Great post by my good friend Abbi:
Reblogged from Reno Rebirth Blog:
I received an email on Friday from the editor of PR Daily asking me if I wanted to comment on a recently released Forbes-commissioned survey which cites Reno as one of the cities with the unhappiest workers behind Boulder, Colo.
Yes, that’s right. Boulder. The mountain town that’s home to Powder magazine and Brad Feld, and was recently picked as one of Money magazine’s “Best Places to…
Great question. In my humble opinion, moving to Reno is primarily a lifestyle choice.
Picture this:
Friday evening in summer and it is about 85 degrees out. You live in Old Southwest Reno (best part of town to live in), after you get home from a day of work at the Reno Collective you, your better half and your 2-year old Labrador pup (who has an awesome yard because you live in Southwest), ride your bikes down to the river, go for a quick swim in the Truckee river’s downtown wavepools, grab some grub at Foodtruck Friday, and even catch some live music in Wingfield Park. After grabbing a beer at the Sierra Tap House you run into that cool couple you met at Craft last week and you all bike down to Death & Taxes in Midtown Reno for a late-evening Calavarques. You wander over to Public House and sample every beer on tap realizing that even though that Mikkeller saison is damn good, Icky is still where it’s at.
It’s Friday mid-evening, and after calling it a day you grab a quick round of golf at Washoe, Lakeridge, Montrêux, Red Hawk with the boys. You call up the ladies and they meet you at Brasiere St. James for cocktails, craft brews and that famous Buenos Aires Barbeque Platter. Everybody says, we should go grab that awesome new flick, and a few blocks later you are downtown Reno along the Truckee River in front of the big screen followed by ice cream, and a cappuccino martini at Chocolate Bar.
Your YFZ 450 has been itching for a ride. Since you bought the perfect house in Spanish Springs, you and your homeboys are right out the back door and ripping into the senset. Grab the boat on Saturday morning and you’re only an hour away from epic wakeboarding on Stampede, Boca, Donner, Lahonta
n, or Tahoe. And shoot, I forgot, tomorrow is race day at Hangtown, no worries it is just over the hill (two hours away).
Believe me, I understand you brotha. If you are moving here, you better bring your GNAR. 15 resorts within two hours: Squaw Valley, Northstar, Heavenly, Sugar Bowl, Kirkwood, Homewood, Boreal, Mt. Rose, Diamond Peak, and then some. You get the picture :). But if we are being real, backcountry is where it’s at: Maggies, Tallac, Blackwood Canyon, Mt. Rose Wilderness, Incline Peak, Castle Peak, and on the list goes. Get your Subi or Tacoma and mount up.
Photo by Zak Shelhamer
Mountain biking, hiking, camping, fishing, rock climbing, kayaking, disk golf, horseback riding, even high-altitude vinyasa yoga; yeah, we’ve got that. Minutes from world-famous white-water training (not to mention just over the hill from the American River), an hour to the Pacific Crest Trail or the Tahoe Rim Trail, day-trips away from the Desolation Wilderness and the Sierra Buttes, half-day from the Pacific Coast, and only a day to Central Oregon, Utah, and Arizona. Reno is a prime spot to be close to everything outdoors.
Photo by Zak Shelhamer
Explore the Great Basin and ride off into the sunset. From Reno you can easily disappear into the desert for your choice of guns, brews and barbecues, deer, chucker, lizards and natural hotsprings, Night in the Country, the Reno Rodeo, Reno Rib Cookoff, and Hot August Nights.
Darn right there are great attractions, activities and “all around merriment” in #Reno! Great post Alli!
My hometown, Reno, Nevada, was recently put on blast by EscapeHere.com as one of the “10 Worst Cities to Visit in the United States.” Now, I wouldn’t exactly call Reno a travel destination, but there are many fun attractions, activities, and all around merriment to be had in The Biggest Little City. If you get a chance, check out The Biggest Little City Movement, which is a collection of Renoites stories and shared love of our biggest little city. Below is my list of top ten activities and attractions that are a MUST when visiting Reno, or even if you’re a Reno local.
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“We sold $150,000 in one day though, can you believe that?”
– Small-time Reno Landscape Guy
Social Media Marketing isn’t just for the chic & trendy businesses anymore. This morning I must have walked in on good ‘ol boys landscaping industry meeting at Starbucks. Okay it was definitely nothing official but four guys from different landscaping companies were definitely having coffee together this morning… Collusion in Landscaping perhaps?
I didn’t catch where the others were from, but one of the company tee-shirts was clearly legible (but will remain nameless here) Anyway, I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation about what works and what doesn’t in advertising and marketing today.
They started off my talking about the fresh orange teeshirt the guy with the long pony-tail in his 50’s was obviously proud of. The young guy of the four chimed in about the cost of having one of those billboards up in Verdi on I-80 and how bummed he was that some backyard waterfall company landscape company that he didn’t care for was using one.
