Big Announcement: I Got A New Job

My readers who get my nearly never email alerts got a heads up on this, but for the blog, here’s the announcement I sent out earlier this morning…

I wanted to let you know early about a pretty big development for me. Sort of a thanks for letting me email you once in a while thing.

** New Job **

Tomorrow I start on staff, half-time, with the new leader in the social lending arena, Lending Club.

I’ve been writing for them and doing some general consulting for some time now, but as of tomorrow I’ll be officially on staff.

This is not a decision I came to easily, but I believe it to be a good one. I really enjoy the people I’ve met at Lending Club (they even flew me down about a month ago!).

I have not had a “w-2″ in many years. But I think it will be good for me. I will work remotely here in Seattle, but hopefully fly down to the valley from time to time.

**New Writer at Debtkid.com**

I’ve added a second writer to my blog. Why? Because I want visitors who come to my site (many of whom are in debt or trouble themselves) to have more quality posts on saving money, living frugally, and getting out of debt.

I don’t always have the time to write these types of posts and my best post ideas will continue to go to Lending Club’s blog. So Amy will be writing 2-3 times a week to help out with that type of content.

**Thank You**

I’m going to have a post about this sometime soon…but seriously thank you for reading and/or responding to my blog. It’s honestly been one of the best decisions I ever made (to write about my debt experiences). I never would have gotten this job at Lending Club (which, by the way, my salary just half-time is more than I pay myself currently).

So, thank you.

** The coming journey **

I feel I am at an important junction once again in my journey. Not a turning point, I think that happened earlier this year, but another important milestone.

My focus will now be doing my job as best as I can at Lending Club, as well as expanding my current business as prudently as possible.

I will also begin looking at which debts I can start to knock off from my master list.

My goal is to be debt free in 3 years or less. 100% debt free. No business debt. No mom debt. No student loans. Nothing.

I still have a very long way to go, but the journey is getting more exciting, and less terrifying.

Thanks for listening,

DebtKid
http://www.debtkid.com

So there you go. I’m super excited to be on board half-time with Lending Club (they did offer full-time, it was my choice to go 50%).

Lending Club just released their 10-day results since reopening, and the numbers are huge, especially considering that most states are not yet open (but should be soon!). Very cool.

My First Ever Trip To Silicon Valley

I got to meet the staff at Lending Club about 6 weeks ago (they flew me down, but I couldn’t write about it! It was difficult, let me tell you). I was very impressed, and a few things solidified my decision that this was a good move for me:

1. Their office is frugal. They share space with other start-ups, and their snack area was a small fold-up table. Awesome. They really believe in smart finance.
2. The CEO, Renaud is a darn good table tennis player. Being a former table tennis captain in high school, I was impressed.
3. Renaud has invested $435,650 of his own personal money into peer to peer loans on the Lending Club platform. This was not pointed out to me, but something I discovered on my own when reading their S-1 filing (page 91). I’m surprised some of the larger tech bloggers didn’t see this. That’s no pocket change, and I think it shows his dedication and belief in the company.

Lastly, in regards to my blog here, you should know that this is my own personal (sometimes very personal!) space. My thoughts and words here are my own and not

Get The Inside Scoop

So, I don’t mail to my mailing list here much, but I probably will more going forward. So, if you want the occasional random thought from me, or heads up on any exciting news, you should sign up. I won’t mail more than once a week, if that. I think this last email was the first one in over a month.

I think I was calling it the “DebtKid Helper Army”, but I’m gonna change the name to the “Inside Scoop”.

Anyway, sign up below for the “DebtKid Inside Scoop”, 90% of the time, it won’t suck.