Elevator Pitch
Heading into Oban after leaving the ferry
Ten things that found us does well.
Headhunting at senior level
Mentoring
Sales, and pitching
Marketing
Business growth
Board level advice and action
Account management
PR, raising awareness
Business number crunching
Technology
All of the above are in no particular order, occur across the online and offline world, their various platforms and channels.
And I now live in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, and have more time than ever in which to help clients and contacts.
Headhunting is a forte of mine having worked with good people for years, and placed senior people in established businesses. As is mentoring and personal development, where I also work as a Honorary Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University Management School.
Sales and marketing is another forte. Depth of experience allows me to win clients and customers, know how to retain them. Pitch for advertising business with a grasp of how this industry ticks, with many a success to date. I can talk about TV across to Programmatic, to brand or non-brand.
I’m good as a board level member and have worked in both established and start up businesses.
Process is big for me hence loving organisational and process matters within businesses - of how I can make them more efficient and fun places to work. And this also include using the latest tried and tested tools, or even those in beta.
So…. Give me a try!
Claire - 13th March - the night of the blood moon eclipse in Oban
Drifting into March…
Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes and it is a maxim I like. It always reminds me that we have to make change when we think that all is in fact okay, and it is not okay. The maxim sits comfortably with understanding that it is all too easy to keep following the same path expecting different results (also known as the insanity quote and oft wrongly attributed to Einstein.)* Human beings are creates of habits, or routines akin to a computer. Have a read of Atomic Habits by James Clear. It is good to learn that it can be near impossible for the conscious to overcome deep routed subconscious routines. But if we know of the routines running beneath the subconscious we can tackle them and make change.
The above relates to a live specimen, but what of a company, a partnership, a sole trader and so on? These are made up and run by people, and so we can apply the concept of change to overcome business insanity.
Any business continuing on and on does run the risk of getting the exact same results again and again, when it wants and needs change, and this is business insanity. But does a business that gets the same results do no wrong? In fact why fix something that is not broken? Is there a huge flaw in my reasoning.
Soooo… how do I know if my business is INSANE?
Remember the insanity of doing the same thing, and expecting different results. Or the danger of not changing and being satisfied with with a status quo.
What can I do?
So we have established the business ain’t changing, it’s still doing the same thing, yup it’s making money, but it could be on a precipice, or in decline, or maintaining a status quo and not growing. But it could be growing and doing well. Thing is do we need to do something? All depends on the research phase and what we want to do.
* Civil rights campaigner and feminist writer Rita Mae Brown is the real author of the phrase. In her 1983 book Sudden Death, Brown attributes the quote to a fictional ‘Jane Fulton’. However, the idea of a link between repetition and insanity can be traced back to the 19th century.
Mission control this morning.
Thinking - the evening of Thursday 27th February 2025.
Well Keir Starmer is in Washington talking to, or being talked at by Donald Duck. I am in bed typing away and thinking. Smooth Chill Radio is playing some good tunes on the Google Nest Max, and Claire downstairs having a brew with a colleague who has popped over.
This I now realise is how business life can also be for those who choose to make the leap. The leap into living life via your business and not for your business. You may need to do a double take on that sentence, but it does make sense.
I’ve not checked out MAD//Fest in Manchester, which is the advertising, marketing, and media event that has come up from London, and to be honest if you do the maths you’ll realise I’m also not attending since I am in Tobermory and Manchester is a long walk away (and swim.)
But to be honest I’m glad I am not there. I’ve glanced at my LinkedIn feed and can see a lot of posts relating to the event in between the posts of the day from connections. It is withering to be honest; to read, to see, and very ego centric. I used to be like that, maybe not the worse. And I suspect the event has brought all that London has to offer - eyes roll upwards.
My approach to life nowadays has changed to one of living in the moment and action. And I shy away from publicity, grandstanding with statements on social media especially LinkedIn, and can imagine compatriots rubbing shoulders with various job titles and thinking how “good” they are; depending on what you define as “good”.
