I am addicted to finding and fixing problems, and I enjoy the process even more when it generates income. That's why I started my first business venture at the age of 12, which led to back-to-back kid businesses before partnering to join a political marketing business. After the 2008 election cycle ended, I transferred to a WordPress web development marketing business for a Main Street business called Orange Cube Group.
That was fun and games until I learned that most Main Street businesses are broke, the website is ubiquitously disliked by the owners, and it is a commodity. I wised up and became a full-stack digital marketing firm for medical/tech startups with a staff, office, and foosball table.
Burnout hit hard. When a sliver of light opened to join the Michigan SBDC as a full-time business consultant, I sold off the current business.
Quickly learning that I would join the bureaucratic brainchild of higher education and the federal government as the youngest consultant on record of the organization, I knew I didn't fit in on a cultural level. Despite my age, I became the second-highest-ranking consultant in a business started in Michigan. As I wrote my resignation letter, the COVID-19 pandemic descended. I knew I couldn't leave the clientele relying on me.
The pandemic ended, and I resigned in March of 2022, joining DS as the Director of Operations, Marketing, and Product Owner of our app team with the director of systematizing the business for a first round of investment.