My first real job was in consumer finance, in sales. It was pre 2008 and was a bit of a poundshop Wolf of Wall Street. Dubious business practices, unhinged colleagues and relentless pressure to hit ludicrous targets. All of this combined with a big, inflexible corporate structure that is as dry as can be.

I got out of the sales role sharpish and ended up in a role that bridged the gap between the wonky sales staff and the rigid audit and compliance. This was more satisfactory but confirmed the fact that big corporate wasn’t for me.

After that I ended up on a fairly linear path of B2B business development and later strategy across a range of sectors, the firms were all very different but a few themes emerged. Most businesses are stuck in the weeds; no time to pause, no space to think properly, no spare capacity to fix the underlying problems. That’s not a failure – just how things are when you’re not a big corporate with money to burn or a niche monopoly.

After a lot of rumination I decided that what I really enjoyed was problem solving and strategy, working with small businesses that are still malleable enough to change direction. Big, established businesses are like oil tankers, small ones can still turn. And let’s face it, the big ones just aren’t as much fun.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a slick salesperson. That has benefits: I’m not going to peddle bullshit and I won’t recommend anything you can’t actually action. I don’t do silver bullets – just practical, clear thinking from experience across sectors and a knack for spotting the real problem behind the noise.