The Next Chapter

The last nine weeks have been eye opening and refreshing. A moment to reset, to find myself and things I'm passionate about. I've been incredibly blessed to have done many things in my life/career that most people wouldn't get to do in a lifetime. For that, I'm forever grateful for the experiences and opportunities. When I landed the job with the UFC, at the time when I made that goal (I wrote it down 13 months prior if you remember), there literally was nothing bigger that I thought I'd do in my career. That would be the pinnacle, working for a huge growing brand in sports (I had zero experience in sports marketing outside of marketing the Pay-Per-View events from my Cox/Comcast cable days). 

So what's next?

I've asked myself that every day for nine weeks. Work for another big brand? I could. Work for a start up company? I could do that too. Sell/rent out my house, pack up my stuff, buy a tiny house or just explore the world for a few years? I seriously considered it. 

The one thing I have always had in the back of my mind was, could I be my own boss? Would I love it? Hate it? I don't know but I felt like if there was ever a good time to find out, it was now.  I took everything I had in my mind and in my heart to start building out this plan and I've been incredibly blessed to have people in my life that have referred me to people that I could help.  I'm blessed to have friends and a community around me who are here to help each other succeed. I'm thankful for people in my life that have inspired me to go in the direction of entrepreneurship and believe in me taking on this journey. I'm grateful for my family who have supported my decisions throughout my career even when my dad didn't want me to leave my first "good job" at Comcast because it was a solid career with plenty of growth opportunity. I wanted to widen my career experience and explore opportunities with different companies, different industries, people and culture and I've done all of those things. 

So after hundreds of hours, phone calls and meetings, I've decided to move forward in this entrepreneurial space. I was going to do consulting on my own and work with a couple of clients but decided I'm going to jump in all the way and start a company. Coming up with your business name is not the funnest thing in the world. Do you go with a acronym? Do you come up with some clever name? Make a name up? This part sucked, not going to lie. My partner Joe and I kept going back and forth on this and I said to him, "I don't know what it will be, but somehow I want to incorporate Eleven, like Eleven 11 or something like that". He asked me what was with 11? I couldn't really explain it... 11:11 shows up in my life every single day. I randomly look at the clock at 11:11 a.m. and 11:11 p.m. every day. Go to the store and the check out price is $11.11, my loft downtown was unit 1111. I see 11 in so many different places and I have a habit of taking a screenshot on my phone or taking a picture whenever I see it.  Joe says to me "You know my first long standing client is Larry Fitzgerald and he's #11 for the Arizona Cardinals, right?"  I didn't even think about that! Somehow we have to figure out how to make 11 part of this.  So I said, "What if we spell it "ELVN" and as we started to do our research, we found the URL and social handles were all available. There were no service marks or trademarks with anything similar so we were getting closer.  "How about ELVN Digital?" I said.  Joe and I both agreed we liked that. 

As we started to get comfortable with the idea of having a name we liked...  I kept thinking, "what's our elevator pitch on the meaning of the company name?"  (as most people probably won't care about my 11:11 thing or Larry's #11 jersey). I thought about this more and I said "Whenever someone asks you to grade your service experience or rate how much you like something, they always ask you on a scale of 1-10. I'd expect that people are thrilled with the service we provide and we should always be thriving for an 11. We go above and beyond. Not only that but the two ones represent Joe and I as the founders of this business. This isn't some sort of a fluffy company mission/vision... it's true to the core of who we are and our work ethic. 

So from here we needed to come up with a logo... I reached out to my buddy David and had spewed all sorts of stuff at him including my Pinterest board of inspiration for fonts, color, design, logos, etc. He came back with a sketch pad of ideas

Sketch ideas for ELVN Digital

One of the logos really stood out to me and I loved the use of negative space. So we started to refine one of the designs and trying various colors until we landed on something we loved. 

Official Logo 

Once I saw the logo. I was like, "Wow. This is it. We're moving forward".

I set up time with my attorney to file the business license, service mark for the logo, etc. My attorney has his back towards me as he's entering all the information into his computer and says:

"What's the company name?"

