Scale Up With Nick Bradley

It’s a return engagement for Kev Blackburn, the life success engineer who created a multi-million-pound arbitrage empire through Amazon! Kev is the perfect example of someone who took a dream and turned it into a reality, spurred on only by his willpower, and through setting effective goals. Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/   KEY TAKEAWAYS Striking out on your own is scary, but it’s also a gift. Being in control of your own destiny is invaluable. The first step in going it alone is to work out what your ideal life looks like. Only by doing so can we see the path that takes us there. Systems and processes are the building blocks of every successful enterprise. By installing effective systems, we level-up its ability to run more autonomously. The journey of building a business requires a huge amount of sacrifice, and will ultimately impact your personal life. The best way of ensuring the damage remains minimal is to involve our loved ones whenever possible. The greatest thing about technology is that we can now reach those who need our help and our stories in order to empower them to persevere with their own dreams.   BEST MOMENTS ‘If anything’s going to give you a reason to control your destiny, then this is it’ ‘Buying and selling is simple, but so exciting!’ ‘I don’t like guessing and I don’t like gambling. It’s all about limiting risk’ ’The desire, the motivation and the energy; the only way we attain them is by recognising what’s important to you’ ‘You are creating your own story. The time to act is now'   VALUABLE RESOURCES Life Success Engineer - https://www.lifesuccessengineer.com   ABOUT THE HOST  Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

This week, Nick continues his ’15 Minutes To Action’ series with a look at the key principles behind a huge source of inspiration for his own thinking, ’The 12 Week Year’ by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, a book that advocates the theory that the annual planning model, adopted by many entrepreneurs, may well be flawed. Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/ KEY TAKEAWAYS Quite often we follow the paths laid out before us by others without deviating onto far more positive, constructive and personal paths to success. By using the annual planning theory to map out our goals, we run the risk of growing complacent. We are granted the right to procrastinate. We all take hits from time to time. Setbacks occur at every level of business. What marks us out is the ability to remain on course in the face of these issues. Focus upon the task that will most dynamically move the needle forward over the next 90 days. This should be the area of your main attention   BEST MOMENTS ‘If we did the things we are capable of doing then we would literally astound ourselves’ ‘If you’re working to a 12 Week Year, then every day matters’ ‘You can meditate in the corner all you like, but it’s not going to make your business grow’   VALUABLE RESOURCES The 12 Week Year - by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.global  Support the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

In this week’s show, Nick talks to Henry Kaminski Jr, otherwise known as “The Brand Doctor”, a specialist in helping the best-of-the-best to be even better! Henry is here to tell you all about his remarkable ascent to the top; a tale of resilience, entrepreneurial genius, serendipity, and most importantly, identity. Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/ KEY TAKEAWAYS Early success came for Henry because he focused on the needs and wants of his customer base. In this case, speed was the essential factor is building his brand. As we mature in business, we come to realise that the best strategy is to slow down in order to speed up. Focus becomes fixed upon quality. Scale-up doesn’t mean growing the actual business. It’s all about growing, developing and scaling yourself up so that you can energise your business. It’s about creating the best version of you. The best mentors are ones who are in the place we wish to be. When we reach a certain level, we must endeavour to find the people who can take us further. Too often we devalue ourselves or our products due to a lack of self-belief or confidence. Discover your value and don’t ever be afraid of declaring it.   BEST MOMENTS ‘Challenges are opportunities if you see them in the right light’ ‘Give yourself that time to think!’ ‘It’s about the person you need to become in order to create an amazing business’ ’I have a beautiful life. I have a beautiful business. I have all the time in the world to watch my son grow up'   VALUABLE RESOURCES The Brand Doctor Podcast - https://uniquedesignz.net/the-brand-doctor-podcast/ Henry Kaminski Jr LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaminski-jr/ Refuse To Give Up   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

