1. Tim, what is your job?

As the head of a communications agency, I work with companies to ensure their writing and client interactions are the best they can be. From social media, website content, marketing collateral, e-newsletters, e-brochures or any number of alternatives – if it requires words I'm usually involved. Working in support of the sales and marketing effort I use new social media technologies to engage customers and inspire positive responses.

I help companies maintain their client loyalty by supplying steady streams of fresh, valuable content. But, it’s also about helping businesses win new contracts by writing tenders, sales letters, radio ads – even speeches and presentations. It's a flexible service, ideal for over-stretched clients who find writing a real chore.

It’s not all pure creativity either – a lot of the time it’s about my industry sales experience and how I tailor this to the client’s project, their target market and competition. My outsiders viewpoint is always well received but especially when it comes with a good diversity of business know-how.

2. How did you come to be in your job?

Spending most of my career in UK sales and consultancy, I’ve serviced clients from the finance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and telecom sectors. Here, what mattered was the ability to get the point across quickly and effectively, often under pressure. I’d say this was a big factor in my decision to start ButterSideUp, not least because I regularly produced business reports, technical documents and so on. My sales experience played a big part as well and today this drives the ButterSideUp ‘write to sell’ ethos.

3. What does a typical day entail?

Fortunately there is no typical day in the world of copywriting – a reason it’s such a great career. The core part of the business is obviously the content produced for clients. A large part of each day is spent writing or coordinating the delivery of projects, but outside this it’s usually business development activities - a heady mix of networking, good old fashioned cold calling and of course catching up with existing customers.

4. What qualifications do you have?

I have a degree in Business from Manchester Metropolitan University. This was a sandwich course, so I had the opportunity to spend one year working in industry. I was fortunate to end up in a fast up-and-coming copywriting agency in Bristol. This gave me a first insight into what it takes to run your own business and although I didn't realise at the time, I'm sure this planted the early seeds of desire to go it alone!

5. What other skills do you need for your job?

I think running a business in the creative industry calls for a good centre brain approach. For all the creative ideas, headlines and branding it’s obviously right brain stuff. But the left brain has to be on stand-by for the day-to-day organisational issues. So I try and stay somewhere round the middle – that must be a skill.

On a serious note, I’d say the flexibility to quickly jump between jobs without losing momentum, quality or insight. In common with many other small businesses, I place a huge emphasis on quality. It’s a big responsibility representing the voice of clients and something I take very seriously. This is why every writer working for ButterSideUp must have exceptional writing skills, a great eye for detail and the patience to get it right – no matter what it takes.

6. What’s the best thing about your job?

It’s great when my written content hits the mark and successfully promotes a product or service. As you’d expect, being a small business we’re setup to react quickly when our clients need us, but this works well for us too. If I see a new opportunity to service the market, I can have something up and running fairly quickly.

7. And the worst?

When you spend each day doing the thing you enjoy it’s hard to think negatively. I suppose, sitting down all day couldn’t really be classed as aerobic exercise and the old posture might suffer a bit too. Then there’s the common misconception Copywriting is something to do with legally protecting intellectual property – if I had a pound for every time! Really, it’s all far outweighed by the positives.

8. What piece of technology do you rely on most?

My trusted little bundle of radioactivity just has to be somewhere near the top of the pile. Yes, it’s the Blackberry!

9. If you could swap jobs with someone else for the day who would it be and why?

Weirdly, a Neuro Surgeon. I’m fascinated by surgery anyway, but the brain stuff is amazing – especially when they operate without anesthesia. I know it’s all very stressful, but there’s something about that in itself which appeals - the challenge and the chance to do good. I suppose you either like those stress situations or you don’t.

10. How do you relax outside work?

I’m no different from many people who pack the week with good old fashioned hard-work, just knowing Friday and Saturday night is sorted for a dinner party, concert or black tie do. Outside this it’s a serious mix of circuits, tennis and spin classes.. in fact, most nights I’ll be found at the gym trying to either work off the weekend’s excesses or prepare myself the weekend ahead.

11. What are your future ambitions?

I'd like to work in technical writing. It's a natural career progression because of several compelling factors. First, I simply love writing. No matter what technical skills I have or how interested in technology I am, I think there's little substitute for a genuine interest in how good writing simplifies the complex and makes life easier. As it would happen I too have a healthy regard for technology - perhaps even a good insight into the technical world. Not so long ago I was developing computer software for many of the UK's best know household names, so technical writing for me seems all the more appropriate as a career path. Above all, it means I should be able to quickly start delivering value. I'd see this as vital, the ability to grasp technical concepts right away, effectively explain these to others, fully leverage the authoring tools at my disposal and keep abreast of new trends in technical authoring - for example, cloud computing, analytics/metrics and strategic direction v's traditional tech. writing.

Here, I've loaded up my cv which gives a detailed picture of my suitability for tech writing.