Meet the Team

I arrived in this world at 6:29am on a clear July morning … the eldest of four children.  Mum and Dad had a dry stock farm in a small rural community near Hamilton, New Zealand.  Farming was a great way to grow up and the values of hard work, self-reliance and more hard work were instilled at an early age.

I attended a small country school as a junior and then spend 5 years at the local high school, Te Aroha College.  I had a blast at school and my parents made sure we had every opportunity to try different sports and other activities.  Rugby, cricket, basketball were my favourites.    As a parent now I can appreciate the efforts my parents put in!  In 1993 moved to the city to study at the University of Auckland.  I had a blast at University and graduated with an MCom (Hons) in Management and Employment Relations…which proved useful for the coaching business!

I’ve had a varied professional life from working at Accenture, a global management consultancy, to owning a Gourmet Burger Restaurant and owing a property renovation company.  My wife and I have a substantial property rental portfolio and invest in commercial real estate as well and a bunch of alternative investment funds throughout the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

We established our coaching business in 2010 after seeing the struggles that tradie and service business owners were going through.  I spent many, many  hours with Plumbers, Electricians, painters, glaziers, landscapers etc. whilst owing our property renovation company and the struggle was real for the contractors that we worked with.

And results were incredible and immediate for our first clients.  I was hooked on helping business owners increase profits and get there time back with less stress and hassle.  Since then our business has grown massively and I’m extremely proud what Profitable Tradie has achieved by helping 1000’s of business owners.

I’m married to Bronwyn and we have 4 great kids.  Three boys, Jack, Alec, William and one beautiful daughter Evie.  I feel grateful that our business allows me plenty of time to “hang” with our kids.  I’m involved with coaching sports teams and I am on the Board of Trustees at our sons’ High School. St John’s College.

My approach to life is to encourage everyone (including myself) to be the best you can possibly be.  Being able to help other business owners in the trades and service industry do just that gives me a real kick.  Our members have labelled me as “the person to talk with when you’re sick of thinking small.”  The vision for Profitable Tradie is “helping the owners of Plumbing, Electrical and similar service businesses to create the future they never knew was possible.”

I enjoy exercise and staying fit- running is fun.  And more recently I’ve enjoyed adding strength training into my exercise program.  Staying fit, healthy and active is important to me.  Particularly because we have children with some “interesting” health challenges so I want to set a good example.

What I enjoy most about our work is being able to share our experiences with more people through our Podcast – The Profitable Tradie Podcast and through my recently released book – The Profitable Tradie: 7 Steps For Trades Business Owners to Earn more while working a lot less.

I grew up with the classic Kiwi childhood – playing rugby down at the local park, saving up pocket money for the dairy, and riding my bike around the neighbourhood looking for a cluster of bikes on someone’s front lawn (how you know where all your mates are).

I was always a really sporty kid and basically played anything with a competitive outcome. My main sport was always rugby, but would settle for anything my sisters were willing to play as long as we got outside and could stretch the game out till dinner time.

My other childhood passion was music, again resulting in listening to everything with a tune, and eventually learning a range of instruments so I could play along. Too bad I can’t sing to save my life!

I went to High School at Mount Albert Grammar, where I was a member of the Auckland champion and National runner up First XV, among other sports. Academics was always something I achieved in, but sport was my true passion.

I began a degree in Physiology and Biomechanics, hoping to one day be involved with high performance sport. After a year or so of my study I realised I was signing up for a lifetime of sitting in a lab and that maybe it wasn’t for me, so I started thinking of other careers I may enjoy. Up until then I’d been working various Pub/Bartending jobs, and had recently taken up a sales role with Vodafone, and had always dreamed of playing rugby professionally.

After finishing my degree, I had a stint playing rugby in France, and was able to see and do so many cool things all around the world. Ultimately, an injury would get the better of me and I would return to NZ. Rugby had been an amazing opportunity but wouldn’t end up being a career I could bank on – I had to get a real job!

After going back to Vodafone in a management capacity, I ended up taking a risk and moving into a sales management role within Michael Hill Jeweller, where I eventually rose to a Head Office position – Running the Learning and Development for all of NZ. This opportunity ignited my passion for business and people management, and helped me finally find my career!

I will always love sport and music as my main hobbies, and would never turn down an overseas adventure, but my favourite hobby of all is spending time with family and friends. I am a social guy who is always keen for an activity, and I spend as much time as possible with my wife, Maia, and our son, George.

I believe life is made up of opportunities, and the way to get the most out of life is to take as many of those opportunities as possible – even if it pushes you outside your comfort zone!

Life for me began over the ditch in Brisbane, Australia. After chasing a few kangaroos around the block, I decided a change was in order.

At the tender age of 3, I crossed the ditch to wrangle a few sheep in New Zealand and ended up settling in the majestic Mount Maunganui.

After  completing my high schooling at Tauranga Boys college I decided to head offshore for a new overseas adventure, this time I was off to Michigan, USA. I had a three month stint as a cabin leader at Camp America and loved every moment. This is where I developed a real thirst for travel.

After a brief working spell in Melbourne (post USA) it was back to the books, this time at the University of Waikato. I completed a Bachelor of Management Studies, double majoring in Marketing and Human Resource Management, achieving first class honours. During my university studies, I slipped on the lycra and completed a marketing internship at the Avantidrome/ Home of Cycling. I learnt lots and discovered marketing definitely was a career I wanted to pursue. I was also involved in some shameless campaigning and after a few “I have a dream” speeches I was elected into a marketing position on the board for the Waikato Management School Students Association. This is where I developed a particular interest in online marketing and I haven’t looked back since. It’s fair to say I’m a pretty big fan of learning, especially if it’s marketing related – give it to me for breakfast with a cuppa coffee.

