SIDE NOTES
Welcome to Side Notes - a collection of essays, excerpts, and reflections shaped by two decades of building things from the ground up. These entries pull from the margins of business, creativity, reinvention, and everyday life. The parts we often overlook but always learn from.
You’ll find moments of humor, clarity, nostalgia, and insight. Whether it’s a chapter preview, an observation, or a personal truth dressed, everything here comes from a place of experience and curiosity
“JOHNSONVILLE BRATS, JOHNSONVILLE BRATS!”
I recently found myself standing over a bubbling tray of Cheddar-wurst Johnsonville brats, cheddar oozing out like molten lava, edges crisped just shy of burnt, and I couldn’t help but time travel straight back to the old-school Johnsonville commercial from the '80s.
You know it. Charlie Murphy, manning his grill by the lake. Probably just trying to enjoy his one peaceful afternoon off from analyzing taxes at his crummy 9 to 5. He’s got the brats going, they’re sizzling, life is good.
But because Uncle Charlie clearly didn’t want to share his stash with his bratty niece and was trying to save them for his friends, she outed him. Loudly. To the entire neighborhood.
She belts it across the lake:
“Charlie Murphy’s cooking Johnsonville Brats… Johnsonville Brats!”
Reinvention: Bangs, Business & Perms, OH MY!
Reinvention isn’t always glamorous—sometimes it’s a self-cut mullet in fifth grade, sometimes it’s a business pivot that saves you years of struggle. Either way, we’re diving into the wild, weird, and why didn’t anyone warn me? lessons of business and life.
So, if you’re ready for some hard-earned insight, a few laughs at my expense, let’s talk reinvention—bad hair decisions optional.
Work Ethic: The Skill That Builds Everything (And Why It Matters)
The universe told me to take a break. My work ethic? She laughed, crossed her arms, and said, ‘That’s adorable—now get to work.’ This is what happens when you try to slow down after two decades of hustle—and why learning to balance ambition with rest is crucial.