I am still planning a long series of Key West posts, with pics. This still isn’t that post.
Rather, this is yet another “it seems the universe wants us to leave Tampa” post.
I don’t want to leave Tampa, really I don’t. But it’s looking more and more like it’s going to happen, and soon. I still have one client that’d like to hire me and ship me up to Atlanta, and now a second client–one I am a minority shareholder in–wants me to move up to the Atlanta region as well.
It’s kind of a complicated situation, but: when I first started my own business, one of my clients, an ad agency, provided me with rent-free office space in exchange for a discounted rate on prepress and other technical services. That client has a partnership with another company, which makes consumer electronics. The electronics firm is a small startup that’s been struggling for a number of years; they make a very popular device, and have patents on the basic technology behind many other devices that could be worth literally hundreds of millions of dollars, but they’ve lacked the capital to develop and market the products. They’ve actually paid me in stock for various services I’ve done for them, as they have virtually no cash.
Well, the electronics company has finally found venture capital backing. Lots and lots of it. Millions of dollars. Enough to start doing serious development on the new products they’ve prototyped. They’ve decided to lease an industrial park in Georgia, near Atlanta, and…they want me to move up there with them.
Simultaneously, the ad agency has decided to shut its doors. The people who own it are also the principal owners of the consumer electronics firm, and since the latter is getting venture capital and the former is losing clients, they’re closing the doors.
What that means to me: I’m losing my rent-free office. I’m losing my largest client. However, I have the potential to make a lot of money, and by “a lot” I mean “well over six figures,” by staying with the electronics company. So, it shakes down something like this:
If I stay in Tampa:
– I lose my office, and my accounting serivces (currently being provided for free by the ad agency). This means I restructure my business so that clients never come to me, or I spend the money it takes to get another office.
– I still do work for the electronics firm, via telecommuting. They’re willing to do this, but I’m skeptical about it. It’s rather cumbersome, and I think that in the end, what may happen is they’ll look for someone to do the day-to-day work locally, and I’ll gradually end up being phased out.
– I don’ have to spend the money to move. Moving will be a nontrivial expense.
– I keep my existing clients…but I’d better come up with some new ones to replace the advertising agency pronto.
– Shelly keeps going to school.
– We are in a place that’s much more socially supportive than Georgia.
If I move to Georgia:
– I have the potential of earning a six-figure salary, and possibly becoming a millionaire on the basis of my percentage of the company…if things go well for this company, if the venture capital works out, if the company succeeds. A startup company is always a gamble.
– I have the backup plan–my client that already wants me to move to Atlanta would be deliriously happy to have me, though it would mean giving up being self-employed.
– It’ll be expensive. Moving is not cheap, and we’re already out a lot of money because of the Boston thing.
– We break the lease here. Also not cheap.
– Shelly has to change schools, meaning she has to pay out-of-state tuition for a year.
– We have to leave all our friends in Florida. That sucks hefty moose willie.
– I will have to start from scratch if I plan to develop my own client base as well as working for the electronics company.
– I will have to leave my existing client base.
This is the third time this year that something has happened which has caused us to consider leaving, or caused us to leave (however briefly), Tampa. This is getting ridiculous. Losing my office space, and my largest client, is a big deal; packing up and moving to Georgia, and betting on a startup, is also a big deal.
The ad agency is shutting its doors in sixty days, which at least gives us some time to figure out what move to make, but in any event it looks like going out to San Francisco for MacWorld this January is a non-starter. Unless a miracle occurs, it ain’t gonna happen. In a way, I kind of feel like I’m in a chess game, and these next few moves will either win or lose the game. Where’s a future prediction device when I need one?
No Guts, No Glory
The question you should be asking is where will I have the income. It does not sound to me Tampa is the answer. If you think about it for too long you will logic yourself right out of your best option. Go with your gut. This is your future. You’ve worked hard to get as far as you have. No guts, no glory. Life is not worth living if you don’t take any chances.
Well, at lest I still feel that way.
No Guts, No Glory
The question you should be asking is where will I have the income. It does not sound to me Tampa is the answer. If you think about it for too long you will logic yourself right out of your best option. Go with your gut. This is your future. You’ve worked hard to get as far as you have. No guts, no glory. Life is not worth living if you don’t take any chances.
Well, at lest I still feel that way.
