How I Got Here

When I graduated from Purdue University in 2003, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. My degree was in Forensic Anthropology, so I applied at some law enforcement agencies only to discover that the pay and hours were atrocious. I liked cars a lot and I wanted to learn “business” so I ended up getting a job at Enterprise Rent-a-Car right out of college because it involved driving lots of different vehicles and management training. This turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I learned how to be empathetic, how to manage complex and stressful situations, and ultimately, how to underpromise and overdeliver. Seeing this mantra in action was all it took for me to make it the core of who I am.

Client success people often try to make people happy by promising things that may not be possible. They imagine that by telling the customer what they want to hear they’re making them happy. However, telling someone what they want to hear and then not delivering within that timeline has the opposite effect. Missing those commitments is not only unfair to the customer, but also to the team supporting customer success. That’s why I learned almost immediately how important clear communication and proper expectation-setting are.

After Enterprise, I had a number of different jobs in industries ranging from banking, to manufacturing, to SaaS (software as a service), to marketing agencies. No matter what industry I was in, the same universal truth of underpromising and overdelivering rang true.

Over the years, I’ve been able to step back a bit and not just focus on Client Success, but also the importance of how a marketing agency’s processes can negatively impact its clients. Unfortunately, processes are often created in a vacuum to solve a narrow problem without thinking about how they impact a customer or even other processes. Looking at the whole picture and ensuring that the main focus is on a good end-user experience is what I really enjoy doing.

Having a Little Fun

Strangely, I do a lot of random things that tie back to marketing. While I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a “marketer” due to the fact that I’ve primarily been involved in the operations, agile process development, and client success side of marketing agencies, I’ve still had a pretty decent amount of exposure to lots of different channels of marketing. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some really talented people and some of it has rubbed off on me I guess. 

In September of 2019, I decided that I wanted to create a story around one of my passions. I would need to apply everything I knew while also teaching myself all the things I didn’t. So, after watching a million YouTube videos, I decided that I wanted to create a brand around “Overlanding” where I could create content about my love of traveling long distances to explore remote locations.

Thus, All Things Overlanding was born. 

I taught myself how to build my own website. I learned how to shoot video, record audio, and edit it all together into cohesive videos that people might actually want to watch. I wrote blogs about overlanding and did gear reviews and trip reports to tell people more about this amazing thing called Overlanding. 

As of the date of this blog, I’m almost to 2,100 YouTube subscribers, almost 50K podcast downloads, and a number of Instagram and Facebook followers as well. I’ve been published in multiple Overlanding magazines and interviewed people across the Overlanding industry, which has opened a lot of doors and allowed me to build new relationships with some awesome people and companies. 

Outside of Enterprise, All Things Overlanding is probably the second most powerful influence in me getting to where I am today. 

Ultimately, I’m thrilled for the opportunity to work with the amazingly talented team here at 1909. I’ve already seen some amazing stuff from them and I’m thrilled to be able to help develop processes that will focus on ensuring the customers always come first and have a clear understanding of the great work we’re doing for them every day!

When I got into digital marketing I didn’t have a formal marketing background. While that would seem to many as a detriment, it’s served me well over my 10+ year career.

I try to approach things as a user.

When I write, it’s normally from the perspective of the person on the other side of the screen who has a problem. Maybe in this case your problem is that you clicked through to read more about me. How do I guide you down the path to solving that problem?

In all seriousness, helping solve problems is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, even before getting into marketing. My first passion and career was as a golf professional. No, not the people that play golf for money on TV. They are professional golfers. The biggest difference you get when switching these two words? The zeroes on the paychecks. While I truly love the game, it can be a good walk, spoiled. A golfer never solves the puzzle that is golf. When they’re having a number of problems they seek out a lesson with their golf professional. I got lots of practice solving problems in that career. 

Shifting Gears

It’s said that people use “the internet” for only two things: entertaining themselves or to solve a problem. When I started I thought that was all my job was. Create entertaining content or problem-solving content. Listening and being a resource. Over the years my thinking has shifted. I still approach marketing content and campaigns around solving the users problems, but the end goal is a bit different. In the end, marketing should be about driving revenue. Your employer isn’t paying you in Monopoly money. Your clients can’t keep their businesses open with likes, views, comments, and nice-looking assets.

