iPhone App

Change Anything, the company that I have been working with and consulting for has recently released their first iPhone app called You're On! The app is quickly growing in popularity and last week was #2 in Health and Fitness apps in the iTunes App Store!

If you have a iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch I recommend that you download and check out this free app (it's free and no ads!). The app helps you keep good habits by sharing and completing challenges with friends. If you do download the app, add me as a friend using my email address csullivan at changeanything.com.

If you don't have an Apple device don't worry, the android version is coming soon and I'll let you know when it is released!

Free Change Anything Membership

Since January I have been working for Change Anything, a great start-up company here in Utah. The idea behind the company is to take a scientifically proven methodology for behavior change and apply it to a social online platform.

Basically, we’ve built a website that helps people and groups tackle difficult changes. The method applies to any type of behavior change, from relationships, to bad habits, to addictions.

There are many levels of “membership” on the site, including a free basic account, premium account and corporate accounts. We’ve recently come out of our closed Beta testing and have just in the past 2 months opened the site to anyone. This also accompanied the release of our NYT Bestselling book, Change Anything.

Anyway, we’ve been running a promotion for a free one year premium membership to the site. I’d like to invite all of you to come to the site, create an account (with a coupon code that I will give you), and provide us with any feedback you might have. If you like the site, please share it with your friends.

Our mission is to help everyone change anything they want, and by helping people do this, change the world.

Sign up instructions:

1. Go to www.changeanything.com
   
2. Enter your email address
   
3. Fill out the form, select “Premium Membership”
   
4. Select “I have a coupon”
   
5. Enter the code: ca4free
   
6. Start changing
   

NOTE: This coupon code expires tomorrow, Friday, May 27th at 5 pm MDT. So make sure to redeem it before then.

Here are a couple of videos that help explain the philosophy behind the site.

Milestone!

My 1997 Chevy Malibu has slowly been approaching the 100,000 mile mark. I finally hit the new milestone this week while running errands for work.

A New Job. . . We are Georgia Bound!

I am happy and relieved to announce that I have found a job! I will be working for my Aunt and Uncle's business in Newnan, Georgia. In case you are wondering, "Where is Newnan, Georgia?" here is a map to help you out.

View Newnan Location in a larger map

I will be working as a Marketing Coordinator for them. I am very excited about the job and the chance to move somewhere warmer (no more New England winters!!!). I would try to explain the nature of their business but it is pretty complicated, the bare bones explanation is, they work with banks and financial lending. I am sure that in 5 or 6 weeks I will be able to explain it much, much better.

I have a ton of family in the area, many of which work at the same company, so it will be nice to live near all of them. Newnan is also a very nice area. Suzy and I were looking at information and were comparing Amherst to Newnan. We found that the cost of living here is something like 20% above the national average, while the cost of living in Newnan is 14% below the national average. So we will see a 34% reduction in our cost of living expenses!!! We also figured out that in the 2 years and 9 months that we have been married we will have lived in 4 states (Utah, Massachusetts, Florida, and now Georgia) and lived in 5 different houses (2 in Massachusetts)! We are hoping that once we get to Georgia we can stay put for a while, we are really tired of moving.

I am excited to return to the South, I love the culture and the food there. And we are excited not to be poor college students any more too. This job is a wonderful opportunity for me and I am excited to graduate in 20 days and get down there to start. Although, it is kinda strange to think that Claire will learn to talk with a Southern accent.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Finding a job . . .

Who would have known back in the fall and winter of 2006 that the economy would be so crappy? Back then, things were good, Suzy and I were just married and we thought that going back to school to get my MBA would be a great idea. After all, all the statistics said that MBA grads typically had multiple job offers to choose from upon graduation, salaries were high, and the options were endless.

Now fast forward 2 years and change. During my 6 week winter break from school, it has been my full time job to find jobs and apply to them. Even under the best of circumstances this is a daunting and tedious task, as I am sure that many of you know. Adding the poor economy, the enormous pool of business students, and the microscopic job opportunities, makes the task monumental.

