Duray - VG - SEO (00:00) How's it everyone? My name is Duray. I am the South African SEO co-founder at Viaduct Generation and the new host at the Wise Build Bridges. The Wise Build Bridges is a podcast dedicated to highlighting the stories of marketeers and founders who are able to create really great stories in quite tight niches and those that are trying to really stand out. This is a practical podcast so you can take notes. Fellow marketeers is a way to learn a little bit more about marketing and some of the people within it. Today I am blessed to have Carly with us. Carly, hello. Thanks so much for being here. Carly Gray (00:34) Hello, lovely to see you and thanks for having me. Duray - VG - SEO (00:37) Yeah, thank you so much, Karli. I really appreciate it. So let's get right into it, Karli. Tell people who you are and what are you doing? Carly Gray (00:45) Okay, I'm Carly. This sounds like a dating profile. My husband wouldn't be very pleased about that one. My name is Carly and I am currently the marketing manager for EcoSafe Group. I've been in the marketing industry for about 16 years now. So yeah, that's me. Duray - VG - SEO (01:03) Amazing. And tell us a little bit more about EcoSafe Group. What is it that you guys do really, really well? And what kind of a space do you operate in? Carly Gray (01:12) Okay, so EcoSafe Group is fundamentally a building contracting company. We have two kind of sides to the business in that we support housing associations, public kind of sector charities, councils, governments, that kind of thing, with different building and construction services such as plumbing heating, fire safety, damp and mold compliance, electrical, basically everything you need to be able to support residents in housing associations, for example. And then we have our B2C arm, which we are kind of in the process of launching officially. That is for our private and domestic market. So that's the kind of UNIs. Um, people who may, um, own their own property or maybe in rental who need, I don't know, a new kitchen, an extension, a loft conversion. Um, so that's more our B2C market really. Um, we've been going for about 16 years. Um, and in kind of the last two to three years, we've just kind of grown massively. We're winning more work. We're much more visible. in terms of our digital footprint. And yeah, we're a really lovely family run company, but that is, you know, quite big now. But that said, we have a lot of married people within the business, lots of brothers, sisters, that kind of thing. So we do try and employ, you know, around that family ethos, which is great, which is lovely from going from like a big corporation to this kind of family-run business where you get to spread your wings a little bit more, which is nice. Duray - VG - SEO (02:55) And you mentioned that you were kind of winning more business and you were more visible. What are some of the key things that you've implemented since joining EcoSafe group that have made like a surprisingly bigger impact than you thought they might make? Carly Gray (03:08) Yeah, so when I first joined Deco Safe Group, we didn't necessarily have much of a marketing presence. There was no marketing person in place as per se. We had a freelancer who would support as and when, but really only small scale. So when I joined the business, it was quite difficult to kind of, it was quite difficult to join. Um, the team and, um, that was a shit answer. Yeah. Hang on. Duray - VG - SEO (03:35) Okay, shall I ask it in a different way? Cool, no worries, take your time. It's all good, we've got, yeah, exactly, you should use it. Okay, I'm gonna ask it in a different way. Okay, so EcoSafe have been around for 16 years. You mentioned that you're kind of winning more business than ever before. Carly Gray (03:41) Got my EcoSafe branded mug there, see. Duray - VG - SEO (03:53) Is there something specific that you think has made a really tailored difference? I know that you've been in there a while and like SEO and like marketing, like incremental steps in the right direction, tally up and over time kind of compound. But is there maybe one or two things that you've tried recently or you were surprised at the impact that they made? Carly Gray (04:14) So when it comes to implementing kind of new strategies or things that may have been a little bit surprising when I joined EcoSafe is probably... Well, it's not really a surprise to me because I always do it anywhere and everywhere I go, right? It's bringing the people into our marketing. So when I started with the EcoSafe, we didn't really have any marketing. There was, you know, there was no fundamentals in place. We had a website that wasn't performing very well. You know, it wasn't generating any leads. There was no customer process. It was all just very disjointed and disconnected. So when I joined, coming up two years ago now, I always make the point of going in and learning as much as possible about every department, right from the directors through to the customer admin team, through to the people that are on the tools. Because I believe that the success of any business is the people within it. slogan in life is people by people, not things. And if you kind of position yourself by putting those people at the forefront of your marketing, you're more than likely guaranteed to get success. I'm not just talking from like a social space, but even from an SEO perspective, There's a lot more, I've found that, you know, content that has a human element to it, a picture of people within our team, it does much better than