The Gopher Files

Why I'm Leaving WolfNet

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:08:00 -0700

(Photo from www.s-sm.org and property of Shattuck-St. Mary's School)

Over the past 12 years, I’ve worked at WolfNet Technologies. I’ve helped grow the company from a small brochure-ware website company that serviced anyone with money in the bank to one of the most respected and successful IDX and real estate tech firms in the industry. I stress the word “helped”; so many other key players at WolfNet deserve the lion’s share of the credit. But I've been a part of it all, coming on board when WolfNet had a only a single real estate client, and we were building the business one customer at a time. 12 years later, it seems like an eternity ago, full of great memories of late nights and weekends, hard travel, lots of "no's", some very lucrative "yes's", and lots of blood sweat and tears for earned rewards.

And now I’m leaving it all.

I honestly believe WolfNet will continue to be an industry leader in IDX and related services. If I were to stay in real estate tech, WolfNet would be the place where I would proudly continue to ply my trade. But that is not my path.

I’m leaving what I’ve spent the last 12 years building because my priorities demand it. I want a better life for my family. More time together. A better environment for Kaitlin growing up. More chances to explore the wilder and more remote areas of this great nation about which I am so passionate. Most importantly, a much happier Rich Bailey.

Thus I have taken a position as a History Instructor at Shattuck-St. Mary’s. My wife has taught here for three years, and loves it, so we will be working together. I will have less than 70 students total, something unheard of in my days as a public school teacher before coming to WolfNet. I’ll be coaching athletics. I’ll be a dorm parent and student advisor. Living on campus and dining with students and other staff in the dining hall. Services in the school chapel. The setting: a picture postcard of stone buildings resembling an East Coast prep school, situated on a hill overlooking a quaint Minnesota farming community. We’ll be part of a family of teachers, coaches and staff dedicated to making a difference in the lives of young people from all over the world, people destined for greatness.

I will dearly miss my friends and colleagues at WolfNet, and throughout the real estate industry. I sincerely hope social media channels will permit us to remain close. It’s been a great adventure and I’ve learned so many things, things that have made me a much better person, and will make me a better teacher.

Simply put, I have sincerely loved the last 12 years. And now I can’t wait to start living the next 30.

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