So here’s what I did today: I applied for a job as the Community Manager for the Detroit region at Yelp.
There’s a lot attached to my actions, the least of which is a potential career shift. At the heart of the matter is a conscious decision to put Icrontic second in my professional life, after over two years of putting it first.
Looking back, I’m exceptionally proud of the last two years here. We’ve grown by every measurable metric: Traffic, posts, members, content, and revenue. We’ve grown far more considerably in things that are not so easily measured as well: influence, contacts in the industries we cover, and friendships around the world.
The one thing that has remained consistent, however, is the never-ending financial struggle that has burdened me personally since I started. Icrontic makes money, it’s true; but it’s not enough to support me. The struggle to monetize Icrontic has been relatively well documented and we recently shifted gears to try to jump to the next level, but the uptake has been extremely slow. Display revenue continues to shrink (even as our traffic stays steady or even grows!) and two years of relative poverty tends to get a man down when he’s raising two kids alone and has no health insurance, can’t really do the thing he loves most (travel), and can’t even go to trade shows that he really should be at because of lack of funds.
To put it succinctly, I’m sick of being broke all the time.
Recently, Icrontians have been moving on up in the world in spades, directly because of their involvement with Icrontic. Robert “Thrax” Hallock’s superhuman writing effort (over 1600 articles since he started) has finally paid off as he scored a fantastic job with a major tech company. Bobby “UPSLynx” Miller recently got hired by AMD and is now happily ensconced in Silicon Valley, because of his deep involvement with covering the workstation graphics industry and the writing he’s done for us. Other Icrontians can trace their job success to Icrontic as well, and there comes a time when you have to say to yourself: When is it my turn?
Most of you know me as the face of Icrontic. In that sense, I have been a community manager for over seven years now. I’ve brought hundreds of you into my home, took you on tours all over the city of Detroit and its surroundings, and hopefully given you all a better impression of Detroit than you came in with. I’ve always prided myself on being an ambassador for my hometown and this entire region.
So when an opportunity like this comes along, it almost seems to be a cosmically perfect fit.
I met with the previous community manager when Yelp agreed to sponsor Icrontic with swag bags for attendees of the most recent Expo Icrontic. As we talked a bit about both Yelp and Icrontic, it struck me that her job was amazingly cool and I jokingly mentioned to her, “Man, that sounds exactly like something I should be doing.”
The stars have a way of aligning. I saw the call for a Detroit CM in today’s Yelp newsletter and the emotional response was immediate and visceral. I nearly teared up because I got that looming sense of “end of an era” that so often accompanies major life decisions—and that was only three seconds after reading it!
Icrontic is, and always will be, my online home. I applied for the job today and I hope I have a reasonably good shot at it. I think I do. If I do get it, my time spent on Icrontic will, of course, be significantly impacted.
I spend my workday doing things like trying to get sponsors, talking with our publishing partners, engaging in social media outreach, submitting our content to aggregators and other sites, editing, and publishing. I sit in on conference calls, read hundreds of emails a day (press releases, requests for review, invitations to events, etc.), and otherwise keep my thumb on the pulse of the community. I try to keep things fresh and interesting for you guys. I hope I’ve done a good job of it.
I’m mostly letting you know this: If I do get the job at Yelp, Matt and I will try to make sure that things stay relatively the same here at Icrontic. Perhaps there will be less content, perhaps there will be less trade show coverage or product reviews, but the things that make this community are not product reviews and news bits.
The thing that makes Icrontic truly amazing is the community. You, me, and yes, even Snuffie. The community isn’t going anywhere, so how can anything go wrong?
So hey, if you want to put in a good word for me at Yelp, go ahead and let them know if I’ve helped your impression of the Detroit region or any other commendations you can think of. Who knows what could happen?
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