My Story
About
My career started in User Experience testing in Financial Services, which required test design, data collection, piloting and data communication. Communicating results for analysis led me to building pages on the company Intranet, which led to an interest in making things.
A little later, I found myself in a web management role for a large engineering company, where I was lucky enough to travel the world deploying new websites for local offices. This involved a great deal of travel, content work, translation and eventually, Search Engine Optimisation.
Of course, I decided to move to London and find my way there. I was lucky enough to win a role at a web development agency, where the Managing Director coached me in the ways of running a department via its own P&L. Working alongside the development team, we integrated an SEO product into their proprietary recruitment CMS.
Before embarking on an intense period of Entrepreneurship, I entered a competitive vertical: Travel. My team grew the search channel by an additional £1.3m above forecast. This was during the "credit crunch" in 2009.
Building Businesses, Solving Problems, Applying Organic Search
Wanting to embark on a journey entirely under my control, I founded the Agency now known as Builtvisible.com. "BV" Works with clients in numerous industries from Leisure to Financial Services, and now has some 50 staff offering Digital PR and Promotion, Technical Search Engine Optimisation, Analytics and Content Development.
The clever bit is how well Builtvisible connects these disciplines to produce meaningful and effective strategies.
In 2019, I exited the company via an MBO and embarked on another journey: looking after my Son who had developed a childhood seizure syndrome during the Covid lockdowns, taking care of my family, homesteading and pursuing interests wherever I could.
During that time I co-founded (now exited) the Motorsport resource: Driver61.com and built SIMRACINGCOCKPIT.com, a guide for beginner to intermediate sim racing enthusiasts.
I also spent a few years participating in Motorsport, achieving podium finishes in Radical racing, Mazda MX5s and historic racing in my Lotus Elan 26r.
Becoming a Non-Exec
I thrive on sharing and debating useful ideas.
From 2023 to early 2024, I helped the Founder at OverdriveDigital.co.uk grow his Paid Search and Social agency. We focused on stabilising turnover, forecasting, "proper" agency marketing, ABM and account management.
Using my experience I enjoy helping to steer outcomes by avoiding hard-learned pitfalls while working in a collaborative, constructive and motivating way.
From fireside chats to engaging one-to-one conversations, you can find a great deal of joy simply by watching your suggestions turn into real initiatives through empowerment.
Today
Today I'm a mixture of things: advisor, consultant, Director and Organic Search (SEO) practitioner. I love front-line work and empowering individuals in teams to find their effectiveness.
I'm very technology-focused, too. I'm currently forming an opinion on the future of work and search, and how AI might be influencing everything we thought we knew.
I'm growing a small list of clients who use me in an advisory capacity, or to do SEO alongside them. It's important to me that my skills and Industry awareness are kept sharp, and always ready for the next interesting challenge.