Why Winning Edge

Winning Edge’s mission is to build hope and courage into the hearts of people so they can become the very best version of themselves. We inspire others to achieve great things; not because WE want them to, but because THEY want to.

My Story

You’ve probably heard it said: it’s best to learn by doing.

Well, in my case, I learned by failing.

See, I’ve always been wired for sound.  I am hugely competitive. I lived by the motto, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” It’s just the way I grew up.

I played football in high school and won a high school state championship.  I went to college as a dumb jock for one semester. I had a 1.2 GPA because I just didn’t care about learning.

This changed when I understood that I couldn’t play unless I got the grades and I met my future wife. I went from a 1.2 GPA to the Dean’s list.  We’re talking about someone with full-blown ADHD and OCD making that kind of adjustment!  All I had to do was want it enough, and I began to put a value on my education.

Later in life, I ran my own business, and I did it the same way.  Growth was all I cared about.  It was everything I thought winning was – being the biggest.  The best.

I went from zero to $20 million in four and a half years.  That’s fast!

But I went from 20 million dollars BACK to zero a helluva lot faster.

What happened? I refused to listen to advice.  I refused to listen to the people around me – some of the very people I’d hired to help me on my journey. I got my butt handed to me.  Absolutely took it in the shorts!

I’ve got to tell you, it stung.

It got to the point where I locked myself in my office, crawled under my desk, and cried.

But I was lucky.  Why was I lucky?

My parents would always say, “Don’t let an experience go by without learning something from it.”

So instead of laying down to die, I Took Another Step.  Several of them.

The first step was to look in the mirror and own my mistakes.

I didn’t have anyone else to blame. I was the guy.  I created this reality.  I put my family’s well- being, my marriage, my sons, and my relationship in jeopardy.  Nobody else was to blame.

The next step was to use it as a teachable moment for others – namely, my boys.  With every check I wrote to pay off my debt, I told them why that money was going away. We take care of our responsibilities regardless if it is good or bad for us.

I wanted them to understand that there are consequences to bad choices, but also it is not the end of the game!

The next step was to flip the script. How do I learn to win through adversity?  How do I develop my own winning edge?

An edge is sharpened by scraping it against something hard. My edge was honed by that hard time. By a time when I didn’t know if I would ever recover or if I’d ever save the most important relationships that meant the most to me.

Adversity helped me.  It helped my family.  Adversity brought me success because I found my winning edge!

That’s what I’m here to talk about today.

I’m here to help you move forward and to help you be the best version of YOU that you can be.



All by finding your winning edge.