Living in the USA: One year on

Photo: Taken by me during an helicopter ride, August 2016

Just over 12 months ago I left the UK to start a new part of my journey living in New York and heading up our international growth at Aiir.

This has absolutely been the fastest year of my life and I wanted to share with you what’s happened over the past year.

Radio industry in the USA

I started my radio career in 1999 and I’ll be the first to say it’s had its ups and downs, but it’s been mostly fun! I started by writing football scores from teletext and handing them to the on air host, before moving to presenting, producing and then finishing as a programme director. When I arrived in the US I did feel like the new kid on the block and almost like starting all over again.

Working in the same industry but with different terminology has been fun. There’s no breakfast or drive time shows here, just AM and PM Drive. So I had to move and learn fast, especially as my main focus was selling into stations our existing product and services which have been established in the UK for over 10 years. We’ve planned for this in our platform some years ago, including having an app called ‘On Air Staff’ instead of Presenters, Shows, Hosts or DJs etc…

Our product has been received very well in North America and our growth over the past 12 months has been over 250%. It’s become very clear to us our US operations will grow bigger than our UK operations much quicker than we expected. In fact, we have forecast for that to happen in Q1 of 2017. My original forecast was for that to happen either Q1 or Q2 2018.

This means our team has to grow (we’re hiring). Over the next six months we will be expanding our US operations by establishing a base on the West Coast. This will allow us to better support our clients 24 hours a day. I’m always excited about team growth and cannot wait for them to get started.

Personal life: Starting again

The move was obviously a massive decision for my wife and I. We had to give up everything to make the move, including our business we owned together. My wife has now fully established herself as an amazing personal trainer and runs her own business.

Hanna and I after my surprise birthday helicopter ride!

I’ve said this already but it really was for us like starting again. For example, according to the USA, before the day we arrived we just don’t exist so we quickly had to start working on establishing everything that we’ve taken for granted on a day to day basis.

Opening bank accounts, mobile phone contracts, utility bills and negotiating rates. None of this is difficult until you get around to the dreaded question: “Can we have your social number to run a credit check?”. Well, yes, but I don’t have any history to check.

A woman at the bank said to me: “No credit is better than bad credit!”. She’s correct of course, but how do you in your 30s start to build credit? By getting credit, obviously! Well, how do I get new lines of credit? By maintaining a good credit history! This is where I got stuck in the no credit history = no credit, getting credit = good credit score circle. I finally got approved for a $500 credit card by applying at my bank, getting declined and then having my local bank manager file a special request due to the money we had in savings. This did the trick! In four months I applied for an AMEX card and was instantly approved. To cut a long story short, I’ve now established a good credit history and can do the normal things in life like buy a car, a house or just simply prove who I am!

I’d recommend anyone who is considering moving to the US to try and establish credit as soon as you can, as otherwise it really can force you in to bad deals with phone companies and the like.

It’s been an incredible 12 months. I’ve met so many amazing people, gained some lifetime friends and added some awesome clients to the Aiir family.

Here’s to the next year!

Ricki