Encontro is the Portuguese word for an encounter or a meeting, particularly one that is unexpected or significant. Encontro is the moment a relationship begins. I am not, nor do I want to be, in the business of “generating transactions” or even of “creating customers”. I am in the business of forming relationships with other people who share my values and want to join me on the journey of building a world based in connection. People like YOU! Some of those people will become customers, yes, but it will be because they connected with me first. 

Speaking of forming relationships, if you’ve made it this deep into my world and feel like we would get along, please send me an email or DM me on Instagram! I would love to get to know you. As I said, I am in the business of connecting with people like you.

Relationships Over Transactions

All long-form content you'll read from me (which includes emails, social media, and everything on this website) is 100% written by me. It's important to me to express myself through the written word and provide unique human perspective in all of my content. Generative AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) such as ChatGPT have exploded in popularity over the last couple of years, with many people using them to generate entire blog posts, sales pages, and more. While I believe AI is a valuable tool, I see it as simply that - a tool, and nothing more. My use of AI and LLMs is limited to brainstorming, research, and idea exploration. Everything you see published has been written by me using my own words.

Human Content

Much of the content you’ll find on the internet is a constant barrage of information. The thing about information is it rarely changes people’s lives. At best, information will lead to an insight, but more often it just leads to overwhelm and feeling like you’re Not Doing Enough. My goal when creating anything for you, is to provide insights that help you connect the dots yourself and offer a new way to think about business & the world. As my fave Seth Godin calls it, hiding the aha - "The purpose of the memo or the table or the graph or the presentation is to create the conditions for someone to make up their own minds. Causing an aha requires insight and elegance."

Hide the "Aha"

People are complex, with a massive capacity to care about and be interested in many different things. Representing something with my business that people can care about doesn’t mean they have to stop caring about something else or leave other things behind. While I don’t expect us to agree on everything, I do everything in my power to respect your time & interests, and hold space for your individuality. I ask that you show the same respect for me!

Mutual Respect

Above all, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Therefore, above all, the way in which I do business must honor Him. I strive to be as honest & transparent as possible with you while also upholding integrity by staying true to my personal values. This means I sometimes draw lessons or parallels from my faith into my teaching. While Encontro is not necessarily a “Christian business,” it is a business run by a Christian and my content will reflect that at times. See the next bullet point for an addendum.

Honesty & Integrity

That means seeing you as a real human being with a complex, beautiful life just like mine. I never want to rush or pressure you to make a decision that is unaligned with what you need in the present moment. I always want to meet you where you are and provide full transparency about who is a good fit for any offer at any given time. I’ll never stretch the truth or inspire FOMO to try to get you to buy. I believe generosity always wins, and that those who are meant to purchase from me will do so when and if they are ready.

Empathy

My values: