According to Facebook, nine years ago today I was at a New Jersey Professional Services Marketers Group meeting with guest speaker Joe Rotella. Ironically, on this same day, I also connected to futurist Jim Carroll who years later wrote the foreword for Everyone Has Sh*t: Unsolicited Advice for Being Human.
While it was a random day, the NJPSMG event is clearly embedded in my mind, including racing to the airport so Joe could make his flight home. I promise you it was hilarious. Anyway, Joe did, in fact, make his flight and I drove home for an afternoon conference call.
“How would you like to create a social media plan?” That was the question asked by Jeff Greene who thought I could assist his agency on a project they were brought into. This made sense as I had been exploring social media and was talking to Jeff about it. On my morning commute to NYC I regularly read about the latest trends in the traditional marketing publications and the geek in me was fascinated by them. However, it never occurred to me that I was developing enough of an expertise in the area that an agency would tap me to help them out.
What seemed like an ordinary day in the life of an association professional quickly changed with that one phone call. One question that changed everything.
I, of course, said yes. And the next day I registered Seven Degrees Communications, LLC.
But what if I said no?
- What if I told Jeff that I had a full-time job and had no need to tackle a new project?
- What if I said that I had never done such a plan. Because let’s be honest, in 2009, not many people had.
- What if I thought too long about it and they found someone else to do it?
- What if I didn’t think I could actually do it? Which, by the way, I wasn’t sure I could, but said yes anyway.
- What if I said yes, but didn’t formalize a company or stay awake until I had the perfect name?
- What if Joe missed his plane and I postponed my call with Jeff while Joe and I went shoe shopping?
- What if I didn’t think of myself as an entrepreneur from day one?
The truth is I wanted to own a bakery. And then an event planning company. With a degree in entrepreneurship, I planned to own a business at some point in my life. But a marketing agency? That was never really in my plans. It sort of, kind of happened by accident.
It’s hard to believe that nine years have passed. It flew by, yet everything seems so different. I’m different, yet the same. Social media, marketing, so much has changed. So much has remained the same.
They say there are no accidents and everything happens for a reason. I’m glad I said yes nine years ago. It’s been an amazing adventure. As always, success happens because of the people around you. Thank you to everyone who has supported Seven Degrees for the last nine years. I am thankful for you every day.
And if you are wondering if you should say yes to that something you are thinking about, my unsolicited advice is, go for it and let me know how it turns out in nine years.
P.S. Apparently, pottery is the traditional nine-year anniversary gift. I guess I’m taking myself to Home Goods to celebrate!