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People ask what I do, and twenty-five years in I still don’t have the one clean sentence. Here’s what’s true instead: since around 2000, my creativity has paid the bills — almost exclusively, and mostly without an employer. Design, code, photographs, copy, strategy — whatever the problem in front of me actually needed.
Underneath, it’s always been the same move: take in the whole of it, assemble the parts, follow a hunch, try it, watch it fail, adjust, go again — until the thing in front of me matches the thing in my head.
I work the way making actually works: in the open, unfinished, wrong plenty on the way to right. I’d sooner put something real in front of you and learn from it than guard a tidy idea that never ships.
And I hand it over — the method, the craft, the whole toolkit — to anyone who wants it. I’ve never seen the point of hoarding what I know.
The résumé never had a line for nightclub magician.
I knew becoming a dad would change me. How could it not? But the ways I've changed, and the depth of those changes was more profound than I could've imagined.
I look forward to the rest of it.
At some impressionable age I saw Jeff McBride, the sleight-of-hand legend, perform a card routine...
For minutes, with seemingly nothing in his hands (and no sleeves), Jeff produced hundreds of cards. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes more, non-stop.
I'd seen magicians before, but nothing like his act.
I fell in love with the art of the sleight that day, and practiced it for most of my childhood — and enjoyed part-time work as a nightclub magician while in college.
Specifically, that smell after a light rain on a cool spring morning.
Twenty-five years. Five eras. One method.
Wabbit set out to mentor game developers in marketing — so I became one of them. Now I speak both languages, and I work the way they do: small, calculated shots — scale what works, discard what doesn’t, validate before you build.
Wabbit started as a simple idea: generate Monthly Recurring Revenue by churning out budget WordPress sites for startups — but, four years in, I spotted a golden opportunity to mentor game developers in marketing. We couldn't resist. The catch? To understand them, I had to become one of them. Suddenly, I'm eyeballs-deep in computer science, building games and software from scratch... But now? I speak their language, and I'm in love with the community. There's no telling what's at the end of this road, but I'm loving every step of the journey.
“…his systematic approach to validation — He only built what we needed to test if the idea worked, saving us from serious over-investing. The waitlist system he built helped validate our offers while we refined the product and grew our audience…”
“Their approach helped identify exactly which services people would be interested in to make the most of our budget. Instead of building everything at once, we tried small tests of different offerings — from consultation services to raised bed construction to classes — and found what worked. We’ve now reached thousands of gardeners. I definitely recommend hiring Wabbit to get outside perspective on your business.”
“In a small business, everyone wears many hats, and trying to do your own marketing feels overwhelming. Wabbit to the rescue! They helped us tailor our broadcast efforts to a very long and specific set of criteria, and demystified the software and coding process. They also helped refine our appeals to our customer base. Thanks to Wabbit, we are engaging with our customers like never before and seeing an increase in requests for our services.”
“I kicked off 2024 by spending three months completely rebuilding our website, Learning Academy, and e-commerce system. I couldn’t have done it without Wabbit’s patience, guidance, and hard work. If you’re looking for someone to build (or rebuild) your web presence, the Wabbits have my highest recommendation.”
“My man!!! I just realized my site has been up for less than 6 months and I've almost made 2 MILLLLLION!!!! WHAT?!?! Bro this is literally insane! I thought it was crazy when we hit my goal for THE YEAR within 6 weeks... and now I'm literally a millionaire! Thank you so much for helping me build the Swag Academy.”
“This opened my eyes to how a developer’s mindset can be applied to marketing.”
The founder died and the org went quiet about itself for thirty years; donations sank into the void. My playbook: show the 80,000-volunteer base exactly where the money went — and redesign every surface the org spoke through, newsletter to books to web. The giving officers did their jobs; mine was making the org worth trusting again.
My Stonecroft chapter was the ultimate Hail Mary. The board reports I inherited as VP of Marketing & Communications read like a countdown: $5M in reserves, three to five years of runway, liquidation on the table. That's what I was hired to help solve. The diagnosis wasn't complicated. After the founder died, the organization went quiet about itself for thirty years — donations sank into a void, because nobody was told where the money went or what it accomplished. Who wants to give to that? So we showed them. We redesigned every surface the organization spoke through — the newsletter, the print publications, the books, the websites, all of it — and pointed every piece at one message: here is exactly what your giving does. My department renegotiated a hefty print contract along the way; the giving officers kept doing their jobs. Trust came back, and the numbers followed. When I left, two and a half years later, reserves stood at $30M. The president told anyone who’d listen that the overhaul was exactly what the organization had needed — right up until I criticized her leadership, and they showed me the door. The reserves stayed.
