09/06/2026
I was 15 years old, sitting at my parents' dinner table, when my dad told me how well the business was doing that year.
I didn't understand the numbers. I understood the look on his face. That's the night I decided I wanted to be part of whatever that was.
I went and did it the "right" way — business degree, graduated with honors from SUNY Oswego. Four months after graduation, my dad hired me. His exact words: "Nepotism is a great way to get a job. But no way to keep it. So buckle up — and don't screw this up."
I did not immediately not screw it up. A year in, I was stuck rerunning the same tasks on a project that was five years overdue and way over budget. When the next business cycle hit, my dad had to lay me off to keep the company afloat. Not fired. Not a falling out. Just business.
I spent a year in finance, selling investments, learning to actually sell. Then I called him: "If you've got an opening, I'll come back. Otherwise, I'm moving to Arizona."
He gave me a sales role. Twenty-some years later, we've moved tens of billions of dollars for clients together, built one of the biggest money movement systems in the country, and I'm still doing it with the same people who started it.
Kind of cool, eh? What family business are you sitting inside of, that you never quite stopped to notice?
