I decided to quit my job and take a break partly to focus on growing Hearts and All (my greeting card business) and partly because I wanted to go surfing. There, I said it.

I’m not sure when I will die and I want to make sure that before I do, I spend some more time surfing in tropical weather. It’s really fun, and San Francisco is really cold—at least, by my standards! I’d prefer to take my retirement in installments rather than in one lump sum when I’m 65. I probably won’t be as good a surfer when I’m 65 and what if I don’t even make it to 65? The time to surf is now.

I am currently selling Hearts and All goods on Etsy and Zaarly. (Hearts and All on Etsy, Hearts and All on Zaarly) Going to Nicaragua to surf for five and a half weeks means that I will probably lose some business while I’m gone. I won’t be able to send cards or frames or mugs, but to me it’s still worth it to go. I do plan on taking a pad of paper with me and working on some new drawings. Right now, the drawings I’ve done are all of romantic love and a few people have mentioned that it would be nice if there were some designs that they could give to their sons or daughters or mothers or grandmothers. So I’m going to see if I can come up with something for those sorts of relationships.

I also plan on doing some nothing. It’s okay to do nothing every once in a while, you know. You heard it here first. Once, a friend of mine started off his annual holiday letter with, “This year, I made peace with my inner slacker.” I like that guy.

Okay, I’m going surfing.

I probably won’t be blogging at all while I’m gone, so I’ll see you next month!

Hello! I’m Mitch. This is the story of how I quit my job and made a million dollars. Except that we’re still at the beginning of the story, so all I’ve done so far is quit my job. :) But that’s how this story has to start, isn’t it? I mean, making a million dollars and then quitting your job is a no-brainer. That’s no adventure. Now, I’m ready to admit, and you should be warned, that this story might not end with me making a million dollars. I’m okay with that. There are plenty of stories that have happy endings but no millions of dollars. Sometimes the pot of gold is a pot of silver. Sometimes it’s just a rainbow. Sometimes it’s a pretty girl. It’s all good. If I do end up making a million dollars, I’m sure that most of what I would discover is the truth of the saying that, “The only people who think money can buy happiness are poor.” But there is something about doing my own thing and being my boss that I find appealing. It’s fun to imagine that some of my conversations might go like this, “Hey, Mitch, can I take the rest of the afternoon off and go surfing?” and my answer would be, “Of course, man, go for it!” And that would make me happy.

So what’s the plan? The plan is to take 6 months off and spend 1 month focusing on my inventions, 1 month in tropical weather surfing and writing a poetry book (no, I’m not expecting to make any money from that month!), 3 months growing my budding greeting card business, and 1 month doing an interview project. More or less in that order. If any money comes from this, I’ll be happy. If no money comes from this, I will still sleep better at night knowing that I gave it a shot.

Alright. Here we go.