something that is more generic content. And that's because people buy on emotion, right? They look for the human in it. They want to know what our people have done, what our people are doing. And I think the kind of, I think it was more of a surprise for everybody else, right? They've been doing this work for a long, long time. Duray - VG - SEO (05:40) Mm. Carly Gray (06:01) We've got lots of people within the business who are incredible at what they do and they don't shout about it. And effectively my job is to shout about those things and to deliver that kind of message to our audience to highlight the incredible people within our business, but also what we do in a way that's not, you know, selling to people, right? They want to hear how, you know, Mrs. Miggins has had her Duray - VG - SEO (06:02) Mmm. Yeah. Mmm. Carly Gray (06:27) damper mold now sorted and what impact that's had on her. So when we come to do, you know, tenders and everything, the partners that we're looking to connect with can really see the difference that we've made. It's not just some KPIs on an XL. I hate XL, but it's not KPIs on an XL. It's actually the human element of that. And I think for people within the business, they were quite surprised. Duray - VG - SEO (06:28) Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (06:52) by that simple thing, right? It's not rocket science to be like, let's just shout about what we are doing and the people that are within the business. But I think it comes sometimes, marketing is used as a buzzword, right? We've got so many different roles within marketing. Everybody is an expert. Anybody is an expert nowadays, right? So it kind of puts people off. And when you come into kind of a niche, Duray - VG - SEO (07:12) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (07:18) industry-like construction, which can be seen as quite a stale and boring space in the B2B sector, right? If you're going down the B2B route, it is seen as, oh, it's so much harder to market. And I get told that all the time, especially from kind of younger understudies, they're like, oh, it's really difficult to market in B2B. And I'm like, it's really not, because if you connect Duray - VG - SEO (07:35) Mmm. Carly Gray (07:44) human element, it becomes more fun. You're no longer writing about how much does my roof, you know, roof replacement cost. It's okay. Yeah, we need those fundamentals in there. need people want to know how much that roof is going to cost. But they also want to know the stories from the people whose roofs we fixed and how we've done it and what good quality work we've done, but also how that's made an impact to them. Duray - VG - SEO (07:52) Yeah. sure. Carly Gray (08:09) It's kind of no different to looking on Amazon and wanting to buy something and scrolling down straight to the customer testimonials and the pictures to see what you're actually going to get. So I think for me, that's kind of the surprising but non-surprising element of what I've kind of brought to the table that may be a bit different in construction. I kind of did a lot of research before joining. Duray - VG - SEO (08:18) Mmm, that's a point. Yeah. Carly Gray (08:36) company as I do with any company, right? And yeah, it was just a lot of tedious, here's a case study, here's a case study and rinse and repeat with no human element in there, no nice video. So yeah, there's my answer for that one. Sorry. Duray - VG - SEO (08:47) Yeah. Nice, no, no, no, that's great. That's really, really useful. So you mentioned in there about your, spent in a number of different careers within marketing already. Can you tell me a little bit about, like, if you were to start your career all over again and you were to go talk to younger, less wise Carly, what advice would you give to yourself at that point? Carly Gray (09:11) So the kind of advice I would give to the younger version of me, 15, 16 years ago, which seems incredibly long now, I would really, I wouldn't change anything. I really wouldn't change anything about my career or the way that I've done things because I'm not necessarily a believer of, I wish I did that better. It's always, I could do that better. It's never, you know, reflective in that way. I think I would say have way more confidence, because now that I have gotten that confidence, it does make life easier. don't be afraid to kind of ask people questions. I've always been somebody who asks a lot of questions and probably annoys a lot of people. And it's not for any other reason than I'm inquisitive. I like to understand how people work and that kind of thing. So the other thing that I'm a strong believer on is, you know, educating myself. So I would want me to, like I said, I wouldn't necessarily change anything, but learn. learn as much as I could from anybody and anybody, anybody and everybody rather. Yeah, I'm sorry, lost my way. Duray - VG - SEO (10:22) No, you're good. No, no, no. I think you've nailed it there, right? So like increased confidence, like really like stay forth and believe in what you believe in. Stay curious in terms of like consistently staying inquisitive, staying curious, trying to find ways to do things better and a consistent education. I think that's so important whereas in marketing, the whole very nature of what we do is to try and to kind of essentially like get in front of consumers, right? On a day-to-day basis, we need to understand consumer behavior better than anyone else. Well, maybe not as good as psychologists, but there are thereabouts. And marketeers are hired to understand the buying