I prefer now to get on with things and help other people and businesses and if I get paid then great. And if I deliver good results, then great. In fact it makes me smile to hear of a business growing, or people for that matter as a result of my input. It is a healthy approach to my life and that of others. Being transparent and authentic is key to living I now feel. And I’d rather tell a business man x, y, z and that to sort it out he needs to do a, b, c and that I can help and that it will cost money, and this is what he can expect. Simple, honest, straightforward and not a case of milking someone or a business and of being smug about it whether conscious or unconsious.
(Seeing the photos and copy as to MAD//Fest I could only taste smugness.)
Selling, Thursday morning 27th February, Tobermory
It is a bit nippy out there, but has all the hallmarks of a nice fresh island day on Mull. On a Zoom while I type and upload the video I took to this post.
Selling
Have a listen and do consider Peter Cobley and found us for selling and marketing. In simple language I can grow your business sales and engagement, whether business or consumer focused. I’ve a wealth of experience across b2b and b2c with existing, new, or start up businesses and have a track record to boot. You can also ask past clients.
Peter Cobley and found us and you and your business
Thought that I would talk about what I can do for businesses in a 7 minute video, whilst on board the MV Loch Frisha as it heads to the Isle of Mull, where I live.
Soooo…. Here is a QUICK written synopsis.
I set up found us back in February 2014 to provide head hunting at senior level across advertising, marketing, and media. The business then morphed (what I wanted) to include consultancy services for such industry sectors.
All of this based on 30 plus years of working in the industries, and 20 of them at senior level as a director.
I now live in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, having moved from Greater Manchester.
I have laid off the business since working it very hard.
found us has delivered senior staff in key roles to established businesses.
found us has provided consultancy to businesses and people.
Research into the business.
Strategy from research.
Financial examination and assessment. (Profit and loss, balance sheet, cost base, financial ratios, metrics, performance etc.)
Staff. (Analysis, support and learning.)
Sales and Marketing.
1 year, 2 - 3 year plan, 5 year plan.
found us to date
Decided to upload a video as it was quicker than typing out my thoughts. So I apologise for the following:
Waffle.
Um’s and erm’s.
The location, being the Corryvreckan Weatherspoon pub in Oban, in that it may contain background noise. But it was the only place open selling coffee!!!
Moving into February and halfway through Q1.
Sat here with the warmth of a fire in a Banjo Beale inspired room at the Western Isles Hotel in Tobermory.
Claire and Calum are playing pool. I’m, well, relaxing with one eye on pool and now watching darts; safely out of throwing radius.
It is a good thing to be living here after our, my journey.
I was looking at LinkedIn earlier, at all the advertising contacts I have posting in the news feed. I used to do that. And used to be part of that. Not anymore. And I’m glad.
It’s all, sucks breath in, bullshit, ego, and a desperate want to be part of a business your in. A craven way of seeking love in the advertising business, which does not exist.
On a practical level it is boring to read and may as well have been written by AI, devoid of anything bearing resemblance to the truth, or of interest. For the most part boastful, ego driven, and prattling on about how good said post writer is. Why not be honest and say you have had a crap week?
Oban, Sound of Mull, Craignuire (Oh and Storm Eowyn and a power cut.)
Sailing back to Craignure, Isle of Mull, Sunday morning of the 26th aboard the MV Isle of Arran.
Week commencing the 20th as I type coming up for 9pm on Sunday 26th, at the end of a week that has seen travel, a rather “cheeky” Storm Eowyn that took out power on Mull and the mainland, and finished off with snow and freezing weather.
But worth it when you see the photos.
Smiles aboard the MV Isle of Arran heading over to Oban on Saturday 25th.
And of course, full photos and videos during the week can be found on Flickr.
We had to be resourceful in the power cut that hit the island from lunchtime Friday 24th through to Saturday 5pm.
Donald and the Advertising Industry
Well it was the first day in the Oval office for Donald Duck. I had a think and recorded a video, nothing detailed, but happy to help where someone needs to navigate change due to macro factors.
From found us to Petercobley.com
As well as my business website for found us, I also run my own personal site where I chat about allsorts, post photos; and www.petercobley.com is a place where you can learn a bit more about me.
Have a look and sniff at petercobley.com and list me know if same or insane.
