The Family Business – Introducing Jeremy Dolan
I’m not the kind of entrepreneur that dreamed of owning my own small business from a young age. To the contrary, I always pictured myself as someone else’s employee. But after working as a freelance web designer for a while and gaining a loyal client base, the step up to business ownership seemed pretty natural. As a result, opening Faudo and then Get Online NOLA a few years later didn’t feel like the risky endeavour that small business ownership can often be. So when we decided last October that my husband, Jeremy, would leave his job to work full time for our business, I got my first real taste of entrepreneur terror. Would we manage to pay our bills every month? What would we do about health insurance? Could I work with my husband EVERY DAY?
Forgive me for getting a little personal here, but when you’re one half of a “Mom and Pop” shop, the line between business and personal can get a little fuzzy. Jeremy and I will be celebrating ten years of marriage this July. We have a very energetic (almost) four year old son, and now, we spend our days working side by side. I’m not going to lie and say that this is always a dream situation. I think I can speak for most husband and wife teams when I say that owning a business together creates very unique challenges. While you work well together as a couple, you have to learn to work together as professionals, and that can be hard on many levels. Despite that, the change has been good for us. Yes, the financial side of things is still a bit scary but the improvement to our quality of life has, so far, outweighed the risk.
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In had a big impact on me. One of the big messages I took away from the book was that, as a mother, the easiest way to lean in is to make sure your partner is leaning in at home too. To my great relief, that’s exactly what happened when Jeremy left his agency job. The time he saved from the commute alone freed up more than an hour a day, and he had the freedom to set his own schedule. All of a sudden, he could help bring our son to and from school, grocery shop, and cook dinner. And with that, I could lean in a little deeper.
Most of Jeremy’s genius happens in front of the computer, where no one can see it. He pounds away at the code that makes your websites work so beautifully, while I get to run around town meeting new people and talking about our vision. As a result, many of you haven’t gotten the opportunity to meet him. So as father’s day approaches, and Jeremy celebrates seven months as full time Director of Technology for Get Online NOLA, I wanted to officially introduce him to you. He dreams big, works hard, and always pushes for us to be better. My husband has leaned way in, and I love him for it, more every day.
Jeremy Dolan: Director of Technology
Jeremy Dolan was born and raised in Sussex, England. He discovered his love of engineering at a young age, and often took things apart just to put them back together again. Later, he delved deeper into the subject as he pursued Design Technology in A-levels. He graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in Geology. Soon after leaving school, he was selected for the cast of STOMP, and spent almost a decade drumming for the show in London, Paris, and Boston.
Jeremy began teaching himself programming during his years as a performer. When he left the stage in 2007, he began a successful second career as a freelance web developer, and continued his education with programming classes at UCLA.
Prior to joining Get Online NOLA full time in Fall 2014, Jeremy worked as a programmer for Peter Mayer Advertising, where he specialized in email marketing and WordPress development.
In his spare time, Jeremy enjoys playing rugby for Crescent City Blues, cycling, gardening, and going camping with his family.
