Just When I think I am out…

….they pull me back in. The following is a real story based on actual events. Any coincident between people, real or imagined, is intended and may have actually happened.

My history with Skyline (my current employer) is fairly sorted. I got hired in 2000 and since that time have had my ups and downs with the company pretty much as you would in any company. This also included two layoffs and some severe pay cuts during our post dot-com bust days. We had to run pretty lean.

Then I was asked if I wanted to take a gig up in Montana for six months to see if we could build the region and put a new business model together. That was a year and a half ago. For those who have been reading my blog and keeping up with the emails you know that some of this has been great and some of it has been not so great.

But for two years, I’ve effectively been living in MT while keeping my residence in the state of Texas. I just came home this week for Thanksgiving. Prior to this I wasn’t home for two months. During this time I realized just how burned out I am. It was very hard on me. I have become very depressed, but I know how to deal with it. So I planned to start my own business and quit Skyline. I had to get out and get back home or move to Montana, and I just don’t ever see myself moving to Montana while working at Skyline. We just couldn’t make that work.

I ended up casually talking to another company and finding out they had a position open and that they wanted me. This is Right Now Technologies. They are based in Bozeman, MT. As with most of Montana’s screwed up economy they couldn’t afford to even get close to matching my salary, but they wanted me back in Texas!!! We negotiated over the period of several weeks and ultimately I signed up to take the job. I was coming home to Texas!!!! The pay was a quarter-salary difference but the benefits were very good, and I liked all the people there. I already knew them. They are a client for Skyline.

Now, I couldn’t post ANY of this on the blog as I don’t know for sure who reads it and who doesn’t read it. So I quit Skyline. Finished. Done. See-ya later, alligator! It was not an easy decision. But I sat down with Brent and told him I was leaving. I thought he’d be mad or upset, but he wasn’t. He was very understanding, but he asked for me to give him eight hours to see if we could work it out. Fair enough. I’ve worked for the company this long and been out of town for two years, what was another eight hours. For those doing the math, I’ve been on the road roughly 85+ weeks out of a possible 104. This is not even counting the year prior when I was in California and Chicago all the time.

So, to make a long story short Skyline wanted to keep me. And they made a nice counter with the key words being “back in Texas.” They were also offering a financial incentive as well. But I felt I needed to put it all in writing as to why I was leaving and let them see if they could work with where I needed to be.

So here is an actual simulation of the email I sent to them (parts omitted to protect the identities of the individuals involved):

When it comes down to reasons why I would leave Skyline it comes down to a few basic reasons:

• 
  Not living in my own home. I will have been on the road approximately 85+ weeks out of a possible 104.
• Not doing the things that I want to do – I didn’t ride my bike hardly at all this year, my boat never saw the water, I don’t get to enjoy my house with the big-screen and nice theater system.
• My health – I wouldn’t say I am unhealthy, but I haven’t been able to work out with any type of regularity or schedule in over 2 years. I have put on weight, lost muscle mass, have a decreased cardio system and bags under my eyes. This was not the case 2 years ago.
• The B.S. – no company is free of this, I don’t care where you work but the two things that rub me the wrong way are the unwritten company policy that we have to travel on personal time (I’ve written about this to Frank and Roger at length) and it always seems that everything is a P1 and trying to settle into a rhythm is just about impossible.
  
  Most of it all comes down to the travel and work schedule I have endured over the last 2 years. I’m sorry, but I just can’t do it anymore. I am so burned out that I am depressed, I can’t stay focused, and I simply no longer motivated. I feel this is impacting my work, but you would have to be judge of that. Note that money is not the motivating factor here. With the exception of our lean years after the dot-com bust I have always felt that Skyline has paid me very well and that is one thing I do not complain about.
  
  So getting to heart of the matter, I understand that Skyline is interested in me staying on board. I am interested in staying on board if we can make it work. The primary issue, for me, is going to be living at home with significantly reduced travel. That doesn’t mean I am not willing to travel, but it does mean that I want to be home more than I am gone. I am not sure how to put that into quantifiable terms, but I don’t think saying X-percent on the road is the way to do it. Right now, I am so burned out that I don’t want to travel at all, but I realize that is unrealistic whether I was with Skyline or someone else.
  
  My thought on travel would be something like this:
• I think that one week out of the month would not be a problem – whether that be in MT, teaching a class or whatever.
• For special projects or extenuating circumstances we can extend that as needed – but every month can’t be a new “special project.”
• If the travel is a day trip or something in TX, I’m not counting that – i.e. don’t sweat it.

Mandatory travel on personal time has got to go. This doesn’t mean that I’m not willing to travel on a Sat / Sun (whatever) when necessary (i.e. have to be somewhere on Monday morning to teach a class, there is no other way to do it), but I can’t tell you how many weekend golf trips, motorcycle trips, camping trips, parties, etc. that I have missed out on because of this. If the project, class, whatever necessitates it then I’ll do it but I will not continue to eat up all my personal time traveling for general work.

And they thought about it and agreed with it. The kicker was that they are giving me a “partnership” in the consulting arm of the company so that I will get a bonus based on the profit share. It’s not an out-right raise, but I could make some good money at it. Other times, I might not make anything but the incentive is there to do good.

I had to tell Right Now I wasn’t coming on board. I sent the two guys an email, but I haven’t heard back. I hope they aren’t too upset. It’s not uncommon in this industry for this to happen, but it doesn’t make it easier.

So I am coming home….soon. I have to go back to Montana on Saturday and work another two weeks there. Then I am taking vacation and getting in some snowboard action. I’ll start my vacation on December 9th and probably fly back to Texas somewhere around 20th ~ 22nd.

With the new agreement I’ll still come up to MT every now and then. That means I’ll still get to see my friends up there and enjoy what MT has to offer, but I’ll also get to live in my own home.

I left out some details since I am in a hurry to get this done before I race out the door to get attacked by my niece at Thanksgiving dinner. But that’s not such a bad thing, is it?

No animals were harmed in the making of this story.