Category: Personal Reflections

Lessons learned about life; pearls of wisdom I’ve gleaned through pain, failure and honest reflection

A Blogger Blogging On Blogging

Carl Setzer

I easily get caught up trying to make things perfect. I know far too many folks with the same proclivity. I also know that writing is what I need to focus on. Get more posts out, I should create a podcast and vlog…and that conflicts with “perfection”. It gets in the way of my goals.

As a blogger, I need to blog (insert “duh” here). Losing focus on creation keeps me from this. I hate that. So, I am working on simply posting. Posting as often as I can, as best I can. Letting go of it needing to be perfect.

The same goes for design work. Get something done. Finished is better than perfect.

Lately, I found myself struggling with “focus”. Related, somewhat, to perfect, I guess. There’s a notion within blogging that you want your blog to have as narrow a focus as possible. And there’s validity to that. It makes the life of a reader much easier. But a blog is not a book. It’s not a magazine…blah, blah. There’s a personal element to a blog. I have a wide array of interests. It’s perfectly wonderful to explore them  all in one place, too.

A blog should be a unique expression, each one one-of-a-kind. They should reflect the writer’s personality. I also believe they should be informal.

What do you like about blogging? What do your favorite bloggers do? And do you discern a particular style of writing to label “blogging”?

Some thoughts a week in on the new job

Carl Setzer

Well, one heck of a week, and weekend. First week at the new job. My new team is awesome! One of my challenges is to stop working and head home. Good problem. Now, this coming week has some significant demands, so I expect I’ll be more effective at leaving on time.

While I was working at Eagle Country Construction, I opted to let my license lapse. Now I’m going to renew it. Fortunately, my license wasn’t that far expired. I just need to take a bunch of classes and pay renewal fees, plus and “late” fee. I will have that done in a few weeks. After that, I can provide you and counsel.

Not sure all I will do with the license, but I am confident that real estate will be the main part of the next few years at least. What’s fun is the wide array of opportunities that entails. Besides your traditional buyer/ sellers agent, there’s commercial real estate (I definitely want to understand that better), portfolio analysis property management, portfolio management. Plus my experience in construction and permitting adds a lot of options, too.

I’m excited about the next stage in my career. There’s so much potential.

Please give me a like and follow. It helps things out a great deal. Plus, it’ll be easier to stay in touch.

New Music By A Friend Scalar Theorem

Carl Setzer

I’ve known Scalar Theorem for several years and do find his bass rich perfect for focus. Techno styled music (electronic, dub step, and the like) speaks to me. Plus, as he’s a friend, I delight to watch him succeed. He’s a regular at Burning Man!

Anyway, please go check out his new album, give it a like, and think about other ways to support his music. (If you’d rather listen on Bandcamp, here’s the link to him there).

A New Beginning

Carl Setzer1 Comment

I’ve accepted a new position with Matt Steel, a Bellevue-based broker with EXP realty, who’s a decade or two of real estate experience.  I’ll manage their digital marketing. This excites me greatly. I did this for C&K real estate team a few years ago. I loved this part of my job, even though I”m a bit rusty. My interest in digital marketing goes many years back and it aligns with my interests in web design, writing and social media.

Also, I’ll be managing this team’s transactions, which is another thing I’ve done (both for C&K, and also with Eagle Country construction). I’m excited to be continuing in the real estate and housing sector. I discovered how much I know and understand, and how much I bring to the table. As I’ll be renewing/rebooting my real estate license, I’ll dive deeper into this sector. I’m not entirely sure what I will do with this part of my career, but there are so many options, so many good ways to earn a living. I’m not sure which path is the right one. But as I’ve been listening to Gary Vee the past few days (updating my digital marketing knowledge), I see a need to experiment, take some risks, try some ideas out and see where they lead. I won’t get anywhere I want to go by seeking the easiest path, the easy way forward.

I’m excited to get back into the fray. And very excited to add the official title of “digital marketer” to my resume. And I’m really pumped to put all I’ve learned, and am learning, to work. Time to hit it hard!

The IRS and 21st Century Annoyances

Carl Setzer

So, one of my current projects is helping a non-profit get up and running. One of the things we need is an EIN (Employer Identification Number…the organizational equivalent to a Social Security Number). So, I go to the IRS page to request this, and keep getting the old “Can’t connect to the website. Please try again later” error. I don’t think too much of this, but after a couple of hours, it’s getting to me. So, I explore a bit and find this.

image.png

Really? A website that’s only useful during “business hours”? It’s a WEBSITE! Why on earth is this not available 24-7? I guess that there’s some manual approval that happens during the process. Even so, I should be able to apply and be dropped into a queue that’ll be checked Monday morning, or whatever. A website with office hours just boggles my mind.

Ok, this clearly is a 21st Century problem. But it’s just so antithetical to the zeitgeist.

