I come from a long line of successful self employed business people. My family emigrated from Germany in the late 1800’s to settle in the north east of England and never looked back!

I feel like I was stacking shelves in my parents shop as soon as I could walk but I was probably 8 or 9. From then, I had the business bug. It was never just about money, but being able to sell new products and ideas through their off licence and by working in other family members seasonal businesses did make me one of the richest teenagers I knew!

I was the first person in my family to go to University. In 1995, only a small percentage of my peers from the mining and ship building town I grew up in took this route, and an even smaller percentage moved away from home at 18. Although a Marine Biology degree isn’t always synonymous with business, it was a stepping stone and something I was deeply invested in. Even before graduating, I had decided on the name my future consultancy business and launched it in 2007.

Since then, I have had an amazing career, travelling the world, visiting industrial facilities and solving problems as a safety and environmental engineer, then latterly in risk management, business development and sales and marketing roles. I have led teams, developed growth strategies, created new service lines, launched business, bought and sold businesses and supported everyone from a one man band just leaving the comfort of corporate through to multi billion dollar global enterprises.

This has all been within the STEM sector and largely the high hazard industries of oil and gas, petrochemical, refineries, distilleries, manufacturing, marine and waste management.

It was a combination of a COVID driven wakeup call and hitting my mid 40’s that Ied to the realisation that I wanted something different. While science and engineering had always been ‘enough’, it no longer was. I needed the excitement, variety and satisfaction of working with people like me to fulfil their business ambitions. So, I set about formalising the skills I had developed over the previous 20 years through training and coaching to reach my own goal of certified business strategist. As I finished the exam, I realised this is actually what I’d been doing my whole life, it just didn’t have a name.

And here I am. Bringing a no nonsense northern approach to business strategy and mentoring. I am not a coach, I can give you opinions and answers.

Whichever business you’re in, it can always relate back to our little corner shop. If you buy 10 of something new and it sells, buy another 10. If it doesn’t, reduce it and move along. Always keep moving and innovating. We can also use this analogy to social selling and you have all the data at your fingertips. Without effective online sales and marketing, your business pages are a shop front without windows so nobody can see what you have to sell.

This isn’t over simplifying and it does take work. If you want to make 10 million in your first year or need a multi 7 figure investment to get started, I am not the strategist for you! What I do offer is personal empowerment, guidance and support. An opportunity to chase your dreams, realise your ideas and create the lifestyle you want and deserve!