Wow.

Iced tea #FTW

Don’t let the small victories pass you by.

+

+

=

Awesome. Completely and totally awesome.

& just for good measure:

have you bought your tickets to The Nadas on the River or SWINEfest yet?

have you donated to the Jon Locker Family Benefit Concert yet?

have you registered for TEDxDes Moines yet?

reflect.

Note: I no longer work with the people whose kind words I stole today and published on the Interwebs below.

By the way, Justin McFarlane makes webs. While he is pretending I still work at Phantom EFX, you should ask him nicely to design a website for you. He’s good people.

Things I like:

1) Dwolla
2) Big Omaha
3) Des Moines
4) Silicon Prairie
5) Following Dreams

Making it happen:

Today, I wrote a blog for The Nadas website, newsletter, and Facebook.

Wednesday, I leave for Big Omaha with the Dwolla crew.

Friday, I head to The Nadas show in Sioux City.

I’ve been a fan of The Nadas since I was five. Five YO Emma would be so jealous.

"I'm so jealous."

Lucky for me, I immediately began earning a paycheck as a Marketing/Sales Communication Specialist at Phantom EFX. Instead of seeking out a full-time position with the company, I opted to split my week into parts: Monday/Tuesday in Cedar Falls at Phantom, Wednesday/Thursday in Des Moines at Authentic Records, Friday/Saturday/Sunday on a tour bus with The Nadas. As the gig with Authentic Records began as an unpaid internship, and the drive between CF and DSM is incredibly dull, my choices were met with a “you did what?” once again.

At the end of the summer, I began my life as a freelance digital communication/projects manager and began earning a paycheck from both Phantom, Authentic Records, and various freelance projects along the way. This has been a cozy arrangement. Working in the worlds of video games and rock’n’roll, there’s not much complaining to do but endless amounts of fun to have.

On April 18, 2011, I placed my two weeks notice with Phantom EFX. An amazing job with a company that is really going places, my two weeks notice were met with a shocked but supportive “you did what?” from all parties involved. Now why did I do that?  Well, for one, I wanted to. And I do what I like. But more importantly, I was faced with an opportunity that I had always hoped for but didn’t see it becoming a reality so quickly. I have come to lovingly call that opportunity “Tikly”.

Now let’s back up.

Within a few short weeks following my graduation from UNI, I met a lot of really amazing people in DSM. The first of these people was Nathan Wright from Lava Row. After totally impressing me with his Lava Row’ness and love for DSM, Nathan sent an introductory e-mail on my behalf to Ben Milne, the CEO of Dwolla.

After having to reschedule our first meeting (mister CEO may or may not have stood me up due to an iPhone update and a loss of calendar items), I was immediately blown away by everything Ben had done as an entrepreneur and was excited to see where this Dwolla thing was headed.

Turns out, Dwolla was headed for very big things. Buying coffee, ordering guacamole, paying rent, donating to charities, it’s only a matter of time until one can use Dwolla to transfer money for just about anything. And it’s only a matter of weeks until you can use Dwolla to purchase tickets to live events.

Enter Tikly, a ticketing service without an ego.

With the support of Dwolla and the genius of their CEO on my side, I placed my two weeks notice with Phantom EFX in the name of something new: Tikly. Lower service fees, more options, access to new retail, and a whole lot of fun– I have been honored to take Tikly from a quiet discussion to a fantastic solution. I look forward to our official launch and I promise we have huge things coming your way.

The best part about it all? Not a single whisper of a “you did what?” with this new venture. Tikly is just the thing to do.

Co-founding, job quitting, & aspiring.
Emma

&& we accept Dwolla!

I just keep listening to this jam. Recording this song and making the music video was a blast. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!