I transformed a pair of drumsticks into over $15M in revenue by creating businesses I personally wished existed...
Here's What I've Been Up To...
Hello Cash Flow (2022 - Today)
One of my toughest business lessons was mastering how to read, understand, and manage my company's cash flow. It was a source of stress and confusion for many years until I developed a unique system to permanently resolve these issues.
Hello Cashflow, a SaaS company I co-founded with two partners, seamlessly integrates with your accounting software. It displays all your financial reports in plain English and easy-to-understand charts and descriptions.
Users can then make smart, confident decisions and significantly improve cash flow, while reducing the financial stress that comes with running a business.
Learn more at HelloCashflow.com
Want All My Best Business Tips?
Every week I share my best advice that I wish I knew when I started my journey.
Build a Music School (2018 - Today)
Since I had to figure out how to build a successful music school the hardest way possible... by trial and error, I was determined to make it easier for others that had the same passion to change lives through music.
I built an online membership to teach everything I knew on the topic to help other music teachers and academy owners fast track their success with less painful mistakes. Our community of music school owners are called 'The #BAMSQUAD' (The Build a Music School Squad) and members share their best resources with each other, participate in mastermind calls, a private community and many fun competitions and events. We also hold international conferences in exotic places like the Caribbean and New Zealand.
This has now grown to a multi-million dollar business and is the leading membership of its kind, with over 300 music schools across more than 20 countries.
Behind the scenes video to the left.
Learn more at BuildaMusicSchool.com
Young Business Person of the Year (2017)
I remember being seated at the very back of the massive venue at the last table, convinced I couldn't have won because I assumed the unsuccessful candidates were seated right at the back. Thankfully I was wrong.
What made this award really special to me was that I was the only person from the music or education sector to win it and it wasn't just for music or for being charitable, but for building a real business that makes a profit and a difference.
I somehow managed to spurt out a semi-decent acceptance speech (video to the right).
The Goodtime Foundation (2016 - Today)
I set up the Goodtime Foundation to help expand our charitable work in bringing music and mentorship to kids who would not otherwise get the chance. We partner with school principles who choose kids most deserving of the scholarships. We then pick the kids up from schools in a bus load and bring them back to our building for food, lessons and mentoring.
The lessons and mentoring were delivered by our senior students as part of a leadership program to develop their skills and confidence.
The program is funded by sponsors and various grants from generous organisations and individuals. To date, more that a million dollars has been raised towards free music lesson programs.
To the left is a behind the scenes video.
Rad Rhythm (2015 - Today)
I realised that primary/elementary school teachers were required to incorporate music into their curriculum but often lacked confidence in teaching it. As a result, they would settle for uninspiring projects just to tick the box.
To address this, I created Rad Rhythm, a program designed to enable even teachers with no musical background to deliver an exciting percussion program that children would love and would meet all the requirements for the national curriculum.
hundreds of schools worldwide have used Rad Rhythm, and over 100,000 students have been through the program.
Promo video to the right
Learn more at radrhythm.com
NZ Music Missions (2014 - 2016)
I created an international music camp for church musicians to come to New Zealand for a mixture of volunteering in schools in low income areas, performing and exploring New Zealand.
We ran 4 trips where we hosted up to 16 young adults on each trip from all over the world.
Several people loved it so much they ended moving to our city for jobs and paid internships at the music school.
To the left is a highlight video from one of these trips.
Local Hero Medal - New Zealander of The Year Competition (2012)
During school, I never won any awards, topped a class or finished first in a sporting event.
This was the first award I'd ever won and to receive it for building a social enterprise that was positively impacting young peoples lives felt pretty amazing.
The Goodtime Music Bus (2011 - 2019)
When I was at primary school the musical opportunities were basically singing lame songs in assembly and painful recorder lessons with the entire class squealing away like strangled turkeys.
I created the Goodtime Music Bus which meant students could have affordable music lessons during school time on instruments they actually liked. Schools loved it because space is limited and we brought the mobile classroom and all they needed to provide was a power point. Parents loved it because they didn't have to travel after school for expensive private lessons. Our music teachers loved it because it generated lots of day time work, which was hard to come by.
We grew the program to 5 buses servicing about 35 schools per week and over the years many students progressed on to private lessons, became team members, and even got music degrees.
Learn more at goodtimemusicacademy.co.nz
Goodtime Music Academy (2009 - 2019)
I knew that music lessons could be done in a much cooler way for young people, so I started my own music academy with the vision of getting kids into positive hobbies with positive role models and building community amongst the students.
We started with 30 students and after 10 years that grew into over 2,000 students and a team of 60, making it the largest private music school in New Zealand.
After feeling that my time was done I was able to sell the business at the end of 2019 after the schools most profitable year ever.
2 months later the whole country was in lockdown due to COVID-19. Talk about a 'Goodtime' to sell...
Learn more at goodtimemusicacademy.co.nz
Jonny & the Dreamboats (2007 - 2015)
I quickly realised that the best money for local musicians was in building a successful covers band, so I gathered some friends, learned our setlist, then I fronted all the capital for setting up the business and the sound system. We became one of the busiest bands in town, one year playing over 120 gigs.
We played all over the country, on TV and we even got to go to Fiji for a week to perform at a wedding and a nice resort.
To the left is our promotional video with footage and music from the band.
Jazz performance degree - New Zealand School of Music (2003 - 2006)
Chris Opie, my drumming teacher, was a pivotal figure in my life, teaching me about leadership and personal growth alongside music. Inspired by him, I completed a jazz performance degree at the New Zealand School of Music majoring in drums.
In the evenings, I paid my way through university by teaching students in the same style Chris had taught me. In the weekends I would play all sorts of gigs around town.
To the right is a clip of me playing an Afro-Cuban song called 'New Ground' that I worked hard to learn in my final year of university.
