Everyone has a weird, head-scratching job at some point in their lives. In 2008, I wore a beard mask in a bottle factory in Massachusetts. Our paths to our career happiness are winding. After I lost my house in Hurricane Katrina, teaching in New Orleans felt like a distant moment in time.

But if you're lucky, you can stumble into something that makes you happy and pays the bills. Somewhat of a rarity in 2022.

Living the Silicon Valley dream

San Francisco called me. The idea machine of startup culture was alluring. After a few temp jobs, I nailed an interview for a customer support job turned marketing role at a graphic design crowdsourcing startup.

I lived an incredible 6 years of creativity. Experienced every startup cliche. I wore hoodies, played beer pong, sang Karaoke after work, and lived it up in Napa Valley.

But depression does not discriminate. Independent of everything SF had to offer, I fell into a hole of isolation and pot smoking. My dream life in the bay was over. With my tail between my legs, I regrouped back home in New Jersey.

A different life startup; a different startup

Things didn't get better immediately. At one point, I was on the brink of applying for a retail job at the mall or going back to teaching. It's not what I wanted. I hadn't stopped smoking pot at that point either.

Motivated to reset my path, I put my resume and personality to work.

Finding my next role was hard work. You need to flex creativity and do the little extras that help your stand out in a vanilla job market.

When I joined a little SaaS company as the first marketing hire, I went all in. My perspective changed. My self-worth grew day by day. What got me excited in the morning? SEO. I started reading all about local SEO. Ways to improve your content for your readers to rank on Google. Everything about it enthralled me. Depression lifted.

SEO inspires, challenges, and fascinates me

Creating content that people discover on Google. Understanding the reasoning behind why different web pages bubble up to the top. The constant change of the search result page layouts. The nuances across industries and locations and mediums. It grips me with endless interest.

I was falling up into a virtuous cycle. I started dating my wife. Joined a supportive and badass SEO agency. We bought a house last Summer. We had our daughter in February. Everything fell into place. Hard work and luck.

Your passions compound happiness in your life

Throughout it all, I've developed relationships all over the world. I adore the SEO community. I've hosted hundreds of podcast episodes and connected with thousands of kind, supportive people. I've built an SEO video show and written about the industry countless times.

I love SEO. Find what inspires you. Bridge your passions with your work. Keep fighting until you find it.

SEO has been my spark. It's put me on a path to happiness. It's brought me a community, a family, and a passion.