I'M JUSTIN

Welcome to my site, I’m grateful you’re here.

You can expect a daily dose of short stories (and the occasional really long, meandering one) in the messy intersection of entrepreneurship, marketing, personal, family, wellness, and my own path towards living a better story.

Hopefully, something resonates and you find some lesson I’m learning to be helpful on your own journey.

Because Lord knows, I’m still on my own…

Justin's Bio

After getting my work life started as a cook in a fraternity kitchen in college (with a newlywed wife, and a baby on the way shortly after), I begged and pleaded my way onto the team at Mizzou Sports Properties, a Learfield IMG property at the University of Missouri. 

It was there where I learned new business development, relationship cultivation, and the beauty of sales. Our first and second daughters were born during this work chapter.

After three years at Mizzou, I was transferred to Tiger Sports Properties, at the University of Memphis. Our third daughter was born in Memphis, the only non-Missouri birth. 

In 2008, with three young kids and 8 hours from home, we were ready to get back to Kansas City. In a job interview where I made one of the top guys fall asleep, I actually landed a Sponsorship Sales job with the Kansas City Chiefs, my favorite team from my childhood. 

From 2008 – 2013, I was part of a team who transformed that partnership business, did a lot of amazing (and big) deals, and ended up being the Director of Corporate Partnerships. Our fourth (the only boy) and fifth kiddos were born during this chapter. 

In 2013, we unplugged from deep community, family in KC, and a dream job to take the first entrepreneurship swing (that ended up being a massive miss) when we moved to South Florida to join an extended family members’ technology company. I was hired to run the sales division and grow a sales force across the country. 

We loved living 15 minutes from the ocean, but the work stuff wasn’t at all what I had hoped it would be (the responsibility is mine). A million lessons were learned though, and I’m grateful for the painful journey. 

We hit Disney World on the way out of town, and dragged our tails back to Kansas City without a clear path of employment. And for me, a good sized heaping of shame. 

After a few months of all 7 of us living in my in-law’s basement (it backs up to a lake, so it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds), I landed at ECCO Select, a wonderful technology services provider in KC. They’ve built a fabulous business, and they were a godsend to me during that season of my life. I was there about a year, when familiar ground emerged, and basically my old job at the Chiefs opened back up. 

For slightly over two years, I went back. And it wasn’t their fault, but I was manufacturing it. A combination of season of life, age of children, and my own self-discovery (that took the form of undoing many times), and I was searching desperately for something different from work. 

A chance to hang my own shingle. A chance to tell different stories. A chance to create a schedule that worked for my life. 

For the previous few years, I had been writing. Sometimes publicly. On blogs, social media, big websites. When emotionally connected content is created, connection forms. I was watching that happen personally for me.

And as simple as it sounds, I was also watching small, medium, and the biggest of companies have a tough time doing the same for their own brands. 

“What if I wrote words for these companies? Would they pay me? If I got one, could I could 10?”

These questions started rattling around in my brain, and I began to pull the strings to see what may be real. 

On March 17, 2017, I walked out of One Arrowhead Drive for the second, last time as an employee. And entered the big world as the Owner of Guild Content. 

There have been many bumps and bruises along the way, but we’ve stood up a team, and an approach to marketing work, that we can now say with integrity:

Guild Content is a Full-Service Creative + Digital Agency. And a Human-First Story Consultancy. 

Beyond Guild, I’m involved in a few writing projects and other entrepreneur ventures. If you have a writing assignment, a speaking opportunity, or just a cool idea, shoot me an email, and we can talk about it! 

justin@guildcontent.com