Scratch

Founder
2018 -

Online Offline

Organiser
2014 -

The 5TH

General Manager
2017 - 2018

Haydenshapes

Freelance web design
2017

Aquabumps

Freelance web design
2016

ZANEROBE

Digital Marketing
2015 - 2017

Barney Cools

Digital Marketing
2015 - 2017

Subtype Store

Digital Marketing
2015 - 2017

Online Store Guys

Co-Founder
2013 - 2015

BodyWise

Co-Founder
2013 - 2017

Plan Lab

Co-Founder
Sold 2013

Blog

In the last 365…

Posted on by Mike

It’s been 365 days since I released my first product. Plan Lab was huge for me. It signified a move from every cent I made coming from spending time working with someone to being able to create something out of nothing, and making sales while I was scratching my ass.

Of course it’s never that simple but the gradual shift into selling products rather than services is something that I’d planned since my early days studying Entrepreneurship at Uni and the ways of the world in everyday life.

Those 365 days have flown by and at the same time seem like years ago. It’s caused me to reflect on my last 365 days of life, what I’ve spent my time on, what I’ve learnt and what I’ve accomplished.

My last 365 days in a nutshell…

  • Lived in another country for the first time (see my blog post on my 6 months in Canada)
  • Launched my first product and made it profitable within 6 months (see my Plan Lab launch post)
  • Launched my second product. BodyWise was launched 7 days ago in fact (see my BodyWise launch post)
  • Launched SnowPro. Failed SnowPro (blog post on that experience coming soon)
  • Visited Canada, USA & Mexico
  • Spent 80 days snowboarding
  • Was featured by GoPro as their video of the day and seen by over 130,000 people (see our SnowPro epic amateur snowboarding video)
  • Appeared in a Harlem Shake video (seriously)
  • Nearly managed to push out an election-themed iPhone game only to be thwarted at the last minute (more coming on that soon)

At the end of the day

It’s been a hell of a year and looking back, I’m not sure I can keep that pace up for another year. At the end of the day I’ve had more fun during my 9-5 creating things and working with a small group of awesome clients than I ever had consulting 24/7 but it’s the people you spend time with out of work that really made my year.

Whether you’re a friend from Twitter, an old high school mate or someone I’ve met in the last 365 days, thanks for helping to make my year the best to date. You’ve been awesome.

Launch Day: BodyWise App

Posted on by Mike

Well here I am again. Nearly a year to the day since I last threw myself into the madness of launching a product I find myself guzzling down coffee and hitting refresh on account dashboards and App Store rankings.

Today, my co-founder and I launch BodyWise – the simplest way to track your health & fitness. It’s for the analytical and number-driven. In short its for the ever-growing community of self quantifiers that want to use data to know more about themselves and ultimately, use that data to improve their health and fitness.

app-store-button

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PXUUXy5PQ

I started off seeing BodyWise as an app that I wanted to build for myself. I figured if we wanted to use it and there was nothing out there like it, we’d find a group of people that loved it. In the 3 months since the idea was born, the quantified self movement has really kicked on and wearable tech like Fitbit and Jawbone UP’s are on every tenth wrist.

It’s turned from something I saw as a cool app to something I see as a start-up with huge potential

Quite simply BodyWise lets you track your health & fitness metrics like no other app. The future for us will be building cool things around your health & fitness data. That might mean a new bread of portable trainer based on your data (imagine going for a run, falling short of last weeks performance and being told that you were 0.7L short of your necessary water intake or didn’t fuel your body with enough carbs) or it may mean training plans based on your goals that keep you accountable to the figures that you need to hit.

Download on the App Store or visit the BodyWise website

Is health & fitness data an area that you’re interested in? Get in touch with me as we’re open to working with investors and partners to help us not only track health & fitness data, but blow the market away with how we interpret it for you

BodyWise – Coming this August

Posted on by Mike

I’ve always been a numbers man when it comes to my health and fitness. Whether it was marking down how many Red Bull’s I was having each week or asking my soccer coaches to time me each week in pre-season so that I could see how I was improving on my 2km time trials. Being able to see and analyse my progress kept me motivated and accountable.

