Why I Love Being an Employee

"Wait, you own a company with 20+ employees and you're also celebrating 6 years as an employee at another company? I'm confused..."

That's a message that I've recently received from several people based on some of my recent posts. I posted some pictures recently of visiting some of our Amplify Social Media team members in Cebu, Philippines while also posting a picture from my first day at Dunham+Company in Dallas 6 years ago and recently speaking at a conference they were co-hosting in Sydney, Australia.

The answer to the question above is YES by the way. I'm the proud owner of a thriving business and the proud employee of an incredible company. Let me explain.

I own a social media marketing agency called Amplify Social Media that I'm very proud of and does incredible work helping leaders and organizations amplify their message through social media. We have an incredible team that I'm so grateful for and serve some incredible partners that I believe in deeply. They also support many of my R&D initiatives and other entrepreneurial ventures.

At the same time, I also work for a company called Dunham+Company as the Chief Strategist of Social Media + Innovation. If you're not familiar with Dunham+Company we help ministries do more ministry primarily through media and marketing efforts with a specific expertise in fundraising. We work with some of the most impactful ministries all over the world and have offices in Dallas and Sydney and 100+ team members distributed around the world.

For what it's worth, I'm also a partner in 4 other companies, but that's not the point of this post. The point is why I would have a job when I'm already my own boss.

So the why is 2 part: why I choose to have a job at Dunham+Company and why they choose to let their employee have other business ventures.

I choose to work at Dunham+Company because I love our mission, I love the leaders that I serve under within the company, I love the team that I serve alongside, I love the clients that we come alongside and I love the role that the company has established for me. Rick Dunham often describes my role as it's my responsibility to strategically run 5 years ahead of our clients. That's a responsibility that I value and I take very seriously. It's a role on a team that I'm so grateful for! So while it's officially a job, it's far more of a calling.

As to why Dunham+Company allows me to have multiple other business ventures while also being an employee. I think there are a few reasons:

1. Shared Learning - they see the big picture of the learnings i'm able to gain from the other experiences to help them accomplish their goals.

2. Trust - they trust that I'm committed to their organization and that I won't (intentionally) cross lines that would compromise the trust they give me in this flexibility and will function with the best intentions of our company and clients.

3. Focus - they know that while I have other ventures, my primary professional focus in on Dunham+Company clients and our collective goals.

Time might say that this is a bad idea. I get where it doesn't make sense.

But I'm grateful to leaders who are secure in allowing me the flexibility to pursue my entrepreneurial interests without abandoning my primary professional calling/passion.

To sum up what I believe the lesson is here:

Maybe we need to think more about both/and rather than either/or as leaders.

This was a lesson that I believe I learned from a former boss, Chris Emmitt, when we first moved to New York.

Sometimes we think we have to choose when there might be a different approach if we open our minds to different possibilities.