Starting a business is scary. (Feels good to get that one out of the way.) I've wanted to do it for years, and ran a few part-time ventures as a result, but running my own business full time remained an imaginary pursuit, something I thought about but never took steps toward achieving.
Despite having fantastic opportunities for which I'm indescribably grateful, I have felt stifled since finishing grad school. Like the typical 9-5 ultimately wasn't for me; that I wanted to learn, experiment, and explore the way I could in school.
So when I decided to leave the NYC Department of Education earlier this summer, it didn't surprise many people, but I had no idea what I would do next. That was my burn the ships moment, where I jettisoned any excuse to turn back and had to choose a new direction.
Even as I applied for jobs, my great friends kept reminding me that I had always wanted to work for myself, that I'd feel constrained by any single job, and that meant I should create something myself. They were right. I struggled with exactly what I'd want to focus on, and as I thought through this I realized that, through every online venture I've ever worked on, my passion was to find ways to delight customers and users.
And so I'm opening a user experience, social media, and innovation consultancy called Keystone UX. The consulting practice will focus on helping clients delight their customers and create lots of Whuffie (social capital).
Go ahead and visit the website, but I'll warn you that it's not done yet. In fact, lots of things are still up in the air about this business. And I've been worried about that, of course, but I tend to believe even the best laid plans never match reality. So I'm working ridiculously hard, but I'm rolling with the punches and trying to expect the unexpected.
I'll be talking a lot more about this in the coming months, but for now it's enough to say It's Official. I'm in business.
Despite having fantastic opportunities for which I'm indescribably grateful, I have felt stifled since finishing grad school. Like the typical 9-5 ultimately wasn't for me; that I wanted to learn, experiment, and explore the way I could in school.
So when I decided to leave the NYC Department of Education earlier this summer, it didn't surprise many people, but I had no idea what I would do next. That was my burn the ships moment, where I jettisoned any excuse to turn back and had to choose a new direction.
Even as I applied for jobs, my great friends kept reminding me that I had always wanted to work for myself, that I'd feel constrained by any single job, and that meant I should create something myself. They were right. I struggled with exactly what I'd want to focus on, and as I thought through this I realized that, through every online venture I've ever worked on, my passion was to find ways to delight customers and users.
And so I'm opening a user experience, social media, and innovation consultancy called Keystone UX. The consulting practice will focus on helping clients delight their customers and create lots of Whuffie (social capital).
Go ahead and visit the website, but I'll warn you that it's not done yet. In fact, lots of things are still up in the air about this business. And I've been worried about that, of course, but I tend to believe even the best laid plans never match reality. So I'm working ridiculously hard, but I'm rolling with the punches and trying to expect the unexpected.
I'll be talking a lot more about this in the coming months, but for now it's enough to say It's Official. I'm in business.
I'm so psyched for you, Greg! I have been following your Twitter feeds about this and it totally seems like the right decision for you (and you seem so happy...).
xo Amanda
Thanks Amanda!!! :-) It's so nice to hear from you. --G