Hi – I’m Martin Durham
If you are the owner or a manager of a small or medium-size business (or are a senior decision-maker in a not-for-profit organisation) then it’s quite likely that you sometimes lack access to skills & expertise for which larger businesses employ a full-time specialist. A consequence may be that you try to do everything yourself, hire (and then have to manage) a range of different specialists, or simply don’t do some things at all.
I can help you by providing skills & expertise that you lack, so that you can focus on what you’re best at. Keep reading to find out how.
About me
I have over 35 years’ experience in business and higher education as a business owner, management consultant and educator.
I often describe myself as a business “jack of all trades” which (given that this line is generally followed by “master of none”) isn’t necessarily the description that an out-and-out sales person might pick when trying to market themselves. But it turns out that it is precisely because I can turn my hand to so many aspects of business, and get my brain around the issues that business owners and managers face, that people come to me for help and advice.
Things I can help you with
Management information
To maximise the performance of your organisation you need to make the right decisions, and to make the right decisions you need good quality information. But many business owners and managers base their decisions on the information they can get rather than the information they really need.
I can help you to identify the information you need and help you to get it.
Website development & management
Your website is an essential tool when it comes to providing the information potential customers need in order to decide whether to buy your products or services. But some aspects of creating & maintaining a website can be a huge stumbling block to “non-techie” business owners and managers.
Whether you need a new website creating, an existing one modifying or maintaining, or someone to run your site for you, I can help.
eCommerce
No matter what the size of your organization, people increasingly expect to be able to buy your products or services online. If you don’t offer that option then there is a good chance that your overall performance won’t be as good as it could be. If you do offer that option then it is important to ensure that your website users’ experience is as good as it possibly can be.
I can help you to set up an online shop from scratch, integrate one with your existing website or bricks-and-mortar shop, or get you started with a third-party service like Shopify, Amazon or eBay. And if you need help choosing payment, storage, packaging or shipping solutions, I can provide that too.
Search engine optimization
Getting traffic to your website from Google and other search engines is hard (and getting harder) and a whole industry has grown up to help businesses “get to number one in Google”.
Whilst I can’t promise to get you to number one (because nobody can for the search terms that matter), I can help you to maximize your performance in organic search by effectively bringing it “in-house” – potentially freeing up time and money that could better be deployed elsewhere.
How I work
You can access the full range of my skills by hiring me on a monthly rolling basis. You can get started by committing to as little as four hours over a one month period. Most of the work I do can be carried out remotely so it doesn’t even matter where you are located.