“Within days of meeting David in the workplace, it was clear to me that he is an exceptional visionary.”
Fitness competitors waited a month for stage photos — if the photographer remembered. I built a two-person pipeline that put them in their hands inside the hour, between the morning and evening shows. 751 bought it. Also on the shelf: a documentary (“Paragons,” art + creative direction), a couple of Addys, a MarCom, and a portrait series for a shelter that made it.
For two decades, I was the Swiss Army knife in the creative wilderness — words, visuals, and whatever the problem actually needed. The signature move: fitness competitors used to wait four to twelve weeks for their stage photos, if the photographer remembered. I built a two-person pipeline — tethered capture, live sorting, galleries pre-issued — that put photos in their hands inside the hour, between the morning and evening shows. 751 competitors bought it. The rest of the shelf: art direction and lighting design on Paragons, a feature-length documentary. A couple of Addys, a MarCom, and a stack of photography awards. And a portrait series for the Central Missouri Humane Society — animals photographed like people — one voice among many in their fight to stay open. They won the grant; the doors stayed open.
“To describe David as a boon to my professional development would be a disservice. He was an absolute lifeline. All-in-all, one of the most important professional connections I have ever made. A natural mentor who's a good laugh and a positive influence to be around.”
“One of the most talented creative professionals I have had the good fortune of working with. David does not settle for mediocre work.”
The trade: my time and expertise for equity in BetaBlox and every company that came through it. Elbow-deep in founder guts for ten years — brand, market fit, growth — and the lesson that stuck: innovation isn’t about capital, it’s about iteration.
BetaBlox was my crash course in startup madness. They brought me on as an investment partner — my time and expertise traded for equity in BetaBlox and every company that came through it. Mostly I was elbow-deep in startup guts: 105 of them over the decade, teaching founders how to build real brands and find their market sweet spot. Translating marketing across that smorgasbord of businesses? Not always easy. But watching local underdogs start eyeing bigger stages — that’s the stuff that kept me coming back. And the lesson that stuck: innovation isn’t about investment capital, it’s about iteration.
“David was one of our unfair advantages.”
Ambassador at the D.C. store, in charge of its Akademie programs. When the pandemic hit, I built the workaround: an ATEM Mini, a couple of cameras, OBS and Zoom — cheap enough for two hands, good enough that every US store adopted it. Not by mandate — because it worked.
My Leica chapter was an unexpected collision of worlds, seized mid-Wabbit. I was an ambassador at the D.C. store — the formal title for the job of running the store’s Akademie programs and community relationships, and I was the only one there doing it. Workshops, demos, gallery openings; I talked craft with whoever walked in, newbies to working pros, and more than a handful of those conversations turned into real mentorships. Then the world flipped. When the pandemic closed the classroom, I turned the store into a broadcast studio: an ATEM Mini, a couple of cameras, OBS and Zoom — cheap enough for two hands to run, good enough that every Leica store in the country ended up adopting it. Not by mandate; because D.C. proved it worked. (I also built the Akademie site a receipting plugin, which is how I accidentally became the go-to for tech troubleshooting.)
“I just wanted you to know that I thoroughly enjoyed every minute with you today. Thank you so much. It was so worth it. I came back home with not only more knowledge, but more motivation. Thank you again.”
“I just wanted to say I really appreciated your approach today. I really like the fact that it wasn't about the technical side but instead the human side, the me side. I will think about, digest, and (hopefully) put into practice the advice you shared with me. It was like getting advice from a knowledgeable friend instead of being in a "class." You are a great teacher and I look forward to our follow up session.”
“Everything you told me worked out exactly like you said it would.”
“He didn’t just fix problems — he spotted opportunities we hadn’t seen. He’s become an extension of our team and a trusted resource I can count on.”
This isn’t a portfolio.
It’s a place I’m still making.
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