My journey began in a small town outside Akron, Ohio, where, as a high school senior, I attended barber school and passed the Ohio barber licensing examination.

When I went on to attend the University of Arizona, I had to take another state licensing examination. After graduating from the UofA, I was recruited by Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. That opportunity marked the beginning of my formal education in financial analysis and gave me valuable insight into how businesses and financial decisions work.

Several years later, I founded my own computer software company, developing solutions for the mortgage industry. That experience provided another important chapter in my financial education while also teaching me about entrepreneurship, technology, and the challenges businesses face in the real world.

When the economy took a downturn in 1980, I shifted my career toward working with startup companies as a sales and marketing executive. Working with entrepreneurs gave me a firsthand understanding of what it takes to turn an idea into a successful business.

Over the years, I discovered something that continued to surprise me: many businesses do not have a simple, one-page business plan that clearly explains how and why the company is going to succeed. Too often, the emphasis is placed almost entirely on financial spreadsheets, while the objectives and strategies needed to achieve those financial goals receive far less attention.

That realization led me to become a certified business consultant, helping business owners connect their objectives and strategies with the financial results they want to achieve.

Approximately 20 years ago, I brought together my experience in banking, financial analysis, technology, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, and consulting and decided to focus my career on becoming a financial strategist.

Along the way, I authored two books focused on helping individuals and businesses better understand how money truly works. My goal has always been to make financial concepts easier to understand and, more importantly, to help people apply that knowledge to their own financial and business decisions.

Today, my wife and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our son and his family also live in the Bay Area.

Looking back, the path from barber school in Ohio to financial strategy has certainly taken some unexpected turns. But each chapter—education, banking, technology, entrepreneurship, sales and marketing, consulting, and writing—has contributed to the perspective I bring to my work today.