Relocating to Rapid City: David Zehntner

David Zehntner only planned to live outside of Wisconsin during the pandemic but ended up finding a home in Rapid City. Zehntner moved to the city in September 2020 and found an apartment after staying at an Extended Stay.

“At some point I just threw up my hands and said screw it, I can work from anywhere in the world,” he said. “I will go anywhere — Sweden, Hong Kong, wherever I need to go, I’m going to do it. I started doing some research and it turned out at the time that South Dakota was the freest place on the planet.”

Zehntner loaded his truck with most of his belongings and drove a little over 400 miles to Sioux Falls.

“I stopped and saw the falls, they were awesome by the way,” he said.

He looked at the map to see what else was around and decided to head to Rapid City.

Zehntner said he did more research into the area, discovered that there was no income tax and found an apartment on Main Street he liked and decided this was where he wanted to live.

Zehntner lived in Madison for about 13 years. He worked for Epic, an electronic medical software company, for three years and then transitioned to working for startups. Three companies failed, but he was able to take the product of the third company and make it his own. He turned that into “Z Cloud” and put it into his own company of “Zehntner LLC,” which was sold to his current employer CallCorp, which is based out of Utah.

“I was working from home before it was cool,” he said.

Zehntner moved to Madison after he graduated from Western Carolina University. He grew up in Franklin, North Carolina and “as soon as I could get out, I moved out,” he said.

He said there were always computers around while he was growing up. He said his dad was really into them, but it was just a hobby for him.

“When it was time for me to pick my profession in college, it was obvious to do something in computers because I’m good at them,” he said. “I’m good at programming and like it and everything, so that was that.”

Zehntner was in Madison when the pandemic started. He said at first he was scared, but after doing some research decided it wasn’t a big deal for him.

He said businesses started to shut down, bars shut down and his friends stopped making plans. That’s when he decided to make the move.

Zehntner said he loves the Black Hills and the Badlands. Now that it’s warmer, he said he’s going out hiking.

“Rapid is amazing for hikes,” he said. “The hiking is awesome to begin with, but there’s trails in town you can go on. It’s cool.”

He said he plans to go boating when he’s not hiking or doing his own drone photography.

Zehntner also makes his own wine, which he said he started while in Wisconsin.

“They’re big drinkers,” he said. “My favorite things were sausage, beer and cheese. It was amazing.”

He said it’s just a small set-up and buys the kits that come with the juice, chemicals, yeast and other materials necessary.

Zehntner said he didn’t have any problems or challenges moving to Rapid City. He said he typically solves his problems.

“I don’t get into trouble, and if anything happens, I’m able to just figure it out and do whatever I need to do,” he said.

Zehntner said he wishes Rapid City was a little bit bigger, but likes all the available entertainment, bars, restaurants, shops and other businesses in town.