The following is a very brief biography of my life so far.

I was born in Mackay, in northern Queensland in Australia. As a young child, my family lived in Mackay, Brisbane (Australia) and Auckland (New Zealand). Just before I turned ten, we moved to Hobart in the state of Tasmania in Australia, and I grew up there.

I completed a Commerce degree at University (majoring in Accounting), and worked for an international firm of Chartered Accountants for six years. I specialised in management accounting and taxation. After six years of that I decided I wanted to expand my horizons and have the freedom to work for myself.

I started my first business at 19 years of age. It was just a small takeaway shop. I only owned it for about two years but I've owned at least one business ever since (although I've bought and sold a few over the years). I resigned for the accounting firm after six years there and I have basically worked for myself ever since. I started out by doing some financial and accounting work for myself and also managing a nightclub for a period of about nine months. The nightclub was a lot of fun.

I then lived in Vanuatu (a tropical island nation in the Pacific Ocean) for six months, managing a small business there. That was also a lot of fun, tropical beaches and palm trees, wearing shorts and T-shirt every day! Oh, and lots of fresh seafood.

After that I thought I better get back into the "real" business world again, so I moved to Melbourne in Australia and began working on my own investments. I established my own investment company, Awston Holdings, and I have owned and operated that company ever since. During the mid 1990s I moved to Sydney in Australia for 19 months and continued to manage Awston (pronounced "Orston"), and then returned to Melbourne. Awston grew to be quite large for a privately owned business, employing over 70 people.

I also began my mentoring and coaching activities during this time.I still own and operate Awston today although I have trimmed the staff back to a small group of my most loyal and self-sufficient staff. I have a fantastic relationship with them and they basically manage themselves. The company has now become stable and mature, doesn't take up much of my time and I can do almost everything I need to do over the internet. This gives me the freedom to live anywhere in the world, exploring other projects and enjoying travel.

Through the late 1990s and early 2000s I was based in Melbourne running my training school in Southbank. Around 2003 I decided to close the office and go mobile, and ever since I've basically worked from my laptop and mobile phone while I travel, which suits me perfectly. A few years ago I discovered I had a knack for writing so I started writing some bits and pieces, mainly articles, "how to" guides and reviews. Over time my reputation as a writer grew and I am now the Gambling Correspondent for Crikey. I have also written freelance poker articles for MSNBC. I'm currently working on three books simultaneously (yes I know I should do them one at a time but they're all so interesting!

I love travel, so much so that I am now basically a perpetual traveller, never stopping in any one place for more than about a few months. Sometimes I just stay a few days or a week, and then move on. I've visited many places around the world:

• Australia (every major city, and most of the minor cities)
• China (In 2001 I lived in Beijing for two months and studied Mandarin at the Beijng Language and Culture University, I've also been to Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Zhuhai)
• France (I've been to Paris, throughout Normandy and the North-West, and Nice and the French Riviera. In the summer of 2005 I spent about a month based at a friend's country house just outside of Paris.)
• Holland
• Hong Kong (I've lived here on and off for the last few years)
• India
• Indonesia
• Jamaica
• Macau
• Malaysia (Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpar and Penang)
• Mexico
• Monte Carlo
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill)
• The Philippines
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Taiwan (both Taipei and Kaohsiung)
• Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Koh Pipi and Pattaya)
• United Kingdom
• United States (numerous times to New York, Atlantic City, Boston, Connecticut, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Reno, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC)
• Vanuatu

...and this is just the beginning. I try to travel at least once around the world every year. I still visit Tasmania about twice a year as I have family there.