6 Month Check-In

I lived to see another month.

I know that is what you came here to find out. Was I fired from my housekeeping role at home?

No.

I managed to hang on this month. Actually, I think I got a compliment of "the house looks great!"

But I am one day past this week's cleaning deadline and all I have to show is a load of laundry in the wash. Which, by the way, is not actually part of the housekeeping deal. But since we were both out of town this weekend, I figured I could throw some laundry in and maybe I’ll get some sympathy points to keep me employed in October. Which by the way, our former housekeeper, who had been on an extended leave, also reached back out to us, so it looks like she’s back in business. I think my time is coming to an end for reals this time.

With that out of the way, let's talk about how month six has been. It’s crazy that it’s been six months since leaving Corporate America. Time has both flown and gone slowly, and I am very pleased with where I am, although it’s not where I expected. I’ll summarize that in my next post, which will be a full six-month reflection.

Time Allocation

Personal
Ramit Sethi (author of I Will Teach You to Be Rich) talks often about living a "Rich Life." I have his journal but haven’t filled it out yet. That aside, as I was driving to downtown Detroit to stand in line for a pop-up store for the band Sleep Token (and before heading to an AI hackathon) I thought to myself, “Is this my rich life?”

I love music. I love learning and exploring hobbies (AI and hackathons included). I love that I can do this without dealing with bosses, vacation requests, or trying to squeeze everything in between meetings. I love freedom.

So there I was, in a random residential area in Detroit, standing in line at a textile printing company for a pop-up shop for a band. All for about three hours for about 20 minutes in the store. Also, all while next to someone on a conference call for an hour straight: goals, budgets, typical team updates. It kind of killed the vibe, but oh well. I don’t miss that.

Project Exploration
That same day, I also participated in a hackathon sponsored by OpenAI (ChatGPT) with two stingers I met that day. Our goal was to create a custom GPT for a small business. Our team took second place, and the cash prize covered my pop-up store binge, so that worked out nicely. Although this wasn't my first time creating a custom GPT, it did get me thinking and got me to re-create a new one for Radio Chatter.

I was also working on a new software product not related to anything else from September. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on it because it solves a real problem, and I’ve developed a working prototype using AI tools to “vibe code” without knowing the programming languages. It’s complex, but it works. It’s interesting enough that Bethany has been encouraging me to keep going, though it definitely pulls time from other priorities. So I am not sure what I am going to do with this prototype at this point.

Radio Chatter
This month was also pivotal for Radio Chatter. Early in the month, I wrote about reframing my mindset, to stop thinking of it as a “silly card game” and start treating it like a real business. Within 30 minutes of posting that blog, I got this email from a customer:

"We broke the regular cards out for an [eight hour] trip to camp. Absolutely loved it. I was hoarse from talking and laughing so much. I've been friends with this group for over two years and I found out so much about them in just a few cards. We had a new to everything passenger in the group and she was initially a "third wheel". The game got her on the radio and asking questions and thinking about stuff as well. Our chatter got her involved in the group. I honestly think the RC game pulled her in way faster than sitting in silence for [eight hours] with her driver. By the time we got to camp, we had kind of fleshed out "personalities and group temperature"! This is high quality stuff that needs to be out there because very few live immediately in the area they want to travel to. I know we'll be talking about our answers for a while since we got surprised by so many!"

It was striking how the world works sometimes.

I’d been talking to my barber about this concept called quantum entanglement. It's kind of like intuition and the strange push-and-pull of things that aren’t physically connected. I first learned of this via a former professor and how some people seem to experience it more strongly. Sometimes it’s coincidence, you think of someone and they call, but other times it feels like connection.

In this case, I put it out into the universe that it was time to take Radio Chatter seriously, and then, out of nowhere, a customer sends me an email saying, “This is high-quality stuff that needs to be out there.”

Acquiring a Business
It’s funny how this theme of connection keeps showing up. It’s been a few months since we walked away from the last business we tried to acquire. Business acquisition has been low on my list...hence the 2% this month, but right after I emailed someone who’d been following our journey closely to say we were closing the book on it, the company reached out wanting to reopen discussions under new terms.

So while I didn’t spend much time on it in September, I did have conversations with my business partners about what might come next. No updates or spoilers yet so stay tuned.

Mountain State Overland
Last month, much of my time went to MSO’s Utah trip (watch our new series trailer on YouTube). September was lighter but still packed with work around our annual Adventure X Fest event. As the event coordinator, I handled last-minute logistics and then the event itself. By the end of the month, I was already on the road again but this time to Overland Expo East in Virginia, likely my last overlanding trip of the year. It was both for Mountain State Overland but also Radio Chatter. October spoiler alert - the event was another push toward going all in on Radio Chatter.

Vacation
I took some time to go fishing with my dad, brother, and brother-in-law. My dad wanted to get everyone together before the end of the year at one of his favorite Upper Peninsula spots. Normally that would be tough to schedule, but with my current flexibility, I made it happen. I left Wednesday, fished Thursday and Friday, and came home Saturday so I could be ready to coach our son'g flag football game Sunday morning. Short but well worth it.

I’ve referenced Die with Zero before, and this trip was another example of its lessons. The book points out how few opportunities remain to see the people who matter most to you, and how important it is to create those memories while you can.

We also camped as a family over Labor Day, and I had two weekdays with my son off from school. Instead of working while he played nearby, I declared “yes time.” We ran errands, played games, threw the football and basically did whatever he wanted. Ironically, the second half of each day he went off to play with neighborhood friends, which gave me quiet work time anyway.

Overall Reflection
September felt symbolic. It connected where I’ve been with where I’m going. The plan continues to strengthen to go full steam on Radio Chatter, with new products already in development, while supplementing with more lifestyle-driven freelance work in the overlanding space. I even built a website for someone in the industry, and more potential freelance opportunities are in the pipeline.

It’s starting to feel possible to piece together a sustainable rhythm: Radio Chatter and overlanding related freelance work. Believe it or not, this might be enough to make this whole experiment work.