The Next Adventure

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings; and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss….”
That line is from my all time favorite poem IF by Rudyard Kipling and that line describes what the past few months have been for me.
In May of 2002 I started working with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in their Dallas office, the Texas Financial Group –Dallas. As an intern, I hit every bench mark set for me and gave myself an incredible opportunity to walk off the graduation stage at Texas A&M with my finance degree and into an open financial service practice with 34 clients excited about working with me. My first year out of school I did well, very well in fact, as I was ranked number one in the nation among my peers for more than four months. I started moving on to a management track shortly after completing my first year and had the chance to work with several of the newer representatives as well as mentoring interns throughout the summers. I had a lot going for me and by all accounts I was driving in the office fast lane.
Then, some time around my second year full time after graduation I got the itch. It wasn’t one thing in particular, it was just the itch that maybe there was more out there for me to discover. Professionally not knowing anything but Northwestern, I cautiously discussed what else my skill set might allow me to do and got input from my inner circle of friends and family and even a few clients. Not sure exactly what direction I wanted to go I talked with as many people as possible about how I might fit into their organization. I talked with private jet companies, other insurance agencies, mortgage brokers, and serial entrepreneurs and learned even more than I already knew about those industries.
But the trick was I had a great thing going where I was and I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive group of people to work with. It was a very challenging month or two, but in the end I just knew it was time to move on. And similarly to senioritis, once you’ve mentally moved on, it is very hard to focus.
So as of the 1st of this month I am the Vice President of Business Development for Politic20.com. Politic2.0 is a new media company that is focusing the power and popularity of online communities at the frustration with the current state of American politics in an unbiased and nonpartisan way. We give our users the ability to see what is really going on and react and we give elected officials and politicians the ability to then respond in a way that has never been possible before. I will heading up the national sales and marketing team as we continue our hyper growth trajectory aimed at next year’s November elections.
I will be updating this blog often with the latest information about me and about what Politic20.com is doing and how you all can be involved. It is going to be a wild and crazy ride over the next 15 months and I look forward to keeping you all in the loop as I chase down this next adventure. “… If you can fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!”

New email address: andy@andyellwood.com