Never a dull moment. Probably Amsterdam's fastest moving consumer sales arena. Working at the deal counter of one of the city's famous coffee shops is an experience like no other. With a line of willing buyers for almost the entirety of an 8 hour shift, accuracy and efficiency are key. Serving customers in English, Dutch and French, whilst controlling the crowd in what is an intense, heady atmosphere. Not for the faint-hearted but ideal for those of us who thrive in such environments and under such pressures,

Working long shifts and unsociable hours but with the reward of being part of a cultural scene unique in the world. I was responsible for the management and supervision of 2 coffee shops and a bar on the edge of Amsterdam's famous red light district. Non-stop trading from the first minute of the day meant constant pressure to maintain stock and deal efficiently with high cash volumes. Trust and integrity were absolute requirements in this role, as was the ability to keep a clear and focused head and to maintain the same amongst those around you. My sales background benefited me greatly, allowing me to offer advice and motivation to the company sales staff.

This was an advertising sales position, working on a US backed newspaper in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At my time of joining the publication it was still at a fairly early stage in its development. I was required to present the paper to as many suitable prospective business partners as possible and to encourage them to promote themselves in our pages. In the process I was fortunate to make many good contacts in the Amsterdam business community and gained an invaluable insight into the workings of the Dutch world of commerce . I introduced many of the cities major employers to the benefits of advertising their vacancies to The Weekly's international audience whilst also bringing many other important clients to the paper such as University of Amsterdam.Advertising revenues rose dramatically during the period I was working on the paper. Hopefully the present team will continue to build on the hard work that has been put into that project so far. See www.amsterdamweekly.nl

I was approached by Admark having competed against them, for a number of years in the highly volatile UK motor advertising market. I had always had a grudging respect for the guys who ran the place. Their advertisements had always been just that bit more powerful than anything we seemed able to produce. I wanted access to their studio to see how they could interpret my ideas and was confident that many of my existing clients would migrate with me, as they did . During the relatively short period I was with the agency I also brought in a respectable amount of new business and was soon travelling throughout the UK dealing with large main dealers of some of the Worlds largest motor manufacturers including Ford Motor Company, Peugeot and Vauxhall / Opel.

I joined this full service advertising agency having dealt with them for a number of years in my role as a Sales Manager at Westminster Press. During a 6 year period I was never out of their top 5 employees for the highest monthly client billings despite competition from 30 others also prospecting for business within the group. During my 6 years with MKH we rose from being a small provincial agency to a group with 5 UK offices. Billings increased over 20-fold during my period and the group ended up expanding and eventually taking over another competitive London agency. Eventually i left to travel Australia leaving behind a thriving business which went on to be bought out itself by one of the UKs leading ad agency networks.

In this role I was responsible for the recruitment, development, training and management of several external sales teams from the UKs third largest newspaper publishing group. This being pre-internet days press advertising was a thriving and highly competitive business to be in. The early days of this job saw the UK struggling to come out of recession and advertising monies tight. It was my job to ensure that my titles maximised revenue opportunities available in this tight market, something which we achieved with great success.