Articles

Excerpt from Fry Your Chickens! (coming May 2025):
When the odds were 1 in 20,000, Doubtin’ Dave told me to quit. My wife said, “Go for your dream.” That moment—and a few neon highlighters—changed everything. Here’s how obsession got me into the hot seat on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire… and walked me out with $32,000 and one unforgettable quote from Meredith Vieira.

I retired from my corporate job on March 31, 2024. The chickens said: “You won’t have anything to do. You need to stay put in your comfortable job.” As always, the chickens were wrong. Here’s what actually happened in my first year of "retirement": I gave multiple...

TL;DR: I used AI to tighten a 7-minute story into a 5-minute speech—without cutting a single laugh—and won a major storytelling contest. AI didn’t write it, but it helped me rehearse, refine the message, and stick the landing. A few weeks ago, I entered the NSA Ohio...

The Story: Why the Book Almost Didn't Happen Ever had a project you really wanted to finish, but life (and your inner chickens) kept getting in the way? That's exactly what happened with Fry Your Chickens! This book nearly didn’t get written. Not because the stories...

📖 The Wild Roller Coaster Ride A few years ago, I promised my son Joe that I’d ride a roller coaster with him. The year before, he wasn’t tall enough to ride the big coasters at Cedar Point, an amusement park in northern Ohio. I figured I was safe—a year was plenty of...

Regret is worse than failure. In this special Valentine’s Day blog post, I share the story of how self-doubt almost kept me from asking out my now-wife—and what it taught me about taking action before hesitation turns into lifelong “what ifs.” Don’t let your opportunities slip away—take your shot!

AI can assist with outlining, editing, and research—but it can’t replace your voice. In this post, I share how AI helped with my book Fry Your Chickens! and where it fell short. If you’re using AI for writing, here’s what you need to know. 🚀🐔

Not everyone will love your message—and that’s okay.

I recently received some brutal feedback after a keynote. The kind that makes you want to rip the head off a rubber chicken. 🐔💥

So what do you do when someone tells you your work is “vapid” and “full of platitudes”? Do you change your approach? Ignore it? Or fry that feedback chicken and move forward?

In this post, I break down how I handle negative feedback, why trying to please everyone is a mistake, and the key lesson that changed how I view my audience.

2025 is all about focus. In this post, I’m sharing how I narrowed down my priorities to just three bold goals for the year—and fried everything else. Discover my approach to balancing work, health, and family while staying true to what matters most. Plus, don’t miss...