Delusional

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Seven years ago, a company that owns big chain stores in Australia wanted to turn Cabinet Noir into the next big chain store. Ed said no. Looking back, he says that if he'd had a mentor at the time, he would have taken the exit.

Edward Maradona is the founder of Cabinet Noir. He was a B-boy who travelled the world dancing, then at 27 chose between buying a house and opening a shop. Thirteen years later, he's turning a multi-brand store that once carried 80 brands into a business built around his own label.

This conversation is about the real cost of retail: fit outs, stock deposits and dead stock, plus why people now buy into founders as much as products, and what it takes to keep a brand alive for more than a decade.

WE GET INTO:

→ Why most of his $300K went into the first fit out, leaving around 50 to 60 grand for stock

→ How 80 brands meant ordering around 800 grand of stock a season and paying roughly 200 grand in deposits upfront

→ Moving from 1% of his own brand in store to 80%

→ Why his cheapest fit out (around 30 grand) got the best reaction

→ How factory "catalogue products" mean many brands are selling the same items

→ Why he never asks "How can I help you?" when someone walks in

→ Why new brands should run pre-orders

→ The exit he turned down, and why "you are not the brand"

If you're building a brand, running a retail store or wondering when to cash in on what you've built, Ed's honesty about what he'd do differently is worth hearing.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Cold open and welcome

00:01:00 House or business at 27

00:05:00 From B-boy to business owner

00:08:00 $300K into a fit out, not stock

00:16:00 Competing with Shein through community

00:18:00 Founder brands and catalogue products

00:25:00 AI and the value of the human touch

00:32:00 Paying for stock six months ahead

00:35:00 Dead stock and discounting

00:47:00 Selling without pressure

01:02:00 How Comme des Garçons opened the door

01:09:00 Three fit outs, three very different budgets

01:13:00 Why new brands should do pre-orders

01:17:00 The exit he turned down

01:21:00 Design for one person

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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Our first rodeo lost around $90,000. By the fifth, 5,000 people were singing Sweet Caroline in the stands. The biggest change? We moved the date.

This is part two of our family business story with my dad, Tom Kennedy. We pick up after the go-karts and take you through six rodeos, a music festival, and the build of Wild West Bowling: a $1.2 million building we signed for with no finance in place, holding costs of around 20 grand a month, and the 87-year-old businessman who stepped in when we needed it most.

It's the turnaround, the people who believed in us, and what we finally learned about working smarter, not just harder.

WE GET INTO:

→ The mentor who told Dad to shut down his own event because nobody was at the bar

→ Why we refused to sell our last muscle car and paid off every creditor instead

→ How a trip to the library uncovered the date that made our rodeo work

→ How rodeo profits paid for our bowling lanes and the deposit on the new building

→ Holding costs, private loans and the months when $50,000 felt like a $5 note

→ The day Dad's spending had to be approved by "the Board"

→ Our rough opening, the one-star reviews, and the pizza complaint we learned from

→ Why we're still $2.8 million in debt, and why it's 100% worth it

If you're in the middle of a build that's taking everything you've got, listen to this one. And if you haven't heard part one yet, start there.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Part two: where we left off

00:04:00 Bruce arrives, and the rodeo idea

00:07:00 Losing $90K on the first rodeo

00:10:00 The mentor who said shut it down

00:13:00 Don't sell the Torana

00:17:00 Changing the date changed everything

00:25:00 How the rodeos funded the bowling alley

00:32:00 The final rodeo and music festival

00:43:00 Following the cars to a new site

00:48:00 Holding costs and buying time

00:56:00 Brian Hammer steps in

01:02:00 Mike quits FIFO to help finish the build

01:09:00 A rough opening and learning from feedback

01:20:00 $2.8 million in debt, and worth it

01:23:00 Dad's advice: make sure the idea is good

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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My dad once stood outside a half-million-dollar fit out he'd poured everything into, and watched a group of school kids glance at it and keep walking. 

That's when he knew it wasn't going to work.

This week my dad, Tom Kennedy, joins me for part one of our family business story. Before Wild West Bowling, there was a film he never made, an arcade business, a racing simulator shop in two shopping centres, a partnership that fell apart, go-karts and a drive-in cinema he had to get certified in three days.

It's honest, funny and a little painful: what happens when passion overclouds your judgement, and the lessons we only learned by living through it together.

