I’m back home again in Milwaukee, the only place I’ve ever felt truly “at home.” I’ve moved six times in the past couple of years, which looks ridiculous when written out. The past seven months saw me doing the Director of Marketing thing for a tech startup in Los Angeles. I worked with good people on a product that has a lot of potential, but I quickly realized that the L.A. scene is not for me. I went out there for personal reasons and came back for the same (subjects I don’t discuss in public), so it’s been a pretty hard time for me lately. But I did learn a few things:
1) I can do high-stress, high-profile work . . . but I don’t want to. I much prefer to work quietly from home on my own projects, whether those are philanthropic, consulting, or my latest, helping bloggers make more money from their sites. I’m sure we’ll talk more about that soon, but feel free to email me with any questions if you’re interested.
2) There is a huge difference in the day-in, day-out cultures of Milwaukee and L.A. Duh, right? But wow, when you live it every day, the point is totally driven home. No offense to my L.A. folks, but Milwaukee wins in almost every category. The single most important benefit you get here? Time. The only thing in life that you can never get more of is the one thing that L.A. sucks from you in spades.
3) If you don’t take care of yourself, and put yourself in situations where you can be healthy, then you can’t take care of anyone else either. It’s taken me a long time to learn this, and I still have a way to go. But I’m getting there.
Now that I’ve returned, I plan on plugging back into the community – social media, entrepreneurs, bloggers, family, friends, sports – so hit me up if you want to do anything. I’ll be around.
Peace.
