I didn't learn this from a book.

I trained as an apprentice glazier in New Zealand. The senior glaziers in that company took me under their wing and taught me everything.

Once I qualified, I went on my OE, moved to London, travelled around Europe. Came home briefly, then headed to Melbourne for work.

A couple of jobs in, I was already frustrated. Some of the operating procedures I saw were rough, one place felt like I'd gone back in time. I couldn't stomach how things were being run, so I took a management role at a glass business, with no management experience whatsoever. The previous owner's son mentored me for a couple of months while he was travelling around Australia in a campervan. That's about the time I started clocking how hard small business ownership actually is: late nights, early mornings, never able to get ahead.

Eighteen months in, the owner pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to buy the business. Vendor finance over five years, basically no money down. I had nothing left after the travel, so the deal was the only way it was happening. I said yes.

From there I set about making it the best business I could. I read every book I could find on systems and processes, and I hired a business consultant who did the actual work while I learned over her shoulder. Step by step, I systemised everything.

The first time I realised what those systems had built me was a friend's wedding in Bali. I ran the whole business from a mobile phone for two weeks. A bit of computer work at night, that was it. Came home with a fire under me and went harder.

When COVID hit, the business didn't blink. Everyone could work from anywhere. Nothing changed.

That's when I knew the systems weren't just mine. I bought into a second business in Australia, applied the same systems, scaled it over a couple of years, and sold it to help fund the move home to New Zealand with my family.

I ran the glass business remotely from Queenstown, flying back when I needed to. In March 2026, I sold it to a buyer with no glass experience at all.

The systems were good enough that someone completely outside the trade could run a glass business with them. That's the whole point of the story.

Now I'm building Glass Hub and documenting what's next out in the open, the wins and the stuff-ups both. If you want to follow along, that's what this page is for.