If not now, when? That was Andy Ogburn’s philosophy when, shortly after his son Felix was born, he left his inhouse creative job to launch his own media production company, Party Practice.
Crazy? Like a fox. His wife has a job she loves working for a recycling company and tapping into her passion for building the circular economy. He knew he had an opportunity to launch his own creative agency with two partners while also working in a way that allowed him to be there for their son.
“I’m here for doctor’s appointments; I’m here morning, noon and night,” said Andy, our Lead Dad of the Week from Austin, Texas. “I get a lot of time with him. It’s a weirdly modern phenomenon where I can work from home on my computer most of the day. I’m able to be a Lead Dad because I’m more flexible.”
Andy and I first met when I went on a listening tour to understand how people I admired built community-based businesses. He was working for Erik Anders Lang, the founder of The Random Golf Club, which calls in all golfers to embrace the fun of the sport in new ways. What Erik created around golf, I hope to build around fatherhood.
Reconnecting with Andy was awesome. He’s the same engaged, creative guy from 2021, and now he’s also a Lead Dad. Yet like many new dads, he acknowledges that he’s in uncharted territory. “What I do as a a dad is I call the friends I look up and ask their advice,” he said. (Which is pretty solid advice.)
He realizes that how he’s fathering is different than what he saw growing up in Atlanta or his wife knew as a girl in Houston. But it’s working for them.
“The most enjoyable things are ongoing – you and your wife created a best friend out of thin air,” he said. “That’s pretty unbelievable.”
“The hardest part – I want to stay up late or not do the dishes,” he said. “Those delays of gratification are hard. Now I’m an absolute wizard in the kitchen. Everything is put away and cleaned up. That’s not who I was nine months ago. It took some getting used to.”
I love this. My motto has long been: don’t make the same mistake twice. Learning that you can’t do certain things as a Lead Dad – those dishes don’t wash themselves – is key. It’s the reality check to parental love. (Diapers also don’t buy themselves nor for that matter, change themselves.)
“I’m grateful for building this company now,” he said. “I’m looking at it as a good thing that I don’t have a long list of clients to service.”
Please check out Party Practice and their Tango Tennis brand. Good things are on the horizon for this new Lead Dad. So, welcome, Andy, to The Company of Dads.
