This is my story- uncut, raw, and unfiltered. Most people do not know these things about me.

The Backstory:

When I was 22 years old, I went into rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. This story, however, is not about that. It is only a point of reference. I adopted a sober way of life. For the first few years, I enjoyed the simple life, teaching scuba diving in South Florida. Two years later, I secured my dream job. I started working at the treatment center that I had successfully gone through. I wanted to be a substance-abuse counselor. I also wanted approval from the staff there who had helped me achieve sobriety.

I had a number of interpersonal issues with those around me.

I was grossly overweight and smoked.

I would say inappropriate, mean things for the attention. I had no idea what it was like to have relationships in the workplace.

When I was 24, my father died and left me an inheritance.

After a while, I felt unsatisfied working there. I knew I could do more with myself, and now I had options. I had the money to start a business, so I did just that. I didn’t know much else aside from bartending and health-care administration.

I decided to start a home health-care agency in South Florida. South Florida has old people, right? I showed absolutely zero diligence, and my ego was big enough to ignore the 200 market competitors.

I grew the business, but it never became profitable. I hated the fact that I didn’t make money, but I continued to fund the business because our sales kept increasing. I learned a ton and made many mistakes. I was what they call a “hair-on-fire CEO.” I would yell and scream, make knee-jerk decisions, and unknowingly set people up for failure.

I knew nothing about strategy or exit planning. I realized that I couldn’t sell the company for anything more than I put in. I was burnt out and wanted to quit. After 4 years, I sold the business for a nominal profit.

Everyone thought it was successful, but it wasn’t, and I felt like a failure. I also felt used by my employees. They kept their fat cat salaries while the business lost money month after month. I did not know how to keep my team accountable. There was no standard. All I knew how to do was to yell, threaten, and fire.

I found a buyer, and it was time for my next move. I sought advice from my older brother, Andy. He was a successful private equity investor and venture capitalist. We had a life-planning discussion at my brother’s bachelor party in Aruba. We traveled there via Andy’s private jet.

I asked him candidly what I should do with my life. He recommended that I join a venture capital firm in which he was an investor. This had to be the path for me: a venture capitalist with a private jet.

The problem was I knew nothing about finance or technology.

These were the two biggest components in investing in software deals. I knew this would be an uphill battle for me, but I was going to do it. I was going to work my butt off until I was a hyper-successful professional investor with my own private jet. Nothing was going to stop me.

I took a job at a small micro-VC fund in Scottsdale, Arizona.

I was allowed to be there as an unpaid intern because of nepotism. I learned so much about what a real business is supposed to be like. I became familiar with management systems, KPIs, benchmarking metrics, and board meetings. I always thought that if I were an investor in my home care company, I would fire myself as the CEO immediately. This is where I learned about the importance of accountability.

I wasn’t accountable to a board; if I was, my behavior would have been much different. I was in my delusional paradise, thinking I was wildly successful because the outside world believed I was.

Working in venture capital was amazing. I was involved in strategic discussions with some of the smartest people on the planet. I was in heaven. There was a problem, however. The fund never brought me on full-time. They didn’t have the management fees to pay me. I started to become extremely frustrated. I didn’t need to be paid a lot of money, but I wanted to be part of the team. My brother Andy also invested in another company the fund manager ran, and Andy was going to fire him. I knew my future was not with this fund. This was certainly not the way to a private jet.

I was then recruited into another VC firm called Canal Partners.

They invested larger checks, and I was going to be their main guy. I was going to do all the work. The managing partners stated they wanted to grow the firm.

I leaned in more to work with the founders on their strategy and governance. It was exhilarating. I was involved in financing, wind-downs, hostile takeovers, and even CEO firings.

I learned how to communicate effectively the hard way. I even jumped in as interim CEO in a couple of different scenarios. Thankfully, I was much more mature, and the experiences were great. I finally came to the realization that it is more important to be effective than to be right.

I got married to the most beautiful person on the planet during this time, and we had a beautiful baby girl. Despite my beautiful family, I was more dedicated to the firm. I was raising capital in the delivery room after my baby was born. I had no boundaries. I was hard-set on this private jet.

After a while, it became clear that Canal Partners was not going to be the firm for me. In fact, it really wasn’t a real firm at all — it was a couple of rich guys who were investing in deals with their own money. They were very successful, but it was more of a hobby to them than a business.

They didn’t like to work that hard, even though they said they wanted to grow the firm.

I learned a lot, but I felt stagnant in my environment. I was so angry and resentful that my learning plateaued, and I was stuck. My goal was to be recruited out of there. My negative energy was apparent to my wife. She knew I was checked out completely when I got home, and I was often seething with anger.

I wanted to be with a firm where I could learn from people while helping entrepreneurs with their business. I did not want to return to Florida as a failure.

Your Desires:

I wanted to be on a path to learning, growing, and being impactful. I wanted to feel valued — I wanted to prove to myself that I was a valuable person and not some maniac that was “playing business” with his family inheritance.

