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Meet Eric Hill

A Tale of Food, Flavors, and Files!

This is not Eric Hill....

Actor Portrayal.
Eric actually looks nothing like this—but he’s got a great personality!

My professional journey begins in 1985, fresh out of high school and armed with a set of chef knifes, a dream, and the notion that the world was my kitchen. I spent the few years crisscrossing the United States, headbanging for hours to Van Halen while pursuing the art of Southwestern cuisine. I lived and breathed the flavors of the desert—literally, thanks to the occasional overzealous spice experiments and countless nights closing kitchens jamming to Live After Death with John in Santa Fe – see you in October brother! (Yes, every October…I’m consistent like that.)

But life isn’t all green chile and guacamole. Somewhere in the late ’80s, I was lured to Dallas, where I found myself selling perfume door-to-door.  Armed with nothing but a smile and the pitch “Hey, have you seen this yet?” I learned a life-changing lesson: Don’t let things you can’t control affect you. That, and maybe the perfume industry wasn’t my calling. French Fry…Dude…Miss you!

My love for food didn’t fade when I hung up my traveling chef’s hat. These days, I wield my culinary prowess closer to home, I tend to my prized wood-fired pizza oven with the devotion of a fat kid guarding the last slice. It’s not just a cooking tool—it’s a temple where dough becomes art, cheese becomes molten gold, and toppings are arranged with the precision of a conductor. If there’s a pizza hierarchy, my oven is definitely the throne, and I’m the loyal (and often hungry) subject.  My passion for cooking is immortalized on my food and recipe website, manofleisure.info. 

Let’s rewind to 1992, I was back in New Mexico, rediscovering my groove when life took an unexpected pivot. Enter stage left: a second-hand Packard Bell 316XS computer gifted from my father. 

This wasn’t just any computer—it was a relic of a bygone sales office era, reeking of cigars and ozone, with a backstory that could rival any “Mad Men” episode. My apartment paid the price for a month, those smells reminded me of growing up.  I kicked off my career on a 386 with a mind-blowing one megabyte of RAM. Back then, computing wasn’t just a skill—it was a test of patience that could make a Zen monk lose their cool.

I dropped $400 on a whopping 4MB RAM upgrade—all funded by my kitchen job paycheck. And trust me, this was way before the Food Network turned chefs into rock stars. Back then, cooking was less “glamorous TV close-ups” and more “scraping by paycheck to paycheck.” But hey, at least my computer was faster!

I got my first taste of what computers could do. I turned that spark into a flame, producing Newz and Viewz, a fanzine for a local band, Enforcer… Hey Mike (the best guitarist I know), Daniel, Steve and Archie. Thank You Angela for putting up with night after night of button pushing. I used that computer until it caught fire and puffed a billow of smoke that smelled like nicotine and sweat.  Thanks for building me a new one Joey. 

In 1995, I returned to Kansas City, where I honed my design skills in a T-shirt shop and the ad department of the Overland Park Sun newspaper.

In 1996, I co-founded Fiveway Marketing Group,  and joined BeachLifestyle pursuing – Total freedom.  Exquisite happiness. Absolute calm. (The original BeachLifestyle Team- Not the compromised second draft!) Where I worked on projects ranging from small to “why-did-we-agree-to-this?” levels of complexity until 2007. Thanks, Dave, Chris, JMac and GJ for the life lessons in human nature. 

For a while, my personal website development gig soared under the name “The Flying Beagle” (TheFlyingBeagle.com). Shoutout to my late co-pilot, Zia—gone but forever the goodest mascot. 🐾  Big shoutout to Todd and Ryan for keeping it fun and to Jared, for all the birdies, bogeys, and unforgettable moments in between.

An early Fiveway Marketing Group project for a printing company set the stage for a long-term partnership—when that company transitioned to marketing websites in 2007, I became their lead white-label developer and haven’t looked back. Hey Dennis it’s already the 10th.

Over the years, I have worn many hats, from video editor to e-commerce integrator. conference call recording and host Managed servers, secured websites, transferred domains, and even dabbled in social media template design and logistics helping clients from product design, packaging, production and shipping. If there’s a digital problem, I likely have a solution—and maybe a recipe to pair with it.

Today, I am the button pusher behind Total New Media, blending my love for creativity, technology, and culinary delights into a life that’s as flavorful as my cooking. Whether I’m crafting a seamless website or a perfect bacon, blueberry, and caramelized onion pizza, I’m proving that life, like a good recipe, is all about balance, passion, and a dash of humor…

Well maybe more than a dash.

This is where you come in!

Congratulations, you found me! Now that you know a little about me, the real question is: what are you going to do about it?

If you’re looking for a webmaster with a wall full of shiny certificates and diplomas, I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong Wi-Fi signal—I’m not that guy.

My walls are decked out with treasures far more thrilling than just certificates and diplomas. (Well, I have those too.) I’ve got a beer can collection that could rival the Louvre (if the Louvre served IPAs), a suspiciously long scroll of Wi-Fi passwords that makes me look like a digital pirate and an assortment of Yondu-worthy “baubles” from across my galaxy. All of this is wrapped in a 7.1 Dolby Atmos sound system that packs so much power, it’s earned me more than one “turn it down, Dad!”. 

Long Live Z-Rock… If its too loud your too old.

If you’re after someone who’s rolled up their sleeves and delivered dozens of WordPress websites on time, on budget, and with a sprinkle of genius? Well then, we need to talk. Let’s get your site “webmastered” the right way. (Yes, I just made “webmastered” a verb. You’re welcome.)

I Build Awesome Websites.

Choosing Total New Media and Eric Hill means partnering with a dedicated, experienced professional who truly cares about the success of your online presence.

Based in Raymore, just south of Kansas City, Eric brings years of expertise in designing, building, and managing WordPress websites — whether you’re looking for a stunning new site or need ongoing support for your existing one.

From seamless eCommerce integration to reliable maintenance and personalized service, Eric is the right guy for the job. Let’s create a website that not only meets your needs but exceeds your expectations.

I don’t miss agreed deliverable’s.

Choose Total New Media!

And now the much anticipated definition of a webmaster:

A webmaster is basically the Swiss Army knife of the internet world—part tech wizard, part content wrangler, part digital janitor. Their job is to keep websites running smoother than a freshly Zambonied ice rink. Here’s what they do:

  1. Technical Maintenance: Keeping the site’s gears greased with updates, plugins, and bug fixes so nothing catches fire (literally or figuratively).

  2. Content Management: Uploading articles, images, or videos, and occasionally saving clients from Comic Sans disasters.

  3. Design and Development: Tweaking layouts and adding features because “my cousin’s blog looks cooler” is not an acceptable comparison.

  4. Performance Monitoring: Keeping tabs on site speed, uptime, and whether visitors are actually sticking around—or bouncing like it’s trampoline practice.

  5. Troubleshooting: Fixing broken links, error messages, and all the other little gremlins that love to mess with websites.

  6. SEO Optimization: Translating “make it Google-friendly” into something that doesn’t involve a sacrifice to the algorithm gods.

  7. User Support: Answering questions like, “Why doesn’t my site work on Internet Explorer?” without visibly rolling their eyes.

In short, a webmaster is the unsung hero of the internet, making sure your website doesn’t just exist but thrives—preferably without looking like it time-traveled from 1998.