15 Years In Business. The Truth. The Lies. The Success. The People. And The Stuff They Don't Tell You At University.

If someone had told me 15 years ago today I’d have written three books, spoken in 31 separate countries whilst working for some of the coolest brands in the world, I would have had them sectioned…with a nice bottle of Chianti. 

And yet today marks the anniversary of a decade and a half in business. 

15 years ago yesterday myself and my team were made redundant from the Springfield Motor Group. One day we were successfully launching Hondas, Toyotas and Chryslers into the region and the next we were on the car scrap pile. I left that day without a job, car, phone and a dent in my confidence which was as big as the unfairness of it all. I am pleased to report my team went onto bigger and better things but for me it was the start of a very new beginning.

Within 24 hours I launched my own business, Mercury Marketing and went back to the niche in the market that was start ups and entrepreneurs. 

At this point Hayley took on a second job to help support us. Her 5 days full time job became 6 or often 7 days per week, whilst from a box bedroom I tried to make things happen. I gained my first press coverage in the South Shields Gazette. Joined local business networks and built my own website with Microsoft Front Page #cuttingedgestuff. 

This past month I’ve been asked on three separate occasions, What is the secret of your success? How have you built up your reputation and brand? Firstly I do not and have never seen myself as a success story. I started Mercury so I could be in control of my own future, my own destiny. And to ensure no one could ever have the power to wield the axe that would impact on me or my family ever again.  I started a business with one goal in mind - pay the bills. Everything after that was a bonus. Maybe I am not a true Dragons Den style entrepreneur who wants to franchise, grow, build and employ (I am happy with that), but that doesn’t make me any less determined, creative or have the highest of aspirations.

My business life is in two parts - the first 7 years was as a consultant within Mercury Marketing where I did a little speaking (97% 3% split) and the last 8 years as a professional speaker under the GeoffRamm.com brand (100% speaking).

So in no particular order I’ve put together some of the truths, lies, highs, lows and most importantly the people who have helped get me to a place called, Happy 15th Birthday.

LIKE A VIRGIN…. I can’t stand her music. I’ll flick it off as soon as the radio plays. But as a person she is the Queen of transforming her image, style and content but still remaining daring and outspoken as her first top of the pops appearance. Maybe the key to longevity in business is similar to that of the princess of pop Madonna? It’s the one thing I am conscious of, not looking the same old same old, year in year out. Change, adapt, but stay true to who you are and what love. 

ALLIES.... Luke Skywalker can’t take on the Empire alone. He needs good, reliable and trustworthy people all around him. People will come and go in your business but the people who have been there with me since the very start are worth the biggest of mentions.

Mark Moore - I first met when Mark when he owned the Printing.com franchise. I’ve forgot how many business cards, letterheads (remember them), t-shirts, roll up banners, flyers, Christmas cards (yes I still do them) we’ve created together. Mark will stop at nothing to get the job done. The type of sleeves up creative person who has Terminator tenacity (especially with the last two books!)

Ian West. When it comes to photography and video no one can touch him. He is one of the seldom few I’d ever let take the reigns on my brand. Like Cole Trickle there is nothing he can’t do with a car (and lens). I have aged terribly since our first shoot - from a skeletal hand, to a glowing box and now a competition busting cinemagraph on the brand new website. Where will we both be in the next 5, 10 or 15 years? Who knows, but I know the results will be amazing! ianwestphoto.com

Estelle Zauner-Maughan. Its not all creative branding stuff. You also need the people who will keep you standing - literally. There is no finer chiropractor in the business. And when you have experienced big big problems and you are the product and service of your business, Estelle continually keeps me on the road (and is doing so at 8:30am on the morning of my 15th year anniversary. www.naturallychiropractic.co.uk

Jonathan Porter. Microsoft Front Page would only take me so far… So Jonathan and the team at NE-Web have supported me at the top of the google rankings for over a decade. We are onto our 3rd site which is a cracker! And I can fully recommend their keen attention to detail. ne-web.com

STRIKE TEAM.... I have many friends and colleagues in the speaking world and I know I can’t name them all but there are a select few that are worth mentioning at this stage. Whenever they call they do so to share or offer something. Not once have they ever called asking for stuff. We share a lot in common. And these guys n gals are as good off stage as they are on it! Shonette Bason, Paul McGee, Derek Arden, Steve Head, Caspar Berry, Michael Jackson and Dawnna St Louis thank you for friendship, support and honesty.

