey Outta Nowhere blog with my personal blog because really, I am the company. If it's hard for me to keep up a company blog, how hard must it be for anybody to actually read it? It's bad enough that I have my fingers in 20+ blogs, so maybe it's time to condense and simplify.

I'm highlighting the Company News and Monkey News on the homepage, which keeps the business clients from having to read my ramblings about my daughter or my dogs. I'm also running headlines in the sidebar so they can learn about my dogs if they like, as well as headlines a few other blogs I oversee.

I doubt it's a final solution and I'll probably have bugs to fix and things to tweak, but for now, here it is. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully this is a step towards making it easier to update my site.

Monkey Outta Nowhere is Moving

March 28, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The home office is going from a 6x8 glorified closet with no door to a full blown 12x23 office with--well, there's still no door, but I've got my own balcony! Bottom line: It's a big step up and we're very excited.

The move will be effective April 2 and we'll be giving the monkeys the week off. If you'd like the new address, please contact us.

Foursquare NextGen Summit '07

March 9, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The Foursquare NextGen Summit '07 is coming to Anaheim, Calif on December 29-31, 2007. And Monkey Outta Nowhere is helping it get there. The Foursquare NextGen Summit '07 is the first national Foursquare youth event in over ten years. It's an opportunity for the next generation to embrace orphans, stop human trafficking and fight poverty. Plus there will be challenging speakers, informative workshops, kickin' live music and extreme sports. Imagine that.

Monkey Outta Nowhere is managing the web site, coordinating the marketing efforts and writing copy for all the communications pieces. Check out the teaser trailer for a little taste of what's to come.

Smart Org & Top Fundraising Blog

February 2, 2007 by Kevin D. Hendricks

One of the clients I work with, the Center for Church Communication, has earned some nice recognition:

• First, the author of the Donor Power Blog named Church Marketing Sucks one of the top five must-read fundraising blogs.
• Then, Squidoo, NetSquared and GetActive named CFCC one of the top 59 smartest organizations online (you an also read our entry about why we're a smart online organization).

Adopting an Emperor Tamarin

December 21, 2006 by Kevin D. Hendricks

To celebrate the holiday season Monkey Outta Nowhere adopted an Emperor Tamarin from the nearby Como Zoo. The zoo has seven tamarins in the primate exhibit and we opted to support the smallest of the monkeys for its Seuss-like qualities. It's always been one of our favorites.

And why support a monkey at all? Como Zoo is a top-notch urban zoo that's a great low-cost attraction for families (donations are suggested, but not required). That's a cause worth supporting.

We hope you and your family--and the tamarin's--have a happy holiday.

Retreat with Personality

September 25, 2006 by Kevin D. Hendricks

In late August Head Monkey Kevin D. Hendricks joined the Personality™ crew on a weekend retreat in the resort town of Big Bear Lake, Calif. The work weekend was a lot of big picture thinking for the future of Personality™.

Consequently the Personality™ blog was brought back to life after a lengthy absence. The company is working to tell the story of their new focus, cause marketing, with a little help from Monkey Outta Nowhere.

New Roles

July 8, 2006 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Head Monkey Kevin D. Hendricks has jumped into two new roles, the Labs Director for the Center for Church Communication, and the Content Manager for Personality™. Both roles involve loads of writing and content development, and of course, blogging.

Monkey Outta Nowhere has provided content services for both organizations for a few years now, but these new roles mean new work and fancy new titles. And that's always cool.

Godbit Interview

December 9, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Head Monkey Kevin D. Hendricks was interviewed at the church tech site Godbit about his involvement with the church marketing and communications site Church Marketing Sucks.

NaNoWriMo Interview

November 2, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

CCM columnist and author of Forgiving Solomon Long interviewed head monkey Kevin D. Hendricks about his experiences participating in last year's National Novel Writing Month. In 2004 Hendricks wrote his first ever novel in only 20 days, later self-publishing an early version under the title Downtown Dandelions.

Bono Article Reprinted

June 2, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

A Monkey Outta Nowhere story that originally appeared in 2003 was reprinted in the 2005 issue of Orientation magazine.

He hangs with the president and the pope and fronts the biggest rock band in the world. He's passionate about politics and economics, and he's as old as your parents. And he has one name: Bono.

The article, "Get Up Off Your Knees: Bono Takes on the World," explores the faith of rock band U2's front man and his crusade against HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Fourth Place at EPA

April 29, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The Evangelical Press Association annual convention was held this week in Chicago, and during the EPA Awards our very own Kevin D. Hendricks scored fourth place in the Freelance Article category. His piece on Charlie Peacock's book, A New Way To Be Human, appeared on the Billy Graham youth site passageway.org.

Seth Godin Blogs Personality Blogging Seth Godin

April 19, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

A blog entry Head Monkey Kevin D. Hendricks wrote for the marketing firm Personality™ received a nod from marketing guru Seth Godin (author of Purple Cow). The entry, Seth Godin: Marketing Master in Action, analyzed Godin's marketing efforts as he prepares to release his next book, All Marketers Are Liars. You can learn a thing or two from how a marketing guru markets. Godin himself mentioned the entry and was "delighted to see that others are picking up the steps I'm trying to follow."

Godin did point out that the entry neglected to mention his "get a nose, get on my blog" offer, which involves a special liar's nose (think Pinocchio). Maybe next time.

