Since starting my job with Jump Media, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about why I took the new position, what I’m doing now, where I’m living, etc. So without further ado, here’s an update post answering some of those questions and officially announcing my job switch on the blog! 🙂
Q: Were you actively looking for a new job?
A: Nope! I really enjoyed working for Phelps Media Group; I love my former coworkers there, and I really never envisioned leaving for quite some time. However, I was approached by Jen Wood on the final day of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) regarding a job offer. After much consideration, I met with Jen Wood and Jen Ward to discuss the offer, and I realized that I loved everything that they were presenting me with and that perhaps I was ready for a bit of a change.
Q: Why Jump Media? What’s different about what they offered than Phelps offers?
A: For me, the biggest draw to the change were three things: balance, flexibility and growth.
I love working – like borderline work-addict love working. I actually get super anxious if I’m not doing anything productive, and don’t even try to separate me from my laptop and phone for any extended period of time. (I’m working on it, I swear.) But recently, it’s felt like no matter how much I work or how many hours I put in, I couldn’t keep up with it all, and that’s not a great feeling. (My admittedly poor delegation skills also largely to blame for that one…)
Again, largely of my own doing, and also the nature of working 7-days a week for 12 weeks with the WEF circuit, but I’ve been having a hard time finding any sort of work-life balance. And I’ve reached a point where that’s something that I would like to have or work on having.
While Jump Media will obviously present it’s own struggles in this area, and I’m sure the WEF season will be just as non-stop if not more, for now it’s presenting me with the chance to work on that balance.
Rather than traveling from one horse show to the next for the majority of the summer, I’ll be working from home, and for the first time I’ll have almost every weekend off!? (This is still a crazy concept to me! After skipping a number of weddings, bachelorettes and bridal showers for the past few years, I just got an invite for an engagement party that I can actually be in town for! Pretty pumped.)
For the long-run, Jump Media is the type of job that you can continue even if you have a family, kids etc., where as, while I’m sure this could have been somehow arranged/accommodated, my former hours and travel schedule wouldn’t easily allow for that. (I know, I know family thing long way off considering I haven’t even been trying dating, but that’s part of the new work-life balance I’ll work on, right?)
So that’s the balance, and that also ties directly into one of the other things that sold me on the job: the flexibility. It’s no secret to those who know me well that I miss being in Pennsylvania with family, friends and my horse in the summers. (Not in the winters. Sorry guys.)
Without a physical office base, Jump Media allows you to work from anywhere. For me, that means Pennsylvania six or seven months of the year, and Florida five or six months of the year. A.k.a. I get to be a snowbird at 25 and vacate PA as soon as it starts getting too cold for my taste – the best of both worlds!
I’m also working from home which is nice so far! Get back to me in a few weeks after I’ve only talked to my dog all day, but so far so good!
Finally, Jump Media is a brand new company, founded by Jen Wood of Jennifer Wood Media and Jenn Ward of Starting Gate Communications, and the opportunity to be in at the ground floor at help grow the company from nearly the beginning is exciting to me! So I’m very much looking forward to it! 🙂
Q: Where will you be living?
A: I already answered this one as part of the giant answer above, but I’ll be living in Lititz, Pennsylvania now through at least October, and then I’ll head back down south to Wellington.
Q: Won’t you miss all the traveling?
A: To be honest, the lack of summer travel definitely fell both in the pro and the con list of the new position with Jump Media. On one hand, I absolutely love following the horse show circuit and getting to go places like Kentucky for the summer, and I’m really going to miss that. On the other hand, I am excited to build a little bit of a life outside of the horse show circuit and maybe even get to start showing again myself! So I still go back and forth on that one, but for now I think it’s a good fit; plus with the flexibility, I do have the freedom to go to horse shows on the weekends if I’d like. (For instance: going to go to Devon largely just for fun! Crazy!)
That got a bit longer than anticipated! But I believe that’s about it for now! Be sure to check out Jump Media on Facebook here, and check back for lots more updates! 🙂