When I returned from Canada I caught up with my mate Dave and started to talk business ideas. He’s a personal trainer and I noted to him the huge rise in wearable technology. He’d already heard of the FitBit Flex wristband that helped to measure sleep, distance moved and calories burned.

From there, the idea of an app that measured and tracked your health & fitness was born.

World, meet BodyWise

body-wise-iphone-app

BodyWise (Check out our website or Facebook) is to become the ultimate body & health tracker iPhone app. Since the idea was conceived 2 months ago the health & fitness app market has become even more crowded. For mine, it doesn’t all click. Most health trackers only track fitness and ignore the rest of your health such as sleep, water intake, diet, etc., or they’re just too difficult to use.

If you’ve read the 4 hour body you’ll know that good health and fitness only starts with your physical activity. BodyWise builds on that philosophy and lets you monitor over 40 areas of your health and fitness.

BodyWise is:

  • For the curious and the analytical
  • A free download with in-app purchases to unlock extra things to monitor
  • A clean, uncluttered and iOS7 inspired (but improved) flat user interface
  • As easy to use for your Mum as your 20 year old next door neighbour
  • One-touch access to graph your latest results or enter your latest performance

BodyWise will become:

This is Version1. We love it but it’s only early days. We’re iterating every week and have a product roadmap of where we think this is going to go. Ultimately our users will decide but we’re planning integration with your favourite wearable tech (think Nike Fuelband, Fitbit Flex, Pebble and UP by Jawbone), something really cool with social integration (but BodyWise will never be socially driven) and a greater emphasis on the picture that your data paints.

For now, we’re just happy blowing everyone away with brilliant simplicity and a far wider range of health &amp fitness metrics to track.

Sign up here to be one of the first to know when it launches on the App Store

Whistler – Done

Posted on by Mike

For the past few weeks of my 6-month adventure overseas, I’ve been trying to force out the words to describe my experience. It’s not until I take my seat and plug in my headphones on the long flight home that something half decent starts to come to me.

My story is nothing compared to anything you’ll read in even the dodgiest travel blog. I didn’t walk on coals in a remote Asian island, nor did I hitchhike through South America without a word of Spanish. Instead, I’m writing about what it’s like for a young business owner to pull back from the 60-70 hour a week addiction to his work.

Speaking with other 20-something’s that run their own business, it seems I’m hardly the only one working so hard on a business that was for ‘lifestyle reasons’. Working your own hours, not having to answer to a boss each day and learning the in’s and out’s of running a business sounds incredible on paper.

Indeed it is. It’s incredibly rewarding to start your own business, to see it produce good work and to watch it grow in reputation. Hell, I loved Engage Marketing and still do.

At what cost does it come to you though? I found myself talking with friends but not really listening. When I’d make time for a game of golf, I’d be worried about how many emails I was missing, or what was in the voicemails left on my phone. That wasn’t the freedom that I’d been searching for.

So, a friend convinced me to come over to Canada with him and do a ski-season in Whistler. Part of the appeal was the business we were to start and ultimately fail at (but that’s another blog post).

Whistler

Over the six months I learnt a lot that will shape how I live my life in the future. Here are some of the things that I took away:

People

The single biggest change was going from comfortable Melbourne, hanging out with the same groups of people day in, day out, to a completely new environment where you’re meeting new people every day.

The people you meet early on become your family and I was lucky enough to spend the majority of the 6 months with some damn good people. Groups form and people come and go, but there’s nothing better than experiencing new things with new people.

Do what you love

EVERYONE is at Whistler because they love the snow. The wages are just way too low to justify any other reason for being there. Some party hard, others forgo the drugs or alcohol and concentrate purely on skiing and snowboarding but it’s the chance to get that one perfect run down the mountain that everyone’s there for.

When you get so many people living their dreams and playing with their passion all day, you get one hell of a happy place. No-one’s down about their day. No-one fights when you go out. It’s human beings at their most happy and free.

It’s just unbelievable waking up and being able to do what you want. A typical day might be waking up, watching Sports Centre and then heading up the mountain. Soon enough, you’d run into half a dozen friends out there and snowboard/ski for a few hours until you’re exhausted or want to get back and work. You might chill at a cafe or bar for a drink afterwards.

