I’m often asked, “how do you find time to get everything done?” and my instant response is: “work!” I look back to my un-explainable past and realize I am not here because of good luck or chance. I’m here because I lost it all. Most humans don’t experience the fortune of losing it all. I feel like experiences that bring me to my knees, have me asking why or wondering how I got here are the best. When I was in 8th grade, I had a strong passion for anything that rolled on wheels. I was looking at high school and constantly told, “here’s everything you need to get to college.” I was always thinking that college would not get me the experience I needed to follow my passion. So, I enrolled in Spokane Skills Center, which is now NEWTECH Skills Center, for the Auto Body class taught by the great Willy Harms. I wanted to find the best shop in town to work as an apprentice instead of college. At the age of 18, I was able to convince Craig Bartels at Craig’s Automotive Collision Center to hire me. He let me use his tools until I earned enough to buy my own. I worked in the auto collision trade for 18 years until being badly injured on the job. I had to stop working and begin healing. Through all of the hassles of insurance, paper work and legal battles that come with an on the job injury, we lost everything. Well, almost everything (I know this now). I was depressed, fighting and angry. My wife Carri was my rock. She was firm in believing this was not the end of our legacy. Our family was more important than money. Just being alive was a gift. We’re meant to live, not be successful.

The Bottom of The Barrel Is The Best Place To Be, ALWAYS: At rock bottom, the bottom of the barrel, or whatever your analogy would be is a good place. Everything looks up from there. I was able to see things in a new perspective. When I was consumed with the bad days, my head was in the sand. When I was willing to look up, everything was good, I could see a potential future that made sense, I just needed to go forward, do something, make a difference, help others.

The Internet can change your life: It was 2008. My automotive collision repair career came to a cold stop. I remember hearing radio ads saying “friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.” I had been keeping busy with some easy artwork while recovering, and decided to start using an artist name on Facebook to see what happened. I found new people that wanted to get to know me across the country. I eventually went to meet some of them and realized they recognized me before I introduced myself. I regained my confidence and started reinventing myself. When I came up with the idea of building a social media marketing firm in Spokane, no one thought it would work. I started volunteering my time to help businesses become acquainted with others in Spokane. After five years of hard work, my business is rocking.

Don’t work to be successful: Remember when your dad and mom were showing you how to save money, be responsible, kind, have patience, and help others? Success is not how much money I make, how big my business is, what kind of car I drive. It’s how I made the money. If you treat your business like it is your life—or like my friend Troy Freesman told me once: “You will always take care of your kids. Treat your business like it is part of your family, and it wont fail.” you’ll find real success.

Don’t believe everything you think: DREAM BIG. Be willing to change. Be flexible. Be honest. But most importantly, be honest with yourself. I can become consumed in a good idea. Then the thoughts of doubt, fear and “it won’t work” start banging in my head. Again, life at the bottom of the barrel is really good. Turn dreams into goals, make a plan, execute, be patient, make them reality.

Patience for the win: In your work, business, life, but most importantly the dream. When you’re working 12-16 hour days to make the next big thing, time is not your friend. I have found there’s more time than you can imagine, but it takes patience. Work your 9-5, work your overtime. Follow your dreams after 9 p.m. or get up three hours early. Keep at it.

PUNCH FEAR IN THE FACE: The acrostic for fear should be ingrained in our heads: False – Evidence – Appears – Real. Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do? I have. And I gave into fear. I was in the best place in life—the bottom of the barrel—and my head was in the sand because I was scared. Scared I was going to lose everything. Scared I could not provide for my family. Now fear will never be an operative word in my life. In the board room. Behind a camera. With my family. Results come from optimism, positivity and encouragement.

There is no balance: If you know your priorities in advance it’s much easier to make choices in your daily life. I follow this order of importance: spiritual life, marriage, children, work. When I go back to this list of priorities, everything looks up.

Remember where you came from: My grandparents survived the depression. My grandpa built a house by hand with a hand saw and used scrap lumber to finish it. Their home still stands today. Now we’re worried about how many likes we have on Facebook. How many people saw our Snapchat story. Live. Work hard, live at the bottom of the barrel. We live in exciting times.

Help others: When my family had nothing left, we made lasting relationships. People we didn’t know well stepped up and helped. Now I love helping others, because I know what it is like to be on the receiving end.