Millions Made, Lessons Learned: A Birthday Reflection

It’s my birthday today and I began the day at 08:00 with a last-minute meeting request from a client outside of standard working hours, and later I’m going to meet another client at their offices – again, outside of the normal working day. People often ask me what it’s like to be a fractional or a freelancer, and I always say – it’s never just about the paying day – you need flexibility. You need that flexibility because you want to support your clients as much as possible and be there when they need you. That said, obviously you can’t work full days for free, but you do need to show up and be present when it counts and when they need you.

For me, it’s never about the days – it’s about the commitment and delivering what a client needs. This means working outside of my standard day at times, because work is never that rigid. It doesn’t always fit into the agreed timeframe.

As I age, mentally I still feel about 35. Looking back on my career, the one thing I’d say is that I’ve made a lot of companies a lot of money. From being written into licensing deals as someone they must work with – worth six figures – to being hired out to other companies, through to turning around a failing business so it could be successfully sold last year. When I think about the revenue I’ve generated through marketing, or the positive impact I’ve had on businesses – it’s staggering.

I remember Mark Wood, the CEO of Future (now one of the world’s largest media companies), saying to me that I’d had a transformational impact on this business. He cited me as driving digital innovation in what was, at the time, a print-first business. And he wasn’t wrong. I landed there and put data and analytics at the heart of the organisation. I hired their first Head of Audience Development, set up digital reporting, and beyond that, I launched products that delivered hundreds of thousands in profit.

Next stop was an agency with the global Microsoft account, where I achieved an 11% profit swing in my first year. How did I do that? I offshored low-value work.

And then there’s my SaaS work. For me, SaaS is like a beautiful song that keeps playing. There’s no hard divide between sales and marketing – just the natural flow of buyer intent and behaviour. The beauty is that all of it can be data-driven. Strands of the song weave through different channels and influence touchpoints, but it’s all interconnected. Technology has enabled greater insight in this area, but really it’s always been about human behaviour – you have a need, you research the solution, and then you buy the product that best fits that need.

If I’d kept all the money I’ve made for companies, no doubt it would be millions.

What all of this has taught me is that success isn’t about rigid hours or even the short-term wins – it’s about commitment, adaptability, and creating real impact. Whether fractional, freelance, or full-time, the value you bring is measured in the change you deliver, not the clock you keep.