Today, a week and a half before I start school back up, I am officially burned out from job applications. I give up! 45 applications in and several more pending, I give up! In reality, this is mostly just a stall tactic so I don't have to work on them, while I try and earn some sympathy to raise my dwindling confidence.

Last week I applied to a job, one that I thought I had a decent shot at. Well within 30 minutes I received a rejection letter, which on the whole is not too bad. I have heard of faster rejections and I would rather know that they don't want me than be left thinking I still might have a chance, when in reality I don't. But, the thing that got me was that the email stated, "After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we will not be pursuing your application on this occasion." Ha! Right! "Careful consideration." Lines like that make a discouraging process even more discouraging because I know I was rejected before a human even had a change to look at it.

My one small victory from that one was that they addressed the email to me and not "Dear Applicant" or something like that. We are fortunate though, that even amid this poor economic conditions, my education has not cost us, and we will be debt free when I graduate. I cannot imagine the stress on the students at other schools who will be coming out with upwards of $100,000 in student loans.

On a more positive note, the baby is going good, and time is flying by. It is only 24 days to the due date, though Suzy and I both are hoping for her to come early. Here are two images from the ultrasound from 18 weeks, they have been on our refrigerator, and I finally got around to taking photos of them to post (another job application stall tactic, anyone know any others?). In the first picture you can see her little foot and the second is a nice little profile.

Shameless plug: If anyone knows of a company looking to hire a smart, hard working MBA let me know!

Update

I have an update on my last post. I now have a job! Its not an amazing job, and it doesn't pay that great, but its decent, and I'm really in no place to complain. I'm working in accounts receivable at the Yankee Candle headquarters. They were looking for someone to work until the end of the year since Christmas time is their busy season. Its good timing and the people are nice.

Its too bad its through a staffing agency because then I don't get the benefits of working for Yankee directly (yummy candles) and obviously the staffing agency takes a big part of what Yankee is paying for me. But like I said, I'm lucky to have found something so its all good. I'm glad to be busy again and to have a little income. :)

Unemployed Again

The past year or so has been really hard for me as far as work has gone. I really enjoyed the job I had at Nature's Way and felt like my career was really on track for where I wanted it to go. After I got laid off when they cut the marketing department in half, my "career" has really gone downhill. I was able to get a job in Utah before we moved out here, but it was a little tricky as I knew I would be leaving in a few months. It was a decent job, but didn't have the prestige or pay anywhere near what I was making at Nature's Way.

Since we moved here, I spent the first 4 LONG months looking for a job with increasing discouragement as time when on. I eventually realized I would need a job doing something, and that I just couldn't wait any longer. I ended up working for a CPA helping with taxes (meaning doing a bunch of grunt work like printing, stapling, answering phones and dealing with a lady who gets stressed WAY too easily and likes to take it out on other people). It was hard to not feel like this job (and the pay) was below my skill level.

In Florida the economy is even worse than it is here, especially for temporary positions. I ended up working two and a half days over the whole summer. I was pretty sick, so I didn't mind too much. Now we are back here, I'm feeling good and I have less than 5 months to make money before the baby comes. We are very lucky that Casey school is all paid for and thanks to his assistantship, he actually gets paid a little bit. We are also very lucky that we made some money on the sale of our townhouse in Utah and that has kept us going thus far.

I had an interview about a week and a half ago for a seasonal position that I thought would be perfect for me. I was really excited about it and thought maybe, finally, my job luck had turned...however, I found out on Monday that they decided to hire someone else. I'm working with the temp agency I worked with before to hopefully find something, so we'll see how long it takes. Hopefully it will be soon! Its kind of funny to me to think about what I thought my career path would be and how much I thought I would accomplish before we had kids. It just goes to show you never quite know what life will throw at you

I didn't mean for this to be such a long post. I didn't write it to get your pity either. I just thought that sharing whats going on in life means sharing the frustrating as well as the exciting. Also, I know there are probably others out there who are struggling with similar difficulties, so its nice to know you are not alone.

We have so many good things in life and we really are very lucky. Hopefully things will turn around soon and I'll have some good news to report!