WE GET INTO:

→ Why Dad walked away from making a film because he was scared of the debt

→ Buying Southwest Amusement with vendor finance, and why businesses where machines do the work appealed to him

→ Cutting up a brand-new $9,000 arcade game to build our first motion simulator

→ Why opening in a shopping centre that couldn't trade on Sundays or long weekends was "the dumbest move"

→ How a Scoopon deal brought in our worst customers

→ Running a partnership on word of mouth, with nothing written down

→ Why Dad's only business partners now are Mum and us kids

→ The difference it makes when the whole family is on board, not dragged along

If you've ever backed an idea with everything you've got and watched it fall flat, this one's for you. Part two, and the turnaround, is coming next week.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Welcome, Dad

00:01:00 Growing up near the beach

00:03:00 The film he never made

00:15:00 Buying Southwest Amusement

00:18:00 Letting the machines do the work

00:21:00 Cutting up a $9,000 game to build Simworld

00:26:00 Why the shopping centre was the dumbest move

00:28:00 The Westfield dream

00:35:00 The Scoopon mistake

00:43:00 A partnership with nothing in writing

00:46:00 Go-karts and winter rent

00:54:00 The drive-in and three days to get it certified

00:59:00 Doing it all as a family

01:08:00 What a $20 day taught me

01:11:00 Bringing everyone on board

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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I used to work 12-hour days at the family bowling alley for a $20 note. Some days we only had three customers. Now we have $15,000 days.

This is my story, and for the first time I'm not telling it alone. Alyce Swarts takes the host's chair to take me back through two decades in my family's businesses, from arcade machines to $800,000 of debt to rodeos and a new bowling alley, plus everything I've built on my own: a booked-out beauty salon, a course, business coaching, watch clients and this podcast.

It's the highs, the lows and the lessons I'd want any founder to hear before they bet on themselves.

We also talk about something I'm building now: the DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series. I know what it's like to have big ambitions and not always have people around you who understand them. These dinners are about bringing ambitious founders and business owners together for real conversations, new connections and a room full of people who are building something of their own.

Want to be considered for an upcoming founders dinner? Apply here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfC8Hb6yLQKYzrp5CTbs-pf7kBfY3GkSIEOIrC7aTcc6Pryhw/viewform

We get into:

→ How our first two rodeos lost $80K and $60K, and how the later ones helped fund a new bowling alley

→ Why our venue now makes in one to two months what the old one made in a year

→ How Bruce the bull went viral after eight years of daily posting

→ The copywriting shift that had me booked out at 18

→ Getting paid $1,000 instead of $150 for the exact same skill

→ What my watch clients taught me about who really has money

→ Why I master one missing skill every year, and how I made over $100K in my first year of business coaching at 18

→ Why I'm creating the DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series and bringing ambitious business owners into the same room

If you've ever played down your achievements, or felt like the only one in the room who's betting on yourself, this one's for you. And if you're looking for more people who understand what you're building, I'd love for you to apply to be considered for one of our founders dinners.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Welcome, and why Alyce is hosting
00:03:00 Eight family businesses and $800K of debt
00:15:00 The visionary, the executor and the strategist
00:19:00 Bruce the bull: eight years before going viral
00:24:00 500K in 14 weeks at the new bowling alley
00:27:00 Burnout, and coming back to bowling
00:31:00 Booked out at 18
00:37:00 A cancelled degree and a course launch
00:41:00 Same skill, 10 times the price
00:50:00 Who really has money
01:02:00 Mastering one missing skill every year
01:10:00 DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series
01:17:00 My most delusional move
01:23:00 Give yourself a decade
01:29:00 Why Delusional, and why now

Apply for the DELUSIONAL Founders Dinner Series:

We're bringing ambitious founders and business owners together around the dinner table. If you'd like to be considered for an upcoming dinner, submit your application below.

→ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfC8Hb6yLQKYzrp5CTbs-pf7kBfY3GkSIEOIrC7aTcc6Pryhw/viewform

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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Your mind only cares about keeping you safe. It doesn't care whether you're rich. So if you want a big life, you're going to have to work against your own wiring.

Alyce Swarts is an entrepreneur, speaker and mentor who works with ambitious women and female founders on the internal side of business, the subconscious, nervous system, beliefs and identity behind the person executing the strategy. 

She studied interior design architecture, landed her dream job at a prestige Perth building company, and quit a month later to start her own female wellness events brand.

This conversation is about why strategy alone isn't enough, why you procrastinate, and what it actually takes to become the version of you who already has the business you want.

