Nix New York City 2003

NIX NYC is documentation of a changing life. I was living in Gramercy in the early 2000s. I had successfully transitioned from being a hungry (but not starving) artist to being a freelance communications consultant and trainer. My client list was filled with recognizable household names, and my client base was growing. All of that changed after September 11th.

Companies had stopped spending money on training prior to Y2K. When 1999 passed without a computer catastrophe, companies started hiring full-time web teams. Almost all at once, several large clients pulled the rug out from under me, and I ended up struggling to make ends meet.

apartment full of stuff — Last days in NYC apartment

apartment with less stuff — Last days in NYC apartment

“Just take any job to stay in the city,” an acquaintance advised.

It was fair advice. However—from my perspective—that suggestion came from a person who was an unhappy alcoholic. Still, I had a choice to make: take any job to stay in NYC, or sell everything and travel.

I wanted to travel more than I wanted to be a New York City resident, but my idea of becoming a traveling storyteller seemed pretty far out. There was no Ghost, Kickstarter, or Patreon at the time. There was no #Vanlife hashtag, because Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook didn’t exist yet.

Unsure about what to do, I conducted a poll on nyc.craigslist.org over a weekend (strangers are very frank) and asked “should I stay or go?” The results reinforced my gut feeling, and adventure was in my future.

View the poll results, and check out stuff I sold.