The Anti-Course Part 2, Chapter 1: The When and Where Before the Why and How

Growing up without a playbook, finding footing in hard work, and landing my first job the only way I knew how — by accident.

Author's Note

Reading business "hustle porn" online is excruciating. It’s all so self-selected — and completely out of context. The kind of context I want and — at the risk of projecting — assume others do too.

So many of these so-called "playbooks" or personal essays skip the part that actually matters: the origin story. People don’t just show up one day as successful entrepreneurs, finance experts, or solo operators. They came from somewhere. But that part gets glossed over in favor of the “here and now” or the usual “what you should do today” advice.

You rarely hear why they chose this path over all the others — or how much help they had along the way.

Personally, I’m far more interested in that. What circumstances were they born into? What mindsets and philosophies did they develop to survive, grow, or move forward? What random bounces did the ball of their life take to land them where they are?

More importantly, after countless conversations with people over the years, I’ve found that what most folks really want are stories — ones they can see themselves in. Stories that give them a little spark, a little friction, or a small sense of alignment to nudge them off the ledge of uncertainty.

I love writing. So if I’m going to keep sharing thoughts on business, culture, or life in public, I feel a responsibility to offer a foundation — something real that explains where I’m coming from.

Because foundations matter just as much — if not more — than the ornate structures built on top of them.

Also... for my boys —

This is the world I was born into…