Hey there,

I love to travel. If it weren’t for traveling, I wouldn’t speak three languages. I wouldn’t have met my wife. I wouldn’t have made many of the lifelong friends I have today.

And every place I’ve lived or visited has left me with lessons to carry forward. Chief among them, lessons about creativity, communication, business, and how I want to move through the world.

Here are four cities that come to mind.

Portland reminds me that creativity doesn’t have to justify itself immediately. Sometimes the best ideas start out sounding ridiculous. Sometimes the thing that makes your business memorable is the thing that doesn’t fit neatly into a box.

When I visited Portland for my 30th birthday, I spent time with Sarah Crisp from Queer Social Club, explored the city, and finally got to experience the Pacific Northwest I’d been dreaming about since my Twilight phase.

What struck me most was how unapologetically people embraced being different. As business owners, we spend so much time trying to fit into formulas that we forget originality is often the thing people remember most.

I spent most of the first 23 years of my life in New York City. Even now, every once in a while, I get hit with a wave of homesickness. There’s something about New York that gets under your skin and stays there.

One of the biggest lessons it’s taught me is the value of directness. New Yorkers don’t have much patience for unnecessary fluff. People tend to tell you what they think, where they stand, and what they need. I’ve carried that lesson into my business.

Good marketing means communicating clearly. The clearer you are about what you do, who you help, and why it matters, the easier it is for people to trust you.

I lived in Amsterdam for three years, and honestly, it wasn’t always easy. Finding housing was difficult. Building community was difficult. Growing my business was difficult.

Looking back, I also think I sometimes overcomplicated my messaging. I was passionate about identity-forward marketing, queer visibility, and the bigger ideas behind my work. But sometimes potential clients simply wanted to know one thing: Can you solve my problem?

Amsterdam taught me that simplicity isn’t the enemy of depth.

You don’t need to explain everything all at once. You can lead with the outcome and let the deeper story reveal itself over time.

Living in Paris has taught me something I wish more entrepreneurs believed: Rest is productive.

After all, creativity needs room to breathe. Some of my best ideas have arrived during long walks, afternoons at cafés, conversations with friends, or days when I wasn’t actively trying to solve anything.

Marketing often rewards constant output, but good ideas rarely thrive under constant pressure. Sometimes stepping away from your work is exactly what allows you to return with fresh perspective.

And if there’s one lesson these cities share, it’s this: there isn’t one right way to build a business. Some days call for weirdness. Some call for honesty. Some call for simplicity. Some call for rest.

The trick is knowing which one you need.

Maybe that’s why I enjoy writing this newsletter so much. It’s a place where I get to collect ideas, observations, and lessons from wherever life happens to take me… and explore how they show up in business.