In lieu of a Mission Statement

“When the going gets weird the weird turn pro.”

That’s a saying I have repeated many times since my first exposure to it in Hunter S Thompson’s “The Great Shark Hunt,” and I’ll confess that I needed to read it a few times to really get the premise. Then I lived it. Somewhere in my aimless wanderings through the Middle East, South and Central America, even on my own personal journey of discovery across the US (which I’ll admit now was less revelatory than I wanted), I never lost sight of the fact that the going was weird, and I was even weirder, but what kind of pro was I?

I certainly tried my share of professions: TV Executive, teacher, adventurer, man of leisure, and each was rewarding in their own way, but nothing gave me the highs and lows nestled in a strange comfort that I was where I belonged like the restaurant business. Like Neo in the Matrix, I saw the code and sought to bend it to my will, but the corporate scene was always just a little too stiff for me.

Then I started working with other restauranteurs, and all that code found a purpose. Whether selecting the right size box for catered lunches or designing a kitchen for maximum efficiency, I had a knack for helping people weigh all their options and make the right decision. Just like I learned waiting tables: the key to sales was just offering people the options that worked best for them.

So here I am, hanging my shingle and asking, one professional to another, “How can I help you?”