Business has always fascinated me. People even more so.
I have spent nearly two decades working alongside business owners, helping them make better decisions, solve difficult problems and build businesses that work better for them.
But I did not start out in business.
I started as a secondary school PE teacher.
That probably explains more about how I work today than almost anything else.
I have always enjoyed helping people understand something they could not see before, building their confidence and finding a way to make complicated ideas feel simple and practical.
The subject matter has changed.
The instinct has not.
From PE teacher to business strategist.
01
02
03
04
PE Teacher
Sports Management
Business Advisor
Business Strategist
Teaching & business passion
I loved teaching, but only a few years into it I realised I had a real passion for business and wanted to change direction.
So I went back to studying in the evenings, completing an HNC and HND in Business Management while continuing to work.
Coaching & skill integration
I joined a business coaching franchise, which allowed me to bring together the teaching skills I already had with everything I was learning about sales, finance, marketing, people, strategy and the wider mechanics of running a business.
By then, I knew I wanted to move fully into business.
Sports leadership
From teaching, I moved into a regional sports management role covering 67 schools and leading a team of 16 people.
That was followed by a role with sportscotland, Scotland's national agency for sport, where my work included leading a national secondary-school sport review, advising key stakeholders, contributing to strategy and overseeing investment.
Strategy & continuous learning
Since 2008, I have run my own businesses and helped other owners develop theirs.
​
I have invested heavily in learning Concord, an approach that challenges traditional planning. It starts with the future you want and works backwards to identify the tipping points that need to fall.
​
The result is a practical strategy that guides real decisions and keeps the business moving forward, rather than a lengthy plan that sits on a shelf.
The teacher in me
is still there.
I do not think there is much value in giving someone a clever answer they do not
really understand.
I would rather make the thinking clear enough that the owner can use it,
challenge it and build on it.
That might mean taking a complicated financial model and turning it into
something useful.
It might mean helping a management team understand why the strategy is changing.
Or it might simply mean explaining a business problem in a way that suddenly makes the next decision obvious.
Helping people learn has always been part of how I work.
Â
The classroom has just changed.
Every business is different because every owner is different.
You can put two businesses in the same sector, with similar turnover, similar staff numbers and similar clients, and still find that the right strategy for one is completely wrong for the other.
That is because businesses are shaped by the people who build them.
The owner's values, personality, ambitions, attitude to risk and definition of success
all influence what the business should become.
That is why I do not believe in forcing owners into a standard model of
what a successful business should look like.
My role is to understand what matters to you, understand the business around you,
and help find the route that makes most sense for both.
What still gets me excited.
I still get a little apprehensive when I walk into a new business.
I think that is a good thing.
It keeps me sharp and stops me assuming I already know the answers.
Then the owner starts talking.
I hear how the business began, what has worked, where things have become difficult and what they would love to change.
And I start seeing possibilities.
A different route. A connection they may not have spotted.
Something that could be simplified.
Something valuable they are already doing but have never really recognised.
That is when the energy kicks in.
The part of this work I could happily do all day is sitting in strategy meetings with business owners, finding creative ways to move their business forward.
What I believe a good business looks like.
The owner's values are embedded within it.
The values are more than words on a wall. They help guide decisions, shape behaviour and give the team a clear sense of how the business should operate.
It is focused on delivering what the stakeholders really want.
That starts with the owners, but also includes the people, clients and other stakeholders who matter to the future of the business.
It goes beyond a basic service and delivers high value for clients.
Expertise should not be reduced to a commodity. The strongest businesses understand the wider value they create and build their offering around it.
It creates a great culture people love working in.
A good business should be somewhere good people want to stay, contribute and do their best work. For me, those things matter far more than chasing growth for the sake of growth.
We will probably know fairly quickly if we get on.
The relationships I enjoy most are with owners who are good at what they do,
curious about business, willing to listen and happy to challenge ideas.
They care about their people and clients.
They want to make the business better.
And they are prepared to follow through when we identify something that really matters.
A long-term strategic relationship needs personal fit as well as experience.
That is why I would much rather start with a conversation than a sales process.