What happens when you go from hating marketing to becoming a Growth Director by accident? Rob Sherwood from The Digital Maze knows the answer - and it's nothing like what career advisors tell you.
Most people think successful careers are planned. Rob's wasn't. He studied business management and marketing at Nottingham Trent because the psychological element interested him. His placement year? Tasks so simple he spent six months watching the clock, using his mum's "motivational mountain" - a family tool passed down from his diplomat grandfather - just to survive until it ended. He graduated convinced marketing wasn't for him.
So he pivoted to sales. Got into telecoms bid management at a massive Japanese tech company. Cultural clash between slow-paced lifers and an ambitious 20-something who wanted to travel. He left, spent five and a half months in Southeast Asia (strategic timing - long enough for the experience, short enough not to hurt his CV), came back to another telecoms role. Younger company, boozy Friday lunches, but a bloated sales team where every prospect had already been contacted. Then Covid hit. April 2020. Redundancy.
That's when Rob tried his own thing. Amazon FBA. He followed tutorials to the letter, found a gap in weighted fitness hula hoops - good demand, poor listings, decent pricing. Ordered 1,000 units. Sold out in two months without paid ads. Ordered 4,000 more with better branding. The factory shut for Christmas. His competitors made tens of thousands whilst he sat out of stock. When his shipment finally arrived, every single hoop was broken. The factory had lied about QA. He lost everything.
A friend had offered Rob an agency role before - back when he returned from traveling. He'd turned it down because he wanted London life, not Nottingham. But after the hula hoop disaster, after Covid redundancies, after discovering marketing placements and telecoms sales both felt wrong, Rob reached out again. The timing was perfect. The agency had just bounced back from Covid cuts. And suddenly, working with ambitious brands on PPC, SEO, and web development - it all clicked.
Now as Growth Director at The Digital Maze, Rob heads up sales, oversees brand marketing strategy, and supports teams and clients to identify new opportunities - whilst remembering exactly what it felt like to be completely lost.
This episode tackles the uncomfortable truth about careers: sometimes the answer isn't planning better. It's being brave enough to admit what isn't working and staying open to what might.
About Supo:
Supo provides people-first intelligence software for professional services firms, helping businesses maximise profit and motivate their people through powerful, AI-enabled business intelligence dashboards. By connecting over 500+ platforms and providing real-time data analysis, Supo helps firms make better data-driven decisions about their profit, projects, and people.
For more information about Supo: www.supo.co.uk
About The Digital Maze:
The Digital Maze is a performance marketing agency based in Derby, supporting ambitious brands nationwide. Specialising in PPC, SEO, and web design & development, the agency works across sectors from Home & Garden and Food & Beverage to professional services. The Digital Maze focuses on delivering exceptional agency experience through strategic marketing that increases leads, sales, and business growth. The agency also runs Marketing Mastered - quarterly events, monthly newsletters, and a community for Derby's marketing scene to meet, learn, and level up.
For more information about The Digital Maze: thedigitalmaze.com
Ready to discover why winding careers aren't failures, they're education? This episode isn't about planning better - it's about the self-belief required to admit what isn't working and stay open to what might finally click.
