GatewayRedbirds.com

Wow Geen - good for you. Start your own and take their (your) clients with you! You will do great!

Not sure if you wanted to say, @G. Keenan, but how's it going? Did you decide to do it?

Arthur Dent wrote: ↑

January 4 24, 9:56 am

Not sure if you wanted to say, @G. Keenan, but how's it going? Did you decide to do it?

Yes I did. I submitted my resignation and two weeks notice December 20, which was great because I wasn't scheduled to be back in the office until January 2 anyway. I offered to come in on the 2nd to return work property etc. and say goodbye, but they said to just drop it off in the empty office over the break. Cowards. Couldn't even face me.

It was fortunate that I got to spend my last two weeks with family, out of Chicago, and so got to kind of put some headspace and distance there as soon as I resigned. I feel pretty damn great about it. Yeah, I will get pangs of dread sometimes but I've learned to identify those as fear invading my rational mind.

I've had what I consider a few wins already. Firstly, I didn't want them to be able to establish a narrative to our suppliers about why I left, so at the same time I resigned, I emailed all my best vendors to say a very classy farewell and tell them where to connect with me personally. I didn't tell them the story of course, just thanked them for all their work over the years and told them how to keep in touch. They all reached out to me personally to say they were very surprised by the news, where am I going, and they would like to keep working together. Including a few I didn't expect to get that reply from as they are the longest suppliers to the business by a lot, going back to the mid 90s so long before I got there. They were also just very kind personally so that all felt great. One even remarked they thought I'd been the owner the whole time, lol.

I already have clients ready to give me business, and some have already reached out to me proactively on LinkedIn because they emailed me at the old company and got told I left, so they came and found me. That feels great.

Also managed to pivot from representing the company at a major trade show in Portugal I had set up on their lazy ass behalf, to attending as buyer on my own behalf. I just told the organizers who invited me that I'd left to start my own business and that I understood if they needed someone from my old company to still attend, but they didn't question it at all. Just said come anyway and update your details in the buyer catalogue with your new info. So that's awesome. That feels great.

And my old boss who founded the company and retired in 2015 reached out to say she'd heard through the grapevine I was leaving, asked what my plans were. She offered to introduce me to the owner of a big company here in Chicago she's been close with for 30 years if I'd be interested in working there. So I said sure, that would be great. Hopefully they'll get in touch and if it's a fit, I could pick up some hours there in a low stress way that will get some money coming in so I can feed that into the business instead of taking it out of savings, while leaving me time in the week to keep working on the business, building out the website, etc. I registered my domain this morning.

So I feel like I've started 2024 with some momentum, and it feels really damn good to be in charge of my own destiny, so to speak. I feel more positive, creative, and motivated than I have in a lot of years.

Thanks again guys for the encouragement and feedback. It means a lot. Hope this new year brings you all good things and, if you're looking for them, new beginnings as well.

congrats GK, very cool

Fantastic Keenan. You are a class act and are now reaping the well-deserved rewards. All the best to you!

G. Keenan wrote: ↑

January 5 24, 4:10 pm

So I feel like I've started 2024 with some momentum, and it feels really damn good to be in charge of my own destiny, so to speak. I feel more positive, creative, and motivated than I have in a lot of years.

That’s wonderful. Can’t tell you how happy I am to hear this.

Good work planning your moves and lining up your old contacts for the new venture. Greedy fools want you to be scared, but so much of it is empty [expletive].

Personally, it took me too many years to get serious about fighting the fear and betting that I could succeed on my own path, but so much satisfaction and personal growth results. Hell, [expletive], yeah dude.

I haven't talked much about my wife and I in several years. 10+ years ago, we went through some really big changes that wound up with us not being romantic anymore, and having outside relationships. We really only stayed together for the kids. So now that my youngest is about to be college bound, this is the year we will be splitting for good.

It feels really weird. I've been with her since 1998. Got married in 2000. But we haven't really had a "marriage" for years. In that time, I met someone else, and she has been incredibly patient. So we'll be getting a place together in late summer or early fall.

2024 is a year of big changes for me. I'm excited and nervous, but also sad to be "losing" my last kid.

Congrats to Geen and Geddy!

GeddyWrox wrote: ↑

January 7 24, 4:43 pm

I haven't talked much about my wife and I in several years. 10+ years ago, we went through some really big changes that wound up with us not being romantic anymore, and having outside relationships. We really only stayed together for the kids. So now that my youngest is about to be college bound, this is the year we will be splitting for good.

It feels really weird. I've been with her since 1998. Got married in 2000. But we haven't really had a "marriage" for years. In that time, I met someone else, and she has been incredibly patient. So we'll be getting a place together in late summer or early fall.

2024 is a year of big changes for me. I'm excited and nervous, but also sad to be "losing" my last kid.

Thanks for sharing. I'm sure you're experiencing a swirl of different emotions and memories. I feel like periods in which we are changing, growing, transitioning are some of the most challenging we go through in life. Best wishes to you for this new start and new chapter in your story. Your youngest may be leaving the nest but they will always be your kid and you will always be their father.