On February 2nd, I left P&G, my employer for the last 10 years. Fittingly, February 2nd was also Groundhog’s Day Chinese New Year, symbolizing 6 more weeks of winter a new beginning. I know a lot of people are wondering what happened to me. I didn’t expect to leave that day – I actually expected to stay a couple more weeks to wrap things up – so the suddenness of my departure probably added to the apathy drama and intrigue of my situation. I’m really honored and touched to have so many friends and colleagues who cared about me enough to check in with me to see what happened. So I think I owe it to everyone to let you know!
First of all, I initiated leaving P&G. I am running towards something and not away from something. My managers were class acts to the end. I also had HR people helping me out prior to this move, trying hard to find me a role that would work for me. But in the end, what I’m about to do is too good of an opportunity to pass up. I know it’s good because almost all of the ex-P&Gers I know went there after leaving the company, and I’m sure my former colleagues have already seen the announcement. I’m going to a company called Pursue Other Interests.
But seriously… I have no idea what I’m doing next I do have a plan (I know all the planners I’ve worked with are shocked). There are two pillars to this masterplan. The first is I will be working part time as a consultant to One Care. One Care, amongst other things, sells P&G products that were too small for the P&G portfolio (considering anything less than $1 billion is too small for the P&G portfolio, that’s a lot of job security). They currently sell Dryel, Downy Wrinkle Releaser, and the Bounce Lint Roller, which I actually worked on many years ago. I loved it so much I had to work on it again (not). I’m really excited to be working for a small company where I can use my random diverse skills. Many people have told me they think this is a great fit for me (including, thankfully, the people at OneCare). I also believe it as well or I wouldn’t have left a company like P&G.
So what am I doing with the other two days of the week? Instead of being entrepreneurial, I’m going to take a lot of naps be an entrepreneur. I’ve got a million ideas (the “entrepreneurial” part), but I want to learn how to get those ideas to a net positive cash flow (the “entrepreneur” part). Most of my early projects will most likely be web based, since it requires the least amount of upfront capital. If anyone has any good ideas, special expertise, good contacts, or would like to be an angel investor, please feel free to let me know especially the angel investor part.
Finally, I am staying in Cincinnati. I really want to limit huge life changing moves to one at a time. I have a great support network of friends and networks here, which makes this move so much less scary. It’s scary enough that I’m giving up a great salary leaving a great company without having to worry about who to call for help or support. So please, for the Cincinnati area folks, please keep me in the loop.
I wish everyone at P&G well. I wouldn’t be where I am without you. Please check out the quote in the right sidebar; it really sums up my situation perfectly. If you’d like to keep track of my progress, you can subscribe to one of the feeds in the top right corner. See you all soon!