JOSEPH COLE BURGESS

Professional Profile

I'm difficult to put into one professional box—and I consider that one of my biggest strengths.

Today, I am simultaneously a logistics courier and dispatcher, entrepreneur, business builder, digital media operator, brand developer, and technology problem solver.

My foundation includes 10 years managing nightclubs across the Midwest and more than six years—and counting—in hands-on courier and dispatch operations. Along the way, I've expanded into entrepreneurship, digital media, branding, marketing, customer experience, technology, websites, AI-assisted business development, and building my own ventures.

I've spent most of my professional life in environments where results are immediate and accountability is unavoidable. I've hired, trained, scheduled, and led employees; worked directly with owners, customers, vendors, entertainers, promoters, drivers, and businesses; and handled the hundred little things that can go wrong when you're responsible for an actual operation.

Today, I'm combining that experience with modern technology and entrepreneurship to build businesses, brands, websites, campaigns, customer experiences, digital products, support systems, operational processes, and AI-assisted workflows.

I take ideas that start as conversations and figure out how to turn them into something real.

What I Bring to the Table

I'm not interested in pretending I'm the world's foremost expert in every discipline I've touched. What I am exceptionally good at is figuring things out.

Give me a problem, an objective, and room to work, and I'll research what I don't know, identify what matters, eliminate what doesn't, and develop a practical way forward.

I can discuss strategy with a business owner, troubleshoot a customer's technology, coordinate drivers and deliveries, work in the field, develop an advertising concept, direct a brand, improve a website, rethink a workflow, and learn an entirely new piece of technology when the situation calls for it.

Professional Experience

Logistics Courier & Dispatcher

MEMPHIS METROPOLITAN AREA · 6+ YEARS · CURRENT

I currently work in logistics as both a courier and dispatcher, giving me a perspective that comes from actively working on both sides of the operation.

I'm not describing logistics from something I used to do. I'm still doing it. Every day involves a different combination of customers, drivers, routes, deadlines, traffic, changing priorities, urgent requests, and new problems. My responsibility is to help keep all of those moving parts moving.

• Personally execute local and regional courier assignments while also working in dispatch and logistics coordination.
• Coordinate same-day, scheduled, rush/STAT, after-hours, long-distance, and time-sensitive deliveries.
• Dispatch drivers based on location, availability, urgency, customer requirements, and practical route efficiency.
• Communicate directly with customers, drivers, pickup locations, delivery destinations, and other stakeholders.
• Adjust assignments and routes in real time when traffic, customer changes, delays, or driver availability disrupt the plan.
• Maintain chain of custody, electronic proof of delivery, timestamps, verification, and clear accountability.
• Work independently in the field, making judgment calls and resolving problems without constant supervision.
• Balance customer expectations with the realities drivers encounter on the road.

Entrepreneur | Business & Digital Operations

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE · CURRENT

Alongside my logistics career, I develop and operate independent business and digital ventures while working across operations, technology, branding, marketing, customer experience, and business development.

• Take concepts from idea to strategy, brand, system, and execution.
• Develop brand positioning, messaging, advertising concepts, websites, digital experiences, and customer-facing materials.
• Identify operational problems and create practical systems to solve them.
• Use artificial intelligence for research, development, creative production, documentation, troubleshooting, and workflow improvement.
• Develop support resources that turn complicated technical problems into straightforward instructions.
• Research unfamiliar technologies independently and learn what is necessary to put them to practical use.
• Direct creative development across branding, advertising, websites, visual communication, and digital experiences.
• Work directly with customers through onboarding, troubleshooting, support, retention, and problem resolution.
• Identify where technology can eliminate unnecessary work and help a small operation perform with larger capabilities.

MAEBmedia | Founder & Operator

I built MAEBmedia from an idea into a functioning digital media and technology-focused brand. I've personally directed its concept, branding, positioning, website development, marketing, customer onboarding, documentation, technical support, troubleshooting, service communications, customer experience, and continued development.

Nightclub Management & Hospitality Operations

MULTIPLE MIDWEST MARKETS · APPROXIMATELY 10 YEARS

I spent roughly a decade managing nightclubs throughout the Midwest. It may be the most unconventional—and most valuable—business education I could have received.

Nightlife management taught me leadership, operations, sales, marketing, customer service, event management, psychology, conflict resolution, personnel management, and decision-making under pressure, often all in the same night.

• Managed day-to-day and nightly venue operations.
• Recruited, trained, scheduled, supervised, and developed employees.
• Coordinated events, entertainment, promotions, staffing, vendors, security, and operational requirements.
• Worked directly with ownership, employees, vendors, entertainers, promoters, security personnel, and customers.
• Helped develop promotions designed to increase attendance, revenue, engagement, and repeat business.
• Managed conflicts and sensitive situations while maintaining control of the larger operation.
• Motivated different types of people toward the same objective.
• Balanced customer experience, staffing, revenue, reputation, safety, and operational realities simultaneously.
• Adapted to different venues, markets, teams, and customer bases throughout the Midwest.
• Made consequential decisions without waiting for perfect information.

The Common Thread

On paper, nightclub management, courier logistics, dispatch, entrepreneurship, digital media, technology, marketing, and branding might look like completely different careers. To me, they're connected.

Core Capabilities

Why Me?

My career isn't a collection of unrelated jobs. It's a collection of capabilities I've accumulated—and continue to use.

I can manage people and communicate with customers without hiding behind a screen. I can get behind the wheel and execute the work. I can sit at a dispatch desk and coordinate an operation. I can develop a business concept, build its brand, shape its customer experience, and figure out the technology necessary to make it work.

I haven't traded hands-on work for technology. I've combined them.

I know how businesses operated before everything became an app. I understand how businesses operate today. And I'm actively learning how they're going to operate tomorrow.