My Story
I’ve been writing ever since I can remember, from self-made books in elementary school to editorials and reviews in college newspapers.
As a college student at Old Dominion University, studying toward a BA in English (with an emphasis in Creative Writing), my goal was always to graduate and become a published author. That was first and foremost on my mind.
I dearly loved and related to the Romantic literary greats such as Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, even crazy Byron. I later discovered and resonated deeply with classic works of great Science Fiction and Fantasy authors.
Later, I studied poetry where I was heavily influenced by my instructor, Bruce Weigl and those poets I met at literary festivals – namely Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni…along with my fiction instructor, Tony Ardizzone.
I’ll never forget shaking hands with the late, great Baraka at an ODU Literary Festival I’d helped organize. He asked me who I wrote for.
It took me a minute to regroup until I responded with “myself, sir.” He nodded and replied “Good, good. That’s the best employer.” He autographed a photo that I still have on my office wall to this day.
During summer breaks, I’d work internship programs at local community newspapers to pay tuition and cover book costs. Sometimes I’d come into contact with local advertising and marketing agencies.
During those internships I wrote for multiple community and college newspapers and even assumed editorial roles, but….
I quickly began to realize as a result of those internships that my job prospects would be sorely limited: most local area newspapers were primarily interested in applicants with at least an MFA and preferably some local connection to another, known and established journalist (“journo” for short). I could be hired on as a “stringer” (part-time, irregular schedule), but would likely be denied a full-time job without those added advantages.
Likewise, publishers wouldn’t hire someone they didn’t know or wasn’t bearing that selfsame MFA.
So in my mind, (at that time), that left two potential avenues: work on the next Great American Novel and accept either under-employment (a job you’re overqualified for and isn’t in line with goals or education) or work at a local agency and hustle.
As side-gigs, I wrote for the Naples Daily News, the Fox Reality TV network, approximately 50 print and online publications. Ultimately, however, as far as choosing a career path that would pay the rent….
I chose the latter path, however winding that may be.
As it turned out, I was one of the few graduates in my area at that time, who could build a website to completion, write all the content including the SEO, and coordinate with management.
After toiling in an assortment of agencies I began to slowly branch out. I decided to form my own LLC small agency while living in Colorado and studied unconventional, inexpensive ways to rapidly scale a remote nimble agency.
Teaching workshops geared toward prospective potential markets that would need and be best suited toward using digital marketing was one spoke in the wheel I’d turn.
Another was volunteering for non-profits who may interact with other, new non-profits as a digital marketing mentor. Through volunteering for nonprofits, I’d often interact with struggling NPOs ready and eager to expand reach and increase donations – providing me with a great opportunity to step in and make an immediate impact on their bottom line.
Yet another spoke was blogging regularly on my old site, using very focused local SEO terms and matching those up with my workshops and posts, then coordinating more in-person workshops through other businesses and NPOs and inviting anyone who might be interested; and cross-posting links to local event calendars and others’ sites.
Here I was teaching workshops almost daily at times, cross-marketing with local and national NPOs, other locals who weren’t direct competitors, cross-promoting these events on every social media and local events outlet possible, while blogging on my own site daily if not weekly, actively monitoring SEO reports. Add to that, attending local networking events, trade organization meetings, and combining those efforts with freelance work and my own small agency efforts while soliciting contracts. The wheel kept on turning and gaining traction quickly.
I taught workshops for Microsoft, The WordPress Foundation, the City of Denver, the City of Aurora, Johnson & Wales University, the Open Media Foundation, several private colleges, universities, and corporations on topics ranging from digital marketing, project management, small business growth, startup funding, enterprise marketing, improving processes, SEO, freelancing, and many more.
As a digital market agency owner and consultant, I’ve worked directly with hundreds of business owners and clients. My workshops have probably been seen by thousands if not tens of thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs; and you can see a few early samples of my early efforts below.
Around that time, Barack Obama became a rising star in the Democratic Party, inspiring tens of milions with his charisma, keen intelligence, and grassroots organizing.
As a result of him, and my earlier experiences meeting Baraka and Giovanni and studying their work in great depth, I decided that related training wouldn’t hurt.
So I went on to become trained in political campaign marketing (called “messaging“) by a consortium of the Colorado Board of Education and The White House Project and the Center for Progressive Leadership.
It was a very intensive program that involved political campaign consultants, managers, handlers, and future candidates. I subsequently later went on to consult with six campaigns across the State of Colorado.
Now that I”m long-retired, I’ve revisited my love of the written word. I’ve authored several books of poetry, a few fairly basic marketing books and am slowly working on more substantive business books, a science fiction novel, and many others.
In years past, I’ve read my poetry at several venues, hosted a few readings, organized a literary festival, and participated in other arts events throughout Florida, Virginia and Colorado.
I love poetry slams (everybody should go to at least one), spoken word events, and naturally supporting literary endeavors of all kinds.
It’s my goal to write many more non-fiction business books, along with poetry, and fiction, in the near future.
Will I ever get involved with progressive political causes again? Only time, and synergy, will tell.
All I ask of you, gentle reader, is to have an open mind and not give up on the American Dream….and be open to the worlds of wonder that the written word (and my own books, of course) can still reveal if given a fair shot.
Current Books
