Company News Archives

Love Will Find a Way

February 28, 2013

Allison Vesterfelt invited me to write a guest post on her blog about my new book, 137 Books in One Year. I shared the truth that if you love something, you'll find a way to do it.


137 Books in One Year

January 29, 2013

We're in the midst of launching a new book project, 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading. We'll be offering the digital version for free from Feb. 5-7 on Amazon. Read more about the project.


Kids Creating Stuff Online eBook

January 11, 2013

iThemes has released a new ebook we wrote, Kids Creating Stuff Online: Inspiring the Innovators of the Future.


100-Acre Expansion at Trout Lake Camps

December 19, 2012

Trout Lake Camps, a Christian camp in North-Central Minnesota, announced a 100-acre expansion today, in a letter we helped write. We've been doing content writing for Trout since 2007, helping with fundraising, events, announcements and more.


The Stephanies

November 12, 2012

We recently published The Stephanies, a children's book written by our own Kevin D. Hendricks and his 6-year-old daughter about two girls named Stephanie who don't get along very well.


Halloween & All Saints' Day

November 2, 2012

Posted a pair of holiday blog entries for Church Marketing Sucks this week, exploring scary church marketing and All Saints' Day heroes.


Getting Started

October 18, 2012

I'm in the midst of a new series for Church Marketing Sucks, exploring how churches can get started in communication. So far the series is up to nine interviews and counting.


Web Hosting eBook

September 10, 2012

Recently wrote the free ebook, How to Pick Web Hosting Without a Computer Science Degree, for iThemes.


Olympic Church Lessons

August 13, 2012

Did a quick round of Olympic blogging this morning, covering lessons for the church from the 2012 Summer Olympics.


Bass Law

June 28, 2012

Started editing email newsletters for Bass Law this week. It's fun to work with lawyers who create helpful and readable content.


Speaking at Social Media Shepherds

June 27, 2012

Last week I had the opportunity to share at the Social Media Shepherds gathering. Check out a recap of the conversation.


Power to the Pews Presentation

June 11, 2012

I'll be speaking at the next Social Media Shepherds event in Minneapolis, sharing a presentation based on the recent Power to the Pews series on Church Marketing Sucks.


Power to the Pews

June 7, 2012

Finished up the Power to the Pews series at Church Marketing Sucks today.


Table in the Star Trib

May 29, 2012

The Table Project scored some more local press with an article in the Star Tribune on Sunday.


Storify: Creative Missions 2012

May 24, 2012

Having fun this week using Storify to collect tweets and pics from the Creative Missions trip on Church Marketing Sucks. Good stuff.


Power to the Pews Series

May 8, 2012

Started a new series over at Church Marketing Sucks about http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/2012/05/power-to-the-pews-guerrilla-church-marketing/">how lay people can market their church.


Christian Post Interview

May 1, 2012

Did an interview with the Christian Post today, trying to say something smart about church marketing.


Prayer Video

April 25, 2012

The Table Project released a short film about prayer today. It's pretty amazing. Stoked we get to work with this little firecracker.


Little Guys Can Do Big Things Too

April 20, 2012

One of my contributions to the book Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communication has been reprinted by Managing Your Church.


Copy Matters Series

April 19, 2012

Finished up the Copy Matters series over at Church Marketing Sucks. You can now read the entire 13-part series.


Foursquare Connection Feature

April 13, 2012

Wrote a quick feature for the upcoming Foursquare convention: 24 Ways to Get the Most Out of Connection 2012.


Top 200 Church Blogs

April 10, 2012

Church Marketing Sucks is named one of the top 200 church blogs of 2012. Always amazed it makes this list.


Sharing with Students

April 5, 2012

Talking to a class at Bethel University about writing today. Had to dress up and put on my writer clothes.


And the Winner Is...

April 2, 2012

The Table Project's Birthday Video Contest came to an end last week and we shared the winning videos. It's fun to share these stories.


