My dad handed me a Sega Genesis controller in the early ’90s. I was about two or three years old when Sonic the Hedgehog was on the television screen—that blue blur that would reshape my understanding of what was possible.

What fascinated me wasn’t just the game. It was the symbiosis between input and output. Press a button here, watch pixels respond there. Direct manipulation. Immediate feedback. Creation through control.

By 1992, my brother Derek joined me for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He played as Tails, I played as Sonic. We’d spend hours exploring Green Hill Zone, and later, I’d recreate those adventures on the playground, jumping from structure to structure, imagining the ground as molten lava from Marble Zone.

My father Kris didn’t just buy us video games. He gave us permission to imagine.

From Pixels to Possibilities

Those early Sonic games, including Sonic 3 & Knuckles in 1994 and Sonic 3D Blast in 1996, transcended the realm of mere entertainment. They served as catalysts for the development of my cognitive processes, fostering an aptitude for systems thinking, cause and effect analysis, and creative imagination.

By the early 2000s, I was building my own digital worlds. My first websites—wrestling and hockey fan sites—were hosted in subdirectories on www3.telus.net, using free web space provided by Telus, our internet service provider. Later, I’d mask those URLs with .tk domains from Tokelau, creating what I thought were more professional presentations, as I was still too young for credit cards for actual domain purchases.

The Computer Builder

While other families bought pre-built computers, my dad always built ours from scratch. This wasn’t surprising—he founded CompuSource Technology in 1995, distributing computers wholesale and retail across Canada and the United States. We always had the best machines, evolving from MS-DOS through Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and finally to Windows XP—where I truly became a serious coder.

Windows XP felt like possibility incarnate. I could code for hours, from initially building sites with Microsoft FrontPage, to developing complex HTML sites without limitations, using Macromedia Dreamweaver at the time.

Then came the switch in 2008. My mom Cristina, influenced by those Mac vs. PC commercials, finally questioned why we were still suffering through the blue screen of death every few months. My dad, ever the pragmatist, agreed it was time to evolve.

We bought an iMac and MacBook Pro. I’d used Macintosh computers at Cedar Drive Elementary School in the ’90s, but this was different. Steve Jobs had returned to Apple in 1997, bringing NeXT’s operating system architecture with him, transforming Mac OS into something revolutionary. The difference was staggering—like jumping from Sonic on Genesis to Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast, but for productivity.

The Natural Salesman

My dad’s role extended beyond computer assembly; he was instrumental in shaping an entrepreneurial spirit.

Before I was born, he was selling since Combined Insurance in 1984, going door-to-door in remote BC towns like Houston. Then, his career had taken him from insurance to representing James Hardie Gypsum across Canada, meeting with the Ghermezian Brothers in Edmonton and the Reichmann Brothers in Toronto. Through all that, my dad understood that selling wasn’t just about the product—it was about the story.

The Church Bulletin Revelation

During my upbringing, I’d see realtors’ faces in our Catholic church bulletins. There, among the announcements for bake sales and prayer groups, would be a realtor’s headshot and contact information. Then, during Sunday Mass, I’d spot that same realtor sitting a few rows away.

That fascinated me. They were building their brand in the most local way possible. This was marketing before digital marketing. This was what my dad understood intuitively.

BuyRIC: The Digital Bus Bench

After wireframing on drywall in 2005, we finally launched BuyRIC in 2009, and that became the launchpad for everything we would build together from that point on. We took that church bulletin concept and digitized it—creating online “bus bench adverts” for real estate agents.

We managed to get about fifteen realtors from Metro Vancouver on our programme, using online marketing strategies that were revolutionary for 2009 and 2010.

Ultimately, we were offering the future, but Vancouver wasn’t ready for our aggressive vision. Growth was slower than we had anticipated. The market needed more time to understand what we were offering.

The Pivot That Changed Everything

In 2011, we made a pivotal decision that would shape our trajectory: the creation of The Pinnacle List.

My dad’s keen interest in architectural photography and his passion for luxury real estate marketing helped shape our vision. Instead of limiting ourselves to Vancouver, we opened up to the world. The Pinnacle List became a luxury real estate and lifestyle media brand with a magazine-style website and a highly watched YouTube channel.

Very quickly, we became directly involved in marketing some of North America’s most expensive properties—The Razor Residence in La Jolla, Castello della Costa d’Oro in Cambria, and The Bradbury Estate in Bradbury. We collaborated at those properties with Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce to develop event marketing programs that showcased exceptionalism at the highest level.

Sometimes the best pivots come from recognizing that your vision is right, but your market is wrong. Drawing upon the invaluable knowledge gained from BuyRIC, we applied those same strategies to The Pinnacle List, with the volume turned up, elevating our approach to new heights.

By 2016, we launched TRAVOH—travel and lifestyle content featuring visually rich, story-driven narratives. The pattern was clear. We weren’t just building websites. We were building media brands.

On 27 March 2017, we incorporated everything under Solespire Media. It wasn’t just a corporate restructuring—it was the culmination of everything we had learned about building digital brands.

Solespire immediately assumed control of BuyRIC, The Pinnacle List, and TRAVOH as media brands. By 2020, every Solespire website was running on Multiplex—our innovative modern media theme that I developed for dynamically responsive content and advanced technologies on WordPress.

A Real Partnership

Solespire platforms have reached millions of people because a father handed his son a game controller in 1991. Because he built computers from scratch. Because he understood that selling was storytelling from decades of experience. Because he recognized the future in online marketing when others were still printing bulletins and buying ads in newspapers.

That’s the compound effect with years of building blocks, literally beginning with my genesis in 1989.

When WWE tried to recruit me in 2007, my dad supported whatever decision I made. When I chose to build with him instead, he was ready.

From father-and-son to co-founders.

Thanks, Dad. For the controller, for the computers, for the partnership.

For showing me that the best stories aren’t just told—they’re built, together.