Till I Collapse
by Enimem

Until the roof
The roof comes off
Until my legs
give out from underneath me

I will not fall,
I will stand tall,
Feels like no one could beat me.

Nearly 6 months ago (in 9 days), I announced that I was leaving b5media, a  company where I was the CEO and one of 4 founders, along with 3 other amazing individuals. I then  proceeded to take roughly 6 months of quieter time to work on me, sort through stuff and figure out what I wanted personally and professionally. Note: I highly recommend doing this if you haven’t recently (it’s a central  part of a talk I’m giving with @geekmommy at South by South West).

As I came out of my hardcore “Workcation”, and a month post the transition,  I wrote this post detailing some of my thoughts and whatnot. Looking back  on the post, the thing that stood out (besides my #madwritingskillz) was my thoughts on what I wanted to do:

  1. Figure out what makes you smile, and do more of that
  2. Figure out what makes you stress, and do less of that
  3. Don’t be afraid to fail (I used to live by this, but sometime in the last year I lost it)
  4. Sleep
  5. Friends and family matter

More smiling.

Less stress.

More passion.

More sleep.

More involvement.

What I Wanted

Basically I wanted a job where I could be great, be part of a team, have real work/life balance (cause I’d be more inspired that way) and make a difference in the company and for our clients.

I’ve seen a lot of job opportunities over the last 6 months.  Many of them were amazing, and I felt silly turning them down, but something about each just didn’t feel with my fundamental needs to make a difference, be part of a great team and learn/grow.

Over the last few months, one opportunity has consistently excited me. I could never quite put my finger on “why” until a good and wise friend basically pointed out that if I was still interested even though it wasn’t the best pay, the best title, etc, then I must either be crazy or I must actually give a damn. I really did. And giving a damn about your “job” is actually pretty cool when you get right down to it.

She’s a smart cookie that one. Even if she does say “insurance” and “ambulance” wrong.

So, I talked to the company, we worked out details, and … well, today is Day 1.

What I Got

Today I’ve joined the Thornley Fallis / 76design team. The titles don’t matter. The details don’t matter. What matters is:

  1. The team is Blue Angel incredible. From people I knew rawked like Dave, Michael, Terry and Joe to people I’ve gotten to know very recently that are also incredible like Sarah, Shawn, Jenn, Keelan and Leisha… to people that I haven’t met yet cause I’ve only been here 6 hours… who are also, I’m completely confident, rawkstars.
  2. We’re doing fab work for some incredibly interesting clients. I’m not sure what the kosherness is on naming them, so I’ll just say that our clients are high end companies we’re doing leading edge work for, as well as folk you may never hear of where we’re able to grow and redefine their business. It’s just flat out cool.
  3. I get to learn. Let’s face it, doing new stuff is 3 parts scary and 105 parts just wicked exciting. Doing it in an industry you’ve only worked with tangentially (even if you’ve won gobs of awards and spoken at events in said industry) is even cooler. Getting to learn about marketing, branding and PR from some of the coolest and most knowledgeable people in Canada (if not the entire industry)? Teh hawtness.

This is my first time in a “job” in, like, 6 years. It’s my first time with a “real” desk and an office, well, evar. It’s my first time taking on a senior role in a company I didn’t start, or where I didn’t work my way up through the ranks. But more important than that, it’s my first time working in such a dynamic environment where the team, clients and work are all nsync (see what I did there? #boybandaddict).

Today is Day 1. It was a great day (and it’s nowhere near done). I’m hopped up on something better than redbull: energy and excitement. They should bottle this shit.

PS: HUGE thanks to @jpetersen for helping me fix blog issues to get this up! Total great guy! Here’s his details in case you ever need help ;-)