The great service Timehop reminded me this morning that it was one year ago today that I announced my departure from the agency I co-founded with several friends ten years earlier, The Barbarian Group.
A year is such an interesting time measurement. It is arbitrary, based on planetary geography. It’s a good unit of time to measure long term progress in life, but it’s also a fleeting moment, especially as more and more of them go by.
So what have I done in the last year? How do you measure progress?
- I got my sanity and happiness back
- I got engaged
- I moved to brooklyn
- I moved in with my Fiancé
- I started a coworking space. This project took me almost the entire year, but I am happy to say that Secret Clubhouse took its first tenants on monday, and two companies are working out of there today. That was a crazy long adventure, a foray into co-op approvals, the NY Dept of Buildings, architects, contractors, etc. I am excited to reap the benefits this year as my amazing group of tenants move in and we slowly develop a great tech community in Williamsburg.
- I made a ton of great investments and did what I could to help out companies like Timehop, Docracy, Circa, Branch, Percolate, Lover.ly, Mashape, Sprint.ly, Foursquare, vYou and many more that aren’t ready to announce.
- I went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was awesome.
- I went to DragonCon, which was awesome.
- I went to the beach, which was awesome. And the Florida keys. And saw where Emma went to school. And went to South of the Border, which was great.
- I went to Jamaica for about 4 hours and Argentina for about 48.
- I turned 40, and had two great birthday parties in Boston and New York and saw some amazing friends I hadn’t seen in years.
- I joined a secret new cadre of retired advertising executives who consult with big brands on advertising, education and creativity that I am excited about and can’t talk too much about just yet.
- I got a wonderful cat, inherited from one of my best friends.
- I read a lot of books and wrote 600 pages of my own, got an agent, and made steps towards selling it.
- I started another company which is still secret.
- I joined another company which is still secret.
- I drank less than any year since like 1995.
- I started working at Tumblr for a while, an all around great group of people, a great company and a great product.
It’s been a good year. I’ve stayed busy, but I’ve gotten rest. I’ve been on a fair number of boats, which is always good. I’ve started new things and seen the fruition of efforts from other things.
Do I miss Barbarian Group? Yes, all the time. Do I miss advertising? I don’t feel like I’ve left. I miss my old coworkers. A lot. I’ve met some amazing people this year, but those Barbarians - they sure were great.
But I can say it’s probably been the happiest year of my adult life.