behavior of our consumer. So in order to kind of stay abreast with our consumer, we have to be staying, especially if you're things that are purchased on TikTok. or something like that, you've got to be staying way ahead of the consumer, right? So I think a constant education is incredibly important. And I think your point on that is really valid. Carly Gray (11:21) Yeah, I get, I see a lot on LinkedIn of, again, some understudies that I've worked with and nurtured. Posing the question or bluntly putting, there is no point in doing a degree in marketing. You can get a career in marketing ⁓ straight off the bat. You know, just post to TikTok and that makes you an expert. In my opinion, it really does not. And I... Duray - VG - SEO (11:37) Mmm. Carly Gray (11:45) believe that you don't have to go to uni to work in marketing. You could pick up the tools, which most of the is a laptop with a good internet connection and a bit of creative spirit. However, if you do not learn the fundamentals of marketing and like you say, understanding how people tick, your price, your positioning, any promotions, those fundamentals and how to measure it. Duray - VG - SEO (11:49) Mm. Hmm. Carly Gray (12:10) then you're just putting out content for the sake of putting out content. it's like saying, you know, and I get this and I have gotten this a lot, a lot, especially in my kind of freelance work where I have met lots of smaller business owners who have had their nephew's friend do their marketing, sort out their Facebook because they're cheap. let's be fair, or they're good at it, they know how to post. But there's a difference between knowing how to post and knowing how to post that works in line with a strategy, a plan of action. And yes, plans don't always go the way that you expect them to. You can spend hours and hours and hours working on this campaign thinking that it is going to friggin' succeed the moment you press publish and... Duray - VG - SEO (12:40) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (13:01) you're awaiting on Google Analytics, looking at all the traffic coming to the website and you're like, yes, conversion, conversion. And it doesn't work. And that's just purely, it just doesn't always work the way you expect it to work. And I think there is some learning to be had with that, right? Like I said, I'm not expecting people to go out and get... Duray - VG - SEO (13:10) Yeah. Carly Gray (13:24) you know, get themselves into debt like I did with the degree. ⁓ but that was the right thing, right thing for me. And I wouldn't necessarily tell somebody you shouldn't go for a degree or you, you know, you should do this and you should do that. We all have our own paths. We all have our own, our own journey to go on. ⁓ but if you do not understand the fundamentals of marketing and kind of how to connect those dots, then you should learn how to do that. Duray - VG - SEO (13:27) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (13:51) If you've got that creative kind of spark of, you know, a bit like myself, when I was, when I first got into marketing, was purely, I didn't know that it was marketing. I didn't know that marketing was a thing. We didn't go to, the kind of careers advisor, you know, where you do a quiz and they're like, this is what you should be. And mine was art teacher. And I was like, great. I've always wanted to be an art teacher. Got, got an A star at GCSE art thinking. Duray - VG - SEO (14:08) huh, yeah I remember. Carly Gray (14:16) amazing, like I'm going to be the best art teacher in the world, to then going to college and literally getting an E in my first year and being like, what the hell. Duray - VG - SEO (14:26) no. no. Carly Gray (14:27) And, you know, I've completely lost my train of thought. Duray - VG - SEO (14:31) No, you're absolutely fine. think that's I think it's not bad not a bad Not a bad finish. Let's jump into a different question So you said something really interesting there Carly you mentioned that Content for the sake of content and I think with the introduction of AI people are putting out more content than ever before because that's what we've been told to do. You have a really good understanding of SEO in our brief conversation before this, but how do you think businesses, they can't afford massive SEO retainers every month, what can they be doing to combat the influx of content? And how do you think consumer behavior might change based on this influx of, let's be honest, bang average content. Is there anything we can do to kind of differentiate ourselves? Or is it just the consistency of high quality interactions on a consistent basis across a number of mediums? Carly Gray (15:24) I the answer for that is kind of twofold, Where you've said, okay, a company might not have the funds to be able to churn out lots of SEO content. I think it's for them, it would be the quality pieces, the really focus on the actual keywords that you want to target, your target audience and What is that desired action you want from that piece of content? There is literally no point paying somebody to stick a load of stuff into ChatGPT and whack out a load of content that means nothing to nobody. And it's fine to use ChatGPT or other AI robots that you prefer. But for me, you can't just publish that. You need to add your turn of voice to it and everything else. So those people that don't necessarily have the funds, and I've been in that position, right, where you're the only marketeer within the company, our team at EcoSafe Group is very small. We have to be very tailored and specific