Yeah, let me know when you're ready. I will look right at the camera. We're good. Okay, so ready to do this. There comes a time in any career, I think. When you get to a certain point, you take a look around and you're like, you know what? I think I'm done. You just feel like, you know, I've done a lot, I've accomplished a lot, met some great people, made some great connections, felt like I've actually contributed something to the world and, you know, just kind of feeling like, I've got nothing left to prove here. And there's no further that I want to take this. I've had this experience in my life before in a couple different situations. So I used to run a modern classical music series in Baltimore. Did that for five years, started very small and we actually ended up growing it into something. That was quite successful. We got a lot of great press when a national award for adventurous programming. I love doing it. It was fun, but after five years, I kind of got to the point where I was, I was ready to move on. So I did. Had that same sort of situation during my days as a bicycle racer. Race for almost 10 years, I was a Cat 1, which is the top level you can achieve in amateur cycling. Want some races, time trials. That was my thing. I went racing for the team and using my skills to help set the other guys up for success. But I kind of wore on me after a while, you know, to be competitive at that level was a full-time commitment. And I remembered the day, the exact moment, and exactly where I was, it was just after the racing season ended. I was just out for like a nothing ride. I was going up this little hill. I slumped over my handlebars and I said, I can't do this anymore. So you might think that after putting so much time and work and effort into both of those things that I might feel some regret about leaving or, you know, at the very least have some kind of doubts about whether or not I was making the right decision. But I'll tell you that in both of those situations, when I made that decision, I had absolutely no regrets. In fact, I actually felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I honestly felt free and genuinely excited for whatever the next thing was going to be. So it just so happened that the next thing for me after the music series and bicycle racing was he's Boge style. It was the fall of 2012 when I stopped doing the music series and retired from racing. And then I launched he's Boge style. Very first post was February 17th, 2013. And we'll get back to that post. So first, you may have noticed that we just kind of passed a 10 year anniversary and there was nothing to market. Nothing here on the channel, nothing on the website, nothing on social. And that's what I want to talk about because I've been having those feelings again that I talked about at the beginning of this video. I've accomplished a lot, made some great connections, felt like I contributed something to the world, nothing more to prove, ready to move on to the next thing. So that's why I have decided to retire from the army. Yes, that's right. Now some of you probably know that I have been and currently still am. Don't want the beard fool you and active duty soldier in the United States Army. But for those of you who are like, what? Let me just get you up to speed. So for the last almost 20 years, I've served as a member of the United States Army field band from Washington, DC. Play the saxophone with the group and I know some of you have come to the channel and asked, hey, are you that same guy in those army field band videos? Yes, that's me and proud to have been in a couple of the most popular videos that the Army field band ever made. Playing the saxophone was not the only thing I did with the Army field band. I was also very involved for the last 10 years or so in public affairs and strategic communications. For a long time, I was a go-to spokesperson for the group. So I do interviews, you know, anything from newspaper, online, radio, podcast, television. I did it. Over the past few years, I've been training our people to do that. So love doing those sorts of things as well. I also worked a lot to get media coverage for the group. A few of the things that I'm most proud of was a huge story that we had on AP news as well as national coverage on CBS evening news with Nora O'Donnell and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. In addition to that, I was also the announcer for the group for a number of years. Absolutely love that role. So much fun to be in front of an audience, connect with them and, you know, pretty much like set the conditions for them to enjoy the show. I mean, I did other little things too. Those were kind of the big things in the span of my career. And it was great and there were a lot of things that I truly loved about it. I loved playing music for people and honestly, I got to the point where I didn't care where I played, who I was playing for or what I was playing as long as those people were entertained, inspired or moved in some way, which I know happened every single concert. I loved working with such amazing musicians and people, you know, some of the people I won't miss as much as others, but, you know, I guess that's how it goes anywhere. I've been all 50 states overseas a few times. It was a really great career, but it was time to leave. The schedule for the group is challenging. Typically on the road, about 100 days of the year, if any of you have ever served in the military, you know your daily schedule can be very unpredictable. That was fine for a while, but, you know, you just sort of roll with it, but it gets kind of stressful over time. And you know, as you move through a career in the military, you transition into something other than what you were hired to do specifically. And that's usually a managerial type of role. I love mentoring people, but you know, there were elements of upper level management that weren't really my favorite thing to deal with, especially in a highly corporate environment where it's more like steering an aircraft than driving a Ferrari. So that was very frustrating to me. Overall though, my decision to retire from the Army after 20 years, two months, and 29 days was for two very big reasons. The first was to be home and to be able to spend more time with Robin and my family. It's really hard to be away from home for so long and I just didn't want to do that anymore. And the second reason is to finally be able to devote 100% of my time to he spoke style. So when I started this, you know, 10 years ago, it was kind of easier to keep up with. I didn't have quite as many responsibilities in my Army career as I've had the last three, four or five years, and it really has gotten incredibly difficult to balance. So instead of spending 100% of 10% of my time on HSS, it will be 100% of 100% of my time. And also Rob is actually retiring from the Army too. He is right there behind the camera right now. So I know that we are both looking forward to making this a full time thing. So my actual retirement date, my last day in the Army is October 31st of this year. My retirement ceremony is May 10th. There's a lot involved in retiring and boxes that you need to make sure you check. So there is a bit of a transition period. I'm using that time now, which is why you may notice a little bit of a lull in our content creation at this point to do some things that are really going to set us up for success, growth, and really being able to scale into the future. Right now we are working with a consultant to map all of our processes, develop SOPs for everything. And that will help with hiring and training in the future. And to really dig into our project management, find that process, and implement some things in our softwares that we used to make the whole thing just much more streamlined and efficient. It's something I probably should have done a long time ago, but I was doing the best that I could. So in addition to really getting dialed in here on the channel, the other big news is that the HSS website and shop will be getting a complete makeover. We just signed a contract with an incredible web design and development agency to make that happen. It's probably going to be in the four month range for the entire product start to finish, but the experience, both on the editorial side and the commerce side, is going to be absolutely amazing. From a personal point of view, having started, he spoke style originally as a website. I'm really looking forward to kind of getting back to basics in terms of that part of how we tell stories and reach people. There'll be a lot of synergy between the channel, the website, and the shop. So speaking of the website, earlier in the video, I mentioned the very first post that I ever did on he spoke style, and I want to come back to that right now. So one of the things that I'm most proud of having done this now for 10 years is that the message has remained consistent. In this whole influencer world, you see people kind of jumping from one thing to the next, and you just kind of wonder like, what do they really stand for? That's really never been my thing. For me, it's always been about the journey and helping people on their own journey to understand the transformational power of dressing well. And as evidence, here is a little bit of what I wrote in that very first post. It seems easy enough, but can certainly be overwhelming. With so many choices, options, and opinions, it can definitely be difficult to know where to start, what to do, and how to do it. But like anything, investing little thought and time pays big dividends. I started this blog to offer style inspiration, tips, advice, and answers to common, as well as detail-oriented menswear and grooming questions. And as a starting point for a guy is interested in developing a menswear collection or refining their personal style, it should be fun. End quote. It should be fun, and it will be fun. And I thank you for all the support over the years that has made Key spoke style what it is today. So more good things to come. Stay tuned.