• I lived in New York for over a decade and built my dream career, but life felt too busy to enjoy.
• After my daughter was born, my family moved back to my Colorado hometown, and I'm so happy we did.
• Nearly two years into our move, we spend almost every weekend camping, running, or snowboarding.

As a young girl in Colorado, I always dreamed of living and working in New York City — and I turned that dream into my life.

For over a decade, I built the career of my dreams and ended up working as a magazine editor with amazing coworkers. Still, life in the Big Apple felt too busy and expensive to actually enjoy, especially once I became a mom.

My daughter's arrival gave me the opportunity to reevaluate our daily routine. I realized I needed more mountains and nature, and fewer skyscrapers, crowded subways, and glitzy events. I craved climbing mountains instead of corporate ladders.

As soon as my husband and I realized we were on the same page, we didn't waste time: We broke our lease in New York and booked one-way flights to Colorado.

Moving without an exact plan was scary but also invigorating

Initially, we stored most of our belongings and lived in various Airbnbs to scout neighborhoods before settling into a walkable area close to where I grew up in Denver.

Luckily, since we were near my hometown, we didn't have to start from scratch.

I'd stayed in touch with childhood friends and jumped right back in, rekindling our relationships now that we're all parents and many of us neighbors. Now, our kids are friends, too.

Once we started finding new routines — like heading to the local library or playground, trying new restaurants, and figuring out how we'd run errands and shop for groceries in a new place — the relocation started to feel like we'd come home.

I realized these kinds of daily to-dos could be manageable, and life didn't have to be as challenging and intense as it was in New York City.

The biggest benefit is the number of affordable outdoor activities at our doorstep

I knew our move would come with an influx of outdoorsy activities, but our reality has been even better.

Our new home has easy access to mountains and a bikeable commute to work for my husband. Our apartment complex even has a resort-style outdoor pool.

Plus, now that we're both working jobs with more flexible schedules, we can really take advantage of all the nature Colorado has to offer.

For example, we'll take off on a Thursday night for a camping trip to get ahead of crowds or work remotely from a ski resort in winter when a big storm rolls in.

I love that within just an hour's drive, we can find ourselves in a whole different world — camping surrounded by aspen trees and wildflowers, hiking above the trees on towering peaks, or dropping into our favorite ski runs on powder days. We've done all these things together as a family, and we plan local trips almost every weekend.

These days, my toddler claps and cheers when we tell her we're going camping, hiking, or snowboarding the next day. I'm so grateful to be able to offer her a nature-filled childhood.

Our move gave me new opportunities and connected me with past interests

I worried I would lose my professional contacts and my career would suffer when I left New York City. I was very wrong. Not only have I kept in touch with my former colleagues, but I've found new professional opportunities — and new things to write about.

Shortly after moving, I received a bib to run a marathon overseas. That, along with my move, inspired me to get back into running.

In a few months, I'd even trained back into marathon shape at high altitude. All those long runs were the perfect way to enjoy nature and learn about my new neighborhood.

When I do chat with New York friends, they always ask if I miss the city. No hesitation, my answer is no. We're living a different dream now. I miss the people I cared about, but truly nothing else.

As soon as I miss it, I know can always book a flight and visit.

• Over the past decade, I've traveled solo all 63 major US national parks.
• Parks like Isle Royale in Michigan and Dry Tortugas in Florida are only accessed via boat or plane.
• I've loved visiting Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota and Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.

When hearing the term national park, many think of places like Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia, and the Grand Canyon. They're iconic for a reason, with sweeping vistas and easily recognizable landscapes.

However, I've been lucky enough to travel to all 63 US national parks and have come across plenty of hidden gems along the way.

Here are my seven favorite national parks that you may not have heard of.

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"No-fly list forever."

• Kim Perell is a serial entrepreneur who became a multimillionaire by age 30.
• Her dad, also an entrepreneur, often talked about his business failures.
• She says sharing mistakes and normalizing failures should be encouraged.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kim Perell, author of "Mistakes That Made Me A Millionaire." It has been edited for length and clarity.

Ever since I was a kid living in Oregon, my life has been a roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship.

My parents were entrepreneurs who experienced big highs and big lows. Running their own business created a lot of stress in my household. We never knew if we'd have enough money to turn on the heat during the winter. There was tension between my parents and my two siblings, and I felt it, too.

When we sat down for dinner each night, my dad would ask about the worst part of our day, which always led to him talking about business troubles. He didn't ask about school or sports, but was always up for talking business, so we saw the difficult parts of entrepreneurship up close.

I didn't want to become an entrepreneur until I got fired

I didn't want to be an entrepreneur because I had seen the stress and inconsistency it caused in my family growing up. All I wanted was a stable job with a paycheck every two weeks. So, I went to college and got just that — or so I thought.

After about two years, the company I was working for went bankrupt. I was fired and broke.

That was an important lesson: whether you're an entrepreneur or an employee, there's no such thing as certainty and security. If nothing is guaranteed, the best bet you can make is on yourself.

I waited too long, but then jumped into digital advertising

After that, I was interested in starting a company, but I made the mistake of waiting for the ideal time. I've since learned that launching a business is like becoming a parent: there's no perfect time. You've just got to jump in.

So, I took a $10,000 loan from my grandmother to start a digital ad agency. My grandma didn't understand what the internet was, but she believed in me, and her loan allowed me to start the company at my kitchen table.

I sold my company for $20 million when I was 30

Growing up as a twin, I learned early on to differentiate myself. That gave me a lone wolf mentality that was hard to shake. That's another mistake I made: trying to do everything alone. Once I finally hired help, I was able to grow and scale. The company flourished.

