Ukulele Underground was massively unprofitable for its first 3 years. The funny thing is that we never knew it, so we just kept going. It’s one of those things where I think back on now and just laugh and shake my head, but I can’t get over the fact that if we knew what we were doing, we probably would have quit a long time ago and never got to where we are today. Let [...]

When people ask me what I do, I’m often guilty of not telling them the full story. I usually just say, “Oh my friends and I have a business that we do..” and hope that that answer is good enough for them. If they prod for more I’ll say we teach ukulele on the internet. Which is the what, of what we do. I guess I just don’t want to seem arrogant, or self aggrandizing [...]

Our friend Jake Shimabukuro just performed at TED and received a standing ovation. TED is an exclusive idea conference where the worlds brightest minds come together to present their ideas, research, creations, talents etc. Everyone who is in the audience is a scheduled presenter. You can say that it is a small conference of geniuses (in their respected fields). Why does this change everything for the ukulele? Many of the people there are influencers to [...]

When my partners and I set out 2 years ago to create Ukulele Underground. Our mission statement was simple. We wanted to create the next generation of ukulele players. To me it’s exciting to see this very mission coming into fruition. In October, we received an email from Noah Cronin a long time member of our website and the ukulele player of the band Kolohe Kai telling us about the release of their album, ‘This [...]

Recently Ukulele Underground lost a member of our family that was loved by a great number of people. Vincent Rooney aka Captain Google passed away on July 6th, 2009. The announcement came on the following day from a friend of his who signed up to tell us of the news. Needless to say, everyone was shocked to find out that not only was he just 19 years old when he passed, he also had been [...]

When this qualifies as a business trip, you know you’re doing something pretty cool.

Being that today is Mother’s day, I came up with an idea for a way for a flower shop business to increase their yearly revenues. Offer a subscription service targeted at men that reserve flowers for them for all important dates. Standard package would include, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, for additional fees birthdays, anniversaries, etc. The payment is a yearly subscription and will guarantee that there will be a flower arrangement available for each subscriber [...]

Them: So what do you do again? Me: My partners and I run a website where we teach people how to play the ukulele online. We have around 7500 registered members now and get like 20k uniques a month. Not great but it’s a pretty good start considering we started with $300 and spent no money on advertising. Them: Oh wow, so all those people pay to use your site? Me: No, we give away [...]

Ukuleleunderground.com has given me the opportunity to meet and befriend so many amazing people throughout the world. I always take some time everyday to think about just how fortunate I am to have made so many new friends within the past year. One of these new friends is a man named Mike Hater from Nashville Indiana. Mike is an amazingly interesting person. He has described himself to me on more than one occasion as a [...]

Though I haven’t had one yet, I can imagine growing a business is very similar to raising a child. Not so much in the physical pain experienced by the mother at birth, but in the sense of the commitment and dedication required to grow and nurture both. There an initial excitement when they’re brand new. You find yourself staring at it saying to yourself, “wow, I made that!” You devote countless, often thankless hours in [...]