A little bit about me…
Sat, May 31, 2008
I’m 27 years old and I am the lead web producer for a technology firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. I’m getting married February 2009 (Valentines Day) to the love of my life, and I am daddy of a two year old Doberman named Bella, and an 18 year old toy poodle named Fred. I know, it’s a weird combination but they make up our little family and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
In the beginning…
I got started in the web world after taking a job with some friends as a design consultant. I’ve always been artistic in some way, but the computer added a whole new dimension to my skills and I really needed a job. I had no real experience but I had the desire to learn and I could work from home… what more could I ask for?
I was being paid 500.00 a month salary and I was working 90+ hours a week. Yep, that was less than $2.00 an hour! I designed T-Shirts, CD Cases, DVD boxes, websites, advertisements and billboards during the day; and taught myself the required design skills and lingo I needed to play the part at night. I would work for three or four days without leaving my desk – aside from bathroom breaks and coffee refills. See, I took the job with some friends who had just started a business. A media company. There were five of us in all with each having a different skill and we happen to live under one roof.
Getting fired sucks.
After four months I had it. I was tired. I was sick. I was stressed and not eating or sleeping. I was a total nightmare and I decided to move into Cassey’s apartment to get some breathing room.
The result… I got fired! The fellas decided that it was all or nothing for me. No raises, no extra cash, nothing under the table, no girlfriend, and no moving out of hell! I was FIRED! Aside from Cassey, life was pretty crappy at this point. I continued staying up hunting for “freelance work” during the day and teaching myself how to design at night only this time with the bigger picture in mind.
Landing my first gig!
I landed my first major job for a local organization who promptly hired me for 3 months of solid work. I was paid $1,200.00 out of $8,500.00 and told to beat it. Yep, I got nailed again. First by my brotherhood then by my client. Needless to say depression was a serious issue for me and I didn’t think I’d ever fully recover.
To make an already long story short, Cassey was busting her rump as a waitress to keep us alive as I sat around learning this new found career. I picked up a few smaller gigs here and there and got burned on most of them. I got into gear, picked up a real paying job and kept on learning.
The casualties of war…
Through my startup, I was in one major car accident (flew 60 feet out of a car’s side window), been evicted three times form three different places, lost one car to repossession, a motorcycle to theft, lived in a motel for months and still managed to keep the dream alive. Cassey supported me through it all and for that I’m ever grateful. Her help and effort, allowed me to come full circle…
The turnaround.
Coming around full circle years later is somewhat of a blur and exactly how I got here is an even bigger one, I’m now the guy in charge, making a six figure income, and blogging about the journey! What an amazing ride it’s been, and what an amazing woman I’ve got. Man, to stick with me and my bullshit takes one hell of a woman. Well that should be enough about me for one day so on that note, I’ll paste this into my About Me page and call it a day. If you’ve ever got questions or just wanna chat… let me know… I’m all ears
- Thanks for reading! PB
May 31st, 2008 at 5:32 am
I always say that everyone has a story. I know mine and to me it is boring (it’s not) because I have lived it. I love to hear other peoples story and boy this is a good one.
You have made a sterling start to your blog PB and congrats on the wedding plans. I’m going to be married next year too and will then be moving to the states to be with my sweetheart. Perhaps we’ll grab a beer someday?
May 31st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Thanks AP, I appreciate the motivational comments. They’re greatly appreciated! I love knowing that my writing isn’t taken as useless ramblings…
I’m a whiskey kinda guy and I’d love to host you guys a few day visit here in New Orleans when you decide to come to the states… then I can you you a beer.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Don’t leave me out of the beer circle here! I’m coming down for Mardi Gras!!!
May 31st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Well heck… you’re coming for the worst season of them all. I actually tend to leave town, but if we can manage to get a group together it might just be fun enough to stay. We locals get quite tired of drunk college kids pissing on our front porches for two weeks a year. Regardless, you’re never excluded from the party!