We all break down and don’t be hard on yourself, just like Mull’s solo broken down car on the Tobermory/Craignuire single track road where it’s now being rescued by the island’s own tow truck after semi blocking the road for a few days.
Where does the public and private start and end?
There is no such divide in my life. There is only me.
The business found us is an extension of myself. In fact that is not correct, with myself and the business being one in the same thing.
And this is something people fail to grasp - the holistic life.
In careers, business, job, role, looking for work, being in work, across to employing and interviewing people it is common to create this artificial dichotomy, and create a mental, spiritual, emotional imbalance. To live as two people is hard and impossible, and even worse can lead us to Act out what we think a role is and minimise our true selves.
We can act as we think we ought to in a role, and be seen in the brutal hard boss role by others, yet outside of work we are the home Dad or Mum, a softer different person. This is tiring to act out. It’s tiring for people who occupy both worlds with us. It is dangerous since one persona/role can take over the other, and in modern society where there is so much time spent at work (>50%) we can see where we lose more of our true self. A dystopian version of the classic Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
There are so many people I know that have altered through work. Over time, incrementally, and hard to spot. Remember we are beings of nature and nurture, and our environment will impact and shape us should we be unaware and fail to assert self and core principles and beliefs.
There is a lot of truth and multiple meaning in a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Have you become a sheep in your role or business, following your business environment? Has it turned you into a wolf? Let’s take two examples. Think of the public versus private Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. And is he not a product of his environment? Remember a new fledgling MP in the House of Commons, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and then remember that MP some time later. Have not most become a product of Parliament? A parody of who they were.
The examples seem far removed, but are they?
Be careful out there and what you wish for. The only advice I can give give is to:
Be true to self.
Don’t divide yourself between work and your private life. Keep you as you.
Maybe label life as follows, “I am Peter Cobley and I have the job of Director in my business. I am married to Claire. Divorcing myself from the labels of Director and Husband of what is expected by society or our environment.
I can then be sure he happy, quirky Peter that I am. Able to take risk. Able to take a leap of faith. Able to live each moment freely. Not shacked by norms, past, or future since I operate to my Operating System and Not others - Peter Cobley OS Mark 2.
My search and selection
Where are you really going when you’re in your 30’s, 40’s, and beyond?
Do you have direction, feel you have achieved in your life? But what does it meant to be successful? What’s achievement?
This is where I come into play.
When I set up found us it was with a view to mentoring and building people; of giving back what was freely given to me over the years. And I had some wonderful mentors in my 53 years.
I’ve a history of mentoring people and regularly do so with clients, candidates, and with Lancaster University Management School.
The other side to myself and my business is all the contacts I have nationally and intentionally, and my reputation. This allows for first hand work with my company clients to find them good staff for senior leadership teams.
I am uniquely able to match my contacts and mentees to my clients business needs; often not working to a brief - and I’ve been oh so successful over the years in my Executive Search and Selection.
I’ve placed a Broadcast Director at an international agency, a Sales Director at a major tech company, or created a role for a mobile specialist to set up a division for an international agency group. And there’s more if you have a look about my website or have a chat with me.
If you are a candidate or client…
Do contact me for my very unique brand of search and selection both national and international.
Full tracking of the search and selection process, with help given in candidate assessment if needed is all on offer, so at any given moment you know exactly where you are with your senior hire, and importantly with the money you spend with me.
The start of Loch Ba from the village of Knock, Isle of Mull.
Acting as a sales director
Walking alongside Loch Ba, Isle of Bull.
To anyone one, or any business that needs a good Sales or Commercial Director, I’m your Man!
I don’t with to be arrogant or boastful. Not at all. I merely state the truth. And being honest is a key, if not the most important element in what makes a good sales person.
I started my sales career in 1994 in national Press moving to ITV, and ultimately agency side. Always delivering results.
I thus have knowledge, experience, and track record in creating a sales pipeline, cold selling across to formal tender response and pitching. Working with and pulling a team together to win the business. And this is a commodity sale or a bespoke sale, with some ticket values running into six and seven figures.
I started off in traditional advertising and moved into online advertising; and represent a rare breed of sales and commercial person who straddles the old and new worlds of advertising, marketing, and media.
