A creative career and a separate business venture can share the same underlying principle even when the products look nothing alike, treating the people the work reaches as the actual centre of the effort, not simply an audience for a product. Musician-turned-restaurateur Joao da Fonseca, known professionally as J’Something, has applied this same people-first principle to both his music career and his restaurant venture, treating each as different expressions of the same underlying purpose.
Building a genuinely resonant brand, whether in music, hospitality or any other field, tends to come from centring the actual people the work is meant to serve, rather than treating the product itself as the whole story.
Purpose can transfer meaningfully across genuinely different ventures
A founder’s underlying purpose, in this case creating something that genuinely makes people happy, can transfer coherently between ventures that look completely different on the surface, music and hospitality among them, as long as that purpose is genuine and consistently applied rather than a superficial marketing line.
Treating an audience as people, not metrics, builds deeper loyalty
Whether serving fans through music or customers through hospitality, treating that audience as genuine people with a real stake in the experience, rather than purely as consumers to be satisfied transactionally, tends to build considerably deeper loyalty than a purely transactional approach.
A long career benefits from continually asking what the work is actually for
Founders and creatives who periodically revisit why they started, what genuine difference they hoped to make, tend to sustain a more coherent and durable body of work over a long career than those who lose sight of that original purpose amid ongoing commercial pressure.
Diversifying into a new venture works best when it extends an existing purpose
A creative professional moving into an entirely different business, music into hospitality, works better when the new venture genuinely extends the same underlying purpose that built the original career, rather than representing an entirely disconnected pivot chasing a separate opportunity.
Treating staff as central has a statutory floor beneath it, since conditions of employment are set by the Department of Employment and Labour.
Frequently asked questions
Can a founder’s underlying purpose really transfer between completely different types of ventures?
Yes, when that purpose is genuine and consistently applied, a coherent underlying purpose, making people happy in this case, can transfer meaningfully between ventures that look entirely different on the surface, music and hospitality among them.
Does treating customers or fans as people rather than metrics actually build stronger loyalty?
Generally yes. An audience treated as genuine people with a real stake in the experience, rather than purely as consumers to satisfy transactionally, tends to develop considerably deeper loyalty over time.
Why does periodically revisiting one’s original purpose matter for a long career?
Because it helps sustain a more coherent and durable body of work, whereas losing sight of that original purpose amid ongoing commercial pressure tends to produce a less coherent long-term career or business.
Should a creative professional’s new business venture connect to their original career?
Ideally yes. A new venture works better when it genuinely extends the same underlying purpose that built the original career, rather than representing an entirely disconnected pivot chasing an unrelated opportunity.
Is putting people at the centre of a business just a marketing message, or does it change actual decisions?
When genuine, it changes actual decisions, how customers or fans are treated, what the business prioritises, rather than functioning purely as a marketing line disconnected from how the venture actually operates.
Originally published in June 2017. Updated September 2026 to focus on the purpose-transfer principle behind this dual career rather than the original restaurant-launch news framing.
