Before I was an Amazon agency CEO, I was a guitar player in a Christian hardcore band called Our Last Chance. We toured in a van, slept on floors, lived off gas station food, and thought $35,000 a year would be the dream. This is the story of how I went from that world to building Marknology into a $2B+ managed revenue agency.
In This Article
The Band Days
Our Last Chance was my life for years. We played shows across the country. We competed for opening slots, fought for merch table space, and measured success in how many kids showed up on a Tuesday night in some basement in Ohio.
I was also going to school for computer science, networking, and security. That was supposed to be my backup plan for when I wanted to get married and not be poor. But music came first. Always.
We were in Christian hardcore bands. For anyone listening, we were really cool. It was the best times of my life honestly. It was tough because we were so poor. Six or eight people living in a house. But it taught me so much.
When the Dream Started to Crack
I started seeing the music industry for what it was: a business. And not a great one for artists. You needed a label or an agency to say "you are cool" before you could really make it. This was before Spotify and YouTube made self-distribution viable.
I toured with some bands on labels like Tooth and Nail. Big enough to see them doing it as careers. And I realized something: if it is just business at the end of the day, I think I am going to choose a business that makes more money. One that gives me the freedom I thought music would provide.
The breaking point was not dramatic. It was slow. I realized that not caring about money was fine for me, but if anyone asked me for help, I could not give them anything. I could not help my mom. I could not help my sisters. That selfishness bothered me more than being broke.
The Messy Transition
I did not have a clean exit from music into business. There was bartending. There was a corporate e-commerce job. There was a divorce. There was moving back to Kansas City. And then there was a blog post that said: instead of picking up a random side hustle, find freelance work that builds your career.
I got on Upwork. I started doing Amazon projects for next to nothing. And I fell in love with it. The algorithm, the strategy, the competition. It was creative problem solving, which is exactly what music was, just with a better business model attached to it.
What Music Taught Me About Business
Being in a band prepared me for entrepreneurship in ways I did not expect:
- Touring taught me grit. If you can live in a van for two months and still perform every night, you can handle a tough quarter.
- Playing to empty rooms taught me persistence. Not every launch goes viral. You show up anyway.
- Writing songs taught me storytelling. Good Amazon listings are stories. Good brand positioning is storytelling. I use those muscles every day.
- Being broke taught me resourcefulness. I built Marknology with no funding because I had already learned how to create something from nothing.
No Regrets
I do not regret the band years. They made me who I am. The hustle, the creativity, the ability to perform under pressure, the comfort with discomfort. All of it feeds into how I run Marknology today.
If you are a creative person wondering whether your skills translate to business: they do. Every single one of them. You just have to be willing to let go of one dream to build another.
Hear the full story on the Startup Hustle podcast where I have been a host and guest for years.
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