The "Back to Business" Series
After 1.5 years of working on my own to build world-changing projects, I decided to head back to the business world. I moved from my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin to join the marketing team at a tech startup in Los Angeles. I live and work mainly in Santa Monica (on the beach!), downtown L.A., Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. Life here is interesting, and this series documents the journey. (You can follow the entire series here.)
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This is the view from my new front porch. In fact, I’m sitting in the yard right now as I write this post. It’s beautiful here, as it pretty much always is. I have a good job at a good company, with the opportunity to do some really big things in an emerging market. My life right now looks to be pretty awesome. And it is.
But it’s also a full 180 degrees from where I was just three weeks ago. I was in Wisconsin, gearing up for another Green Bay Packers season and getting ready to enjoy autumn in the Midwest, my absolute favorite time (and place) of year. I didn’t have a “real” job – I was busy working on my Change the World projects, and doing the odd consulting and speaking jobs to (barely) pay the bills. Last Thursday was my first Thursday out here, and also the NFL’s first game of the season: Packers vs. Saints. I asked around to find a sports bar to pop into and catch the Pack, and someone recommended one close by: Dillon’s . . . on Hollywood and Vine. Seriously? I’m not that guy! I’m from the northern Midwest, yo. I wear flannels. I’ve gotten two new pairs of jeans in the last 15 years. No matter how long I live here, I’m probably always gonna look like a tourist.
So why did I flip my life upside down to come out west? How did I get here so fast? And the biggest question of all: what is life going to look like out here as I go? The first two questions I’ll answer in the next post. The last one . . . well, I think that’s gonna be the most interesting part of all this, and it’s the reason I’m starting this series. I want to document what life is really like in the L.A. scene, and I think it’ll be fun to share it with all of you. I live and work in and near Santa Monica, downtown L.A., Hollywood and Beverly Hills. So I figure I’ll get a pretty heavy dose of the “famous” parts of L.A., but I’ll be able to give you a day-to-day look at life here, seen through the eyes of an average person. Additionally, I’ll be writing about life at a startup, with all the big risk, big reward stuff that entails.
Should be pretty interesting, and hopefully we’ll both learn some things and also have some fun along the way. It’s time to get back to business. 
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