towards what we are targeting. And it is incredibly hard for SEO experts at the moment to kind of combat, and I say combat, not in a negative way to a degree, It's hard to combat the kind of changes that are coming with AI whereby you've got, you know, the AI automated response in a Google search, which is stopping people from clicking on your website. You know, if you are not being found in that AI content, then you can guarantee you're not going to get fricking, they're not going to scroll any further than that because they've got their answer then and there. So. Duray - VG - SEO (16:47) Thanks Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (16:58) SEO kind of experts have a really difficult job in tailoring their content, A, towards that, B, towards the human. And that's where I'm saying, you really have to bring that personal element into it to make your content quality and keep the user and the customer on your content for longer. And then I believe strongly, like another area of... Duray - VG - SEO (17:08) Mmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (17:24) of marketing that I think people should be more aware about is the kind of zero click approach. Especially on socials, right, you've got some really incredible content being put out, lots of educational pieces that people would normally say for their website, they're actually putting it into social content as part of their strategy. And it's typically carousels where they can get all the information they need from that one carousel. They don't have to click on anything. They just literally swipe, swipe, swipe. Duray - VG - SEO (17:30) Hmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (17:51) And again, that's, it's tricky for an SEO expert to be able to work with that. But I think it has its place in that it is giving your user what they want, when they want it in a nice, a nice creative look and feel. And then, you know, you can compliment that with pieces that do direct people to your website. So I think. Duray - VG - SEO (18:14) Yeah. Carly Gray (18:16) Quality over quantity is my response to your question there. I really feel that video also will have its place. People are really, really pushing for video content creators, which is good having a filmmaking background for me because I can decipher. You know, the good stuff or the bad stuff. but equally it's, it's really fascinating how people have changed the way that they search, the way that they do things, the way that they buy in this last 15 years. I don't think there's many other industries that you can work within where the growth is so quick. You know, this time, however many years ago, I was setting up a little Facebook page for a little tea rooms in the middle arse end of nowhere. Duray - VG - SEO (18:49) Mmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (19:04) not realizing this was marketing. And now, you know, people are being paid to do this, right? Like, that's the one thing I always think about my job is I love, I love working in marketing. It's like, you know, the things that I used to do of designing little leaflets or little promotion cards to do a little door drop. I didn't know it was a door drop. I'd just be like trying to get people into the garden center to Duray - VG - SEO (19:04) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Carly Gray (19:29) make it busy because it was boring when it wasn't busy. There was nobody to talk to. So that's kind of where I started and not knowing that that is actually marketing. And now you can be paid to do this stuff, right? You can be paid to create a leaflet, which is amazing. Like however many years ago, that was such a niche job that, you know, nobody would, you wouldn't pay somebody, you know, 75 pounds an hour to do Duray - VG - SEO (19:33) Hmm. Absolutely. Mmm. Carly Gray (19:56) to write some copy on our website, for example. And now, you know, it really is a great creative space. And I think, especially for younger people, there's so much scope to get into. It just is, you kind of need to, as a business owner, you do really need to find the quality kind of experts. Duray - VG - SEO (19:59) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (20:20) in the field to be able to give you that quality content that your business will need. Duray - VG - SEO (20:25) Absolutely. think there's been because of the low barrier to entry that is in marketing, particularly SEO is one where my mom, shout out my mom, she's great, but she's not an SEO, but she could decide to be an SEO and therefore she is. Marketing, besides like maybe a CIM certificate or getting a degree in marketing, holds some authority. But like, I don't know about you, I don't really place that much value, particularly me when I'm hiring internally on like educational because marketing is changing so often. So let's get back to kind of some practical advice on what advice you would give to someone who is trying to kind of build visibility in a crowded space. Carly Gray (21:07) Okay, so to build that visibility that a business might need in a more niche space such as construction, I think the most important thing is, and I will say this for any industry actually, is to show up. If you're going to use socials, be sociable, right? Engage with people, comment on things, like don't just post something can run and expect that content to perform because Duray - VG - SEO (21:20) Mmm. Carly Gray (21:31) It won't if there's no engagement on that. I mean, you're fighting with robots to get your content seen in the first place. But we've always said