Have you found happiness, contentment and fulfillment in what you do? I have and I’m loving every minute of it.
This is a guest post.
Three years ago, I was happy, successful and working in a different industry. My associate and long time friend walked into my office and asked me what I thought about creating a Facebook-like social network for the 12 Step recovery community. I sat there for a second and yelled; “YES, of course, let’s do it!” We haven’t looked back since.
That was April 26, 2007 when we began our journey into the social networking world, which is usually inhabited by 20 and 30 something Internet gurus and nerds. My cofounder, Ken Pomerance and myself Ron Tannebaum, are anything but – we are both Baby Boomers, in the 50 something category, or in other words Internet dinosaurs, but that did not deter us.
We chose a great name, no, the best name for a recovery site; In The Rooms. In The Rooms is a term used in all 12 step fellowships (AA, NA, GA, OA, etc.) that helps maintain our anonymity. For example, instead of saying to someone at a party, “Didn’t I see you at an AA or NA meeting” I would say “Don’t I know you from In The Rooms.”
After choosing our name we started developing our vision on a yellow legal pad which quickly transcended onto the back of one of my daughter’s science boards. Our idea and vision came naturally and quickly. Since we both have been in long term recovery for over a quarter of a century, we knew what we would want in a social network for the global recovery community.
In The Rooms was born.
We created a FREE online social network dedicated to the global recovery community for people seeking help, in recovery and their family, friends and allies of recovery worldwide. Our mantra is the acronym HITCH, to Help, Inform, Touch, Connect and Heal. And our mission is to augment or enhance traditional 12 step and other recovery programs by offering a place to not only find like-minded people but also people who share the same interests, passions and hobbies. The site helps connect people with other recovering people around the world, creating a supportive environment and community.
In The Rooms transcends the boundaries of all 12 step fellowships socially, while keeping the integrity intact by having individual groups for each fellowship. For the first time in history, In The Rooms provides social interaction between fellowships not found when attending regularly scheduled meetings. We are actively bringing together members of the global recovery community socially to experience a vast array of tools that can be used to enhance and expand ones recovery, experience and social connectedness. We designed In The Rooms for those not as fortunate as us, who can’t get to a meeting everyday or who need support in places where it’s hard to find or are home bound because of illness. We are not only a lifeline for many but we also save lives.
In the beginnings, In The Rooms world headquarters was my house. We began assembling a team with our limited budget, financed by myself and hired a part time developer and web designer to build a platform and make it look good. Before we began our fund raising we set out to California to meet with some social networking successes to listen and learn.
Ken and I put together a power point presentation that we could take with us on our quest for investors. I think we used the power point once before we realized how boring it was and just started explaining our vision. We let our honesty and passion speak for itself. It worked. The first ten people we presented our business plan wrote us a check and we were on our way to make our dream become a reality.
Ken and I both know from being in recovery to let things happen naturally, and that they did. We were on a spiritual journey toward our number one goal, getting In The Rooms ready for launch. Everything was happening the way it was supposed to happen, one person introduced us to another, one door closed another one opened. For example, we were introduced to a new design team, three wonderful guys who own Macias Advertising in Miami, and they joined our team and created our new In The Rooms logo, look and identity. At about the same time we met an old friend of mine from childhood at a funeral who’s company later became our new tech partner and now In The Rooms was ready to launch. We even eventually moved our offices into the In The Rooms loft.
In The Rooms has been growing ever since. Since our inception and launch on October 6, 2008, In The Rooms has become the number one trafficked recovery based social network in the world with over 80,000 members, in over 50 countries and over 218,000 years of recovery in just 18 months. In The Rooms currently has 18 different 12 Step fellowships represented and there is more to come. We feature a vast speakers tape library, daily meditations, a worldwide meeting list for AA, NA, GA and OA, blogs, forums, discussions, four ways to communicate including private and instant messaging, comments and status updates. In The Rooms has over 1200 affinity groups to choose from or you can start a group of your own that fits your needs.
There is a recovery movement and In The Rooms is leading the way. We want to put a positive face on recovery. Those in recovery are no longer just the person living under the bridge or pushing a grocery cart aimlessly in the streets. We are the moms and dads, aunts and uncles, grandparents, your favorite teachers, judges, doctors, priests, rabbis, ministers, plumbers, lawyers, legislators and your next-door neighbors. Recovery is an asset not a liability.
We look back and compare the recovery movement today to the breast cancer movement 30 years ago when the word cancer was whispered, not spoken aloud. Now where can we go and not see a Pink Ribbon? Those recovering from addiction are responsible members of society and the old myth is dead. Addicts and alcoholics do not have to die from their addictions, we do recover and recovery is an asset not a liability.
Since that day in April 2007 when I made the decision to join Ken and move forward to create In The Rooms, the best recovery site the world had ever seen, my life has made a significant change spiritually. I wake up everyday feeling whole, knowing I am doing something that is good for the global recovering community and humanity at large. I cannot wait to get to our offices, The In The Rooms loft everyday. I have truly found what drives me. It is my passion
for helping others and standing up for what I believe in. I have realized now that my feelings of happiness and fulfillment is an inside job and comes from opening my heart and giving back to others unconditionally. I’m loving every minute of it.
Written By Ron Tannebaum
Please visit us at www.intherooms.com or become a fan on our Facebook page at facebook.com/intherooms or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/intherooms.
7 Responses to “Have you found happiness, contentment and fulfillment in what you do? I have and I’m loving every minute of it.”
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Hey Ron,
Thanks so much for sharing your story! There’s lots of lessons to learn from it. Especially how you took something very difficult and turned into your purpose and passion. I love it!
Thanks again,
-Andrew
I know this was a very long road for Ken and he finally took all his God given professional skills and obviously yours to create a “Vision” and turn it into a “Spiritual Reality” that will change and encourage hundreds of thousands of lives around the World!!
Thank you God Bless!
Chris C.
Thanks for writing in Chris! Ken’ and In The Rooms’ story is great. It shows that we all can take tough times in our lives and use them to help others going through similar circumstances.
-Andrew
In The Rooms is truly a blessing in the life of this recovering addict. I absolutely love this site!
Laura
Very groovy, Ron. I love the site and glad that you are also on Facebook. God bless and keep “loving every minute of it.”
When I first hit INTHEROOMS.COM over a year ago it was Love at first BYTE ! I have watched these guy’s work tirelessly to improve and expand this site for our recovery community !
I have even had face2face meetings with other members and can tell ya it has done nothing but help me grow in recovery…
Thanks Ken, RT & Alex and all the support and tech teams for keeping things up and running !
I so look forward to each and every new experience you find to provide US your loyal Members !
Huggz !
Simply_Sandra
Hey RT,
Once again congratulations on fullfulling your dreams and we felt lucky to be part of the ride. It truly was a pleasure turning your ideas into a tangible product that so many love and get inspiration from. We know that there is much more to come for In The Rooms and hope we can continue doing great things together.
Much love from the Macias Advertising and Alten Group Family.
Alex Macias