I was the CEO of a billion dollar company, but I left to follow my passions

After graduation I was employed by McKinsey & Companya management consulting firm where I was a business analyst. After a few years, the company paid for me to go to business school at Harvard. As a consultant, I’ve traveled the world helping companies answer major strategic questions.

I eventually became an executive director and later CEO of a privately held mobile phone distribution company that did over $1 billion in revenue. It was a profitable job. When I was 36 years old I had $1 million in the bank.

I loved the work I was doing and the technology I was promoting, but it wasn’t my passion. We help rich companies get richer. It was good, but I wasn’t sure it was my whole life. So, I took my Blackberry out of the holster on my hip and made a note for my 40th birthday. He just said “STOP”. That day, I vowed that I would do what the world wanted me to do what i wanted to do.

I traveled the globe as an executive but returned home to the Renaissance fair every year

I first went to a Renaissance fair on a middle school field trip. As soon as I walked in, I felt like I had found my home. My spirit entered my body and I felt like I belonged.

I have been to the Texas Renaissance Festival every year since I was 16 years old. Even when I was living in Australia, England or Russia for work, I flew home so I wouldn’t miss my chance. I love music, animals, craftsmanship – just everything.

When I did the math, I realized that someone was making a lot of money running the Renaissance Festival. I realized that I could create a business opportunity out of my passion. In February 2010, I co-founded Sherwood Forest Faira medieval renaissance fair outside of Austin. I was 40 – right on schedule to start chasing my dreams.

We went from business meetings to toasts at the fair

I had the financial security to feel confident and taking the risk to quit my CEO job to start the fair. For two years, from 2012 to 2014, I focused on building that business. I also learned more and more about fighting and started performing in sword fighting shows.

One day I was at the fair, literally on a horse, when an old friend called me about a business he was starting. I told him I couldn’t talk—I was playing dress-up—but he invited me to come and see his technology. I was impressed by that and started a software company with him.

From 2015 to 2018, I had one foot in both worlds: driving fair and also launching a tech company. I would travel to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, a major tech networking event held annually in February, right before trade show season. I’d be up until 2am, then catch a flight to Austin, where I’d open the fair with a midnight toast.

It was brutal, but I absolutely loved the work I was doing.

I have 8 businesses now

These days, much of my time and attention goes to the Sherwood Forest Fair. We are open weekends in March and April and run a summer camp during the summer where kids can have hands-on learning experiences with everything from blacksmithing to horse riding. I also co-own a mead business, sell historical weapons and armor, and rent out castles.

In addition, I have activities that are not related to middle age — I do executive coaching, where I teach people to become “passionate entrepreneurs,” and still helps run an audio software business.

All eight of my businesses are doing well financially. But the most important thing to me is the joy that the fair and its summer camp bring to people. I want this to be my legacy and I have set up a trust to continue the fair even after I die.

When I’m on my deathbed, I want my last words to be “show the must go on”.