I help people tell the real story
of their life, career, or company
In your own words
The best autobiographies and company histories get to the essence of the person or culture. They sound real, because they are. Not a polished, sanitised version of the story but one that rings true to anyone who knows them.
That’s the only kind of book worth writing. And worth reading.
Recently, a client sent the final draft of his book to a close friend. The friend wrote back:
“I was totally captivated by your book. The thing I liked most about it is that it’s in all your own words. It’s the way you speak. It’s you to a tee.”
That’s what I aim for, every time.
Working with a ghostwriter doesn’t mean handing over responsibility for your story to someone else. It means you get to decide what stays in and what stays out. You don’t have to share all of the skeletons in your closet, but you do get to tell the real story, with the rough edges and the awkward moments. The people who shaped you, good and bad.
It’s your story.
It’s your book.
My job is to make it as good as it can be.
What's my story?
When I was 13, my mother gave me a typewriter.
An unusual present for a teenager you might think. I know I certainly did.
But in hindsight, it wasn’t just a present. It was a nudge, a hint, a clue my mother left on my bedroom desk.
That old, yellow typewriter helped me join the dots between my love for reading and the manual, physical act of creating the words, sentences and paragraphs that made up the stories I surrounded myself with growing up.
My mother recognised my love for stories was something worth nurturing, that it could lead somewhere. Not me.
Like many young fellas I dreamed of playing sport for a living when I grew up.
But around the same time my Mum gave me the typewriter, I slowly started to accept I wasn’t the best player on my street. And I clearly wasn’t good enough to play any sport professionally. But I thought maybe, just maybe I could write about sport instead.
I taught myself how to touch type on the typewriter my mother gave me, a skill that came in handy when I got a summer job at the local newspaper. I also volunteered as the Sports Editor for my school magazine. And I was committed to a career as a writer, or at least as committed as any 17-year-old can be.
Then I went to university to study English & Politics where I got distracted by Cigarettes & Alcohol. In college, I came to associate writing with lectures and exams and gave up on my dreams of being a journalist. After I graduated from university I spent a few aimless years working in sales, insurance and recruitment, all the time ignoring this gut feeling I should be writing.
Every Sunday I got this knot in my stomach that got worse as the day went on. It was the Sunday terrors, that horrible dread of going back to work on a Monday morning to a job I hated. The Lost Years as I call them now were tough at the time but they were also some of the most important and formative years of my life.
In my late 20’s, I finally listened to my gut and quit my job as a recruitment consultant to become a freelance writer.
I convinced the editor of my local paper to give me a shot as a rookie Sports Reporter. I didn’t have any experience or qualifications. But I could touch type and I knew a lot about sports. That was enough.
Since then I’ve worked as an award-winning freelance journalist for various newspapers and magazines including: ESPN.com, Metro, New Zealand Geographic, Sky Sport The Magazine, Herald on Sunday, and the Sunday Star Times. I also spent five years working with Red Bull as the NZ editor of their global magazine, The Red Bulletin.
I wrote my first book in 2016 and since then I’ve written seven books for founders, owners, companies and family businesses.
Write. Run. Repeat.
I’m a proud Irishman but I moved to New Zealand in 2004 and I feel lucky to call this beautiful part of the world home. I also feel lucky to have worked with ghostwriting clients all over the world.
My surname is pronounced ‘Tie’ not ‘Tig-He’ but most people call me Rob.
When I’m not writing or chasing after my three crazy kids, I’m proud to call myself a running fool and I love exploring the hills and forests of Aotearoa to run long-distance trail races.
I ran my first road marathon in Iceland in 2003 and since then I’ve competed in lots of trail running events in New Zealand, including 100 kilometres at the Taupo Ultra.
The next step you take isn’t a commitment. It’s a conversation about the book you think you might have in you, who it’s for, and whether I’m the right person to write it for you. No pitch. No pressure.
And if you want to try before you buy, then we can talk about a ‘test drive’.
