My kids have just turned three and one, respectively. For the first eight months of my daughter’s life, I was at home caring for both her and my son full time. It was the most challenging, and at the same time the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

As a “stay at home” parent, you are blessed with a lot of time to wander off in thought, but cursed with a lack of time to act on anything but pressing kid emergencies, and hopefully the odd shower. (You will thank me for sparing you the gory details of parenthood, all ye non-breeders). This is not a job for the faint of heart, but if you are full of heart, there might be no better feeling in the world than to care for one’s family and watch them grow. To see yourself reflected in your children’s eyes, literally and figuratively, is a pleasure that I cannot express with mere words. My wife and I thank each other every day for this blessing, and for each other’s support.

In observing them playing together: the inevitable hair pulling, push-and-shoves and tantrums eventually give way to hugs and sharing. They enjoy themselves so much more during those times, and it is much quieter in the house. It’s a bit funny to me, that observing the actions of toddlers has given me some insight as to how to be a better man.

This time of reflection has helped me realize a lot about myself, what is important in this world, and what I want out of this life. For one, I too am happiest when sharing, so I have committed to spending more time helping others, whenever I can. It is this same commitment to a life of service that helped me realize it was time to return to my business as well. This is where I am at my best; helping companies discover their “voice” and tell their stories, and getting tangible results that we can bring to the bank. Sharing is at the heart of what I teach, and I am committed to “walking the talk.”

My years at Strutta were fun, educational and above all, by virtue of all of the entrepreneurial activity happening around us, inspiring. I owe a debt of gratitude to every team member and office mate, past and present, and every client I had the pleasure of working with. Thank you for everything you taught me; for the opportunity to put so many of my ideas into action with some of the world’s most famous brands, and to work alongside some of Vancouver’s most promising startups. I have made friends that I will certainly keep for life, and that is what is truly important.

And so, to make good on my words about sharing and a life of service, I offer myself to you, dear friends. If you have a question about something I can help with; be it about social media, online business tools, parenting, how to bake and decorate a kickass birthday cake, where the fish are biting, or even how to cope with the onset of grey hair, drop me a line. Ring my phone (778.840.8355), send me an email, leave a comment below or hit me up on Twitter. I’m back, and I look forward to connecting with you.

As always your friend,

Jordan

[button url=”http://www.telltenfriends.com/contact-us-2/” size=”big”]Get in Touch[/button]

Another year, and another Barcamp has come and gone.

This year saw the Saturday main event move to several venues on Granville Island, with the opening reception Friday night at Workspace. The island setting was magical, especially for the troopers who set out on an afternoon photowalk following Saturday’s festivities. The photos are simply brilliant.

On Saturday morning, Joe Solomon and myself organized a session entitled “Marketers for a Cause,” in which we intended to use social media tools to make a direct impact in just 30 min. We were successful too, as the group of about 60 in attendance grouped off to support three causes; Kevan from Union Gospel Mission familiarized his group with the charity’s mission, the lovely Megan Cole rallied some of the troops for Hands Up for Africa, and Joe, myself and Stewart Marshall started a Kiva.org “lending team” for Vancouver Barcampers, and we’ve already started loaning funds to charities in the third world. I had hoped that this quick session would leave everyone with a feeling of having made a big difference in a very short time, and although time was tight, I’d say it was a success.

As one of the volunteers organizers of Barcamp, the day of the event can get pretty busy, and it’s easy to lose focus on the impact the event has. For me, one of the highlights of the weekend wasn’t a particular session at all, or even the well-attended reception (I do love a tasty free beer) but it was meeting cool people like Gregg Scott, whose enthusiasm all weekend served as a constant reminder of why we work so hard to bring it all together. People love the ad hoc nature of Barcamp, and at $20 for the weekend (includes a t-shirt!) you really can’t go wrong.

My sister came along this year, her first Barcamp experience. Here she is with a few comments about the weekend. After that, you can watch my Barcamp reception walk-through in the same player:

Popout

Once again, another successful volunteer-run event in the best tech city on the planet.

imgs: False Creek by John Bollwitt, Marketers for a Cause by me, and Myself with Gregg by Penmachine.