DJ and Yvette’s Blog!

Well life has been a roller-coaster as of late.

DJ had been looking into other work options as well as us reading a book by Dan Miller called 48Days to the Work You Love.  We decided it was best to explore other options career wise, and that DJ would get back into the professional consulting/deployment business.  It wasn’t an easy decision, of course, because it involves so much travel, but we feel it meets our goals pretty well.

So, April 1st DJ’s contract was dissolved in Illinois and he made a final decision to begin working as a Consultant for Citrix Systems.  There were other opportunities and it was a very hard decision but we feel that long term this is the way to go, and will hopefully build a more solid network for whatever the future holds.  DJ is not a full time employee of Citrix, but frankly there’s more money and opportunities right now for the independent consultant in this field.

DJ’s first contract is in Tampa, FL for a major healthcare client.   The way this works is that DJ flies out on Sunday, works M-Th and flies back either Thursday evening for Friday morning.  So, for the majority of the week, Evey is at home.

So, we decided it was best to move back to Fort Collins ahead of schedule!  There Evey will have the love and in-person support to help with the time that DJ will be traveling, which we don’t know when will be done.  We do believe that this current contract will end sometime around July but we anticipate much more work (possibly in the Florida area as well) in the future.

The move went fairly well- once again Evey did the majority of packing while DJ was working, but this time we hired movers to load the truck.  DJ flew back on Thursday and we finished packing and were on the road by Friday afternoon!  We’re hoping and praying someone rents our apartment; until it’s been rented we’re still paying rent, but next month we can opt to buy out our lease.

We arrived Saturday in Fort Collins and quickly unpacked with the help of some gracious friends on Sunday May 8th; the only problem was that DJ had to leave midway thru to catch a plane back to Tampa, leaving Evey once again to unpack all by herself (which she tells me is already done…).  We have a 6 month lease in the Pinecone Apartments; hopefully in that time we’ll know if we’ll be staying, buying a house, or whatever!

So there it is…  we’re back in Fort Collins!  We are super excited and hope we can stay!

Sorry we didn’t have the time to visit our friends and family along the way- it’s been a very crazy transition!

Thank you all so much for your continued support and we hope to see you soon!

If we put half the effort into this blog as we do Facebook it’d be the most interesting Blog in the world. But since that’s not reality, here’s a quick overview of what’s going on in our lives!

Things started moving very rapidly in October, 2010 when DJ was offered a contract in the Chicago area. The contract is for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois (HCSC) which has about 25,000 employees in several states. We won’t bore you, but we will say that it is working in the size of environment and type of technology that DJ wanted. The pay is very nearly double what he was making in Fort Collins, which is crucial to our goal of paying down debts before we raise a family. It did, however, require a move to the Chicago area.

So- we are now on the 10th Floor overlooking Wheaton, IL
Honestly we like the town quite a bit but the area is generally not what we are hoping for long-term.

So we’re not sure how long we’ll be here; DJ’s contract can be extended upwards of three years but as with any contract, that can change.  We are straying a bit from the Dave Ramsey plan by building up what DJ calls a ‘teenager’ Emergency fund- enough for about 2 months.  More than the ‘baby’ fund of $1000 but less than a fully funded ‘adult’ fund of 3-6 months of expenses.

In the meantime, he continues doing some consulting work on the side for TechSmart which is another revenue stream. Yvette does not currently have a job but we are working towards figuring out what that may look like.

In the coming months, we plan to review if it’s time to start posting resumes in other areas, or continue here for a bit longer. Again, it is a contract so isn’t as steady as we’d like- the problem is that we have moved- our stuff is all here with us and we’re living our lives as normally as we can.

In the meantime, we are discovering a bit more about ourselves and what we want our lives to look like down the road. We’ll try to keep you posted!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ahmksz_Vju2HdEZ0Y1RaRlgwam1xT3ZNRUo1T3hNWGc&hl=en&authkey=CMa36vsD

We’re selling a bunch of stuff from DJ’s business and also some stuff that will make it easier for us to move in the near future.