I’ve worked for and set up start ups that were subsequently sold. I’ve been employed by some sizeable businesses working on big brands; at 29
I was a Business Development at ITV in London working on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Survivor.
So I do know a lot indeed. And this can be harnessed to help grown a business through a solid new business sales process, and account management of clients.
So if you:
Need someone to look at your sales process and staff, then I’m for hire.
If you need a new business pipeline building from scratch then I can help.
Or if you need me to parachute into your business as a sales or commercial director then don’t hesitate to contact me.
Looking out over Loch Na Keal toward Balnahard and Eorsa island.
Pay per Click search advertising (PPC)
View from the found us office over Tobermory
A possibly contentious or easy to utilise form of advertising that originated from the search market that was created (and believe it or not copied from and not invented by Google) by Goto.com, that rebranded to Overture, that was then acquired by Yahoo! I worked for the company and have a very much deep depth knowledge of the PPC marketplace, initially Search but now straddling other channels, e.g. Social Media.
I am keen to work with companies or people on the Isle of Mull where I live in Tobermory, or Oban and the Argyll and Bute area. That said I work UK wide and internationally, and have done so for years.
PPC (Pay Per Click) from Tobermory, Isle of Mull and Oban
I don’t propose to write reams on PPC as it a quite mature channel now and arguable one must focus on the quality of a company’s website and a customers path to it and through it, and of how we can create a desired action that benefits company and customer, for example a sale.
I understand the metrics of making paid search and pay per click media (Programmatic Display for example) work for a business to achieve above, below, or through the line results. I have over 20 years experience in the area.
Looking out from Oban to the island of Kerrera and beyond the Isle of Mull
I can distill my knowledge into the following areas where I can help
Understanding the concept of PPC, how it works, of how it can fit in and supplement all marketing activity, but does not have to be the “expensive” be and end all that it can be, as well as you advertising “red herring”.
Understanding and grasping how the technology works, for example how to structure a Google Ads account to leverage the Quality Score element of the channel, across to buying correctly via a DSP.
Understanding the importance of content to leverage the advertising platforms position “reward” systems, i.e. position in Sponsored Links for a keyword, without degradation of content serving its purpose of attracting consumers into taking a purchasing, non-purchasing action, and brand being negatively affected through poor copy writing.
Working with you to enhance your website to initiate good customer action. It is in one sense very easy to get the customer to the company website, but so so many customers don’t find a website “sticky” and “bounce” away, and thus the marketing activity and spend are wasted. We can help with ad copy, landing pages, and page/website testing whether A/B or as advanced as multivariate. A website like Amazon is leagues ahead of other eCommerce websites with a killing double figure website conversion rate.
And this brings me onto data. Which does not have to be slavish and look nice. We/I’ve knowledge of drilling down into the data in order to use it to benefit company and customer. It is a big area, and an important one, and involves software such as Google Analytics. You need to know your “bang for your buck”. Suffice to say we love crunching numbers and data.
Lastly and maybe this should be point 1. We crucially help with drilling down into what it is you sell by way of product or service, who you sell it to and how your customers buy from you. We then drill down even further for example by looking at relevant keyword searches across to usage of the correct copy. This is the research phase way before you do anything media wise, and the bit of the iceberg under the waterline; the large bit, the important bit. I’ve many years of experience in researching what companies do, and of how they can successfully use digital marketing bought on a pay per click or other cost metric.
I am happy to work on a consultancy, fee based offering, or commission only model. This can very much suit the smaller (or larger) business with finite and precious online marketing budget.
Tobermory Harbour
SEO and PPC share of traffic and clicks
Following on from my last post, this is an in-between post as to traffic to a search engine results page (SERP).
I thought it would be handy for those who don’t know the difference in traffic and clicks for SEO and PPC.
Costa Coffee Oban this morning
I typed the following search query into Google.co.uk.
“share of clicks serps seo ppc”
This is what Google delivered by its AI.
AI OVERVIEW
Organic search results receive more clicks than paid search results on search engine results pages (SERPs):
Organic vs. paid search
75% of clicks on SERPs are for organic results, while 25% are for paid results.