WE GET INTO:

→ Why Alyce believes procrastination and self-sabotage are really you going against your identity

→ Her "two lists" method for big goals, so your brain sees proof it's working

→ Why your current reality is the result of who you were three months ago

→ The hourly alarm exercise that shows you what your mind is really thinking

→ How Sammy asked "how would a multi-seven-figure owner show up?" when relaunching the bowling alley

→ Why Alyce's first retreat sold out when she was told it was too risky

→ Emotional discipline: feel it, then come back to the business

→ Why she calls social media "service media"

If you've done all the strategy and still feel stuck, this one is for you. Alyce is blunt, and that's exactly why it lands.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Cold open and welcome

00:01:00 Who Alyce is and the work she does

00:03:00 Quitting her dream job after a month

00:04:00 Starting Aligned Wellness

00:07:00 Why procrastination is an identity problem

00:10:00 Getting specific about the life you want

00:16:00 Give more than you take

00:19:00 Pay yourself and stack your wins

00:29:00 Two lists for big goals

00:31:00 The crumble before the quantum leap

00:34:00 Acting as the person who's already there

00:36:00 The hourly identity check

00:41:00 Emotional discipline in business

00:44:00 Slow mornings and gratitude

00:55:00 Your reality is your identity from three months ago

00:56:00 Selling out the first retreat

01:21:00 Assume it will land with the right people

01:23:00 Social media is service media

Alyce Swarts:
https://www.instagram.com/iamalyceswarts/

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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Brand strategists slid into Cass Emmerson’s DMs to tell her it was impossible to build six brands in one room, in one day. She's now done it around eight times.

Cass left a high-powered corporate career in her 40s to build a brand consultancy - and refused to wait three years to start travelling. I've known her for about six years and watched her build her business her own way, often against the advice of the coaches around her.

This conversation is about what brand actually is (hint: it isn't your logo), why it should come before your offers, and how getting clear on what you value makes every business decision easier.

WE GET INTO:
→ How Cass signed contracts before resigning so she started with 10K months already locked in
→ Her year-by-year plan: brand management, then consultancy, then one-to-many
→ Why she capped her business at 30 people — and how that gets her to 50K months
→ Her four pillars of brand: purpose, positioning, personality and picture
→ The client who discovered her $6,000 offer meant she only needed four clients a month — and closed everything else
→ Why your offers will change, but your brand shouldn't
→ The real difference between a refresh and a rebrand
→ Why she paid $1,200 for a venue when she was told to book a $500 one

If you've ever felt like your business looks like everyone else's, or you're chasing a number that doesn't match the life you want, this one will make you rethink both.

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Cold open
00:02:00 Welcome Cass, and building the parachute on the way down
00:04:00 Locking in 10K months before leaving corporate
00:07:00 The five-year plan: management, consultancy, one-to-many
00:08:00 Six brands in one day
00:12:00 Saying no to advice that doesn't fit your life
00:15:00 How much do you actually need to earn?
00:19:00 30 clients and 50K months
00:22:00 What most founders miss about brand
00:24:00 The four pillars of brand
00:27:00 Finding your point of difference
00:39:00 Start with your why
00:42:00 Brand or product first?
01:03:00 Refresh vs rebrand
01:06:00 Build for where you're going
01:15:00 Community and the offline trend
01:17:00 Permission to do it your way

Cass Emmerson:
https://emmersyn.com.au/about/
https://www.instagram.com/emmersyn_brandstrategy/

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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What would make you sell your house and put the money into a business you weren’t even sure would work? 

For Craig Joel, part of the answer was being naive enough not to fully understand how hard it was going to be.  

Craig is the founder and CEO of Now Book It, but his story started long before software. 

He bought his first restaurant at 24, learned some brutal lessons about tax, numbers and running a business, then spent years inside hospitality before spotting a problem restaurant owners kept complaining about.

We talk about what happened when he put everything behind Now Book It, the moment COVID shut down virtually his entire customer base just as the company had finally become profitable, and how they went from signing roughly 150–160 restaurants a month pre-COVID to as many as 400–500 in some months afterwards. 

Then we get into the part most founders barely think about until it’s happening: selling the business.

We get into:

→ Why Craig believes hospitality, financial and marketing acumen are the three skills that can make or break a hospitality business

→ How listening to restaurant owners complaining about booking fees and losing control of their customer data became the opportunity behind Now Book It

→ The roughly $600,000 initial software build, why Craig sold his house to protect his equity, and why he says knowing what he knows now might have stopped him doing it

→ Going from finally reaching profitability to watching COVID shut down the restaurant industry, then building a takeaway solution in four days

→ How Now Book It jumped from around 150–160 new restaurants a month pre-COVID to 400–500 in some of its biggest months

→ Why AI makes software dramatically easier to build, but relationships, integrations, distribution and customer understanding create the real moat

→ What Craig learned selling Now Book It, including EBITDA, revenue multiples, earnouts and why you need to know your numbers before talking to a buyer

→ Why the highest offer isn’t necessarily the right exit when your team, your role and what happens to the business afterwards actually matter

You can spend years obsessing over how to start and grow a business without ever thinking seriously about how you’ll eventually leave it. Craig has lived both sides, including what happens when the founder sells but isn’t actually ready to walk away.

