I recently became the CEO of Wavve, LLC, a tech company that helps creators turn their podcasts, songs, or speeches into engaging videos to share on social media.
Every word in that sentence lights me up!
A month before I even knew the position would be a real conversation with David Horne and Marty Balkema at Calm Capital, who had been pursuing me over the years and patiently waiting for the right opportunity to work together, I got a rather interesting gift.
A glass wave.
My aunt and uncle somehow foreshadowed what was in my future. Which was uncanny to me because in high school, my grandmother gifted me a glass statue that looked almost exactly like my rock band logo I designed, not even knowing its significance.
It’s fascinating because these glass MacGuffins mark my life at major milestones. I don’t ask for them; no one sends them intentionally symbolizing anything. They just show up.
As I graduated college and faced the decision of what to do with my career — as in, the one job we will have for eternity and must like, or die a thousand deaths — I only knew it involved being a leader in business.
A CEO.
I imagined I would more likely become a pastor, philosopher, writer, poet kind of character, but Henry David Thoreau, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and the like were already taken. And the pay definitely had to happen while I was alive.
Sure, I had those stints of thinking I would be an actual rock star as we all do, but those roles were taken as well. Even my actual rock star friends told me I was better suited for the boardroom than the tour bus.
Life has a funny way of giving you signs along the way of where you belong, whether you see them or not. And many of us try hard to see only signs we wish were there instead of what is actually there.
At least I did for a long time.
It takes getting older and wiser for some of us to accept ourselves and become self-aware.
Today, I am seeing my personal dream of becoming a CEO of a cutting-edge tech, relevant, profitable business come true.
And I’m taking the first step to start an entirely new journey in life that truly excites me.
As the Calm Capital partners introduced me to Wavve and its founders, I deeply resonated with their choices for how they bootstrapped as SaaS entrepreneurs, how they grew the company, what they prioritized, and how they valued privacy, security, utility, scalability, simplicity, and profit.
Baird Hall, Nick Fogle, and Rob Moore had done it. Their company was completely virtual, worldwide, customer-result focused, and lent to exactly the kind of business I love — one that encourages and celebrates creators and leaders.
I learned that they were also wanting to start a new journey in their careers. To become serial entrepreneurs and repeat their success on their next company, ChurnKey.
I am truly humbled by the responsibility to serve such amazing creators on the Wavve platform, creators that I myself have learned so much from over the years as I watched their journeys.
What have I learned through this transition so far that could help first time CEOs?
- Embrace the risk
- Make faster decisions
- Become more empathetic
- Have and share your vision
- Be passionate or walk away
- Over communicate
- Breathe
- Sharpen your “No” skills