The Google Spreadsheet will be updated as things are added to sell and as they are sold, so feel free to check back frequently on that!

I’m not sure where to start exactly because I have a tendency to confuse people.  I’ll divide this into three sections:  What’s going on, What’s really going on, and What’s Really really going on (thank you Scott Thomas)

What’s Going on: The Things You Can See Now

I’ll put it simply- I’m quitting the DJ business.

There’s of course several reasons:
One is that there’s an inequality between the amount of time put in and the amount I’m getting out.  I can’t tell you how utterly insulting it is when you offer services that are easily valued at $1500 or more in most markets, only to get calls wondering if I can do a wedding for $400.  I’m not alone in this, for sure- the high-volume DJ services are running the rest of us out with severely undercut pricing.  And everyone suffers- qualified DJ’s have to work harder to find clients, and the clients of these high-volume services get exactly what they’ve paid for-  A Junior DJ who has no experience and probably no real talent.  Further, the industry is undergoing an enormous decay in morality in general.  So, the effort required to find my niche client is staggering.  Countless hours of marketing and networking, all for a job that to be honestly under current conditions could only every practically get me about $24,000 a year under the best circumstances.  I don’t mind sharing that this year falls drastically short of that- so far I’m at a whopping $4,000 for the year…  Now, that’s fine (read below)- but now that I have a good grasp of what it would actually take for next year, my motivation level is fairly low.

The second is much worse for me psychologically- and that’s the simple fact that my back cannot do this as a career.
I have a condition they believe to be genetic that will at random times cause the discs in my spine to bulge and rupture.  I had this happen at an event in February and took about 4 months off because of it.  It has become obvious, however, that there’s no way to predict, or worse, PREVENT these problems.  As it so happens, the one wedding I had scheduled for the rest of the year was last weekend, and low and behold- two days before the event I started having pain.  Had it not been for Yvette being able to assist me I would not have been able to do the event at all.  The wedding went off fine and everyone had a blast- easily 80 people still on the dance floor when I signed off for the night- but it took a great deal of composure to keep going, and I was not able to be the effective Event Host I want to be.

It pains me (literally and figuratively) a great deal, but we feel this is the best thing for us.

I have no remaining contracts to fulfill so this is the right time to exit.  But words can’t describe what I feel about it.  Perhaps it’s better to talk to me sometime rather than me try to explain it electronically.

So effective immediately, I will not be taking any new business as a DJ.  Though I’m still considering some other options, until there’s a long term solution for my spine, this is what must be done.

I am still planning on co-DJing the usual Father-Daughter dances in February, but it may likely be my last of doing so.  I am selling any equipment I have (if you’re interested please let me know).

What’s Really Going on: The Things You Haven’t Seen Yet

As most of you know, Yvette left her job in February and has not yet found the right opportunity to continue working.  We have to be honest and say that 7 months without work is taking a toll on us.  Heck, I wouldn’t want to be cooped up in our apartment that long!

We have been in prayer about this and trying to discern if God is wanting her to work or stay at home (or a combination thereof), and if so what that means for us financially.

We are very blessed that God has provided me with a salary for the past 4 years at the same level- which ironically is exactly what is needed to meet our needs- almost to the dollar.  But we are committed to getting ourselves out of debt and properly established before we have kids.

Yvette continues to look, though she has trouble seeing herself in a lot of roles.

Of course my wife’s happiness is my first concern, so you can imagine my surprise when I felt doors closing all around us- including in my current job…

What’s Really, Really Going on: The Things You May Not See For Awhile

I used to love my job.  But lately it feels like every client is nagging, that I’m unappreciated and most of all underpaid.  Underpaid is a fact, actually- I make about $30,000 less than industry average for my role.  Worse, I’ve not gotten a raise in almost 4 years and frankly- there’s nowhere to go in my company.  I’m as senior as I’ll ever be unless he actually sells me the company or something.  But to be honest, I think it’s more that I have untapped (or perhaps underappreciated) skills that are wasting away here.  I’m fluent in a technology that scales to thousands of users and can save millions of dollars in the right environment… but I’m stuck with 80 user companies complaining about the need to spend $15,000 on a new server and unwilling to commit to using better technologies because they’d rather put new paint on the walls than have their employees not screaming at their computers every day.  So understandably, I come home far too often feeling beaten down and completely demotivated.

