After a hectic March, life slowed down a bit for me in April. I had a ten-day trip to Chicago, but other than that enjoyed being back and settled in Austin. So here’s a short but sweet update from me 😊

Chicago

To kick off the month I traveled back to Chicago — both to celebrate my Dad’s birthday and also to dog-sit while my parents went on vacation. It was a great trip full of quality time with my parents, quality time with the pup, and quality time with friends. Highlights included:

🤘 I took my mom to see Scary Pockets, a funk cover band

⛳ I played a good amount of sports. I hit a golf simulator (boy does my swing need work…), jumped in on a friend’s rec league volleyball game, and got in some Pickleball

🐻‍❄️ I joined some friends at the Lincoln Park Zoo

🏢 I visited The Garage — Northwestern’s startup incubator where Zcruit was launched

But since a lot of my time was spent dog-sitting, please enjoy some photos of Mahzi 😊

Austin

The weather and vibes in Austin have been quite perfect lately. Outside of my usual sand volleyball, gym, spin class, and hot yoga-ing, here’s what I’ve been up to out here:

😂 I saw comedians Nate Bargatze and Marc Maron perform live

🎓 I had two friends from college visit so we got to catch up while showing them around town

🫏 I joined thousands of people in a park for Eeyore’s Birthday Party, a longstanding Austin hippie festival that celebrates the Winnie the Pooh character

Job Stuff

I was a bit slower on the job hunt side of things this month, as I got to the final round with two Tier A opportunities that I wanted to see play out before unearthing anything new. I unfortunately just got a no from the Los Angeles one, but I do have an Austin opportunity that I’m still waiting to hear back about — although the longer the wait the less optimistic I am about it. So I plan to get back to cranking more actively on the search in May.

In the meantime, I’ve begun consulting for some content creators on the side and have been enjoying that a good deal, with work ranging from operations to growth to monetization.

Nonetheless, I do still want one singular opportunity that I can really sink my teeth into full-time. I’ve had some fantastic conversations and some really fun almost yeses. I feel like I’m in the right arena for what I’m looking for. Now, I just have to land the plane 🤘

Monthly Favorites

🎵 Song: Austin by Dasha — My sister sent me this song about being washed up in Austin. Despite being a bit offended, I can’t deny that it’s a banger 😅

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📚 Book: The Art Thief by Michael Finkel — The unbelievable true story of a young couple in France who, in the 1990s, stole $2 billion worth of art from museums across Europe

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📦 Product: Create Creatine Gummies — As I continue on my fitness kick, I’ve begun taking Create’s creatine monohydrate gummies. I became a fan of the brand after working with them at The Meat Mafia and so when I decided to incorporate creatine into my daily routine, who to go with was an easy decision. I’m only a week or so in so it’s hard for me to report on the effects, but the sour green apple flavor certainly tastes great!

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Thanks for reading! As always, if anything I shared resonated with you, I’d love for you to shoot me a reply 😊

Til next month,

Ben

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