Digital Marketing and Web Development for Trillion.com, AddME.com, BeOnTop.com and other Trillion owned businesses. Trillion is the company that gave me my first IT job back in 2002. I learned a lot at that time, and continued working with web development, marketing and SEO for 20 years -- and eventually returned back to Trillion. During the time I was off doing other things, Trillion went from strength to strength and I am both super impressed with and delighted to be working back with the company.Currently, I am mostly responsible for SEO for client sites for BeOnTop.com. Daily tasks include: Website Audits, Content Plans, Keyword Research, Content writing and editing. I'm also the defacto web developer for a lot of the clients we have, as they rarely have a dev team. But that's fine, because I'm proficient with everything from domains/DNS to WHM/cPanel, to WordPress, eCommerce, Wix, Magento, Elementor and almost anything else you can throw at me; also skilled at hand coding for custom applications.I don't work by a label or box myself into a role. My job is: I do what ever the company needs me to do in order to assist the company -- and I don't pass the buck. If something needs to be done, I do it. And that means using all of the skills I have developed over the years -- everything from web development, to digital marketing and specifically SEO. I carry a proactive attitude at all times and take ownership of everything that's put in front of me; while always being genuinely helpful and thoughtful to coworkers down the line.I spend a lot of my day working on and considering SOPs for everything I do -- as I also complete work for clients, because we're aiming to expand and have big goals -- and we're going to need those systems and processes. So I'm super busy, always switched on, always looking ahead and doing my personal best to ensure that as BeOnTop grows, we have the systems and processes to provide to new trainees. And we're looking for those now!

In between the various roles I've had in my life, I've maintained a busy schedule as a solopreneur, web developer and freelancer, dedicating myself to building and working on hundreds of websites over the past couple of decades.I love the term "solopreneur". To me, a solopreneur is someone who can build and run a business online, relying predominantly on their own skills. I am capable of doing everything from setting up a server, to hand coding a website, to writing good sales copy, setting up analytics, graphics, email marketing, programming, SEO, advertising and everything in between. I don't have to pay anyone to do anything for me. I can do it all myself. I'll admit that I've encountered my fair share of "learning experiences" in the online business world. I invested in ventures that didn't always bring the desired financial outcomes. And being funded often by grueling labour work, they were very hard lessons to learn. However, I approached these endeavors as valuable opportunities to grow and learn.To pursue my online experiments, (again, often funded through labour work), these experiences taught me important lessons about scaling projects & managing finances effectively. Although not every venture unfolded as I envisioned, they contributed to my growth, making me a smarter, wiser, and more seasoned professional. Web development, online business, and digital marketing aren't merely jobs to me; they are my true passions.Throughout my work life, whether it was in digital marketing, installing engines for Toyota, loading ships at the port for Patrick, or even interacting with dolphins at Sea World, I've always been fueled by my passion for conducting creative marketing experiments and exploring innovative guerilla marketing concepts. I've had the privilege of engaging in numerous online experiments within this exciting realm. Nowadays, my online efforts are more focused, thoughtful, and strategic, as I leverage my expertise to achieve impactful outcomes.

I returned to my roots in painting and decorating, a skill I had acquired early on in life, although I never pursued official qualifications. I partnered with an experienced and licensed painter to establish our own business. Our primary focus became working as contractors for a company that secured Queensland Government contracts.This endeavor took us on an exciting journey through central Queensland, including locations like Charters Towers, Hughenden, Townsville, and many places in-between. As we worked away from home, we stayed in a variety of accommodations, ranging from caravan parks and cabins to tents, hotels, and dongas. During this time, we had the opportunity to paint various establishments, including schools and government buildings such as fire stations in rural areas of central north Queensland. It was a period filled with adventure and unique experiences.Shortly after this phase, I entered a new chapter in my life as I got married and decided to return to full-time web development and SEO for a more stable and fulfilling career. Today, I continue to pursue my passion in the digital realm, utilising the skills and knowledge I have gained over many years in the space.