When I was 30, I sold my digital ad company for about $20 million in cash and equity. I remember going to the ATM, and my bank balance had too many digits to print on the receipt. That was the best day of my life. My maxed-out credit cards and 3 a.m. worries had paid off. I had created security for myself.

As a mentor, I aim to normalize failure

I'm 48 now. Since selling that first company, I've become a serial entrepreneur, investor, and business mentor. I speak with my clients not only about my success, but about the failures I've had along the way.

I'm not sure my dad did the right thing by sharing his business woes at the dinner table each night, yet that normalized failure for me. If failure isn't normalized, you can become paralyzed by fear and get stuck. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to know you're going to make mistakes and do it anyway.

My failures have contributed to my success

I want my four kids to be comfortable taking risks. Make mistakes; think big; and fail occasionally. That's where you grow. Our children are going to need that adaptability and willingness to try new things in a world that is changing more quickly than ever.

As a young adult, I wanted consistency, but I've learned the only constant is change. Embracing change and failure has led to my biggest successes.

• Tech giant Dell carries out an annual employee engagement survey known as "Tell Dell."
• BI obtained a transcript of the internal video update where leaders shared results from the survey.
• The employee satisfaction score dropped by double digits for the second year in a row.

Every year, Dell asks its employees in a company survey how likely they are to recommend the company as a good place to work.

Last year, the results weren't great.

This year, they're worse.

On Tuesday, Jenn Saavedra, Dell's chief HR officer, announced that the employee net promoter score (eNPS) — an industry-standard measure of employee satisfaction — had fallen to 32, according to a transcript of an internal video update obtained by Business Insider.

The results mark a double-digit drop in the eNPS for the second year running at Dell — it fell from 63 to 48 in 2024 — and an almost 50% decline in two years.

Saavedra said the eNPS score was "below the benchmark we do aim to achieve, and we take that seriously," per the transcript.

Saavedra told employees that Dell had been "navigating a lot of change both within the company and in the broader environment," adding that the pace and scale of the change has been "a lot."

Dell declined a request for comment from BI for this story.

'Tell Dell' survey results

The eNPS score is the key metric from Dell's annual survey, called "Tell Dell."

One question asks employees to rank how likely they would be to recommend Dell as a great place to work to someone they know on a scale from 1 to 10. The eNPS is calculated as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors.

Four Dell employees who spoke to BI about the Tell Dell results raised factors like Dell's RTO, ongoing layoffs, fatigue with the company's AI push, and a shift in culture as reasons for the eNPS decline. They spoke on the condition of anonymity. BI has verified their identities and employment.

"There's been a general decrease in trust with all the regular layoffs and feeling like the company isn't listening to employee concerns," said one employee who is based at Dell's Round Rock headquarters.

The person said that office conditions, such as "noisy rooms and desks that feel temporary," were also contributing to low morale.

"Most people I know are not feeling secure in their jobs," they added.

"I was more negative on my Tell Dell than I have ever been," a Dell engineer who has been at the company for more than eight years, told BI.

The engineer said they felt the company's RTO push and layoffs had damaged Dell's reputation as a good place to work.

Previously, managers were flexible, workforce reductions were rare, and employees enjoyed a good work-life balance, the engineer said.

They said they felt company culture had changed as they had been "gradually and with decreasing compassion and understanding forced back into the office."

"The constant layoffs are just the cherry on top," the engineer added.

Dell has been steadily ramping up its RTO policy since February 2024, when it asked all US employees to classify themselves as either hybrid or remote — roughly 50% opted to stay remote. In September, the sales team was called back to the office five days a week, and in January, all staff living near a Dell office were told they were required to be in five days a week from March.

Vivek Mohindra, Dell's senior vice president of corporate strategy, previously told BI that having staff in the office brought "huge benefits," including "learning from each other, training, and mentorship."

"For all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction," CEO Michael Dell told staff in an internal memo when the 5-day RTO was announced.

Alongside the RTO push, Dell's workforce has shrunk significantly in recent years. An SEC filing from March showed that the company's staff numbers have fallen by 25,000 in the last two years — a 19% reduction. As of January 2025, Dell employs 108,000 people.

One tech support employee based at the company's RoundRock headquarters said the fall in head count had led to increased workloads on their team. At the same time, the ongoing workforce reductions have held back internal movement and promotions, the employee said.

Dell's leadership was a bright spot

While the survey shows employee satisfaction has fallen, Dell workers responded favourably to questions about leaders.

The leader net promotion score (NPS) was 76, with employees saying their leaders were supportive, collaborative, and helped them champion modernization, Saavedra said in the update.

Dell has been steering the company toward an AI future, rolling out AI across its internal operating model in 2024 and positioning Dell as a leading provider of the key infrastructure and servers that companies require as they deploy AI.

Dell's ISG division, which develops AI servers, has grown 29% year on year, the company reported in its latest annual results.

Total annual revenue was up 8% in its 2024 financial year to hit $95.6 billion — its third-highest result after the pandemic-era boom in sales helped push annual revenue to a peak of $102.3 billion.

Improving employee satisfaction

In the six-minute video update, Saavedra said Dell would be "increasing visibility" through quarterly updates and people leader meetings to help develop more transparent communication.

"Everyone wants direct communication from leadership and clarity on where we're headed and why," Saavedra said.

Leaders would also be reviewing their team's Tell Dell results and turning feedback into action, she said.

The HR lead encouraged more frequent two-way conversations between leaders and teams, and suggested employees use available well-being resources.

"Hopefully, the score getting cut in half over 2 years means they are going to make popular pro-worker changes," the tech support worker told BI.

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