Merge

In late July 2009, I made the call, literally and figuratively.  This time for something new.  Figuratively, it happened on a balmy Charleston night after reading a blog, when I asked my wife, "Would you be disappointed if I worked somewhere else?". Literally, it happened the following Monday when I called Adam.  At the time, I was working for one of the country's great organizations in the YMCA.  I had been there seven years, and figured I was a lifer. The back story goes something like this: Ten months prior my wife and I had our first child, and three months after that, we found out that my wife had a few blood clots.  So goes the saying, life intervened, and the thoughts of something new started trickling to the surface. It was time to make some calls.

I began my new venture at Merge in October of 2009, and immediately realized I had been living in a bubble.  Seriously, I worked for a community based organization, saw roughly 1,000 people a day, and had no idea what else was out there.  So I decided to reach out.  I'll be honest, I'm not great at it. I hesitate some, and fumble more, but I do it everyday.  Not because I want more clients for Merge (although that would be great), I just want help, and hope I can help in return. I hear, "So, who are you and why do you want to meet?", a decent amount.  Sometimes I don't even get that.  But more often than not people have been willing to sit down and see if the opportunity to help each other presents itself.  Usually it does, especially if your intent is right. 

I've learned a lot over the last year, but what really struck me is how open our community is to helping other people succeed, especially if you just willing to listen and unafraid to pick up the phone. There's a great example of this support right in front of us, and it's We are Feeling Lucky and the Google on Main event. The outpouring of support has been unbelievable, but more to my point is that we only saw the aftermath. Sure, what happened online and through social media was great, but my gut told me that it started pretty organically; a phone call or two to someone who could help. I wasn't far off.  In talking to Aaron von Frank, one of many who helped spearhead the effort, he mentioned that our friend John Warner put out the A.P.B. one day, and in no time had city leaders, techies and social media gurus all clamoring to get involved (update: click here for John's own account).  A fantastic example of what reaching out can do. 

Bottom Line:  It took me way too long to get the guts to just reach out.  Greenville is full of people wanting you to succeed, no matter how big or small your purpose.  I waited seven years to really do it, what are you waiting for?