Meet Tanner

Tanners's Story

Born, raised and living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I’ve only left twice to live elsewhere. A four year education journey in Tampa, Florida for college and a two year finding myself journey in Denver, Colorado. Both adventures taught me more about myself than in such a short span of time, I am thankful everyday I had those experiences.

I’ve always required a companion in my life, one thing that brings me back to center when I fall and fear. In order, this would be my Mother, my Dog Lily and until forever my Wife Sarah. Without support and encouragement, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to where I am now.

“Slow poke” as my friends and family nicknamed me is mostly true (yes, the pokemon, slowpoke). Albeit this nickname has bothered me all my life, I secretly know it to be true. I methodically think, speak and act slower than most everyone around me. I have chosen my own pace, slower than most, although it has provided me many benefits: cumulative growth, healthy habits, sequential thinking, pattern recognition and involved listening skills. Okay fine, I do miss airline flights and almost show up late; but I am beating to the rhythm of my own drum.

Nintendo is where my love of technology started. I’d impress my older brothers with getting the dusty Nintendo console to play a video and connect it to the TV myself as a very young kid. Once the Packard Bell family computer got to my house, putting the floppy disk in and typing hockey.exe was my first core memory. “I need to use the phone” meant I had to disconnect the AOL dialup. Between video games and creating websites, I wouldn’t even be able to guess the number of years I have spent on a screen.

By the time I was 22 and out of college with my Psychology degree, it was 2010 and the economy and job market were in shambles. After 8 months, I finally got a fulltime job in the field, Substance Abuse Counselor. This eye opening experience of trying to help people through opiate addictions was unforgettable and I learned quickly what I didn’t like. A fast transition to business and I immediately skyrocketed to the top when I helped a Billionaire raise money for his politicians and organize his energy around the economic development in the southwest region of Michigan. I wasn’t able to understand how these two life perspectives could co-exist, but mainly it made me uncomfortable because I didn’t think I fit in either.

A self-reliantment was nagging at me, I had to take off and go my own path to figure out where I fit. My love of adventure, snowboarding, photography and liberal perspectives pave the path to Colorado, where the beauty and sport of the mountains would rejuvenate me. Spending time outside biking, hiking, snowboarding, longboarding and taking pictures along the way was an amazing disconnect from corporate worlds. A simple call from my college best friend ended with an eight-week journey floating down the Mississippi River on a homemade barrel raft. Yes, I was Tom and Huck Finn in the summer of 2014, blogging and baking in the sun for 1800 miles of the most American sight seeing tour.

During the discovery of who I wanted to be as an adult, I went back to my passion, technology. I decided to take that screentime and teach myself programming, finding a knack for building websites. Somehow reading Code was easier for me than reading English, I could see patterns, pick up a tutorial and build something real and landed a great gig freelancing that turned into full-time. I was excited that I could work from home, collect a check in the mail and optimize my workflow to take on more clients.

Solving because the medium for making money, not only did I seek hard challenges I went in knowing I could complete them. At my core, this is the skill that has paid for my life since 2012 when I founded Brod Solutions. When the solutions needed went from technology to business, I was eager to learn and grow those skills to a place beyond traditional education. Now, in my late thirties I have been on an entrepreneur journey that is as stressful and it is fun. I finally found what I want to do the rest of my life: create, build and earn from business ventures.

The love of my life, Sarah, was in my hometown but we hadn’t crossed paths until that fateful day in the local liquor store. From the first day, we immediately knew this was love. She is an amazing person who can cook and bake anything from any cookbook, cure a bad day with her words and gives her support endlessly. With our two handsome and smart boys, this family is the reason that motivates me to work hard and make great decisions. They are the core reason that I intend to leave a legacy behind.