I have been registered with labour hire agencies since I was 17. Over the next 24 years, I worked at more than 50 locations for various companies, gaining valuable experience in diverse roles.My experience includes forklift driving (gas, reach, & electric), processing, picking & packing, cool room operations, meat processing, food handling, cleaning, shrink wrapping, data entry, deliveries (car & small truck), truck loading and unloading, warehouse work, invoicing, & more.These positions were often casual, short-term, or contract roles due to the nature of labour hire agency work. I undertook them to earn income during periods of unemployment or underemployment. This allowed me to acquire a wide range of skills and confidently adapt to different roles within storerooms, warehouses and production environments.I performed these roles in addition to the main jobs listed on my LinkedIn profile, sometimes even while working those jobs. I have extensive experience in evening work & night shifts, gaining valuable insights into various labour-oriented environments. I often took on this work while primarily employed as a freelancer in web development and SEO. A lot of this labour work funded my online endeavours.I have worked in numerous roles of all kinds across Australia. I have experience in building steel kit homes, foam fabrication (producing jump mats for Movie World at Dunlop Flexible Foams in Brisbane), pharmaceutical production (Probiotec, Laverton), steel plants, office cleaning, removalist, whitegoods detailing, door-to-door sales, retail sales and land sales. I spent three months doing traveling sales in Western Australia (Rockingham) for a company called "A Better Chance," selling educational encyclopedias for children. I excelled in this role, achieving the second-highest sales in a team of 16. And this list is by no means exhaustive. I've lost count of the roles I've had.See Also: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7074529288342966272/

After Working at Sea World, I moved back to Victoria for personal reasons. Coincidentally, Stoddart Group were in the process of setting up a new steel house frame factory in Keilor, so I began another 6 month stint with them, helping them to set up. However, they ultimately closed down again, for numerous logistical reasons. I saw that Toyota was looking for help, so I applied -- and got the job. At Toyota, I was trained and competent at working on the engine line at the starter motor, drive shaft and gearbox stations. Also been trained on the chassis line on the rear suspension and rocker moulding lines. Received comprehensive training for all stations and have had my contract extended until 2016. Unfortunately, as much as I loved this job, the Altona North plant closed down. The biggest thing I learned at Toyota, which I still value and remind myself of daily, today, is the concept of Kaizen: Continual Improvement. I still apply everything I learned at Toyota in my daily life. I decided to move back to Queensland and soon after that, I started my own painting business (3rd time), travelling around north central Queensland, where I have now purchased a house and 4 acres of land and am living there today!

After my role with Patrick, working at the port of Geelong, I had a hankering for something new and interesting. I always wanted to work for a theme park. So I applied for a role with Sea World and got in my car with all my possessions to drive from Melbourne to Queensland. I attended the Interview with my car still loaded with stuff. I actually told them in the Interview that I just drove 1700km with a carload full of possessions to attend the Interview., and I was staying at a hotel but had a place lined up (which I did, in Burleigh Heads; I knew a guy who ran an apartment complex). They gave me the job.This was another awesome job. Starting at the crack of dawn, every morning, I was part of a team that made sure the park was in great shape. Everything from keeping the rides shiny to keeping the areas around the animal exhibits tidy. Dolphins swimming over to be to play catch was a regular part of my morning, but I couldn't play long, I had work to do. The Sea Lions are like huge wet puppy dogs. I got to spend time with them every day too. Just being at the park while no one was there yet was an awesome, surreal and very memorable experience. As staff, we were also very well trained on customer service and how to deal with questions from park guests; as we'd still be there when the gates opened -- and they'd come ask us questions, as we had Sea World uniform on, so we were trained to be very personable and polite. All in all a very memorable experience. I didn't do it for the money. They money was terrible (just being honest). I just loved being there.I was running a profitable online business at the time (a successful guerilla marketing concept, which has since faded) - and I spent my afternoons swimming at Surfers Paradise, so life was pretty good! Great memories.Eventually I moved on because the novelty wore off and the money wasn't great. Wouldn't change working there for anything though. Another amazing and memorable experience.

