About Me

TL;DR: I’m a designer by trade and a former agency founder who started a digital agency in 2009 from scratch. I learned the ropes of digital service businesses, and focused on accountability, execution, and data to run a highly successful and people-focused firm until my acquisition and exit. Now I help people like you, in a similar spot, do the same.

My Background

I’m the child of two teachers – so, of course, I went and got my Education degree. Primarily because that’s what happens when you try to make life decisions at 17. Anyways, in my third year at University, I realized I actually didn’t want to be a teacher, but finished up anyways. After that I ended up working as an Instructional Design Coordinator at a small OH&S training business in Edmonton, which is when I started working directly with graphic designers and developers.

Working with people carrying those skills reignited the design fire that had been smouldering within me ever since I was a kid in junior high drawing Starter logos and Chicago Bulls logos all over my binders. I quit that OH&S training job – right before that place went up in flames, so good timing I guess – and went back to school to get a design diploma.

Then I figured I could just start a design firm, because I was too dumb to think of all the reasons it wouldn’t work. So I did that in 2009 with my business partner Andy.

Growing an Agency

I ran that design agency – it transformed into Alberta’s leading digital product design & development firm – called Paper Leaf for 15 years until I exited post-acquisition. It was hard. We started out in 2009 as a two-person graphic design shop that made $40k in revenue in our first full year. I did it all back then – from production graphic design to sales to web development and everything in-between. Over the years, I moved out of the production design role, then out of the day-to-day project work after the initial consult. My last role prior to exit was focused primarily on leadership, operations and sales within the company.

In that time, as well, Paper Leaf grew – in many ways. We grew out of the house we started in, to a tiny office in the Garneau neighbourhood in Edmonton, to an office downtown, to our third office in 2018, to fully remote again during COVID (and we stayed that way). We grew from two people up to 32 at the time of my exit. We grew from $40k in annual revenues to $4M. Our processes grew from a straight-up dumpster fire to systems capable of delivering highly complex, expensive, and risk-laden projects. We won multiple awards from various organizations – and we went from basic graphic design projects to tackling six-figure enterprise-grade web applications and mobile apps. We almost got acquired; I backed out on closing day and left millions on the table when the terms changed. Then, as mentioned, we actually did get acquired. So, I’ve navigated a failed acquisition, a successful acquisition, and an exit as well.

This is all to say: I’ve learned a shitload in that time. I’ve failed a lot. I’ve made some bad decisions. But one thing I can say is I’ve consistently progressed, gotten better, and learned like crazy.

And all these parts of running a business I’ve learned about? It’s my time to give back. I do that through consulting services, the in-depth posts on this site, and through my conference & event speaking engagements. Thankfully, the combination of an Education degree with an English major and all my technical, design, and business experience equips me well for this type of stuff.