Quality of Life Comparison - Find the Best Places to Live and Work

My Life in Fortuna Compared to Life in the Southland

You are owner, CEO of IwannadoBetta Inc.  a growing company manufacturing niche products for a national clientele.  After years of struggle and selling you are finally among the top in your field.  You employ 20 employees between production, front office and shipping departments. 

(Okay, let’s stop there.  Now we’ll split the story in two and follow your hypothetical life in the southern end of California, with a quality of life comparison to having the same company here in Fortuna, California. Let’s catch up with your day in the life at…)

Quality of Life Comparison - IWDB South

You wake up at 4:30 a.m. You hate early mornings, but to beat traffic and get the kids to school, you’ve got to do it.  Get the kids going, a quick goodbye to the spouse and at 5:30 you are on the road for the 35 miles from your house to the industrial park.  You forgot to check the traffic. Will it take 45 minutes today or an hour and a half? The radio traffic report says you’re in luck and it will be just under an hour.*

Your family just moved to get away from the crush of the city to a new house near the 215.  It’s nice, but as you drive home it’s hard not to notice the eaves of the houses nearly touching and that every fifth house looks like yours.  

You decided to keep the company in the industrial center where you started.  The rent was okay and it was easier than moving closer to home†. This morning you get in an hour before the crew.  They will travel a combined 580‡ miles to get to work this morning, if they all get there on time maybe you can finish the big order you’ve been working on.

At 10:00 a.m. you get a call from your daughter’s school.  She’s not well and needs to get picked up and taken home.  Your spouse can’t get away, so you travel back towards home; your daughter waits 40 minutes for you.  You call the Pediatrician.  The soonest appointment is sometime next week? When your spouse gets home, you wonder if it’s worth the hour drive back to the plant. You chalk the half day lost up and get back to work at 2:00 p.m.

After a long day you arrive home about 7:00 p.m., everybody’s home so you don’t have to remember the alarm code**.  As you look back over the day, your team didn’t finish that order after all, no one really worked much while you were gone.  Onward to the quality of life comparison of a day in the life up north.

Quality of Life Comparison -IWDB North

You wake up at 5:30 a.m. There’s some time to have a cup before the kids have to get up for school, so you and your spouse read the news and enjoy a few minutes of quiet.  You love stepping out on the back deck on these clear mornings.  Quarter to 7 and time to get moving: you’ll run the kids to school on your way into town.  Since you moved out to your new house east of town, it takes a few more minutes to get to work, but you drive right past the school, and the kids like going in with you.  Seventeen minutes later you are in the office. The crew won’t get in for an hour, so you get some paperwork finished and talk to accounts on the East Coast.

You moved out on Highway 36 two years ago so you could be in the country. Now you’re 12 miles from the industrial park.  Most of the crew of 20 is in by 8:00, their combined commute is about 300 miles‡.  They start working on the next big order.  Maybe you can ship today?

At 10:00 a.m. you get a call from your daughter’s school.  She’s not well and needs to be picked up and taken home.  Your spouse won’t be able to come home from work for two hours.  You put your office manager in charge, pick up your daughter in five minutes and stay with her at home until your spouse gets there.  You call the Pediatrician, they can see your daughter this afternoon, your spouse can take her. You’re back in the office at Noon.

You look out at the production area.  Most of the crew has been here since you moved up.  They all seem happy to be there, to have a good job that keeps them and their families in Humboldt County.  It looks like you’ll get the order out today after all.

Before taking off for home at 6:00, you call to see if your daughter needs anything from the store on the way home.

So you see, the quality of life comparison between Fortuna and the southland shows life CAN be better and your work can be too. Come visit Fortuna the Business Friendly City and see for yourself. (p.s. leave that tie at home, the everyday business dress is much more casual)

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