The post Christmas let down

Well here were are...the ham has been eaten, the presents have been opened, and it looks as though Santa and the elves were on a bender and got sick all over my house. Truth be told, we had an absolutely fantastic Christmas this year. Sure there weren't as many big gifts and we kept pretty well to our budget...hedging our bets against the upcoming year. However, the family togetherness really made up for any material short comings.

Having this time together before I head down to North Carolina really made this holiday season magical. There is only one problem with having this type of Christmas...it's going to make it just that much harder to leave for NC on Sunday. While I am looking forward to taking on this new challeng, being away from the family is going to be very, very, hard.

Carrie and are preparing for the next several months both together and individually. There are practical things to take care of...lining up someone to walk TJ to school in the morning, making a weeks worth of lunches, ensuring our family calendars are in sync. Personal preparations for me have included repacking my office that I cleared out from my old job, packing the clothes that I will need, making sure my car is ready to go. Carries preparations have been more mental I think...steeling herself against the new realities, praying for a healthy winter and spring, and setting up her local support network.

Its going to be interesting to see how we each deal with the challenges ahead. Im sure with the support of our friends and family and our Faith that we will be able to weather anything.

An end has come...

Well it has finally come. My transition is complete. My office is packed and now lives in my basement. The goodbyes have been said. My company property has been returned. My exit interview is over. I am officially unemployed. As my father-in-law says...not such a great trick in this economy. But thinking back, besides the brief period of time after I graduated from college, this next week or so will be the first time that I have ever been truly unemployed. Quite monumental if you ask me.

You're probably expecting me to get all teary eyed and sappy but it aint gonna to happen. I'm happier then I have been in quite a while. I feel like I am leaving on a high note and embarking on something even better. I couldn't be happier. Well maybe if I weren't facing the daunting honey-do-list that my wife has presented me with I could be a little happier. Anyway life has a way of going on.

I may be leaving but I have been left with a lot too. I am a stronger person then when I started. I have succeeded in the face of adversity. I have learned patience. I have learned forgiveness. I have learned not to judge a book by it's cover. I have learned humility. I have leaned how to rely on others and how to be reliable. I have learned skills that will stick with me no matter what endeavor I choose. I am a better man then I was 9 years ago.

North Carolina here I come!

Old Things have passed away...

Did I mention that I am frustrated with my current job? This frustration certainly led to my decision to leave my current employer and most certainly contributed to my desire to pursue a new business. Last night, my coworkers held a happy hour in my honor to send me off on my new adventure. I was struck by the flood of mixed emotions that I experienced through the evening. I may be frustrated by my current employment situation, but I have spent more time with this group of people in the last 9 years then just about anyone on the planet.

As a group we have literally been to hell and back over the years. We have seen mergers, acquisitions, and IPO's. We have won large contracts and lost large contracts. When I joined the company in November of 2001 I was somewhere around employee number 12. We had enough money in the bank for about four months of operating expenses (give or take). Of course during the interview I was told that we had at least a year. Anyhow...that's how it goes with tech startups.

As my last day draws closer, I have been struck again and again by affirmations that I am doing the right thing. I am left with no doubt tha I am doing the best thing for both my family and myself. The last few years have been very difficult and I have found myself being more and more depressed, short with the kids, and generally not being the leader that my family has needed me to be. The simple (or not so simple) decision to resign and pursue my own business has caused my heart to be lightened in a way that I didn't think possible. I know in my heart that I am making the right decision regardless of the outcome of the business.

All in all my experience at my current employer was phenomenal. I learned more then I ever thought possible. It has afforded me amazing opportunities to grow both personally and professionally. As I have told every person over the years that has ever reported to me, in any job you will experience both good and bad things. It is the responsibility of the individual to learn from all of it. I have certainly experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly but through it all I have learned lessons from it all!

Genisis...the Back Story

We'll here we are...you know a little bit about me. You know that I have made a major life decision that will likely affect the lives of my immediate family for years to come. You know that I see enough humor and drama in the situation to blog about it. I think that in order for you to have the proper context I will have to impart at least some of the back story. I apologize for the length of this post…if you want the crib notes just skip to the last paragraph.

For those of you that know me, I am sure that you can probably guess that this adventure started over a bottle of wine. Actually it may have been a couple bottles of cheap (2 Buck Chuck!?!) wine but I have a hard time recalling…well....anyway moving on. My dad and I had talked many times about going into business together if the right opportunity ever presented itself. Well, the right opportunity presented itself in the most unlikely of places...on my front porch.

