For many years and as recently as 2005 I worked as an Account Executive for commercial finance companies offering equipment financing solutions for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies. It was a great career that provided challenges and lifelong friendships. Yet the job wasn’t really the one I had envisioned for myself during my formidable years.

But sometimes life can get in the way and as you take on more debt and obligations you are forced to think rationally, logically and you seek paths from point A to B to C and so on and so forth. Logic stymies imagination which in turn makes the realization of dreams that much more of a long shot.

Many of us learn that the hard way and looking back I wish that I hadn’t been in such a hurry to advance from point to point. But it’s water under the bridge and as a father the best way to utilize my experiences is to churn them into lessons for my children.

Since this side of their toddler years I’ve always told my kids to pursue an education because it gives you options. But when you finish with your education, before you burden yourself with debt and other obligations, pursue a career you love so much that you’d almost do it for free. If you can make that happen, you’ll never feel like you’ve worked a day in your life.

Eventually “Do what you love and love what you do” became my personal credo.  

Professionally speaking I may have talked the credo but I certainly wasn’t walking it. In many ways I thought it was too late.

Then one day I woke up after having gone through several company acquisitions that impacted my job and decided to kick logic to the curb and start practicing what I was preaching.

Soon thereafter Ravens24x7.com was born.

Our site has gone through a few face lifts over the years and we’re continually refining it to make it better for our customers and our sponsors. That will never stop. And as we have morphed into something bigger and better almost always there were two prevailing thoughts guiding our direction:

1.       We never wanted to lose our fan flavor – after all we are fans and we wear it like a badge of honor; and

2.       One day we will take this 24x7 template and apply it to all 32 teams

It absolutely made sense but how and when tempered the ambition for awhile.

But not anymore!

With all the pride and passion in my being, along with my two outstanding partners we present Profootball24x7.com – a collection of 32 NFL fan sites all designed in essentially the same way.

Our job now is to go out and find fans, both bloggers and even 24x7 operators in each of the league’s cities to bring their own local flavor to their town’s 24x7 the way we hope we’ve done with Ravens24x7.com.

Maybe those fans are armchair quarterbacks who want to share their opinions; maybe they are those callers to sports talk radio; maybe they’re college students or recent grads looking to expand their resumes.

Some of our writers just do it for the “love of the game.” Others get their blogs sponsored and earn some extra cash for their opining. Now we’re hopeful that there are still others who will want to shape their livelihoods around the NFL.

The job is mobile, it can be run from anywhere, AND it channels your passion for football in a profitable way that never, ever feels like work.

I should know, I wake up early each day eager not because I have to but because I want to. The difference is invigorating. I’m now living the life I described to my children.