I’m a stay-at-home/work-from-home dad who never expected to be one.

Being able to stay home with my kids and work at home is something I had always secretly hoped for and have cherished since it became my reality. It has been more difficult than I had anticipated to focus on work with such ample opportunity to love and nourish my children (2 and 4).

My Lay Off Hit July of 2020.

For the past decade I had been building a career in hotel sales thanks to COVID-related downsizing and the big hit the Hotel, Tour and Travel industry took from regulations like Social Distancing, Stay At Home, and Shelter-In-Place.

For the short-term I pivoted to a micro eBay business, and to selling on Amazon FBA, selling on Facebook Marketplace, and running a few small Etsy shops. These generate a few dollars to supplement unemployment but without scaling further, they are not a magic bullet and aren’t going to keep us solvent.

In October I started as an Advisor with Aflac.

…and Aflac is probably the most challenging career I’ve ever attempted. More on this later.

I’m still maintaining all of these hustles as of writing this but my passion is comes from love for my family and raising my children, and what really drives me is making a difference for them and the world at large.

Growing up the family loved camping and something we always lived by whenever we went out – and something I have invited to be part of all areas of my life – is the principle of Leave No Trace.

“Leave your campsite better than you found it.”

I don’t want it to sound grandiose, but it’s something I believe. I want to have an impact, I want the world to be better for the time I spend in it.

I think as men we sell ourselves short – especially with the pressure of trying to live up to traditional American ideals and machismo – and I almost feel that being a good man today is unexpected and the impact it can make on a family and the waves that can send towards the world can be significant.

This is a dad blog, but it’s also a candid man blog.

I saw a post yesterday that said, “if you’re not ready to have a gay kid, a trans kid, an autistic id, or a disabled kid, then you’re not ready to have a kid.”

I don’t think everyone believes this, and I being a parent has it challenges, but I do believe this and I believe that our most important task as parents is to model love for our children so that they have an honest and accurate picture of what love is and and what it is not.

Love & love what you love.