June 1st, 2008 at 1:31 am
Last night I read about the way you preached a lesson to Marc on his ‘One Man’s Goal’ site and you really caught my attention. Man, I love your writing style.
Though I wasn’t too sure how you got heated up in the first place but I dare not disagree with you. You’ve hit the nail on its head. Poor Marc.
I am excited to see what you have in store here and glad to say that I’m now one of your subscribers.
June 1st, 2008 at 9:03 am
@ Yan: Thank for stopping and and subscribing. I’ve been told that my writing style is quite a bit different so a blog should be the perfect place for me right?
Don’t wory about disagreeing with me either, it’s all in fun. I pity the fool that does though
Welcome to the Piss Biscuit!
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:12 am
Definitely! This is just the perfect place for you to showcase your writing style and shall I say your ‘debating style’?
Don’t worry I wont be that fool unless it’s worth to be one. Give me more biscuits, will you?
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:49 am
@Yan: Plenty of tasty biscuits are on the way I promise! I always welcome a good debate… even if I’m the loser… LOL
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I’m the guy who always seems to disagree with you and who also owes you a beer. When I read at Adii that you toke the risk of using one of his themes I really had to check it out.
Just finished reading your “about me” story and I was impressed and it takes a lot to impress me. I liked the 6 figure happy end to the story and I envy you a bit since I barely get 5 digits. But hey, I’m happy doing what I do and hope that you will be able seeing passed the numbers as well. It’s all about life, how you live it and if you can share that, that’s all there is to it really.
I see you are getting married, well congrats, pity I live on the other side of the globe, otherwise you could have been hiring a kick-ass videographer. With your six digit income you could easily invite me to come over but I want the same type of loft you promised Adii.
I think it was you who complained about the fact that I never provided a link to my website, well, as a wedding present I’m giving it to you now.
Anyways, I’m a bit in a joking mood right now so don’t take all I wrote too seriously. With your new website I will be checking up on you regularly and hopefully will continue to disagree as that seems to lead to interesting discussions, more site traffic and ultimately to better page raking and at it’s best a 7 digit income. Just look at Adii, I’m sure that our comments have contributed in most of his site’s traffic and therefore also success.
OK, I”ll stop now… Cheers and see you around.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
@ Robin: I knew who you were the minute I saw your name in the comment box! LOL. So, I took a “risk”… what do you think? I think Addi’s themes are really really good and using it gave me the time to motivate myself to write an actual post.
As a designer, I find his code clean and very easy to edit. I’m really impressed with it… but of course I had to add my own touches.
6 figure income isn’t it’s all cracked up to be I promise. After I got my raise that put me over the mark, every body and their mommas had a need to borrow money… and I’m far from rich so it doesn’t make much sense to me.
I’ll agree that money isn’t everything. I’ve been trying to be more a of a family man than a playboy.
Life is all about living it and having a steady income helps… I still envy those who can work under their own will power…
Thank you for my wonderful wedding gift! I can’t believe I finally get to peer into the life of my friends Robin! Awesome site, and even though I speak numerous languages, dutch isn’t one of them.
I’m hoping that I’ll get traffic like Adii one day, but I’ll always value visits from friends more than anything else. Thanks for checking in Robin, I look forward to MANY debates with one of the most interesting conversationalists I’ve ever met.
PS: The chipper mood suits you well!
June 4th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Love your site and story. Consider me subscribed.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
@ Noel: Welcome, and thank you! I’m sure that you’ll enjoy your stay… visit us often we’d love to learn more about ya!
June 5th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Great story, man, even in brief. My story’s similar, minus the six figures, but went from kicked out of grad school to freelance writing to homeless, to sleeping on some friends’ floor while working for $3 an hour with the writing, and both legs broken from a car accident on my 25th birthday (there’s always a car accident for some reason). Fast forward, dream job in a great city, just beginning to really learn how to make money online, and a roof over my head and health good.
Nice to get out of the tunnel, isn’t it?
I’ll definitely be stopping back.