Leaving The Dodgers and Becoming an Entrepreneur and Artist
I Traded My Dream Job For Adventure and Created New Dreams
One sunny March morning in Vero Beach, Florida, I resigned my senior management position with the Los Angeles Dodgers and promptly moved to Israel. My last day was near the end of spring training circa 1994 and I left my dream job and moved half- way around the world. I departed without another job. I didn’t call it a sabbatical then or even now, but I did have a plan. Some of my friends were pretty sure I lost my marbles. Others embraced my sense of adventure. I was looking to grow and as a single man why not take this opportunity to do so?
But Israel? Yep. As the saying goes, “If you know, you know.” It took broadcasting great Vin Scully to encourage me to make my first visit to the Middle East the winter before while we were on the Dodgers off-season Friendship baseball tour. We played a few exhibition games in Taiwan and Japan after the 1993 season. A few Dodgers executives made the trip and I was grateful for the opportunity.
Many factors went into my decision to uproot my life, including a pending Major League Baseball strike, but more about that another day. Back to my Israel journey.
Soon after I arrived in the Middle East, I found myself sitting in a classroom in the heart of Jerusalem’s city center, learning Hebrew in an ulpan (language course) four hours a day, five days a week for six months. Simultaneously, I also began a period of freelance writing. First, for the Jerusalem Post and then for USA Today while also securing bylines in a variety of U.S. based newspapers.
I enjoyed writing which allowed my creative juices to flow. Within a few months I was speaking Hebrew at a basic level and I set my sights on launching my own marketing agency. Early on in my Israel journey I noted the amazing technology companies launching in the region, but most lacked sophisticated marketing programs targeting the U.S. and European markets.
Coast 2 Coast Communications was born to provide solutions. I grew it from a solo practice to 10 people and we served emerging technology companies targeting the European and U.S. markets. We had clients like governors from multiple U.S. states including Tom Ridge and I also secured the rights to Major League Baseball in four countries in the Middle East.
All of this happened because I embraced the opportunity to place myself in uncomfortable (but safe) positions ~ a new country, new languages to conquer (I also learned French in addition to Hebrew) and became an Entrepreneur, working with tremendously smart business people launching start-up companies.
I don’t think I’ll ever stopped writing, but along the way I found my true creative passion: Photography. Landscape photography to be exact. I took a photography class in college but my passion never really blossomed until years later.
I have been fortunate enough to have my work featured in magazines, continue to sell pieces while exploring the world and capturing nature’s beauty along the way. It is one of the skills I will continue to hone for many years to come.
I currently carry my cameras with me during this extended adventure, capturing whatever crosses my path. It allows me the to tap into the creative process and frame what I see.
Here is a small sample of the few of the images I‘ve captured from the radical sabbatical. You can also connect on Instagram here or view my larger gallery here.
![Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, Radical Sabbatical, Longboat Key Photography, Laguna Beach Photography, Miami Beach Photography](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F293780b5-c2d8-4504-b140-652219e79f2b_1494x1992.jpeg)
![Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, Radical Sabbatical, Longboat Key Photography, Laguna Beach Photography, Miami Beach Photography](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0213f87c-28d0-4c1d-a317-6612531cdb5f_1427x1903.jpeg)
![Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, Radical Sabbatical, Longboat Key Photography, Laguna Beach Photography, Miami Beach Photography](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a70f683-fc04-4402-b08f-02e0d0749744_1512x2016.jpeg)
![Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, Radical Sabbatical, Longboat Key Photography, Laguna Beach Photography, Miami Beach Photography](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffe2f1f5c-088a-46e1-a0f2-ffa021121b17_945x1280.jpeg)
![Charles Harris, Charles Harris Photography, Radical Sabbatical, Longboat Key Photography, Laguna Beach Photography, Miami Beach Photography](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8bfce7f8-fd49-4b5b-8b01-1d5b6fcbc076_1512x2016.jpeg)
Beautiful pictures! I'm also on sabbatical at the moment and relishing the space after an intense few years in tech. Look forward to reading more about your journey.
Love the pants!!