After getting a pretty late start in the business world (for reasons ranging from stupidity, to false confidence, to the Grim Reaper showing up for the wrong parent, to not getting important "life information" in the right order), yours truly found that there was in fact lemonade to be made from some of the lemons life had provided. It has been said (just now, by me) that all talent and success one develops in life can be traced back to a child trying to overcome their obstacles and insecurities. This is certainly true of comedians, and it now appears that it is true of their sons.

The ability to communicate effectively in writing came to me by whatever means it came. The psychoanalysts will likely arrive at a preoccupied over-achiever of a father and a child's need to figure out how to get Daddy's attention. A better than average school education certainly played a part, as did my parents’ holding a spelling bee in the living room on more than one occasion, My mother’s avid appetite for reading and promoting the same ideals in me provided a steady stream of books on my favorite subject, airplanes. The biggest single spark came from a fellow named Richard Bach. One day a fellow high school student named Chris Pedersen handed me a book called “A Gift of Wings” by Richard Bach. Ten pages later my life was changed forever. The power and imagery of Bach's short stories showed me how much emotion could be created with just a few drops of ink on a page.

In 1992, an adventurous cross country flight in an antique British observation plane convinced me to write a humorous short story about the flight. “The Auster Hassle” was published in the EAA Chapter newsletter at Edwards AFB. Having high-roller jet test pilots complimenting me about the article was intoxicating, and rekindled my interest in writing. Other aviation adventure stories were written whenever I had a memorable adventure worth writing about ( CLICK HERE for my Aviation Adventure stories). But nothing resembling professional writing was considered, until life served up a couple of pretty sour lemons in another area.

The tragedy of losing my mother in 1989, and Dad’s very poor decisions afterward (plus several of my own) had some very painful fallout. Nature just abhors a vacuum (and apparently abhors a nice guy enjoying his life). And so right on cue, a very evil bleached blonde satanic force slithered into the picture. After the remains of my family were purposely laid to waste for that person’s fun and profit, yours truly felt the need to write a rather scandalous book for fun and profit too (and for telling my family’s story before someone else did).

After a comedy of errors that nobody outside of Hollywood would ever believe, “My Father, Uncle Miltie” was published in September 1999 by a small and infamous publishing house in New York. The story behind this book, the infighting, the incompetence, the bad business decisions, and a lot of bad timing... could make a book in itself. This is illustrated by the fact that nobody involved with this project, from the publisher, to the author (me), to the co-author, to the literary agent, to the editor, to the press agent… would ever do business with any of the other people on the project ever again, for any reason!

The big showbiz tell-all book didn’t set any sales records. (Well, maybe it did, but the wrong kind) However it did accomplish two of the other goals I had set, like dumping some emotional baggage and telling the story the way I wanted it told. Walking around boasting that I was “a published book author” gave me the bright idea to try my hand at professional writing. Responding an ad for a "grantwriter" panned out; Nicole Pagourgis, the wonderful Executive Director of On Your Feet took a chance and hired me to write grant proposals. In a very short time I figured out how to make sales through written proposals… I’m proud to say my work resulted in several major funding contracts being awarded to the agency, something over $1.5 Million in total. When the Director elected for personal/family reasons to scale back OYF’s operations in 2002 and no longer apply for new programs, the organization could no longer justify having a grant writer. However, the efforts to promote my services writing instruction manuals for the model airplane industry had started to come to fruition at about that time.

I got hired as an outside consultant by Global Hobby, the largest hobby goods distributor on the West Coast. I combined my 25 years of experience with model airplanes with my writing ability - and it became a dream job for a short period. I perfected my ability to make complex concepts and highly technical sequences easy enough for a novice hobbyist to understand. Now I could add “technical writer” to my resume’.

The call of dirty filthy greed finally was heard, and I ventured out into the world of sales. I was hired as a commission-only sales rep for Systems Paving, a leading installer of “paver stone” driveway and patio surfaces. Changes in management style turned an otherwise enjoyable job into something less than ideal, so we parted company. I was immediately hired by Systems Paving’s competitor Barazani Pave Stone, however price point handicapped the sales reps too much to succeed. A brief sales stint at a truly half-assed home improvement company selling texture coating work, was far too little return on far too much effort.

But those checkered experiences as an outside sales rep became the basis for this website! I created sales presentation materials for myself because there is a need for better sales materials. If my own sales improved after I wrote them… then there were probably a whole lot of other companies that needed them too! Custom Sales Materials Lab was born when the "light bulb of creativity" in my head flickered brightly late one night.

After my time as an outside sales rep, an old chum who owned a small aerospace technology company in the Bay Area hired me as the Communications Manager. While there I created often aggressive and flamboyant business letters, company press releases, an employee manual, and participated in advertising copywriting. I also ghost-wrote all personal and business communications for the company president, honing the ability to write in different styles/voices/tones. This allowed the writing to match the constantly changing ideas and moods of a brilliant but mercurial businessman.