I’m Stuart Cray, the consultant behind F.L.M.S.
Before we go any further there are 2 important things you need to know about me.
I’ll tell you the truth.
I’ll do what I say I’m going to do.
The above may come as something of a surprise. Why on earth would anyone need to tell prospective clients that they do what they say they will? The answer, is very simple. The single most common complaint I hear about my fellow marketers goes something like this: “They said they would do this, that or the other, and I’m not really sure what they did / if they did much at all. I certainly didn’t get the results I was expecting.”
We marketers are always telling clients they need a ‘USP’, or a ‘point of differentiation’ — this is mine. I’ll tell you the truth, and I’ll do what I say I will.
It’s not actually a business decision, more of a lifestyle choice — Jordan Peterson explains the concept quite well.
I’m a little old fashioned when it comes to business. I like to know who I’m doing business with, and I like those who I do business with, to know me.
With this in mind, here are a few random facts about me, that I hope will give you an insight into me, as a person.
I’ve never had a proper job. I’ve always been self employed.
Many people dream of escaping the ‘rat race’ — I never joined.
I’ve never even considered having a job; it’s simply never been an option worthy of serious consideration.
I don’t think great marketers ever suit being employees. We are always too busy working as consultants, and working on our own projects.
We home educate our children and use marketing as a learning tool.
I believe that strategic marketing can provide a very well rounded education. We are educating our children at home, based mainly on the idea that an education in marketing is an education in succeeding at life. If you are interested in this idea, visit LifeNotExams.com which is a project I’m working on.
I’m qualified to rescue you from a tree, if you chop your arm off with a chainsaw.
This point is very much related to point one. In my quest to follow my own path and never be an employee I had to think of a cheap and easy business to start when I was in my early 20s. After helping my parents in their garden I decided to offer my (very limited) gardening expertise to paying customers. This morphed into a landscaping and tree work business, and I found myself at Sparsholt college gaining many chainsaw and tree climbing related qualifications. I sold the business to an employee, whom still runs the business successfully today. That business was my very first introduction into employing people, being VAT registered, dealing with accounting, insurance, qualifications and all the other delights of running a small business.
I enjoy living a very modest lifestyle.
There was a time when my main priorities in life could have been described as cars and motorbikes (the faster the better). Now, nothing could be further from the truth. I drive an old Volvo estate because it’s really useful and we currently live in a modest house that we bought as an investment. The advantage of this frugality is that if I choose to, I can work a couple of hours per day and all the bills get paid. Any more than that is a bonus.
One of my best friends is an ex-girlfriend — my wife is ok with it.
This is related to the points at the top of the page. The “I tell the truth and do what I say” isn’t a line of copy for a website, it’s the way I live my life. My wife knows that, so is perfectly happy for our children and I to spend time with my ex-girlfriend, with no reservations what-so-ever. On the down side, she also gets completely unfiltered truth when she gets her hair done. My family and friends do know not to ask for an opinion unless they actually want to know exactly what I think though. However, anyone who knows me well, knows my opinions are always given with the very best of intentions.
I’ve never bought a pint of beer or a glass of wine.
You can’t really know me unless you know that I don’t drink, and (if you ignore a few ill conceived moments in my youth) I never have. At the age of 48, I would estimate I’ve probably drunk a similar quantity of units of alcohol as an average student drinks in their first week or 2 of University.
And here are a few facts to get to know the kind of marketer I am.
I strongly believe that the truth is the best tool we have.
Being able to tell clients that you are genuinely the best solution for their needs, is incredibly powerful. In my experience, most business owners think they are — I only want to work with clients who want to make sure they are. Strategic marketing is in no small part concerned with tailoring what we do as a business to best meet the needs of our ideal target market. Done well, it gives us an unbeatable message to use in our promotional marketing.
I like to think I’m completely self taught, but that’s not quite true.
In my mind I like to think of my skills as a blend of natural talent, genius, fox like cunning and unparalleled thinking power. In reality, I’ve actually worked incredibly hard over many years to be able to do what I do, and know what I know. As well as time spent studying for some of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s qualifications, I’ve also spent thousands of hours researching and testing theories and ideas, thousands of hours again working on my own businesses and projects, and yet more sets of ‘thousands of hours’ on client work.
Again, I’ve never had a proper job.
I think this point deserves to be featured in both sections. I don’t think many things give as powerful a message as the fact that I’ve never had to take a job to make a living. The reason for that — exceptional marketing skills.
I leverage my marketing skills in every part of life, and encourage everyone to do the same.
There aren’t many parts of life that can’t be improved with a good dollop of marketing.
I’m an expert in the human side of marketing. We can find people to deal with the tech.
I’m an expert in people, how they think, how they make decisions, and how we can influence that. Many people think that as a marketer I probably spend a lot of time messing about with websites and suchlike; I don’t. A website is simply a tool we can use to deliver information to the eyeballs of the visitor. I mainly concern myself with that ‘information’, and getting the visitor to the site in the first place.
I work in a shed.
I don’t need or want a fancy office. The office address I use on the contact form is a virtual office address I use purely to stop my home address being bombarded with junk mail. I’m happy in my shed, and it’s where I do my very best work.
