So how did I get to be celebrating 20 years of working in digital in 2021?
I grew up in rural West Wales; Carmarthenshire. I spoke Welsh and English at school, though English was the dominant language at home.
My father is a self-employed building contractor. From a very young age I was used to working - and standing around holding things! I spent a significant amount of my teenage years – most school holidays and some weekends – labouring on building sites.
I left Wales at 18 and graduated in June 2001 at the age of 21 with a 2:1 BA in History from the University of Reading.
I worked throughout my University days. Just some of the jobs I’d had by the time I was 21: builder’s labourer, shop assistant, pot washer, pub chef, barman, warehouse operative, assembly line worker, general labourer, doorman (one night only, was enough), gardener and once I turned 21 and qualified for the relevant insurance, delivery van driver.
West Wales is not exactly a hot bed of graduate opportunities or corporate life, so my only real option was to stay in England and try to start a career. What that career was going to be I had no idea at the time. I liked writing stuff, though, so thought some sort of journalism career might appeal. But that was about it.
On entering the world of graduate work in 2001 I was slightly terrified, and woefully unequipped for office life in a way that most modern graduates couldn’t really appreciate. Pre-broadband, stuff wasn’t as easy as today to research; I had no family background in what an office job really entailed.
In July 2001 my sole aim was to find somewhere cheap to stay over the summer. If I could find a job that could look okay on my CV, even better.
But the reality was that when I was 21 I was pretty good with a shovel and carrying things, less so on a computer.
Throughout most of my time at university I’d hardly used a computer, or the internet: in that cross-over age of the late 1990s when the internet was around, but the world was largely still analogue, it was only in my last year at university - to type up my dissertation (The Emigrant Experience on The Oregon-California Trail 1846 – 1860 in case you were wondering) did I even get to know basic Microsoft Word.
So on graduation, like most clueless 21 year-olds, I applied for various jobs; media sales, (whatever that was); marketing executive, (sounded fancy); and seeing as I graduated in the Thames Valley and the role seemed ubiquitous, IT Recruitment Consultant, for which I actually got a first round interview – based on what on my CV, I have no f*cking idea.
But I do remember taking a day off from driving a van around industrial estates to attend the interview, though, and even splashed out £90 for a new suit from Burtons.
It was an unmitigated disaster. I cringe at the thought of it now. Luckily, I never heard back from them.
Sat in a layby off Winnersh Triangle in my battered Parcelforce van, skimming through The Maidenhead Advertiser classified job section one Friday afternoon in late June, 2001, I finally saw an appealing job advert. Editorial Assistant Wanted for an Internet Startup, based in Windsor.
I’d completed my deliveries early (now I finally knew my route after 3 weeks, remember, this was pre-SatNavs).
I drove to the University of Reading campus, where I could use the free internet.
In my work wear, clutching my CV on a floppy disk that I carried with me just for these sorts of quick applications, I headed to the library and applied as quickly as possible - before the van parked on the double yellows out front drew too much undue attention.
Note: This is the kind of thing you had to do when you wanted to use the internet in the dial-up era, especially when you were a skint ex-student.
The following week I received a reply asking me to come in for an interview.
I got the job.
My First Office Job
The business I joined was a one-year-old over-50s portal www.50connect.co.uk. It was the brainchild of the late Phil Cooper and his then wife, Lynda Hamilton. It was a company of just 5 or 6, including them two.
Some readers may be familiar with the site – and the founder, Phil – and what he went on to do with Utarget, but this was years before all of that. The offices were located a stone’s throw away from the gates of Windsor Castle, above an internet café that was also owned by Phil and Lynda (and served as our meeting room and free coffee spot).
It was a start-up’s, start-up. Everyone was friendly, they played music loud, seemed to come and go as they pleased, and everyone smoked at their desks. It was the anti-corporate, anti-office vibe I’d been hoping for.
Luckily for me no one seemed to mind that I couldn’t work a computer and that I typed with the speed and accuracy of a blind tortoise. But I learnt quickly.
One of my first jobs was to administer the ‘Pet of the Month’ competition they had recently launched.
It was basically an afternoon’s work just to get 6 or 7 photos up on the website and involved a complicated process of using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to download the entire website, self-addressed envelopes and scanners. And if you ever forgot - or possibly lost – a pet photo, all hell would break loose with the entrants – there were no digital backups of precious pooch pics in those days.
Some of this work was pretty boring, I admit. But it did improve my computer skills quickly. Within a few weeks I was comfortable editing basic HTML and downloading files via FTP. And I realised I could, just about, sit at a desk for a day at a time. But there was some cool stuff too.
Celebrity Interviews
In a bid to encourage us to do more celebrity interviews – anything to draw more attention to the site – Phil and Lynda said they’d pay us £200 for any celebrity interviews we could get. My salary was £11,000, so an extra £200 a month was a lot. Plus, I wanted to do more interviews.
