When Success Feels Empty: Nick Koonce's Journey from Self-Made to Spirit-Led

Nick Koonce had it all figured out. At least, that's what the scoreboard said.

As an executive in the security industry, he'd climbed the ladder from technician to leadership, pulling wire in attics and crawl spaces before earning his corner office. He had a thriving career, a beautiful family, and all the trappings of Western success. But sitting in a Colorado cabin on what was supposed to be a soul-restoring vacation, he felt profoundly empty.

"I had all of these things that by Western standards are supposed to bring you joy," Nick recalls. "And I just felt miserable."

The Self-Made Myth

Nick grew up in Southern Illinois without an active faith life. His grandmother was a devout Catholic who took him to church, but for him, it was more social hour than spiritual formation. "We didn't really have much insight into the why behind it," he says. “It was just, Grandma's going to church so we have to."

As a teenager, Nick drifted further from faith—a drift he describes as tangible, something he could feel spiritually. Encounters with Christian hypocrisy pushed him away even more. So he built his identity on athletics and achievement, becoming what he calls "this self-made person" who attributed everything to hard work and dedication.

When injuries derailed his dreams of professional sports, that identity cracked. He struggled with substance abuse and hit a low point in his life. Then, he met his wife, moved to Omaha, and they both charged hard into their careers. They had their daughter. They climbed. They achieved. But Nick grew more miserable.

"I started doing things I normally wouldn't do," he admits. "I started straying away from my core values and morals—things that were a big part of the reason why I found the success that I did."

The Netflix Pivot

That Colorado vacation was supposed to reset everything. No technology. Just quality family time in the mountains. Three days in, and Nick was bored.

He turned on Netflix—not typically his thing—and stumbled onto One Piece, a live-action adaptation of a late 90’s anime. The storyline follows a kid who dreams of becoming king of the pirates despite everyone telling him it's impossible. As the protagonist builds his crew, he challenges each person to find their "why"—the thing they're chasing that they won't be denied.

"In that moment, I was like, what's my why?" Nick says. "What is it that I'm chasing?"

His answer: fitness. He'd been a personal trainer before, and getting physically healthy felt like the missing piece. So he set an audacious goal: lose 100 pounds in one year.

People told him it was too much. That he didn't have 100 pounds to lose. That he’d miss certain foods. But Nick locked in. Twelve months later, he'd hit his goal.

And still felt empty.

The Sermon That Saw Him

The next year, Nick tried jiu-jitsu. Competed in a tournament. Checked another box. Still empty.

On their third annual soul-searching vacation, Nick finally told his wife what he'd been avoiding: "When we get back, I want to start going to church on Sunday."

They made it their New Year's resolution—church every Sunday, no excuses. That first Sunday, they sat in the front row. The pastor looked down, made eye contact with Nick, and said something that still gives him goosebumps:

"I don't know why you're here. Maybe you're a former athlete who's got a successful job, has a beautiful family, beautiful kids—and you just feel empty."

Nick was undone. "There's no way in the world that this guy would know all of those details of who I am and what I struggle with," he says. "And here I am making this conviction, going to church, sitting in the front row intentionally, and in a room of hundreds of people, he's looking right at me and saying those things."

That was the moment. "I'm in," Nick decided. "I don't know what this journey is going to look like, but I'm only going to learn if I lean in."

The Closer He Got, The Harder It Became

Week after week, the sermons spoke directly to conversations Nick had during the week—"coincidences" that kept stacking up. Life started feeling fuller. Family conversations became more productive. "The closer that I got or the more I made an attempt to get close with God, the better my life was," he says.

But Nick also discovered something else: "The closer that I got, the harder it was to stay consistent with it." He signed up for a men's retreat and backed out. Signed up for small groups and backed out. The pull toward comfort was real.

When he finally pushed through and committed, everything shifted again. "I felt like the closer that I got, the better my life was in some way. Not like, oh, I won the lottery, but just—it felt good and it felt right. There was this fullness that I had that I didn't have before."

From Success to Significance

Today, Nick leads Atronic with a different compass. He still values operational excellence and client satisfaction—providing peace of mind has always been core to his work. But now he sees leadership as servant leadership, shaped by his own journey from technician to GM.

"Being a leader isn't just about sitting in the office," Nick says. "It's about serving your team." He prioritizes people over shortcuts, integrity over quarterly wins, and mentorship over management.

But Nick's ambitions have grown beyond business metrics. "I can go out and make all the money I want. I can help all the careers I want to help. I can grow a business as large as it can grow," he says. "But at the end of the day, those are all earthly things. My purpose is to go be a fisher of men. My purpose is to go spread the good news, to go help people on their spiritual journey in whatever way that I can."

He's exploring opening a C-Suite for Christ chapter in Omaha. He volunteers on nonprofit boards. He's leaning into the discomfort of Christian leadership—even when he feels in over his head.

"If your heart's in the right place, if your head's in the right place, and your purpose is to go help people find Christ and help Christians strengthen their faith, I think that's all you need," Nick says. "Trust God with the rest of it."

Grow Into It or Shrink Out of It

Nick's advice to other Christian business leaders is direct: "Grow into it or shrink out of it."

He knows the weight of Christian leadership feels heavier than general leadership. The stakes are higher. The responsibility is greater. "It's really easy for me to give advice and mentorship in a general leadership conversation," he admits. "But when you introduce being a Christian leader, that carries so much more weight."

Still, he believes the need is greater than most people realize. "If you feel like you're stronger in your Christian faith, if you understand what your spiritual gifts are, take the step. Take the swing. Just go do it," he urges. "It is uncomfortable. It is daunting. But if your heart's in the right place, you’ll be fine."

“Follow God's call. Follow what you're called to do. If you feel like you should be doing it, then maybe you should be doing it. Take that step and just lean in and trust God.”

Nick Koonce learned the hard way that worldly success can't fill a spiritual void. But he also discovered that when you stop chasing what the world says you need and start chasing what God says you're made for, everything changes—not just your scoreboard, but your soul.