Meet the new team: Bruce, Roger & Linley (and we say goodbye to Ahly)

It’s not easy to start up a successful Home Business. Statistics state that 58% of Home Businesses in New Zealand are out of business after 5 years. It’s no small sacrifice on the part of the Business Owner to keep the business going. 

From the outset, Southern Cross Flutes was built on good will (you can read more about Todd’s epic efforts here), a giving attitude, and likely this has been a crucial ingredient to its success. With the change in personnel, that is no less apparent.

When Bruce started out almost 6 years ago, sales were unpredictable, and  knowing that this business might not ever be able to pay someone as accomplished as Bruce his ‘worth’, Bruce nevertheless, stepped up to the plate wholeheartedly. Bruce elevated the craft of Southern Cross Flutes over time, and came with such an accommodating disposition towards customers’ dream requests, that there was no amount that could truly recognise his contributions at a financial level. Bruce has given an unquantifiable amount of goodwill to the business. It is no more fitting that Bruce becomes the new Owner Operator of Southern Cross Flutes – no other shoes are as deserved as his.

In 2019, Southern Cross Flutes needed to grow more – demand was exceeding supply. An unlikely connection was made – long time friend, Roger, wanted to make a life change. His life was a mix of yoga teaching and stock market trading, punctuated with a few musical gigs. A hands-on occupation was calling to him. Todd invited Roger to make a flute. The experience was positive for both, so Todd amped up the stakes; make flutes for six months, and we will sell any that are good enough on our website. Roger stepped up to the challenge. His precision for tuning and quality of sound was quickly remarked upon by customers of his flutes. At the end of the six months, a period of good will, Roger became a fully-fledged part time Flute Maker of Southern Cross Flutes.

Early 2020, Ahly and Todd started to put in place a long term ‘exit strategy’ to ensure a graceful handover to the new team. A gifted musician was found to help out in the office last year, but sadly it didn’t work out. Lesson learnt: we took a more formal approach to recruiting the ‘right person’ and came up with a stunning new candidate – Linley Hawke – a local from the village just south of us (Paekakariki) who had already embarked on her own flute journey and was looking for a job more congruent with her values. Linley started with us in May 2021 and brings a strong administrative skill set, excellent customer service, and a warm friendly can-do attitude; the essentials for this job. We’re stoked to have her join us and keep the good name of Southern Cross Flutes humming.

It’s a big transition time for Southern Cross Flutes, and one that Todd and Ahly are over-seeing as best they can. An enormous amount of training (primarily for the office duties) is underway, with Ahly staying on until the handover is complete. At which point, we will be farewelling her. The good will that Ahly brought to the business goes back to the start of the business, helping out on three website builds, the last of which, required rewriting all the content, overseeing branding decisions and setting up the structure for the website. When Ahly finally became an official employee of Southern Cross Flutes, she already knew the business back to front, and effortlessly stepped into the Flute Advisor and Office Manager role. 

The good will of the employees who have found their way to be working for Southern Cross Flutes is appreciated and acknowledged. It is this personal quality of wanting to bring about the best possible outcome for the customers of Southern Cross Flutes, that sets the highest of standards going forward.

The 2021 team of Southern Cross Flutes includes Senior Flute Maker, Owner and Director – Bruce McNaught, Flute Maker – Roger Livingston, and Flute Advisor & Office Support – Linley Hawke.