I’m a bit of a sports fanatic, I love all forms of sport and I particularly enjoy tennis, golf and football (BIG Liverpool fan here!).

After ending up in an ambulance twice in one season from football, I decided it was time to hang up the boots and play golf which is nicer on the body. Although, I’m not sure my heart would agree when stress levels are through the roof from yet another duffed shot!

Traveling’s also a biggy for me, nothing beats roaming unexplored territory and experiencing different cultures to give you perspective on your own life!

I’m a pretty social chap, so I really look forward to having a beer with you sometime!

I was born in South Africa, in a small town just North of Durban called Freedom! I had everything but freedom. It was a small dead end town where the biggest event was our first set of traffic lights. At the age of 15, my family moved to the east coast to a city called East London (Yes still in South Africa, not England!) where life really began for me.

In my early twenties, I made the decision to move over to New Zealand. No amount of research could have prepared me for how incredible this Country is. I was blown away! I’ve been here for 13 years now and proud to call myself a Kiwi.

I went to a diverse High School, called Vryheid High where we had over 1500 pupils. With the diversity of cultures in South Africa, we were taught 3 different languages in High School to cater to all pupils.

I have always been passionate about sports, excelling in cricket and football. I spent before school, break time, after school and all weekends and holidays playing sports whether competitively or just kicking the ball around with the neighbourhood boys.

I began my career as a 15 year old boy, waitering in a large food chain over in SA. After 2 years serving tables I was offered a position as a Manager which I took with both hands. This is what really ignited my passion for people and Business!

Once in NZ, I began as a store manager at McDonalds. I stayed there for over 7 years but eventually the 24\7 nature of the business was too much. I decided that It was time for a change and set my sights on a new challenge. Retail. I was offered the position of Manager In Training at Michael Hill, where after 2 years I worked my way up from Manager in Training to running the company’s Flagship store on Queen Street, Auckland.

My combined 17 years in Retail and Hospitality highlighted my passions, getting the most out of a Business, and being able to meet and help great people along the way.

My passion for sport is still very much alive, however I am now a full time spectator! I never miss a UFC event or game of International rugby. I still try to get to as many live sports events as possible!

These days, my passion and love of sports comes second to only 1 thing, my family! I am the extremely fortunate husband to a beautiful wife and the super proud dad of 2 beautiful little girls. My weekends are filled with trips to the beach, bike rides to the parks and walks to the pond to feed the ducks (and any other excuse to get myself an ice cream!).

In the small window of personal time I get, I enjoy some time at the gym. I look forward to meeting you sometime for a chat, and having you as a part of my story!

Life for me started in the good old town of Tokoroa and shifted to Rotorua to spend the majority of my childhood from the age of 2. Rotorua was a great place to grow up as it’s small enough where all your mates live around you and the family lived out at Lake Okareka, so it was just a stones throw to the lake.

I had a classic kiwi childhood playing rugby in the weekends until my hands had been stood on too many times that I had broken all of my fingers. I liked getting stuck into anything competitive I could, rugby, cricket, canoe polo, tennis even taking handball to a level it really should not be.

I went to high school at Rotorua Lakes High School, where I was first XV in rugby moving through a bunch of positions finally landing at hooker. My passion at school was mostly about hanging out with my mates as much as I could.

I began my BMS degree at the University of Waikato, without really understanding what I wanted to do with it. After two years of study I realised another two years of this wouldn’t land me where I wanted to me and I decided to take the practical approach and got stuck into moving through the leadership ranks.

I began my leadership career with McDonalds, this place taught me all about systems, systems run the place. I got my first foot into business financials and leading people, was a great place to learn about how to business world works.

I then shifted to Spark where I was ignited with a sales passion and performance of business results. I’ve always been a competitive person, but this place allowed me to take it to a new level. I grew through the leadership ranks here to a point where I was responsible for 140 reports over a bunch of sites.

I’ve always been into Sport, watching and playing anything I can. Since leaving my rugby days behind I’ve picked up MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and achieved a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and orange belt in Karate, although this has more become a couch sport than an active one.

My favourite thing to do when I’m out of the office is catch up with a mate over a coffee or a beer if I’m not trying to convince you to try my new garage brewed cider I’ve just created.

I love to travel, have done the non-stop Europe trip and am keen to get back there, as well as the US and Asia. Over the next few years, I plan to hit these in style with my wife Sarah.

Born the youngest of four children, I was overindulged and spoilt. I lived a typical kiwi kids’ life and could be found barefoot, climbing every tree I could find, and generally getting up to as much mischief as I could manage. My favourite time was spent playing with my best friend, Toby, a German Shepherd/Corgi cross.

I attended a lot of different schools as my family moved around a fair bit. I enjoyed making new friends everywhere I went and I usually managed to keep in touch with my favourites after I moved!

During my high school years things were more settled – 4.5 years at Hillcrest High and after that, 1.5 years at Waikato Polytech. I turned 18 and decided to get straight into full time work.

I’ve worked in a lot of different roles… I’ve been an office manager, PA/secretary, fraud officer, customer service rep, quality coach and telemarketer. These covered a lot of different sectors including travel, government, law and construction.

I’ve learnt your job is only as good as the people you work with. If you have awesome colleagues, your days will be enjoyable and the job that much better.

Living my best life means time spent with loved ones, excellent food and drink, travel, exercise, and lots of good books to read!

When I was 18, I met the love of my life (at work – I hired him!) and got married (in Las Vegas) at 30. We have lived together in Hamilton for the past 20 years with a succession of furry children.

You can find me at the gym at 6am most mornings. My training is a mix of functional and weight training but my favourite training is with kettlebells and maces because who doesn’t love feeling like ninja!

I’m happiest spending time with my husband and our fur-children. We currently have four fabulous felines, Holly, Santana, Shylar and Bella.