When I was younger, people said I was too creative to be an accountant, and too organised to be a creative. Turns out the combination of those two skills is exactly why I was able to create The Profitable Firm (PF): a creative agency working exclusively and only with accountants.
I qualified as a Certified Public Accountant in the States, and worked as an auditor for the State of Arizona before coming to the UK in 2001. When I moved here, I got a job as an auditor at a local accountancy firm in Scotland, but very quickly got moved to business development and setting up a consultancy division for that firm. I then moved on to managing the European office of a global network of accounting firms, and following that set up PF. (For five years I also ran a successful international wedding photography business alongside the creative agency.)
I now focus my energies on helping inspire and educate accountants on the power of content marketing, which PF uses itself to show accountants by example how this is done.
I love training, teaching, and coaching. I'm always honoured when asked to speak to accountants - and although I like big groups well enough, I prefer the smaller, more focused groups where I can get to know people as individuals, and help them with what's troubling them in marketing. I have presented on a large scale and small scale for organisations including Xero, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), the UK200 Group, BKR International, AccountingWeb, Accountex, and Thriveal CPA Network.
PF is based "everywhere", with a core team working from the UK, South Africa, and the United States delivering outsourced marketing to accountancy firms all over the globe.
I keep my creativity alive with photography, sketchnoting, and writing. I'm now a dual British-American citizen, and (after much travel) I confirm that Scotland is the most beautiful country in the world. I drink copious amounts of black coffee.
