THE STORY BEHIND THE MIC.

I’M A BUILDER.

For podcast hosts, producers, and interviewers: My story doesn't fit neatly into one industry or one chapter of life. I spent decades building businesses and organizations before I started telling the stories behind that work. This is the longer background behind Living Life Out Loud, its three distinct series, and the book Still ⚡ Building.

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I've spent most of my life building things. Homes. Businesses. Teams. Systems. Brands. Opportunities. But I build people, too. And the older I get, the more I realize how much I enjoy that part of the work.

I look at things differently. I can sit next to a stranger, strike up a conversation, and within minutes of learning what they do, my mind is already working. What's working? What's creating friction? Which systems are underused? Where might there be missed revenue or an opportunity to pivot? Could technology make the business more efficient?

And sometimes the greatest opportunity isn't inside the business at all. It's the founder, with years of experience, a distinct perspective, and a story that could become an asset to the company. I enjoy helping people recognize what they're capable of, then figuring out how to get there.

BUILT FROM EXPERIENCE. NOT THEORY.

My business education started long before I owned a company. I began construction work as a teenager, doing piecework and learning how quality, speed, and problem-solving could create opportunity. I moved into commercial construction, working on multimillion-dollar projects throughout Portland.

In 1993, a company noticed the building system I was using on a project beside its corporate offices. That work led to an invitation to Akita City, Japan, to build a custom home. I was still in my early twenties. Before I turned 25, I'd worked as a general contractor for some of the largest companies on the West Coast.

Those experiences taught me to pay attention to detail, build relationships, find better ways to do the job, and understand that the quality of your work can create opportunities you never saw coming.

LEARNING THE BUSINESS OF ATTENTION

I eventually reinvented myself and stepped into radio. I became a live afternoon-drive personality at a rock station. I coordinated promotions for five radio stations and sold advertising, helping local businesses reach the audiences that mattered to them.

Radio taught me how to capture attention, communicate, build audience relationships, and connect that attention to a business or an event. I later started a promotions company, booking concerts and events and managing bands. I learned to bring together talent, venues, sponsors, marketing, and logistics. Different industry, same builder's approach.

BUILDING THROUGH CHANGING MARKETS

In 2005, I entered mortgage lending and built a business that became the foundation of a career spanning more than two decades. I worked through changing regulations, difficult markets, shifting consumer needs, and evolving technology.

I later served as an area manager for a national retail mortgage lender, managing my own production while overseeing loan officers and their production across Oregon.

In March 2022, I launched Optimal Rate Home Loans, an independent boutique mortgage brokerage, just as the housing and mortgage markets entered an extended period of extraordinary pressure. That experience reinforced the importance of watching costs, adapting to changing markets, and building systems that help a business continue serving its customers. Mortgage lending remains part of my professional life today.

BUILDING OPERATIONS FROM NOTHING

In 2011, I founded a production company that put on large-scale events attracting thousands of attendees. In 2012, I opened a 3,500-square-foot tattoo shop with eight full-time artists and a barbershop. Those businesses required very different operating models, but all depended on people, processes, marketing, revenue, and execution.

In 2020, during the COVID shutdowns, I was still operating in the mortgage industry and serving as an area manager when I built a hormone replacement therapy clinic from the ground up. I coordinated the physical facility, pharmacy sourcing relationships, staffing, business structure, branding, marketing, patient acquisition, and supporting operations.

None of that existed when I started. I eventually sold my ownership interest, and the clinic continues operating today. Building something that can function beyond your personal ownership is different from building something that only works while you're holding every piece together.

BUILDING FOR THE COMMUNITY

In 2025, I helped co-found Motorcyclists of Central Oregon, also known as MOCO, a registered nonprofit dedicated to helping children and families in Central Oregon. The organization produces, markets, coordinates, and executes two major community events each year.

It is another example of the same work I love: bringing people, partners, sponsorships, volunteers, and logistics together around a common purpose. Not everything worth building exists to generate a profit.

THEN CAME 2026

In 2026, I launched Living Life Out Loud. What began as a storytelling project quickly developed into an interconnected media, publishing, and digital platform.

In approximately six months, I expanded from one social media platform to four. On Facebook alone, I grew from roughly 3,000 followers to more than 22,000 organically, and we've had more than one million views in a single 28-day period on Facebook alone.

I developed long-form programming, short-form storytelling, repeatable content creation and distribution systems, a publishing operation preparing to release its first two books, and a mobile application supporting the Still ⚡ Building ecosystem. I also released my first original song across streaming platforms.

All while continuing to work in mortgage lending and manage the rest of my life. I didn't do it with a massive staff or unlimited resources. I did it by combining accumulated experience, smart technology, AI-assisted workflows, outside specialists, and a willingness to build. Tools can expand what capable people accomplish, but people still build businesses.

I BUILD PEOPLE, TOO.

I enjoy sitting across from another business owner and really listening. What have they built? What frustrates them? What are they proud of? What would they like the business to become?

Often I'm hearing opportunities they haven't had time to explore: technology they already pay for, repeat customers they aren't reaching, a process that could be simplified, a new offering they could deliver with resources already in place. Other times it's the founder's own story, knowledge, perspective, and personality.

I believe that helping someone become a recognized, trusted voice behind their business can create real commercial opportunity. But visibility isn't the same as profitability. Audience attention needs to connect to an operation that delivers, retains customers, and creates value. That's where the people builder and the business builder meet.

THE WAY I THINK

ASSESS. DIAGNOSE. PLAN. EXECUTE. REVIEW.

Understand the situation. Identify what isn't working and what might be possible. Craft a realistic plan with clear priorities and responsibilities. Bring the right people, tools, and systems together to execute. Then measure the results, adjust, and repeat.

I don't believe in delivering a mountain of recommendations nobody will implement. I want actionable decisions. The industries change, the tools evolve, and the challenges vary, but the process remains the same. Wash, rinse, repeat.

WHY I CREATED APEX ADVANTAGE

Apex Advantage brings together decades of hands-on entrepreneurship with modern technology, founder-led branding, strategic thinking, and practical execution.

I'm not interested in selling business owners unnecessary complexity or making their companies dependent on me. I want to understand what they've already built, recognize overlooked opportunities, help them become more effective leaders, and develop the people and systems that let the business grow.

Sometimes that means addressing wasted expenses, underused software, weak customer retention, or missed revenue. Sometimes it means helping the founder step out from behind the company name and become a recognizable authority. Sometimes it means putting a team and an implementation plan together.

A successful engagement should leave a business stronger and its owner more capable, whether we continue working together or not.

THE BUSINESS SHOULD SUPPORT THE LIFE.

It's possible to build a successful business and still become trapped inside it. I've experienced versions of that myself. The goal isn't always to get bigger; sometimes it's to get better, more efficient, more profitable, and less dependent on one person doing everything.

I believe a business should help its owner build a life worth living, not consume the life they're trying to build.

I'm a builder. I see what exists, recognize what could be, and figure out how to get from one to the other.

I build businesses. I build systems. I build brands. And I build people.

That's Apex Advantage.

STRATEGY | SYSTEMS | EXECUTION

Build Your Advantage. Become the Authority.

Why tell these stories now? Because none of us have arrived. I'm interested in conversations that are honest enough to be useful, not performances about having everything figured out. If that fits your show, I'd welcome the conversation.

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