You clicked a few times? How the hell are ya?

Attention spans are getting smaller. Not your fault. "Content professionals" have teams dedicated to this. I don't. Woe is me! Right? No, quite the contrary.

Somehow, someway, I have captured your attention. Despite my complete inability to hack current algorithms, produce alluring thumbnails, synchronize SEO effectively, bla bla bla digital age business hacks -- you are still reading this. Well Godamn, then you and I just might be on the same wavelength about a thing or two. Let's assume that is the case. For anyone else reading that is not convinced, here are tangible accomplisments:

Professional investor, options trader, for 10+ years, net profit 22% YoY;
Business Development with 100% YoY increase in free cash flow;
Recruiter / Talent Acquisitions with 300% YoY increase in # of hires;
Head of talent (HR / Biz Dev hybrid roles): 1,200% increase in duration of retention of staff while reducing salaries by 25%;

I could list more numbers. I could list more data. I could list more statistics. But I am averse to doing so. Why? Because as Mark Twain said, there are three types of lies: "lies, damned lies, and statistics." Instead of taking me at my word for what is listed here, on my CV, in a coer letter, or elsewhere, let me chat with you directly.

For as digital as this age is, I am tremendously skeptical that progressive, effective ideas that increase net productivity and reduce overall expenses are round here written publicly for all to see, without the context of (a) specific business model(s) to discuss.

As in the photo above, my gear is on, and I am fully prepared to engage. Let's chat! Let's call that, the above, version 1. Below is version 2.

There is the pedigree, and there is the person. Having served as a copywriting consultant, self published, ghost written for major book distribution organizations, I can write this section at a professional level. A staff member at Harper Collins once described my prose as “electric.” So instead of whimsical words jumping off the page, the work of an artisan wordsmith, let’s keep it plain here.

By the metric if time, my most experience is in athletics. I made it to the professional level as a footballer (what the Yanks call soccer). I had too much success at a young age, and I squandered that opportunity. Why mention this? Because it shaped me. I have a deep understanding and knowledge now that opportunities are not to be taken for granted, and that time is our most valuable commodity. For that reason my “about photo” (see below) is a picture of me and some mates. Our relationships with friends and family and infinitely more important than just about anything I could possibly write here.

I stay in the gym daily. Living at our physical peak allows us to be at our personal best and work at maximal professional efficacy. After powerlifting became boring, I have transitioned into MMA, where I fight at the amateur level. Infinite thoughts in my head, I could talk about this subject endlessly. Alas, I digress.

Professionally speaking, I ought to offer certain skills that merit your attention. I have more than ten years of experience investing in markets and across asset classes. Unofficially, I would describe the first five of those years as a retailer, and the rest as a professional. In short, there is a vast difference between blue chips and index funds, compared to leveraging option spreads in derivative markets. Not to mention portfolio allocation and risk management, which led me to take Bitcoin and “crypto” gains in 2021 and spread them into hard assets such as real estate, physical metals, and other non-printable commodities such as in the oil, gas, and energy markets. This is something I have done as an individual, which has always given me the flexibility to pivot with agility when opportunity presents. For that reason, I do not envy hedge funds, CFA’s, and other wealth / portfolio managers bound by rules and (somewhat) arbitrary fiduciary obligation.

Again using duration of time as a measure of skill level, athletics is first, markets are second, business development snd growth operations are third. This, in no way, is saying that this is my “last place skill set.” Quite the contrary. The bronze medal is no small feat, quantified in the context how many hours of your life have been devoted to that particular set of activities. For the sake of numerically qualifying this ability, I scaled a single private EduTech center in Hanoi to 127 centers throughout 40 cities in Vietnam within five years. Give me your books and your business model. I’ll send back ideas to reduce costs, increase investable free cash flow, and begin chatting with venture capitalists to make sure we have the necessary working cash flow to make it happen.

Inherently, this implies an understanding of HR & recruiting, sales & marketing, legal compliance, finance & accounting, networking, B2B & business partner functions, so on and so forth. While I could specialize, my abilities are best put to use when getting to review at a high level, pitch in where needed, then jump into the trenches with the sleeves rolled up whenever necessary.

To bring this all full circle, athletics, financial markets, and business development all have plenty in common. The idea is to constantly be sharpening your tools, not in one specific area, but across the board. You never know when one particular skill will be required, so best to have a broad set of skills. Similarly, you never know when a broad set of skills will all be required, and a jack of all trades will be more useful than a set of specialists with potential blind spots.

I’m afraid that in this web / social media format I’ll never get to go into as much detail as I’d like. Through synthesis of the content here on this page, on my Twitter, on my LinkedIn, and forthcoming books (will be available on Amazon), I hope to impart what wisdom I have. Please contact me with any questions, comments, concerns, or pertinent feedback at any time.

Thank you for reading and for being along for this journey! I wish you health, happiness, success, prosperity, and most of all, peace, in our time as complicated as it is short on this beautiful planet.