REAL STORIES.
HARD-EARNED LESSONS.
REAL IMPACT.
I speak to entrepreneurs, leaders, and organizations about overcoming
adversity, rebuilding after failure, and turning life’s hardest
experiences into purpose, leadership, and success.
A MESSAGE BUILT FROM EXPERIENCE.
I don’t want an audience to simply feel inspired for an hour.
I want them to leave thinking differently about what they do next.
My story includes becoming a father at 17, joining the Army at 19,
serving in Iraq, losing my mother to breast cancer three days after
returning home, struggling with life after loss, starting a business,
nearly losing everything, and eventually rebuilding that business into
a seven-figure company.
Those experiences taught me that resilience isn’t about pretending
things aren’t difficult.
It’s about continuing forward when they are.
Give them something they can carry long after the event ends.
MESSAGES BUILT FROM EXPERIENCE.
FROM THE ASHES, I RISE
Turning Adversity Into Purpose, Leadership, and Success
What happens when the life you planned suddenly becomes the life
you never expected?
Adversity has a way of stripping away titles, plans, confidence,
and certainty. It forces us to confront difficult questions about
who we are, what matters, and whether we’re willing to keep moving forward.
In From the Ashes, I Rise, I take audiences through
the defining chapters of my life—from becoming a young father and
joining the military to war, devastating loss, entrepreneurship,
financial failure, and rebuilding.
This isn’t a keynote about everything that went wrong.
It’s about what happened next.
AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS
Reframe Adversity
Identify what difficult seasons can teach you rather than allowing them to define you.
Own the Next Decision
You may not control yesterday, but you have tremendous influence over what happens next.
Separate Failure From Identity
Failing at something does not make you a failure.
Build Resilience Through Action
Resilience is developed through decisions, discipline, and movement.
Rediscover Purpose
A disrupted plan doesn’t mean your ability to build something meaningful is gone.
Lead Through Difficulty
Leadership matters most when circumstances are uncertain.
Leadership conferences, corporate events, entrepreneur organizations,
associations, veteran organizations, annual meetings, retreats,
and employee events.
ROCK BOTTOM TO ROCKING IT
What Failure Taught Me About Building a Business—and Myself
Entrepreneurship looks different from the outside.
People see the growth. They see the revenue. They see the team,
recognition, accomplishments, and success.
They rarely see what happened before any of it.
When I started my business in 2012, I had ambition, determination,
and a belief that hard work would eventually produce success.
Our first year generated approximately $14,000.
There were years of uncertainty, mistakes, financial pressure, and
difficult decisions. Eventually, the struggle became personal.
We lost nearly everything—including our home.
There was no overnight breakthrough.
There was rebuilding.
Eventually, the business that once struggled to survive grew
into a seven-figure company.
AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS
Hard Work Isn’t Enough
Growth requires leadership, systems, maturity, and difficult decisions.
Become the Leader
Owning a business and leading one are two very different things.
Let Failure Teach You
Failure often exposes weaknesses success can hide.
Choose Accountability
Growth accelerates when excuses are replaced with ownership.
Make Difficult Decisions
Leadership often requires action before comfort arrives.
Build Something That Lasts
Real success requires becoming capable of sustaining what you build.
Entrepreneur conferences, business-owner groups, chambers of commerce,
leadership organizations, peer groups, sales organizations, and company retreats.
THE BATTLE AFTER THE BATTLE
Leadership When Life Doesn’t Go According to Plan
Some battles have clearly defined missions.
Others don’t.
Military service taught me about discipline, responsibility,
teamwork, accountability, and leadership.
Life after the military taught me something different.
Sometimes the hardest battles don’t happen on a battlefield.
They happen when you come home. When you lose someone. When your
identity changes. When the business struggles. When people depend
on you. When you’re expected to lead even though you’re still
trying to figure things out yourself.
AUDIENCE TAKEAWAYS
Lead Without Certainty
You don’t need every answer before taking the next responsible step.
Discipline Over Motivation
Motivation changes. Discipline keeps you moving.
Take Responsibility
Strong leadership begins with accepting ownership.
Lead While Human
Leadership does not require pretending you don’t have struggles.
Find the Next Mission
Losing one purpose doesn’t eliminate your ability to create another.
Build Stronger People
Leadership is also measured by who becomes stronger because you led them.
Corporate leadership events, veteran organizations, military transition
programs, leadership retreats, management conferences, executive groups,
and team development events.
YOUR EVENT ISN’T GENERIC.
THE MESSAGE SHOULDN’T BE EITHER.
Every audience walks into the room with different experiences,
challenges, and expectations.
Before an event, I want to understand who I’m speaking to.
- What is your organization experiencing?
- What challenges are your leaders facing?
- What message does your audience need?
- What do you want people discussing after the event?
That allows me to tailor stories, lessons, examples, and emphasis
around your audience while preserving the authenticity of the keynote.
The goal isn’t simply to deliver my story.
It’s to help the people listening recognize something inside their own story.
WHO I SPEAK TO
Entrepreneurs & Business Owners
Resilience, failure, leadership, growth, accountability,
and building something meaningful.
Corporate Leaders & Teams
Leadership, accountability, perseverance, culture,
change, and difficult seasons.
Veterans & Military Organizations
Identity, transition, purpose, leadership, service,
and discovering the next mission.
Associations & Conferences
High-impact keynote experiences centered around resilience,
leadership, entrepreneurship, and adversity.
Emerging Leaders
Helping people understand that circumstances can influence
their story without determining the ending.
WHAT TJ CAN BRING TO YOUR EVENT
Keynote Speaking
High-impact presentations built around storytelling, adversity, leadership, resilience, and action.
Leadership Events
Messages designed for leadership teams, managers, executives, and organizations navigating change.
Entrepreneur Events
Honest conversations about business ownership, leadership, failure, accountability, and growth.
Veteran Events
A veteran-to-veteran perspective on service, identity, transition, purpose, and leadership.
Panels & Fireside Conversations
Candid conversations about entrepreneurship, veteran leadership, failure, resilience, and rebuilding.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAY
WHERE LIFE KNOCKED YOU DOWN.
I can’t promise life will be easy.
I can’t promise your business won’t struggle.
I can’t promise you’ll never experience loss, failure,
disappointment, or uncertainty.
Those moments do not have to write the ending.
You can rebuild.
You can lead.
You can find purpose again.
You can write another chapter.
EX CINERE RESURGO.
FROM THE ASHES, I RISE.
LET’S CREATE SOMETHING YOUR AUDIENCE WILL REMEMBER.
Planning a conference, corporate event, leadership meeting,
veteran event, entrepreneur gathering, or company retreat?
Let’s talk about your audience, your event, and the message
you want people carrying with them when they leave.
Your hardest chapter doesn’t have to be your final chapter.
Speaker • Entrepreneur • Army Veteran • Leadership Advocate