I’m Home!!!
Merry Christmas! If you're home for the holidays, think about moving back to Aberdeen. Suzette and I did!
Actually, I’ve been home for 15 years. But every time the holidays come around I feel so blessed to have made the move to come back to Aberdeen so long ago. I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents before they passed on, I’ve made dozens of new friends and relish in the contentedness that my brother, mom, dad, uncles, aunts, cousins, inlaws are just a few blocks away. Looking back on my career in Los Angeles, I was making okay money for a guy my age in the graphic design world. But I had zero assets. Now I have a lot of assets, income of twice what it was in LA, my own company, and a huge investment of time and talent into my community. Who knows where I would be professionally if I had stayed in LA? In the last few years, my world of advertising has changed dramatically. I probably would have been replaced by two entry level kids who knew way more than I do about web stuffs.
I came back to Aberdeen and started from scratch. No business loan, no business plan, no colleagues to chum up with. Can anyone do it? I don’t know. I certainly wasn’t trained in business or entrepreneurship, but some how, things worked out. I think I did okay because of ignorance, which I know sounds dumb, but here’s what I mean. I’ve seen so many people come to town and set up new businesses. For some reason, because they are in a particular industry that demands a certain value-price structure, they think they can charge top dollar because everyone else is. But they’re untested, and have no credibility. I did just the opposite. I had no idea if people would pay me what I wanted. I proved myself to people first. Sure I tried to get top dollar for my industry, but I was also working in a part of the country that wasn’t accustomed to paying for the types of services I offered. So I just worked with people and I didn’t presume that just because “I” created a project for a company, it was the best thing out there. I’m not that arrogant. I always to try ascertain what’s right for each customer. It’s about being flexible, not overbearing.
And I think new businesses need to be like that. Especially if the type of service is relatively new to the area. Any way, I’m here to chat if anyone wants to talk about moving back.
Merry Christmas all!
