Wednesday, March 23 was my last day as an employee of Engauge. It was a friendly parting. In short, it wasn’t the best fit for either one of us. Nothing but happy thoughts. What have I been doing since this separation? Relaxing. Refocusing. It’s been lovely.

Jeff Hilimire, Engauge’s Chief Digital Officer, who recruited me and ran the Digital Innovation Group, once called me a free spirit. These feelings are echoed in a few blog posts published on my personal blog back in February when I hit a particularly frustrating block at work. I’ve since readdressed these frustrations and testaments to decipher the “why”. What caused this position and how could I avoid falling back into it moving forward? By making a few changes.

The Non-Traditional (aka “Scary”) Approach

My friends and family know I haven’t exactly taken a traditional or safe approach to life to date.

Some examples:
- I dropped out of six Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate courses my senior year of high school to accept a Marketing Coordinator position in the music industry, opting to complete a GED instead of graduating.
- I co-founded and lead marketing initiatives for a nationally distributed record label through eleven albums at nineteen years old.
- I became a certified lifeguard with no previous non-recreational swimming experience.
- I recently drove 5000 miles by myself across 32 states and Canada during two weeks of deep winter.

These are the stories that typically gain me incredulous stares, admiration or eye-rolling. Who does these things? Plenty of people. I’m by no means alone in my drive or impulse. The more I read of others’ similarly atypical experiences and lives, the more I want to pursue myself. Commence the finger pointing at Tim Ferriss, Chris Guillebeau, and the like.

Adventures Ahead

What’s next? A voyage towards finding my best fit. How do I do this? Stop taking the safe approach. Begin taking bigger risks. Stop doing what people tell me I should be doing. Do what is best for me. I’m starting with a one-way plane ticket to Spain. I have family in Barcelona I have never met and hear it is a fantastic city, especially for young people. From there, I have allocated roughly the following five months to cities around Europe and Asia, with possible stops in Jordan, Canada and the States.

For Hire

I plan to pursue remote contract and freelance projects to fund my travels, in addition to my initial fund. See LinkedIn and my bio for information on my experience and qualifications. References are available.

Examples of contract/freelance work you could hire me for:
- Strategy (digital, social, mobile, search, experiential)
- Creative (user experience, copywriting, web design)
- Development (front-end, blogs, soon: iPhone)
- Social Media (analytics, research, process, infrastructure/workflow)
- Publicity (blogger outreach)

I intend to only take on a maximum of two projects at a time, dependent on scope, and must be able to work remotely. This is to ensure I can deliver quality without latching myself to a 9-5 or 40 hour working week, as that would cheat my adventure. I am open to brands, agencies, startups and local businesses alike. I want to help you achieve your goals while pursuing my own.

I may be crazy. I may run out of money. I may never come back. I may find my best fit. I’m working on the logistics right now of what to do with my car, apartment, and expenses. I’m very excited to begin this adventure because as the saying goes, even if I fall short, I haven’t landed in a terrible place. At any point, I am free to stop. I can go back to Atlanta. I can pursue a new home. I can commit to new directions.

This year I volunteered to be an iReporter for CNN at SXSW. The concept was to “demystify” the conference and in my seventh year attending, I felt qualified to help portray this. The hitch? I’m a bit of a video amateur. It’s an area I’ve been dying to get more experience in so I jumped with two feet into this opportunity and hurriedly borrowed a video camera and tripod to bring with me to Austin.

Cue SXSW overload. What was I thinking? I already have difficulties managing my schedule with so many options, the last thing I had time to do was teach myself any video and it was too awkward to carry around to many places when it wasn’t my primary focus. On top of this, I was having issues getting into the CNN Lounge to upload the bits of video I did take and join the relevant meetings. I ended up contacting Lila from iReport to tell her I wasn’t going to be able to contribute, which I felt terrible about but she assured me they had plenty of content.

