The story of how I ended up in Nashville, Tennessee is a beautifully messy one.
In 2017 I still lived in my native Kalamazoo, Michigan and was just coming off a tough breakup, wondering what to do next. In my mind I was going to be married to this girl within a year, so starting off solo meant that I was going to overhaul my game plan in a major way.
But how?
One night as I sat in my now empty, quiet and lonely apartment, I began to think deeply about my future whilst I watched reruns of the Office after work. All of a sudden, I realized something.
I was done with this town. As much as I loved Kalamazoo, I needed to part ways. I had been in the area since I was eleven years old. If I didn’t leave now, I would never figure out who I was, or what I was truly capable of.
I made my mind up that I was blowing town, I just didn’t know where to yet.
There were a couple different cities on my list, but Nashville was a big interest because of the music. I wanted to be part of a town where the streets were lined with music. A place where people shared similar goals.
I read about how many people were making the leap.
Many of them for the same reasons as me.
Nashville used to be where musicians with a dream would flock, just for a fraction of a chance at the spotlight.
Before moving, I wanted to make sure I did things the right way.
I had visited in prior months to “meet” my new home and take a few job interviews. Making sure I had steady employment once my feet hit the ground was my top priority. I knew it was not realistic to expect my music to make me any money and I wasn’t going to be a musical cowboy with his guitar on his back riding into town. I needed money.
During my last visit before moving I toured apartments.
My first thought?
“Shit, this town is expensive.”
I found a crappy one bedroom apartment at the Landmark at Glenview Reserve. If you don’t believe me when I say it’s crappy, just check out the Google reviews from 2017-2018. It was the cheapest I could find, and was still $200 more per month than my one bedroom back in Kalamazoo, MI.
I put at deposit down hoping for the best. In my head, the economic opportunities in this town are most likely larger than the ones in Kalamazoo so I should have no problem affording this place as long as I hustle. What was another $200? I just would cut back on unnecessary expenditures, and make it work.
A week or so later after I’d returned home from my final visit, the interviews started to call back.
I got a few job offers.
All with either insanely low pay, or full commission right out the gate with an extremely low likelihood of earning enough to pay my way for the first three months or so.
“Shit”, I said out loud sitting in my car looking at the offer letter I was sent via email. I wondered how any of the people working at these companies were managing to survive in Nashville.
I kept a positive head. I was going to make this work. I desperately wanted to leave Michigan to pursue something bigger. I was GOING to make this work.
Later that same week, I got a call back from Total Quality Logistics asking if I was still interested in an interview. Total Quality Logistics is a 3PL that often recruited Sales and Business Marketing majors at WMU. I knew all about them. The job was shitty and the hours were long and tedious. You were a number on a spreadsheet and not a person to them.
The bright side?
They had an office in Nashville and paid a base salary to start. Enough to not starve my first few weeks there, while I looked for a client base.
I took the interview. It was the best option I had at my disposal for reaching my ultimate goal. I NEEDED to score this opportunity and I knew as long as I played it cool, I would be a shoe in.
I did a video interview with the Nashville office managers from the TQL office in Grand Rapids, and was grilled for about a half hour with tough questions. They even questioned my integrity due to the fact that I was a musician.
“I understand you’re a musician, and I see that as a red flag.” the manager said.
“May I ask why?” I asked, genuinely curious. What did this guy have against musicians?
“We worry that it may be a distraction. You’re coming to Nashville, the music capital of the world, as a musician. We want someone that is willing to devote their time to this company and set their hobbies aside and the music thing might be an issue.”
I’m paraphrasing a bit, but that was the gist.
I thought, “Holy hell man, these guys want literal robots, not people.”
I remembered that I needed a job when I got to music city though.
I did my best robot impression. I knew then more than ever that this company was likely going to be a stepping stone. I wouldn’t be able to deal with being a robot long-term.
One thing lead to another, and I wrapped up with the final stages of the interview process. I awaited an answer.
I had a tentative date of August 14, 2017 to move to Nashville. I had told the recruiters this on the front end. They called me later in the week and offered me the job, but told me they would need to start me on July 17th.
“I don’t have anywhere to live before August 14th, can we possibly push it back?”
They said that the next training was in December.
I was going to have to make this work somehow.
I talked to my EXTREMELY new girlfriend that I’d only been seeing a few weeks and asked about staying with her in her roommate for a few weeks until my apartment was ready.
Her and her roommate agreed to it.
It felt awkward, but it was going to work.
I was able to work out a deal with my apartment complex for an early move-out and they didn’t even charge me anything extra, which was good because I desperately needed money for the move.
I began selling anything that I didn’t absolutely have to have and made enough to pay for my U-Haul trailer. I was still adjusting to not having someone to split expenses with anymore so I was super broke.
With the help of an old friend (my high school girlfriend) I was able to pack , and get things ready to go for the early move in two days. She was such a huge help and actually cleaned my apartment for me so I could get on the road… thanks again Nikki!
Before I left town, I had a giant going away party and got to see all of my friends one last time. My mistake was thinking I was going to be able to drive my Uhaul trailer the next day…
Needless to say I got somewhat of a late start.
I ended up driving for a while and crashing with my Dad who was conveniently at a campsite roughly halfway through the drive in his RV.
It was here I had to say goodbye to my dog and best friend Roxy for a bit. My Dad would be taking her for a few weeks while I got acclimated to life in the city and waited for my new apartment to be opened up. It was a bittersweet moment, but something I had to do in order to move my plans forward. Anyone who knew Roxy and me knows that we didn’t like being apart.
Eventually I pulled my U-Haul trailer into Nashville for the first time, scared shitless. My girlfriend Rachael was ecstatic to see me and we eventually went and grabbed some food with a few other folks at La Cantina Mexican Grill.
I was scared, broke, and exhausted, but I had made it to music city.
I was home.