to, you know, or I've always said to business owners, you know, the platform is there and it's intended to be used for what it is used for. Therefore, you kind of have to follow the rules of the platform. But I think for a niche market in particular, you really have to be consistently showing up. ⁓ Duray - VG - SEO (21:36) Mmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (21:56) showing your worth and highlighting why your business can either do a service or has a better product than somebody else. I don't believe in copying competitors. think competition is healthy. I think it is good to see what your competition is doing, but I don't think that that needs to be. the only thing that a company focuses on. And I've worked for some companies and that's all they'll do. course, such and such is doing that. So we should be doing that. No, we should be highlighting again, those people within the business that make your business different. They don't have a you or an I in their company. Therefore our perspective is different. And that's again, another important point is perspective. You know, we, like I said, we've got some really, really knowledgeable people within our business. Duray - VG - SEO (22:25) Mmm. Carly Gray (22:45) who hold some incredible accreditations, myself included, where you talk about the CIM. I am a CIM, MCIM qualified marketing person. And although it doesn't necessarily hold weight to if I was looking for somebody to support me in an assistant role, I wouldn't necessarily always look for that, right? But within construction, Duray - VG - SEO (22:49) Hmm. yeah. Yeah. Mm. Carly Gray (23:13) It is about the accreditations and it is about what, because for us, we have to jump through so many hoops to be accredited for things. So it is highlighting those to potential customers or to our partners that, you know, our team have worked incredibly hard to get these things. So it's kind of, you've always got to be showing your best foot first within the space. Duray - VG - SEO (23:16) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mmm. Carly Gray (23:37) And that again comes back to this quality piece. Like I always speak to our marketing assistant about this, about how don't just post for the sake of it. You know, we don't have, we don't have to post every single day if we do not want to. We can make the rules, right? But the content that's going out should be, you know, it should either be informative. It should highlight our team. should, you know, deliver. Duray - VG - SEO (23:53) Hmm. Carly Gray (24:02) a promotional offer to our customers that they are going to get some value from. It should always add value as opposed to just being there for the sake of it. So I think for anyone looking to kind of break into the niche, really just get to grips with the foundations of the business, talk to people because nine times out of 10, they'll drop in a golden nugget during a conversation that they wouldn't have said if you emailed them. Duray - VG - SEO (24:11) I love that. Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (24:30) literally go in their face and just talk to them. They're humans at the end of the day. you know, for younger people, especially it can be really daunting to go and speak to like a director or a CEO. But I always just think, well, you know, they're just people at the end of the day, you know, they're no different to you and I. Yeah, okay, we get some people who you wouldn't necessarily want to cross them on a bad day, but it's just... Duray - VG - SEO (24:30) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. Hmm. Carly Gray (24:54) Go and ask the questions. Just put a little bit of confidence in yourself and ask those questions. Find out what your unique selling point is and tailor your marketing plan around that. And I think as a foundation builder, that is really gonna help anybody trying to kind of break it in the niche space. Duray - VG - SEO (24:58) Hmm. Yeah. Okay. So a couple of things I got from that were like maintain that curiosity consistently to really unearth where the biggest challenges that your ideal client profile is currently facing show up with an authenticity. Don't sit here and tick boxes and run to be like, have we posted on Instagram? great post, okay, see you later. But actually, like if it's a social media, be social, right? Go chat to other developers and other housing associations and make sure that you, when you are posting, make sure it's quality over quantity and you're using it to either educate, inform or promote your services. Ultimately not doing anything for the sake of it, but really making sure there's purpose behind your action. Have I got that about right? Carly Gray (25:40) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you are excellent at deciphering my waffle into short, attainable snippets of information. So do you want a job? Duray - VG - SEO (26:09) Honestly, if Carly, you're doing a great job here. And I think what a lot of people don't realize is that you said something earlier, you said like, we're all just people. throughout our journeys, we all pick up different things, right? And we pick up different people that contributes to who we are, and different moments that contribute to who we are. There's a principle in in like tribal South Africa and a word used as called Ubuntu, which basically essentially means I am because we are and it expresses my humanity through your humanity. And it kind of always reminds me of to always be kind because you never know what anyone else is going through. And I think