Here is a great video from CNN, “SXSW By The Numbers,” that still credits me in the end which I don’t quite deserve. Props to those who did contribute… and much respect! I will work on my video skills in a less stressful environment and be better prepared for badassery next year.

From another former Super Deluxe’r to you:

Brad Neely for the win.

Below are the top two SXSW 2011 videos I have seen yet. Let me know if you have seen any rivals!

South by Southwest Homesick Blues: Amazing SXSW video from Get Satisfaction, inspired by Bob Dylan:

How To Be South By South Best (SXSW Video Guide): Hilarity from Alex Blagg courtesy of IFC.com and BajillionHits.Biz:

I have received my first Klout Perk, along with twenty-nine others in Atlanta (which looks to be consistent quantity-wise across targeted markets). I was sent a tweet by @KloutPerks that led me to a custom branded campaign page on Klout where I could RSVP for the appropriate screening.

Klout also included their “Influencer Code of Ethics” at the bottom of the page:

- Klout will never sell or give away your contact info.
- Participating (or not participating) will not change your Klout Score.
- If you accept the offer you are not required to do anything. We do not want to “buy” your tweets. You are receiving the product because you are influential and have authority on topics related to the product. This is a more targeted form of receiving a sample while shopping at the grocery store. You are welcome to tell the world you love the product, you hate the product or say nothing at all.
- If you decide to talk about the product we will ask you to disclose that you received a sample (http://www.cmp.ly/2/va).

I am attending the screening tomorrow and curious to see whether it will be limited to the 30 to 60 (you can bring a guest) influencers RSVPed through Klout or will Universal Pictures open it up to the usual slew of radio winners? I am hoping for the first, as the latter would take away any type of exclusively to the event. I’ll report back.

This afternoon I stumbled across this brilliant marketing campaign from Sony-BMG promoting Bob Dylan’s “ultimate” collection which was released a few years back.

Upon visiting DylanMessaging.com, fans are able to insert their own messages into the “Subterranean Homesick Blues” video and send it to friends.

There is also a coordinating Facebook application that replicates the functions seen on the microsite and features additional content such as the Mark Ronson remix.

This is an fantastic example of how you might be able to repurpose content you already have catalogued in new and engaging ways. Repurposing old content is a resourceful marketing approach for companies with limited assets and capabilities. Have an idea under the belt that once resonated well with a large audience? Find a new way to extend the idea that doesn’t “beat a dead horse” and provides relevant value for users on platforms where they are already engaged.

This week I am heading down to Austin, TX for SXSW for both the Interactive and Music portions of the conference and festival. This will be my first year at Interactive and my second year attending Music. Last year I attended Music on behalf of Super Deluxe. We sponsored two events — An official showcase spanning two venues with comedians such as Eugene Mirman (photo below), Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Hard N Phirm and about twenty-five others. This year, I am attending Music on behalf of my blog, Drive A Faster Car. I am also writing SXSW On Teh Cheap to document how affordable SXSW can be.

Wieden+Kennedy produced “Coca-Cola Avatar” which aired during Super Bowl XLIII.

From Laughing Squid

Whee! Have I mentioned I’m a brand enthusiast for Nintendo’s DS Lite? (Rumor has it, I’m an influential female non-gamer.)

I just received Personal Trainer: Cooking in the mail today. You’ve likely seen the recent commercial with Lisa Kudrow. With the game I also received this super awesome apron. Yes, that’s right. An apron. With my name on it!

I’m keeping the apron out but putting the game under the tree since it’s a small Christmas this year at my house. I am looking forward to playing with this more in the New Year! Doesn’t everyone start the new year off telling themselves they will cook at home more often, work out and pay off debt? This will definitely help me on two of those! It has 245+ recipes, shopping list integration, calorie count, voice commands (for when you have messy hands), technique videos, etc.

And holy wow — just discovered there’s another DS cooking game with Jaime Oliver! It includes a Creative Cooking Mode where players use hundreds of hand-picked ingredients to create their own dishes. WANT.