About Third Turn

The name

There's a point in a horse race when the excitement starts to build. The horses approach the third turn, decisions matter, and there's still plenty of race ahead.

That's how I see this stage of my life. My early career was about learning. The next thirty years were about building a business. Now I have the experience, judgment, and freedom to decide what I want to build next.

Your next chapter might look different from mine. But if you still have something you want to build, this can be an exciting time to get started.

Founder's story

I've had four careers, and I'm starting a fifth.

First came retail management, running several stores in a regional sporting goods chain. Then broadcasting, where I learned to understand who was listening and give them something they wanted to hear. After that, I worked in sales and support for software used by radio stations around the world to program their stations.

In 1996, I founded Trivera Interactive in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. The internet was still something most companies weren't quite sure what to do with. I spent the next thirty years building the agency, serving clients, hiring people, making mistakes, and learning things you can't learn from a book.

I've been leaving more of the day-to-day at Trivera to the team that helped me build it. I'll remain involved with consulting and specialized services when needed.

Along the way, I kept working with smaller businesses whose owners needed practical advice, marketing, and technology support. A teacher starting a body-sculpting business. A construction professional solving a problem he'd experienced himself. A family taking over a restaurant where one of them once worked.

I enjoyed that work. Still do. Third Turn brings those relationships and my own entrepreneurial interests together in a company built for this next chapter.

Experience

Thirty years of running an agency taught me more than how to build websites. I sold the work, hired and managed people, and answered to clients who needed their marketing to do something useful.

I also dealt with payroll, cash flow, slow quarters, and vendors who didn't deliver. When you're starting a business, those realities matter as much as the idea that got you excited in the first place.

I bring that experience to the conversation. It doesn't mean I have every answer. It does mean I know some of the questions worth asking before you write the checks.

Background

I live in Richfield, Wisconsin. Three home-building projects of my own in Washington County taught me quite a bit about budgets, permits, and contractors, including a few things I hadn't planned to learn.

I was a longtime member of the Metropolitan Builders Association. I've also worked with Concrete CMS for years and adopted AI tools early in my day-to-day business.

What interests me is what the tools let a small business do. Used thoughtfully, they can help an owner handle work that once required more people or a much larger budget.

How I work with entrepreneurs

I start with the business. What do you sell? Who needs it? Why would they choose you? It's easier to make good marketing decisions once those answers are clear.

Then we work out what help makes sense. That might be advice before you get started, a website and marketing for a business already operating, or ongoing support as things change.

I want you to understand what we're doing and why. Where it makes sense, I use tools you can manage yourself. And when you need help, I stay involved. Many of the stories on this site come from relationships that have continued for years.

I'll also tell you when I think an idea needs more work. Being helpful and telling someone what they want to hear aren't always the same thing.