a lot of people might sit here and listen to your knowledge and be like, wow, this woman's amazing. She's got this kind of certificate. She's running this business. She does a bit of freelancing on the side. She's really doing things, but I don't think they're aware of some of the challenges that you're going through. know. Would you like to take a moment just to tell people a little bit about Corda Iquina Syndrome and the Champions Charity? Carly Gray (27:09) Yeah. So, I have a disability. it's not something, well, it's relatively new, for me in that it's only been in this car kind of like year and a bit where everything kind of went a bit downhill and a quarter Aquinas syndrome is effectively where you're, You get a spinal cord injury where your disc goes straight through your spinal cord. In some places, you know, there'll be variations of that and it can happen to anybody. It's relatively rare. I don't want people to be like, screaming thinking, my God, my back is going to go at any moment. Right. But most marketers will, you know, I've never really thought about my back before. I've done things where I've been on shoots. Duray - VG - SEO (27:50) Hmm. Carly Gray (27:52) And I remember one of the first ones I ever went on and I had to hold the boom for like literally an hour while this guy was talking, but I had to hold it underneath the cameras and everyone would see it. And it was before the point of like raw content where people would see behind the scenes. And it was for a really, it was for an award ceremony with this guy who was incredible. And he'd been, he was a war veteran and he, and the reason why he was being nominated for this award was because of the amazing stuff he did. And I was like, Duray - VG - SEO (28:07) Yeah. Carly Gray (28:19) God, like I can't lose where I am right now. And I remember coming out that and being like, God, my back really hurts. But I must've been about 18 at the time and I didn't think anything of it. And then over the years, your back just goes through so much abuse. Like, obviously I can see you shifting now being like, need to remember to sit up straight. But yeah, posture check. Duray - VG - SEO (28:25) Hmm. Yeah, exactly. Posture check. Carly Gray (28:41) And this is it, right? Most marketers will either be out on set doing socials or they'll be sat building a website or doing SEO work and you'll be at your computer and you'll forget to stand up because you, you are so busy in your work or you're not sat properly or you're hunched over. That's one of the things that I struggle with that I get really, the more I get into it, the closer I get to the screen and... Duray - VG - SEO (28:53) Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Carly Gray (29:05) I had had a few bits and pieces of a few problems with my back over the years. Having two children and having, you know, pregnancy didn't exactly help with that. ⁓ And I ended up just purely picking up my pyjamas because my husband will tell you I'm not a messy person, but my pyjamas were on the floor and I picked up my pyjamas from the floor at Duray - VG - SEO (29:17) Hmm. Happens to the best of us. Happens to the best of us. Carly Gray (29:31) Exactly. You know what it's like when you just like, nah, I can't be bothered, just take it off for bed, get to sleep. And I picked up my pajamas and within that instant, I knew that something was going on. And thankfully I knew the red flags of cauda equina because of the previous things I'd had. I've had a previous back surgery before. Duray - VG - SEO (29:34) on Yeah, yeah, yeah. Carly Gray (29:51) Chordorachina syndrome is something that you have to have operated on within a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, there were situations with mine that delayed a little bit. So I am left with lasting damage at the time because it was an emergency. They did a disectomy and unfortunately I ended up getting chordorachina syndrome again in kind of April last year. Duray - VG - SEO (29:58) Mm. Carly Gray (30:14) And then I've had to have a spinal fusion and a cage put in in September. So I'm still relatively new in my recovery period. And when this happens, it affects anything waist down. So your bowel and bladder are impacted, which to be honest, nobody tends to want to talk about because it's like, going to the bathroom is such a big deal. But again, we're all people. We all have to do it, right? Duray - VG - SEO (30:21) Wow. Yeah. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Carly Gray (30:40) ⁓ you know, your mobility is impacted. At one point I was having to use a wheelchair and that was incredibly hard to kind of get your head around going from being able to walk around to not being able to walk around. Like I'd had use of crutches before, so it wasn't so bad when I was on that. and then yeah, since having my fusion surgery, touch wood things have Duray - VG - SEO (30:45) Mmm. Carly Gray (31:02) know, things have improved in some ways and other things will stay the same. I will always have to do things like self-cafeterization ⁓ and manual evacuation and I will, you know, never, probably won't get the feeling back in my legs. ⁓ But the positive that I take from it is it could be worse when it was at its worst moment and I could not feel Duray - VG - SEO (31:07) Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Absolutely. Carly Gray (31:27) anything and the searing pain down both legs was so extreme. I, I, I can't even describe it. And I've had two kids. ⁓ and that was hard enough. That was painful. ⁓ but this was on like another, another