Sean Pyles

And I also just loved living in San Francisco.

So that was a nice plus, too.

I think it's a bit of a false choice here.

I think our listener can save money wherever they are if they're really creative.

Yes, you'll be able to save less in New York City given how expensive it is.

But they don't know for sure that they will have fewer opportunities if they decide to move to the suburbs, because you just never know what opportunities might come your way in the future.

Yes, you may not have as many as if you're living in a big city like New York, but you just should keep your mind open to the fact that your career is going to go in all sorts of different places that you're not really going to anticipate.

And I'll say, I think my experience living in Portland over the past almost eight years now shows that you can have good opportunities living in a small city, especially when you're working a job that can be done from pretty much anywhere.

I've been able to have a lower cost of living, buy a house, have a dog, do all the things I wanted to do here.

But I'm not living in a big media hub necessarily, except I kind of am because we're all living on the Internet, which is the biggest media hub there is.

Right.

So depending on what industry you're in, you may be able to have plenty of opportunities in a smaller city.

I think that's a good point because a lot of times people may not even really have a say in where they're moving to with our listeners.

Like they can rank their top choices, but ultimately an algorithm is making the decision.

And even if an algorithm isn't making the big decision for you, sometimes family circumstances might draw you back to a certain city if you're trying to help out a loved one.

Or maybe you just get a job in a place that isn't your number one pick.

But if you're focusing on the skills that you're building while you are wherever you are, that's the number one thing.

So you can at least move forward even if you weren't living where you ideally would want to be.

That's so important.

And also kudos on having an emergency fund when you were moving like that.