No-one knows more about how to ignite the entrepreneurial journey than this week’s guest, podcast legend, John Lee Dumas, the man who’s interviewed over 2,000 entrepreneurial legends, including Tony Robbins, Seth Godin and Tim Ferriss! Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/   KEY TAKEAWAYS Being an entrepreneur is a rollercoaster of emotions. The great ones recognise the low moments as lessons that drive you forward. The best way of keeping the fire alive beneath your enthusiasm is to make sure you’re doing what you love. Success is achieved by lasering in on the things we really want, and not some vague monetary figure that we suppose will make us happy. Consistency, commitment and dedication are the components that have made the most difference to John’s success.   BEST MOMENTS  ‘I won a car on The Price Is Right!’ ‘I’m livin’ la vida loca, and I wouldn’t have it any other way’ ‘It’s about metrics. It’s about measurement. It’s about intention around that stuff’ ‘You can go a millions miles per hour in the wrong direction'   VALUABLE RESOURCES www.eofire.com Entrepreneur On Fire Podcast - https://www.eofire.com/podcast/   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

Despite the current situation, there’s never been a better time to think about investment. The world has to go back to normal sooner or later, so what will your business portfolio look like when it does? Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/   KEY TAKEAWAYS Entrepreneurs and investors are such separate entities, but their power is increased exponentially when they unite in the same cause. Narrow-mindedness is a barrier to innovation. If we cannot achieve a certain goal through lack of technology or knowledge, then grow, develop or acquire someone in order to achieve it. There’s a real sense of collaboration between management and investors right now, who recognise that effective synergy brings rich rewards to all involved. Leaders emerge in times of trouble. Those with the natural instinct to thrive and survive are beacons to those in need of direction. The world is changed forever. It’s up to the thinkers and innovators to make sure that the world is changed for the better.   BEST MOMENTS ’The more connected that entrepreneurs and investors are, the greater success those two entities will have’ ‘Don’t be afraid to get in the water and swim!’ ‘In situations like this you’ve got to step up. You have to think differently’ ’There’s nothing like a common enemy to build camaraderie’ ’Something like this forces you to do the things you should’ve been doing anyway'   VALUABLE RESOURCES @erg163 Dr Eric George LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-george-md/ ERG Enterprises - https://www.ergenterprises.net   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

There’s certainly an art to dealmaking. Some seem to have a natural instinct and gift for knowing how to turn a handshake into a fortune. That’s certainly the case for Nick’s special guest this week, Carl Allen, an investor and entrepreneur who’s made over 330 acquisitions in his career, worth a staggering $48 billion! Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/   KEY TAKEAWAYS Many businesses who want to sell aren’t necessarily doing it for financial reasons. Sometimes the preservation of legacies is of far more importance that figures in a bank account. The key to finding a worthy acquisition is to find a “distressed seller of a good business”, not the other way around, and then giving that seller a dignified exit. “Deal Heat” can occur when you have a single deal cooking at any one time. The more time you focus upon it, the more you want it to succeed, removing objective thinking. The best way to combat Deal Heat is to always make sure you have multiple deals operating. You can double your business revenue in a single day through careful acquisition. Merging a customer database to your own can expand your potential exponentially and instantly. Do your research into potential sellers before you start talking deals. A simple browse through social networks can give you an invaluable pathway into their trust and friendship, which makes negotiations a whole lot easier.   BEST MOMENTS ‘I needed something to feed my soul and to feed my brain’ ‘In a billion-dollar deal, it’s 90% financial engineering and 10% psychology. In a small deal, it’s the other way around’ ‘Always be a seller’ ‘You can double your business in a day, and 5X your worth just through one deal’ ‘If you want to buy a business, now is the best time!’   VALUABLE RESOURCES Carl Allen’s bonus - http://trainwithcarl.com/scaleup Carl Allen LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamcarlallen/ Special programme offer for SUYB listeners -  http://450spr3.com/click.track?CID=431654&AFID=462829 Dealmaker Wealth Society website - https://dealmakerwealthsociety.com/ ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.global www.fielding.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