Hooked up with this job by a friend, I already had a 'High Risk Work' and Forklift licence -- also got my Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC). Worked on unloading container ships at Lascelles Precinct Geelong Port (commuting from Melbourne). 12 hours shifts with "quick turnaround", meaning only 8 hours between shifts. Those ships had to be unloaded, ASAP! And we did this for weeks on end. One of the most exciting and interesting jobs I've had. Also trained to fill trucks with the hopper (a huge machine that the trucks drive under to be filled with product such as urea, which is a fertilizer). Was trained with various other systems and procedures. Daily 'Take 5' meetings for safety. Most of the time I was "on the hooks": I was hooking and unhooking loads under the gantry crane -- both inside the ship hatch and on the dock. Boarding container ships and helping to unload products such as pulp, aluminum ingots and steel and to clean what the escalator couldn't reach, by hand. Forklift driving and general wharf work, loading the tugboats to supply the oil rigs. This was a very hard job at times, requiring a lot of sweat, but I just loved being around all the huge equipment. And I was extremely well paid -- so it was a fantastic source of income to pump into my online marketing experiments. Working for Patrick was something different. Would have stayed a lot longer, but work began to run dry at that particular location, and I was a contractor - not 'full time'; also one of the last to start, so had to move on to other things. Awesome job though. I really wish I could have worked there longer. Amazing role. Hot, hard, sweaty and dirty, but still amazing.

Responsible for building and running the siliconsolar.com website, including the server, eCommerce software, secure certificates, keyword research content plans, implementing content. Also, web images for products, product listings, etc. I rebuilt the site from the ground up as it was originally built in static HTML and time-consuming to maintain. I hand-coded a php solution and integrated a PHP based shopping cart software. I was the programmer, web developer, content writer, SEO and digital marketing guy all in one. Also handling the hosting, email management and DNS for other domains. This site and others owned by the company attracted an impressive array of #1 rankings and is still going strong today. Also worked on a few other website owned by the company.

Trellian (since renamed to Trillion) gave me my first start as a web developer and SEO specialist. I am still working for the company today, over 20 years later. In the beginning, I worked as a front end web developer and SEO for Trillion.com and many other websites owned and run by Trillion. Skills: Hand coding HTML and CSS, JavasScript, adding copy to pages. Also liaised with a team of 11 translators; responsible for all websites being available and viewable their respective languages.

Partnered with a plasterer who once winning the contracts for plastering, we also gave quotes for the painting, through the plasterer. We painted brand new houses and apartments in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, mainly around Roxburgh Park, which was a new estate at the time - but also in various other western suburb locations including Laverton, Altona Meadows and Werribee. I was still not qualified, but had quite a few years painting experience by now and was known by a lot of people in the industry -- and got trade discount at the paint shops, so I had no problem getting new jobs. A lot of the quotes were done with the plasterer present - after he'd already been awarded the plastering contract. He also had many years experience in the industry, so we were never lacking for work. At this time, I spent my evenings teaching myself web development and ended up giving this painting gig away to pursue that. Web development, digital marketing and SEO would eventually become my primary source of income, even up until today.

The best part about this job is that I didn't need to make any cold calls or find leads. They were all provided to us by the company. However, we did have to screen and qualify the leads and meet up with the potential buyers to give presentations in our own time. We were provided with a retainer to keep us going between sales. We were well trained in sales and the procedures of the company, daily, in Brisbane city. Washington Developments, headed by Wayne Washington, was a rural land developer that purchased large parcels of land (mainly 100-200km north of Brisbane, but also other surrounding areas) and subdivided them into smaller lots. We were paid very generous commissions for this work and I enjoyed every minute of it. I regret leaving this role, but unfortunately had to move interstate for personal reasons. I often wonder what would have happened if I had not moved on. It was a fantastic company to work for. Based on a high floor if the city of Brisbane in a very well furbished office -- it was a pleasure to come to work every morning. As a young man, it made me feel quite important, like I was looking up in the world.

