My Story

Hey!

Curious to know about how I ended up here? Here’s my story.

I'd always been a bit of a nerd at school. An introvert that didn't really have a group and avoided P.E like the plague.

I would much rather shut myself in a room and play the guitar.

My first experiences with software were, writing websites in HTML/CSS code using Adobe Dreamweaver, and recording music using Logic Pro.

Fun, but nothing more than little projects here and there.

After university, I ended up in sales. Smiling and dialling.

It was tough, and I was earning less than minimum wage

Someone then approached me with an opportunity to work in the technology industry.

I jumped at the chance, but it turned out it was just another smiling and dialling role in another form.

So I switched jobs again.

And it was a cool job might I add.

The company sold software that would allow large sites to track their energy spending. This is where my interest in data and storytelling first started to emerge.

But then, the Finance Director made me and my branch redundant.

I did not like him for it.

My outlook was looking pretty grim.

But, things slowly started picking up.

I spent a short time working with construction and engineering teams helping them implement software to replace paper risk assessments.

It was a startup, so I also learned a lot about investor relations and funding. I got to implement Salesforce, and had the opportunity to work closely with the development team.

After that, I built the commercial proposition for an agri-tech business that monitored animal welfare.

Another cool job where I got to implement PowerBI to visualise raw data and track outliers, as well as build internal communication processes using Microsoft Teams and other software tools.

In a very short amount of time, I'd gained a huge amount of experience, but still didn't really feel like I was where I was meant to be.

But then I found 'my group'.

I moved into a role helping finance teams select and implement finance software & ERP (Enterprise Resource & Planning Software).

Initially, it was just small businesses, supporting them during the initial selection, but then also managing the implementation and providing support as well.

Then I moved on to, not just helping small businesses, but finance teams of all shapes and sizes.

I'm still doing this today.

In every organisation, all roads lead to finance.

Their insight can make or break a business.

However, finance is quickly evolving, with less and less demand for traditional number crunchers.

Finance professionals need to adopt a future-focused mindset, leverage technology and start thinking more strategically as their day-to-day becomes more digitised.

It’s therefore my mission to empower you as the next generation of tech-savvy finance professionals so that you can reap the rewards of becoming an indispensable business partner.

If you need any support and guidance as you adopt more technology, please e-mail me using adam@adamshilton.com or use the contact form on the homepage.

To your future

Adam

P.S - In case you were wondering:

My default is still introvert, with moments of ‘extrovertedness’
The website I built for my first company still exists
I still have a home studio
The company that made me redundant still exists (finance made the right decision) and I’ve forgiven their FD - we still speak every now and then.