Finally the biggest and oldest started talking about the Anniversary Sale he had recently posted on Facebook. He said, “We sold $150,000 in one day though, can you believe that? People just started sharing our ‘45% off everything’ post that we put up on Wednesday and you know it went viral.” The pissing contest continued. “Everything didn’t go perfectly, but we learned a thing or two in the process.” He said, “Well I’ve been getting all those calls from Groupon and LivingSocial the past couple months, but then we figured out that we could do the same sort of deal ourselves.” And in the process not give away 75% of the farm!”
Who knew? Landscaping businesses making big money with Social Media Marketing?! You got it. He was not at the table this morning, but if you want a great example of a Lawn and Landscaping Business in Reno that is doing all the right things in Social Media, look no further than Cory’s Lawn Service:
I know the feeling, wanting to get out of the monotonous routine, get out from the cubicle, and get away from your boring boss that has been working for the firm for 30 years. I’ve been there and I am seeing more and more that many engineers get that same itch. That need to use the other half of your brain, to engage that creative nature that has been suppressed. The desire to act on a vision, build with your hands, mix it up, do what feels natural and control your own destiny.
Right now you feel like:
Here is your problem,
here is your paycheck,
now go solve it monkey.
… but you have so much more potential. About 35% of the students in my MBA program that did engineering for their undergrad and are now looking to follow their true passion (which may not have been socially acceptable in their mind to their family when they were younger) to be an entrepreneur. It is only natural to ask if getting the MBA is the right bridge to connect your future:
But is the MBA the answer? Or is it just another, “do what you’re told, and I’ll give you what you want,” in this case a passing grade. I have serious concern for those engineering undergrads who want to become entrepreneurs because doing what you’re told is not an entrepreneur. Many important business tenets (that you may not experience otherwise) can definitely be learned through and MBA (such as time value of money, basic accounting, and how to work effectively in teams to accomplish a goal) but much of the same must be learned when you’re in the fire of a startup business.
I would argue that you are no more ready to be an entrepreneur as an engineer with and MBA than you were as an engineer without an MBA.
First thing’s first… If you’re serious about being an entrepreneur, stop making excuses and in the words of an awesome blog I just read by @RubyBuddha:
“I hereby grant you the permission to start doing whatever you need to do
to be the person you claim you want to be.”
Thank you for reading my blog – Daniel S. Herr.
I invite you to connect with me on Twitter @DanHerr
Or follow to my blog 
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[Update 2016]: **Make sure to check out the comment threads below -AND- Many people find this other Reno post even more helpful**:
I know what you’re thinking; there are too many casinos, too many bums, its too dry, I want some more local stores, give me some more trees…
Shut It!… I don’t care what you say,
this is a damn good place to live!… 🙂
This topic is something that has been firing me up for years. I moved down to Reno in 2009 in need of a larger market than Truckee to satisfy my career needs, and while I was sipping the Reno haterade for years, there is a fresh growth of revival taking over the city and I love it. As I wrote on the MadeInReno blog a few months ago:
We the people of Reno know that we live in Reno for a number of glorious reasons. We know that Reno’s perception around the globe is not the truth we know it as. No one is going to pull Reno up, we know that. We are left to our own devices, our own grass-roots means. We have to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. “Made in Reno” is the place for Reno made businesses, entrepreneurs, and all-around real people to tell their stories, to share what is happening with real people and real businesses Made in and successful because of Reno.
There are thing happening, people moving and shaking to help pull Reno in a new direction. My favorite Reno band Jelly Bread definitely knows it (I hope I can get them to jam at my wedding). As does my favorite new bar Craft. And who doesn’t love our own home-grown, started in a garage, local, state-fossil, dinosaur-named beer: Icky by Great Basin Brewery.
“People need to know that Reno is not about the 4-blocks downtown,
there is a lot more to Reno.”
– Rick Reviglio, CEO of Western Nevada Supply
If you haven’t seen it yet, Bungalow Mike does a great job of covering new developments in downtown and mid-town Reno. He must spend hours upon hours in county and city meetings digging up all the great information he has on that website (PS, did you know he’s pulled together a Downtown, Midtown Reno App now?). On top of that Michael, Chris and Zach have started the Reno Rebuild Project which is a revolving loan program funded by downtown businesses for more new downtown businesses.
We’ve Started Telling the Story
I am looking to pull together people that want to help me share those stories of why Reno rocks. Kristen Stith and I have started and we invite you to check it out:
I’ve started by sharing the stories of Better Green Building, Western Nevada Supply and Moment Skis, but there are lots more great stories to share about Reno, and I would love your help. We’ve made a list of local business whom we believe help capture the essence of what is making Reno, Reno; and we would love to talk with each of them:
Midtown Eats
Public House
Organic Tea & Herb
QCS
Burger Me
GourMelt
Beach Hut DeliWe Need Your Help
What great stories do you have to share about local businesses and what makes Reno a Damn Good Place to Live?
DanHerr.com 