the full story
From a 2.69 GPA
to 55K+ reach
I didn't get here by being the smartest person in the room. I got here by starting before I was ready, over and over again.
I reprogrammed my first computer at 11. Then I nearly flunked out of college.
At 11, I was taking apart Apple IIEs and rewriting BASIC programs at the school computer lab. By 18, I was at UCLA studying software engineering and failing almost every class. C, D, F. Repeat.
I switched to math, barely graduated a year late with a C+ average, and walked into a teaching credential program because I had no other plan.
That "failure" turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. Teaching taught me how to communicate. And communicating turned out to be the only skill that actually matters.
I raised my own salary by email for over a decade.
From 2008 to 2019, I lived abroad leading an English teaching nonprofit. Central Asia first, then East Asia. I got married, had kids, led teams through political unrest, and learned to build something from nothing in places where nothing was given.
My salary? $35,000 a year. For me and my wife. Raised entirely by email from mostly small donors. No marketing degree. No CRM. Just stories that moved people to give.
That's where I learned the thing that still drives everything I teach: a real story, told simply, moves people to act. Every fundraising email. Every camp promo video shot on a $150 Samsung phone and edited in Windows Movie Maker. Every update to donors who believed in the work.
It ended abruptly. We were deported. Came back to the U.S. with three kids, no income, and no plan.
I drove Uber Eats. Then I picked up a camera.
Back in LA with nothing lined up, I drove Uber Eats to keep the lights on while I figured out what to do next. I started freelancing: web design, marketing consulting, whatever came through the door.
In 2022, I tried Instagram. 85,400 views in one month. Zero clients. In 2024, I tried YouTube. 11,000 views on one video, 2,000 hours watched. Burned out.
Then I found LinkedIn. One video a week. A weekly newsletter. No fancy editing. No viral strategy. Just showing up as a human and talking about what I actually know.
First month: $10K+ in coaching revenue. First year: $43K+. From one video a week.
Now I help others do the same thing.
I built Small Business Video School because I kept meeting smart, capable professionals who were invisible online. They had the expertise. They had the stories. They just didn't know how to start.
So I built the simplest possible system: get comfortable on camera first. Then post one video a week. Then let the conversations come to you. No hooks. No CTAs. No algorithm hacks. Just you, being useful, on camera.
300+ people have gone through the program. 160+ videos created. And the ones who stick with it? They stop chasing clients. Clients start finding them.
what I believe
The principles behind everything
Start before you're ready.
Perfection is procrastination in disguise. The people who win are the ones who ship the rough draft.
Comfort on camera comes first.
99% of video advice is wrong. Hooks, CTAs, and strategy just add confusion until you're comfortable. Comfort unlocks everything.
One person, one question, one video.
The best content comes from real conversations. Someone asks you a question, you answer it on video. That's the whole system.
What's simple is what gets done.
If it takes more than 5 minutes or 5 tries, you'll quit. So we keep it stupid simple. Post-it note scripts. Phone camera. Ship it.
3,717+
LinkedIn followers
300+
community members
493+
videos posted
$43K+
coaching revenue (yr 1)
4
languages spoken
off camera
The human behind the videos
I'm a dad of three (ages 10, 7, and 4). I live in the South Bay area of Los Angeles with my wife. We've been married since 2012.
I'm the incoming president of my local Kiwanis club, I teach Sunday School twice a month, and I spend way too much time longboarding around the neighborhood.
I speak four languages (English, Russian, Chinese, and Kyrgyz), I have strong opinions about pour-over coffee, and I believe the best business advice I ever got was "different is better than better."
My CliftonStrengths top 5: Developer, Communication, Positivity, Activator, Belief. Translation: I see potential in people, I know how to say it, and I can't sit still until someone takes action.
Ready to start?
Join 300+ professionals who stopped overthinking video and started showing up. Free community. No credit card. No catch.