All Nice But What Does It All Mean Now?

For the past several weeks I’ve been talking about monthly recurring revenue and how it can change your life for the better and that’s all nice… but what does it all mean now that we’ve started 2026?

Well, for one thing, you’ll be able to follow-me along relative to the businesses I’ve decided to invest my time, energy and money into and tag along the journey to see how it all works out.

I’ll also continue to provide some great information to help you grow your own business and stop questioning yourself on how to get to where you want to be.

For clarification purposes, and as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I do have 3 business models that I’m currently working on that should give everyone a good idea of what to expect and possibly help anyone that hasn’t decided on a type or model yet.

1. SaaS – I have a Software As a Service (SaaS) business, Creative QR Designs, which works on a monthly recurring revenue basis.
2. Internet Profits Academy – This online business is owned by Dean Holland, my mentor, which is essentially the base of where I’ve gotten pretty much all of my online business acumen from in the past few years.
3. Online Music App – For the past 4 years now, I’ve been working with my business partner here in Canada in developing an online music App – Song-Guitar – which we should be able to bring out by mid-February 2026.

With that being said, let’s elaborate a bit on each of these so I can answer that ever important question of “what now?”.

1. SaaS – Creative QR Designs

So let me tell you about my first business, Creative QR Designs, which is a Software as a Service company. Now, if you’re not familiar with what SaaS means, it’s basically a business model where customers pay a monthly subscription fee to use your software or service. Think of it like Netflix or Spotify, but instead of entertainment, I’m providing a business tool that helps companies create and manage their QR codes.

I’ve structured this business to run on monthly recurring revenue, which honestly is one of the best business models you can have. Why? Because instead of constantly chasing new sales every single month, you’re building this base of customers who pay you month after month. So if I have a hundred customers this month paying me, and I add twenty more next month, I now have a hundred and twenty customers paying me. It compounds over time, and that’s where the real magic happens with this model.

What I really love about Creative QR Designs is that it serves two completely different types of businesses. On the one side, I’m working with brick-and-mortar businesses; you know, your restaurants, retail stores, hotels, gyms, real estate agencies, all those physical locations where people actually walk in the door. These businesses use my service to create branded QR codes for their menus, product information, customer reviews, loyalty programs, and contactless payments.

If you’ve been to a restaurant lately, you’ve probably scanned a QR code to see the menu, right? Well, that’s the kind of thing my service helps businesses create, but we make them look really good and on-brand.

Then on the other side, I’m also serving online businesses. E-commerce stores, digital marketers, content creators, online coaches. They all use QR codes too. They might put them on their product packaging, on printed materials at events, on business cards, or in their marketing campaigns.

The QR code bridges that gap between something physical in someone’s hand and their online presence. It’s a really powerful tool when you think about it.

Now, here’s the thing that makes my business different from all those free QR code generators you can find online. Sure, anyone can create a basic black-and-white QR code for free. But my service focuses on the creative aspect: making QR codes that actually look good and match a company’s branding.

We’re talking custom colors, incorporating logos, artistic designs, all while making sure the codes still scan perfectly. Businesses are willing to pay for this because their QR code is part of their customer experience, part of their brand image. They don’t want some ugly, generic-looking black and white code representing their business.

The subscription model means I’m not just selling them a QR code and walking away. I’m providing ongoing value. Things like unlimited code generation, analytics so they can track how many people are scanning their codes, the ability to update where the code points to without having to reprint it as well as integration with other tools they’re using, and ongoing support. This creates a relationship with customers rather than just a transaction.

From a business operations standpoint, this model is brilliant because once I’ve built the technology infrastructure, it doesn’t cost me much more to serve one customer or a thousand customers. The technology scales really well.

I’m running everything on cloud infrastructure, which means it’s reliable and I can handle growth without major headaches. The margins on this business are fantastic once you get past the initial development and customer acquisition costs. I’ve even got a freemium model working where people can try it for free and then upgrade to paid plans when they see the value.

The beautiful thing about this business is that it solves a real pain or problem that businesses have right now. QR codes aren’t going anywhere. If anything, they’re becoming more common. And businesses need them to look professional and work reliably. That’s exactly what I provide.

2. Internet Profits Academy

Now, let me talk about something that’s been absolutely fundamental to everything I’ve accomplished online. Dean Holland’s Internet Profits Academy. I want to be upfront with you: this isn’t my business, it’s Dean’s business, but it’s been such an important part of my journey that I really need to share it with you because it’s essentially where I learned everything I know about building a successful online business.

Here’s my story with the Academy. A few years ago, I was trying to figure out this whole online business thing, and like a lot of people, I was drowning in information. There’s so much stuff out there. YouTube videos, blog posts, courses, gurus promising you’ll make six figures in six weeks. It’s overwhelming and honestly, a lot of it is garbage. I wasted time and money on courses that taught outdated strategies or were just repackaged hype with no real substance.

Then I found Dean Holland, and everything changed. Dean is the real deal. A self-made online entrepreneur who built his success from scratch and actually knows what he’s talking about. What I appreciate most about Dean is that he’s completely no-nonsense. He doesn’t promise you overnight riches or try to sell you some push-button system. Instead, he teaches you the real fundamentals of building sustainable online businesses that generate actual income.

The Internet Profits Academy is where I’ve gotten pretty much all of my online business acumen over the past few years. I’m not exaggerating when I say that. Everything from understanding how to identify profitable opportunities, to creating products people actually want to buy, to building sales funnels that convert visitors into customers, to email marketing, traffic generation, automation.

It all came from Dean’s training. And the proof is in the results, right? I’m running three different online businesses now, and the principles I learned from Dean apply to all of them.

