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Introduction

A passion for business

From the time I was young all I ever wanted to do was be in business. My father was in business and from the age of five I used to go to his office with him on weekends or during holidays and sit there going through papers on his desk. My parents even bought me a little briefcase!

Through school the idea of holding a job down never appealed to me and when I was at university studying business I did not think about what job I might be able to get from it, but rather how I could apply the knowledge I was gaining to start and run my own business.

My interest in business was piqued at school when I was fortunate enough to have a wealthy commerce teacher who was already a successful stock market trader. I would often arrive early for class and he would talk about what he was investing in and explain how he chose the stocks, recommending certain books I could read for research (it was pre-internet days… but only just).

So I started trading while I was still at school, aged 16. After some initial success I realised that making money was fun and the activity of business itself was even more enjoyable than I had thought it would be. I realised that if I traded successfully and built up a bank of funds then I could invest that money into business and property, thereby not only generating cash flow but also growing my assets and putting money away safely.

Having finished university I got a job in stock broking with a bank. The worst part about this was that I was restricted in what I could trade myself. I also started to build up a property portfolio. One of my best friends was in property development and we would have endless coffees whilst he explained to me how the property market worked at a commercial level.

Creative business

The undertone to all of this was that my family’s business was in entertainment. I did not necessarily want to be in business with them, although entertainment was in my blood because I had been exposed to showbiz from the time I was born. I was very happy with the stock broking world; I was financially secure and enjoyed success in property, stock and derivative trading.

Eventually opportunities arose where I could do both, so in addition to my own businesses I became a shareholder in my family’s business. After several years of ups and downs, successes and failures, litigation and love, we turned the company from a fee for service business, promoting and producing shows, into a property owner and manager, developing arenas and entertainment venues, and owning the intellectual property rights to shows. The most notable of these was the theatrical production Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage, to which we owned the world rights.

I co-owned and was founding co-producer of Dirty Dancing, which held its world premiere in Australia in 2004. This production has since played in Holland, Canada, America, Germany and London’s West End. Dirty Dancing set box office records in Germany and London. With sold out performances and a global gross to date in excess of US$500m, it is regarded as one of the most successful musicals of all time, alongside Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Mamma Mia and Cats. It became a global phenomenon and was valued at over US$100m when I exited.

Over the past decade I have been involved in concert promotion, theatrical production and rights ownership, venue management and ownership and development, as well as angel investing. This work has included taking numerous companies to market, counselling them on how to become investable and then helping them to gain finance, venture capital and private equity. I have also been involved with property development, public speaking, mentoring and co-founding companies across a variety of sectors.

I also co-founded and co-developed the 13,000-seat Vector Arena (the Auckland Entertainment Centre) in Auckland, New Zealand. I have been chairman of what is arguably Australasia’s leading theatre, the 2000-seat Capitol Theatre in Sydney, and also of the 11,000-seat Sydney Entertainment Centre, winner of multiple global awards as entertainment venue of the year.

I left these positions after a sale process to exit them and monetise the investments was set in motion . The Sydney Entertainment Centre, for example, was revalued three years after opening and had produced a 300% ROI.

Creative sector businesses remain my passion and my role has always been on the business side; the business of creativity is my thing!

A move into mentoring

In the years following my move to Europe I have not worked full time. I now undertake philanthropic work at the Peter Jones Foundation and Doug Richard’s School for Creative Startups. I am on the steering committee for NACUE/Create (National Association of College & University Entrepreneurs) and sit on the board of the Australian Centre for Event Management, a subsidiary of the Faculty of Business at Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS).

I have also lectured at the University of Westminster and for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). I was a founding mentor at the Accelerator Academy in London and I act as a mentor for Springboard, the UK and European Accelerator. Commercially, I established a company to mentor entrepreneurs.

I do this mentoring work because I enjoy it and because I noticed that most mentoring was being done either by salesmen or by people who were just teachers of theory and had no practical experience of actually starting or running a business.

When business and creativity collide

One thing I have witnessed is that creative entrepreneurs generally fall into two categories: those who keep a day job and do their creative work on the side, perhaps as a hobby, and sometimes receive a small income from it but only on a spare change scale; and those who want to take their concept to a commercial level.

To many in the creative sector, money, cash and profit are dirty words. To many in the commercial world the creative sector is not taken seriously as a business. A creative business left to creative people alone will have no business direction. Likewise, a creative business left to business people alone will have no creative streak.

These stereotypes are changing and creative sector entrepreneurs are realising that they can turn their passion into a business and keep its creative integrity, if they structure their enterprise correctly. Similarly, many in business now view the creative sector as a serious proposition with growth potential, in addition to it being a contribution to UK culture.

Even the British government recognises this and is placing the creative sector as a commercial sector firmly on its agenda. The EU is similarly placing importance on it, releasing policy papers and injecting funds into the European Creative Community.

Given these facts and the position I have come from, firstly in traditional business and later amalgamating my financial and business expertise with my creative passion, I work actively to bring these two camps together and to help creative entrepreneurs realise their passion. When this happens the creative person can afford to do what they love every day for the rest of their lives. What better way is there to live than that?

My intention in writing this book is to help start ups and creative sector entrepreneurs receive a business education so they can structure their endeavours appropriately and so theirs can become a viable business.

I hope that you enjoy the book and find it to be useful.