If you’ve already heard the story of the tattooed Creative Writing Masters grad from Nebraska who founded a software company that expanded from the US to Australia, then please move to the next profile. You’re at Zmarzly so just about done anyway if you’re going alphabetically.But if you’re here to see if we can connect, laugh, & learn from each other, then welcome!First off, profiles are hard, right? You don’t want to come off as boastful but you want to share who you are and what you’ve done in case it resonates with those who should be in your life. So I will ride that fine line.My life has been defined by:▶ Insatiable desire to learn & be curious. I’ve never met something that cannot be improved if I learn more on the problem or process. ▶ Knowledge that people are fascinating and that I can learn from anyone when I open my heart, mind, and ears. Diversity is welcomed!▶ Ability to execute on new ideas from first vision to final product. Execution is everything. When in doubt, dump, sort, act. ▶ Power to see the bigger picture and do the right thing by all parties. Put on the hat of the customer and you will rarely go wrong. ▶ Awareness that relationships need openness, passion, and consistency. This builds trust and allows for long-term growth and amplified prosperity for all. ▶ Belief that no job is too small. I have been the CEO/janitor, the waiter (fastest promotion to head wait in history), and have dressed as a T-Rex at SXSW when Hip Money needed marketing. ▶ Certainty that you are never too old to grow. I hadn’t left the US – except for spring break to Mexico (woo hoo!) – before an entrepreneurial exchange to Ireland in 2016. Ten months later, I accepted an Australian government grant to expand my company and my wife and I had 60 days to pack up and move our family of five 8,444 miles. It was an ultimate test and adventure for us and sent our lives on a different path than we thought possible. ▶ Understanding that challenging professional and personal journeys have pain. I have almost been fired, broke down crying when the founder journey seemed insurmountable, been one month away from shutting down (three times), and been up at 3:28am more times than I’ve slept through it. Growth is hard. The biggest blessing in my professional life is that my years of past experience and learnings now allow me to help fellow founders, startups, VCs, and ecosystem builders in my role at AWS. I am blessed.These principles are at my core and in those closest to me…please connect here and come along if they resonate with you.