Chapters:

0:00 Meet Craig Joel, founder of Now Book It
1:00 Selling the house and going all in
3:00 Starting in hospitality at 16
6:00 Buying a restaurant at 24
10:00 The three types of acumen business owners need
14:00 Finding the problem that became Now Book It
17:00 Finally profitable… then COVID hit
22:00 Why human customer service still matters
23:00 The $600,000 build and bootstrapping Now Book It
28:00 AI has changed the cost of building software
33:00 The booking fee problem Craig wanted to fix
38:00 Pricing Now Book It and investing in AI
45:00 What breaks when a business scales
49:00 Selling the business without planning to sell
57:00 Valuations, EBITDA, multiples and preparing to exit
1:00:00 Why Craig stayed after selling
1:16:00 Craig’s advice for founders considering an exit

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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The difference between debt that grows your business and debt that quietly destroys it often comes down to one thing: whether you actually understand the numbers before you sign. 

Cameron Tilley has been our finance broker for almost two decades, which means he’s had a front-row seat to some of the Kennedy family’s more delusional business decisions. He’s also seen businesses across countless industries borrow, expand, refinance, struggle and grow.

We get into the side of business finance most owners only learn once it hurts: why profit doesn’t necessarily mean you have cash, how banks actually assess your business, when debt makes sense, what being overleveraged really looks like and why getting the right advice before you need money can completely change your options.

We get into:

→ Why Cameron believes even a 10% profit margin can be cutting it skinny when things go wrong

→ How a business can report a $400,000 net profit and still end up bankrupt because of cash flow

→ The numbers behind our bowling alley, from almost running out of money during the fit-out to getting finance moving after just nine months of trading

→ Good debt vs bad debt, and why an income-producing asset is very different from buying something because you want it

→ How leverage changes across houses, commercial property, business assets and specialised assets like a bowling alley

→ Why going straight to your bank can limit your options, and Cameron’s explanation of what a finance broker actually does

→ The cash flow system we’re building around weekly breakevens, separate bank accounts, tax, buffers and seasonal revenue

→ Interest rates, refinancing, fixed vs variable debt and why flexibility can matter just as much as getting the lowest rate

If you’re building something ambitious and debt is part of the plan, this conversation will make you think much harder about what you borrow, what you buy and whether your cash flow can actually carry it.

Chapters:

0:00 Meet Cameron Tilley
 3:00 The most “delusional” businesses Cameron has financed
 5:00 Credit card surcharges and hidden business costs
 8:00 How much financial buffer does a business need?
 11:00 Building the right professional team around your business
 15:00 Profit margins across different industries
 20:00 What a finance broker actually does
 23:00 When should a business refinance its debt?
 26:00 Why profit and cash flow are not the same thing
 32:00 Arcade or hospitality venue? Our real expansion dilemma
 34:00 How to know when you’re overleveraged
 36:00 Good debt vs bad debt
 41:00 How banks assess business owners and ABN history
 44:00 Finance broker vs going straight to the bank
 47:00 Building a better cash flow system
 53:00 Using seasonality to plan your marketing and revenue
 56:00 What interest rate rises mean for small businesses
 59:00 Fixed vs variable debt when you’re still growing
 1:01:00 Restructuring, tax changes and protecting your exit
 1:08:00 Submarines, planes and Cameron’s strangest finance requests

Got a question about your own business right now? Drop it in the comments, I read every single one.

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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What actually keeps a business alive when customers are more cautious, cash flow is tighter, and “average” no longer cuts it? The answer isn’t simply more sales. 

Five years ago, getting people to spend was easier. In 2026, customers are researching more, comparing harder and asking whether what you sell is genuinely worth their money.

In part two of this series, I’m breaking down what I believe business owners need to focus on now: protecting profit, building cash reserves, fixing unprofitable pricing, improving team productivity, controlling debt, sharpening your positioning and making it ridiculously easy for customers to buy.

