I left the newsroom. The newsroom didn't leave me.

I started in radio in Palmerston North in 1996, fresh out of AUT with a communications degree, plenty of confidence and absolutely no experience behind a microphone.

Palmerston North isn't exactly the centre of the broadcasting universe, but it was a pretty good place to learn.

From there came Newstalk ZB, three years of radio in London and nine years as a senior broadcast journalist at TVNZ. Somehow, the bloke who started out behind a microphone in Palmerston North ended up reporting live from every continent except Antarctica, covering some of the biggest sporting events on the planet.

The Beijing and London Olympic Games. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Events watched by hundreds of millions of people, and somehow I had a front-row seat.

In Beijing, I was standing at the water's edge when the Evers-Swindell twins defended their Olympic title by one-hundredth of a second.

One-hundredth. The difference between gold and silver was almost impossible to see with the naked eye. I was close enough to watch it happen.

Four years later in London, I covered Dame Lisa Carrington's first Olympic gold, Mahé Drysdale's triumph and Eric Murray and Hamish Bond's domination of the men's pair.

In South Africa, I watched the All Whites become the only unbeaten team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and found myself standing pitchside with a Prime Minister wearing an All Whites shirt.

Meanwhile, CNN kept calling my mobile, wanting live updates for audiences around the world. Apparently, three draws from a country better known for rugby had become an international news story.

Not bad for a bloke who started his career in Palmerston North.

The work took me to London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, Johannesburg, Sydney and Las Vegas. It also took me the length and breadth of New Zealand, from Auckland to Invercargill.

Quite a collection of places for someone who started out wondering what to say into a radio microphone.

But whether I was covering an Olympic final, interviewing someone in a small New Zealand town or reporting live with millions watching, the fundamentals never changed. Listen carefully, understand the story and communicate it clearly.

The work earned its share of recognition. The Scoreboard Show won Best Radio Sports Programme at the 1999 Qantas Media Awards. I won Best Sports Presenter, Commentator or Contributor at the 2000 New Zealand Radio Awards, and was a finalist in the same category in 1999 and 2001.

At TVNZ, I won twice at the Sir Terry McLean National Sports Journalism Awards: Best Sports News Broadcast in 2009, following a year of breaking stories, and Sports News Reporting on Television in 2012 for my London Olympics coverage. I was also a finalist in 2005, 2011 and 2013.

By the end of 2013, I'd achieved everything I set out to do in broadcasting.

So I decided to put what I'd learned to work on the other side of the microphone.

After years of interviewing politicians, executives, athletes and people caught in situations they'd rather not be explaining on national television, I'd noticed something. Plenty of intelligent, capable people were remarkably unprepared when a journalist came calling.

They knew their business. They just didn't understand the media.

And sometimes, by six o'clock, that became a very expensive problem.

I'd also learned that the principles behind a compelling news story apply just as readily to business. Understand your audience, know what matters to them and communicate it clearly. Preferably before somebody else tells your story for you.

These days, most of my clients are New Zealand businesses. I help them navigate the media, produce videos people actually want to watch and build websites that explain why someone should choose them.

No account teams. No unnecessary layers. Just the person who's spent three decades learning how to get people's attention, keep it and make it count.

Sport taught me how to perform under pressure.

Business is where I put it to work.