We never really know what the future holds, however, we always know what we want the future to hold.
I remember when I relocated my family to Charlotte, NC back in 2014 like it was yesterday. Many people thought I was crazy to haul my wife and five children all the way across the country in search of an aspiring career in marketing in communications, however, it turned out to be the adventure of a lifetime and would end up being the best decision of my life.
Considering that I was a native Columbia Falls, Montana kid, CFHS graduate, and a true multi-generational Montanan, you could say that Montana was in my blood. I grew up in the woods hunting, camping, and fishing with my family. I spent countless summers at my grandparent's cabin on Foy's Lake as well as numerous ski excursions to Whitefish Mountain Resort or as the locals know it "Big Mountain Ski Resort". Glacier National Park was my backyard and the North Fork was my hiding place.
With that being said, I started to see a shift after I graduated from CFHS in 1997. I started noticing a trend that was a bit concerning. It all started when CFAC shut down in 2003! Most of the kids I went to school with had one or more of their parents that worked at CFAC.
It wasn't short after this that I started noticing that people from around the nation who had visited Glacier over the years decided to permanently relocate to the valley after they realized that this really was the "last best place". Over the years, I have seen a majority of generational Montanan's have to move out of state to places around the country with a lower cost of living and higher wages in an effort to be able to provide for their growing families. The Montanan's I'm referring to are the kids I grew up with.
Then in the last 10 years or so, I noticed a shift from the career industrial jobs at places like CFAC or Plumb Creek (Now Weyerhaeuser) to a local economy that thrived on small businesses that provided a relevant service. Friends of mine who grew up here in the Valley like O'Brien Byrd (O'Brien's Liquor and Wine) and Dulcie Burubi (Burubi Physical Therapy) decided that our generation needed to grab the bull by the horns and continue the Montana heritage by starting their own businesses in an effort to keep their families in our beloved Montana and blaze a trail for the next generation of young Montanan's.
Anyone from the Flathead Valley can agree that the Flathead Valley is truly the "Last Best Place". It is a place that you never want to take for granted. A place that is always in your heart and mind. A place where you want to raise your family. A place where you want to start a business and build a legacy for your children and their children.
This is why I decided in late 2020 that it was time to take the bull by the horns, move my family back to my beloved home town of Columbia Falls, MT and start Big Mountain Digital. I knew that my 15+ years of Big City digital marketing experience was a needed service in a state filled with business owners trying to build a legacy for their families. I believe in not just providing enterprise-level digital marketing services to large companies across the state of Montana, I believe in offering the same level of quality at an affordable price to smaller businesses who are trying to scale to the next level.
So here I am, on another adventure of a lifetime! I'm realizing the future that I had dreamt about all those years ago. I'm grabbing the bull by the horns with the hope that my "Big City" marketing skills will have an impact in the "Big Sky State". I'm building a business and a future not only for my kids and their future but for all the other MT business owners trying to do the same. Here's to a bright future filled with great success for Montana businesses and Montana as a whole.
Written by:
Owner & Cheif Strategist
Big Mountain Digital
Big Mountain Digital is a Full-Service Digital Marketing Agency that offers digital consulting, web design and development and digital marketing services in the following Montana locations:
Columbia Falls, MT (Headquarters)
Hungry Horse, MT
Coram, MT
Kalispell, MT
Whitefish, MT
Lakeside, MT
Bigfork, MT
Polson, MT
Missoula, MT
Helena, MT
Great Falls, MT
Bozeman, MT
Billings, MT