I just posted this at Flickr but I thought ya’ll might be interested, too:

So, way back in August, I hinted that something big was going on at the fd house. Well, It’s been a very, extremely busy few months (has it only been three months?) but I’m in a much better position now to share what has been going on. Back in August, I quit my full-time, steady-pay, benefit-laden job to start a company with two friends. It is our second company together, actually. The first one, christianaudio.com, is doing very well. But we wanted to do something completely different; to diversify our portfolio, so to speak.

What’s the company? I can’t really talk about it yet. In a couple of weeks I’ll have a lot more to share. If you follow these sorts of things, hopefully you’ll be hearing about us. But even if you don’t, I think that many people who use Flickr will find the idea is really cool. And one of my partners is a bona fide rock star (so we’ve got that going for us).

I’ve already said too much. ;-)

On a personal note, trading up from “employee” to “self-employed” has been been one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m working more now. But since I’m not bound to the 9-5 rhythms of an office, my time is much more flexible and I find that I have a lot more of it to spend with my family. I eat breakfast with my kids every morning instead of sitting in traffic. I’m taking Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off to take my son to soccer practice (where I’ve been roped into assistant coaching) without any of the guilt that used to be associated with it. I’ve traded in afternoon staff meetings for helping my daughter with her homework. Thursday afternoon she and I grabbed a milkshake after I picked her up from school.

In short, it’s wonderful. For the first time ever, I finally feel like I’m steering instead of just pedaling as hard as I can.

I’m starting to brag and I don’t mean to so I’m going to stop now. I just wanted to explain what I mentioned back in August and my relative absence from Flickr over the past couple of months. In a month or so, some of this activity should die down a little (I’m not asking much, just to dial it back from 11), and I can actually get out with my camera a little more. In the meantime, I apologize for not visiting your streams or commenting as much as I’d like. I hope you understand.