 "ELVN Digital" I replied and gave him the quick story on 11:11. 

He turns around in his chair giving me this deer in headlights look and I just stop talking all together trying to figure out why he's giving me this crazy eye. He's got Google Maps pulled up on the screen and he points to the map and says: 

"This is my house in Iowa where I grew up. The house address is 1111". 

"SHUT UP!" I yelled. I couldn't believe he was telling me this. I mean, SERIOUSLY?! What are the chances of that??!!

We keep chugging along with the paperwork and I still can't wrap my head around his 1111 connection. I'm texting Joe about it in disbelief and also thinking to myself, this is meant to be. While the attorney is submitting all the documents online and forwarding documents to me, he says to me "it will take like 15-20 mins until we will get everything confirmed". So I just keep going through the emails he sent me and organizing all the stuff on my computer until he says everything is done.  A few minutes later I hear the "ding" notification on his computer that he has an email.  He turns to me and says "sweet. You're all set! Here's your business license, your service mark has been filed for your logo, that's it. You're all set." As he forwards me the final documentation and I open it on my laptop, I looked at the top right of my Macbook screen and the time was 11:11 a.m. 

I said to my attorney when he said everything was set, "Look at the time". 

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It was 11:11am at the exact time I received this

I don't know what it all means but I feel like whatever it is, it's good and it's telling me I'm doing the right thing. To whoever it is, whatever it is, thank you for showing me in numbers, specifically 11:11 that you are there and encouragement that this is all going to be great. 

I came home and I was full of emotions. We got the business license filed, company bank account opened and I came home and just cried. It was happy tears and super emotional, overwhelming and one of the proudest moments of my life. 

I went into my closet and I dug up this letter my dad wrote me in 1997 when I attended the Flowing Wells High School Leadership Retreat... 

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Letter from my dad from 1997

The last line of this page reads "Shanda I can see you as a CEO of a corporation"

Just shy of 20 years since he wrote me this letter.... I am that, of my own company. 

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It's official

I'm excited to see some nearly 20 year old goals coming to life at the same time. Many of you remember my story about writing down my goals back in 1998 and saying "I wanted to be part of something big like the Super Bowl or a Budweiser campaign".  I'm happy to say that a few of the first couple of clients we get to work with are Budweiser Beer Park here in Las Vegas and Super Bowl Houston heading up the Social Concierge team.  I get to officially check TWO nearly 20 year old goals off my list that I said literally in the same sentence and I couldn't be more proud. 

We are looking forward to an amazing year ahead.

Happy Holidays. 

Wouldn't Change A Thing

Many people that know me, know the part of my life that has had a successful career working for some pretty cool companies, doing pretty rad stuff. I don't really share much about what I went through to get here.... the hard work, survival skills, taking care of myself, being lost, alone, the "why me" moments, etc, but I figured this was probably a good place to tell the story. My parents were pregnant at 19 years old and had me at 20. I don't really know how long my parents dated before getting pregnant or how well they even knew each other... I never really asked that question nor did they share those stories. They didn't get married until I was seven or eight years old and divorced by the time I was 13. In the early 80's both of my parents had great jobs, bought a house, had brand new cars and bought everything and anything they wanted. I remember my mom would go buy new clothes for me instead of doing laundry. Somewhere in the late 80's to early 90's, things started to go down hill. My dad moved out. I was living with my mom and her drug addiction slowing started to take over. We went from having a brand new house and car, to living in a duplex in a shitty dangerous neighborhood, push starting a small single cab Toyota truck. I'd walk to the grocery store to buy food with food stamps, was on welfare, received food boxes from the Tucson Food Bank and tried like hell to like the taste of powdered milk in my generic brand corn flakes. We often had no electricity and would run an extension cord from our neighbors house to ours, plugging in one lamp in the middle of the living room so we had light at night. I remember heating up water in a kettle on a gas stove and slowly (and I mean slowly) trying to fill a bathtub... by the time I got the bathtub full, it was maybe lukewarm at best but it was better than an ice cold shower.  I remember picking mealworms out of the Quaker Oats oatmeal box, it was what we could afford (marked down to $.50 on clearance at the grocery store) and cooked it slowly over a candle.