Table on the Front Page of the Pioneer Press

March 26, 2012

Nice to see a complimentary story about the Table Project on the front page of the Pioneer Press.


10 Practical Writing Tips

March 23, 2012

Another entry in the Copy Matters series, 10 Practical Writing Tips.


Learning Email

March 20, 2012

Spent some time diving deep on MailChimp (ah, kindred spirits) today to help a client get more out of their email newsletters.


Contacts into Contracts

March 16, 2012

Re-purposed a few resources for iThemes to pull together another ebook: Turning Contacts into Contracts.


Learning from Mistakes

March 15, 2012

Sometimes you make mistakes. We made one this week. The important thing is to find a solution, learn a lesson and move forward. More details on the personal blog.


Education Ebook

March 13, 2012

Interviewed some people smarter than me and wrote this new ebook for iThemes: Best Practices in Web Development Instruction (958 KB, PDF).


Asking Questions at the Table

March 12, 2012

Wrote a quick post for the Table about asking questions. It's one of the first in a series of Table Tips aimed more at regular users than admins.


New CMS Post on Benefits vs. Features

March 7, 2012

New post at Church Marketing Sucks urges writing on benefits over features. It's based on my not-so-fun experience cell phone shopping.


Copy Matters Series

March 5, 2012

Launched a new series for Church Marketing Sucks about writing. Why care about copy? In the beginning was the Word...


Copy for AutoFlipr

March 2, 2012

Check out AutoFlipr. They launched yesterday and we helped massage the video script and much of the web copy.


Good Design

March 1, 2012

Just saw the finished design for a new Trout Lake Camps newsletter. I love working with good designers and seeing finished products. Good words look so much better with good design.


Writing About Writing

February 29, 2012

Writing about writing today. Creating a long-overdue series for Church Marketing Sucks.


Improving Email Newsletters

February 28, 2012

Fine tuning email newsletters trying to improve click thru rates, which truly feels like monkeying around.


Church Comm Heroes

February 27, 2012

Loving the new series we're doing on heroes over at Church Marketing Sucks.


Telling Stories

February 24, 2012

Writing for Trout Lake Camps is always fun because they've learned the importance of collecting and telling stories.


Happy Birthday Table!

February 23, 2012

One year ago today the Table publicly launched and one year ago tomorrow we started blogging for them. Happy Birthday Table!


We Rock Amateur Video

February 22, 2012

Launched a video contest for the Table, complete with its own video. We'd rather be writing, but we rock amateur video.


Publishing Panel

January 19, 2011

The next meeting of the networking group Social Media Breakfast in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (SMBMSP) will feature a panel on publishing including our own Kevin D. Hendricks. Our head monkey is honored to be included on the panel with three other local publishing pros. The event is on Friday, Jan. 28 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel.


Monkey in a Box

December 20, 2010

We're trained to write, edit and roller-skate. But what does that mean for you? Telling clients we do writing and editing doesn't always give a clear picture of how we can help.

So we've put together some simple packaged services. They give a clear idea of what we do, who needs it, why you need it and what it costs.

The idea is that you can easily see how Monkey Outta Nowhere can work for you.

We're all about content that tells your story and connects with people. Check out our packages and let's connect.


New Book Project: Open Our Eyes

November 2, 2010

Monkey Outta Nowhere is proud to launch a second book project of 2010. After Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters successfully raised more than $5,700 to build a well in Ethiopia, now we're releasing Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness on Nov. 9 to support InvisiblePeople.tv.

The book offers a gritty glimpse into the life of homelessness, sharing personal stories from 35 homeless people. It's an opportunity to move beyond the stereotypes and see that homeless people are still people.

"I put a smile on my face for my kids' sake," says Cecilia, a homeless mother of two. "My biggest challenge is to be a successful mother."

Interspersed with those real life stories are reflections from social media experts, nonprofit heroes, technology executives and more, sharing their perspective on homelessness and the work of homeless advocate Mark Horvath, founder of InvisiblePeople.tv. You'll also find common myths about homelessness debunked and suggestions for how you can get involved.