CTR by ad platform
The average click-through rate (CTR) for Google paid search ads is about 2%, while marketing agencies see a CTR closer to 5%.
CTR by position
The average CTR for the top organic result in Google search is 31.7%, which is 10 times higher than the CTR for the 10th position.
Here are some other statistics about SEO and PPC:
53.3% of all web traffic comes from organic search, while 27% comes from paid search.
70% of marketers believe SEO is more effective than PPC.
64% of marketers invest in SEO.
55% of marketers consider SEO to be very important or extremely important to their marketing strategy.
93% of businesses that invest in SEO see an increase in website traffic.
You can use both SEO and PPC to create effective marketing campaigns. You can use PPC to get your name out there quickly, and then use SEO to boost your organic traffic.
Search engine optimisation in Oban, Tobermory, Argyll and Bute
A business or person listing in SERPS - search engine results pages - can be a much misunderstood process and one shrouded in mystery for most.
Main Street, Tobermory - one of the places I work from
But it is actually quite straight forward.
found us can help you with this area and here is a nice little commentary the practice of Search Engine Optimisation, and of how we can help.
Have a read below and don’t hesitate to say hello.
SEARCH ENGINES
We all use them. Mostly Google in the UK with over 90% of searches coming from this one entity. But when you consider sheer numbers of searches you also need to look to other players. For example Bing.
A search engine is effectively a database of websites across the UK (being UK specific here.) A user types a search and results are delivered on a web page, know as a SERP or search engine results pages. The viewer clicks on their desired result (also known as listing or from a Geek point of view, snippet) and is taken to that website.
Here I am talking about natural listings and the paid for ones (separate article to come on this area) commonly know as Sponsored Links and normally positioned to the top of the results page.
Technically all business is a numbers game. The more people though the shop door, the more likelihood of a sale. And you encourage potential purchasers of a product or service by stock positioning, attractive packaging, price, accessibility (is it in stock?)
Same applies, as has been discovered, to the web. The online shop so to speak. A customer finds you via a big shopping mall (Google) after typing in a search query. They decided to enter your store versus others by clicking on the search result. Your search result is your invitation to a potential consumer.
On then clicking the link the user is taken to a website. From here a number of factors come into play.
Think of all of this as a sales process as defined by the acronym for the sales structure AIDA.
Attention - obtain a customers attention within the many results that are shown.
Interest - create interest via your result title and body copy (known as a Result, Listing or Snippet.)
Desire - match the customer need with your product or service benefits as detailed in the result, snippet, or listing.
Action - on creating desire we stimulate the customer to click on your result.
The searcher has a need we want them to fulfil this by their clicking on your search engine result, and being taken to your product or service. Your part to play is well written copy that captures the searcher’s attention and matches the need they have as expressed in the search. We’ll come onto the actual website after that.
A SIMPLE 2 STEP PROCESS - SEARCH TO CLICK AND WEBSITE
STEP 1 SEARCH TO CLICK
It is NOT simply about copy writing with SEO - search engine optimisation. Well it is, but there is a little more to it.
You have to really go back to basics before even looking to a website. And you can blow a lot of marketing money on an ill produced website.
Our task is to match the search intentions of the customer. In search we refer to brand and non-brand terms. Brand terms relate to your business brands including products and services. Non brand refers to all other terms. For example “Coca-Cola" versus “soft drink”. And you need to optimise for both.
Search Terms / Search Queries
Q: how is someone going to find you via a search on a search engine?
A: use you pre-existing knowledge of the customer and your marketing. Blend with what you observe from online and search data.
Remember the acronym - WHATS.
What do you make? How do you make it? To what area to you sell to? To whom do you sell to? What special features do you have?
You need to get back to basics and evaluate what you make and sell, whether service or product. And what might be exclusive to you. Such information can form the basis of deciding what search terms you wish to use for your business, its product, its service.
You need to understand who your customer is and get inside their head. How do they think? How are they likely to find your product via a search engine query/search terms?
This can be aligned with offline point of sale and marketing activities. How would someone find you in the “real world”? How would they find you in a shopping mall, a superstore? How does your ambient media appeal to users? We need to get back to basics of how we meet a customer’s need at the point in time when that need coalesces?
Search engines are databases and there is analogy with a big shopping mall, or superstore. How does the customer find the shop you sell from or the product on the shelf if they were to ask the passer by?
For example we are a business that runs a hotel in Oban, where there are many other hotels and accommodation providers. You know from your marketing and customers that you are found via people asking about “hotels in Oban”, “hotels in Argyll and Bute”, or the name of your hotel “Peter Cobley Hotel”. You now have queries that translate well to the web.
Online data and research
Search words, search queries, keywords, search terms are basically one in the same thing. It is what the searcher enters into a search engine.
We are now beginning to build up brand and non-brand search terms.
But we also have a wealth of online data that we can mine from our website, free, and paid for tools. Examples can be Google’s Analytics, or Search Console, or some very sexy paid for tools.
Zapier have kindly provided a neat article: The 11 Best SEO Tools in 2025.
Search listing, snippet, website copy
This is where we go back to AIDA - the sales process that applies in all cases. It is a crucial fact that life for people is not divided into web and non-web. But as businesses we can think this way.
Your search engine copy and web copy is your traditional point of sale and both must interact with each other, customer, and a search query. It should fluidly follow the searcher’s thinking “I need a hotel in Oban, I can see Peter Cobley Hotel, and the hotel is both central and showing a 10% offer. I’ll have a look and click”.
Pixie dust and magic
I am not going to go into the more technical side of things. But the following rules apply when it comes to getting “good” search engine results for your chosen search terms.
The higher up the listings on SERPS mean more clicks.
Getting the higher positions can involve “working” the hidden stuff that makes Google what it is, Bing what it is etc.
You may have heard of PageRank, algorithms, viewing and click rates. Blah, blah, blah. But don’t panic - it is not as complex as you think.
Paid listings (PPC, Pay per click) interact with each natural search engine results.
How your website performs is a factor in your position for a search term.
I AM NOT GOING to cover this bit off, suffice to say we know about it in detail and can explain all to you. AND the above is not a definitive list.
The view from the found us office
STEP 2 LISTING TO WEBSITE
Copy and “themes”
When the user arrives on the website it is ideal that the copy reflects the search term they used especially a specific one relating to product or service. The same principles apply as in any offline sales process. For example, if we have successfully navigated the user searching for Christmas pud to the relevant aisle and Christmas pud cannot be located then we have wasted a lot of marketing effort, unless our particular customer is happy to search.
Same applies for the click from listing to website. If you drop the user onto the home page when they are searching specifically, e.g. “double room in Oban hotel” then don’t be surprised of a high bounce rate as users leave the site.
Thematic copy and process is so important. And what do I mean by this? The user is following a train of thought and we have to mirror this in the copy and it positioning.
This is where skill comes in as we look to the very bare bones of a website and how it functions as both a sales, information, or tool vehicle.
I have focused on retail in this post but am at pains to explain that not all websites sell product and service, and that the above does also apply.
It is about structuring your website of linking its copy and disparate parts to search terms and listings, of optimising for what the customer wants and needs of a website. OF NOT OVER OPYTIMISING FOR SEO and so reducing a customer facing means of engagement to a mere amalgam of search terms.
Conversion rates
They all stack up if things are done correctly. AND I did say at the start that it is a numbers game.
You appear on page one of the SERPS for terms, thus reaching a large number of searchers.
You have a good click through rate of good, qualified customers on your search engine listings.
The customers who hit your website stay as the content is relevant.
The customers convert to sales or whatever metric you work by beacuse they want what you offer.
We can deliver on the above for you, and it is NOT EXPENSIVE OR COMPLEX, and we can teach you how to do it yourself. No need for an agency, and we will be the first to advise this.
OUR SEARCH ENGINE CREDENTIALS - WHY PETER COBLEY AND FOUND US
A December’s working week in photos.
And what a fine place to live and work - Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Oban.
found us
“People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.” Anton Chekhov
Savouring a view out to sea from Gavanan Beach near Oban.
Life’s reality can be our singular viewpoint of it and not one governed by the outside influences that swirl daily about us.
(*There is a more concise version of this post if you scroll to footnote at the bottom of this page.)
What glasses are you wearing today when you look at life?
Can you see the Robin?
Can you see the beauty in all including people, no matter what?
Do you need glasses given to you by others, by society?
Are you looking with clarity at your life, or is your viewpoint opaque, clouded by a focus on others? By wearing glasses given to you people and society, and so wearing their world views.
It is so easy to be myopic as to what others have done to you, not done to you, your world situation and where you are; compared to being yourself, true and authentic, living each moment at a time, recognising what has been and may come, whilst not being and living in moments past and yet to come.
I always remind and encourage people to draw their sphere of influence inward , from that which is outside of them and self; for self is what we truly control. And in controlling self we have direction, purpose, clarity. We live in our moments when we focus on self, not the moments of others.
"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness." - John Steinbeck, "Travels with Charley: In Search of America"
Scottish mountains when sailing into Oban. The rugged beauty of winter.
I like the quote and its symmetry to weather. The reality is that winter balances summer and vice versa; both are really mirror images. Yet the interpretation one can put on winter is darkness, cold, damp, wet, snow, despondency. But this is an interpretation. Is not winter also something to be marvelled at as a season of beauty, of both hibernation and recovery for new growth and life, and also a time of reflection, of closing in together in warmth with loved ones?
To Mentor is to Grow
This is something I have done for years and for the most part freely believing in the mantra of giving back what was freely given to you. After all how much of life to you really need to live and enjoy life?
What I have learnt is that a lack of self belief and faith, of low self esteem, of people pleasing, of fear of action to lack of goal and dream planning is down to the interpretation we have of life including ourselves, which is a product of the glasses and thus viewpoint we were given from birth. And that it is possible to re-engineer all of this and simply remove the glasses and adopt a viewpoint of self, others, world and all that we are comfortable with.
Through mentoring I grew others and I grew myself. I learnt to be empathetic, caring and considered.
Sailing into Oban, with Ben Cruachan beyond. I see its rugged and towering beauty and cast aside my worldly beliefs and marvel at what can await me.
In simple terms I wasted so much time thinking about other people, other places, and other things. It did not matter if it was a house to live in, a job to aim for, jealousy or anger, or worse hate of others, bemoaning a situation I found myself in, usually blaming others for this, hours spent conniving my climb up the corporate ladder, or worry pangs of what people thought of me - The list went on ad nauseam.
I was very shallow, insecure, eager to please, easily led back then.
Thankful not anymore.
What glasses are you wearing this winter, or do you need to remove them?
found us
I now realise I gave good advice when mentoring or advising in my 10 years of found us but did not necessarily follow it myself!
I do now.
I took my glasses off which jaundiced my viewpoint to one of believing I was not good enough, people better than me, and spent too long worrying about others.
Now, I just focus on me and how I can live in each moment and I now achieve so, so much more.
I care for but am not worried as to other people. Why should I be? Nor do I worry as to places or events, let alone what’s happened or may happen.
I now teach this approach (and actually have done for a while) and people I work with, especially the senior ones. I now do think each senior person with all their confidence are quite insecure beneath the surface. And that’s okay. That’s being authentic and believable. Rather than the usual approach of positioning oneself with bravado, knowing it, and keeping people at distance for fear of being found out.
*Sweary Footnote - the simple version for those who can’t be bothered to read my post.
There is a chap called Craig Johnson who once said to me that the world is 50% c**ts and 50% non-c**ts. I still remind myself of this fact.
Where will your journey take you when you become free of what you were? Disembarking the Isle of Mull ferry to Oban.
A day in the life of an Ad Man in a windy Tobermory
Sunday morning looking out over Tobermory to the Sound of Mull.
Saturday 7th in Tobermory as I type sees a howling gale minus wind as Storm Darragh passes through. Last night the windows of home bore the brunt of lashing wind and rain. Thankfully there were no casualties bar the blue recycling bin shedding some of its contents; hopefully a 50 something man in dressing gown was not observed scurrying about picking windswept litter up from a soggy garden.
