In his 25 years in marketing and business Carl has acquired a tough, no-nonsense reputation – the Gordon Ramsey of the marketing world.
Having spent his entire career with one company, Carl is the ‘council estate kid’ done good. From joining direct marketing agency JDA as a junior designer in 1984, Carl rose through the ranks to eventually take over the business as MD after a successful management buy-out.
From 2000 to 2005 Carl grew the business from 48 to 75 staff, took the turnover from £9.6m to £19.4m and tripled profits to £750,000. In 2003 he also coordinated the acquisition of Warrington-based advertising and PR agency Blueprint, without receiving any external support or funding. In 2005 he took over the role of chairman until the sale of the business in June 2007.
Since ‘retiring’, Carl has become busier than ever and is now recognised as one of the region’s up and coming entrepreneurs. Last November, Carl launched kloog, a business ‘angel’ service that provides anything from personal mentoring to business audits. Since then Carl has spent time with over 83 different businesses advising on issues ranging from branding to marketing to exit planning.
In addition to launching Kloog, Carl has invested in a variety of West Yorkshire businesses that include Joblink Systems Ltd, a job network system that provides recruitment technology via a web 2.0 application and JumbleAID, an internet charity fundraising business, backed by Freeserve founders Rob Wilmot and Ajaz Ahmed set to launch this November.
Carl is also the only male director of Forward Ladies, the North’s premier not for profit organisation supporting over 3,500 women in business. From October 07 to April 08, Carl was the non-executive chairman of PLUS-listed media organisation, Alvaston Media, overseeing a move to Manchester and the acquisition of regional lifestyle publication ‘The Magazine’.
In April Carl launched agencybods.co.uk, an online ‘boutique’ recruitment broker which has caused a stir in the marketing recruitment world due to its flat fee of 10% and the fact that clients are given a 50% refund if the candidate does not pass their three month probationary period.
Carl’s most recent business enterprise has seen him become and investor and mentor to a young Leeds-based entrepreneur, helping launch Sporting Supplements; an online retail business for the sporting and fitness industry sector. Carl believes that Sporting-supplements.co.uk will be the perfect environment to apply his vast experience of marketing techniques.
As well as dividing his time between his various business interests, Carl dons an ‘agony uncle’ hat every fortnight to respond to the trials and tribulations of the readers of marketing publication The Drum. His ‘Agency Agony Uncle’ column, which was launched in January, is read by more than 8,000 people every two weeks and is currently under discussion to be turned into a book.
A regular face in the region’s media, Carl’s particular highlights include his appearances on BBC Radio Leeds as a guest on Andrew and Georgey’s Breakfast Show and the Shourjo Sarkar show. He was also featured as ‘Entrepreneur of the month’ in Yorkshire Business Insider’s April issue and last year was nominated in the magazine’s annual list of 42 inspiring Yorkshire-based entrepreneurs still under the age of 42.
More recently Carl made an appearance on the sofa with Richard and Judy and This Morning to help promote his appearance on the highly popular Channel 4 programme, ‘The Secret Millionaire’, which saw him living undercover in the former North East mining town of Easington.
Over the years Carl has spoken on topics ranging from branding and direct marketing to his management techniques and his business investments. Organisations which he has spoken at include The Chartered Institute of Marketing, the International Direct Marketing Fair, The Institute of Fundraising and Leeds College of Art.
Having spent his entire career with one company, Carl is the ‘council estate kid’ done good. From joining direct marketing agency JDA as a junior designer in 1984, Carl rose through the ranks to eventually take over the business as MD after a successful management buy-out.
From 2000 to 2005 Carl grew the business from 48 to 75 staff, took the turnover from £9.6m to £19.4m and tripled profits to £750,000. In 2003 he also coordinated the acquisition of Warrington-based advertising and PR agency Blueprint, without receiving any external support or funding. In 2005 he took over the role of chairman until the sale of the business in June 2007.
Since ‘retiring’, Carl has become busier than ever and is now recognised as one of the region’s up and coming entrepreneurs. Last November, Carl launched kloog, a business ‘angel’ service that provides anything from personal mentoring to business audits. Since then Carl has spent time with over 83 different businesses advising on issues ranging from branding to marketing to exit planning.
In addition to launching Kloog, Carl has invested in a variety of West Yorkshire businesses that include Joblink Systems Ltd, a job network system that provides recruitment technology via a web 2.0 application and JumbleAID, an internet charity fundraising business, backed by Freeserve founders Rob Wilmot and Ajaz Ahmed set to launch this November.
Carl is also the only male director of Forward Ladies, the North’s premier not for profit organisation supporting over 3,500 women in business. From October 07 to April 08, Carl was the non-executive chairman of PLUS-listed media organisation, Alvaston Media, overseeing a move to Manchester and the acquisition of regional lifestyle publication ‘The Magazine’.
In April Carl launched agencybods.co.uk, an online ‘boutique’ recruitment broker which has caused a stir in the marketing recruitment world due to its flat fee of 10% and the fact that clients are given a 50% refund if the candidate does not pass their three month probationary period.
Carl’s most recent business enterprise has seen him become and investor and mentor to a young Leeds-based entrepreneur, helping launch Sporting Supplements; an online retail business for the sporting and fitness industry sector. Carl believes that Sporting-supplements.co.uk will be the perfect environment to apply his vast experience of marketing techniques.
As well as dividing his time between his various business interests, Carl dons an ‘agony uncle’ hat every fortnight to respond to the trials and tribulations of the readers of marketing publication The Drum. His ‘Agency Agony Uncle’ column, which was launched in January, is read by more than 8,000 people every two weeks and is currently under discussion to be turned into a book.
A regular face in the region’s media, Carl’s particular highlights include his appearances on BBC Radio Leeds as a guest on Andrew and Georgey’s Breakfast Show and the Shourjo Sarkar show. He was also featured as ‘Entrepreneur of the month’ in Yorkshire Business Insider’s April issue and last year was nominated in the magazine’s annual list of 42 inspiring Yorkshire-based entrepreneurs still under the age of 42.
More recently Carl made an appearance on the sofa with Richard and Judy and This Morning to help promote his appearance on the highly popular Channel 4 programme, ‘The Secret Millionaire’, which saw him living undercover in the former North East mining town of Easington.
Over the years Carl has spoken on topics ranging from branding and direct marketing to his management techniques and his business investments. Organisations which he has spoken at include The Chartered Institute of Marketing, the International Direct Marketing Fair, The Institute of Fundraising and Leeds College of Art.
Serial entrepreneur Carl is an inspirational example of how to go from Secretly Mediocre to Secret Millionaire. This would-be artist only ever had one job and rose from dogs-body to group Chairman before selling up and appearing on TV as one of C4's Secret Philanthropists. He continues to run a number of businesses including Parties Around the World with fellow entrepreneur Deirdre Bounds.
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