External Struggle:

My geography was the problem. I tried very hard to work at other funds. Smaller funds told me I was overqualified with my 6 years’ experience, and larger funds hired kids straight out of Ivy League schools. I had enough experience to be a mid-level person within a fund; however, not many funds hire from out of their market.

A realistic move would have been to another family office with an individual with a high net worth trying to diversify their portfolio in technology.

It would have been more of the same thing I was doing at the time. I would have moved to another market without a real opportunity, hoping for someone to give me a job. That meant I wouldn’t be able to be on a path toward learning, growing, and success.

Internal Struggle:

To make things worse, I felt terrible because I was stuck. I would have to move to another city to prove myself again. I felt even worse about the situation because I had spent six years building my career in this field for it to go nowhere. I felt like a complete failure.

The Wall:

I had one last option. I reached out to my brother and pitched him on why he should bring me into his firm.

He told me that he couldn’t do it. He had just brought on two of his sons. He was fearful that his other employees would feel there was too much favoritism. This meant I had nowhere to go.

On top of all of this, my wife came up to me in our garage and confronted me about my lack of presence in my family. She told me she couldn’t handle it anymore. I knew by her voice that she was thinking seriously about leaving me.

In complete shock about everything going on around me, I sat down and thought long and hard about my purpose in life. I thought of all the jobs and relationships that I had ever had.

Then, as if by chance, something amazing happened . . .

I realized the moments in time that gave me the most fulfillment had the same three characteristics. They were environments that allowed me to learn, grow, and be impactful. They were times when I led with humility, loved with authenticity, and was able to remain curious and engaged. These last sentences later became my purpose statement.

The Epiphany:

It was now crystal clear to me that it didn’t matter what I did as long as I was fulfilling my purpose. I now knew that my possibilities were endless.

I also learned that what people thought of me didn’t matter; I need to do what I love and nothing else.

As a result, I started helping founders and CEOs on my own as a consultant. I did not need an investment firm.

After I did this, I created a program and started selling it.

Suddenly, I was receiving money for my work — much more money than I had ever made before!

This was when I realized that the secret to being fulfilled at work and in life was living my purpose. The jet and job simply fueled my insecurity and ego.

The Plan:

First, I knew I needed to upgrade myself. I started with my morning routine.

I worked on every aspect of my life, including fitness, diet, relationships, and mindset. I read dozens of books, went on retreats with Buddhist monks, and received coaching. I knew I had to function on all levels to be proficient enough to transmit my value to the world.

I knew what I must do for fulfillment. I must provide small businesses with the tools and frameworks used by fast-growing venture-backed companies.

When CEOs of venture-backed companies take our money, they are held to a standard that is different from that for many small businesses. Venture-backed companies would burn cash in exchange for growth. A company’s growth rate is one of the main determinants of its future value.

These companies have to be extremely accountable to their shareholders due to the fact that they are growing so fast and using cash as the accelerant. A miss on timing can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted.

There is a standard of accountability that includes detailed plans and strategies that are laid out by the CEO to the board before implementation. The team have signed off on this plan and know exactly what is expected of them. There are dozens of metrics that we look at daily in which we can see the effectiveness and profitability of all our strategies. Not only is this level of transparency and accountability available, but the CEO and his team love it!

Performance is part of that culture.

Companies would have screens all over the office showing dashboards. The whole team would know who was doing well and who was not. The team would see what was and was not working.

This transparency also naturally pushes out people that are not really invested in the growth and profitability of the company.

I planned to start compiling all the things that I had learned as a CEO and venture capitalist and make them digestible for people in small businesses.

I started to define which clients I wanted and why. Then, something else happened.

I pitched five clients, and they all signed on.

After that, I over-delivered and gave it everything I had.

But there was still a problem.

The Conflict:

I would go in and provide consulting services to fix specific business problems. I started noticing a trend. The CEOs wanted me to keep their people accountable for them.

I knew this wasn’t the right answer, because my engagements expired. What value was there in achievements that stopped when I left?

I realized that drastic business changes need to start with the CEO. Company leaders need to experience their own transformations.

The CEOs needed to upgrade themselves, just as I had.

The Achievement:

I decided to redesign the system to encompass consulting and CEO coaching.

We call it “Extreme Accountability System: How to Take Control of Your Business.”

I wanted to create something that would enable CEOs and companies to go through total cultural shifts, turning reactive companies into proactive organizations.

Now that I have given organizations what I myself needed as a CEO, I can help them keep their teams aligned and accountable and have fun doing it.

As a result, the organizations I work with achieve the following:

· Rhythm-based communication systems.

· Increased team productivity, engagement, and ownership.

· Optimization of all processes, ensuring they run without drama and drive profitability.

· An increase in the team’s personal effectiveness and moral stability.

· Increased, transparent communication between individual contributors and their managers and peers.

· Improved track record of the team’s commitments.

The Transformation:

After creating and implementing the Extreme Accountability System, I not only feel incredibly valued, but I’ve also stopped worrying that I’m on the wrong path.

I am completely fulfilled by showing CEOs and entrepreneurs the Extreme Accountability System.

In the end, all this means that I can now impact people with love and authenticity.