Monthly Archives: January 2010

Aberdeen's Moccasin Creek provides stunning vistas throughout the town. (Troy McQuillen)

I was born in Aberdeen, SD in the 60s. I left Aberdeen in the 80s. I came back to Aberdeen in the 90s. I will never leave.

What’s the attraction? Is it magical? Is it the most beautiful place on earth? No, it’s neither. My family is here. My wife’s family is here. How many movies does Hollywood feed us about returning to simpler places, being with those who love us, and doing things that make a difference? Lots. Why? Because everybody wants community. And it’s nearly impossible to experience community in big cities. I lived in Los Angeles for 11 years and never felt a part of anything. It was too big. Small neighborhoods were too big. I did once join a group of friends with common interests but to gather meant a total round trip of probably 200 miles when you considered how spread out everyone was. When you put time and traffic between passions and friends…eh, who wants to bother.

Coming home was the best decision I ever made. And I’ve met dozens of people who live in Aberdeen, SD with absolutely no ties to our area. I’m glad they’re here, but I feel bad they are not near their families, especially when they have children. But they love it here. Aberdeen has got to be one of the best, safest places to raise a family.

If you are from our area and want more out of life, come back home to Aberdeen, SD. You can search the dozens of Aberdeen websites all you like, but talk to those of us who have done it. We’ll tell you where to go for help. And most of us can help you ourselves. Because we did it.

Welcome home!

Troy McQuillen

McQuillen Creative Group

My immediate family around 1970.

You are not a failure if you return to your roots. Stop the rat race and bring your family home to Aberdeen. Here are some things that prompted my descision to leave a career in Los Angeles in 1995.

• We had just experienced another very large earthquake. It made me think, if my apartment were to pancake, my parents in Aberdeen would have absolutely no way of knowing if I had survived or not…for days. The thought of dying in a place far from family really freaked me out.

• I had a skillset that could go anywhere. However my rates would never be the same compared to L.A. But, they didn’t need to be considering the cost of living in Aberdeen.

• I wanted to be involved in my community. In Los Angeles, I didn’t know where that was. Occasionally a friend would take me out to a subburb, to their family and I could get a glimps of what their community was like. But it wasn’t mine.

• My extended family in Aberdeen was not getting any younger. Believe it or not, as an adult, I had never been to a funeral. I’m not sure how that happened, but it’s true. Well, since moving back, I’ve been to a lot of funerals. But, those were all preceded with a lot of quality time with my grandparents, aunts and friends. Yes it was sad watching my loved ones pass, but at least I was with them, and I had no guilt as I may have had if I’d not been around.

Yes, a lot of my reasons for coming back center around longevity of one’s life. I tend to look at it from the point of view of how much life can you cram in before people have to go? It’s never enough.

When you decide you want to come home, you will more than likely need a job when you get here. There are many online services which provide job listings, but the state has a pretty good, comprehensive website.

But I don’t necessarily recommend going that route. In the aggressive job market of Los Angeles, I found it more useful to set up information interviews with companies I was interested in. Chances are if you have talent, and want to work, a lot of companies around here will be willing to take you on, or at least keep you mind. And if not, they may have some good advice for you. And I did just that when I moved back. I met with about a dozen companies and what I discovered was I had something no one else had at the time. So I started doing my own thing, and 10 employees later, I have succesful business in my home town. We have a placement company in town as well that you should look into.

Despite the fact I grew up in Aberdeen, I left as an 18 year old school kid and came back 11 years later as a creative professional. I had no connections to the business of Aberdeen at all. But family members know people…any people. A friend of my dad was actively involved in the Chamber of Commerce and suggested I spend some time with those folks. I did and they gave me freelance graphic design work to do. I started going to their functions and met a lot of business people. Sounds like a no brainer, but if you’ve never been involved in a community at the business-person level, it may not be so obvious where to connect.

The first home we bought in 1997 was a beautiful craftsman home. Three bedrooms, big trees, lots of character.

I was about 31 when I moved back to Aberdeen. My soon-to-be-wife’s parents let us live in their basement when we first arrived home in 1995. And if this is possible for you, by all means DO IT! You will save a fortune and you will need that time to acclimate your financial situation. Rents were different in LA from Aberdeen, but we had moving costs to pay, still had student loans, and not everything was settled in LA. You need “breather” time when coming back.

