Life-in-Progress

We are now almost officially at our two year anniversary in Austin.  I can say, without a doubt, that it’s been an amazing rollercoaster — not one that I ever would have knowingly signed up for, but one for which I am immensely grateful, in spite of its rockiest moments.

In the past two years, we moved to a new town, started a consulting business, began building a web startup, and adopted a cat (which, for anyone who knows me, knows that is the most bizarre thing on this list).  In addition, I’ve been through more not-quite-fits as potential jobs, decided I didn’t want to work for someone else, then decided I did at least five different times.

I’ve learned what made me love my favorite past jobs, what made me hate some of my previous roles, and what kept me in some places longer than I should have stayed.  I’ve identified the things that motivate me, the things that demotivate me, what I used to want that I no longer want, and what I used to be good at that I now can’t stand doing.  I am now clear on where I want to go, what I want to learn, where I want to focus, and what I want to learn to do better.

I couldn’t say any of these things a year ago. (Or hell, even six months ago.)

I’ve figured out more in the past two years than I set out to do.  It sucked more than I wanted it to.  It was cooler than I thought it could be.  And it’s brought me to the end of one very difficult chapter… which has, quite happily, brought me to the beginning of a new, exciting one.

I am delighted to announce that, as of September 13th, I will be returning to my roots without actually back-sliding: I will be rejoining the never-dull world of ecommerce in my beloved Emerald City by joining the awesome team at SysIQ as an Engagement Manager.

In addition to being a multi-platform integrater of several of the market’s leading ecommerce engines (which is cool, but not necessarily novel), they are also practitioners of well-honed online marketing principals and my methodology of choice, Persuasion Architecture.  In fact, one of their key value propositions is that they can leverage the power of Persuasion Architecture, regardless of ecommerce platform, through a combination of process and technology.

As someone who’s spent the past year studying, working and learning more and more in this space, the opportunity to marry what I know well (ecommerce) with what I want to know better (Persuasion Architecture) by working with a team I like (SysIQ) in a place that I love (San Francisco) was too much to actually hope for.  Happily, it happened, anyway.

(And to pre-emptively answer the first question I keep getting asked: No, we are not currently planning to move to San Francisco. BrainMatch is still here, so Austin will remain home for the time being.  My life will be spent traveling and telecommuting, both of which are A-Ok with an ADD, antsy-pants like me.)

I am spending the next two weeks wrapping up most of my larger client engagements, and shifting the nature of my Indigo Heron products to being largely virtual in nature.  This will take time, of course, but for as much as I am excited about the opportunities that await me at SysIQ, I also feel very strongly that both my husband (who is my business partner), my clients and my business deserve the respect of my continued support, even once I am back to a full-time job.

So, that’s the news.  I am extremely excited by this change, because it represents a lot of work over the past two years (three years, in many ways). It is a move with an enormous amount of potential, and it balances my varying and seemingly conflicting needs in a way that I didn’t dare hope was possible.

And as I look forward to a new array of fun and exciting professional challenges ahead, I find myself profoundly grateful.

• I am grateful to Kevin, Jonas, Lisa and Austin for the past year at Tech Ranch.
• I am grateful to TW, Chris and Pam for some great lessons out of Praxsys.
• I am grateful to my friends and family back home for being so gracious about my tendancy to fall out of touch for long periods of time at a strech.
• I am grateful to Sherry, Ryan, Tim and Kate for helping make me laugh and keep me (mostly) sane through the ups and downs.
• I am grateful to Abdul and Kirra for their amazing ability to be strong contributors to the upswing.
• I am grateful to all my clients over the past two years for their faith and their business.
• I am grateful to John for being generous beyond words, filled with endless support, always taking the opportunity to make connections and being an amazingly good sport when I’m at the end of my rope.
• I am grateful to Donna, Dani, Sara, Kari and Maija who reminded me this weekend during my first visit home in a year and a half that when I’m doing work that I love, I am more likely to develop meaningful, long-lasting friendships with amazingly talented and brilliant people.

And I am especially grateful to my husband, Charles Andretta, II, who is the most patient, generous person I know, and who has rolled with my mind-changing, direction-flipping, emotionally conflicted, career crisis self with a degree of understanding that no one could ever reasonably ask of another human being.  And I am eager for a new chapter where, for the first time since we’ve met, we both feel good about each of our professional direction.

Now, I think it’s time for a glass of wine.  I feel like celebrating.

xoxo

~Alora

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