What sets Dean apart is that he over-delivers. You know how some courses give you just enough to get started but then try to upsell you on the “advanced secrets”? That’s not Dean. When you’re in the Academy, you get everything: comprehensive training that covers the full spectrum of what you need to know. And Dean genuinely wants you to succeed. This isn’t just some course he created and forgot about. He’s actively involved, updating the content as things change in the online business world, and he’s built this community of entrepreneurs who support each other.

The training covers all the essential elements you need. You learn about market research and how to understand what people actually want and will pay for. You learn about customer psychology. Why people buy and how to communicate with them effectively. You get deep training on building automated systems that can generate income even when you’re not actively working.

You learn about traffic generation through both paid advertising and free organic methods. And critically, you learn the mindset and discipline you need to actually follow through and build something real.

I think what I value most is that Dean teaches you to think like a real business owner, not just someone chasing the next shiny object or trend. He emphasizes building sustainable businesses that create genuine value for customers. That foundation has been invaluable to me because it applies whether I’m working on my SaaS business, launching an app, or any other venture I might pursue in the future.

The community aspect is huge too. When you’re building an online business, especially if you’re doing it solo, it can feel really isolating. You’re working on something that your friends and family might not understand, you’re facing challenges that people in traditional jobs never encounter, and sometimes you just need to talk to someone who gets it.

Being part of the Internet Profits Academy community means you’re surrounded by other entrepreneurs who are on the same journey. You can ask questions, share your wins, get feedback on your ideas, and just know that you’re not alone in this.

Look, I’m telling you about this because if you’re reading my blog, you’re probably interested in building your own online business or growing the one you have. And if you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed or unsure about what direction to take, I genuinely think checking out what Dean Holland offers could be the breakthrough you need. I’m not saying this because I’m trying to sell you something. I’m saying it because I’ve been where you probably are, and finding the right mentor and training made all the difference for me.

Dean’s approach gave me the clarity and confidence to actually build real businesses instead of just dreaming about them. The Academy isn’t just information, it’s a complete system for understanding how online business actually works. And if you’re serious about creating income online, you should definitely take a look at what Dean has put together. Even if you just explore the free information he provides, you’ll get value from it. That’s the kind of guy Dean is, always giving more than you expect.

3. Online Music App

Alright, now let me tell you about my third business, which is probably the most ambitious and definitely the most frustrating project I’ve ever undertaken: my online music app Song-Guitar. I’ve been working on this with my business partner here in Canada for the past four years now, and we’re finally getting close to launch. We’re targeting mid-February 2026 to bring this out to the world, and I cannot tell you how excited and nervous I am about it.

Four years. Let that sink in for a minute. When we started this project, neither of us thought it would take this long. We had this vision of what we wanted to create, and we naively thought we could build it and launch it within maybe a year, year and a half tops. Well, the universe had other plans for us, and honestly, the story of why it’s taken so long could be a whole blog post by itself – actually, you know what, I should write that because there are some serious lessons in there about patience, persistence, and dealing with setbacks.

Here’s the thing that really threw us for a loop: the technology we needed to make our vision work didn’t actually exist when we started. I mean, we had this clear picture of what we wanted the app to do, the experience we wanted to create for users, but the technical infrastructure to make it happen just wasn’t there yet. So we had a choice: we could either compromise our vision and build something less than what we wanted using existing technology, or we could wait and adapt as better solutions became available.

We chose to wait and adapt, and let me tell you, that decision led to some very drastic changes over time. We’ve essentially rebuilt parts of this app multiple times as new technologies emerged. It’s been expensive, it’s been time-consuming, and there were definitely moments where we questioned whether we should just scrap the whole thing and move on to something else. But every time we got to that point, we’d look at what we were building and realize that the delay and the effort were going to be worth it.

And I truly believe that now. What we’re about to launch isn’t just another music app trying to compete with Spotify or Apple Music on their terms. We’ve built something different, something that takes advantage of technological capabilities that simply weren’t possible a few years ago. I can’t share all the details yet because we’re keeping some things under wraps until launch, but I can tell you that we’ve found a specific angle in the music space that we believe is underserved.

Working with a business partner on this has been its own journey. My partner and I complement each other really well. Where I’m strong, he might need support, and vice versa. That’s been crucial because building an app of this complexity isn’t something you can do alone, at least not if you want to maintain your sanity. We’ve had to learn how to communicate effectively, how to make decisions together, how to divide responsibilities, and how to keep each other motivated when things got tough.

The music app market is incredibly competitive, I’m not going to sugarcoat that. You’ve got these massive players with unlimited resources, and then you’ve got thousands of smaller apps trying to find their niche. Our strategy from the beginning has been to not try to be everything to everyone. We’re focusing on a specific use case, a specific audience that we believe isn’t being served well by the existing options out there.

The next few months are going to be critical. Launching an app isn’t like flipping a switch. The marketing strategy, the user acquisition plan, building initial momentum, getting reviews and ratings, iterating based on feedback, it’s a whole process. We’re prepared for that though. We’ve learned from our development experience that you need to be flexible and responsive.

I’m also excited about how this app might connect with my other businesses. Could I use Creative QR Designs to help market the app? Absolutely. Has everything I learned from Dean Holland’s Internet Profits Academy prepared me for this launch? One hundred percent. That’s the beauty of building multiple businesses – they can support and enhance each other in ways you don’t always anticipate.

So yeah, mid-February 2026. Mark your calendars. After four years of development, countless obstacles, technological hurdles, and more learning experiences than I can count, we’re finally going to share what we’ve built with the world. I genuinely believe the wait will have been worth it, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it as we get closer to launch.

Like what you’re reading or have any questions? Don’t be shy, write it up in the comments section for me to reply and more importantly, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for continuous insights and tips.

Trust the journey – victories await along the way!

P.S. Apologies if the recording states that the music app is coming out mid-January; there were a few hiccups during the Holidays!