Home | Blog Index | Blog Archives | Christianity & Faith Essays | Storm Chasing Essays

Wednesday, August 1, 2007 - 12:35AM

Raleigh

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

If you've been following my blog for the past few months, you've probably noticed the North Carolina trend. So here's the official "what's going on" post about that.

Since the past few weeks have been a 'testing the waters' phase (with some uncertainties about my business situation), I've held out on making any sort of definitive 'announcement' until now. So, with the uncertainties now past, and with more 'certainties' to count on, I can safely say that I'm in the process of moving to Raleigh.

Where did this come from? I've been wanting to get back into the steady income (and the more normal sleep patterns) of full-time web site design for a while now. Weather video and TV work is still a nice side business, but it's never really been a viable full-time career option. I've accomplished what I wanted with my weather footage venture, and have that business running mostly on auto-pilot now. I've decided it's time to not only get back into the web development arena, but also put my video equipment to work in the process.

As much as I like West Virginia, sadly it has not been the best place to reach one's full potential as a web site developer. Many of my good friends have also moved away in search of better jobs. So, I too began looking at other cities where I could set up shop. I considered St. Louis, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Tulsa and Oklahoma City - cities that I'm familar with and have personally felt comfortable in. But Raleigh, North Carolina turned out to be the winner for many reasons, namely these two: One, Raleigh's population and economy is booming like few other cities in the USA - and two, I've had a free place to stay here temporarily (my grandmother's second house) while I tested the waters.

The name of the Raleigh business I started is Interchange Multimedia (interchangemultimedia.com), with a focus of designing web sites with multimedia enhancements (video, photography, Flash). The Lord has answered many of my prayers for this venture, bringing some talented people on board to help out with aspects that I would have a difficult time covering - freeing me up to concentrate on doing what I am best at. The most exciting aspect of the Raleigh move is that the company I've worked for for ten years, CIS Internet in West Virginia, will be operating Interchange as a subsidiary, doing all of our sales/marketing, accounting and invoicing! This is a major step forward for all of us as we look forward to tapping the promising Raleigh market and surrounding areas.

So, I'm saying goodbye to West Virginia - sad to leave but excited about the new opportunities ahead. An apartment should be in the works for me in the next 1 to 3 months, with my car registration following soon after - at which time I'll be an official North Carolina resident.