My first ever interview was with Sam Moore, one-half of soul duo Sam & Dave. It was over the phone, thankfully. He was a really nice guy; I nervously asked him pretty bland questions.
I wanted another £200. I saw that Iain Banks, the author, was doing a book signing at Waterstones one evening in Windsor: so I went along to ‘doorstep’ him. I was raw. He was, again, very nice. And he answered my inane questions very well. I typed it up quickly that evening “£200 please”.
A week later and my email bigging up the Welsh connection to Howard Marks and the cheeky sign-off “… I suspect you don’t read these emails yourself, anyway…” got the response I’d been hoping for – and he agreed to do a telephone interview with me. He was a nice guy, though somewhat stoned! My cache with my mates went up tenfold.
“£200 please”. This interview caused some controversy on the site, as some users complained about interviewing a convicted drug smuggler. The content was getting noticed at least! Phil certainly enjoyed the controversy it caused.
The following week I was informed that while they loved the interviews, 50 Connect couldn’t afford to keep paying me £200 a time for them. It wasn’t about the money, they were an opportunity, so I carried on just the same.
Although after being told “F*ck off, no chance,” by the PR for Betty Boothroyd (ex-speaker of the House of Commons) while approaching her for an interview at the afore-mentioned Waterstones, my confidence was dented slightly!
I interviewed a load of people during that first couple of years of working there: 50 Connect was such a novel idea at the time that we managed to get quite a good uptick with the PR people of ageing celebrities.
Whenever they released a new album, book, movie or tour – we were often approached and given access. I was learning the ‘you-scratch-my-back’ relationships that underpins a lot of the media and creative industries.
I was very aware of being a young guy interviewing older people, but after a while I realised it was an advantage. Pretty much every ageing musician I ever interviewed: Bill Wyman, Dennis Lacorriere, Alice Cooper, Chris Dreja, Errol Brown, showed off a bit to me as a younger guy, boasting about girls, or gigs, or wild times, which made for good copy.
I was very self-conscious of my accent at times, though. I have a strong Welsh accent. I’ve never tried to hide it, or change it (though 22+ years in England has certainly softened it), it’s not in my make-up to try. But I was – and am – aware that I don’t sound like most people in media. But after a time I realised that my accent was a huge asset too. I can’t remember how many times I’d start chatting to a well-known person only for the conversation to turn to Wales – and I’d be told an anecdote from their childhood, fishing trips, nights out, or great bands they knew from the Valleys. It meant interviews went off in more interesting directions.
September 2001
Friday afternoon 7 September, 2001; three of us lugging armfuls of 50 Connect investment prospectuses in envelopes, addressed to various VCs and investors down Peascod street, the main parade of shops in Windsor towards the Post Office. Nice hardcopy prospectuses from what I remember. Expensive to print, I’m sure. They’d take a few days to be delivered, probably arriving the following Tuesday or Wednesday.
Most potential investors received their copies on Tuesday 11 September, or possibly, Wednesday 12 September at the latest. Arguably two of the worst days in history for anyone to pick up and read an investment prospectus!
Tuesday September 11th 2001. Just after lunch. Someone came up into the office and said “Just seen on TV a plane has crashed into a skyscraper in New York.”
The afternoon was spent watching the TV downstairs in the internet café. As the afternoon wore on it began to fill up with US tourists, many upset, many frantically trying to email friends and family back home. It was a sombre day. I went home that night shell shocked, and as a history graduate couldn’t help but think about how all the previous wars in the world had started with events like this; selfishly I imagined military conscription, and thought, is this the end of my career before it’s even started?
Nine months in to working at 50 Connect I felt like it was time to move on; the £11K salary, even back then, meant I could barely survive. I had some experience on my CV now. I had a few interviews for various ‘New Media’ gigs.
I’m not sure anyone in the industry at that time knew what they were looking for in their digital hires, particularly for ‘web editors’. They wanted a cross between a web designer, a coder, administrator, and journalist, depending on where you applied. Invariably it wasn’t me they were after.
But I did get offered a new job eventually: Assistant Editor at Auto Trader working on their growing online portfolio. It was more money: £19K I think, but based in London (Wimbledon), so I’d have to move, which I was eager to do. It was certainly a foot-in-the-door at a big company; even a name my parents had heard of.
There was only one problem; I had – and still do – next to zero interest in cars and find writing about them pretty dull. If I’m honest, I was probably also still a bit scared of entering a more ‘professional’ workplace too.
After sharing the news with 50 Connect about my new job offer I received a counter offer: £18K to stay, plus, I could be the lead on a new project they wanted to get off the ground: a magazine launch. I decided to stay put.
The magazine we looked to launch was a plan hatched in partnership with a print publisher. I got a front-row seat at most of the discussions. I distinctly remember driving three of us up to London in my shabby old Vauxhall Nova for a meeting once, parking a few streets away to avoid being seen arriving in such a crap car!