There’s no alarms, negative mainstream media or deadlines to make. You really have nothing to stress about as long as you have money to survive.

Taking a clean break from a hectic life

For me, my time in Canada reinforced the notion of keeping life fun and interesting, no matter what. Life is what you make it. I could have had 6 months working hard at home, or I could have gone to Canada and laughed 100x as much, met 30x more people and let my mind run free.

Odd’s are that I’ll end up getting back into working with my awesome marketing clients and designing blogs for some really cool people, but a bit of time off has left me a lot more refreshed and ready to go.

Powder!

If anyone out there is thinking of doing something like I did, I can only say to go for it. Don’t think twice. Just do it. You won’t regret it!

Checking in from Canada

Posted on by Mike

Since I first visited Europe as a sixteen year-old, I’ve dreamed of a stint living overseas. The (relatively) warm temperatures and cultural differences of Spain appealed to me above all others but the dream started to fade as the realities of owning and running two businesses took hold. At twenty four I found myself working up to 70 hours a week with a day completely free from work a rarity.

At the beginning of the year one of my best mates from a simpler high school time planted the idea of six months living in Whistler in my mind. Snowboarding every day sounded pretty good but I had businesses keeping me home. I can’t put remember what triggered it, but one day I had a realisation that if owning my own business didn’t let me do what I truly wanted to do, what was the point?

Two months in

Nearly two months has passed since I put a pause on life back in Australia to take up this crazy life snowboarding all day and working a healthy amount in the afternoons and evenings. Best yet, I have entire days off without thinking of work.

It’s a funny old world here. I travelled to the other side of the world and there’s more Australians here than Canadians. The thing is that there’s no-one going through the motions. EVERYONE is here to do what they love. For some, that’s partying but for most of us it’s to wake up tired, head out cold and snowboard or ski the best mountains in the world. As the video in my post What If  Money Was No Object? explained, it’s all about passion.

Most of our group of 13 that go out at different times and always seem to form a big crew on the snow
Me, Britt & Zac (new friends) and Stu who I came over to Canada with

Living in Whistler is quickly teaching me that living wild and free is bloody good! It’s making me think of work in a completely different way. Back home my first priority was how much I was enjoying what I was creating, followed by income and trailing distantly was work/life balance. With every day that goes by, I feel myself reevaluating how much I was working for what I was getting out of it.

Here’s a question that I’ve been pondering for the business owners out there

If you could work 40% less but the consequence was 20% less profit, would you do it?

That’s the question that I’ve been asking myself lately. So much of the time and energy we put into business goes to covering our commitments, whether they be staff wages, rent or a big advertising budget.

I think my 2013 will be about having an efficient life and making the most of what I’m doing. I need to focus on cutting the crap and using my time on things that are going to make me happiest, most relaxed or more successful.

As I read over this post before I press the magic blue Publish button and send this post into the interwebs, I laugh at how it seems like I’ve got problems. In reality life was amazing back home and is just as amazing (if not more) on my Canadian adventure.

I guess at the end of the day we all need a theory to work on and learn from.

What if money was no object?

Posted on by Mike

An old friend of mine posted this video on Facebook some time ago. It instantly struck a cord with me and if I’m honest, planted a seed of doubt in my mind as to what I’m doing with my life.

After some thought, I’m pretty clear on it. I don’t love one particular thing that I need to devote my life too. I love living and what I love most is sticking my teeth into my business projects but having the time, ability and freedom to drop it all for a trip to the snow, a day on the golf course or a midnight boat trip on the bay to chase Snapper.

If money was no object, I’d be doing what I’m already doing. I guess that’s why I’m always so happy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siu6JYqOZ0g

Cram 10 years worth of learning into 3

Posted on by Mike

I just finished up a three year stint as President of my soccer club. Only twenty-one years old when I put my hand up, parents and fellow board members must have been nervous. Hell, I was nervous. I’d gone from starting a company with a goal of making others care about something I was building, to taking over something that people already cared about.

