Milestones

As we inch ever closer to the 15th anniversary of the day this firm began, I find myself thinking again about how it began. I wish it was an impressive story, filled with detail about how I wrote a detailed business plan, did many hours of research, painstakingly created a list of potential clients, prepared eloquent marketing material, etc. In fact, I did none of those things.

I had been working as an account manager for a company that sells fundraising software. The company, like most companies, had gone through some ups and downs during the 5 1/2 years that I was there, and my fortunes there had also gone through some ups and downs. The last "down" came at the end of 1992, when my manager left to take another position and they closed the Chicago-area office and moved me to a sales position. Four months later... well, to be blunt, I quit in a huff after a conversation with the company president to which I took exception.

I gave two weeks notice and used that time to decide what to do next. I loved working with nonprofits, so I thought about ways that I could continue to do that. Work for a consulting firm? Go back to fundraising? Find another software company? Nothing felt quite right, but some tiny part of my brain was saying that I could do what I had been doing, on my own.

Work for myself? Set rates that did not have to cover a lot of overhead? Choose to work with clients in whose missions I believed? Be able to set standards for service that I felt clients deserved?

It sounded better and better...

So I took a look at my financial situation. No savings, and if I included my final paycheck, vacation pay, a little bit from a 401(K), I figured that I had enough to live on for six weeks. Ideal for a business venture, right?

Okay, I thought, I'll give myself six weeks to generate enough work to support myself. When I run out of money, I'll get a "real job".

I was very lucky. I got a few contracts right away and I had a built-in base of prospective clients, people who had worked with me over the last 5 years who knew me and liked the way I worked.

And so, incredibly, on May 15th CJW will celebrate its 15th anniversary. And I will celebrate the fact that I still don't have a "real job".

This is not a job. It's a labor of love.