Last night and today I had a forage into LinkedIn which has changed over the years and to be honest it’s news feed for the worse, with something akin to Facebook. I do post as to Tobermory and the Isle of Mull, or Oban, my new homes. And I post in a cheery manner that there is life outside of advertising institutions. Hard for a seasoned Ad Man to say after all these years.
Yet I am glad to be free of the tripe that now proliferates LinkedIn and is systemic of the current community. All is good, we’re doing this, we’ve won this, we’ve attending this, boo yah!!!
I found it and now find it so artifical and unfair to the people and business I hail from. Truth along the lines of the mass redundancies, a struggling ad market, of accounts moving to London from the regions, of London eating the North’s success to cover up its own weaknesses should be spoken about with vigour.
It’s good to be having a bad business day, month, or life. Please cut the BS. That way we can all learn and act as a veritable “Team North” to sally together in battle. Otherwise we’ll run the risk of past mistakes with Manchester and Edinburgh going one way, other cities the other way.
We can reach out and help each other in friendly competition, thus growing the Northern business as a whole.
“If nothing changes, then nothing changes.” Anon
found us and change in Argyll and Bute
It is now Sunday and Storm Darragh has passed through the Hebridean islands and all is calm, and making for a rather lovely day, blue sky punctuated with stratus cloud formation, with clear views to the mainland over the Sound of Mull.
(I was going to exercise, but will see how I feel.)
With found us I have two clear choices.
Throw my lot in with the established regime and wax lyrical on LinkedIn as to how good things are.
Use LinkedIn and other platforms to tell the truth and be authentic.
I choose 2.
So how is life for found us presently?
In no particular order I can say the following.
I’ve put a lot of work into both mine and found us’s web footprint.
The website has seen a lot of work and content creation prior to moving to Mull, and when here.
I’ve updated social media in the form of LinkedIn, and also started to upload AV sound bites on YouTube.
I’m optimising currently for non-brand terms in SERPS.
I am on a sabbatical, so for the most part am not working full time on the business.
I am though tentatively on the look out for new business.
What is this new business?
Consulting for businesses that need and want to grow.
Consulting for senior business people who themselves need and want to grow.
Executive search and selection within the advertising, marketing, and media fields.
And all of the above would be very much welcomed local to me. I’d be so excited to work with Scottish people and businesses.
Being authentic
And it is my plan to talk honestly about myself and market conditions. And not ride the wave of turgid untruths that permeate business social media at present.
International executive search and selection for advertising, marketing, media from Tobermory, Oban, and the Isle of Mull.
Peter Cobley (that’s myself) really should shout more about his international executive search and selection within advertising, marketing, and media. I’m now based in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, also work from Oban, and other parts of Argyll and Bute - with regular travel.
Why shout about executive search?
Because I’ve worked in senior roles including board level, within start ups and fast growing businesses, PLCs, and where there may be a technology/IP element.
Some of these businesses were built to be sold, or to simply increase revenue and size. All of which have been successful.
So I understand senior roles in a leadership team in a growth company or more mature business.
I understand what it is to be a senior person, your thoughts, wants and needs, and of where you might be in your personal life - it’s not about the role, it is about the person and there can be mentoring as part of the journey of career and personal change.
I know how to work with each of our businesses whether small or large. I understand a business and the people that make each one tick, working closely with people to understand values, running, products and services, commercial and people needs.
Who, how, where
The candidates we deal with come from all backgrounds and walks of life.
The businesses range from client, media owner, and advertising agency. Some are technology led.
We use experience and knowledge.
We use software and methodologies to aid our executive search and selection.
We are able to report on progress to client and candidate with real time statistics. All is transparent to those involved
We recruit internationally and have placed C-Suite, senior leadership candidates, in the UK and as far afield as Shanghai in China.
We have worked with some of the smallest, up and coming advertising agencies across to the biggest names including Dentsu, Interpublic, and Omincom Media Group.
The same applies for media owners such as Channel 4 or Global Media.
And the. there is the client of which there has been a multitude across numerous sectors.
Some of the companies have been technology led; small growing companies in the digital transformation field, across to behemoths like Microsoft.
If curious please do contact us, and you are also welcome to speak to our clients. Just ask Peter Cobley!