In that three years I’ve learnt a hell of a lot. In my businesses, I made decisions by myself. In the soccer club environment, I had a board of six to work with. It taught me how to deal with differing opinions, when to be strong, the importance of letting go of ego and the joys of working with good people. I’ve learnt as much as a person from jumping into an unpaid role at the soccer club as I have through any traditional learning.

It got me thinking about the path I’ve taken to get to where I’m at today. What would I do differently? If someone was to ask me how I do what I do, what would I say?

How to cram 10 years worth of learning into 3

  • Start a company. Better yet, start two.
  • Read a book a month.
  • Read a blog post a day.
  • Become President of a sporting club.
  • Travel to somewhere that makes you nervous every year.

Each suggestion teaches you different lessons. Each inspires you in different ways. Each is enjoyable in it’s own unique way.

How did you get the most out of yourself and your learning capacity?

Could Plan Lab have been made 5 years ago?

Posted on by Mike

We’re at a pretty freakin amazing time in society. There are so many things that we couldn’t do five years ago. The rate of change in our world is scary and oh so exciting. The best thing? Things are only going to move faster.

It got me thinking about Plan Lab and whether it would have been possible without VC funding even just five years ago.

Five years ago:

  • Freelancer wasn’t on anyone’s radar, hadn’t won any of it’s awards and was just working on it’s product. I wouldn’t have had access to overseas developers.
  • Cloud software was barely around and rarely adopted. I would have had to absorb CD-distribution into my costs and set up distribution points around the world.
  • There wasn’t so much information around and so many idea-building tools to help me to visualise the concept.
  • Plan Lab simply wouldn’t have happened.

Books such as Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup and more recently, The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau have paved the way for small, ambitious businesses to change markets and introduce niche products on a global stage. Last month, on a $6,000 budget including development and marketing, i released Plan Lab. I want to shake up the online marketing plan software market that until now, has been dominated by large software companies.

The task was daunting. Five, or even three years ago, I probably couldn’t have contemplated something this daring. We see small business owners around the world using it to learn how to successfully market their businesses.

A world where a humble marketing agency can shake up a market dominated by a company a thousand times its size and produce something that helps businesses around the world to attain more profit and enjoyment out of their business, is truly amazing. I’m far from the brightest person building something like this. There are hundreds of bright, ambitious lean startups popping up every day, many without technical co-founders and large capital.

I personally can’t wait to see what the start up world is like in another five years.

Time to explore

Posted on by Mike

I’ve always been a big believer that before all else, your business has to serve your life. It has to provide enough enjoyment that it’s worth the risk and it has to have the potential to let you live life on your own terms.

I’ve been pretty lucky since I started Engage Marketing back in 2009. I launched the marketing agency while living at home with my folks. From there it grew into something that serves the lifestyle that i dreamed of. Yes, I still work my 60-70 hours a week but I’ve got the nice car I wanted, I live in a nice home in a nice-enough part of Melbourne with a few of my best friends and I’m able to go to the snow and take the odd holiday. Best yet, I love the work that I do.

But, I’ve decided on a pretty huge change. From November, I’m going to be living in Whistler Ski Resort in Canada.

Why the change? I’ve become too comfortable and I’m not pushing my mind enough. I love my work, but I’ve become too caught up in getting work done and spend too little time learning and experiencing new things.

What’s happening to my businesses?

The hardest part of this decision has been the realisation that in order to make this work, I have to put Engage Marketing on hold. I’m going to be spending 6 months continuing my work with The Blog Designers and Plan Lab while I play a part in a new business with some friends. It’s going to be called Snow Pro and we’re going to rent out GoPro’s and camera recording equipment to skiers and snowboarders at the start of the day, and then turn their footage into 20 minute DVDs that capture the fun, thrills and spills of their day on the mountain.

I’ll be continuing Engage Marketing when I return next April and I’ll be armed with a wiser mind than ever before. I plan on spending my extra free time digging into what is now a huge list of marketing, business and entrepreneurship books.

In summary, Engage Marketing is on hold for 6 months while I snowboard and increase my time spent working on Plan Lab and my other business, The Blog Designers. I’m incredibly excited to be going on an adventure folks!