The Refiner Newsletter - Refining Life (Musings From SE Asia)

Alex Lawford
Oct 20
4 min read

I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching. To truly know thyself, you have to understand what drives you - the environments you thrive in, the spaces that make you feel at ease, and the conditions that help you stay genuinely productive.

London stopped being that place for me. It no longer felt safe. So, I made a conscious decision to step back; to refine and redefine my life around my own goals and passions.

So, I traded East London for Bali (it was only supposed to be for on month) - chaos for calm, concrete for coconut trees, and a life that finally feels in keeping with.

Refinement of South East Asia

Everyone tells you that Bali is special. The truth is, it’s fantastic - but not for the reasons you might expect. The people are peaceful, happy, and carry a wonderful demeanour; they’re always smiling. I had a bump with a scooter the other day - we both looked at each other, shrugged it off, and went about our day.

In the morning, the sun rises, the surf rolls, and the cockerels crow. In the evening, the Call to Prayer drifts through the air, the Hindus beat their drums, bats swoop for the last insects, and in what’s left of the rice paddies, the frogs croak.

If you’ve been lucky enough to visit, you’ll understand-it’s a vibe. But only if you venture away from the nightlife, the beach clubs, and the eternal whirring of scooter engines. Bali isn’t just Canggu.

Refining Your Peace

I have found my peace. The transition from East London to Southeast Asia has been enlightening; the vibe here is respectful, integrated, and truly harmonious - wherever you are, be it Vietnam, Indonesia, or Malaysia.

When you set out on an adventure, you learn to refine yourself - but what you rarely understand is how finding your happy place can transform your state of mind. A friend once told me he wasn’t content with “villa life” - living by the beach in Nusa Penida, working from cafés (was enough).

That kind of smile definitely didn’t exist when I was in Canning Town. True fulfilment can be found; you just have to look.

Refinement of Skills

I’ve been contemplating the future of marketing. AI does so much these days. With one hand, it gives - the ability to do more, faster. With the other, it takes away - what is your value when automation drives down both cost and the need for labour?

Fifty thousand graduate marketing roles opened this year, compared to two hundred and fifty thousand back in 2023. We’re heading for a pretty unsettling time.

The age of the generalist is over. The age of the specialist has begun. The future belongs to those who understand their niche. The question is - how niche do you go? (I'm primarily selling in programmatic SEO installs for clients, selling in additional services when they need them.

Refine Your Work

What’s my focus you ask? Delivering SEO, AI SEO and GEO for small to mid-tier consulting and finance firms and service businesses who want to compete against giants without the burden of a full-suite marketing team, building presence on search is fundamental… once your site delivers inbound organic leads, you can then turn on advertising taps.

Value To Refiner`

Long term relationships
Clear path for success
Highly specialised
Super niche SEO focus

Value to Client

Knowledge based
Unique perspectives for content
High ticket conversions
A small refinement can make a big impact on revenue

This also allows me to upsell website development, email marketing, ads, content and more but getting on page one on Google, will become almost irrelevant when searches transition fully to AI, once everyone takes the leap. I rarely go below, snippets, and Google SEO Overviews.

The website shifts, you SEO with every update by Google and ChatGPT means one month you are rank - raking in the leads, the next month you’re in the doldrums… because the world of AI SEO moves so rapidly.

Last year, I worked on a site that was engineered to get listed on AI SEO Overviews, traffic grew 300%, this year traffic is down because the website isn’t designed for the shift to snippets.

Goodbye, Featured Snippets: How SERP Features Have Evolved in the AI Era

This means what you build today, might not be relevant for tomorrow, but when you know the frameworks you can adapt to whichever Google is prioritising. This means,SEOs designers, developers and website owners have be agile. It is very frustrating because, you win and lose across the different search platforms you are monitoring and benchmarking for.