Q:
What is your favorite part of being on the SPACC YPro Committee?
A: I like the event planning part of YPro. Especially looking at past events and talking about what we liked about them, and how to improve next year. We have great events, and the attendees we host for those events have great insights for me, so having access to that is great.
Q:
What is an interesting fact about you?
A: I have traveled to 27 countries and lived in South Korea for three years.
Q:
Who inspires you professionally and why?
A: Probably my wife, Courtney. We are both fiercely competitive and so we are constantly trying to outdo each other. Before we met, I would always take long, slow, methodical career steps and sometimes miss out on opportunities. Given her small business background, she’s inspired a much more direct-action course in my career. Having someone to compete against (in a constructive way) is a great motivator.
Q:
Any tips for networking?
A: Networking is not something that comes naturally to me since I’m somewhat of an introvert. For me, networking is somewhat like training for a sport. Unless you’re naturally talented at networking, it may come hard for you at first. You’ll make errors that make you look silly. Learn from others who are better at it than you and force yourself outside your comfort zone. Keep meeting and expanding. A couple years from now, you’ll wake up and realize you’re a fine-tuned networking machine who can chameleon their way around any networking situation.
Q:
What is the best piece of advice someone has given to you?
A: From my dad – Whether or not you achieve something is only dependent on how badly you want it. It sounds simplistic and obvious but has been sort of a personal motto of mine throughout the years.
Q:
What is a great way to further professional development?
A: Find someone who is doing what you want to be doing and meet with them. Try and absorb everything you can from them, including their setbacks. This can be as simple as getting coffee or happy hour. If they have side projects they are working on, volunteer to help out. Those will be the people that will vouch for you one day.
Q:
What skills have you found essential for success?
A: Delivering something that’s needed before anyone realizes that it's needed. Being able to forecast where a project may fall short, or where others may need help is just foundational to any career. If a project is stalling, take the initiative to create something new to solve the problem, rather than rehashing identified problems.
Q:
What one thing would you do if you knew you were guaranteed to succeed?
A: If I knew it would be successful, I would open a hybrid bakery/taxidermy shop called
Baguette & Tag It. To be clear there is no real reason to have those two things combined but if it was guaranteed to be successful, I would definitely do that.
