NFA Finance

What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?

I’ve spent a lot of my life on the road.

Chasing cars. Chasing deals. Meeting people. Looking at businesses. Trying to figure out the next move.

And if you travel enough, you eventually realize something:

Sometimes the best part of the trip has absolutely nothing to do with why you went.

I was reminded of that again recently.

I’ve been putting some serious miles on the truck. Ohio. North Carolina. Small towns. Back roads. Meetings. Business stops. Long days behind the wheel.

And somewhere mixed into all of that, you find these places you never would have experienced if you stayed home.

A little restaurant you didn’t know existed.

A steak that hits different because you’ve been driving all damn day.

Sushi in a place where you weren’t expecting great sushi.

Tacos when you’re hundreds of miles from home.

Coffee from people who actually give a shit about how it’s made.

None of it was the reason for the trip.

But those are the things you remember.

That’s one of the reasons I still love traveling by car.

Flying is efficient. You get on a plane, disappear into the sky, land somewhere else and continue your life.

Driving is different.

You see the country change.

You see businesses you’ve never heard of. You talk to people you never would’ve met. You eat at places you’d never intentionally search for.

And if you’re paying attention, you get ideas.

That might actually be my favorite part.

I can walk into a restaurant for dinner and leave thinking about their branding.

I can stop for coffee and start thinking about an entirely different business.

I can drive through a small town and notice how somebody has built an incredible operation in a place most people would drive right through.

My brain never really shuts that part off.

Some people call it work.

I don’t.

That’s just how I’m wired.

The older I get, the more I realize that life isn’t only about reaching the destination.

You still need the destination.

You still need the mission.

You still need something you’re chasing.

But don’t get so obsessed with getting there that you miss everything happening along the way.

Because twenty years from now, you might not remember every meeting.

You might not remember every deal.

You probably won’t remember every highway exit.

But you’ll remember that little restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

You’ll remember the people sitting around the table.

You’ll remember laughing when everybody was exhausted.

You’ll remember the meal that had no business being as good as it was.

And you’ll remember the ideas that came to you somewhere between where you started and where you were going.

That’s the good stuff.

Keep moving. Keep exploring. Keep your eyes open.

The destination matters.

But sometimes the best part of the trip isn’t why you went.

It’s what you find along the way.

See you down the road.
— Nick Francis
Modern Day Dealer