Taking the Plunge

Mar.28.2008

I’m leaving my full-time position of nearly 2 and a half years @ Pursuant Group to pursue self-employment. The design agency I run with Brett, Caleb, Charles and Ryan (finish your blog!@#$%^$), entitled Fuor, has been going really well, and it’s finally time to take the plunge.

I’ve been a wannabe entrepreneur for as long as I can remember, with Table Racers in elementary school, which were basically inverted airplanes that you blew gently on to race (25 cents apiece), a locker candy shop in middle school (yeah I was that guy), and randomly assorted businesses and ventures that usually involved Charles in some way or another. Side note here @Charles: You rock my face d00d. Smart. Sexy. Designer. Sexy Designer. Keep on rockin’. :)

Side note here @Charles: You rock my face d00d. Smart. Sexy. Designer. Sexy Designer. Keep on rockin’. :)

All that said, I strayed from my entrepreneurial ways for a stint as a Barista at Starbucks, an IT Manager at a TV show called Designing Texas (where I was also wrangled into an ad designer/video editor position from time to time), a web designer for LearnVisualStudio.NET, and most recently as a documented Ninjaneer at Pursuant.

I have been blessed by so many amazing mentors and teachers in my life, and would be nowhere without the support of my friends. My passion for the web really sprang into life when I was but 13 years of age. My best buddy Cabeeb came over and showed me the wonders of web development courtesy of Geocities and Notepad. Sweet mother of all that is good and pure I love that man. Look out Caleb. Major man-crush.

: ahem :

All that man-loving goodness aside, that was a glorious day. I wish I still knew the URL to my Geocities page. I go on a hunt for it roughly once a quarter.

From there, I’ve been mentored over the years by my own desire to learn, and by absolute ninjas like Daniel Mall*, who suffered through so many “Do you mind looking at this code, and after crying for an hour, telling me what’s wrong with it?” conversations he should get a medal for.

Development ninjas coupled with mentors in business like my broseph Donnie, and Pursuant founder and CEO Matt, have made my education extremely varied, and I’m looking forward to the future with about as much explosive excitement as this kid:

Note: That little guy needs a tranquilizer to the neck.

I hope for many things to come, but most of all, I hope that I can pass on some of the impact that my mentors and friends have had on me in my life. I want to not only be a success, but to help those around me be successful as well. My thanks to those that have given their time and love and patience to me over the years, and my special thanks to the people at Pursuant, and especially to Matt (twice linked!), Ross (start a blog d00d.) and Jason for their incredibly selfless encouragement to me in the pursuit of Fuor.

A special shout out to one Michael Manes, for being on the Dart rail late that Friday night. My life wouldn’t be the same without our mutual mockery of that would-be drunk d00d, and for the job that you got me soon after. Love you man. I’d better see some published pages soon, or you’re gonna get your ass kicked. I’ve been practicing since we last threw down.

At any rate, I’m sure I’ll post more on the adventures to come. Fuor looks to have a bright future, and I’m sure we’ll grow and be stretched as we step out on our own and learn the ways of the Fuorce.

*I think I’ve officially reached the “unhealthy obsession” number of links to the DMallosaurus. Sorry buddy.

Tags: Business, risk, self employment