Starbucks is the only coffee shop open at 6am in Culver City, CA, where I’m waiting for my 7:12am DEXA scan appointment. It’s the end of a 10 week road that’s been a part of the fat loss contest I’ve been facilitating. This is the annual celebratory bookend which usually coincides with my birthday each year. It’s going to be an exciting weekend ahead!

I’m glad I get to sit here for a few minutes in solitude to gather my thoughts, reflect, meditate, pray, and just. . . . think.

As if every year introduces new challenges and new levels of crazy, this year has certainly been no exception – and maybe this is the normal of my life. Last year at this time, I was celebrating becoming 45, hopeful with my ongoing research into acquiring a boring business, hopeful for great opportunities ahead.

I have so much to be thankful for, as always- a beautiful family, our tribe of high quality, durable relationships, a roof over our head, special experiences we prioritize, and more than all the things we would ever need. It is a dream we’re living, if I step back and take true perspective of where we are. All too often I forget how blessed I personally am, and it resets me every time I remember where I am, who I am, who I’m becoming, and most importantly, who I’m with.

I’m a happy dude.

In this last year, I’ve kept on with my 9-5, delivering high results and flying under the radar at my maximum capacity as an IC. As I always tell my bosses and colleagues, it’s the best thing I can do in the corporate world, and I love delivering to my strengths. It’s almost as if I’m truly passionate about what I do there – probably the closest it will get without actually needing to drink the cool aid and put on a fake show. I continually need to remind myself that those golden shackles are a farce, shackles that can only come off with true financial independence.

So what have I done to drive towards this freedom? I actually did close on a business in August, and been running it since. Perhaps I’m a glutton for trying to push myself to my limits, and this is probably the craziest thing I’ve done in my life. Raising 2 young boys with my wife (bless her heart as she’s got an even crazier load than I do), delivering at my 9-5, and running not only this business but 2 others all at the same time – no problem, right? In the first few months since adding this new business, I have learned a great deal about retail small business operations, cash flow, finance, HR, Los Angeles building codes, IT/CRM, AI, website optimization, permits, sales & marketing (totally different kind than the corporate or startup type), and how to change the oil of an air compressor. At this very moment our delivery van is getting a bald tire replaced with new rotors and brake pads. I’ll be honest, I feel like the gladiator in the dirt, and it’s visceral and existential each and every day- perhaps this is what it feels like to truly have skin in the game. I mean – I’ve had skin in my own game before but this is a whole new level, and now with 4 mouths to feed! The stakes are much higher, with little margin for failure. Some days I feel like I don’t even have time to think about how crazy this life is, and try to remind myself that I need to take a step back sometimes to take stock.

Maybe I relish this kind of crazy, and normalize to this. I actually believe I might be addicted to it. I found myself entertaining ideas of acquiring yet another new business on top of the current stack, but pulled myself back.

We’re moving to Santa Monica, for a variety of reasons I won’t get into here. I’m excited for that variety of reasons, but the most poignant reason for this is that this is now the bookend of a 5 year chapter in our family journey. When we got to the valley, it was at the throes of COVID and millions of people trying to jockey to get into houses with 2.99% 30 year fixed mortgages. We stretched ourselves and got into the house we wanted after going to probably over 50 open houses over the course of several months while my wife was pregnant. Fast forward to today, the older kiddo’s started elementary school and the younger one is about to embark on that journey. I remember when I was a kid, how disruptive it was to move growing up – making friends only to need to pack up and make new ones somewhere else. Luckily I didn’t have to do that too much until the 3rd grade – and it was awesome to grow up in Monterey. Our kids get to do this in Santa Monica, starting earlier. For this, and for so many other reasons, I’m super excited to open this new chapter.

The next few weeks and months will be even crazier, no doubt. It’s going to be an exciting adventure on many fronts, and God willing, will bring great success.

For now though, it’s time to enjoy a pizza and some beer. 🙂