Mike Jankowski

Mike Jankowski is not only a veteran member of The Buffalo Chips, but also runs A Cappella Hosting, a company that hosts websites for a number of a cappella groups. Jankowki took the time to answer questions from The A Cappella Blog.

The A Cappella Blog (ACB): Your company, A Cappella Hosting , offers web hosting services a number of collegiate a cappella groups. What has been like to work with these groups? What have you learned along the way? What do you have to offer groups that might be different from other hosting companies?

Mike Jankowski (MJ): There's a running joke between myself and one client: "If I talk to him more than once a month, something is either really wrong or I'm lonely."

In reality, I've found that most groups want autonomy with their web service. They don't want to supervise and take care of every little thing a small business owner would like to take care of. They want to be able to log in, change their news, upload a song, and that's it. Nothing more.

I've learning that if I take care of the little things for these groups, I answer less and less support calls. I just send them an update every month telling them what I've fixed for them or helped improve and they ask about. A cappella groups are much easier to take care of than local businesses, let me just make that clear. It's the general laid-back attitude of most groups that really make this business worthwhile and even fun.

ACB: How has the experience of being a part of a collegiate a cappella group affected the way you run your business, catering in large part to a student base?

MJ: Being a part of the a cappella scene has helped me in more ways than I can
count. I've experienced almost every aspect of college a cappella through the (Buffalo) Chips and I wouldn't trade it for anything. The experience I've gained far outweighs the long rehearsals, sore throats, and cranky mornings after a 4 hour rehearsal. The fact is I know a cappella, and I know what groups need.

I’ve learned how to communicate with students and groups whose members are my age. I’m not going to try to act uptight and unconcerned with your issues. I’m going to be friendly, responsive, and hold a good conversation with you while we are setting up your accounts or taking care of support issues. People want to be understood, not told what to do or wait on a tech to tell them to reboot their computer three times in a row until the problem magically fixes itself.

ACB: What are you getting out of participating in collegiate a cappella? What are your fondest memories so far from the experience?

MJ: Getting to meet so many people, and interact with so many different groups really helps you mature as a person. So many people don’t realize the type of connection you share with other people who sing, that and they don’t understand it.

Having 11 best friends and/or people to beat up on at any moment is a real blessing. The support I get from my group in everything I do really helps me to succeed. I think the fondest memory was winning our ICCA quarterfinal round last year. Yeah, it was quarters, yea we didn't place at semis, but for that one moment being crowned champions—well, that was the best feeling I've ever had.

ACB: What drew you to a cappella in the first place?

MJ: I was in 7th grade and my sisters took me to see my first Chips show. I am
a freak in the way that I watched my future group perform for almost 7 years before I became a member. I was a die-hard a cappella fan, and when I found out how vast the a cappella scene was in college, it just made it even better.

ACB: If you had to describe The Buffalo Chips, in three words, what would they be?

MJ: One word... insanity. They are probably the best group of guys to have around. They voted me President last year for a reason, I'm not too sure what that was, but I'm tried my hardest to do the best job I could.

ACB: Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of The A Cappella Blog?

MJ: I was once asked, "Why is A'Cappella Hosting better than another hosting company?" And at first I couldn't think of any reasons other than the fact that I know a cappella. Then I realized, that IS WHY it makes A'Cappella Hosting better than the average hosting company. Our service is tailored to the groups that don't want to be bothered more than once a month. To the groups who maybe want something on their site, but don't exactly know HOW to do it. I tailor my service for my fellow groups, for my friends. If that isn't a reason alone to join, you can just check out our insanely low
prices. Add in the fact that we do live video and audio recording, editing, and processing and well, we become your one stop shop for getting your projects done. At the end of the day, you can sleep easy because, well I'm not sleeping until everything is done right.

The most important thing I was after with starting AH is consistency among groups. I remember a conversation I had with Dave Brown from CASA. We were talking about how groups might be really great, but some market themselves poorly, and in turn it reflect poorly on the genre. It was my goal to provide consistent, uniform marketing across the board for all my clients, so that they would have an even platform from which to launch a marketing campaign to secure more performances, or to just attract more
fans. Whether you are a huge ICCA winning group, or a small college quartet, we will treat you with first class service, I promise that.

I've noticed a lot of groups either lose their domain names, change their email addresses randomly, or let their contact information slip. I've sent easily, 2000 messages out to groups and about half of those get returned for those reasons. What you can do to prevent this: Get with a domain registrar who wont 'steal' your domain if it expires. Find a host who provides unlimited email addresses. Use the same email and never lose the password!

We can help you with all three of these. We are here to help you get the most out of your website, so follow our tips and suggestions and you'll be on your way to having a great web presence.