KINDRID SPIRIT.... Its not often you come across someone who has your back. Someone who will challenge you, focus you and is not afraid to hold you accountable. Someone who you can lay all of your cards on the table with and speak the untold business truth. That person is Nigel Risner. He’s become a great friend and is someone I am teaming up with in my 15th year to deliver something very different for audiences. ‘Celebrity Impact’ The Jake & Ellwood of the speaking circuit...oh yes!

ONE. BIG. THING.... I’ve said on many occasions I look to create one big thing every year. One project, one shift in the marketplace that keeps you in peoples minds and something that out performs the competition. Whether that be a new brand, book or titles its the annual re-focus to create, move and push boundaries. What one big thing could you introduce in 2017?

COMPETITION.... Ah the regularly trotted out phrase ‘Competition is good’ but not when the competition re-tells your stories (the crumpled up flyer story is the number 1 classic) or have very similar title to that of Celebrity Service. 

Nah I don’t care for these people anymore. You see my biggest competitor is not them, its myself. From day one I’ve been competing against me. To deliver better, to look better on stage, to have the best slides and to deliver a greater service than before.  My competition right now may well speak on customer service or marketing and hand on heart I can’t beat them for content or delivery - and they can’t beat me either. Its all subjective. But if I can improve me, then this is the contest I am happy with.

DECIDE YOUR OWN TRUTH. DISPELLING MYTHS.... You can’t do business with speaker bureaus. You can’t make a living just through speaking. Those were the two comments I heard (and I am still hearing tbh) from other speakers. 8 years on and 24 bureaus represent me worldwide and I’ve been speaking 100% now for many years. Advice is great. But decide whether you believe it or not and carve a way for you to dispel myths and create your own truth.

Carole White, Michael Arnot, Christina Hinze-Jorgenson, Jack Hayes, Paul McConnon (and many others since) but thank you for taking the risk on an unknown speaker right at the very start and trusting me with your clients.

HIGHS: Working with the TATA team in Sri Lanka.

LOWS: Food poisoning on the plane to Sri Lanka, which lead to zero sleep. Have never ever ever ever been so ill. Spoke from 9-11am the following morning. Maybe I missed an opportunity to selfie myself and asking people to send their healing prayers lol. Thank you Dawn Skelhorn for your tablets.

HIGHS: Working with the TATA team in Mumbai.

LOWS: Finding out at Newcastle airport you need a visa to get into India. Cue massive panic and 24 hours of flying round London like the final episode of The Apprentice. Emergency passport achieved. Thanks Alan Stevens for the company. Gig complete. Thank you Dawn Skelhorn for your patience. Was I a TATA jinx?

HIGHS: Balancing an egg on a nail on the line of the equator in Quito. Awesome time with fellow speaker Dean Lindsay at the EKOS Conference!

HIGHS: My very first international gig. Iran 2009. The week that would change me as a speaker forever. I met Michael Jackson and the strongest of bonds was formed. Its fair to say we had the greatest of weeks with stories only we can tell our grandchildren (but you had to be there). The trip to Esfahan is the funniest, craziest night of my life….nappies, biscuits, a vat of tea and a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. Sepehr Tarvardian - I can’t ever thank you enough for taking a risk on your ‘wild card’ 6th speaker choice.

HIGHS: That FINNAIR Video! Have never received a welcome like it.

HIGHS: 31 countries and counting. Australia (Melbourne - we could move there in a blink of an eye) Japan (Kyoto was simply stunning especially the Golden Temple, South Africa (I’ve actually stood in Nelson Mandelas house), Ecuador (gasping for breath every hour due to the high altitude…. Every one is a highlight.

LOWS: USA - it still eludes me. It will happen, but I won’t chase it anymore. Taking marketing and customer service to the US is like taking coals to Newcastle. But once lit this coal will burn brighter and hotter. You see my ultimate bucket list gig is this…fly to the US, speak, and stay the next day to watch the Raiders in action. Buy a souvenir crazy hat, eat a stupid sized hot dog whilst drinking a ice chilled beer. 

HIGHS: Noticing the businesses I worked with in the very early days of Mercury Marketing and seeing how successful they have become - this gives me just as much pleasure as the stuff that has happened to me. Sara Davies MBE from Crafters Companion, Ian & Leanne Philpot at Shakeaholic and Steven Ward at the Profound Group are just a trio of brilliant business leaders in their field who I am proud to have known since day one.

HIGHS: Being made into a LEGO figure to celebrate my appearance at the MADE Festival Sheffield. 2,000 entrepreneurs packed into the City Hall - voted #1 conference in Europe and #4 worldwide for entrepreneurs. Thank you BE Group.

LOWS: Being rejected to become the next Milk Tray Man - words can not hide my disappointment. Big mistake, big, huge!

