I’ve been called “The Luckiest Man In Advertising” and I just might be. Because in 1998, for no reason, other then my strange name and funny answering machine message, W&K Portland took a chance on me and invited into their internship program. It was the perfect place to go if you know absolutely nothing about advertising. The best ad school you could hope for.

I returned home to Minneapolis to work at Fallon. And for the next eight years, worked with the most amazing collection of talent I’ve ever seen at one place. Genius was spilling out of every office and I sponged as much of it up as I could. I learned the timeless parts of this business that don’t change with technology. That if you were as excited about solving the business problem as you were about making great work, it’s amazing what you can sell. I made a bunch of work I love and won some stuff.

In 2003, I moved to NYC and helped start Mother New York. The next nine years were the most fun I’ve had in advertising. We grew from 6 to 150+ and I led teams and accounts like Virgin Mobile, Coke, Mondolez, Kraft, and AB Inbev, to name a few. It was the perfect place to prepare for the current times. It was chaotic in the best way, and advertising in it’s simplest form; solve problems with ideas. No process or system. Just solve the problem, and what ever it ends up being, we’ll figure out how to make it. We made a Playstation Game, a Reality Show, we even made an After-Market Umbilical Reconnection System “The Maternacord”.

In 2012, I left Mother to go freelance and spend time with my daughter. I partnered with my long-time friend Craig Duffney. We’ve freelanced all over the country at agencies big and small. We’ve basically learned how to cram three month’s worth of work into three weeks, or three days as the case may be.

I’ve enjoyed every day I’ve spent in advertising. It’s something that’s all too rare these days. And it’s why I might actually be the “luckiest man in advertising”.