My location-agnostic PR agency life | Dave Turnbull
Hello! I am Dave, Partner, Creative Planning at Tyto, and this my location-agnostic life. In this series, we want to highlight the freedom our model enables and how we navigate any challenges it presents.
What’s your morning routine?
I’m up a lot earlier than I’d like to be these days, thanks to a new baby boy, but after a quick nappy change (him not me) I’m out on my bike along the coast to work. I now live in Spain on the Costa del Sol, so cycling from home to the city centre is now one life’s daily little pleasures. The route is completely along the coast, and I find the journey helps clear the mind and lets me ruminate on some of the bigger challenges of the week.
How do you organise your day?
I start by setting out the week’s priorities, front-loading as many of them as I can so I have the flexibility to move things around as new priorities emerge throughout the week. This means I more-or-less know what each day of the week will look like and can adjust things as I go.
When are you the most productive?
In the morning. Despite not being a morning person at all, once I’m up I find I have lots of energy to throw at things.
What is your favourite workplace?
I love meeting up with colleagues in co-working spaces when I have the opportunity, but to get things done day-to-day I like having a nice, quiet space of my own to focus. With a decent coffee machine on standby.
What’s your favourite thing about working remotely?
Working remotely has literally changed my life, switching London for the south coast of Spain and starting a little family in the sunshine. This was a laughable idea to many before the pandemic, when I made the move, but what Tyto knew about the remote model all along has now been proven to almost everybody else. It can improve your quality of life in so many ways, but I find it to be an infinitely more productive way of working too. Then, when the team does get together, it means more to everyone, and we can really focus on the social aspect.
What do you miss about working in an office?
I don’t miss anything about actually working in an office, but I do miss the impromptu post-work get-togethers.
What’s your secret weapon?
Curiosity. I find the tangents and rabbit-holes you go down when something piques your interest often lead to the best germs of ideas. If something interests me then it stands a decent chance of being interesting to somebody else too. And I’m lucky that I get to speak to lots of experts who can help me to better understand and ultimately communicate those concepts or ideas.
What is the culture like at Tyto?
This isn’t written down in our staff handbook, but Tyto only hires brilliant, lovely people. You can rely on everybody to provide support, great ideas, and nice chat whenever you need it.
What do you like most about working at Tyto?
Tyto turns down more business than I ever thought possible, while growing at a seriously impressive rate. Perhaps counter-intuitively, this is one of our biggest strengths. It means we only take on the briefs and the clients that connect with us, inspire us, and where we believe we can deliver our best-possible work.
