Depot Queens Division - Recruit Training, Bassingbourne Barracks, 1984
There's a good chance that you've seen the above quote several times on my website.
It's 100% intentional, I can assure you.
I've repeated it because I want you, dear reader, to understand that's indicative of the level of service that I bring to each and every collaboration.
But, before we get to that...
Yeah, I know...
The soul-sucking cyber-squatter contacted me to see if I wanted to buy the technicalcopywriter-dot-com domain name.
Tempting... but, in the end, the blood-cost was too much...
Make no mistake, I was okay with satan's little minions and the eternal damnation / fire-and-brimstone part. I was also okay with handing over my firstborn under an old oak tree on the first full moon of Autumn. But there was no way on this planet I will ever wear an England rugby shirt during a Wales v England rugby match...
And that, as they say, was the end of that.
My ultimate goal when working with clients and customers is for all to have that exact same feeling and satisfaction that Jonty Yamisha, CEO of The Kabardian Group and OptiLingo, had after the 2nd project we'd done together. (That's his quote at the top of the page, by the way.)
(As the case study shows (you can download that here), it transformed his business.)
Again, that's what I strive for.
A few years back, I helped Nick Miller and Blue Water Shell, his Australian Pearl Diving company. Nick was having some documentation issues with the HSE so phoned me to help.
Going back even further, I helped Brendon with ISO documentation for his construction industry company, CASSA:
Brendon later hired me as a QA Manager and, after the project was completed, wrote:
Brendon's still a client today, 9-years on:
More recently, with several whitepapers I wrote for Microsoft (including one for The Freelance Toolkit, Microsoft's joint venture with Upwork: its working title was Freelance In A Box, as shown below).
Matt Mottola, their project manager, said:
Again, that's what I want all my clients and customers to experience and feel - that is my goal. That is, also, what I can bring to your business.
We're both professionals and we both know that 'this' doesn't happen overnight, either. It took a lot of pain and hard work.
There's an idiom that says, "As one door closes, another opens."
Kind of...
...mine was more like a trapdoor.
"I fell into it." is the surprising answer.
Before I continue, here are some images of my work history and experience - the real me, so to speak. They'll help orientate you, help get an understanding of who I am, and help shape the rest of this page.
(If you'd rather skip it, no worries, I won't be offended. My story continues below.)
It was while working on the rig that I show in the gallery, above, that I had an accident (two actually).
A drilling rig is a dangerous place, especially when you're new.
The first accident was, quite literally, a ripper.
There's an image here showing what happened...
Look, it's not pretty, so if you're queasy or you're about to eat your dinner, do yourself a favour and don't click on the button. However, if you want to see why I flew off the rig the next day, go for it...
When steel (lots of heavy steel) is involved, flesh and bone doesn't stand much of a chance. But, in the words of Monty Python, "It's just a flesh wound."
The second accident wasn't, though. That was something else.
Four years on, I was now a very experienced hand (avec stump).
Same rig (my entire drilling career was on the one rig). But the difference here was I now knew it like the back of my stumpy-fingered hands.
There are many ways to leave a job or, in this case, an industry...
However, doing it head-first through a hole in the rig floor is not one I'd ever recommend.
Not when there's a steel deck 10' below, that is.
As with the previous "ripper", where flesh, bone, and steel are concerned, there'll only ever be one winner.
We (the rig and I) both survived, but one of us came out of it in a much worse state than the other.
I couldn't know it at the time, but it was the start of a long, slow, and very painful road back to recovery. Though I did return to oil & gas later on (more below), I've never set foot (nor head) on a rig since that fateful day.
But, that's only part of it...
Yep, it was about to get real...
You see, a month before, I'd just bought a pc and had started to teach myself to use Microsoft Word...
And that, dear friend, was excrutiating!
(Come on Microsoft, what were you thinking - then and now. Still.)
With my rig days over, I was forced to seek new direction.
Back to studying, it was the City & Guilds 236 in Electrical Installation course. Then 'T102 - Living with technology', an Open University Foundation Course.
I used Microsoft Word throughout (as slow as the whole process was).
In 1997, it was back into oil and gas. Writing operation manuals for that 'old' industry.
Fortunately, they wanted someone who knew how to use Word... I knew the basics.
It was there that I learned how to use Word properly. Fortunately, for me, there was a guy there who was a genius with it, and who was more than happy to field my questions.
Let's just say, after several thousand hours (or so), I got there. ;)
As Steve Pinckney of Conceptia (and many others) will verify:
Timothy, from Innovatory Consulting gets the real 'me':
The next step was the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer qualification (MCSE).
The Internet was just taking off in the UK and it was the right time. January 2000 saw me setting up my freelancer desk at a little company called Infobank. There I was writing their custom-built ecommerce software, documenting their requirements specs, use cases, and other docs.
Following Infobank, it was into London and to CDC Capital Partners. Then to Vizzavi, Barclays, etc.
Two decades on, it's only gone from strength to strength. For both parties.
Along the way, I've done some sailing, diving, and travelled extensively (over 100 countries). I've then turned this into something beneficial for my clients. For example:
This not only shows my ability and flexibility, but also the breadth of my knowledge and my willingness to take on, absorb, and learn new skills.
As an example, thrown in at the deep-end on a floundering project and 'hitting the surf swimming' (there's a story there in itself!), Steve Goldsby said:
Having been working extensively online since 2011, I look forward to helping you and your organization.
To that end, if you feel that your organization could also benefit from the assistance of a skilled, passionate, and professional writer, then feel free to contact me (I've turned many a project around!). You can click here to book a 30-minute call.
If you're still on the fence, then let me end with what Simon Collins, Managing Partner of Visory wrote after I helped him on a short project in 2019. This, along with Jonty's quote at the top, is what you can expect:
I very much look forward to hearing from you.
Russ