When I’m not thrashing away writing an entertaining and, hopefully, funny children’s book, I’m also a freelance writer and a marketing and communications consultant.
Get in contact
If you want to have a chat with me about writing some content for you and your business. Or you need help with your website, social media, marketing campaign or internal and external communications, then I’d be very happy to help. Get in touch through my Linkedin profile or on my contact page.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your operation is, I’m happy to lend a helping hand to produce great content. Perhaps it will help boost your website up the Google search rankings, or you might want something a bit more interesting and entertaining for your internal or external publication.
Maybe you require some marketing collateral for your new company brochure, or help with an inspiring speech for your employers. Whatever you need I’m happy to discuss it with you. I come with a full range of topics knowledge from sport to entertainment, history to business. I’ll give anything a go.
You might even want to use me as a consultant for your businesses’ marketing and communications output.
I’ve worked for both big business and SMEs planning, implementing and delivering social media strategies, marketing campaigns, video, PR, SEO, online and offline events, internal and external communications. You name it and I’ve probably done it.
There’s some examples of the work and projects I’ve done at the bottom of the page. However, if you want to read about how I started on this merry-go-round then there’s plenty of waffle on how I started out below.
The very start
My love of writing started thanks to my passion for West Ham United (don’t let that put you off me). As football took over most of my teenage years, I didn’t have a lot of time for books. My reading wheelhouse was limited to the Beano, the Dandy, Tintin, Asterix and the Panini Football Sticker Album. I also studied the Playfair Football Who’s Who, and got my Dad to test me on it over Christmas dinner.
‘If only you could spend the same amount of time on your school work, you’d pass your exams with flying colours,’ said my Dad. He despaired that I could recite the career of midfielder Martin Kuhl (by 1992 it was Birmingham, Sheff U, Watford and Portsmouth), instead of being able to tell him the word for potato in German (kartoff…something or other). This is way before Wikipedia spoiled all football memory games like this.
Luckily my love of West Ham inspired me to become a writer. So I plucked up the courage and sent my first hand written article to one of the smaller West Ham fanzines – On a Mission. I wrote it in claret biro, thinking that would help, and I called myself ‘Quantrill’. Named after the infamous bushwhacker from my favourite pack of cowboy Top Trumps. Later I discovered Quantrill wasn’t a pleasant chap and was involved in several massacres. Where was Wikipedia back in the early 90s!
You couldn’t call the article, my 16-year-old self churned out, high brow. I theorised that West Ham players with beards are better than ones with moustaches. Not including the legendary Mexican-tashed Alan Devonshire in this half-baked theory. I sent it off and thought nothing more of it. Few people replied to letters in the early 90s.
First published article
A week later I was standing at the back of the North Bank at Upton Park (West Ham’s old ground…sob). I was minding my own business, when a bloke appeared in front of me and began to flick through the latest copy of On a Mission. He skimmed through the first handful of pages and then stopped and began to read. I peered over his shoulder, and there was my article in black and white with the words ‘Quantrill says…’ across the top.
I couldn’t believe it.
And so I made the first tentative steps towards becoming a proper writer (albeit without earning a wage). I continued to write for the fanzine for a few seasons. That mild success gave me the confidence to write, illustrate and edit an underground school newspaper. A two page broadsheet full of ‘jokes’ about the teachers called The Huge Roast Potato. I published three issues before the school discovered my mini-printing press (felt tips and biros) and I was punished accordingly. Despite the setback I had no intention of being a boring writer.
Proper jobs
I continued to dabble with writing at university, and then in my final week of the third year, with the scary world of work looming ahead, I decided I should be a journalist. Besides I wasn’t good at anything else.
A major back operation, various unpaid journalism jobs and two years went by before I landed my first paid full-time job as a business reporter with the Press Association. The rest is history as they say…or just look at my LinkedIn page.
As promised here’s a quick run through of some of the work I’ve done over the last years. Everything from writer, editing, website development and management through to public speaking and books. If this isn’t enough then please get in touch and I’d be happy to talk you through other work in my portfolio.