I decided to stick my head out, so to speak, and post my resume to two online resources.  I’ve applied for several positions with the usual response of crickets…  up until last Friday.

I’m not sure exactly what has happened with Dice.com but my phone has been ringing quite a lot with people calling from my posting there.

For those of you not familiar, Dice.com is a site for those seeking contract employment or similar opportunities.  Since I used to travel a great deal and have been in that realm before I thought I would see if there was anything of interest.  I’ve been contacted by about 10 companies so far- mostly with contracts out in the Eastern US.

It’s hard to say what will happen next- and I really must stress here that I haven’t left my current job.  I have, however, let my boss know that I’ve begun looking.  It seemed the right thing to do.  The unfortunate result of this is an increase in stress level at my job, constantly knowing it could end at any moment and we need to be prepared.

But what’s Really, Really going on is that I’m scared.  I’m scared to leave my safe and somewhat comfortable job.  I’m scared that though I have the right keywords on my resume, I may not have what it really takes to scale into a large environment.  I’m scared that I’ll leave a good solid job and end up with a temporary contract that ends and I find myself back in the hunt again, or worse, in the hunt too long and using up savings in the process.

The good news is how much I’ve been contacted in the last 5 days.  It shows me that there are opportunities from which I can pick, though the branches closest to my reach may involve me being away from home for weeks at a time.

We’ve discussed this and we both feel while it’s a hard thing, it may be the best thing.

Again, bottom line- aside from closing down the DJ business, nothing has changed officially.  Mostly I’m just sharing so we can get what we need most right now.  Prayers.

Be Praying.  Ask God for discernment in what our path should be and even where we should be.

If there’s peace to be found where we are, so be it- but pray.

If there’s peace in a new opportunity, so be it – so pray.

We know that God has a hand in our lives, despite the freedom we are given.  So rather than be mindless puppets waiting to be moved, we want to be active children looking for how the Father would like us to live and serve.  So… pray about it and please let us know what you feel God leading you to say.  Don’t be shy- we can take it, just be sincere

Sorry for the downtime, folks. DJ’s been swamped and didn’t have the time to fix an ongoing issue that had the blog down.
And yes, the front page is horribly out of date. One of these days we’ll take down our wedding site and make it a real site

Life is getting busy for DJ as we’ve decided to pursue more actively DJ (as in Master of Ceremonies) events for the year, with the unofficial goal of at least $6000 in revenue in 2010.  This is a challenge for DJ as his business isn’t really established and wedding season is coming up soon!  The DJtheDJ.com website is no more than a shell and there’s much work to be done from the State of Colorado’s perspective as well!

The goal will be to shift from a sole proprietorship into an LLC so we can better protect our personal assets.  It’s a hard decision because there’s not really any need for acquiring debts in this business and DJ already owns the equipment needed.  DJ is hoping to have everything done and a new business fully launched by mid-March.

In addition, DJ has a goal of obtaining all of his Microsoft certifications this year, as well as possibly adding Citrix certifications to the mix.  The hope is that with these certifications he can help either grow his existing role at his employer (TechSmart) and, well- make more money to pay down those debts!

Of course the plan is still to play for our church and if time allows even try recording some of those songs he’s been promising for the last 15 years…

Now that it’s typed out it certainly doesn’t seem like much… but it’s a lot of little things adding up to Busy Deej.

Hi Everyone!

On Feb 12th, Yvette will be leaving her job to take some time to study on a new aspect of her career.  Currently she’s been doing design for catalogs and ads, etc, what she’d like to do instead is to work more with photographs- focusing on color correction and touch ups for professional photographs, etc.

