A Tradesman’s Journey to Here…
We bring a hands-on approach to SEO content and copywriting for industry.
West Coast Content offers down-to-earth digital marketing and content solutions - for industrious business people.
Having worked as a “tradie” from about the age of 15, I can honestly say - I'm more proud of that humble trade ticket now - than the day I left the rough-and-ready world of industry a few years back.
I’d spent years, almost two decades, in a mechanical trade.
And, back in the day, this involved showing up to work in a tin shed on frosty mornings; handling metal parts and tools cold-enough to make you seriously rethink your career choices.
Usually though, as the day warmed up, so did my mood - and along with it came a powerful sense of satisfaction; one I reckon you can only get from working with your hands, and having a tangible product to show for your toil at the end of the day.
Nothing I’ve experienced outside the world of hands-on-work, has ever been able to cast a shadow over that feeling - I remember it well, and look for it still whenever the opportunity presents.
My Story
My journey began at a small engine reconditioning shop in Bendigo, wound through a V8 Supercar team in Melbourne, where I finished my time (became qualified), before heading off for some outback adventure, and a new home, in WA.
From my base there, living with a bunch of mates in the mid 00’s, and during boom-time in the West; I worked on a ton of remote mine sites, LNG plants and a handful of other strange and remote industrial outposts, spread out across our wide brown land.
These are the bits I remember anyway - and cherish a little if I’m being honest. Those days I was young, in my early 20’s, and the world was full of mystery - with a mountain of new and exciting opportunities to explore.
And I didn’t miss many.
After a while though, my interest started to wane a little, and I found myself wondering what it might be like to enter the world of professional work, and take on a new challenge from the top down this time.
Before long I'd enrolled in a local Uni to start a journalism degree, which was the closest thing to an area of interest that I could come up with at the time.
As it turns out, after being in love with books as a kid, I could also put pen to paper in a way that translated well into the realm of business writing. Opening up a few opportunities for me to earn a quid by providing copy to local enterprises.
The fire was in my belly though, and I wanted to experience what it was like to work in a busy newsroom - preferably belonging to a newspaper where my skills with the written word would translate well.
We left Bendigo with excitement in our hearts as we drove towards the middle of the country.
Enter the Centralian Advocate in Alice Springs, part of the NT News organisation.
A Journey to the Heart of Australia
The Advocate offered me a position through sheer luck really, after my wife and I had relocated to Alice with our freshly minted qualifications hot in our hands.
It was quite the welcome to town!
Living in Alice was a dream: so much going on in such a small and isolated place, some good some bad, but all of it worth experiencing. It’s as if the town exists on a different plane to the rest of Australia, both geographically and culturally across domains.
Working and volunteering alongside the young indigenous folk in Alice, a significant cultural hub and meeting place for various groups, was truly a privilege and provided me with some of the most profound and sometimes confronting learning experiences of my life.
Towards the end of our tenure there, I actually ended up working with Territory Families, and case-managing a bunch of ‘energetic’ young people, who I wrote court reports for, as they tried to navigate and stay out of the entangled and complex justice system.
So, in the space of a few short years, I’d managed to utilise my life's hands-on experience in a way that combined my skill sets and may have even been of net benefit to the community at large.
After five long and crushingly hot summers in Central Australia, it was time to move on, breathing new-life into my content and copywriting business: West Coast Content, while heading for a sea change and a homecoming to the shores of Western Australia.
New Beginnings and Coastal Creativity
From our new home in WA, our little family hunkered down during COVID, and tried our best to underpin WCC with some search engine performance and a new locally based clientele.
So far so good, and West Coast Content lives and breathes under its own free will, while we get to enjoy the lifestyle and freedom that we so desperately wanted to hold onto - perhaps a legacy attitude from our timeless times in Alice and the desert realm.
Now, we’re working for a small-handful of business clients who are champions of our work: be it traditional copywriting solutions to SEO copy and content services to a full-on content marketing strategy - designed to underpin brand performance and lead generation long into the future.
Our business is the culmination of a career spent working in the hands-on world, with a passion for writing and a desire to be involved in the success of business across a range of industries.
We love it.
Future Positive
Where to from here is anyone's guess…
I’ve been alive and walking this earth for long enough now to know that trying to predict the future can only end in confusion.
In my experience, it’s best to go-after what it is that you want from this life - and let the chips fall where they may.
You may not end up exactly where you anticipated at the outset, but where you find yourself will be a reflection of your path and journey to that point. It’s impossible to explain or rationalise my belief in this unseen balancing act - but I think we all know that it’s there - underneath it all.
Take care out there, Jim.
