a PR Consultant
Nick Freer has been working in PR for a quarter of a century and is based in Scotland. He has advised some of the country’s most exciting fast-growth companies including Skyscanner, the online travel search site that became Scotland’s first billion-dollar-valued tech startup, or unicorn. Nick is Founding Director at PR agency Freer Consultancy and investment advisory firm Full Circle Partners, who hold a stake in Indian online tyre retailer Tyremarket.com.
We first had cats when we were growing up in America, in a place called Ann Arbor in Michigan. We got the two sisters as kittens, a tabby cat we called Lucy and a black cat we named Artemis. Our house was surrounded by a large forest so the cats had great adventures outdoors on a daily basis! When we moved back to Scotland, we weren’t able to take them with us. That was a really sad time, having to leave them and our home behind.
In addition to writing press releases for clients and writing a weekly business column for a national newspaper, I keep an occasional diary. Running is a big pastime of mine, so the entries are sometimes around that or what we’ve been up to as a family, holidays, days out and so on. I wish I had more discipline with the diary, particularly to record all the amazing things that our kids do and say. When I was younger, I wrote a bit of poetry and like a lot of people who write, I would like to write a book at some point. I just don’t know what it’s going to be about yet!
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, losing [that] job was one of the best things that ever happened to me as I love running my own agency.
For Halloween, I dressed up as the Michael J Fox character from Teen Wolf, a high school student who discovers he is a werewolf. I have an old baseball jacket and a werewolf mask so it’s an easy getup. For me, Halloween is more for the kids though, I don’t mind that it has become so Americanised as Americans do Halloween really well. We usually sit down as a family and watch the film Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler, it’s such a great movie.
Bit too late for leftover candies, I am afraid!
I started up a PR agency after I lost my job in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008. It was a tough time as I was not long married and we were expecting our first child. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, losing that job was one of the best things that ever happened to me as I love running my own agency. It probably wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t lost that job. I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t nerve wracking at the time though. If I ever give myself any credit for anything, it’s probably around managing to keep strong during that period.
Sometimes, when I’ve been climbing up a mountain in the Highlands, running past a loch or even walking down Buchanan Street in Glasgow or Princes Street in Edinburgh, I’ve had a feeling of Scotland being my country, something I’m part of, something that has helped to shape me, the generations that have gone before. I’m proud to be Scottish so I guess it’s a feeling of nationality. Scotland is such a beautiful country, with amazing people. As a nation, we have plenty of flaws too and I want us to be even better; not too different from the human condition really.
I love living and working in Edinburgh, I’ve managed to find a good work-life balance here, but I need a change of scenery too and we spend a lot of time in Glasgow, Argyll, Speyside and Deeside in particular. The Cairngorms National Park is one of Scotland’s natural treasures and I’ve got to know and appreciate it even more in recent years. If I’ve got a spiritual home, it’s probably up at Loch Fyne in Argyll or looking out across the Sound of Jura from Crinan. I’m not a great golfer, but I also love playing one of Scotland’s most famous games on the links courses of East Lothian.
I’m lucky as I don’t have many days when I don’t feel like working. If I’m ever feeling lethargic, I go for a run down the Water of Leith in Edinburgh, have a strong coffee when I get back, and I’m usually good to go. At times, my work life can become quite overbearing, but that’s the nature of the beast when you’re running your own business. It goes with the territory and you just have to find a way to cope. When things are getting a bit crazy busy with clients, I’ve found the thing that helps most is getting a good night’s sleep and not burning the candle too much at both ends.
I always talk to my wife – like me she regularly works from an office at home, and I like to be around when the kids get back from school to ask them about how their day has been. I usually speak to a few clients most days, mainly by email but also by phone or in person, and as a PR I regularly speak to journalists about stories that we’re either pushing out or reacting to. Once a week or so, I’ll meet up with friends and it’s good to have a natter about nothing in particular, just shooting the breeze as they say. I like going back to stay with my parents in Glasgow and catching up on what the family have been up to. I’ve got three brothers and eight nieces and nephews, so there’s a lot to catch up on!