It’s been very difficult to come home after 8 hours in front of the computer and spend a few more trying to learn a new trade.  She’s been very frustrated but has been willing to stay until the time was right at her current job.  The big catalog went out at the end of January.  So, the time was right at her current job to give them enough time to find a replacement.

As for us, February is a great month because DJ has a lot of DJing gigs providing about 2 months of income replacement for Yvette.  Look for some pictures and video of this year’s Butterfly Kisses Dance coming soon!  The event was HUGE this year- dad’s even looking for tickets on Craigslist!

Our current goal is for Yvette to find part-time work doing something else non-computer related so that she can spend a few hours every day focused on learning more about working with photos, from there we’re not 100% sure what will happen.  We’ll of course look for steady work in that area but the end goal is to offer her services to photographers so that they can send us photos, Yvette retouches them and sends them back on a per-photo fee.  This will allow her to work on-demand out of the home, so we hope.  Of course we’re open to the idea of her finding full-time work in this arena as well- time will tell!

So we’d love your support during this transition, obviously we will be slowing down the paying down of debts during this time but fortunately DJ makes enough for us to survive, and we can get by at least 6 months on what we have extra in savings.  So we’re confident this was the right time but we know it’ll be taxing to adjust!

Hello friends and family!

Well, here it is.  Our first holiday letter as The Eshelmans!

2009 has been an interesting year, for sure.  And ‘interesting’ is the understatement of this decade!

2009 started for us just returning from our last Christmas with DJ’s grandmother, Eileen Larson.  While difficult to face at times, it was great to be with DJ’s wonderful family in a large family reunion.
Never one to let a gathering like that go uninteresting, just before leaving DJ put a promise ring on Yvette’s finger!

January passed in a breeze, with worries about the policies of the soon-to-be President dominating DJ’s thoughts (and Facebook account).
Soon more practical distractions would arise as one Sunday in our church, DJ felt a strong leading to attend what he thought was going to be a one-night event- Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (which is actually a very comprehensive multi-week course).

After attending the first week, DJ was overwhelmed with conviction and asked Yvette to join him.  She did so and thru taking the course together, we realized that we were ready for the next big step.

DJ asked Yvette to marry him on March 21st, 2009… and she said yes!  Well, eventually.  She was apparently so happy she forgot to say ‘yes’ and just kissed him instead, but he got the official ‘yes’ eventually!

So began a whirlwind of real change in our lives!
The spring did have a bit of hardship, as DJ’s last remaining grandparent, Eileen, went to her Heavenly Home- but we were very blessed to see Eileen smile very large- fixated without any words on Yvette’s wonderful eyes before she passed along.  She obviously liked Yvette very much and approved, which meant a lot.  It’s a moment DJ will likely never forget.

As for the wedding and it’s planning, there’s no doubt about it- Financial Peace changed a lot of things about how we approached the wedding, and thanks to some generosity from our families, we were able to pay for the entire wedding on a budget of about $7,000 in cash.  Absolutely no credit was used for the event, which for DJ… was a big thing!
(and it’s continued- in the first four months of our marriage we’ve paid down almost $6,000 of debt!)
Today we live on a comfortable budget and believe our life to be much happier because we are communicating well about the #1 thing that families struggle and fight over… money.

Of course, we have made sacrifices- we currently live in a very small apartment (with a very small rent!) and will be waiting to have kids until the shackles of debt are no longer around us (currently estimating 1-2 years but we’ll see how God works on that one)!

After the wonderful wedding on August 29th here in Fort Collins, which we were blessed with so many of you attending, we went on a short honeymoon to Estes Park- where we rented a cabin and played for a few days.  The rest of the honeymoon will follow over Christmas in Glenwood Springs!
Soon after, we had the pleasure of attending DJ’s cousin Meg’s wedding (a very funny story that involves getting married three times in one summer!  Meg is a missionary in Hungary and married there as well as here…  long story!).  DJ actually DJ’d the wedding as well, which was interesting because the wedding was in Indiana!

