As a co-founder of the Every Other Thursday blog, I’ve felt extremely guilty as of late as it’s been a few months since I’ve penned anything in this space.
My last post outlined the big changes I’ve had in my life the past three months. Just to get you caught up: accepted a great new job, moved my family to Kansas from San Diego.
The past few months have been a blur. Between taking on a new job and moving the family, there hasn’t been time to write. I’ve missed it and besides my EOT brethren shouldering the load while I was gone, fellow co-founder Curtis Silver has also been extremely patient with my lack of contributions over at Technorati.
Through all of it, I was prioritizing correctly. God and family always come first, followed by my career and then my writing. But the time away has made me realized how much I miss the writing. By putting thoughts in this space, on Technorati, and my own blog, I’m able to get more clarity. I also hear from many of you which always helps with perspective.
The move and all of the challenges have certainly been a stress on just about everything. But as is usually the case, demanding times and high amounts of anxiety eventually lead you to see again just how important your family is to your sanity. Without my wife and my kids, I can’t imagine who I could have made it the past few months. At the same time, knowing that I’ve yanked them 1700 miles across the country for an opportunity also has its only special pressure.
Through it all, everyone has been resilient. It marks as a reminder that you’d be surprised at how much change is sometimes the best opportunity for your family. You’d think kids would be resistant to change and being taken away from support network but they are not. We could learn a lot from our kids about challenging our comfort zone and going out and taking on calculated risks.
For me and my family, the move has been a great change for all of us despite all of the stress and unknowns. It’s all worked out as our new community has been overwhelmingly welcoming and quick to help us adjust. We left some great people back in San Diego, but the difference between the hustle and bustle of Southern California and the down-home realism of suburban Kansas City is huge. And we’re loving it.
The move has created a bunch of different stories, reflections and new questions that I’ll turn into posts here on EOT over the next several weeks.
It’s good to be back. It’s good to be writing again with such a great bunch of Dads.
Hold on, the ride going into 2011 should be a blast.
As the Director of Social Media at tax giant H&R Block, Scott Gulbransen recently returned to the tax business after previously spending 1o years at rival Intuit working on the TurboTax & Quicken brands. He brings 16 years as a marketing communications professional, and 11 tax seasons, with him to H&R Block and was responsible for the launch of many key social initiatives at Intuit before leaving in 2010. A strategic thinker and business problem solver, Gulbransen has worked for some of the world’s top brands including TurboTax, Sony Online Entertainment, and Applebee’s.
In 2010, Gulbransen became the first Director of Social Media & Digital Content for Applebee’s, creating the first-ever social media strategy for the world’s largest casual dining chain. While at Applebee’s, Gulbransen lead a small but nimble team responsible for creating a robust and far-reaching social engagement channel for Applebee’s and its franchise community.
In addition to his professional accomplishments at the corporate level, Gulbransen is also a prolific blogger recently named as one of the Top 50 Daddy Bloggers in the US by Cision. Gulbransen was ranked #21.
As a member of the TurboTax communications and social media team for 10 years, Scott helped the TurboTax team launch and sustain the brand’s social media platform. He also drove and was responsible for the launch of TurboTax’s successful content strategy, including the launch of the TurboTax Blog. Recently, he launched one of the most significant social media campaigns in the brand’s history with the @TeamTurboTax Twitter project.
Gulbransen was instrumental in reinvigorating the Quicken brand almost entirely through the use of social media and, particularly, Twitter. By engaging with customers and influencers who talk about personal finance on Twitter, he and his team helped Quicken Online grow from just 200,000 users in October 2008 to over 1.4 Million in just 10 months. This led to a more focused look at the personal finance space for Intuit and, ultimately, the acquisition of Mint.com.
A former print journalist, who, after realizing his paychecks from the newspaper industry weren’t going to get much bigger, turned to the Dark Side – public relations. After working in both college athletics and inside mid-size agencies, he joined Intuit in 2000 and Applebee’s in 2010. He is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and is the married father of five kids.
Despite his busy personal and professional life, Scott is a digital native who never strays far from social networking. To hassle Scott, or to tell him how great you think he is (or not!), email him at scott@scottgulbransen.com, add him to your Circles on Google+, or ping him on Twitter at @sdgully. Scott also is an editor and writer for Technorati.com.
Good sharing Scott. Welcome back to the romper room.