Petersen Media Group Turns Three

Today marks the anniversary of the day we began Petersen Media Group. It was three years ago today that Jesse called me at work to let me know that he had been laid off. He was so upset that I left work early to come home and be with him. By the time I got home he already had the idea brewing in his head to go into business for himself. When he told me later that day that he was thinking about NOT looking for another job, I was pretty well freaked out!

3Three years later, we can honestly say that the layoff was one of the best things that has happened to us. I don’t think I ever would have been brave enough to be on-board with Jesse leaving a job to start a business, but since that was where we already were… that part was done for us. Jesse had already built up a few good clients from work he was doing on the side so we agreed to take it a month at a time to see if he could maintain steady work.

I’m so proud of him for getting the company to the point it’s at today, and can’t wait to see what it becomes in the future! He has such a passion for his work and is always learning new things to add to his skills. I love getting to listen to his phone calls with clients… he sounds to professional yet he really remains his honest, straight-forward self at the same time. His clients appreciate his opinions and know that the finished product he provides them with will be something he is truly proud of.

Tonight the entire staff of Petersen Media Group (Jesse and me) are going out for dinner to celebrate. We pretty much never go out to eat so this will be a real treat.

Congratulations, Jesse, on another successful year!

Meet Jesse!

Most of you already know my husband, but I thought that in honor of our anniversary month you should all meet him officially.  We were married on October 21, 2006 which will make this our four year anniversary!  There will be more about wedding memories later, but for now here is a little bit about Jesse:Jesse and Me

What do you do for a living?
I am trying to stop being a jack of all trades and focus, but for now, I’m an entrepreneur with a Web design/small business consulting/graphic design company that you happen to also be an owner of. My day consists of reading and responding to about 100 e-mails per day, staying on Twitter to follow the latest design/site/social media trends, and working some magic on the Interwebs for clients. It may not seem like I’m “working” much during the day, but it takes a lot of work to get “work,” keep it, and the processes going to completion to get paid.

How did you and I meet,  how long have we been together, and when did you first know that you wanted to get married?
I think we first met either at youth group or at a youth event that I was chaperoning, but you know my memory isn’t good enough to remember exactly which. 😉 I DO remember the first time I saw you, though. Definitely cute, but it took about 2 hours for me to find out that you were 16 and I was 21 at the time. We started dating during the Summer of 2002, after you graduated high school and dated for almost 4 years before I popped the question and we got married 4 months after that.

I knew I wanted to marry someone with your qualities before I asked you out and saw dating as a way to be sure we should get married. I knew within the first week of dating that you were the one, as long as YOU would have me with all of my flaws.

What is the best part about being married and living together so far?
Too hard to choose that one thing, so here’s what is best as a package: not coming home to an empty apartment and fixing a meal to eat alone OR having to go out and spend money to eat elsewhere with other people. Having someone on my team to make it our team, who has the same life goals and who has your back and to cover your back.

What is the hardest thing about living with me?
Your indecisiveness. How was that for decisive? I’m rarely going to dilly-dally with a decision, but you like to hem and haw about things, discuss them 12 times for 10-30 minutes each. It drives me crazy, but it also saves us from making bad decisions… most of the time. As much as it drives me crazy, I really shouldn’t want to change it, so I won’t.

What thing(s) do you want to share that you think people should know about me?
You are more social than I am, but being around me for so long and having such extroverted jobs has made you quieter and work wears you out and makes you want to just relax at night, but you really do like to go out and do things. I like to go out and do things with you, too, but we’ve fallen into a pattern of staying home because we’re wiped out. I want people to know that you are up to doing things more as long as you have the energy.

What are your top three favorite blogs to read?

The first two are no-brainers: http://www.problogger.net and http://www.chrisbrogan.com because they are the biggest names in the area I want to move into as I progress with our company and my skills. Other than those, I don’t really frequent blogs aside from the ones that get linked in my Twitter stream because I don’t have time set aside in my day to go looking at blogs like I used to when I had my corporate job (lunch… and any other time I wasn’t freaking out over a deadline). I see a LOT (read: a ton) of blogs in a week, but I don’t see each blog every day and would go crazy if I subscribed to them in my inbox or in an RSS reader, so I let Twitter be my filter for what is good and what is mediocre or crap.Messe Jesse