Where I come from
Both of my parents were entrepreneurs, so I never really learned that there was another way to live. My mom owned her own antique store. My dad ran his own automotive machine shop building high performance engines, and together they owned rental houses on the side. Later my dad went back for his Masters and ended up teaching at the same college where he had learned engine machining in the first place and spent the rest of his career teaching others to follow in his footsteps. Growing up around that shop gave me access and a natural love for the automotive world, and the obsession really lit once I could own and drive cars of my own. From those first driving years on I have been elbows-deep in my fair share of engines. The two family businesses, machines and commerce, turned out to be the whole blueprint.
How the first business actually started
By the time I was finishing high school I had done just about every modification you can do to a car: built engines, turbocharged them, added nitrous, tuned my own ECUs, done custom interiors, suspension, transmissions, exhaust, wheels, sound systems, even some of my own paint and fiberglass work. Then the Fast and the Furious era hit, HID and LED lighting arrived, and that was the final frontier of the modification scene. I needed it.
The closest shop that sold it was three hours away and I did not have the money anyway. So I figured out how to contact the factories in China that were actually making the product, years before Alibaba was mainstream, and got the upgrades that fit my car. My friends saw the results and wanted their own, so I charged them just enough to cover a couple of extra sets for myself. Just like that, a business was born. The part I loved most was the teaching: researching what worked, figuring out what each specific vehicle needed, and showing people. That instinct, taught first and sold second, became the foundation of Headlight Revolution years later.
Family
My wife and I met in a Christian college group. We both loved music and community, and we could not get enough time with each other. Twenty years and two kids later, that has not changed. We lived in Minnesota until I sold the business in 2019, then moved to Atlanta and have loved life here ever since.
We have one house rule for the kids: you have to be doing something productive. Art, sports, learning a new skill, building something, all of it counts. Sitting around wasting your life is not an option.
The garage
Growing up, my favorite cars were anything with two seats, a manual transmission, and rear wheel drive. I loved the Pontiac Fiero, Toyota MR2, Toyota Supra, Nissan 300ZX, Nissan 350Z, and many others. That love of sports cars evolved as my success in business grew and let me reach higher and higher, until I found myself owning and driving some of the most exciting cars in the world.
I am not a sentimental car guy. I keep a check-list of cars I want to experience, and a favorite is impossible because every one of them is a deeply different experience. The Lamborghini Diablo was a piece of automotive art, conflict, and history, incredible to own and share, and honestly not that fun to drive. The orange 2009 Murcielago was the best sounding car I have ever had, and parking two of Lamborghini's V12 flagships next to each other in one garage was its own reward, but the maintenance was unbearable; the cars just break, even babied and low-mileage. The Audi R8 was the best all-around sports car I have owned, fast enough to feel like flying, comfortable enough for grocery runs and date nights. The Ferrari 488, with upgraded turbos, exhaust, intake, and sound system, was the best of all of them for style, speed, and comfort. The only thing it could not do was fly under the radar. Kiss a quick trip to the gas station goodbye.
I grew up at car shows in northern Minnesota, and eventually created and hosted my own along with a car club I started for my enthusiast friends. Atlanta has a never-ending roster of shows across the state and the region, and that suits me fine.
With my own hands
I like building things I can touch. In Minnesota that meant raised gardens at a couple of our houses and a deck with a slide and a climbing wall for the kids when they were little. In Atlanta it has meant permanent posts with hose reels plumbed to the spigots so there is water wherever the yard needs it, and framing, sheetrock, and a false ceiling to turn a utility room into a finished storage room in the basement. On cars I have done nearly everything myself, from pulling engines to fiberglass and paint.
People building things
The people I get the most energy from are the ones building something: entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, anyone climbing a ladder they set up themselves. Since moving to Atlanta I have led entrepreneur groups where people at every level of success come together to share ideas, challenges, and support, with the goal of everyone building their own empire. I have mentored a lot of entrepreneurs informally over the years and it never stops being the best conversation in the room.
The rest
I have played drums since sixth-grade band. I have traveled the country playing, been in a few hobby bands, and there is still a full kit in the basement that the kids and I beat on from time to time.
My taste in movies runs to epic hero stories: Batman, Superman, the Avengers, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones. But if I had to pick one movie for the rest of my life it would be the original Jurassic Park, and I quote it more than I should. In a meeting recently I explained a brand's quality philosophy to a room of consultants using John Hammond: "spared no expense."
Some of the best meals of my life have been right here in Atlanta. Hal's, Chops, Marcel; the best steak in Atlanta is at Hal's. The dream on the list is Eleven Madison Park in New York, which I found the way a lot of people did, through Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality. Which brings me to the shelf.
