Getting to know me.

Dragged into web in 2010, I’ve been happily entangled ever since.

At that time, I was volunteering for a community group while self-employed as a forklift, warehousing and logistics trainer. Their volunteer web-guy, Chris, had to leave. The boss called me in one day and  asked, “What do you know about web?”

“I know the addresses start with ‘www’,” I replied with a grin.

As I watched disappointment and a little panic etch its way across his face, I realised that was not the answer he had hoped for.

Sensing opportunity within a crisis, I quickly added, “But I’m a good learner and I’m willing to have a go. If Chris can give me a two-hour intro, I’ll give you what I’ve got.”

That is how I began: with a two-hour introduction from Chris, an apology and a sincere, “Good luck!”

Two weeks later, I had built my first website from the ground up.

While in that role, I met the owner of a web design and hosting company. Eventually, he invited me to come and work with him. Three months later, I closed my training business and focused my efforts entirely on the web.

It was a slow journey of growth, but it was also a fruitful one.

Learning the foundations of website design, I then moved into content planning, copy and content creation, SEO, quality assurance and finally, project management.

After six years of focused website development, I took some time to reset. Identifying my strengths and preferences, I also sought the feedback of friends, clients and peers. The result was a decision to focus my services and professional growth on the disciplines of content, copy and research.

These are undoubtedly the areas I most enjoy and am most appreciated for.

A Jack-Of-All-Trades and a Master of One

My background is diverse, which is why I can stake a claim as a jack-of-all-trades and a master of one. This history is explained below.

I’ve worked a more extensive range of industries than anyone I know, from the shop floor to general management, as an employee and as a Director. I’ve also travelled broadly and have studied extensively.

My passions are truth and solutions. Guilty of being a bit intense at times, I love to learn, I’m fascinated by people and I’m intrigued by process.

All of this has produced some good fruit in my life.

Life Has Trained Me For This Service

I love to harness what life has blessed me with, and employ it to the endeavour of writing.

During more than 50 years of living, I’ve accumulated

• A remarkable range of skills,
• A wealth of valuable experiences,
• Healthy humility through both wins and losses, and
• A desire to pour out my life on that which is worthy.

Well aware of my short-comings, I also know my strengths

• If there’s a problem, I usually identify it quickly. I have a knack for identifying inconsistencies, contradictions, challenges and threats.
• Finding solutions is a passionate focus. With above average analysis skills, I map problems accurately so I can then secure effective resolutions; what merely seems right will never do!
• Quality-focused to a fault, I’m rarely fast. That’s a negative I know, but there’s a price to being careful in research, deliberate in solution-seeking and fastidious with quality assurance.
• My questions are practical and thorough. Experience has trained me well and I’m comfortable looking foolish if it gets me the information I need.
• It’s hard to pull the wool over my eyes. My perspectives and experience are broad.
• I don’t startle easily, as I’m a deliberate and calculating strategist. As I approach a crest, I’m usually thinking about the valley ahead, long before it comes into sight.

I also love to harness what life has blessed me with, then employ it to the endeavour of writing.

The Decades Before Web

Mr Rowsome Ball was my fifth-grade teacher in 1978. He was strict, challenging and meticulous; he was also safe, encouraging and a great masculine role-model. He drew out of me, and developed within me, values and skills I did not know I had.

Why do I share this? Because on my last day as a fifth-grader, he shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said, “When you publish your first book, send me a copy.”

There no book yet, but I have written training programs, manuals, sales letters, scripts and web content aplenty.

Mr. Ball saw it in me.

From 18 to 30 years: Broad and Invaluable Experience, Much Zeal and Little Foresight

My first working decade was youthful and perhaps reckless movement.

In the first three years I crammed in teacher’s college, Australian representation as an Air Force Cadet, two business attempts, work as a cleaner and casual jobs in front-line customer service and sales.

After graduation, I back-packed solo through Africa, Europe and North America. When in England, I drove a shovel and a jackhammer on a road-crew. In America, I led a team as a Senior Counsellor at a Summer Camp. I came back very different from how I left.

Befriending some police officers in England and New York, I joined the NSW Police Force on my return. Graduating fifth in my class, I won the posting of my choice, but I concluded the job had complications I did not want. I left before my first year was completed, but I’ve never regretted the experience nor the lessons received.

It was also during this time that I became a Christian. I am still zealous for this relationship and that others might know Him too. Just as I face reality head-on in business, I also address reality in life, relationships and the eternal. I neither push nor hide my experiences and convictions. Truth and love permit nothing less.

After leaving the NSW Police Force, I taught in Catholic high schools for three years before tiring of contract work and cross-city traffic.

During the next four years, I tutored school kids, ran basketball coaching clinics in schools, conducted professional development programs for teenagers, worked with the long-term unemployed, became General Manager of a 12-staff Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Clinic and then assumed the role of Office Manager (with four staff) in a distribution company.

From 30 to 41 years: Training, Teaching, Self-Employment and More

Shortly after turning 30, I decided to marry five people: a wife and four daughters (aged four to 16). As a result, the next decade was a blur of the joyous and the demanding.

Family meant paying bills; luxuries like training, study and career building became an elusive dream. My life became contract driven as I did whatever it took to pay the bills; only in hindsight have I come to view the breadth of experience I gained as beneficial.

There was a six-year return to teaching, time as a vocational trainer and team leader at TAFE NSW, six months as a financial controller/administrator and also small casual roles as a Disability Support Worker and Forklift Operator.

Toward the end of this time, I moved into vocational training as a forklift, warehousing and logistics trainer (both employed and self-employed).

My Goals Now

My goal is to create a win-win relationship.

Through creative, precise and purposeful text, I aim to:

1. Improve your website’s ‘Google’ authority,
2. Improve your search engine performance for specific terms,
3. Improve your search-engine click-through-rate so you gain more visitors,
4. Improve visitor appreciation for, and response to, your website as a whole,
5. Improve your conversions, and
6. Pursue a program of continuous improvement in all of the above.

By developing win-win relationships, I hope to establish a long-term relationship with clients that appreciate high quality tailored services.

I deliver a boutique service that my clients treasure!

To learn more and enjoy an initial no-obligation conversation, phone 0403 302 490 or complete the form below.