Thank You, Utah

Thanks, Utah; Hello Florida

I first moved to Utah in 2012 as a poor college kid with less than $100 and a 2003 Toyota Tundra (which I still drive to this day). Mind-boggling what the last ten years have brought to my family and me.

That said, to help my wife take the next step in her professional beach volleyball, we will take our talents to south bea... I mean St. Pete, Florida. I'll still work hybrid for MX and will be in town once a month. We feel very blessed and fortunate to be able to give this new lifestyle a go!

Below you'll read about 1/what I love about Utah, 2/what are Utah's gaps (IMO), and 3/what values drove us to move. Opinions and takes in the post are my own and don't represent anyone but myself. ;)

(Would you like to follow more of our story? Follow us on instagram^)

What I love about Utah

1/ Utah rewards the worker bee- Utah is known as the beehive state based on the state's heritage. From my perspective, this state's hard-working culture is the backbone of most startups. You'll never meet a more hard-working workforce.

2/Utah has a solid network- Most of my Utah network is within a "let's grab lunch next week" proximity, and with the aging of the successful Utah pedigree- we are finally getting away from the "new money" CEO scene to more of a "we've been here before" style of the network, which is an important distinction.

3/Utah is working on its issues- Utah has worked a lot on its diversification issues, and while it still has much work to do, Utah is trending in the right direction. Please get involved, and reach out. I'm happy to point you to organizations making Utah a safer, more diverse, and better place to live.

What the gaps are in Utah

1/ "The Bubble" - if you know, you know.

2/ The Vaccum- Unfortunately, Utah is somewhat self-contained and can be a vacuum that is hard to escape. There still is a tie to a shortlist startup pedigree that is great if you are inside of it, but you can feel exclusive. There is a great book called "Behind the Cloud," where the founder of Salesforce lists the 100 plays he ran from founding to exit. Next time you get together with your old teammates, crack open that book and laugh at how your org followed 97/100 of the plays. Let's try to widen our perspectives.

The Values That Caused Us to Move

So in March of this year, I posted that we made a declaration to live up to three values:

• This is the year we?stop living our assumed potential
• This is the year we?challenge our assumptions
• This is the year we?discover our authentic potential

So after being on the road as a family more than staying home this year, we resolved to stay true to ourselves and take the leap to relocate to Florida. We decided what we wanted, and we did it. Now, preparations took work. It took months to prepare our Utah home for Airbnb, prepare financially, overcome our mental breakdowns, and figure out our logistics. But we felt guided.

The Story

A week after returning from being in Europe for a month, Tambre had an opportunity to train with a new partner in Florida. So, she took off, and I stayed home with the kids. That turned into us getting a month-long Airbnb in St. Pete to "itch the scratch" of this Florida thing.

Then that turned into a crazy spree of going from Airbnbing to getting under contract the same day we evacuated for hurricane Ian. Mix in some work trips, volleyball tournaments, epic fails, some W (dubs), and a lot of family time - it makes for a legendary fall.

^this reel pretty much sums up our first month in Florida.

I read last week about a concept called "the creator's contact." It talks about how people become slaves to what they want to create (e.g., work, art, etc...). However, if treated more as a boundary to live by than a contract of limitations - you can liberate your life and find fulfillment.

Take Away

When was the last time you thought of your potential? What do you base your potential on? Is it a combination of your experience, knowledge, and what other people tell you? Your potential is based on your assumptions. When was the last time you heat-checked your beliefs (the values you live by)?

Please give it a crack and see where your life takes you.

Let's meet up!

I'll be back in Utah later this month from Nov 15th-Nov 18t, and. I'll be on a panel at one of the Silicon Slopes meet-ups. Let's catch up face-to-face; I've included the link below.