Consulting (Storytelling)

I never thought the day would come that I would have the word ‘consultant’ on my freelance menu – and will continue to poke fun at the Big Four on any number of fronts – but the fact is that I’ve been known to use my experience to help small companies with their storytelling.

Working with DACH region startups MOTIONTAG, Naboto and Trality to improve and align their messaging in 2019 was a surprisingly positive experience. It was refreshing to make a genuinely positive contribution and see the results put into effect by motivated entrepreneurs eager to get their (sometimes technical) products and services out to the world in a sexier way.

For me, it was about sharing the experience I had picked up watching hundreds of pitches and interviewing founders who knew what they were doing but didn’t always appreciate how to get it across to you and me. Or who were simply too close to the action to be able to see things as an outsider would.

Sometimes it takes an external pair of eyes to spot glaring inconsistencies or critical elements of the story. Elements a certain target group needs to make sense of the message. This could apply to a one-pager, Twitter profile description, slide deck...or even bang in the middle of a home page.

We worked together to revamp websites, pitch decks, persona messaging and client messaging to make the right things hit home. I’ll just say I’d like to do more of that, and you don’t have to be a startup to talk to me!

And the picture? That's me caddying for (now) professional golfer Jake Redman at an amateur competition back in 2009, as part of a Golf Punk feature story. Because, you know, he was consulting me about the line...