“What’s the vision for Undivided Life, and how does the construction company you own fit in with all of your other mission-oriented brands like Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, The Catholic Gentleman, and the BeatiDudes?”

David Colletti, a dear friend, mentor, and very successful business leader, asked me this as we started breakfast on Saturday morning.

Fair question.
Easy answer.

It doesn’t. The construction company we own does not fit in with the other mission-oriented brands we own and operate.

When we purchased McKnight Construction in 2024, we bought an incredible company from a great man. The business was operationally and financially strong, the brand was well respected, and our relationship with the founder was incredible.

Check, check, and check.

But the company was located more than 3 hours away, and it was clear that very little about Undivided Life’s network and skills would lead to an outsized impact on the sales, service, or day-to-day management of the McKnight business line. We made meaningful upgrades to McKnight’s technology, process automation, and digital marketing, but we also faced the reality that none of us were willing to move to deep East Texas. Without being physically present in the business's daily operations, achieving financial stability for our ownership group would be a long road, with plenty of obstacles that could completely derail us along the way.

The Gut Check

We were riding the infamous “construction company cash-flow rollercoaster,” and while we had increased revenues and built a profitable backlog, it was time to infuse the business with more capital to weather the next dip. We gathered as owners and had an honest conversation about who we were, what we loved about Undivided Life, and how McKnight was not a great fit for the mission. That led to an incredible (and often painful) process in which our relationship culminated in a founder buyback at the end of 2025.

The details of that process could fill chapters of my biography, but what matters today is the clarity it brought to the entire Undivided Life team. Over the years, we have recruited and developed a dream team of experts and executives who possess incredible business acumen and experience, and are equally yoked in faith and mission. This team could present to a Fortune 100 boardroom one day and help lead a Parish mission the next. Each Lifer is dedicated to their faith, their family, and to the promotion of human flourishing through the dignity of work. For us, work is the mission field, and the excellence by which we operate serves the ministry. Our impact on the world is best understood by examining our advisory work, our on-stage speaking and content work, and our active ownership and management of brands that make a difference.

Advisory Work

Undivided Life has served as a trusted business advisor to many high-impact brands in the Church and other companies run by virtuous leaders, including large-scale growth initiatives with nationally known groups such as Young Catholic Professionals, St. Ann Catholic Church in Coppell, the feature-length film Triumph of the Heart, and many more. With each client, we deploy the time, talent, and tenacity of our team to drive meaningful growth for the organization and to build scalable, repeatable elements of intentional culture.

Education and Inspiration

As part of our Business as a Blessing approach, we have also built a powerful line-up of professional speakers and emcees for conferences, executive workshops, fundraisers, retreats, and every type of Catholic event you can imagine. On average, I speak 1-3 times per week, equally across corporate, higher education, and religious events. We also promote the dynamic keynote abilities of our CMO, John Heinen, who leads The Catholic Gentleman, and his on-air co-host, Devin Schadt. Separately or together, this duo encourages and challenges Catholic men to live virtuously and strive for sainthood through discipline, courage, and self-mastery. Finally, when it comes to big-ticket emcee work, no one is more equipped to engage, entertain, and educate your audience than Paul Kolker, a professional improv comedian and my co-host on The BeatiDudes.

Investment Thesis and Reality

In addition to our speaking and advisory work, we also own and operate The BeatiDudes Podcast, The Catholic Gentleman, and Howdy Homemade Ice Cream - three companies that provide us with the chance to both “do good” and “do well.”

We do good by driving culture change through the podcasts and by providing an award-winning ice cream served by adults with special needs. We do well (financially) by scaling each of these brands, including the equity raise underway to launch 50 new company-owned stores for Howdy Homemade, producing incredible returns and employing over 1,000 additional heroes in our stores and catering. Buckle up and expect to see significant growth across all 3 brands. Undivided Life has a vision and the velocity to make it happen.

Clarity, Purpose, and the Pathway Forward

As a result of our mid-year gut check in 2025 and our exit from the construction company we owned, we became crystal clear about who we are and where we feel called to invest our time, money, and energy.

For Undivided Life to become an owner/operator, an opportunity must match all (or almost all) of the following criteria:

• Does it change the world?
• Is it within our reach?
• Do we care about it?
• Can Undivided Life have an outsized impact by deploying our
  • Skills
  • Network
  • Reputation
  • Faith

We know that our ownership of the construction company wasn’t even a 50% match against this strategic roadmap.

On the other hand, The BeatiDude podcasts, The Catholic Gentleman, and Howdy Homemade Ice Cream are almost universally a 100% match, which is why we know we are serving God’s will and answering a call on our hearts as we rapidly grow these brands.

2026, Here We Grow

• We consecrated our businesses to the Sacred Heart of Jesus alongside the team at His Way at Work. That’s when He officially became our CEO.
• We pruned our business by exiting or selling assets that didn’t fit the strategic mission ahead.
• We completed the purchase of the minority shares of The Catholic Gentleman, providing our team complete autonomy to reach more men. We are actively exploring partnerships, sponsorships, and new methods to encourage men and hold them accountable on their journey.
• We became the minority owners of Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, built an executive team around the founder, and we are actively seeking locations for our next 3 stores in Dallas/Fort Worth.
• We are crystal clear about where we are headed. You should join us as we are now accepting:
  • Talent for the bench - we don’t have any full-time positions open just yet
  • Advisory clients – operational excellence, finance and accounting support, branding sprints, digital marketing deep dives, and culture architecture.
  • Partnerships – on all fronts, message me if interested

We definitely found our way the hard way – and I wouldn’t change a thing.