It's a manual to motivate action and 100% of the proceeds will go to the nonprofit InvisiblePeople.tv.

Contributors include: Brad Abare, Chris Brogan, Wendy Cohen, Lee Fox, Jessica Gottlieb, Alan Graham, David Henderson, Jeff Holden, Michael Ian, Becky Kanis, Natalie Profant Komuro, Jeff Lilley, Geoff Livingston, Heather Meeker, Brandon Mendelson, Stefanie Michaels, Scott Monty, Shannon Moriarty, Chloe Noble, Stephanie Rudat, Kari Saratovsky, Lisa Truong, Nedra Weinreich and Scott Williams.


Blog Action Day: Clean Water

October 15, 2010

Today is Blog Action Day, when thousands of blogs are talking about the same topic to raise awareness and promote conversation and change. That topic is clean water, something we heartily support.

As part of Blog Action Day our own Kevin D. Hendricks wrote two blog posts for HalogenTV, one announcing the coming event and one talking about why he cares about water.


Father's Day Feature

June 21, 2010

Yesterday the Pioneer Press did a Father's Day feature on our own Kevin D. Hendricks and his new book, Addition by Adoption. The article, Tweet Dad: West St. Paul father writes about his kids’ lives 140 characters at a time, covers how Hendricks works at home with the kids and connects with adults through social media.


I Wrote a Book with Twitter

May 27, 2010

The promotion of the book Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters continues with a guest post by our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, on the Twitter tips site Twitip. Twitip is run by ProBlogger founder Darren Rowse, who is regularly featured for making a six-figure income as a blogger. As of today the guest post had been re-tweeted 116 times.


OurChurch Guest Post

April 27, 2010

Our own head monkey Kevin D. Hendricks wrote a guest post for OurChurch.com exploring the idea of online evangelism. It's part of a series for Internet Evangelism Day, which was on Sunday, April 25.


Twitter Book: Addition by Adoption

April 9, 2010

Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 CharactersMonkey Outta Nowhere is again venturing into the world of publishing with our first nonfiction title. Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140-Characters comes from our head monkey Kevin D. Hendricks. It's a curated selection of tweets (posts to the social media site Twitter) about life with kids, the causes Kevin's family has been drawn to and their adoption journey. The 82-page book will be available for pre-order April 13-20 and will be available on Amazon.com beginning May 11. A portion of the proceeds from the project will go to charity: water to build a well in Ethiopia.

The book features cover design by Brian White of TriLion Studios and interior design by Ronald Cox.


Color4aCause: Helping Haiti

January 22, 2010

Last week's earthquake in Haiti has prompted an out-pouring of response, including donations, humanitarian trips and all manner of charity and fund-raising projects. Our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, has enlisted the help of his 4-year-old daughter Lexi and launched Color4aCause.

Lexi draws pictures to encourage visitors to donate to Haiti relief efforts. Make a donation, get a picture. It's that simple. In the first week $635 has been raised. So far Lexi has drawn 26 pictures.

The money raised is going to the relief efforts of Kevin's church, Messiah Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minn., which has a 20-year partnership with organizations in Haiti.

In addition to making a donation and getting a picture, the site also invites other children to color for a cause and submit their own pictures.

Kevin admitted it's a crazy idea on his personal blog, noting how quickly the idea came together. He formulated the idea on Friday, recruited designer and coder Ben Jordan to design and build the site and it went live Sunday night.

The site also has a Twitter feed and Facebook group to keep fans updated. Color4aCause has been featured by We Life Simply and Halogen TV.


Bloggers to Watch in 2010

January 19, 2010

Our own head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks, was chosen as one of 11 Kingdom Bloggers to Watch in 2010. He's in some pretty renowned company there.


5 Year Anniversary: Yo-Yo's

December 7, 2009

Monkey Outta Nowhere Yo-Yo'sThis past year Monkey Outta Nowhere celebrated five years in business. That's quite an accomplishment, especially with the current economy. In celebration we printed up Monkey Outta Nowhere yo-yo's and sent them off to our long-standing clients. It's something we've wanted to do since the very beginning and we're thrilled to finally have the excuse to do it.

Along with the yo-yo's we included this explanation:

A shiny black yo-yo danced on a Chicago street corner in the summer of 1999. On the other end of the string was a skinny college kid working weekends as a street performer. The passing crowds would pause, kids staring in wide-eyed wonder as the yo-yo flew and spun in utter defiance of gravity. They left pocket change for the yo-yo man, enabling him to pay the bills his unpaid internship couldn't.

That summer the yo-yo earned the money, but the internship launched a career. It gave that skinny college kid the experience, the contacts and the confidence to succeed and one day launch his own company.

That one day came in 2004 when Monkey Outta Nowhere began. That yo-yo man was our founder and head monkey, Kevin D. Hendricks. It only seems appropriate to celebrate Monkey Outta Nowhere's five-year anniversary with the enclosed party favors. We hope you'll join us in celebration.

Happy Holidays and Many Thanks.

-Monkey Outta Nowhere

You can see more pictures of the entire packaging and mailing process.

Thanks to everyone who made five years possible. I'm truly humbled to be able to serve you all by doing what I love. Thank you.

Update And it doesn't get much cooler than seeing clients sharing and enjoying your present. OK, multiple clients sharing and enjoying your present. And adding it to a collection of desk toys. And taking a well deserved yo-yo break.

And now for a little bit of our own yo-yo fun:

You can also watch our head monkey doing some more advanced tricks.


New Monkey Outta Nowhere Business Cards

November 9, 2009

My new company business cardsWe just ordered some slick new business cards. Check 'em out. Designed by Michael Buckingham of Holy Cow Creative, the back of the cards feature some of the major projects we work on. It's a great solution and should keep head monkey Kevin D. Hendricks from having to juggle multiple cards. He talks more about the new cards on his personal blog.


UnSummit, Cultivate & Story: Oh My!

October 31, 2009

We run a pretty tight ship around here at Monkey Outta Nowhere, but in the last month we've splurged and attended three conferences: UnSummit in Minneapolis and Cultivate and Story in Chicago.

OK, UnSummit is a free anti-conference so we didn't exactly splurge to attend that one. But it still takes time and effort to get there. The day-long Saturday event sparked lots of thinking and ideas, primarily about social media and marketing, and offered a great chance to meet local people. Specific lessons from UnSummit can be found on my personal blog.

Cultivate and Story were two church communications conferences in Chicago (OK, Story was really 40 miles outside Chicago in Aurora). And OK, I didn't really splurge for those either--Cultivate is cheap and I scored a free ticket to Story. But Monkey Outta Nowhere did have to shell out for daycare, travel and lodging, so this wasn't a cheap trip. I've been working in the church communications field since 2004 when I started editing the church communications blog Church Marketing Sucks. In that time I haven't attended any church communications events, so this was a great chance to dive in and meet people I've followed online for years. Both events, though very different, had incredible content. I also share lessons from Cultivate and Story on my personal blog.


Web Site Tweaks

October 24, 2009

We've made a few tweaks around the ol' Monkey Outta Nowhere web site:

All small, quick changes that hopefully bring our site in line with some of the web advice we've been sharing lately. And more importantly, they should make our site a little more effective.


Movie Review: I Can Do Bad All By Myself

October 1, 2009

I recently reviewed Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself for the teen site PlanetWisdom.


Blogging for WebDesign.com

September 12, 2009

Earlier this year I started blogging to help launch the new site WebDesign.com. I've written a number of entries about how web sites can help small businesses. Here's a quick sample of the better entries:

And that's just a quick overview. Visit WebDesign.com for more.


Dora's Mexican Restaurant

July 2, 2009

As I mentioned on my personal blog, we're teaming up with a local restaurant, Dora's Mexican Restaurant, to help them navigate the online world and boost business. We're going with a bare bones web site (we're talking textbook bootstrapping here) and free tools like Twitter and a Facebook page.