We get into:

→ Why knowing your weekly breakeven number changes the way you manage cash flow

→ The $10,000 cash buffer I struggled to build, and why automating savings finally made it happen

→ Why more sales can actually create more problems when your pricing isn’t profitable

→ What 50–60% staff capacity is telling you before you even think about hiring again

→ The danger of overleveraging, including $150,000 purchases that don’t have a clear path to ROI

→ Why lowering your prices when customers say “that’s expensive” can make the problem worse

→ How constant discounts train customers to wait instead of buy

→ Why “average” marketing, service and customer experience are becoming the danger zone in 2026

This is about building a business that can handle pressure without forcing you into reactive decisions, and becoming the business customers deliberately choose when they’re thinking harder about every dollar they spend.

Chapters:

0:00 Why selling is harder in 2026: Part 2
 1:45 Why profit has to come first
 3:28 Work out your weekly breakeven
 6:22 Building cash reserves before you feel ready
 8:05 My $10,000 cash buffer
 12:13 Reassessing pricing and operating costs
 13:50 Fix productivity before hiring more staff
 15:16 Turning fixed costs into variable costs
 17:38 Debt, overleveraging and $150,000 purchases
 20:03 Your brand needs a real point of difference
 22:25 How consumer spending has changed since 2021
 24:30 Why lowering your prices can backfire
 26:12 Discounts can train customers not to buy
 28:14 Why average is becoming the danger zone
 29:21 Remove friction from the buying process
 31:47 Give people something worth talking about

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial 

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Business has never been easier to start. So why does it feel so much harder to actually sell?

In part one of this two part series, I'm breaking down what's actually changed in the Australian economy over the past five years, and why so many businesses are getting caught out. I also get personal about my own family's history with debt, because I've lived through exactly the kind of over-leveraging I'm warning you about, twice.

We get into:
 → How the COVID savings boom created a false sense of security for businesses
 → What happened to the household savings rate, and why it matters for you
 → Australia's debt problem, and what it actually means for small business owners
 → The real case study of Stax, and how a $30 million business ended up $23.7 million in debt
 → My own family's story, from a $800,000 failed business to $3 million in debt today
 → Why Betts closed 20 stores after 134 years in business
 → How consumer behaviour has fundamentally shifted, and what that means for your marketing

If you've felt like the rules changed and nobody told you, this episode is that explanation.

Chapters:
0:00 Cold open
1:07 Why business feels harder than five years ago
3:19 What I'm covering in this episode
4:12 The COVID savings boom explained
6:03 How the household savings rate collapsed
8:00 Australia's $1 trillion debt problem
10:07 What Commonwealth Bank's spending data shows
12:00 Why people are craving real connection again
13:38 How buyer psychology has changed
14:42 ANZ's new property price forecast
15:15 A real decision we made about our own debt
18:38 The Stax case study begins
20:34 No one cares about your struggle
21:25 My dad's $800K mistake
25:41 We could never afford school shoes
27:44 Why I'm telling you all this
28:00 The Betts collapse
33:00 A second family business, same mistake
36:17 What NAB's survey says about buyers now
40:00 What's coming in part two

Got a question about your own business right now? Drop it in the comments, I read every single one.

Sources:
→ ABS, Household Saving Ratio: abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/national-accounts/australian-national-accounts-national-income-expenditure-and-product/latest-release
→ ABC News, Australia's $1 Trillion Debt: abc.net.au/news/2026-08-21/analysis-national-debt-hits-one-trillion-but-its-nothing/107058026
→ CommBank, Household Spending Insights: commbank.com.au/articles/newsroom
→ ANZ Research, Property Price Forecast: smartpropertyinvestment.com.au/investor-strategy/28035-capital-city-house-prices-tipped-to-fall-10-as-downturn-deepens
→ Stax Liquidator's Report: news.com.au/finance/business/retail/collapsed-aussie-activewear-brand-stax-owing-17m-to-nearly-13000-shoppers-as-documents-reveal-full-scale-of-debt/news-story/46fe4723596cb0948c213974adbac481
→ Betts Voluntary Administration: smartcompany.com.au/retail/shoe-retailer-betts-close-20-stores-voluntary-administration
→ NAB, Consumer Sentiment Survey Q1 2026: nab.com.au/news/economy-markets/nab-consumer-sentiment-survey-q1-2026-cost-pressures-peak-as-consumers-switch

If you have any questions about the episode, have a burning question you would like me to answer on the show, connect with me and the rest of our incredible community on Instagram:

→ https://www.instagram.com/delusionalwithsammykennedy/
→ https://www.instagram.com/sammykennedyofficial