This isn’t the blog I thought I would be writing this month. I wasn’t planning on saying goodbye to ROI Online so soon…For that reason, I am not really sure where to even begin.
I have been at ROI Online (taking the risk of sounding like the mom of a toddler) for 20 months. I know, that really isn’t a long time, but the amount of life l have lived in the last 20 months has made it seem like I have been a part of this team for years.
We have been through a lot—from developing the QuickStart process and our very first book launch to every tear and mental breakdown in between! And I’m so glad I got to be there for all of it.
So much has changed for me since the first time I hopped on that Zoom interview call. Not only have I learned and grown as a marketer, but I have also grown so much professionally and been able to step into roles I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of. I’m not the only one that changed, though. Even ROI Online has changed so much and I couldn’t be more proud that I was able to be a small part of what it has grown into.
I want to thank Steve Brown for not only giving a job to a young 22-year-old fresh out of college, but for also believing in me and seeing my potential in me. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I came on staff as a content associate, but I quickly learned I had the potential to do so much more than I thought IF I was willing to be uncomfortable, put in the work, and grow in the stretch. .jpg?width=500&name=IMG_8217%20(1).jpg)
A lot of my preconceived notions about marketing were challenged here, and the things and ideas I had been taught in college were nurtured and built upon. I think I had a pretty base level idea of marketing, but I had no clue what to do in a marketing agency.
I didn’t know exactly how to make every piece of the marketing puzzle flow together in a strategic campaign, or how to make websites for actual humans (not for nasty SEO), or how to make clients love our work so much that they beg to continue working with us past their 90-day QuickStart. But here I am, 20 months in, and I have gotten to see and learn all of those things.
A phrase that is said on nearly a daily basis after we get done laughing is, “Oh man, we have fun here!” That couldn’t be truer. Even when we don’t, we do. We can turn just about any bad situation into something to laugh about. The group of people that make up the great #ROICrew is what made coming to work each day so stinking enjoyable. Not only have we been putting in the work each day, but we also get to do fun things like escape rooms, daily walks, fair days, and happy hour. 
Not many people can rave about their work and genuinely love going to an 8-5 office job. But I am living proof that it can happen. Steve found the secret potion to building an amazing work culture that is better than anything I’ve ever seen. I truly believe that I wasn’t just working just to pay the bills. I was working with my friends and doing impactful work.
With all of that being said, it is sadly time for me to say goodbye to the people and place that has meant so much to me the last 20 months. I was offered a job that I know is the right next step for me and will be something that will stretch me and grow me, just as ROI has done.
It is a bittersweet thing when you move on from a place you love so much to another place that you know you will love, but that is exactly what I am doing. It is exactly that, bittersweet. I am sad to leave, but I can not wait to see what is down the road. 
ROI is going places. This is just the beginning of so many great things for ROI, its employees, and its clients. I am so glad I was able to be just a (small) piece in the legacy of ROI Online. When I clock out for the last time, I want ROI to know that no matter where I go in the future, they have successfully managed to grow a lifetime supporter and advocate.
Since everyone always assumed I was raised in a barn and that I am really an old lady (both are inside jokes), it only fits that I share the song of the famous cowboy, Roy Rodgers.
Some trails are happy ones
Others are blue
It's the way you ride that trail that counts
Is a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you
Until we meet again
Happy trails to you
Keep smiling until then
Farewell, #ROICrew! I’m rooting for you!