Before we get much further I need to introduce my Dad. My father is an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word. As long as I can remember he has been his own boss or reported to a member of the family...which in all reality is an another story all together. Through my childhood, adolescence, and teenage years I watched my father struggle to keep his enterprises afloat without sacrificing what is now called work/life balance. Sometimes he failed but much more often he succeeded. Through everything, he always demonstrated a dedication, loyalty, and unflagging good nature that carried the family through both good times and bad. Growing up in this environment, one would expect that I would want to follow in his footsteps...that's probably why I got my degree in biology.

Dad’s most recent endeavor started over a decade ago after a series of unsuccessful ventures (Again a story for another time...maybe there will be a guest blogger in our future). He started a little employment focused, free publication called Triangle Job Finder. Over many years this business expanded and contracted and evolved to be a very efficient publication with a fantastic staff of dedicated, hardworking employees. They publish papers in 8 other markets across the US. They have survived through two recessions and at the end of each, the company has emerged stronger and more efficient; ready to take on the next challenge as it comes. It is near the end of the second recession that we pick up the story over cheap wine on a porch in the suburbs of Washington DC.

As is often the case, we were talking about the trials and tribulations of our respective jobs. Mine at a high tech company catering to the large wireless carriers of the world and his overseeing his, um...Media Empire. Dad recognized the need to diversify his company to try and smooth out the peaks and valleys that affect a business that is 100% dependent on the health of the economy. There are two obvious ways to accomplish this; one is expanding the existing publication and the other is diversification. For Dad's current business, expansion would involve opening new markets in other metropolitan cities in the US. Diversification would mean finding a new publication or business line that differs from the current publication but can utilize much of the same infrastructure that has already been created. He views this latter model as the model that will help to insulate his business from the volatility of the US economy.

As it turns out, Dad had an idea that he had been talking with his partners about. His partners however were more focused on expanding into new markets than working on a new and potentially risky venture. He was envisioning a paper that was similar in nature to the existing paper but focused on providing an inexpensive way for apartments and other rental properties to reach a wider audience with time sensitive advertisements such as specials and current rents. My first thought was that there were plenty of places for apartments to advertise that were already entrenched and successful. How would this publication be able to compete with the likes of Apartment Finder or The Apartment Guide, which published huge, glossy magazines with all sorts of glitz and glamor? As it turns out these publications are published on a bi-monthly, quarterly, or even semi-annual schedule. Therefor these glossies contain basic information about the properties but they do not contain any time sensitive information like rents or specials. Sounds like a niche to me.

Soon we parted ways but after a couple of weeks I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Whenever I had some mental down time my brain seemed to return to it, exploring angles, possibilities, and the feasibility of something like this. As the summer wore on I became more and more frustrated with my job, which again is a story for another time. Dad and I started having regular discussions about how this could work. I even took vacation time to research the idea both in the DC area and the NC Triangle area. After becoming more and more convinced that something like this could work, Dad and I set about beginning the arduous task of planning a new venture and a new company.

There…that just about catches us up to the present. Sorry for the long winded explanation but I just didn’t feel that “We’re starting a business” quite captured it accurately. So for the folks that just skipped over the above, here is the short version. Me...My Dad...Bottle of Wine...New Business". If you want more information just read it above. :)

In the Beginning...

OK...so I've decided to write a blog. This is something I have toyed with doing for quite sometime but frankly despite having 3 kids, a dog, and a wife (not necessarily in order of importance) I haven't had much in my life recently worth blogging about. That all is changing...

First let's get some preliminaries out of the way...

This is me and my patient and hugely supportive wife:

This is the rest of my wonderful family:

And these are my parents:

All of the above folks are going to figure highly in the saga that I am embarking on.

Now with the preliminaries out of the way, what exactly am I doing with my life? Well, I am leaving my current job as a director at a high tech firm, where I have direct P&L responsibility for millions of dollars in yearly revenue, and starting a publishing company focused on apartment related advertising. My partner in this new adventure is going to be my Dad. Oh and did I mention that this venture is going to be located 300 miles from where I live?

I am trading a nice office, with nice furniture, and a view overlooking a pond, for at best a windowless office in a non-descript office park in Cary, North Carolina.

Yeah...and another thing...I am moving back in with my parents!?!

So, considering that I am going to be working at least part time 300 miles from my family, engaging in a start-up with my father in an business environment that I know little about, and did I mention that I am going to be living at home in my old room...I think that there is going to be enough drama and humor to go around. I hope that I am able to write an engaging blog that you will want to check out day after day.

Thanks for reading and as always thanks for your prayers!