I help people find purpose without chasing it so they can focus on what matters and enjoy the life they have.

Here are a few things you should know about me:

  • I quit 12 full-time jobs in 15 years (with salaries and benefits)
  • I spent 10 years in college at 4 different schools
  • I signed up for the military 3 times but never joined
  • I got arrested 3 times before I was 21

And somehow I managed to land my dream job without a college degree, marry my best friend, have 4 amazing kids, and build a life I love.

I ended up in a career I loved making more money than I could have dreamed with a family and community I love.

But I took the LONG way.

I chased dreams and fulfillment until the chase nearly killed me and stole my family. Along the way I discovered how to live with purpose without chasing all the crap the world says you need to have “purpose”.

Now I help other people find the same thing.

Why Are You Alive?

Have you really considered how important it is for you to know the answer to that question?

Most people don’t give that question enough thought, which is exactly why I believe that most of us experience mundane, boring, and passionless lives. 

We go to work, we come home, we look forward to weekends and vacations, and we make the best of what we’re given.

It’s not exactly fulfilling, but it works. It’s comfortable. It’s even kind of nice at times.

But we know something’s missing.

We feel it – every one of us does on some level. Some of us acknowledge it, but most don’t. Most people ignore those feelings of pointlessness and teach themselves to be complacent.

We tend to think that as long as we’re living up to a respectable standard according to society, then we can ignore the difficult questions that inevitably come up in our minds from time to time.

But the truth is, we can’t ignore it forever.

I know because I’ve tried, and it led me down some dark paths.

Let me explain…

My Story

I don’t admit this to just anyone, but I was born in Mississippi.

Young me, circa 1994

I don’t know why, but I feel like my saving grace is that I moved as a child and was raised in Alabama. I guess Alabama felt like an upgrade to a 9-year-old boy. (If you think I’m crazy, go to Mississippi.)

After living in 3 of the most southern states in America both geographically and culturally, I feel like it’s safe to say I’m a true southerner.

And like a true southerner, I grew up in a baptist church. We were in church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. I did sword drills, sang in the choir, and did that weird synchronized bell thing church kids do around Christmas every year.

The small-town Baptist church I grew up in

Then, when I was 12 years old, my older sister, who was 15 years old at the time, died in a car accident.

It shook my family to its foundation and ultimately tore us apart. My parents divorced, we stopped going to church, and I began questioning everything I believed.

So I decided if I couldn’t control the bad things that were bound to happen, I was going to at least have a good time while I was here.

I started drinking alcohol and smoking weed around age 13.

I started partying every weekend and got arrested for the first time at age 14.

I was drifting and oblivious to the path I was headed down.

Nevertheless, by the time I was 17 years old, I had planned out the life I thought would fulfill me. I planned to join the military, travel the world, and fight honorably for my country so people would remember my name.

And I was only a couple of months away from making my dream a reality when I got arrested again and put on probation.

Just like that, I had flushed my only dream down the drain.

I felt completely lost. My faith was nonexistent. I battled hopelessness, depression, fear, anxiety, and panic attacks.

I struggled with alcoholism and withdrawal, I got arrested yet again (for DUI), I quit 4 full-time jobs in 5 years, and I moved back in with my parents in my mid twenties.

My life was a mess.

Then my girlfriend got pregnant.

I know. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.

I knew I couldn’t keep living this way. I needed to know what I believed and what I was living for before I became responsible for someone else’s life. I knew in order to do that I had to stop coasting through my own life.

At that point, I struggled daily with anxiety and OCD, and I had frequent bouts of panic attacks and depression. I was miserable at home and miserable at work, and I was ready to give up.

That was when I decided enough was enough. I was done floating aimlessly through life.

I knew there was something major missing inside me – a hole I kept trying to fill that felt bottomless. And I was ready to do whatever I needed to do to find it.

Chasing Purpose

I spent the next 5 years reading, listening to, and chasing anything that had anything to do with finding purpose. I read books, watched YouTube videos, listened to podcasts – you name it, I probably did it.

I was desperate to find my purpose.

In that 5-year span, I quit 8 more full-time jobs. EIGHT.

Those were all decent-paying jobs, too. But like I said, I was on a mission to find purpose, not just a paycheck, and I was never willing to settle for less.

I ended up spending a total of 10 years in college, went to 4 different colleges, changed my major 5 times, wasted thousands of dollars in Pell Grant money, and racked up nearly $30,000 in student loan debt before finally dropping out of college.