scale. And it's really important for people to be aware of, of, of their body and look after yourself because when you work in an industry like marketing. Duray - VG - SEO (31:28) Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. I bet, Yeah. Carly Gray (31:51) you can get yourself burnt out very quickly and you can get into the flow of just overworking. Sometimes it's frustrating because you'll, I don't know, if you're, for example, working on socials and you've been searching things, doing stuff, and then you'll be in your home time and then you'll be looking down your own personal socials and all you're seeing is work adverts like... Duray - VG - SEO (31:51) Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (32:15) I don't always need Duray - VG - SEO (32:16) Yep. Carly Gray (32:16) solar panels for my roof. I don't always need a fricking fence, but that is what I always get targeted with because I've been searching for, you know, competitive research or that kind of stuff through work. But it's so important to switch off. And with Corda Requina Champions, they are a charity that is purely focused towards people, but also their family, family members or friends of people that have had Corda Requina Syndrome. Duray - VG - SEO (32:18) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Mm-hmm. Carly Gray (32:42) Again, like I said, it is rare. I don't want to scare people off, but they should know, you know, the red flags of, know, if you've got sciatica or pain in both legs, you know, you're suddenly, your thighs are starting to get sore and hurting, not because you've gone for a run, but because you've just been sat there all day, then, you know, just, just have a bit of a think, you know, is this something that's out of the ordinary? And just, just remember to look after your back, right? Cause it is holding you up literally. Duray - VG - SEO (32:58) Mmm. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Carly Gray (33:09) If anybody is listening from out there in the world that's had this, Corda Aquina champions are there for people in the UK. Should they need that extra support really? Duray - VG - SEO (33:17) Mm. It's amazing. sounds like a really, really awesome charity that's doing good things. And I think just further demonstrates you are obviously a very talented marketeer. You've been instrumental in the success of EcoSafe and a number of businesses before this. You've imparted some great wisdom here in terms of ensuring that people demonstrate that confidence. They stay curious and they really try and show up with authenticity. I think those are concepts that I think anyone in marketing can take value from. But to be doing all of that while going through what you are, think it's really inspirational. just from me to you, congratulations and keep fighting a good fight because you're doing a great job. Carly Gray (33:56) You were way too kind. Sorry. I'm one of those people that struggle to take compliments from people, but I really appreciate that. know, it's nice sometimes to be recognized in marketing, especially as marketing is like one of those industries where you don't always get complimented. ⁓ And if you are looking for an industry to work in where you get complimented every day, all day, every day, you only really hear from people when shit hits the fan. Sorry. Duray - VG - SEO (34:15) Yeah. Mmm. Carly Gray (34:23) and it goes wrong. It is nice to get those reminders sometimes in that kind of recognition, which is lovely. So thank you. I appreciate that. Duray - VG - SEO (34:23) Yeah. Hmm. My absolute pleasure. Carly, for people that might want to chat to you, either you've got some wisdom that they want to derive from you, or maybe they also have things that they want, are struggling with, and they just want to connect with you. Where should they find you? Carly Gray (34:47) LinkedIn, to be fair, I'm one of those people that I like to keep my Instagram and my Facebook, you know, private to my family. But LinkedIn is kind of where I kind of hang out. If you're looking for content that's curated in a way of let's do 20 pushups at 5am in the morning and I will tell you how to make a million pounds in two hours, then I'm not like that. Duray - VG - SEO (34:53) Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah. Carly Gray (35:09) Pretty much what you see now and how I speak is pretty much how I do it on LinkedIn. I try to be as, as personable as I am online and offline because it would be, I always find it weird when you go and speak to somebody and you're like, you don't speak in acronyms. Like, you know, I think it's, it's a good place when people are just being themselves and just bringing to the table their, their Duray - VG - SEO (35:19) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Carly Gray (35:33) expertise. But yeah, I'd love love it if anybody reached out. It be nice that someone actually listens. And I will say to my followers, obviously, I am in a Menelio's like dream hub right now. And I always get the comments whenever I'm in here and I take a photo, they're always, is that a blockbuster? Well, it's my husband's. But he just has good sound equipment. So that's why I'm in here today. But you know, Duray - VG - SEO (35:39) Yeah. Amazing. Carly Gray (35:56) We can talk about it if you would like. Duray - VG - SEO (35:58) Well, there we go. For everyone, that's Carly Gray, the marketing manager of EcoSafe Group. Carly, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Thank you again and have a lovely rest of your day. Carly Gray (36:08) Pleasure, thank you.