Bought out by Stoddart Group, National House Frames was based in Yatala, Queensland. I worked for this company from 1996 to 1998 building walls and trusses for steel kit homes. This work was usually done in a large shed, but on occasion, I was part of a crew that would go out and erect the frames. This job involved taking the steel flat pack material that was created by the roll former to assemble the trusses to the right pitch, according to schematic diagrams we were provided with. We also assembled walls and joists. Once complete, we'd stack them into packs, strap them up with steel cable, and load them into a truck with a forklift. I actually enjoyed this job quite a lot. It was noisy—I always had cuts all over my hands and arms, and the shed in Yatala, Queensland, was super hot, but there was a certain amount of peace that came with just bashing walls and trusses together with loud music playing and not having to think much. It was kind of cathartic. With 20-30 of us, we worked day and afternoon shifts, sometimes even night shift when the production was required. Very labour-intensive, but easy on the mind. No stress—apart from a few dramas that some of the local labourers would come to work with. Some of them a bit rough around the edges, if I am to be honest. I worked again for Stoddart Group again for about 9 months in 2014 (QLD) and another 6 months in 2016 (Melbourne) as they tried to expand to Melbourne. However, they didn't succeed and packed up the Melbourne shed. I also worked for a company called "Crisp Steel" building steel house frames in 2013 in the evenings while I was working for Sea World in the mornings. All in all, I've spent about 4 years of my life building steel kit homes. I really don't mind that kind of work. It depends a lot on who I was working with at the time. This kind of work tends to attract the rough and ready type. So whether I was enjoying the work or not depended a lot on who was blowing through from month to month.

I partnered with an experienced painter -- a friend of the family; we basically put an ad in the paper and painted residential homes around the western suburbs of Melbourne. I didn't have any qualifications. My professional painter friend taught me everything I needed to know. I was more of a brush hand in the beginning, but picked everything up quickly, including plaster hanging. We went "halvies" in the business and made good money, so I was happy. We also purchased an old tip truck and did rubbish removals on the side. We were quite ambitious and entrepreneurial.

This was my first job! It job allowed be to get out into the big world at the age of 15 1/2 -- to rent my own apartment and start life as an adult prior to completing year 10. So yeah, I'm only "formally" educated with a pass up to year 9. I will say though, for the short time I went to school, I did get a lot of A+'s. I excelled in English, Applied Science, Graphics and Physical Education. I was on track to pass year 10 (and would have passed 11 and 12 without a problem, as I didn't struggle with learning), but I just wanted to move on and get started with life. I enjoyed the learning at school, but I just didn't enjoy the environment/curriculum as much. So I went and got a job.I was a scholarly student for the most part. I love learning -- and have never stopped, my whole life, but I was over school by mid-year 10. I didn't truly start learning anything until left school. I guess going to 10 primary schools didn't help matters. I was always the new kid. Always trying to figure out who's who in the zoo. Always defending myself from would be bullies (as new kids do). I developed a pretty strong intolerance for them by high school. I wasn't feeling the regimented and what I felt to be limiting curriculum -- or constantly having to start again. I guess being up to the 13th school eventually took its toll. I was over it. However, when I left school, I didn't stop learning. I taught myself pretty much everything I ever needed to know. I was very happy to start work at Mitre 10. I started out on the floor doing customer service, stock control and the cash register. After 6 months was also trained in store duties: pricing, damaged goods control. etc, where I worked for a further 12 months. I completed a customer relations course, at Mitre 10 Head Office. I left Mitre 10 to go and start my own painting and rubbish removal business at 17 because they pay wasn't enough. I made good money with my business.