Career Path of a Business Owner at Self Publishing Center

It's kind of a long, winding story, so I'll go way back to high school. I applied to only one college, UCLA, out of high school and didn't get in. I didn't have a backup plan.

So I traveled in Europe for a little bit and met some relatives in Norway. When I came back, I called a friend. I really didn't know what I was going to do with my life. My one strong goal was UCLA, and it didn't happen.

My friend said he was going to Green River Community College. I was working up in Washington State, where I grew up. I found their number in the yellow pages, called them, got an application mailed to me, and started there. At that point, I knew I wanted to work at a university.

I studied hard and did well, but realized I wouldn't necessarily get in without doing something extraordinary. So I took a quarter off to go to Africa. I wanted to see what was happening there, as I'd read about Africa in history and geography classes. Then I read "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, and it didn't tell the same story. I thought, "I'll kill two birds with one stone." I'd see what it was really like in Africa and do something different, possibly to get into UCLA.

I went to Africa, it was wonderful, and I came back. Green River then offered me a job to go to Japan. They were starting a branch campus there, and this is where my career really began. Everything was in English, but they wanted a student to help start student government, school sports, and be a liaison between students and teachers. All the teachers were from the West, and the students were Japanese, even though instruction was in English.

That's when I realized I really enjoyed working internationally. My eyes were wide open. Also, on the grand opening day, I gave a speech. I was 20 years old, and it was my first big public speaking event in front of thousands of people: students, administrators, local politicians, and school staff. The keynote speaker was a Caucasian man who spoke fluent Japanese, and everyone talked about him for weeks. That planted a seed for another part of my career.

I finished up at Green River and applied to UCLA a second time. I got in and did really well. Then I went to graduate school at the University of Virginia, studying anthropology, and absolutely loved it. My tuition was paid for, but for living expenses, I taught English as a Second Language to incoming graduate students. I actually loved that too.

After grad school, I wanted to go to Thailand to box Muay Thai, but I knew I wouldn't make money. So I went back to UCLA to get certified to teach ESL. Then I went to Thailand to fight Muay Thai and teach English. You can see how the international theme was picking up. I did a lot of public speaking there and loved teaching.

The boxing didn't go as well as I thought. I was good when I boxed in the U.S., but in Thailand, it was more like a car accident against me. So boxing didn't go as well, but I loved it anyway. I was going to stay in Thailand for years but left after seven months.

I came back and ended up teaching ESL at Virginia Commonwealth University for three years. Then I wanted to move back to LA, where I did my undergrad. I fell in love with LA on day one when I moved there for UCLA. So I taught ESL at UCLA Extension. Everything was going wonderfully. I loved my classes, students, and colleagues.

The only issue was that I couldn't raise a family in Los Angeles on my full-time teaching salary. So I decided to go into business. I had already started a hobby company called Ride Free Motorcycle Tours. During my teaching breaks, I'd have mostly Europeans, Australians, and Asians come to the U.S. for week-long motorcycle trips. That was great.

When I decided I needed to make more money, I approached the company I rented motorcycles from, Eagle Rider Motorcycle Rentals, because I saw their growth. I knew the owner, but I didn't want to call him directly. So I went to HR and told them who I was and what I could do for them. They agreed and offered me four jobs: technology, guided tours, leisure travel, or fleet management. I chose fleet management because I thought it was the hardest, but I wouldn't do it forever.

I became the fleet manager, and at the time, Eagle Rider had 500 motorcycles. I was in that position for five years. When I left, we had 4,000 motorcycles. The company grew from a valuation of $700,000 to about $100 million, which was exciting to be part of.

I then moved into international business development because, as I mentioned, I really enjoyed working internationally from early on. By this time, I'd traveled a lot for anthropology, work, and pleasure. The funny thing is, people say anthropology is the least likely major to succeed. What do you do with it? Teach at a university or nothing. Next thing you know, I'm sitting there as Vice President of International Business Development, smiling every day and using anthropology. This is an example of sometimes following things you love that work out, even if they aren't the most practical choice, like studying anthropology.

I did that for a number of years, and Eagle Rider did really well. Then, just for fun in 2018, I published my first book. It's true first-person narratives about my life, as I'd done some interesting things: hitchhiked from London to Zaire, lived with a remote Indian tribe in the Amazon for six months, and boxed in Thailand. By this point, I'd been to over 50 countries and lived in numerous ones.

The goal of the book was to help people see meaning in their lives and celebrate it. However, it was also about not seeing meaning created in your own life. The book took off, became a bestseller, and led to many speaking requests. I was taking unpaid time off to speak so much, and I absolutely loved it.

I left Eagle Rider in January 2020 to speak full-time. It went great for exactly two months, but then COVID-19 happened in March 2020, and everything I had lined up disappeared. So I had to figure something else out. I published my second book, which did well, and then started doing co-authored book projects, working in the book space to help authors get published.

In the last five years, I've helped over 450 people become bestselling authors. I actually created a second company. I sold my motorcycle touring company in 2008. Eagle Rider said I had to make a choice: go with them all in or go with my company, and they'd support me. So I sold my motorcycle company in 2008 and stayed with Eagle Rider. I created my own company, Innovative Educational Services, in 2016, which got me into speaking and then books. Now, there's an offshoot of my company called Self-Publishing Center, where I consult and help people get their books published.

It was a long road, but I believed in opening doors that were in front of me, not just trying to muscle my way through a straight path. That winding route ended up being a really positive thing for my life. That's the work part of my life. I also think there needs to be a strong work-family-self balance, and I've tried to incorporate that.

I've been 100% self-employed since January 2020, and it's going well so far.