Creating my own path

Ever been told you couldn't do something and found a way to do it anyway. That's the story of my life. It started when I was young and just became a pattern for me.

At 12 years old, my tenor singing voice received a lot of compliments. Enough so, that like many young children, I dreamed of being a rock star. I tried out at the end of seventh grade to become a member of a singing group called Panther Edition at McLoughlin Jr High in Pasco, WA. I made the group, but by the time my singing career would start in eighth grade, my voice transitioned to baritone. I still had the dream, but my beautiful tenor voice had abandoned me. I would never be a rock star or would I? As a Senior and student leader in a small private Christian High School, I saw an opportunity to fulfill my dream. After talking the school & church officials into doing a talent show, called the Gong Show, I immediately started organizing the event that would make me a rock star. I had written a song about the fantasy me. It boasted how tough it was to be seen in public when women were always after me. I had a friend write and record music for the song. I was a shy student, which made the song a huge hit. I had no idea and hadn't planned for what was about to happen. The girls screamed throughout the entire song and stormed the stage afterwards. We received unanimous 10's from the judges. I was indeed a rock star for 5 glorious minutes and had just learned a valuable lesson about creating my own path.

At the age of 32, I decided that I wanted to play co-ed softball. Unfortunately, none of the teams in Lynnwood's recreation league were looking for a 32 year old man to join their teams. Rather than settle for this, I decided to be the coach and get my own team. Two months later I had put together a team filled with players from Denny's, the Little League, and the Boy's and Girl's Club. We played for two fun years together and even won a tournament. Of course, I organized the tournament, recruited the teams, secured the fields, and even umpired.

While I worked for Denny's, I proposed we purchase a satellite and make our lounge into a sports lounge. Denny's said "no". They didn't want to spend that kind of money. I'm not good with no, so I organized a silent auction and raised $1500 to buy a satellite on our own. Even though Denny's was ticked at me and wanted to discipline me, because our customers donated and purchased items to raise the money for the satellite, they felt trapped and decided to let me put the satellite in, calling it a "Test". Our lounge sales jumped 20%.

I 2004, Lorri and I discovered Red Mill Burgers in Seattle. They were a small 1800 square foot fast casual gourmet burgers restaurant and doing very well. Both of us thought it would be fun to buy out the company and grow it. After some research, we came to the conclusion that Red Mill was not interested in selling and wished to keep the two restaurants family owned. Not to be discouraged, two and a half years later, we developed our own brand and opened the Blazing Onion Burger Company in Mill Creek, WA. Sometimes the new path you create becomes greater than the path you were blocked from. We had no idea back then, what the Blazing Onion would become. I may have lost my tenor years ago, but I'll always be a rock star.