Becoming The Better You Motivational Speaker from Kansas City, MO

John E. Avocado, grew up in a happy household in Quincy, IL. His family was very active in the outdoors and spent many summer days out on a sandbar in the middle of the Mississippi river. Not unlike his fictional counterpart, Huck Finn, John started having trouble in his teens as he began to question life’s lessons. As High School was drawing to a close he looked around and saw many of his friends that graduated before him were still stuck in the same place, doing the same things. Determined to not fall into this same trap he enlisted in the Air Force. During his six years of service he was able to fly to every continent except Australia. Back in the civilian sector he began a career in the Tool and Die trade. Being a lover of technology making the move from the deck to the computer was easy for him, however as he looked around to the more experienced people he could see them being left behind. He made an offer to a few of them; he would teach them how to use the computer if they shared their knowledge with him. With some experience and a few projects on his résumé, John E cofounded his first business creating CAD designs for large machinery. As the business grew it became apparent that we had different visions for the future and I allowed my partner to buy me out. It wasn’t long after that, that he met his wife. As their relationship grew stronger, they knew that to have the future they wanted that they were going to have to move. His then fiancé applied for a promotion and they relocated to TX. Hard decisions were made and John E stayed home with his two step-children to allow his finance to pursue her career. It was during this time that John E was able to join an online community that were building mods for Never Winter Nights. In 2005, he was able to marry his love and later that year they relocated to Kansas City. John began to get more involved in his local community becoming active in Scouting and then coaching a First Lego Robotics team. It was the Lego Robotics that lead him to be introduced to the Inventors Center of Kansas City, of which he is currently the Vice President. Over the years he struggled quietly with adjusting back to civilian life from having been in the Air Force and dealing with things that were literally life and death. In an attempt to heal himself he began delving into positive psychology. As he made progress he would share thoughts and theories with friends, family and coworkers. After people would start coming back to him days later professing how much his words had helped them to gain new perspective and that they had never heard anyone else say it “in quite that way before,” he decided to start sharing in a more intentional way and began offering his services as a coach and speaker.