Early Career Adventures
For me, it has been 15 Years now working in the wonder full world of Marketing… Most of that time, now, as a Small Business owner wearing many hats.
It all started when, after graduating from Gonzaga, I joined a rapidly growing startup in California Bay Area called Wildfire Interactive.
At the time, it was one-of-the hottest Social Media Marketing companies in its industry, and I had no idea we would be acquired by Google in less than a 1 years time.
Social Media Marketing was at its infancy, and Digital Marketing was becoming undeniable in its emergence as THE Future of Marketing.
Now, Digital Marketing constantly fuels market disruptions in every industry, at all levels of business down to Small and Local businesses.
Digital Marketing is a core aspect of the success or failure in virtually all businesses, and competence is becoming increasingly important for survival.
The very best Digital Marketing companies are able to achieve 10x, some 100x, the ROI on every dollar spent in Marketing — because they understand the leverage generated by Social Media.
The Power of Content Creation has never been so accessible, at least by all those blessed to reside in a County with, some version of, Freedom of Speech.
Understanding how to use these tools can be an huge asset, these days, giving Small Businesses, Start-Ups, and New Ventures the opportunity to easily compete with highly established brands.
Our Company — Mockingbird Media & Marketing — exists for the purpose of Crafting Curated Messages for the Clients We Partner with, to pursue worthwhile causes.
We are Truth-seekers.
We are Creators.
We are here to Share HiStory.
Satire & Humor, Unapologetic.
My Story
After 4-long-years of institutionalized learning at Gonzaga University, enjoying some of the final years of the traditional American College environment before (as) it was (being) tragically destroyed by the Radical Left, I earned a dual focus Business Degree in Marketing & Finance.
At the time, I fully enjoyed every minute of the experience — class, always working a job, while also fully immersing myself from the start in a variety of extra circulars, including Alpha Kappa Psi, The Knights & Setons, the Gonzaga Ski Club (President my Senior Year), and joining the Gonzaga Cheer Team my Senior Year as well.
I also studied abroad in Florence, Italy, my Junior year first-semester, where Gonzaga has a 100-student campus. It was an incredible experience to live in the Italian culture, and to eat bread and pasta made-from-scratch every single day — a very different experience from the norms in America.
With Fridays off-school and cheap travel on Ryan Air & trains, I traveled with friends around Europe almost every weekend, enjoying Barcelona, Paris, Sicily, Portia, Bosnia, Munich for Oktoberfest, Amsterdam, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, the French Riviera, and in our spare time exploring the incredible city of Florence.
I exited College set to pursue an Entrepreneurial path, yet discovered that was very difficult with limited experience & a good chunk of College Debt.
Gratefully, I crossed paths with an incredible Entrepreneur (J.D.) in Spokane and he offered me the Opportunity to learn from him, earning minimal pay.
for a fast year learning how an experienced Entrepreneur runs, and constantly grows, a variety of businesses while also making an incredible impact in the community. After J.D. built his Commercial Real Estate portfolio of over 1 Billion in Los Angeles, he was now living in Spokane, WA — and with some resources earned from his many decades in business, chose to do incredible things to benefit the Spokane community, for example just while I knew him he had just finished the revitalization of the world-class 1913 Bing Crosby, was in the process of redeveloping multiple projects including a landmark property for the Spokane corridor that was the former Burgans Furniture warehouse I had visited multiple times as a child, and also acquiring a local Quick Service Food Chain “Carusos,” setting it up for larger scale franchising.
I learned that J.D. certainly enjoyed spinning many plates! After about a years time, a friend I had met previously while studying in Italy was now working as a Recruiter for a fast-growing Social Media start-up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was recruiting for Sales Associates and the OTE was 2X+ my then-current wages.
At the time, it was an adventure I could not refuse. It wasn’t a guaranteed job, but I had no doubt I could sell so I decided to give-it-a-shot, and setup some back-up interviews with other companies in San Francisco.
With encouragement from the Successful Entrepreneur I was working for, I decided to submit 3 applications — landing interviews at 3 companies, to feel out various opportunities, and ensure I had some options if possible.
The first interview was a very HIGH Pressure Sales role. It a high rise in Downtown San Francisco, impossible to find parking (and expensive), a very old-building with an intense, edgy environment straight out of a 90’s Movie Set. The gig was selling Language Translation services to Corporations — clearly a Mature & dying business, using old-tactics super high pressure tactics. It was an entry level job, and based on every-single-factor, I declined the opportunity on the spot, as it was clearly not the right culture for me — and as I have always live in the wide-open West, I hate difficult parking situations.
The next 2 interviews were similar and more along-the lines of what I was looking for, both young stage explosive-growth tech companies — Wildfire Interactive and Gigya. I went through 3 rounds of interviews with each, first every webcam back at home, then onsite. Compared to the more ridged feel at the Israeli-based Gigya, the innovative and creative Culture at Wildfire felt like the perfect fit. I immediately received offers from both, and although Gigya was a bit more money, I took the job with Wildfire as I felt some level of comfortability moving all the way from Idaho knowing I had a friend working at the same place.
A Wild Ride, with Wildfire & then Google
And what a year it was, of non-stop 60+ hour weeks, curating my Prospecting Sales Lists and Cold Calling over 100 people daily…. Before our CEO and Founder Victoria Ransom signed a deal with Google for $450 Million — acquiring the entire team of 300ish team members in the process. The entire team became “Official” Google Employees, as our diehard Leader likely only signed with Google as they agreed to allow everyone an option to stay. Victoria was a great CEO that cared about her team (and ultimately in the Tech startup world acquisitions by “The Big Guys” are almost inevitable).
Now that that the Fog of Media Control seems to be lifting, I can say it was a fascinating time to have worked for Google — as their weekly “Town Hall” company-wide-meeting was open to ALL Employees, and ALL things were said to be open for discussion. Specifically I noticed immediately they were not hiding their work with the Chineses Government on Censorship “controlled” versions of their products, as they desired to do BIG profits in China in the future.
At the time with Globalization being the focus, the compounding opportunity of the Chinese market was impossible to ignore for public companies obligated by shareholder interests (many likely already fully-corrupted and being steered toward the Radical Left). Now time has proven China is simply a Trojan horse for too many American companies, as their IP gets ripped off and duplicated by the Corrupt government-backed regime.
As I learned that Google was engaging in this control of the Chinese people, with the participation of incredibly smart and talented American Citizens, I became disenchanted with working for Google. Knowing about China’s indemic history of forced labor, hearing early tales of groups like the Uyghurs and their Concentration Camps…
I could only imagine what Tech Giants like Google could do to slowly choke away all information the government desired from its people…
I felt it was incredibly un-American for ANY US Company to be working with China in this manner. Yet with the transparent Culture at Google, it was clear the vast majority of the 42,000 employees at the time were not concerned.
Every single year, Google buys 10-30 companies -- often taking only the most talented engineers. Seeing that they had control of such a powerful Machine that was already controlling Search and What information People Find was concerning.
So as I watched the Hollywood film “The Intern” being made on our campus at Google, and attended the Town Hall when Owen Wilson was interviewed by the long-line of enchanted Googlers, I recognized that all of that wasn’t for me, and decided it was time to venture off to do my own businesses. To pursue the American dream. Ultimately, not knowing what I would do, make, or sell.
Moving East from SF to Denver, to The “American West”
Moving out of California to Denver was the best thing I could have done, pursing a change of environment to look for an Entrepreneurial business opportunity.
Denver was an old Cattle-town, and in 2015 when I arrived, it had already been transformed with uncontrollable growth… Oil, finance, and certainly Defense Contractor spending drive the economy in Denver — and with the growing I-25 Metro areas Home Services became an obvious place for me, so I spent the next decade there.
I knew I enjoyed working with people and “the Customer Experience.” I began to Network and connect with dozens and dozens of business owners, and I discovered an interest in Home Services & the Trades. But with little actual real-world experience doing any particular trade or service, really, I had to start with a low-skill trade.
So in 2015, I started my first Home Service business focusing on Decks & Fences, finding a willing mentor named Curtis Welch who was a General Contractor with 40+ years of Residential Remodeling experience, to guide me when I had questions.
The business, Denver Deck Pros, was a Mission-based company, as I set to hire only Veterans for my workforce. As a new business owner, there were countless lessons learned — the first being that limiting my labor force limited my growth, & limited my ability to serve my customers.
Yes, the business was growing, and I was bidding on large projects including Multi-Family and Subdivisions. There were some Amazing Wins, including working with my Lead guy Randy to help one awesome young homeless Army Veteran named Troy back on his feet— get housing, a ride to work every day, and learning a very valuable skill set — such that he now owns his own small Trades business, many years later…
But as I got married I knew my new Wife and I did not intend to stay in Denver, so I closed the business and took an opportunity to learn Sales at a Fast Growing Siding company in Denver that offered me an Opportunity.
Here I learned the nuts and bolts of the Roofing & Siding World, and then in 2019 with my Construction Mentor Curtis and a roommate-who-sold-roofing launched our own GC Venture, focusing on Roofing, Siding, and Windows.
The Beginning, at Direct Siding
After an early, cold, Winter tested the company, only Curtis & I remained by March 2020 — little did we know, the Adventure had only just begun.
My wife and I welcomed our first child, Felix, into the World in September of 2019. My wonderful Grandma then came to visit in January, as I surprised my wife with a 4 day Royal Caribbean trip to Havana, Cuba — it was a once-in-lifetime adventure, and fascinating experience to see how openly repressed, yet truly kind, the Cuban people are, still to this day by their Authoritarian Government.
When my wife and I arrived home — we found out we would be welcoming our second child into the World in November.
When the Pandemic hit in March of 2020 — it was our 2nd season in business. We had barely survived Winter, and sales for Spring had just begun to trickle in…
And all I can say is, Thank God for the Heart of the American People and their Support of Small Businesses.
To get us through the Pandemic — Digital & Social Media Marketing were the keystone to our Survival.
Instagram and Facebook allowed us to outcompete highly established brands, as customers consistently found us and I kept our small team of installers working through 2020.
As the Business survived and began to thrive, I recognized it was time to plant our seeds in Idaho — and begin to move my family.
Direct Siding Idaho was established in 2021, first serving only the Boise area. In summer of 2022, we began also serving the Coeur d’Alene area.
Direct Siding now has over 25 Team Members serving Idaho and Eastern Washington.