Where We’re Coming From and Why We’re Here

Every week, we talk about the work — marketing, strategy, tools, and the real ways AI can help independent business owners save time and grow.

But today, I want to add a new dimension to this newsletter.

Where I’m coming from. Why I’m here. And why this work matters to me.

This is Part 1 of that story.

The Early Days

I started with one goal:

I wanted to be an Art Director.

Clean layouts. Beautiful print. Projects that ended — that satisfying moment when something is truly done.

But in 1998, at my very first design job, they sat me down and taught me HTML instead of handing me a layout deck. Suddenly I was a designer who could code, which turned out to be a very useful twist of fate.

I still wanted to art direct.But life made me an Interactive Director instead.

Print ended. Websites never did.

I missed endings.

Finding Creative Closure in Digital

Then Macromedia Director and Flash showed up and changed everything.

Digital suddenly had structure, rhythm, and finish lines.

I learned animation. I blended video. I got to work on big campaigns.

I fell in love with the process.

This was around 2000, right as Final Cut Pro launched. Adobe Premiere had been the standard, but Final Cut was my entry point into editing. And I loved it.

I loved the work, mostly.

But I preferred filming my friends skateboarding and snowboarding.

Eventually, that caught up to me and I switched jobs — mostly because I spent more time on a board than behind a desk.

Whoops.

Discovering Strategy

My next role as an Interactive Director was different.

Smarter.

More intentional.

Less “make us a website” and more:

• Why do you need one?

• What content belongs there?

• How will people experience it?

  
  

It was the first time strategy felt real to me.

And I loved that work.

But my passion for skateboarding shifted to golf.

And maybe I chased that a little too hard.

Soon I found myself without a job again —but this time, with a kid.

Another left turn was coming.

Next Week

Next Thursday: How I ended up becoming a golf professional.

(Yes, that happened.)

Why Tell This Story?

Because reinvention is part of the work.

Every shift in my career — HTML in 1998, Flash in 2000, the rise of video editing — forced me to adapt, learn, and create again.

AI feels similar.

Not a threat.

Not magic.

Just the next evolution in how we make things, solve problems, and build better businesses.

And to understand why I believe that, you should know where I started.

Thanks for reading.

Stay tuned for Part 2.