Who am I and what do I do

For those of you that I haven't spoken to in the past or don't know who I am, I'm Phil (or Philip, I'll answer to both) and what do I do, I do quite a few different things.

Personally, I am now a father to two, one human (Oscar) and one canine (Bertie), Oscar was born 2 days into lockdown, so he is a proper little lockdown baby and we keep being told by anybody that actually gets to meet him or just sees a photo how beautiful he is. Bertie is a rescue dog whom we were told was 18 months old and near to fully grown at 9KG, he was about 8 months old when we got him. Bertie now weighs somewhere in the region of 30KG, solid muscle, temperament and muscle of an Italian Spinone and the shape of a lurcher... he is very very fast and very powerful. He is also a massive softy who doesn't leave my side and if he could go to work with me he would and does when I work from home.

I have a huge passion for music, I started DJing after telling somebody that I could do it (I had maybe a little too much to drink that night) and they said great, fancy working for me and going on a cruise ship and doing for kids... I accepted on the spot, I was at uni and the opportunity for travel and a free holiday was too much to turn down. I had a terrible first cruise, got cabin fever, had to be calmed down by one of the night managers who took me under her wing and then from there it got better. I ended up having an absolute blast, every school holiday I would fly out, join the ship a few days before the children would arrive and play for a few hours a night. I did that at the same time as doing my final year project at uni and managed to pull off both. Back in the UK, I got offered a few residencies and played in bars and clubs all over the south of the UK and London, all from a drunken confidence conversation that I could do something. I learnt really quickly how to do it and it has stuck with me ever since. I've played clubs with thousands of people in, to intimate bars where you could only fit a handful of people, as long as they are happy and enjoying it, I'm happy.

My other big passion is food, I love cooking it, eating it, experiencing it and talking about it. I've done catering for a few of big parties 90+ people, I'm far from a chef, but it was for friends and they enjoyed, so again, I was happy.

I can also breathe and spin fire and enjoy playing cafari when we go out.

Professionally I have two hats, well three;

• I'm a currently a strategic marketing manager for a company providing daycare for children during the school holidays at some of the most prestigious independent schools in the country,
• a DJ, playing disco and funky house, electro-swing. Or very occasionally now I do student party nights where it all gets a bit wonky.
• I also provide a freelance marketing service for startups and SME's mostly in the tech and innovation fields, but others too including niche gifts and food.

The reason behind doing the freelance strategic marketing is that there are companies whom I have spoken to that don't have the capacity to do anything more than the day to day when it comes to marketing and sometimes even that is an issue or they have become set in their ways and need a shakeup.

My experience across various industries becomes part of my toolbox, it could be just a day spent with me to brainstorm new ideas or that you need an extra pair of hands to provide a higher level of support during a pivotal time in your business, or an ongoing senior marketing manager to help shape the strategy for your internal marketer so they have somebody they can turn to for additional support. One of the first areas I always approach is cost savings, what is being spent, where and why and can this be brought down so that the marketing team has more available budget to work with to achieve more.

So I'm trying to add that extra layer in for these businesses but as a freelancer, helping to reduce costs and so they can commit to what they need right there and then.

Drop me a DM if you want to chat about, pretty much anything, food, marketing, dogs, ice cream, music, the finer rules of cafari,