A few of you may remember an Unofficial Article a while back called “How NOT to send Corbet’s.” If you’re one of the few who hasn’t seen the video on Jerry of the Day or one of the other media outlets than ran with it, here’s the original:
Most comments asked the same question – What the hell was he thinking? Now that I have a platform, I’ll answer to that question.
I, like many of our Unofficial Readers, worked in the ski industry. I was a bootfitter in the winter, a raft guide in the summer. To me, it wasn’t a job. It was part of my identity. I plastered this quote anywhere I could –
The ski bum trades security for face shots, the future for the moment. Considering how hollow the promise of a corporate career has become, who can say the ski bum is not the wiser investor in his or her youth?” – Unknown Author
Hell, Vail Resorts sells the “experience of a lifetime” to their employees, not “the salary of a lifetime.” I bought what they sold.
About 12 months prior to that fateful day, I really started to question the life I was living. The joke of “every night being Friday night, and every morning being Monday morning” wasn’t a joke anymore. Like many 20 somethings who live in ski towns, I buried a lot of my feelings in the bottom of a bottle. I spent money I didn’t have, and I was on a trajectory to become the jaded local who forgets why he moved to a ski town in the first place.
So over the next twelve months, I started applying for jobs around the world. I had offers here and there, but always told myself I was having too much fun to change. I didn’t want to be a sellout. I didn’t want to fail as a seasonal employee. I didn’t want to lose a part of my identity.
I eventually did. I picked up and moved to a city where I didn’t know anyone, working a glorified call center job. I was three weeks into the biggest change in my life when I stood at the top of the tram that day. I looked over the edge of Corbet’s, and honestly, I didn’t care about the outcome. It wasn’t about landing. It was about proving that part of my identity wasn’t dead. Jumping in, consequences be dammed.
That’s what I hope to do with Unofficial Networks too. As someone who’s been in the ski industry and transitioned to a different stage of life, I hope to write things that ring true for a large portion of the reader population. My promise to you all is that I’ll be open and real. Articles may be a bit different from what you’ve seen from Unofficial Networks before.
So let’s jump in together and see if we stick the landing.