HIGHS: I am easily starstruck, so to appear alongside legends of sport, tv and business is pretty damm cool. From Reggae Sauce man Levi Roots to rock legend Midge Ure, gold medal winner Sharron Davies, footie legend Jimmy Greaves and style icon Lawrence Llwellyan-Bowen, Roker legend Niall Quinn through to astronaut Chris Hadfield. Hayley may have top trumped me though as she got to meet future King of England Prince Charles at Sunderland University (They kept me well away lol).

HIGHS: Dixons Carphone Conference at the NEC Birmingham, 4,500 in attendance. The screens were bigger than our house.

HIGHS: Being awarded by the Professional Speaking Association their highest recognition for Excellence (PSAE)

HIGHS: Sleeping with supermodel Elle McPherson enroute to Cape Town.

LOWS: I was in economy, she was in First Class but technically we slept together for one night only.

HIGHS: Marketing to help save Epinay School. Against all the odds we were successful (the local council still don’t know it was me behind it).

HIGHS: Raising ￡10,000 for the Bubble Appeal at Newcastle RVI Hospital on the evening of my 10th year in business. Kevin Gaskell, Richard McCann, Michael Jackson & Kevin Morley joined me on stage.

FAVOURITE CITIES: Yazd (Its like walking onto a Star Wars set - all the buildings are made from clay!). Melbourne, Philadelphia, Helsinki & Shanghai.

STUFF I’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND.... How come I get booked to speak in Ecuador, Iran & Australia to deliver to entrepreneurs but rarely in my home region? How come I’ve spoken for Cambridge, Vega and every year for Durham University but my own University of Sunderland fail to return my call? I’d love to share the ups and downs with future entrepreneurs in a lecture theatre that I once sat in, but some things are never meant to be (for now). The HMRC website omg who designed that thing? Why trains don’t serve alcohol on a weekend? (Business travellers travel on Saturdays and Sundays too you know).

WITH BENEFITS.... People think I am away all the time - it isn’t true. Sometimes life on the road can be time consuming and exhausting, however, social media is a funny thing - people believe you are never in the country at times. I do 60ish conferences per year (I never count) but out of all my friends I was able to spend so much time at home when Grace and Elliot were born - they don’t tell you this at business school or in books. But its an incredible benefit of working for yourself.

YOU NEED A ROCK.... You need that one person who will lift you when you are struggling and will ground you when you are soaring. Hayley is my rock. Without her there is no me. There is no Mercury. From those early day blues and struggles when self doubt is as big as your mortgage I really hope we can enjoy the hard work in years to come. Running a business is pretty tough at times but it is nothing compared to running a home successfully, with 2 children. Thank you Hayley - I may be a speaker but I don’t have the words x. 

EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. DON’T COPY CREATE YOUR OWN... I know a speaker who sends out 15 pitches a week, yep 60 per month looking for work. I send out zero pitches per month.  You need an Advertising Budget. No you don’t - I’ve never had an advertising budget. But I do have a customer service budget - how many businesses have that? I send out Christmas Cards too - always have always will #oldschool. You need a newsletter / e-zine. No you don’t I ditched my e-newsletter years ago. I receive hundreds of these things and if I were in jail I wouldn’t have time to read em all so I delete the lot. I do something different to stay in touch. You need a business plan (I've not had one in 13 years).

There is no right or wrong way to do anything.

THE LIES.... Ahhh you were waiting for those weren’t you? Sorry but there aren’t any! I thought I’d put it in the title to get your attention. Its called marketing ;-)  Its what I do.

THE FUTURE.... Whilst sat in a wonderful restaurant in Helsinki I was asked by Johanna at Finnair ‘What would you like to be doing in 10 years time’. ‘This’ was my reply. There was shock around the table as Johanna said she’d never come across anyone who is where they want to be. Maybe I need to thank the CEO of Springfield one day for setting me on this path (that was a little bit of sarcasm right there).

My hope is I can continue to do exactly what I am doing now but for the next 25 years. Hopefully when the little ones start to fly the nest Hayley will come with me to these far flung crazy places and we can enjoy the world together. My other hope is that our children can see that self employment can be life changing and potentially globetrotting. It is possible to do something you love and see the world, visit the cultures and expand your horizon past the world of employment. 

I started this journey never knowing what could be achieved. My passport was empty compared to the dog-eared version I have today. I truly love what I do and have often joked if I won the lottery tomorrow I’d still be doing what I am doing. I continue to pinch myself at every train station and airport that someone around the country or world wants my ideas, delivery and enthusiasm. 

So thank you for reading and thank you for supporting me on the journey so far. 

I am off to blow out 15 candles now, anyone fancy a slice of cake?

Geoff x