In 4th grade, my friend Danielle had the best of the best. The popular clothes and shoes while I got hand me downs (from god knows who) and whatever we could afford from the thrift store. Occasionally we'd get a chance to pick out new clothes but could only afford it by putting it on layaway at K-Mart. As badly as I wanted to have whatever was trendy at the time, we just couldn't afford it. Keds were the "cool" shoes to have and I had the Payless version of them. When my friend would get new shoes she would give me her old dirty worn out pair and I would carefully peel off the blue Keds rubber logo from the back of hers and superglued them to the back of mine. I remember to this day how hard it was to get the superglue off my fingers and also how incredibly crooked I glued the Keds logo. I thought that was what I needed to do to be cool and for people to like me.

By time I got to high school the most important thing I had going on in my life was dance. That was all I cared about and all I wanted to do. I wasn't a bad student but I didn't apply myself as much as I could have.  I did the minimum needed for a passing grade that allowed me to perform. My sophomore and junior year, Ms. Torrez kept encouraging me to join the pom line and I had no interest whatsoever. I was in a different dance class, had my dance crew and thought the pom line was too damn cliquey for me. The end of my junior year I finally tried out for the team and made it. The summer going into my senior year I started practicing with the team and the rest of my senior year was one of the best times of my life.

It changed my perception about the people who were on the pom line and I quickly became friends with people I thought I had nothing in common with. Ms. Torrez nominated me for a leadership retreat that year and that experience really was an amazing eye opener. I learned that no matter what I'd been through, I could be a leader and make something of myself even though everything I had experienced in my life made it seem so impossible to do.

My parents didn't really talk to me about going to college and I had no idea what to do when it came to applying for scholarships or applying to even get in to college.  I. Was. Lost. I got the courage to finally ask the school counselor and he gave me a website to check out various scholarships I could apply for. I went to the school library, logged on to AOL dial-up internet and I applied for one scholarship. A few months later I got a letter in the mail that I was awarded the scholarship I applied for. It wasn't much but I was really really proud of myself. Around this time as I was creating opportunities for my future, my mother was on another level with her drug addiction. She spent all the money we had for the mortgage, utilities and groceries and blew it on meth. I couldn't even handle her when she was coming down from a major binge. On my 16th birthday, I had to be at school at 6am for dance practice and was getting ready around 5am. My mom was going on her 3rd or 4th day coming down from a meth binge, barges out of her room screaming at me from the top of her lungs right in my face. I left the house so angry and walked to school. It was super dark outside and I got to school almost 40 mins early and just sat outside and waited for the gym to open. I put everything I had into practice. My step sister reminded my mom that it was my 16th birthday and went off on her about how she should feel horrible for yelling at me for no reason at all. When I got home later that day, my mom threw a hostess cupcake at me with two candles poked through the top of the package and said "Happy Birthday" and locked herself back in her room. That kind of behavior from her became the norm for me. I knew not to expect anything on my birthday but I think every girl hopes for something special on her 16th birthday...... mine was the furthest from an ideal Sweet Sixteen.

The scholarship I received was for a class that started just a few weeks after I graduated high school. I enrolled at Pima Community College that summer and spent the next few years knocking out my general education courses while working full time, going to school full time and figuring out the process as I went.  (I'm the first and only person in my family to graduate with a bachelors degree and honestly cannot name anyone else going back several generations on both sides of my family who have completed as much as I have in their education).  

My first job was at a party supply store where I worked for one month as seasonal help. I had actually applied at Target several times and really really really wanted to work there but I never got a call back. My dad gave me some advice to write a cover letter and apply at Target again. I thought it was a stupid idea but I did it anyway. A week later, I got an interview and I landed the job. I was the happiest person ever wearing my red shirt and khaki pants, proudly displaying my Target name tag with my name engraved on it. (I still have that name tag!)  While I was working at Target, I was asked by a Team Leader to help out a group of customers with a really big shopping order. Turned out this group ended up being employees from Jones Intercable (Jones was later purchased by Comcast) and they had 6 carts full of toys and clothes for several families they had adopted for Christmas.  I kept them entertained and laughing while I rang up all the items from their shopping cart and one of the ladies says to me "You are amazing! Come apply for our call center position". As soon as I got off work, I drove straight over to their office, still in my khaki overalls, red shirt and Target name tag. A week later I interviewed and got the job.

