Not quite the usual agency story.
I didn’t set out to build a digital agency.
My early interests were in the creative arts, music and traditional Japanese martial arts. Those interests took me from Los Angeles to Japan, into the international music industry, and eventually to the emerging world of internet technology.
Along the way, I discovered something that has stayed with me throughout my career: creative thinking and technology are most valuable when they solve real problems.
It’s an approach that continues to guide my work at Joomstore today.
Los Angeles beginnings. A creative foundation.
Raised in Los Angeles, I attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), internationally recognised for its contribution to creative education and the arts.
Being immersed in a creative environment helped shape the way I approached ideas, communication and problem-solving.
But my next chapter would take me a long way from California.
A different direction. Japan.
In 1989, I moved to Japan to pursue a longstanding interest in traditional Japanese martial arts.
What began as a personal journey became an extended chapter of my life, introducing me to a different culture, language and approach to learning.
Japan would also become the place where my professional marketing career began.
Virgin Japan. Where marketing became a career.
I joined Virgin Japan as Program Manager, responsible for sales and promotional activities across Western and Southern Japan.
My work involved cable radio, in-store promotions, marketing campaigns and external events, coordinating activities across different locations, audiences and media.
It was an opportunity to work within an internationally recognised brand while developing a practical understanding of how marketing, creative production and commercial objectives fit together.
And outside my work at Virgin, I was pursuing another interest. Music.
BiggBlasst. Before music went digital.
During my years in Japan, I established BiggBlasst, a pioneering online record label at a time when distributing and promoting music through the internet was still a relatively new idea.
The label was associated with Japan’s emerging grunge music scene, with releases distributed through Virgin Megastore, Tower Records and other national retail chains.
I also produced Osaka Festa, a series of large-scale music festivals that brought artists and audiences together.
Running a record label and producing live events required more than creativity. There were artists, venues, distribution networks, promotion, production and commercial realities to manage.
It was entrepreneurship, marketing and production all at once. And the internet was beginning to change everything.
The early days of the commercial internet.
On returning to Los Angeles, I worked directly with Creative Planet Inc., a company operating in the emerging intersection of entertainment and digital technology.
Creative Planet would later acquire Movie Magic, the well-known film and television budgeting and scheduling software business.
During this period, I developed an early online Web Guide for film and television services, bringing together industry information and resources to help production professionals find the services they needed.
Long before today’s online directories and sophisticated search platforms, the opportunity was already clear: technology could organise information, connect businesses and fundamentally change the way industries worked.
That experience established an approach to digital development that I’ve continued to use throughout my career.
Understand the industry first. Then build technology that serves it.
Los Angeles Web Designs.
In 2001, I established Los Angeles Web Designs, bringing my experience in marketing, creative production and emerging internet technologies into my own business.
My work centred on helping organisations establish an effective online presence and use the internet as a practical business tool.
This was still an early period in the evolution of commercial websites, before smartphones, social media and most of the platforms businesses now take for granted.
The technologies were different, but the business questions were surprisingly familiar.
- How do we reach the right people?
- How do we communicate our value?
- How do we make our business easier to find, understand and work with?
Those questions remain just as relevant today.
Perth. A growing digital industry.
In 2003, I moved to Perth and joined Webfirm as Production Manager, during the formative years of the city’s commercial web development industry.
I subsequently held Production Manager and Production Director positions at other Perth agencies, overseeing creative production, digital development and project delivery.
These roles brought together the different parts of my experience: marketing strategy, design, technology, commercial requirements and the practical realities of delivering work for clients.
I came to understand that successful digital projects depend as much on clear thinking, communication and experienced management as they do on the technology itself.
The beginning of Joomstore.
In 2008, I co-founded Joomstore with John Pitchers, also known as Viperfish.
We established the business by combining our creative, technical and commercial experience, with the aim of delivering well-considered digital solutions for Australian businesses.
What began with website development and digital marketing has evolved over nearly two decades into a broader technology and digital consultancy.
Our work now encompasses digital strategy, search marketing, cybersecurity, custom software and business applications, systems integration and automation.
Across law firms, industrial businesses, professional services and not-for-profit organisations, the projects may be very different, but the underlying objective is consistent.
Help people solve problems, improve how their organisations operate and create meaningful commercial value.
Experience matters more than ever.
Over the course of my career, I’ve seen enormous changes in how businesses communicate, market themselves and use technology.
I’ve worked through the arrival of the commercial internet, the growth of search engines, content management systems, mobile technology, social media, cloud applications and increasingly sophisticated business software.
Today, artificial intelligence and automation are creating another significant shift. The opportunities are substantial, but so is the noise. Businesses are surrounded by platforms, promises and providers offering seemingly endless solutions.
I believe experience matters in this environment. Not because older technologies were better, but because understanding what makes a business work is something that comes from years of solving real problems.
At Joomstore, I remain personally involved in understanding client requirements, developing strategies and guiding the delivery of practical solutions.
I’m interested in what technology can achieve, not simply what it can do.
Technology changes. Good thinking doesn’t.
My career has taken me through some very different industries, countries and technologies. But the principle that connects them has remained remarkably consistent.
- Listen carefully.
- Understand the problem.
- Think creatively.
- Build something useful.
- Take responsibility for the result.
That’s the thinking behind Joomstore. And it’s what I bring to every client relationship.
