As a seasoned entrepreneur with more than three decades of experience, I have launched and managed multiple companies across a variety of industries. My entrepreneurial journey has included both successes and failures, lessons learned the hard way, and two of my companies being acquired by larger enterprises.

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My latest venture as an author is my newest book, The Top Ten Mistakes That Small Business Owners Make That Sink Their Success. The book draws from more than 30 years of firsthand experience as an entrepreneur and business consultant. Rather than simply writing about business theory, I share the mistakes I have made, the mistakes I have watched other business owners make, and the lessons I believe every entrepreneur should learn before those mistakes become expensive.

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My first book, The Real Problems Destroying Education, was released in March 2024 in e-book, paperback, and audiobook formats and is available through major online and brick-and-mortar booksellers. The book was inspired in large part by my interactions with school administrators, teachers, and district leaders during my time at Skubes, an education company I founded in 2011. Skubes was recognized by Dig South as one of the top education startups before being acquired in 2017.

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My second book, A Path to Faith through Science and Common Sense, was released in the summer of 2025. I also regularly write articles on Substack covering business, economics, education, technology, and other topics that interest me.

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Today, I own and operate The Local Gym, with locations in Dallas and Hiram, Georgia. In 2019, I also opened Cedarcrest Grill, which I operated until successfully selling the restaurant in October 2022. Owning businesses in completely different industries has given me a broad perspective on entrepreneurship and reinforced something I have believed for years: the fundamentals of running a successful business are remarkably similar regardless of what you sell.

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For a decade, I also served as a consultant to Cox Enterprises and several of its businesses, including Cox Media Group, AutoTrader, and Cox Cable, contributing to a wide variety of projects. One of the most interesting was the annual Executive Operating System (EOS) program, which brought together 16 C-suite executives for a seven-month entrepreneurial-thinking exercise. The goal was to get successful corporate executives thinking like entrepreneurs—developing innovative and scalable business ideas that could potentially become part of Cox's portfolio of companies.

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While entrepreneurship has been a major part of my career, much of my early professional life was spent in the entertainment, advertising, and production industries. Over the years, I worked on everything from commercials and national advertising campaigns to television pilots and live broadcasts.

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My career in entertainment and production began in the late 1980s as a director of photography and production manager, working on numerous 3D film and animation projects. I later worked as a photographer and video editor for Estée Lauder, which gave me the opportunity to travel across the country while continuing to develop my production skills.

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In 1996, I established my own production company and had the opportunity to contribute to the live performances at Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. I went on to personally oversee the company for more than two decades. I have always been an early adopter of technology, and that curiosity led to my becoming one of the first 20 beta testers of Apple's Final Cut Pro before it was released to the public.

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Throughout my production career, I completed numerous projects and national advertising campaigns, regularly managing budgets exceeding $1 million. That work earned 16 national and international awards from peers in the film, video, and advertising industries.

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The work of my production company was also recognized by Markee Magazine, one of the prominent industry publications at the time. The company was featured in its January 2008 issue and later appeared on the cover of the December 2008 issue.

Looking back, my career has taken me through entertainment, technology, education, restaurants, fitness, consulting, and entrepreneurship. The industries have changed, but the lessons about running a business, managing people, taking risks, making mistakes, and knowing when to change direction have remained surprisingly consistent. Those experiences are ultimately what I now try to share through my books and writing.