John M. Carr was born in Chicago Illinois, but grew up in New Zealand. He completed a Bachelor of Commerce Degree at Auckland University before being recruited by a Fortune 25 company in the United States. He held several positions within the sales and marketing departments of the company during his nine-year tenure.

Between 1977 and 1984 he purchased a number of offices of a bookkeeping company, which became the nucleus of today’s Better Business Services Inc. He also completed his MBA and obtained a Certified Public Accountant’s license in Oklahoma and Minnesota during this time.

 

In 1984 he left 3M to pursue his own entrepreneurial business opportunities. Concentrating on bookkeeping, tax preparation and payroll processing in Texas and Florida, the company developed a strong reputation as a proven provider of tax and bookkeeping advice for small businesses.

 

Better Business Services Inc offers extensive tax preparation and financial planning assistance to a wide cross section of businesses.  To further support the clients of the business, John Carr is both an Enrolled Agent with the Internal Revenue Service and a Certified Tax Practitioner. The forty-nine employees in the company have been key to the success of the company.

 

In addition, Mr. Carr has owned and operated several small businesses in a diverse range of industries, from travel and aircraft leasing to printing and computers.

 

In 1987 he listed an entity on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. The business invested in service companies specializing in small businesses in the United States. In 1993 the company expanded into New Zealand forestry, a change in direction that presented significant opportunities for the minority investors. The company expanded further, and in 1994 merged with Evergreen Forests to form a $100 million dollar company.

 

In 1989 he rounded out his financial experience and qualifications as a Certified Fraud Examiner and has investigated a number of white-collar embezzlements and frauds. As a Certified Valuation Analyst, Mr. Carr is able to value businesses and financial transactions from a number of perspectives.

 

In 1995, as a Director of New Zealand Petroleum Ltd, Mr. Carr was key in changing the direction of the company. As a result, it developed into a $100 million dollar provider of eldercare facilities for the retired.

 

In January 2001, Mr. Carr published his first book – “Wealth Creation” designed to give practical tips for all those striving to achieve their financial dreams.

 

In 2002 the Certified Public Accounting office in Idabel Oklahoma merged with another CPA practice resulting in the largest CPA office in McCurtain County, Oklahoma.

 

In July 2003 the Oil and Gas Bulletin was merged with the acquisition of PEX Publications in Perth, Australia making it the premier publisher of Oil and Gas information in Western Australia.

 

August 2003 saw All Purpose Finance Ltd set up as a New Zealand finance company with John Carr taking a minority holding.

 

In October 2003 Coronet Alpine Hotel was added as a 74-room hotel serving New Zealand inbound tourists and catering to Ski Season at the base of Coronet Peak in Queenstown – a top tourist destination. By 2006 revenues had quadrupled with the addition of a 7 lane, state of the art bowling alley.

 

A three-story historical brick building was renovated and in May 2004 the CPA offices moved into the building. The CPA office was successful in securing the Budget Making position for McCurtain County. We assist the Excise Commission and County Commissioners in establishing the annual multi-million dollar county budget. The CPA office is the preeminent accounting office in McCurtain County.

 

May 28th 2004 saw the sale of Moneyonline to publicly listed Dorchester Pacific. The merger gave the company greater access to an expanded base of clients and more diversified list of products.

 

The central administrative offices for the BBS companies were moved to a campus-like setting on 10 acres of land in Boerne, just outside San Antonio in May 2004.

 

April 2005 was a busy month with the acquisition of EasyBooks NZ Ltd. With 8,000 customers in New Zealand and a strong role with Accountants in New Zealand Easybooks is the common product that will be developed across all three counties. It provides an entry level accounting product and the opportunity to offer an ASP (application service provider) model. During 2006 a number of related software products to enhance the end users experience were developed.

 

In the same month, Spectrum Resources sold its subsidiary – Kinetiq NZ Ltd and Demand Response to Mr. Carr. They are located along with Easybooks in a company owned executive office park on the North Shore of Auckland. The programming team from Kinetiq will work with Easybooks and Pex to develop online solutions for customer needs. The initial expectation of true synergy between the companies as envisaged as the businesses settle in has been realized. Kinetiq has hired additional staff to support the growing suite of on line software solutions. It is expected that each company will continue to evolve as a “center of excellence” with their own expertise being shared across the companies.

 

In August 2005 the New Zealand Institute of Directors conferred the Fellow of the Institute of Directors on Mr. Carr

 

In October 2005, Shelf Company No 10 purchased an iconic coast line property in Pakiri that borders the latest Auckland Regional Council park acquisition. It is proposed to expand and develop the Alpaca business in Huacaya breeds on this property.

 

In April 2006 Brass Magazine New Zealand was purchased by Electronic Publishing Ltd. Brass is a complimentary business to Pex with programming and design elements, in addition to office sharing will be beneficial to both companies.

 

In August 2006 Easybooks was merged with Rafael Investments Ltd – the New Zealand distributor for Intuit products in New Zealand. The combined entity becomes the second latest accounting software provider to the SME market in New Zealand.

 

In October 2006, Mr. Tony Ortiz tapped Mr. Carr to be treasurer for his campaign as he runs for County Commissioner in Orlando in 2008 for District 2. He was elected to the City Council in May 2008. Mr. Carr sits on the Board of Directors for a University of Central Florida business incubator within District 2.