This is one of the rare times when Monkey Outta Nowhere actually builds a web site. As anyone can tell, we're not known for our coding skills. But it works, and what we're really offering here is strategy, content and execution. We're hoping the 'tell a friend' impact of social media paired with content (daily specials, offers and updates) will bring people through Dora's door.


Summer Movie Reviews

June 30, 2009

Summer movie season is in full swing and I stepped up to the plate for the teen site PlanetWisdom, writing reviews on Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian and the Eddie Murphy flick Imagine That.


Recent Church Marketing Sucks Posts

June 24, 2009

While I've been involved in the nonprofit church communications blog Church Marketing Sucks since its humble beginnings in 2004, I've had more of a behind-the-scenes, editorial role in the past year or so and have done less blogging. But in the past month I've written my fair share of new blog entries:


More Movie Reviews

May 15, 2009

Another pair of movie reviews has gone live, Obsessed and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past at the teen site PlanetWisdom.


Movie Review: Push

February 16, 2009

Last weekend I reviewed the super-powered Push for the teen site PlanetWisdom. It was a fun little bit of popcorn action, but don't try thinking too hard. As one reviewer lamented, "Not even a drunk Dakota Fanning can save this mediocre sci-fi thriller."


Movie Review: Taken

February 6, 2009

Last weekend I got to see the Liam Neeson flick Taken and write a review for the teen site PlanetWisdom. You can read my review of the vengeance-fueled action thriller online, though perhaps the most important line is this comment: "Most victims of human trafficking don't have Liam Neeson to go all CIA operative on their captors." That sad reality makes what would have been another violent action movie much more poignant.


Happy Holidays 2008

December 18, 2008

White-faced Saki MonkeySay hello to our white-faced saki monkey. In celebration of the holiday season Monkey Outta Nowhere sponsored the fuzzy little primate from the nearby Como Zoo. Our sponsorship helps support a local urban zoo that's a great family-friendly, low-cost attraction. Plus--monkeys!

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


2008 Highlights from the Head Monkey

December 9, 2008

As the year winds down I thought it might be fun to share highlights from the personal blog or our Head Monkey, yours truly. Not all of these are business related, but they don't always have to be (that's why they're on the personal blog). But sometimes it just helps to know more about who you're dealing with.

So, I present highlights from the personal blog of Kevin D. Hendricks:

It's been a busy year.


Homeless For a Night

December 3, 2008

An article about my experience being homeless for a night was recently published in the online webzine Wrecked for the Ordinary. In the article I shared the lessons learned from a night sleeping outside in Minnesota in October. Spoiler alert: I didn't have a good time.


Blogging on Church Comm Pro

November 7, 2008

The Church Communications Pro blog just posted my series of four posts about church web sites that work:

It's (hopefully) good information about how churches can make the most of the web, and really the same principles can be applied to any organization.


Interviewed on Something Beautiful Podcast

July 18, 2008

Our own Head Monkey Kevin D. Hendricks (hey, that's me!) appears on the latest Something Beautiful podcast. The hour long conversation includes Church Marketing Sucks, the founding of Monkey Outta Nowhere, adoption and more.


WP vs. MT Blog Post for iThemes.com

June 4, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

poster2th.jpgOne 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

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

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

More fun at the office: The End of World Wide Pictures, a tweaked desktop from a screenshot of a WWP movie.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

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

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

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

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


Adopting an Emperor Tamarin

December 21, 2006

Emperor Tamarin. Photo from Como Zoo.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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2005_03_20pioneersmall.jpgOur 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

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

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

Self-Promotional DayToday 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

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

Do They Run When They See You Coming by Jonathan McKeeThe 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

Skinny Tie Day. Why? Why not?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

National Novel Writing Month WinnerIt'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

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

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

Monkey Outta Nowhere!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

Monkey Outta Nowhere switches to Mac.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

eBayRather 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.