In today's episode, Nick talks to a fellow podcaster and scale-up specialist, Gavin Preston (The Business Mastermind Podcast)! Yes, Gavin has been on SUYB before and both Gavin and Nick want to revist their previous discussion in light of the dramatic global changes since that episode dropped earlier this year. Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/ KEY TAKEAWAYS Now is most certainly a time to be consuming positivity in any form. The news can be informative, but it is also sensationalised, and tends to adhere to an agenda. Instead of focusing on the end point to this, we should be marking our progress incrementally. Measure your journey through this in moments, days, weeks, and not as entire experience. The main risk to your business is not taking care of yourself, and running yourself into the ground. Taking care of ourselves will allow us the energy and clarity to add value at the right time. All bailouts and aid must be repaid eventually, so it is prudent to remain active, and to do our part to bolster business in this time. Be proactive, not complacent. The businesses coping best right now are the ones focussing upon their employees, upping their games in terms of customer service, and looking for the opportunities instead of dwelling on the negatives. BEST MOMENTS ’Slow down to speed up’ ‘Mindset is about giving yourself the presence, the clarity and the focus to know what to do, and then take action!’ ’This is now is about family, contribution and community’ ‘Our actions as employers, suppliers and leaders during this time will define us, and will be remembered’ ‘It doesn’t matter what your business model is, there’s another way of doing it'   VALUABLE RESOURCES The Business Mastermind Podcast  Get your free copy of Gavin Preston’s invaluable guide now - 'Keep Your Boat Afloat: Business Survival Guide For COVID-19 Times' at: Bit.ly/keepyourboatafloat To contact Gavin about how he can help you and your business, email gavin@gavinpreston.com   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.global ABOUT THE GUESTGavin Preston Gavin is an inspirational Speaker, Business Strategist, Business Growth Mentor, Trainer and high-performance Coach.  He works with Business Owners and Entrepreneurs and has a strong track record in creating creative strategies to accelerate the growth of their business. He has helped hundreds of SME business owners and leaders improve their performance and that of their business and a comparable number of executives and employees in blue-chip corporates over the last 20 years.   CONTACT METHOD Gavin Preston Website Gavin Preston LinkedIn Gavin Preston FacebookSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

Mike Michalowicz, a world-renowned author & entrepreneur, discusses the importance of innovative collaboration in businesses during uncertain times. He emphasizes the need for solid foundations to back promises of philanthropy and the significance of profit for addressing immediate challenges. Mike also highlights the crucial role of leadership in guiding teams and clients through tough times.

Jeff Fenster defines what it means to be a serial entrepreneur. Over the course of his entrepreneurial journey, he’s created and energised multiple business ventures in numerous diverse fields, from payroll to hospitality, and has achieved staggering success by sticking to his two core principles: to make friends and have fun. Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/ KEY TAKEAWAYS Jeff began in law school, and aspired to be a sports agent, but the birth of his daughter, and the sudden realisation of the importance of family, caused him to pivot and re-evaluate his position. Jeff’s two principles are making friends and having fun. These are mantras he’s stuck to since the beginning of his journey, and they’ve allowed him to achieve a high level of client retention, and a wealth of quality referrals. Experience is the most overrated prerequisite to starting a company. An interesting statistic is that nine out of ten restaurants fail. Jeff chose to use this as proof that experience in an industry can still result in failure 90% of the time. The approach is simple: Jeff is highly skilled at business, and enters industries using his ‘making friends and having fun’ principles in order to surround himself with experts who want to get behind the vision. It’s a disruptive method, but has resulted in remarkable success. If you love what you do, and you’re passionate about it, then you’ll always find success eventually. Your passion will keep you coming back, and those who work hard will always get there. Whatever scale or stage that you’re at, it’s vital to recognise the position you need to take in the business. The person who starts a business isn’t necessarily the person who should scale it. Vertical integration is a concept that Jeff has embraced in all of his ventures. It is the method of adding value in order to make his client base happier, and hopefully induce them to invest more. The definition of scale-up is to build teams and build culture. The first step is to lose the ego. If you’re the best at something, then make sure you’re doing it. But have the grace to admit when someone can do the job better than you. Sometimes all we need is someone to vent our issues to. By the simple act of verbalising them, we can often see the solutions before us.  Mentors aren’t just useful on an advisory basis. They can often provide pathways and solutions through their own networks that are unavailable to us. Personal branding is key to letting your customers know the “why” over the “what”. If you’re the face of your venture, and if your values and core principles are visible, then people will find it easier to identify those values with your product.   BEST MOMENTS ‘My wife will call me a degenerate entrepreneur’ ‘I focused too much on my mission and not enough on my technology’ ‘Me not having experience is a benefit here’ ‘If I go in, I’m all in’ ‘I never want to take my eyes off the prize’ ‘I want to be the dumbest guy in the room’   VALUABLE RESOURCES Jeff Fenster LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfenster/ Everbowl - http://www.everbowl.com Jeff Fenster Instagram - www.instagram.com/fensterjeff connect@jefffenster.com   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/

