Saying Goodbye

Next Wednesday, April 30th is my last day at Progressive Design Apparel.  I submitted my letter of resignation and have been wrapping up my business.  One of the main things I wanted to do was continue to train our new addition.  I’ve also started saying my goodbyes.  I’ve been with PDA for 10 months and it’s amazing how many people can touch your life in that short period of time.

As a teacher, 10 months would be enough time to make a world of difference.  There’s something special about bringing in kids and watching them grow in front of your eyes.  In 10 months at PDA, I’ve not seen as much personal growth, but I have seen a lot of relationships form, change, and even end.  Ten months is a rather short life cycle, but the beauty of short life cycles is they’re easily observed.  And now I have to say goodbye.

I already sent an email to my biggest client.  She’s just a sweetheart to work with.  I’ll miss the fact that no matter what craziness happens, I could get the job done and make her happy.  She’d probably be embarrassed to know how much I like working with her.  And I’d be embarrassed for her to know, too.  But how often do you get a huge client that’s also your nicest client?

I emailed the one client who seems I can never make happy; also a big client.  I walked in 10 months ago picking up the pieces of someone else’s mistakes and couldn’t ever get on this client’s good side.  I bent over backwards the way none of my colleagues could or would have and still couldn’t make her happy.  Of course, I’ve never let on to her that she’s the only person I can’t please, so I did the respectable thing and sent her an email of my departure.  I was sure to include a line about how much I enjoyed working with her.

Although, it’s not the same as saying goodbye to my kids, it’s still hard to say goodbye.  Where will my clients end up down the road?  Will they be taken care of?  Will I ever again cross paths with them? 

I’ll likely never know the answers to those questions, but right now I’ve got bigger questions on my mind.  Where will I be in a year?  Will I be a success?  Will I be happy?  I’m excited about moving forward and growing, but there’s always that uncertainly before embarking on something new.  But you know what?  No one ever found the next great thing in life by staying in the same place.  I have to get out there and explore the world and discover things for myself.  I have the best support system I need, a great wife and a couple of pups who don’t care what I do as long as it involves petting them.

I haven’t decided what to do with this blog yet.  I’ve been doing it for a couple months now, so I’m starting to get decent traffic.  At the same time, I’m going to be less marketing and more sales in my next position.  So my options are ditch this blog, start a new blog more about me personally, start a new blog more about me professionally (like this one), or drop blogging altogether.  I generally say give the people what they want; problem is, I don’t know what you guys want.  I’ll let you know what I come up with, but if you have any suggestions please let me know.