When you hear people say that the start-up world isn’t for the faint of heart, well let’s just say they aren’t liars. At this stage in our first start up I was 25 years old and already losing my hair. Literally. My hair was falling out. As a 25 year old girl. I went to three doctors, one of which was totally coo coo but he did bestow on me the greatest product of all time that totally makes me look like I have hair, which was clearly worth the visit. So back to the story. Our first start up, Snagajob, was no overnight success. I found the job at Snagajob on Monster when I was 24. I had only a year of sales experience under my belt but I LOVED the idea. I wasn’t too far removed from being a college student driving around Raleigh, filling out paper applications all over town, not sure who was hiring and who wasn’t. I applied on Monster, and about a week later, Shawn called. (Most people think we started it together. That’s a big fat no. I am pretty sure I would have never encouraged him to leave his cushy attorney job to do something so risky.) After multiple interviews with the very intimidating 29 year old, I got the job.

The next 6 years were intense. I remember calling my sister almost every morning on the way to work for the first several years telling her I had no idea how this was going to work. It was just too hard. Thankfully for millions of jobseekers and hiring managers (and hundreds of Snagajob employees that would come later), that wasn’t what Shawn believed. There was no shaking his confidence that this idea could work. Everyone who worked for him in those early years would say that we were only working there for 2 reasons. 1. Because we all believed in the concept and 2. We all believed in Shawn. If I have learned anything from the start up world, it is that you absolutely have to have confidence in those two things or you might as well go find another job. Because that is where your grit will come from – the belief in those two things.

Obviously Snagajob went on to be super successful. We were one of the fastest growing companies for 5 straight years, one of Fortune Magazines Great Place to Work List for 8 straight years (with the number 1 ranking for the small company category in 2011 – that was SUCH a fun time), and the company now has 75 million users. We even got to meet President Bush when Shawn won Small Business Person of the Year in 2008. We are both grateful for the amazing ride we had there and the colleagues that became friends and then family.

So doing this again, starting another company, just dredges up all of those old Snagajob memories. Anxiety, stress, fear. Is GoHappy going to work? What do we do if it doesn’t? How long do we keep trying before we know it will or it won’t? Are we doing all the right things? We have never started a mobile app before. (Truth be told, I am the only person in our house who actually uses apps or social media.) But we TOTALLY believe in the concept. Life is busy. Like crazy busy. I have started a consulting firm, we have 3 young children and a teenage nephew under our roof. And we love being with our friends and family. What problem do we keep running into? Finding the time that works for everyone to get together. So how do we leverage social media to ACTUALLY be social with the people we ACTUALLY want to be social with? We know we are on to something. We know that people NEED this app, but how do we go about telling them and more importantly, getting them to use it? Starting a company also means constantly thinking about said company. And that’s where we are today. Non stop gohappyness all the live long day. (Not even kidding here.)

So I need an outlet. I need a place to whine when I want and celebrate the smallest of successes when they happen. And that’s where this blog comes in. I blogged once before and loved it (www.thesummerthatiblogged.com), which was dedicated to a 2 month long RV journey. Who knows what will happen here. If I had to guess, lots of real world chatting about raising kids, starting businesses, food (I LOVE to cook, eat, talk about it, etc.), fitness (or lack thereof) and I am sure other things I don’t even know about yet. So welcome. I hope you will come back!