Sadly, the only other travel we’ve done this year has been to Yvette’s uncle Steven’s funeral in Houston on December 14th.  He was a wonderful man and will be missed by us both greatly.  The trip did give DJ the opportunity to finally meet the rest of Yvette’s extended family, which was quite positive.  Fortunately DJ did get to spend a little bit of time getting to know Steven before he passed, which we’re thankful for.

Yvette and DJ were surprised to have two sets of siblings move here to Fort Collins- DJ’s sister Star and family, and Yvette’s sister Nikki and family!  That has been wonderful to say the least!

In summary, we are quite happy and content.

No, those words are not quite right…  let us say we are extremely blessed.

God has blessed us beyond what anyone should expect this year.  Not only with our love and marriage, but with steady paychecks, a somewhat loving cat and wonderful families and friends that care for us.  In short, more than could be expected in our difficult times.  We both feel that we are headed in a very good direction and absolutely love being in love with each other!

Merry Christmas to all!

As a freshly married couple, we’ve had some challenges to overcome. One of them was meals. We wanted to save money, but we were finding that trips to Sams Club and the grocery store wasn’t enough. Food was going bad in our refrigerator and we weren’t really all that effective. We were going over budget every month for groceries and all too often too tired when we got home to do anything productive.
As you can imagine, this is bad for a lot of reasons- we even began gaining more weight!

You’ve heard us go on and on about Dave Ramsey, so naturally we were stressed a bit because wasting money doesn’t work for paying down debts!
DJ had been hearing an advertisement on Dave’s radio program for E-Mealz and we decided to give it a try.

We LOVE it!

In the first two weeks we’d slashed our spending on food in half, and have found a lot of… well, PEACE in having a plan!  Yvette loves it because she can just follow the plan right in front of her and it causes a lot less anxiety, but probably mostly because she doesn’t have to eat DJ’s improvised meals on this plan…

It’s pretty simple, you sign up for an account and you can download weekly meal plans. These plans have all the ingredients you need on a sheet you can take to the grocery store and only buy what you need- no more being swayed by what’s on sale and buying too much of stuff you don’t need!
From there, it’s just a matter of every night selecting what meal you’d like and making it. We’ve found all of the meals so far easy to make and delicious, with a good amount of variety.
There are a host of different options for the meal lists- we’re currently on the basic two person plan- but there are tighter plans for diets and even some that track seasonal sales at certain stores (mostly East Coast, unfortunately).

So we say go for it- click the link and try it out!  It’s $15 for 3 months (we saved more than that in the first week, so YEAH it’s worth it!)

All Smiles at our wedding reception

Yup, it’s true- we’re married!

We’re still sorting out our new life, so we haven’t had a lot of time to update the blog, but the wedding was great!

Basically we did photos in Edora Park right before the ceremony.

Then of course the ceremony at Life Church, with Yvette’s college roommate playing Harp, DJ’s extended family singing a wonderful song and of course, A special Recessional.

After a few family photos we sent everyone to the Lincoln Center while we took our photographer to get some rather classic photos of us going downtown to the Spicy Pickle (where we took our engagement photos).

Then to the reception where we tried hard to say hi to everyone- sorry if we missed you!

Dancing was great and the food was plentiful (a little too much so- we had a LOT of leftovers!)

At the end, we put Yvette up on DJ’s motorcycle and we rode off into the night (well, around Old Town anyway).

The next morning we opened gifts which we must say were extremely generous.

Then off to Estes Park for a few days off; we’ll have more of a honeymoon later this Christmas!

We’ll update sometime soon with more details and hopefully a photo-blog of the event itself.

For now, however- we invite you all to view and order prints from our wedding from our photographer before we release our photos from the event.  Shaun got some great shots, so enjoy!

http://yvettedj.weddingherald.com/