I started C&M Consulting as a side-hustle in 2019, and it quickly grew to a full business that my wife and I have poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into. We leverage my years of e-commerce experience and Kathryne's writing and content-generating ability to help other small business owners do more with the technology out there to grow their businesses. From advertising services, to print marketing and website building, we have taken several startups from zero-to-sixty in relatively little time.

Schneider Engineering was a wonderful place to work. I worked with a small Accounting team under direct supervision of the President and CEO of the company, as well as the Controller. I had great work relationships here and learned a lot about A/R, A/P, invoicing, collections, account & bank reconciliation, fixed asset management, and so much more. Schneider challenged me to be a part of a larger whole. Where my previous position was in a small office with a few other guys, Schneider was a larger business that was much more structured. At times, the structure felt inhibiting, but after a few months and navigating the COVID pandemic, I quickly understood the importance of policies and repeatable procedures. My first major task was to take their expense process from completely on paper, to digitized and automated using Deltek Account software. This is where I shine, always, and it was a great experience. From there, I automated the billable time structure and made workflows that enabled employees, PMs, and Supervisors to quickly and accurately bill time to overhead or Client billable projects. Contract adherence was essential for billing, as well as project setup/WBS.

Study and Sales of rare U.S. Coins from the 18th & 19th centuries. Photographing and listing coins for auction sales on eBay. Daily shipments of hundreds of individual packages and constant communication with customers both for account managing and personal sales.GSC is what set me on my professional path. I learned how much can be done with a small crew of dedicated individuals and a few simple computer programs. I was challenged to find new processes and ways to organize data, in an effort to quickly and accurately make business decisions. Like much of sales, the real money is made on the buy side, not the sell side, and GSC demanded great relationships with nation-wide suppliers and properly communicating what we needed to be profitable. Cash flow was king, and our sales process was very specific to the auction cycle on eBay, which led to the need to move inventory in the quickest yet most profitable ways. I also saw behind the small business curtain, so to speak, and my entrepreneurial side was unlocked. GSC sparked the interest in small business ownership in me, which has led me to great places ever since.

The Home Depot was my step into sales and specialization. I started out pushing carts, then moved to a role as a cashier. After that, I found the paint department, where I realized my desire to not only "do the job", but to learn what most people would not learn. I quickly became one of only 3 workers who could custom mix paint colors, which made me a contractor and DIY customer favorite. From paint, I moved to millworks and sold doors and windows. This is where I was given sales quotas for product sales, as well as new credit card applications.

This was my first time being legally employed, but far from my first "job". Growing up, if something cost money during the Summer, my brother and I paid for it by mowing lawns, grinding fences, or digging post holes (my "PHD").Little Caesars is where I took my first steps toward learning the value in customer service. Dealing with the hungry public was a rewarding experience, in that it made me realize there are many faces to customer service. I had a wonderful manager named Mindy, who would have us clean the store top-to-bottom with bleach when business was slow. To this day, I love to clear my mind by cleaning something.