The Door Interview

March 31, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The Wittenburg Door covered Church Marketing Sucks in a Q&A with Brad Abare and our very own Kevin D. Hendricks. See our Head Monkey in action.

Monkey with an iPod

March 20, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Our Head Monkey appeared in the Pioneer Press this morning in the story "iPod Nation" (registration required). The story covers people and their interesting uses for the iPod and our founder and president Kevin D. Hendricks uses his iPod to record interviews, which landed him a few quotes, a profile and a picture.

Check out his personal blog for the behind-the-scenes scoop.

Keeping Busy

February 20, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

After a waist-tightening January, Monkey Outta Nowhere scored two monthly contracts for the rest of 2005. We'll be continuing our work with the L.A.-based Personality and Center for Church Communication (formerly b-moore, Inc.), and also helping the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel with a number of major web projects in 2005.

It's always encouraging when something like this comes through and I realize I can stop watching for "help wanted" signs.

Hey Alumni

February 1, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Monkey Outta Nowhere made an appearance in the January 2005 issue of Focus, the alumni magazine of Bethel University. We were mentioned in an update about Bethel alum and Head Monkey Kevin D. Hendricks on page 44. Check us out.

Self-Promotional Day

January 28, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Today all Monkey Outta Nowhere employees were encouraged to wear Monkey Outta Nowhere apparel instead of following the usual dress code. The increased options seemed to boost morale.

Company executives are considering adopting a company-wide casual Friday.

Monkey Outta Nowhere T-shirt: $17.99
Monkey Outta Nowhere Messenger bag: $23.99
Downtown Dandelions by Kevin D. Hendricks: $12.99 / $17.99

Minnesota Blog of the Day

January 27, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

On January 12, 2005 the Twin Cities Babelogue (the blog community of the City Pages) declared Monkey Outta Nowhere the Minnesota Blog of the Day.

Thanks.

Do They Run When They See You Coming?

January 5, 2005 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The new book from youth leader Jonathan McKee of The Source for Youth Ministry is now available: Do They Run When They See You Coming?: Reaching Out to Unchurched Teenagers

McKee presents practical ideas for youth workers to start conversations and connect with teens. Greg Stier of Dare 2 Share Ministries interviewed McKee about his new book and working with teens.

So go check it out. Oh yeah, Monkey Outta Nowhere helped edit the book.

Skinny Tie Day

December 1, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

The Monkey Outta Nowhere world headquarters in St. Paul, Minn. had skinny tie day today. All employees were encouraged to wear a skinny tie in an effort to boost company-wide morale.

The gimmick proved to be popular with most employees and could see a return. It's not clear if skinny tie day will spread to other businesses, but prospects are good.

Monkey Wrote a Novel

December 1, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

It's with great honor and a bit of pride that congratulate our very own Head Monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, for writing a novel. Kevin tackled the 50,000-word novel last month as part of National Novel Writing Month, joining almost 6,000 other winners from around the world.

Kevin managed to complete his first novel in a mere 20 days, thanks to an outpouring of support and lots of caffiene. He's currently copyediting the novel for a quick and dirty self-publishing run (available soon from Cafepress), and plans to pursue a more thorough edit and possible publication in the future. For now the unedited version of the novel is available online.

Pardon Our Dust

September 2, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

If the site looks a bit askew today, it's probably because it is. Monkey Outta Nowhere upgraded to Movable Type 3.1 and the dust is still settling. We hope to have it up and running by the end of the day.

UPDATE: So we're not there yet. We're working on it and we're making progress. This is what Labor Day weekend is for, right?

UPDATE: Well, it took all of Labor Day weekend, but we finally made it. The new and improved blog is up and running. Let us know if you run into a snag or find something that looks goofy, but we should be good to go.

It's Official

May 24, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Monkey Outta Nowhere has filed articles of incorporation with the state of Minnesota and is now a legally recognized Limited Liability Company.

Fancy New Logo

May 6, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Monkey Outta Nowhere is sporting a new logo. Designed with the help of Taylor Design Works, the new identity made its debut at this week's Evangelical Press Association convention in Minneapolis. Watch for the monkey-branded business cards to appear throughout the Twin Cities in business card drawings for free lunches.

Monkey Outta Nowhere Makes the Switch

March 5, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

After years fighting the dreaded blue screen of death and obscure .dll errors, Monkey Outta Nowhere has made the switch to Apple Computers. Dumping the PC was an easy choice for the creative-minded company.

"Now that I've used a Mac, I won't go back," says CEO/Mail Clerk Kevin D. Hendricks. "But I promise not to be one of those psycho Mac fanatics -- I'll keep my proselytizing to a minimum."

Do it eBay -- We do!

January 27, 2004 by Kevin D. Hendricks

Rather than turning to traditional sources of start-up revenue, Monkey Outta Nowhere is turning to the auction site eBay. Outrageous IPOs are a thing of the past, and true Internet giants are raising cash the old fashioned way -- selling their junk.

By liquidating assets, Monkey Outta Nowhere hopes to purchase the proverbial typewriter and begin cranking out work Shakespeare could admire. The sell-offs have included lemonade, cola, and lip balm, as well as a basement full of another man's treasure.

Total eBay earnings have topped a reported $500 to date.