It's been a while

I've not updated this blog in well over a year - don't know that I've really had much to say... at least not anything worth your time to read (or my time to write).

But the update goes a little something like this:

Back in May of 2010, I was promoted out of my role as a Project Manager at Performance Display into the role as a full-time Account Manager (sales). At the time, no change was made as far as compensation, so I could get some breathing room while I worked to develop my sales. To kick off this exciting change, I immediately embarked on a massive 10-day road trip first to KC to meet with a client there. After that, I drove to Ft. Worth TX and met up with Jeff Sheeks (our Millwork Manger) and we installed a donor feature at the Joan Katz Breast Cancer Center located at Baylor All Saints Medical Center. From there, we departed for Austin to meet up with Jeff's brother and sister in-law (where we also stayed, which was sweet because their home was tip-top). Two days later it was off to Houston to visit the old man and then back to Dallas by way of a small town in East Texas not far from the Louisiana border. Then back to Des Moines with a stop in Wichita to meet with my friend Malcolm and his colleagues and then again in KC for dinner.

It was an awesome trip and Jeff and I had a great time. But a big reason it was such a good trip, was my travelling companion. I dare say that Jeff is one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of working with and the friendship we have forged will continue for many years to come.

After Texas, other travels included Peoria, IL (also with Jeff) and South Bend, IN. Both trips were good, but not nearly as epic as that 10-day adventure to the lone star state.

Then in July, I travelled to Las Vegas to attend a trade show for the Sport Fishing Industry. I had previously worked for a display project for a guy named Ric Hawthorne who was teh Marketing Manager for a company called American Rodsmiths. Prior to the show, Ric resigned his position citing frustration with senior management (and for enduring deliquent paychecks). He called me one afternoon to tell me of this development and suggested that if I could get to the show in Vegas, he would be there working his network for a new position and would be happy to walk the show with me and introduce me to planty of potential clients.

I arrived in Vegas, checked into my hotel, and before long was enjoying a drink with Ric at the hotel bar followed by dinner. The rest of the trip had it's own moments of interest (and instances of stupidity on my part), but those are tales best left for some other post. The important thing to come out of my trip to Nevada was teh fast friendship formed with Ric, which would later come into play and have a major impact on the direction of my life.

Summer slowly melted into fall, with additonal travels to South Carolina and Minnesota for work, and to Colorado for fun. As fall became winter, we began to notice that our fiscal year was looking catastrophic with several major programs falling through that we had been counting on. Because of that, immediate steps were taken to trim budgets across the board - the biggest being a mandatory 10% pay cut for every single salaried employee. Only an hour after that pay cut was announced, my boss also informed me that I would have to flipped over to a comission based compensation and gave me a time frame of just over a month. The initial pay cut I could endure, the commission switch proved to be too much.

By early December I had eaten through all of my savings and was forced to start living off of my credit card. In additon to that, I had to knowingly decide which bills I would pay, and which ones I could not. I knew then that this was not a situation that could last, but I was hoping to be able to buy enough time for some larger projects to hit.

While of this was playing out, I was also grappling with an opportunity that was developing out in California. Ric Hawthorne had decided in late fall to go into business for himself and, with his adopted mother's financial backing, began laying the groundwork to bring a new product to market. He indicated to me in one of our many chats that he'd like to bring me on board as National Sales Manager with the option to own a stake in the company (and eventually become full-partner). As part of this, he and Marlene felt it wise to fly me out to California to meet and discuss - which I did in early December.

We all agreed to the basic terms of what I would be looking for and with that, I flew back to Iowa with the ball in their court to confirm their numbers and formally make the offer. As the holidays approached, it was becoming more and more obvious to me that my tenure at Performance Display would not continue much longer, and I kept hoping to get official word from Ric and Marlene so I could make a firm decision. I would have to keep waiting.

December roared into January with still no word. Finally though, I got a message from Ric that Marlene wanted me to give her a call to finalize the numbers and get an offer on the table. We spoke, agreed to the scope, and I left it with saying that I wanted to take a few days to mull it over and just make sure. I made the trip to KC that weekend where my mom and I had a good chance to kick it around - and the decision was "go for it".

So as January 2011 starts it's exit, I write this having just given formal notice at work yesterday that in the next few weeks I will be leaving Iowa and heading out to California to try something completely terrifying and new.

It's kind of weird to know that I will soon be gone from everything I know in the midwest and starting from scratch in a place I never in a million years thought I'd live. I hoep to find my way out to Denver within a year or so, but that will all depend on how things go with this new venture...

Many updates to come I'm sure! Stay tuned...