Viva
The magazine, Viva, was a pivotal experience in my early career: for the first time, less than one year into ‘office’ work, I was working on a project I really cared about.
I worked long hours, pushed myself on different things as needed, and felt for the first time that I wasn’t ‘clock watching’ ever; there weren’t enough hours in every day to get everything done. I certainly developed and honed my writing and editorial skills; I began looking for feature ideas everywhere, analysing articles and how they were constructed in far more depth.
In retrospect the magazine was always destined to fail. There wasn’t enough backing behind it to succeed properly; leaving the venture in the hands of a 22-year-old novice was probably not the best move, either! We drew a false start: one issue was published, somewhere, but never distributed beyond some 50 Connect mailing lists as far as I could tell. I had written, under various pseudonyms, about 70% of the content.
As the production editor getting ready for a monthly print run, though, we had at least 3 issues ready to go in terms of copy when the plug was pulled. I’d spent the best part of a year working on the launch. I was fairly despondent when the news was broken to me.
Naively, I’d never imagined failure. I was young, editorially minded, so hadn’t thought too much on the commercial business. I still had my job at 50 Connect, though, (I’d continued doing all the website work in addition to the magazine prep at this time).
PR & Publicity
By now it was Spring 2003. Asked to cover the internet café downstairs for a few hours one afternoon – and unable to get onto the internet on the computer by the till – bored, with nothing to do, I started writing a press release: ‘TVs Loss is the Internet’s Gain’
I shared it with Phil for feedback. He skim read it and said; “that’s great, can you come up with something like that once a week for us?”
My new career as head of PR, had begun. To be honest, in the aftermath of Viva – where I’d pinned my hopes on a burgeoning career as a hotshot young magazine editor, I had started to look around for a new role. The PR thing was something I thought I’d do for a bit while looking around for a new job.
But when I got into it a little more – I discovered that I quite enjoyed it. I took a distribution course in what would become Cision distribution software, which basically gave me access to every newsdesk, production company and radio station in the country.
I started cooking up publicity ideas, which also became website features; I started sending out a lot of our content – celebrity interviews mainly – to print publications, saying they were free to publish in exchange for publicity and a link back to the site. My interview with Alice Cooper was picked up by The Western Mail (the national newspaper of Wales) and turned into a full-page feature – a copy of which still hangs on the kitchen wall of my parents’ house in Wales.
I didn’t realise it at the time, but I was practising what we know today as content marketing, before the phrase existed.
I got a real kick out of seeing our website name – and a comment or two – appear in a print publication. It was fun. I even found myself doing a lot of radio – BBC local radio stations mostly – who always seemed keen to hear the ‘voice of the over-50s’ when we launched a new survey or competition. I often wonder whether those BBC producers knew they were chatting to a 23 year old!
In the summer of 2005 50 Connect was awarded eSuperbrand status, something I’m confident the press and PR I helped generate over a two-year period contributed towards.
In September of that year I left. I’d worked at 50 Connect for just over four years in total.
A year or so after that 50 Connect was sold off to aid the expansion of the Utarget empire.
During my time working there I did everything from serve coffee (literally in the internet café), to interviewing Hollywood stars (Jerry Lewis was probably the biggest – and worst – I did); to running ad campaigns, to editing html, launching a magazine, to speaking on national radio and generating newspaper headlines. My pay throughout those years never amounted to more than £22,000 a year.
It was obvious that what wasn’t available in terms of salary or formal career progression, was more-than-made up for with time and opportunity to pursue interesting areas. I spent a lot of time there learning new skills and tools.
I wasn’t really managed: I could have probably spent half my days doing next-to-nothing and it would have taken months for anyone to really notice.
Those days were also formative for my future entrepreneurial career, in other ways, too.
Making Contacts
One day in 2003 I was introduced to a new colleague, the first Utarget hire: Francis Turner.
What Fran thought the Welsh guy sitting next to him did all day I have no idea. (18+ years later he may still ask himself this question!). But we hit it off quickly. My only real involvement in Utarget was some adhoc PR and the occasional ‘wing-man’ on early client nights out if Fran was going in solo.
Since 2010 myself and Fran have been business partners, launching Content Amp (formerly Search News Media) together and subsequently Adyoulike in the UK.
But in addition, the network we called upon when bootstrapping early on - our IT support, web design and part-time accounts payable, were all friends or ex-colleagues we’d made working together during these early years.
From the off, working in a small, chaotic start-up environment seemed to suit my personality and my attitude to work.
It was frustrating at times, unorganised and haphazard; but it was also, fun, rewarding and interesting to see, feel and understand the internet economy that was beginning to grow at that time.
No one knew exactly how to do anything, there was no blueprint. But everyone gave everything a good go.
Which is as good a description of launching an online business as I can find, in my view. So it was only a matter of time, I think, before I was going to have a crack at launching one of my own ……
Part Two …… The one about working really, really, f*cking hard …