This is why I was excited after my initial discussion with Jarred, Lori, and Brandon about joining the 1909 DIGITAL team. Jarred and I have been connected for almost as many years as I’ve been in the space. He and I would commiserate over coffee or lunch about how we think it should be done. The timing and the team were right for me to sign on. Most of us have sat on the brand side and had to prove our worth to the company. Many of us have worked on the agency side and needed to show real value to keep clients bringing in revenue and re-signing contracts. And we’ve all seen the pitfalls when you don’t operate with revenue (or at least measurable brand growth) as the ultimate goal.

That’s not to say we’re a cold, calculating bunch. Far from it. Our team was formed by bringing together a multitude of skill sets. We have a breadth of experience and a depth of expertise. We don’t shy away from hard discussions about how digital marketing drives business results.

I’m not the typical marketer and 1909 isn’t the typical agency. What goals can I smash for you?

“I AM, MYSELF, A CITIZEN OF NO MEAN CITY” – 1909 Indianapolis City Hall inscription

I’m new here, but that spoke to me. I’ll be honest, I know absolutely nothing when it comes to Indianapolis history (or Indiana as a whole for that matter). I’m brand new to the 1909 team and only know the broad strokes of the company’s inception.

But that quote stands out. I try to imagine what the context may be for when those words from former Indianapolis mayor Charles A. Bookwalter were first uttered. As I read them, they must be a retort to either a statement, implication, or idea – the insinuation presumptively being that a populace, or city, may be not worth a person’s attention if it is mean, average, or insignificant.

What Bookwalter’s statement literally means is, “I am from somewhere that is not insignificant.” But to me it says, “We do things our way, proudly and with great confidence.” It says, “We’ve been through hardship and came out the other side stronger than we were before.” It says, “We’ll always be here no matter what challenges we ultimately face.”

Simply put, it means, “Bring it on.” As I write this I’m on day three of my new job with 1909 Digital as Digital Project Manager, and already those words have resonated with me in a profound way. There is no team I’d rather be a part of than one that takes those values to heart and lives with that ideology constantly in the forefront of its thinking. Clients can rest assured that their every need is covered when they work with a team as hungry and resilient as ours. In the digital marketing world, helping clients reach their goals is absolutely what I live for.

I’m based in my hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, located about 90 miles east of the Twin Cities. I come from the land of the ice and snow (always wanted to use that in a professional bio). As Digital Project Manager, it’s my job to oversee project management and make sure that we are operating at peak efficiency in all facets of our operation. Basically, if we’ve got something that works, I’m in the background trying to make it work faster. If it can be better organized, streamlined, restructured, cleaned up, or upgraded, I’ll figure out how.

I joined the 1909 Digital team after previously working as Director of Business Development for a small local marketing firm in Eau Claire. It was an absolute pleasure to work with the types of small businesses that don’t always find themselves in a position to improve their marketing. If you’ve got a business that you want to grow, nothing would make me happier than to see you succeed. Prior to my marketing career I spent nearly a decade as a newspaper reporter, primarily covering sports and profile feature stories. I also managed a pair of bowling alleys for a restaurant/bar management company for a few years, learning very quickly that of all the skills I possess, bartending is not one of them.

When I’m not focusing on helping clients grow, I can usually be found behind the drumset. I’ve been playing drums for 20 years and have performed in a variety of settings across a wide range of genres (*Fun story below). I currently play in two bands and do freelance studio work as it’s available. I also co-host a podcast that focuses on local music promotion and discussing trends and topics relevant to the western Wisconsin music scene.

I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this team. Our brand exists to grow your brand, and I stand by our brand 100 percent.

*Story time:

I attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and was a part of the Blugold Marching Band – the largest Division III marching band in the nation. My freshman year on the drumline, we were wrapping up our first day of summer marching camp when the director asked if we thought we could have at least three of the four songs memorized and field ready by the end of the week. Being a freshman and having no idea if that was possible, I leaned on the section leaders to answer. They said sure, but like any typical college student, they wanted to know why the rush?

“Oh earlier today I got off the phone with the Green Bay Packers,” the director told us. “Yeah, it seems they were going to have a retirement ceremony for this guy, Favre? Anyway, he came out of retirement and plays for the Jets now so they cancelled the ceremony and they’re looking for halftime entertainment this coming Monday.”

My first collegiate music performance was in front of 80,000 people at Lambeau Field for the first Monday Night Football game of the 2008 NFL season between the Packers and the Vikings. It was, to say the least, a wild experience.