When I was in my early 30s, I decided to dive headfirst into my passion for broadcasting, fueled by all the insights I’d gotten while pursuing a career in politics. But fear and self-doubt were holding me back. I didn’t have a degree. I didn’t have any experience. My head told me it was too late and too risky for me to start over and completely change direction at this point, but my heart kept pulling toward the vision I couldn’t stop thinking about.

So, in 2005, my wife and I decided we were going to do whatever it took so I could pursue broadcasting. I was clear on what I wanted to do, but I wasn't qualified, so I got busy going after the knowledge and experience I was lacking. I signed up for a six-week broadcast school with people 10 years younger than me, and I covered high school football games on a country station at 11 p.m. on Friday nights. I worked for free several hours a week at a sports-talk station in Atlanta. I fought through imposter syndrome and humbling moments to gain as much experience as possible. I took on public speaking gigs, introduced mimes and balloon artists at a community event, worked on podcasts . . .And when I say podcasts, I mean back when podcasts weren’t cool and I was doing it from a closet-sized sound booth with no air conditioning in the Georgia heat. Glamorous, right?

Through some connections I’d made along the way, I started doing a local radio broadcast on Saturdays. I was terrified and terrible, but I was learning to embrace the suck and get better. With time and a lot of practice, I improved, and eventually I got the chance to host an evening drive-time show five days a week.

Then I got an emcee role for a national leadership conference that gave me the opportunity to interview well-known athletes, leaders, authors and celebrities. One of the notable guests I interviewed was Dave Ramsey, which eventually led to our friendship and me joining the team at Ramsey Solutions. After three years of serving in multiple hosting roles, I got the chance to write two national bestselling books with all the career strategies I’d learned along the way and host a nationally syndicated radio show—and regularly co-host The Ramsey Show, the second-largest syndicated talk radio show in America. This has allowed me to fulfill the dream of broadcasting to encourage and equip people to be who they were born to be.