Watch a summary
I once gave a summary of my career journey as a talk to an audience of 13-year-old school pupils. It’s a bit out of date now, but if you’ve got 9 minutes, it’s as good a starting place as any:
The (brief) written version
One of seven
I grew up as one of seven children. We didn’t have TV, but we did have lots of opportunity to express ourselves. Several of my siblings went down creative paths into film or music, but looking back I can see that I showed early signs of entrepreneurship. While in primary school I started a newspaper, a currency, a bank, and several other endeavours with my siblings. I have always enjoyed solving problems, working things out, and learning new things.
Entrepreneurship training
Having studied Philosophy at Stirling University I made an attempt to start a real business as a web designer, but that didn’t get off the ground – I had lots to learn still! I switched to the stability of employment, starting out as a trainee and spending 5 years in corporate IT support.
Employment wasn’t my natural home though. So I started a digital marketing business called Groweb with one of my brothers. It was successful, and after 4 years we sold it.
I now think of this period as a second degree – it was a great way to learn about business and entrepreneurship in the university of real life. And like university it was great fun, but also very expensive at times!
A very significant figure in this experience was Perry Marshall. Business lessons and skills learned from his books, emails and events have directly contributed to most of the successes I have had and continue to have. And many of the failures could have been avoided if I’d known or heeded his wisdom sooner.
What I do now
- In 2023 I expanded my consulting work, formalised the team that I had been building up, and rebranded into a digital solutions agency: Farsight Digital Solutions. I’m so proud of the fantastic team of people we’ve put together and the results we’re getting for our clients.
- In 2020, along with my co-founders, I launched an app and web-based system called Ventsys Digital Paperwork for automating and digitising paperwork processes and document generation. More recently this has been merged into Farsight Digital Solutions as a sub-brand.
- I’m privileged to be involved at GiftRound, an innovative tool for group collections.
- I’m a partner in the Castabroad Collective, which delivers bespoke systems, quality media and marketing for the fishing, rivers and outdoor industries. As the web and tech delivery partner I (and more recently the Farsight team) have built some great websites and booking systems.
Real results
The best bit of what I get to do is seeing the impact my work can have:
- Hours saved
- Stress reduced
- Growth enabled
- Jobs secured
- New markets opened up
- Sustainable income generated
- Meaningful work for employees instead of mindless admin
- Less human error and happier clients
- …and so on.
Ultimately I like to focus my time on making work better for people. Sometimes that’s money related, sometimes it’s time related. Sometimes it’s mainly through using tech, sometimes mainly marketing.
As long as people’s lives are improved at the end of the day, I consider it a job well done.
Talks
As you’ll have seen from the video above, I give the occasional talk. Because of my own story I’m especially passionate about encouraging young people to discover their entrepreneurial gifts early and use them to the full.
One of our first ever tenants Geoff of @GrowebDigital extols the virtues of building a supportive community. @IoD_Scotland pic.twitter.com/OzyNyKf5kk @CodeBaseSTL
Geoff Todd @GrowebDigital taking the fear out of GDPR and marketing! @TheBusJourney #SMEJourney pic.twitter.com/PYv5oZSbzT @Kairos_Coaching
Thank you to Geoff Todd @ToddWorkshop for talking to our higher classes about developing an entrepreneurial mindset and inspiring them to think outside the box. #WorldofWork pic.twitter.com/GnojhkyZYp @SHS_BusEd
The non-business other stuff
I’m a follower of Jesus of Nazareth and enjoy life as part of the family at my local community church.
I’m loving the crazy ride that is parenting two young children along with my wonderful wife; each of them continually fills me with wonder.
Among many others, and in no particular order, I love the following things:
That’s me, how about you?
Did any part of my story resonate with yours? Do we share some passions or interests?
I love meeting new people and hearing their stories. I regularly have video calls with random business connections which are the best part of my day. Why not book a slot below and jump on a call with me?
You can also get in touch via LinkedIn or Twitter, or email me at geoff@gctodd.com.