Ah, Modern Life!

Carl Setzer

Here’s a new Twenty First Century challenge I ran into today.

I need to mail a check. Nothing dramatic here. I know exactly where the check book is, address, etc. However, it took several minutes to:

a) find my envelopes

b) find a stamp (I think it’s the last one in the house, btw)

c) I never did find the return address labels that I’m sure I have

What strikes me with all this: at one place mailing stuff was so commonplace that I not only knew where these things were, I had used them recently. I realized today that I have mailed anything in months.

Subtle changes, these things. But substantive, nonetheless.

Braeden Update: June 23, 2019

Carl Setzer
Well, this week was pretty quiet. No doctor or other appointments, so no news on that front. He joined us for taekwondo testing on Friday and Saturday, though as support. He’s not in a place to judge the testing at this point.
 
Next week will bring some more, new information. We meet with neurologists on Thursday following an MRI. The results will be discussed pretty much immediately after the scan. Braeden is less than excited about the MRI, but we’ll have some pharmaceutical help to get through it.
 
He’s looking forward to summer starting (last day of school is Wednesday). It’ll be nice to have friends available to hang out and minimize the boredom that comes with healing from a TBI.
 
Thanks for your continued support and prayers. It means the world to us.

A Job Search Update

Carl Setzer

Last week I wrote about my transition from my current job to my next thing (see Transitions and Next Steps). The process of exploring what’s out there, what I’ve done, what I’m good at and a number of other things has refined my focus. Instead of “communications”, my focus will be on business administration (things like Executive Assistant, Business Administrator, Office Manager, Administrative Assistant roles). I do love this kind of work. And one of the things I did a few days ago was pull out a career assessment that Keller Williams runs on all their staff. And those administrative roles are ones I got 100% alignment with. Most of my career was focused on this kind of work. Mainly because I’m good at it, and like being good at it.

My focus right now is finding a role that I love. I want more than just to like my work, definitely more than tolerate it. No, I want to love it. As I know what work I’m good at and want to do, this next step is to figure out where. There are solid elements of the where. I want to work in a positive environment. No passive-aggressive dysfunction, thanks. Nor rage. Nor convoluted and confused leadership. I’m terrible at confrontation, and have no interest in putting up with unpleasantries for the sake of a paycheck.

I also want to work in a aesthetically pleasing space. Sunlight! It may seem shallow, but it’s important to me. It shows a deep commitment to staff, for starters. Anyway, I don’t need to be right next to a window, but lots of natural light. I’ve worked in many spaces like that over the years. Starbucks, Microsoft to start with. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen from my meetings at the Snohomish County Admin Building.

My focus currently includes many local powerhouses:

  • Boeing
  • Starbucks
  • Microsoft
  • Premera

I’m also considering local government, Snohomish County, Cities of Lynnwood, Edmonds, Everett, Mountlake Terrace.

Anyway, that’s where things stand. If you have any advice or counsel, please leave a comment below.

Thanks!

Transitions and Next Steps 

Carl Setzer1 Comment

Currently, I’m on a six-week plan to change roles. Permitting and feasibility process (what I’ve done for the past 2.5 years) is not what I want for the rest of my life. And it’s time to do what I love. Mike, the owner of Eagle Country and I worked out the 6 week plan, giving the company time for a transition and me a window to shift. I find this a glorious win-win and am deeply grateful.

​I’m working on transitioning from construction to, ideally, communications. Writing is my first love, and I’ve appreciated every opportunity to do so. I’m also love photography and video. And connecting people delights me.

I define “communications” as this overarching concept encompassing everything from marketing to PR to public affairs to internal comms. I love writing everything from newsletters to creating flyers to PowerPoint presentations.

I have a plan in place. This week I’ll  get my resume out in front of key people, update LinkedIn, my website, Indeed and any other useful websites. And I completed most of all that yesterday. So I’m feeling pretty awesome right now. I need to research what other websites to utilize, if any. Also, I need to work on expanding my list of focus companies.

Boeing is first. As a boy, I fell in love with “space” and aircraft. Growing up in Navy based family gave me visibility to all kinds of aircraft. And at one point I could name off all the different military and civilian aircraft: A6, Tomcat, 707, 747….and on and on. I still get excited watching spacecraft footage.

As a professional, the scale of Boeing and their unique challenges fascinate me. As a truly global company I expect the myriad languages, cultures and time zones to make for interesting and fun challenges. That’s true with both internal and external communication. And I see many opportunities within the current OR challenges the company faces. Challenge presented opportunity.

Other local companies intrigue me, too. Whether Premera here in South Snohomish county, to places I’ve worked before (Microsoft, Starbucks). My goal now is to find work I love. And I’m in my way.

Any advice? Especially web tools and such would be great. Please leave a comment and let me know. Cheers!