My Story
Early Life – The Foundation
I grew up with a single mom in a house where money was always tight. There were no handouts, no excuses, just the daily reality that if something needed to get done, you figured it out and did it.
That environment forged the discipline, resourcefulness, and work ethic that have driven every chapter of my life since.
Business Systems & Revenue Growth
For 25 years, armed with an MBA and a track record of delivering nine-figure results, I built and ran programs for Fortune 50 companies and global billion-dollar brands.
My expertise is taking complex, seasonal, or chaotic businesses and turning them into predictable revenue machines.
Whether it’s amplifying your digital marketing systems, unlocking unused co-op dollars for trade companies, designing sales-incentive programs that actually move the needle, or streamlining operations so the business runs itself—
—I get owners out of the feast-or-famine cycle and into consistent, profitable growth.
Creative Execution
I take the same disciplined, systematic approach into the creative world. I’ve served as Executive Producer on a Hollywood feature film, spent two decades as a professional songwriter, music producer, and publisher for film and television.
I even traded my corporate knowledge for mentorship from master perfumers so I could learn the art and science of commercial fragrance creation from the inside.
These projects taught me that big creative visions only become reality when you apply ruthless execution—no matter how inspired the idea is.
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The Walkabout & Rebirth
After decades of building success for everyone else, I hit burnout.
Sixty extra pounds, bad habits, and the hollow feeling that something was missing finally caught up with me. I sold my last company and disappeared on a long walkabout.
On a ridge overlooking the Shenandoah Valley, everything cleared. I turned the same system-building mindset inward, rebuilt my health, dropped the weight, and created a simple, repeatable framework for real, lasting personal transformation.
Giving Back: Rugged Human
That framework became my book The Habit Switch and the entire Rugged Human personal-growth system.
It’s not another motivational rah-rah program. It’s a battle-tested set of daily routines, accountability structures, and mindset tools that quietly and permanently change how you operate—both in life and in leadership.
Today, executives, trade owners, and driven individuals use the Rugged Human system (powered by The Habit Switch) to get their fire back, break old patterns, and become the strongest version of themselves.
Personal Life
After the walkabout I met Christy in North Carolina—the single best thing that has ever happened to me.
A few years later we packed up our dogs Banner and Luna (Luna refused to sit for this shot) and moved to the rolling Virginia countryside.
Same grit and determination, bigger sky, deeper roots, and the perfect place to keep building the next chapter—together.
