I am sorry for not having written much over the summer. We arrived in California seven weeks ago, and getting everyone settled, unpack the container and being constantly surprised and astonished kept me so busy that writing was far off.
AND I need to decide what to do with this new blog. The first one (Countdown To Santa Barbara) had a specific goal, to share the preparation and waiting period of our E-2 Visa with you and to help those with a similar projet. Today, we have arrived, and the first weeks felt a bit like an extended summer vacation (granted, much more busy, but in such a beautiful scenery that we relaxed as well) and now it is all REAL, but without specific goal. So will this blog "just" be a diary? Or a tourist guide for Santa Barbara guests? Or the basis of my professional project? Or something else? Or all at once?
I ask myself (too?) many questions. Will the pleasure to write return like the sun after a rainy day? Is this all linked to the fact that I only progress slowly, both professionally and personally? I question a lot of things, without any regret, but wanting to give me time before major decisions. But will "giving me time" make me become lazy? Should I not just "get it done", with my typical energy and strength, hence occupying the brain and body, rather than going slowly, sometimes filled with wonder, then stunned?
For those of you who now wonder "but what is she waiting for, her office is ready, there is work to be done", I owe you some news. You certainly remember us having employed a full time financial analyst, who resigned in June when we were still in France. She had found a new job on the East Coast, something she was eager to do. So, when we arrived in Santa Barbara in July, only our second, part-time, employee was waiting for us. Her mission was to supervise the office installation and this mission had come to an end. She already had other part time jobs and wished to spend more time on her painting projects. This is actually a very good example of lots of Americans. They do consider their work situation as a "job" and the next day can bring another job. So there we were, in the middle of the summer, without employees, but with a lot of desire to enjoy our first warm months in Santa Barbara, spending family quality time allowing each and every one of us to get used to our new life. We therefore closed the office door for some weeks.
As the summer progressed, I realised that our idea of an EB5 rating agency can and should be improved to correspond even better to the needs of the market but also to reflect our personalities. Not only a classical rating agency, with its "Wall Street" image, standing for finance, rigorous analysis, a certain harshness, a bit too boring in my eyes. So we should incorporate the other aspects of our careers and experiences: our capacity to help others taking the decision to immigrate to the US, the strategic coaching for those that are looking to set up a company, the consulting when the moment of installing the family here has come (real estate, schools, cars, finance, ...). Lots of things that still need to be finalised, but every day brings another stone to this "building site". And we will certainly need a bit of time before we employ more employees, it became therefore useless to keep the office, as I could work comfortably from our new home.
So, once this was getting clearer, I took action. And yesterday we signed the sublease with a small start up firm who is delighted to have a furnished office for a few months. You certainly remember that we had to pay a year's lease in advance. There are still five months left. The start up company purchased most of the furniture at half price. It is so exciting to see how easy things happen here. No, of course they don't just fall from heaven. But after twenty-five years of complicated life in France, believe me, you find things here easy. Things happen and people trust each other (in a certain limit, don't forget that they love to take advice from their lawyers). So when I took last Sunday the decision that the office was no longer necessary, I put an ad on Craigslist. Less than two hours later, I received my first phone call. In the week five others followed. I showed the office on Monday morning to the first candidate, who was immediately interested. As it was Labor Day, we had to wait for Tuesday to get the owner to agree. Wednesday our incredible real estate agent typed up the sublease (Kerry is just wonderful) and we took some of the furniture out which we wanted to keep. And Thursday we handed the keys over. Nothing more easy.
This all happened in the "back to school" week. Tuesday, my three teenagers went to orientation day, where 110 new students gathered to get to know the school and some of their classmates. On Wednesday, it was the official start for everyone. They quickly got used to the site and met already some people they like. And yesterday evening, after the second day, all three agreed: they feel as if they already go there for weeks. They are a bit tired, as the school days begin early at 8 a.m., and they have eight different classes, and of course it is tough to understand straight away the rules of American football and assist to the first school volleyball competition ... Next week they are off to class trips for five days : Théo will go to San Francisco to colleges and universities, Rose goes to the Yosemite park and Oscar to Lake Cachuma.
So, enough for today, I'll work a bit on our projects. If you have any ideas, please share them in the comment box below or send me an email (the link is in the right hand column). But most of all, be reassured, we are doing well and we agree over and over again that we did exactly the right thing.
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