Most people don’t expect success to spring from struggle—but sometimes, that’s exactly where it begins.
I grew up in a sinister religious organization—one I would not hesitate to call a cult. Education was restricted. My siblings and I—seven of us in total—were left to be taught at home, with no access to the public school system. I was somewhere in the middle of the pack, often lost in the crowd, and constantly wrestling with a world of pressure, confusion, and emotional chaos.
To say my childhood was difficult would be an understatement. But difficulty is relative. For me, it was a crucible: one that forged a complex range of emotions—anger, fear, depression, and shame. Emotions that could have easily consumed me.
At 15, I left home for a boys’ home in Houston, Texas. A year later, I struck out on my own in Austin, fully emancipated, navigating life with nothing but my past, my instincts, and a burning desire for something better.
At some point in my late teens, I hit a breaking point. The emotional pressure built up from years of neglect and psychological control had become overwhelming. I felt like a bomb—wired to detonate, bound to either destroy myself or others.
That’s when I made a decision that would change my life.
Instead of letting those emotions explode outward destructively, I decided to convert that energy into momentum—into rocket fuel. I stopped resisting the pain and instead funneled it into something productive. That decision was the true launchpad of my adult life.
And I still use that strategy today.
In business, emotions run high. People make mistakes. Clients are difficult. Circumstances spin out of control. I’ve seen it all. And when something goes wrong—something preventable, careless, or even plain dumb—it would be easy to explode, to lash out, to make someone feel the weight of that failure.
But that’s not leadership.
My first question is never “Who’s to blame?” It’s always:
“What can we learn from this?”
“Are they willing to change?”
That shift in thinking—away from reaction and toward transformation—is one of the core reasons I’ve succeeded. It’s not because I never feel anger, or disappointment, or frustration. I feel all of those things. I just choose to channel them. Every time. I let those feelings drive clarity, improvement, and sharper focus.
There are parts of my personality that were shaped slowly, over years of experience and refinement. But this wasn’t one of them. This was a moment. A line in the sand.
I chose not to dwell on what had been taken from me—my education, my childhood, my sense of safety. Instead, I turned my attention to what I could build. I used that pain to power long hours, obsessive customer service, and a deep motivation to prove wrong every person who doubted I would make it.
It worked. My life is better. My businesses are thriving. And my leadership is rooted in a deep, tested understanding of what it means to transform pain into power.
Stay Strong, Stay Focused, Stay in Business
