Biography

My Music Background

Graduating from University of Wisconsin-Madison, I received my bachelors degree in music performance. My goal at the time was to move to Los Angeles and become a studio musician. During this time I performed with many nationally-recognized artists including: Natalie Cole, The Temptations, Manhattan Transfer, Bob Hope, and many others. I was a hot shot hired-gun. When the national act comes to town, a contractor calls me up. Then on the day of the show, I see the music "charts" for the first time. The band or orchestra has a rehearsal for about two hours. Then that night we perform. Obivously, you've got to be a pretty quick study to pull this off.

At the same time I was developing as a jazz saxophonist. This aspect culminated for me in my junior year of college when I had a sort of out of body experience while playing a solo with the jazz band. It was to be about five minutes, but stopped only after the director yelled out, "you're done!". During the twenty or so minutes I was apparently turning in a circle. The guest artist from New York, was impressed. He had given a workshop that morning on being uninhibited. I guess I learned that lesson fast. (I recorded my first CD in 2000 titled, "Jazz For A Sensual Night". I performed many times in clubs with my quartet. I performed on the road and on Princess Cruise Lines as a staff musician for a few years. One of my biggest career highlights was performing to a sold out crowd at the Holywood Bowl. It was a big band extravaganva including, Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Count Basie.

Then I received my Masters degree from Northern Illinois University. They allowed me take whatever courses I wanted and gave me a masters of music degree. Mostly I furthered my skills in emotional expression. I also discovered the connection of motion and emotion through my work with the Feldenkrais method. (A form of body awareness through movement)

Teaching Kids and Personal Growth

After this I learned about real persuasion. I taught music in inner city schools to middle school kids. I had no teaching degree and no experience. It took me three years to really understand teaching children. To find out how to gain their respect, how to motivate them, and how to get them to behave.

Backing up a bit...I became interested in personal growth. When I was in Chicago I went to Anthony Robbins, Unleash The Power Within weekend, culminating in a firewalk outside the hotel. That was pretty wild. Really surprised I didn't burn my feet. The firewalk was a metaphor to break through your fear. The technique used was the power of focus.(To keep your feet from burning you look up and focus on the words cool moss.)

I furthered this kind of training by studying with the creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Richard Bandler. Shortly after this I started my copywriting career. I received $10,000 worth of seminars in exchange for my writing the sales letters to promote them. One of my fellow attendees told me later that my letter had her "running to go grab my wallet to register."

I used these seminars as a catalyst for massive personal transformation. Everything was different. I learned how to more effectively communicate. The experience completely changed the way I performed music. I also learned about creating any emotional state at will. An innvaluable skill for a copywriter to have. It's important to be able to create an emotional state in yourself first, before you begin to create desire in someone else.

How I Discovered Marketing

I became interested in marketing after hearing a set of tapes from Jay Abraham. My brother who was managing the family retail business had borrowed them to me. The seminar was "The Best Of Jay Abraham's $15,000 Bootcamps." This information really facinated me. I loved the creative aspect of it. Jay was always running off on a tangent, needing someone to pull him back on track. But he is an absolutely brilliant marketing strategist.

After that I found out about copywriting. I began to study every well known copywriter. I also went to the first bootcamp of the American Writers and Artists Institute in Florida. Later I did their masters course as well.

I became absorbed in constantly learning more about direct marketing and copywriting. I learned that copywriting was more about sales than writing. So I went out and got some experience selling. I did everything from telemarketing, to inside corporate sales, to outside sales for a trucking company. At one point I even worked for a student loan company, bringing badly past due loans current. I broke the record my first week on the job. Not by always collected the money (because many times they had none) but by finding a debt solution to their specific problem. There were many strategies to do this, and I learned them all.

Dad and Me

Finally, I worked with my father managing our family's retail appliance business for three years. I learned a lot about running a business: developing new profit centers, managing for profit, and solving customer problems. Most if not all of my entrepreneurial desires stem from my dad. He retired and shut down the business, because he WAS the business. He passed away two years later, from a brain tumor. If you have ever lost a parent or other close loved one, you know how this changes your life forever.

Since that time I have been interested in spiritual growth. About being in the present moment. About giving. About living your life purpose. Things that were far beyond the personal growth seminars.

My Start As A Copywriter

After the retail store closed, I decided to start my own copywriting business. My first client was a management consultant for manufacturers. He responded to an ad I wrote offering a free report in the local chamber of commerce. I worked on a retainer business with him for about a year. Since then it's been no turning back and I've been doing marketing and copywriting in one form or another since then.