That was the start of this incredible career journey where my work ethic, personality, and desire to deliver the best customer service began. Making memorable experiences with people I encountered on a daily basis had become the trend of being recruited to every job I've ever had since then.

Jones Intercable (Comcast) recruited me from Target. Arizona Lotus Radio recruited me from Comcast. Cox recruited me from Arizona Lotus. UFC recruited me from Cox.

Looking back, I wouldn't change any of it. It made me who I am; it made me the fighter that I am. It gave me the strength to get through tough days... and yes, I laugh when someone complains that they didn't get the extra pump of whatever in their Starbucks coffee or their burger had mayo on it when they asked for "no mayo". If that's the worst thing to fuck up your day... try putting yourself in my shoes not knowing if you'd have food to eat, a roof over your head and a warm bed to sleep in, then tell me how shitty your day was.

Next time someone says to me "you're so lucky" when referring to the jobs I've had or things I've been able to accomplish or experience throughout my career...keep in mind, I've worked really hard for it. There was nothing lucky about getting here.

Lessons I've learned in life

1. Chase what you love to do. Not what you think you're supposed to do. 
2. Write down all the things  you've ever wanted to do/see/achieve in life. From the biggest dream you think is out of touch to the smallest thing you think isn't worth writing down. Write. It. Down. 
3. When you have an open day, weekend, hour.... go to that list and do something. Cross it off. 
4. The sense of achievement fills your soul and your train your mind to see the things you have done and focus less on the things you have not done. Celebrate success. Big and small. 
5. Don't assume you are unable to help or make a difference, even when you feel like you have nothing to offer. Being present is often enough. 
6. Respect people and build relationships. Every single person you meet has a connection to one of those goals you wrote down on your list of things you want to do/see/achieve. You just don't know it yet. 
7. Understand what makes you happy. Remove material things, money, big house, fancy cars. You have to learn how to be happy with and without them. 
8. Surround yourself with likeminded people who are willing to work as hard as you and have your back to push and challenge you. 
9. Find a mentor. Ask for help when you don't know the answer. If you feel like you have stopped learning something new, find something else to do. Challenge yourself daily. 
10. Breathe. Not just breathe like you do to stay alive. Clear your mind.... not a single thought (trust me this is MUCH harder than it sounds) and breathe. 
11. Be. Happy. 

:)

A lot has happened in the last 24-48 hours and it's been quite the whirlwind. I was laid off from my job at UFC on Tuesday. Before you say "I'm so sorry to hear that", it's ok. Be happy for me. I had the opportunity to be a part of something amazing for six and a half years. I got to be a part of MMA being legalized in New York, the first ever women's fight in the UFC, the introduction of flyweights and bantamweight division, the last WEC event, the purchase of Strikeforce, the first UFC event in my home state of Arizona, crossing milestones like 10 million and 20 million on Facebook, 1,2,3,4 million on Twitter, 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 million followers on Instagram, launching Snapchat... I mean I could literally go on and on. It's been amazing. I'll always be grateful for the time I had with the people behind the scenes, the athletes, cornermen and teammates, the partners at various arenas, sports leagues and teams, the celebrities, fans and media and literally everyone I came in contact with. You all have played such an incredible role in my life and have been a part of the successes we have had.

I don't know what is next and I have no doubt it will be on to do something amazing once again and I look forward to keeping in contact with you all. On to the next one.

Much love,

Shanda

You have to start somewhere.

So, I bought my name as a URL.  I wasn't sure why or what I wanted to do here so I thought I'd start blogging.  Work. Life.  Love.  Who knows. We have to start somewhere, right?  Come on this journey with me and let's see where the wind takes us.