 

 

Given the amount of fleece that is produced in the US and New Zealand from the Alpaca’s it was natural to look at vertical integration and a carding business (Belex Carding) in Luggate, Central Otago was purchased in October 2007. The business uses two one hundred year old twelve-ton pieces of equipment to card various types of fleece for the domestic market.

 

Coronet Hotel and Strike Bowl Queenstown were sold in December 2006.  The property was leasehold with little prospect for freehold and for that reason was not complimentary with the rest of the businesses where land had been owned by each business.

 

In March 2007, while unsuccessful in auditioning for the New Zealand version of Dragon’s Den, the producer – Michele Simpson approached Mr. Carr about partnering in a new business – Webartorial’s – commercially produced short (3 min) online clips of business – and Snapparazzi.co.nz was born.

 

Transfield Worley, part of an internationally recognized engineering and consulting company, made overtures to Kinetiq about Demand Response. While not interested in an outright sale of Demand Response it did make commercial sense to partner with a larger entity. Transfield Worley took a 50% shareholding in Demand Response in April 2007.

 

An opportunity to develop New Zealand produced clothing through a new entity Teaze, resulted in Velocity taking a 45% shareholding in the start up in April 2007.

 

In July 2007 Asaan Pty Ltd was formed in Mumbai India to explore the opportunities relating to outsourcing accounting and payroll services. Given the global constraint on labor, it is seen as a viable business opportunity. Initially concentrating on the group’s financials and compliance activities, the expectation is to expand the offering to unrelated third parties.

 

An additional office building in Albany, on Triton Drive, was purchased in August 2007, to provide production, office and administration space for Teaze, Brass and Snapparazzi.

 

Lookout Estate in Alexandra was completed in September and titles issued. Twenty of the thirty two sections were sold – the remaining are on the market for sale at present.

 

Brass Magazine and Teaze were merged into CVC Group in October 2007. Velocity took a 45% shareholding in a well established, iconic retail brand name.

 

November 2007 saw the development of the first tranche of 3,000 Italian Olive trees planted on the Cornish Point Development land in the South Island. Significant infrastructure was required to bring irrigation to the site. The plan to plant an additional 3,500 trees will mean that Cornish Point Development Ltd will be a substantial player in the extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed market in New Zealand in the coming years.

 

In conjunction with a client in Orlando, Lab Options Ltd was formed in April 2008 to offer blood tests to self pay patients in Central Florida. The first office was opened in July 2008.

 

In August 2008 the decision was made to have Kinetiq, using its expertise in accounting and finance, develop an online suite of tools for small businesses in Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia. The initial system would consist of a basic cash book, document management system and credit card receipt management system. As a result Easybooks came back in house under Kinetiq management.

 

Your Doctor Publications was acquired by Pex Publications in October 2008. The addition of three more newsletters adds to the diversification of the business in Western Australia. The ability to grow the business into New Zealand and the US has real possibilities.

In the past 3 years, self service DVD Kiosks in the US, have become a direct threat to the established movie rental businesses. As no one has introduced the concept to New Zealand – two units were acquired in June 2009 and shipped to Auckland for installation. Pick-a-Flick starts with two locations and if successful will roll out quickly around New Zealand.

 

In July 2009 EarthMail was formed to take advantage of the scanning and online document management expertise that Kinetiq has developed. It offers virtual mail box faculties for businesses and individuals that mean the daily trek to the PO Box and mail room is merely a mouse click away.

 

In October 2009 Cornish Point Development Ltd constructed a purpose built building for Belex in Central Otago. It houses two x 100+ year old carding equipment. The two machines have been rebuilt from scratch and will form the basis for the Alpaca fiber business going forward.

 

Working with a second generation natural fibre broker, Wadsworth Heap in Christchurch, Belex has created Pacific Alpaca’s and a market for people to sell their Alpaca fleece. The first 10,000 kgs of fibre shipped in early 2011 making it the largest export of fibre ever in New Zealand. There is an opportunity to develop a significant fibre broking business from a base in Central Otago.

 

In January 2011, he took over the CFO role at BasicIDIQ Inc. a successful contracting company, implementing a number of technology upgrades to the company to allow it to operate more effectively in a challenging economy,

 

In 2012 a crowd funding site assisting small companies launch their entrepreneurial dreams was created at www.socialbacking.com. In June the first commercial importation of 100% electric mopeds, the brand Zoompeds will test New Zealanders commitment to its clean green image.

 

Late in 2012 www.zoompeds.com was formed to import electric mopeds and scooters into New Zealand to take advantage of the clean green 100% Pure New Zealand image.

 

In the first quarter of 2013, Softvision Consulting LLC contracted for additional CFO services. This successful international software development company, specializing in Apple and Smartphone applications, is benefiting from the CFO services provided.

 

In May 2013 www.soaringkiwis.com launched offering aerial surveillance services in real estate and agricultural applications, CAA certification is expected during July 2013.

 

He has a 200-acre farm in Pakiri, New Zealand, running to the ocean with 11 miles of white sand beaches and is being developed as an agri-forestry venture and reforestation of native forest.

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