CHANGES FOR 2015 – I have been asked and there have been a lot of rumors going around about my involvement (or possible non-involvement) with Ben Rhodes for the 2015 season, so here are the details! In December, 2010, I started working with Ben Rhodes, initially just designing and maintaining his website. Over the next year my duties increased to writing press releases and doing at-track PR to social media management as well as many other duties. From mid 2011 on I have been pretty well full time working with Ben while continuing to maintain my STIX FX Entertainment website design and management business. However, as Ben moved up the ranks, my duties increased, including taking a lot of my time. This was voluntary on my part as I wanted to continue to grow with Ben. However, it caused me to essentially put a freeze on taking on new clients for my business as I will never take more work than I can handle (it isn’t fair to any client to over promise and under deliver). In fact, I reduced my overall web client count from 40+ to less than 10 at one point. About three-quarters of the way through 2014 I was conflicted. Ben’s career was exploding, and I could see the direction we all hoped it would take starting to happen. It was great, but I was conflicted. I have always wanted to own my own business and run it, but my duties with Ben I knew would have to go into a full-time mode for 2015 and cause me to have to shut down my business. At the same time, I knew wherever Ben would continue his career with might already have people in place to do things that I have been doing, and if you all think competition between drivers or drivers trying to get rides is big, you should see the race to get PR and management jobs with teams and drivers! And then there is the “grind” at that level, which can be grueling (again, to do it right, I would have to work just for Ben). Along the four-year journey with Ben, I developed a bucket-list item of being his PR rep all the way to the Sprint Cup Series, and do it one year at that top level. However there isn’t enough room in the bucket to do everything I have in my mind of wanting to do. I was extremely conflicted. I have had multiple discussions this year with Joe Rhodes, Ben’s dad. He is a very successful businessman, and over the years has become a great friend and mentor. He has told me from day one that his primary goal has been to do the best thing for Ben, and that is the right thing to do as Ben’s father. For years it has been to trust me to handle a lot of Ben’s career items, however this year some things started disappearing from my duty list. Even though I never really fought it with Joe, it was a bit difficult to handle because I thought at the time I was being slighted. I started to question my abilities, and despite 99.9-percent of the people in the sport backing everything I did, I started to wonder if that 0.1-percent that was loud (I have a few haters) might be right, that I wasn’t the right man for the job. Clarity is something that is sometimes hard to find, especially with a lot of noise surrounding it. But I found it, and I have to thank Joe Rhodes for it. Joe wasn’t slighting me whatsoever. While Joe feels I could handle professionally managing his son’s career in various forms, he knows my passion for running my own business. Decisions have not only been made to help further Ben’s career, but my business as well as he is a huge supporter of what I have done and am doing with my biz. So, what will I be doing for Ben in 2015? It is almost like going back to the beginning. My company will be managing his website and “digital presence” so to speak. PR duties (at and away from track), press release writing, marketing, management, and other duties will be handled by other people. That will allow me to focus on the rebuild of my business, which I have already been doing, and build it back up to provide professional web development services for many people like I have done for Ben and many other clients to date. I will also be doing some other “behind the scenes” things for Ben. Has this been a difficult thing to adjust to? Very much so. Ben is not just a client, but a friend. But it is the best for Ben Rhodes and the best for STIX FX Entertainment and me. Now I know what a parent goes through seeing their kid graduate from high school and go off to college. It is hard, but you know it is best for them and you. This is not the end of the book. It is just turning the page to a new chapter. I am looking forward to continuing to work with Ben Rhodes in 2015 on his digital presence! Oh, and a few other things. I will still be going to some of Ben’s races in 2015, but this time I get to just be there and enjoy instead of “work” the event, so that will be a great thing. And my business is actually taking over some web presence things (web and social media) with the Rhodes’ businesses, so my personal and professional relationship with the Rhodes family will continue to strengthen next year! I hope that clarifies things. I wanted to post this so my friends and supporters knew what the changes were and why, and that there is no animosity there with the changes (they are a great thing). Also, while their skewed opinion of me really doesn’t matter in the world of reality, it will help dismiss some of the loud-but-few haters out there that like to spread rumors and hate my direction about my business and myself. They are still going to spread the hate because that is what they do, but the voices that really matter are the fans, businesses, NASCAR, the teams, owners, sponsors, and other reputable people in the sport that have expressed respect and appreciation for the contributions I have made to help promote the sport and people within it. That is what matters. Thanks again to everyone that has supported me this year. 2015 is looking to be a great year for STIX FX Entertainment and myself, and I am looking forward to working with all my clients, including Ben Rhodes, the Rhodes’ family businesses, and all the new clients!
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 16:28:16 +0000
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