Just when life had been getting a bit monotonous (I wrote last month’s newsletter about buying a salt fork…), the universe decided to shake things up on me. I accepted a job in Los Angeles and I think I might have just moved out there.

I also went to Michigan, New York, Montreal, and Vermont.

Whew. It’s been (Ben?) a month. Let’s get into it!

The Gig

I took a job as Director of Strategy & Operations with Jesser, a basketball YouTuber with 20M subscribers.

It’s a 40-person company that makes money via YouTube advertisements, brand deals, the Bucketsquad basketball apparel line, and licensed products sold in Walmart.

As Director of Strategy & Operations, I’m starting off as a jack-of-all-trades generalist supporting across all areas of the company with the ultimate goal of helping the team ideate and launch a new business unit.

The opportunity just felt like the right fit.

With Zcruit I worked in sports. Then with The Meat Mafia I found myself in the content creator world. Over the past few months, I’ve kicked around my own ideas around sports media properties but felt that in order to launch them, audience and capital would be key. I zeroed in on Jesser as a creator/brand that I felt was in a strong position to incubate these sports media concepts and asked a friend to put me in touch with the company’s President. We connected, I ran some of my ideas by him, and he seemed open enough about them to ultimately extend me an offer to join their LA-based team.

It’s tough to leave Austin. I have such an amazing community and setup there. But I’ve also been in Austin for just about four years and feel like I’m ready for a new adventure.

LA had never really been on my radar as a place to live. I’m not the biggest fan of driving and that’s kind of an essential thing out there. But as soon as I committed to the job, I found myself excited about the city. I have a couple of great friends in LA and a decent amount of family out there too. Obviously there’s the weather and being close to the beach and all. And I’m really excited to be in a bustling office environment.

The office is a 12,000-square-foot warehouse 50 miles north of Los Angeles (in Camarillo) with a half-basketball court, studio setups, and workspaces. In my first week on the job, we had Chet Holmgren and another NBA player (I don’t want to spoil the upcoming ‘Guess The Secret NBA Player’ video…) in the office for a shoot, and throughout the day, content is constantly being filmed. ~70% of the company is in their twenties — I’m one of the older folks in the office. And every Tuesday after work, there’s a company-wide pickup game.

At the end of the day, I’m not entirely sure this job will stick. We’ll probably know in the first two to three months if the match is a fit, and so I still have my lease and furniture in Austin and there’s always a chance I boomerang on back. But I’m optimistic about the opportunity. I really enjoyed my first week. The energy was infectious and the people were great. I’m eager to get to a place where I’m integrated in and providing value, and I’ll certainly keep y’all posted on how it’s all going!

Other Highlights

This month felt like a year. Here’s what I got up to:

🥾 I went to northern Michigan with my parents for a week. We hiked, biked, played tennis, and went to a Fleetwood Mac cover band concert where I learned that Black Magic Woman by Santana is actually a cover of an original Fleetwood Mac song.

🌆 I went to NYC, staying with my friend Brendon and spending time at his growing startup’s HQ in SoHo. I bopped around the city eating well, drinking well, and seeing as many friends as I could. In the future I need to give NYC more than four days. I have too many people out there and wasn’t able to give folks enough quality time. But it was great to visit nonetheless!

🍟 I then spent the weekend visiting a friend in Montreal. God I love that city. It feels like it belongs in Europe. One of my favorites.

🎉 I had a busy last week in Austin. A friend and I went to a Tony Hinchcliff comedy show. I went bowling with a group of friends. I bought a car off a friend — a used 2017 Mazda6 (my first time ever owning a car…). And then I hosted a going away party on the night before my drive out west.

🚗 That Friday morning I cleaned up from the party, packed up some bags (yeah, I started my packing the morning of…), and loaded up the car. Around noon, my buddy Kyle and I headed out, driving seven hours before finding a hotel in Marfa, Texas.

👜 On Saturday, we stopped at the Prada Marfa and then drove ten hours to Scottsdale where we spent the night with my grandparents.

🤩 On Sunday, we drove the last seven-hour stretch to Los Angeles before arriving at my cousin’s place in Hidden Hills, the same community where the Kardashians and Drake live. These two songs may or may not have been on repeat down the home stretch.

🏀 I worked the week at Bucketsquad but I already talked about that, just thought I’d throw this in for the sake of a sequential narrative.

🌳 My Mom’s brother got married in Stowe, Vermont. So I took a red-eye on Friday night and arrived on Saturday. I spent quality time with family on Saturday (it was my first time seeing my sister in over a year), got in a nice hike on Sunday, and then we all took a gondola up to the top of a mountain for the wedding ceremony and reception. It was a lovely, intimate wedding and I had a blast partying it up with the family 😊

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Alright so yeah, that was my month. It was jam-packed. A big life change is underway. I’m remarkably unsettled but feeling full of energy ❤️

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Til next month,

Ben

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