If you’re fortunate enough to have sold a house in a larger metro city, you may be able to just buy a house when you get here. But, we do have a bit of a housing shortage in certain price ranges. Most people have trouble finding a house when they need it, but if you can find a “buffer” spot to camp out at, you should be able to find the right place for you soon. And by all means, call the folks at First Premier Real Estate, they’ll be your eyes and ears in town before you get here.

We lived with my in-laws for about three months until my step-grandfather’s house became available. Again we benefited from “family pricing” but we did pay rent to ensure we were moving forward. Rent history is very important to your credit rating and when buying a house. We bought our first house a year later for $65,000!!! The year was 1997. It needed a little work, but we were willing to invest our sweat equity into it.

Aberdeen has housing at all levels, like any community. Currently there are several large-scale apartment projects going up. This is in anticipation of a couple major companies opening or expanding in the near future. The folks at Paramount Estates have very nice, new units. As most towns have, there are some questionable landlords about. If possible, try to speak with tenants whom already live in the building before signing a lease.

If you’re looking for a mortgage, we had a great experience with Wells Fargo, but Dacotah Bank has a nice, hometown approach.

And don’t forget to have a home inspector take a look at the house you want to buy. Their input is invaluable prior to signing on the dotted line. Our favorite is Prairie Home Inspector (605) 216-6650.

We bought a Main Street building and built my office inside.

This is the biggest issue with everyone wanting to come back. You have a $40,000 job and the equivalent in Aberdeen is $30,000. I see and hear this all the time. But if you keep in mind the sanity and serenity that Aberdeen offers, and the great quality of life, is the dollar amount really that important? Yes you have to live, and you have expenses. But as I mentioned earlier, live with family for a while to get your finances acclimated. Downsize your cars to lower payments, heck we could get around here in golf carts in the summer if we had to.

My spouse was able to find a job immediately that provided that stability we needed to buy groceries, pay the small bills we had, and entertain ourselves now and again. I continued to play the field until my freelance work turned into an out-of-the-home office and one employee. I immediately put my student loans on deferment, but I did pay the interest during that six month time frame. Money was tight, but our expenses were so small compared to LA living.

Of course we had credit card debt we tried hard to pay down. And we stopped using them completely. We did discipline ourselves so we could get on our own feet without relying on credit cards.

Here’s my best advice when considering the money issue. If you’re even thinking about moving back, start planning your finances now. Get things paid off, downsize where you can and try to save. Somehow, despite all my debt as an LA bachelor, I managed to close out my life in LA with about $10,000 cash. I have no idea where that money came from, but it sustained me for several months back in Aberdeen as my business got off the ground. The decision to move can happen much more spontaneously if you’re prepared financially to make the jump.

And don’t get me wrong, there are some awesome jobs around here. Again, get connected with friends and family in the area, they can point you to these companies. I do not recommend going deep, deep in debt just to move back. Debt is just a bad place to be all around. But if you put your heart into moving back, it will happen for  you.

Moving is a pain, so I applaud you if you’re about to do it. When we moved back, we had a national company pick up our stuff from LA and had it for several months. Seems they have to find temporary drivers to drive your stuff to various places, if they’re a bit off the beaten path. We packed our cars and headed east.

I’ve got no real pointers other than security when you’re driving here, especially from farther places than a one day drive. And pets can be challenging. We had a cat with us and used a litter box designed specifically for cars. We stopped in Las Vegas for an afternoon on the way to Aberdeen, and when we returned to the car after walking the strip for several hours, we noticed signs posted throughout the parking garage warning people not to leave pets in cars. Oops, didn’t see those before hand. Anyway, Kitty was fine.

We did a website for a company a while back called, Dial-A-Move and they’re based here in Aberdeen. What I like about this company is that they always make sure one of the principles of the company is on every move. And they move people all over the country. Sometimes not even through the area. And they have climate controlled storage if you need it. Here’s their link: Dial-A-Move.

Downtown Aberdeen Gets a Facelift (6 minutes)

McQuillen Creative Group Defines Your Brand (2 minutes)