Shit. Tough times. My thoughts are with you.
Shit. Tough times. My thoughts are with you.
Hi. I don’t know you. But I know Shelly very slightly. My thoughts, for what it is worth, from someone who has faced these decisions before, and who has worked for 4 startups (2 of them my own).
Sounds like fate is pulling you to Atlanta. You have two paths there — the startup, or your other big client. A good situation, to have a backup plan in case of a problem with the first one. And it would probably very good, long term, for your career and professional development, if you were involved in either. But I well understand the personal toll of the change in social scene and friends, school, etc.
As far as the moving expenses (including lease breaking) — you should be able to get that covered by the startup, at the very least — if they really have the funding, and you really are needed by them. Or in part by the client (retainer?), if you are going to be available to them.
You could certainly stay in Tampa, and I am sure you could find alternative office space, perhaps under a similar arraingement. And that would be easier on Shelly. From what I hear, you are really good at what you do, so finding more clients may be a short term challenge, but not a long term problem. And if you are already a shareholder in the electronics startup, and somehow the startup does well in the future, and ever gets to the Blessed Event of Liquidity and Cashout for shareholders, you will stand to make some money, even if you don’t participate actively.
What about having BOTH? Does this have to be a binary decision? Could you get an apartment in Atlanta, and commute back and forth to Tampa? I have known people that worked intensively for startups that worked in LA, but lived outside of Chicago, and jetted back and forth on the weekends. Or Boston to Bangor, ME. If you are going to be making the big bucks, keeping up a second small place in Atlanta and the travel expense would be doable. Throw in some telecommuting days, and a serious committment to working extra hours during the times you are alone in Atlanta, you could probably get away with a schedule of 3-6 days on site, and 3-6 days back in Tampa. Or alternate one week “in the office” and one week telecommute. (this worked out very well for a senior programmer/designer at the first startup I worked at)
What is really comes down to, what is going to make *you* happy? I have turned down 3 job offers (good ones for around here, but not 6 figures) in the past year from clients, to continue to struggle with my underfunded start-up. Because there is actually nothing else I would rather be doing, and I just cannot see myself ever being happy working for someone else. I don’t do what I do for the money.
Hi. I don’t know you. But I know Shelly very slightly. My thoughts, for what it is worth, from someone who has faced these decisions before, and who has worked for 4 startups (2 of them my own).
Sounds like fate is pulling you to Atlanta. You have two paths there — the startup, or your other big client. A good situation, to have a backup plan in case of a problem with the first one. And it would probably very good, long term, for your career and professional development, if you were involved in either. But I well understand the personal toll of the change in social scene and friends, school, etc.
As far as the moving expenses (including lease breaking) — you should be able to get that covered by the startup, at the very least — if they really have the funding, and you really are needed by them. Or in part by the client (retainer?), if you are going to be available to them.
You could certainly stay in Tampa, and I am sure you could find alternative office space, perhaps under a similar arraingement. And that would be easier on Shelly. From what I hear, you are really good at what you do, so finding more clients may be a short term challenge, but not a long term problem. And if you are already a shareholder in the electronics startup, and somehow the startup does well in the future, and ever gets to the Blessed Event of Liquidity and Cashout for shareholders, you will stand to make some money, even if you don’t participate actively.
What about having BOTH? Does this have to be a binary decision? Could you get an apartment in Atlanta, and commute back and forth to Tampa? I have known people that worked intensively for startups that worked in LA, but lived outside of Chicago, and jetted back and forth on the weekends. Or Boston to Bangor, ME. If you are going to be making the big bucks, keeping up a second small place in Atlanta and the travel expense would be doable. Throw in some telecommuting days, and a serious committment to working extra hours during the times you are alone in Atlanta, you could probably get away with a schedule of 3-6 days on site, and 3-6 days back in Tampa. Or alternate one week “in the office” and one week telecommute. (this worked out very well for a senior programmer/designer at the first startup I worked at)
What is really comes down to, what is going to make *you* happy? I have turned down 3 job offers (good ones for around here, but not 6 figures) in the past year from clients, to continue to struggle with my underfunded start-up. Because there is actually nothing else I would rather be doing, and I just cannot see myself ever being happy working for someone else. I don’t do what I do for the money.
NO!! You can’t move to Atlanta! *pout*
NO!! You can’t move to Atlanta! *pout*