When I think back to the end of 2018, it brings up some very complicated feelings for me. I received an email from my business partners at the time letting me know I was pretty much being pushed out of the agency I had helped start.

I was crushed man.

It took me days to even respond. I just had to sit with it for a while and try to process wtf was actually happening. There were so many questions running through my mind and honestly, I didn't know what to do.

Not only because my livelihood was tied to it, but because so much of my identity was, more than I even realized. How I saw myself was wrapped up in what I had accomplished over the years, who I was becoming as an entrepreneur, the dream of building something I owned and escaping corporate, and every bit of an ego that comes with all of it. Losing the agency felt like losing a version of myself I had spent years building.

There was also a kind of grief that came with it I couldn't put into words until well after.

When you spend years building a business with people, friends in some cases, you develop a certain bond. You're all focused on one thing and when you manage to do it at any level, you feel like you're part of something much bigger than yourself. That in some ways sets the tone for how much you're willing to sacrifice to make something work.

So when that bond broke, it was devastating. What followed for me were a lot of questions, tons of doubt, and mental replays that seem to never end. Your confidence isn't the same after something like this happens and you're left looking for answers you'll never get.

It took me a while to make peace with how things went down. But I had to. I had real responsibilities and I didn't have the luxury of sitting in a place that wasn't productive for too long. And if I'm being honest, it ended up being one of the best things that could have happened to me. 

While I can truly say I'm grateful I can see it that way now, it sure didn't feel that way then.

After receiving a corporate offer for a six-figure salary and turning it down because I knew I'd be miserable, I decided to start another agency at the encouragement of my wife.

What I really didn't have at the time was someone in my corner who had actually walked this road. Someone who knew what it felt like to start over, to rebuild from zero a second time. There were plenty of things I could read on the internet and like many of us searching for that magic key, the new framework, or the playbook that fixes it all in one click, we quickly learn after a few thousand doom scrolls of whatever the algorithm is feeding us, it's not that simple. It don't work like that at all.

So most times I left with more questions than I began with. The only thing I knew to do was start. Talk to as many people as I could. Build some momentum and just see what happens. That worked for a while, but I knew there had to be a better way to build a business than what I was coming across and doing. What I needed was something that didn't feel generic or templated, but actually spoke to me and where I was in that moment.

And losing the first agency wouldn't be the last time entrepreneurship would test me in ways nobody really prepares you for. Failure after failure, with some wins here and there, then more failure, a bigger win, then back to failure again.

This shit has a way of fucking with you that's hard to shake.

But that's the cycle I had to get comfortable with and accept that this was just how it was going to be for a while.

Fast forward to now, after running an agency for a bit and working with some incredible brands and the people building them, getting real results, I still have those moments creep in.

Like man…what am I doing?

Even after all the successes, the progress, and getting to a point of having a real team with revenue growing, the loneliness and imposter syndrome still shows up. You hit moments where you're asking yourself, can I keep this going? Who can I actually turn to with this? Because I don't have the answers.

One thing I had to get over is the idea that after you hit a certain stage, that stuff goes away.

It doesn't. You just run into new problems that make you feel like a rookie all over again.

You just get better at managing through.

Several years of some things working and a whole lot of screw ups I've learned from, is why Unthreaded was created.

It's my attempt to offer the kind of perspective, honesty, and clarity I wish I had back then.

Let me be clear about what this is and isn't though. I don't have all the answers. What I have is real experience from building my agency a second time and from sitting close to the inner workings of a lot of other brands and incredible minds along the way. Some of that might be useful to you.

We'll talk about the practical side of growing a business. Branding, content, AI, all the stuff I work on every day. But we'll also talk about the personal side. The stuff that doesn't go away just because you run a business or have a team depending on you. How you navigate all of it when life has its own plans and you still have a company you need to look after.

You also won't only hear my voice here. Unthreaded is a place for other people whose perspectives can help you in ways one voice never could. People I respect, who've been in the trenches in different ways than I have and who care enough to share what actually helped them.

Whether you're trying to make your first six figures or hit seven figures multiple times over and then some, my hope is that Unthreaded becomes a place you come back to. A place that meets you where you are and gives you something tangible to work with, today.

And a reminder that you're not in this alone.

This platform really isn't about me. Just me offering the kind of perspective, honesty, and clarity I wish I had back then and could still use now.

Thank you for reading.

Welcome to Unthreaded.