Where it all
comes from.
The start
I grew up in Hartlepool, then moved to Middlesbrough for secondary school. Working class background. Graft was not a concept anybody talked about, it was just how life worked. My first high school was hard. I was bullied and eventually moved schools. Things improved, I found my people, and for a while life felt easier.
Too easy, as it turned out. I stopped working hard. I convinced myself I did not need to. Then the results came back and I realised quite quickly that if I wanted any real options in life, I had to start applying myself properly. Sixth form became the turning point. I put the work in, became Head Student, got my results, and earned a place at university.
The corporate years
I started part-time in telephone customer service inside financial services. It was relentless. Target-driven, high-pressure, and unforgiving. I grafted, became one of the top sales performers, and moved into leadership. I kept taking on more responsibility, kept delivering, and kept pushing for the next step.
But there were no more promotions on offer and very little in the way of support. Just more pressure, piled higher. Over time, that took its toll. I went through a period of burnout that eventually led to a breakdown. It is not something I have hidden from because it matters to what came next.
Coming through that period taught me something I have not forgotten. Graft in the wrong places, in the wrong order, without the right structure around it, does not build things. It wears people down. When I started grafting for myself and my teams rather than for the next promotion, everything shifted. Three promotions followed. I ended up leading a national sales team of 150 people, which was the role I had always wanted.
Startups and scaleups
Moving into startups meant starting again from scratch. I founded Embrace Training and found early traction, then the pandemic hit and income disappeared overnight. I joined Culture Shift as their first sales leadership hire. I had never worked in a startup before, but I could see exactly where the structure was missing and how a proper commercial engine could be built. We delivered triple-figure growth in year one, secured further investment, and won contracts with some of the largest educational institutions in the UK.
SupplyWell came next. Rapid growth, two investment rounds, bad hires, shifting strategy and new government legislation all arriving at the same time. We achieved triple-figure growth in twelve months and closed two investment rounds. It was also the period where I was supporting other founders on the side, people who were going through versions of what I had already lived, and where the NG³ Method became something I consciously named and began teaching.
"Coming through that period taught me something I have not forgotten. Graft in the wrong places, in the wrong order, without the right structure around it, does not build things. It wears people down."