From the time I was 17 until the time I was 22, I joined the military 3 different times and all 3 times I either got arrested or backed out of my contract before my leave date.

Oh, and you know those 8 jobs I just told you I quit in a 5-year span? Well 2 of them I didn’t actually quit – I was fired.

Yeah, it was demoralizing. I felt like a professional screw-up.

AND I HAD A WIFE AND KIDS TO FEED.

But I wouldn’t give up. I HAD to find my purpose at all costs, so I did everything possible to ensure that I wouldn’t live a meaningless life.

Finding a Passion

Somewhere in all the chaos, I started gravitating toward entrepreneurship and marketing. I started reading books by Seth Godin and listening to Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership podcast. I slowly developed a deep interest in business and storytelling, and that interest led me to become a marketer.

I started by volunteering at a local marketing agency. I taught myself how to code websites in WordPress and learned how to do SEO for those websites. Within a few months, that marketing agency was paying me full-time to do marketing and SEO for small businesses.

I felt like I was finally on my way to unlocking my purpose.

I was good at marketing, I enjoyed it, and I believed my work as a marketer was valuable. It was the trifecta that all the “purpose” books and gurus preached about.

But I was still unsettled. Obviously, because I jumped around between 8 different jobs in 5 years.

Through those years of learning and growing and moving up, I was able to build a decent career doing something I loved, but I still wasn’t fulfilled.

I still didn’t feel like I had found my purpose.

So I kept searching.

Landing My Dream Job

Fast-forward to age 31. My wife and I had 3 kids and another one on the way. We were at the top of our game earning in the top 10% of household incomes in our area – and neither one of us had a college degree.

I had always dreamed of working for Dave Ramsey’s company, Ramsey Solutions. It was a dream I had from when I was 19 years old listening to the Dave Ramsey Show while I cut grass at my crappy college job.

Dave was ultimately the one who – through his podcasts and connections to other authors and speakers – led me to discover the work I had come to love: marketing.

And at age 31 – twelve years after my search for purpose had started – and after years of interviewing with Ramsey Solutions off and on for different marketing positions, I was finally hired as a marketing leader for Dave Ramsey’s company.

It might sound silly to you, but it was a dream come true for me.

Everything I thought was impossible for someone like me with no college degree and no connections had finally come true. My family was headed to Nashville, Tennessee for what I thought would be the most fulfilling time of our lives.

But after I had been there for about a year, something strange started happening.

That feeling of desire and longing for something more was still in me.

I became dissatisfied and downright let down by what I thought would be a pinnacle moment in my career. What I thought would fulfill me ended up being empty like everything else.

So I stepped back and looked at all that had taken place.

The 14 jobs I had left in 15 years.

The multiple times we’d completely run out of money.

The times we had to search for spare change to put diapers on our babies.

The several times we had our power turned off for nonpayment.

The two vehicles that were repossessed because we were drowning in debt.

The countless nights spent longing for the day when we would FINALLY “make it”.

It all felt pointless.

Finding Real Purpose

The painful realization I came to after hitting rock bottom was this:

Purpose is found in things that work can’t provide. And yet our work is a product of our purpose.

This was a radical thought for me. To think that my value could be independent of what I did for a living simply didn’t equate – especially surrounded by today’s success-driven society.

I realized what truly matters, and I started to find purpose in a way I never thought I would find it.

Once I started to see that my purpose is bigger than my work, it led me to start doing my work more purposefully.

It’s funny how that happens.

From that place of true, deep purpose flows peace, joy, and love like you’ve always wanted.

All the fam in Chatanooga

Don’t get me wrong – it’s a journey.

For a high-performing personality like me, it’s tough to undo decades of chasing approval through my work. But to continue to press into the discomfort between work and resting in God is the fight of faith we’re called to fight.

And if you’ll explore what it means to look at purpose in a different light, I think you’ll find pretty quickly that all aspects of your life – your marriage, parenting, career, finances, etc. – start to fall into place like never before.

And it’s all because you’re operating from a place of purpose instead of chasing after it like so many in the world are doing.

So if you’re up for it, I want you to make a commitment.

Enter your information below and join me.

I’ll send you regular thoughts, questions, challenges, and other things to help you think differently as you unpack what it means to live a life of purpose.

I can’t wait to see you on the other side!