A wise man once told me this; he said, "Son, no matter what you do, do it to the best of your ability. When you walk away, you had better be able to sign your name to it. You see, in the end, that is all you'll have." I'm paraphrasing, but I'll never forget that conversation with my father. It stuck with me and I've tried to live up to that my entire life. No matter what I do, I want to be able to sign my name to it, to have that point of pride in knowing that I did a job to the best of my ability. While Oklahoma Traveler is my main source of income, I am always looking for other opportunities where I can make a difference. I believe that when people come together, we can make a huge difference, no matter if it is community building or small business development. █████████████████████████████████████████████Eric Standridge is the owner of Oklahoma Traveler and works with others throughout the state to help promote tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. Most recently, he also formed the River Valley Music Company offering DJ services and live music for Southeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas. His career in social and community service began in August 1996. That year, he began volunteering with the Olde Naples Downtown Redevelopment program. It is through this program that educated him on the importance of historical preservation and revitalization.Since then, he has worked in with other downtown planning entities in places such as Ybor City outside Tampa, Chicago, Tulsa, and Okmulgee. In 2012, he began an ambitious program to revitalize the downtown district in Poteau, Oklahoma. This program was completed in 2017.His writing career began in 2003 when he formed Oklahoma Traveler. Initially, he began taking on jobs as a freelance ghostwriter. These jobs required him to travel to different towns across the state, research their history, and write articles for local publications. Standridge continues to do some freelance work, however, most of his work can be found online or in print media.