With world events taking a sudden and drastic turn towards the uncertain, many business owners are justifiably anxious about their future. Despite the darkness of the moment, there are always opportunities to be had. It’s all about changing your mind-set, reflecting on the decisions we’ve made in the past, and powering through towards solutions that are definitely out there to be had. Find out now if you’re building a high-value, exitable business (even if you have no immediate plans to sell it). You’ll get an instant PDF report with powerful insights specifically tailored to your business in just 4 minutes. https://highvalueexit.scoreapp.com/ KEY TAKEAWAYS When the world is turned upside down, and we find ourselves in difficulties, it might be because we haven’t anticipated the worst. If nothing else positive comes out of this, then it might make us understand that effective contingency planning should be an essential part of any business. Everyone will get through this. This is the most important thing to remember. This will pass. You will recover and the world will return to normal. If anything, we’ll be a little wiser. Cash is king- This is a time for reviewing budgets and adjusting cashflow. Make easy cuts everywhere, and focus on achieving clarity around your budgets. Reset your goals- Re-examine your goals and plans for the year ahead. Things like travel will be near to impossible, but instead of letting those plans linger and create a cloud of negativity, best to nip them in the bud now. It’s okay to pivot! It’s also okay to realise that the reality going forward might be different. Double down on yourroutine - Diet, exercise, reading, absorbing information and culture, meditation and even getting out there for a walk can help you to keep your day in shape, as well as your mental and physical wellbeing. Fill your calendar- Use your time creatively and productively. Take a step back from social media and the news, as it can turn any positives into negatives, and the world needs positives right now. Put some tasks and goals onto that calendar and get excited about achieving them! Practice gratitude- Focus on the good things you have: health, family and relationships. If you’re looking back at what you had, you can’t be present for the opportunities of today. What are the positives in this?- There’s always something positive about any situation. Perhaps it’s more time with your kids? Perhaps it’s giving you the opportunity to work on something you’ve been wanting to devote yourself to for year, but have never had the time? It’s okay to feel uncertain- Believe it or not, the power to remain in a state of uncertainty is a tool that allows the bravest of us to win. Be a leader- This is a time for leadership, whether it’s at work or in your home. People need strength, and someone to aspire to.  See things for how they really are- The future is bright. You need to plan for that. This is a blip. People will travel again, and go to events again. Perhaps this is the time you should be looking at business models that could supplement the world as it is now? Provide more value- Your clients need to see how valuable you can be. Look for the ways in which you can help, and which can add value to the people in your life.   BEST MOMENTS ’There are opportunities even when things are really, really challenging’ ‘I always say live to 50% of your means’ ‘What I am focussed on is helping people’ ’Expect the best but plan for the worst’ ‘Double down on the things that are going to give you value’ ‘Gratitude is the antidote to fear’   VALUABLE RESOURCES The Five-Minute Journal App - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/five-minute-journal/id1062945251 (iOS) - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intelligentchange.fiveminutejournal&hl=en_GB (Android)   ABOUT THE HOST Nick Bradley is a renowned entrepreneur, investor, speaker, and business growth expert. His background is growing and scaling Venture Capital and Private Equity backed businesses globally. Over the last decade, he has completed 117 acquisitions and 25 business exits with a combined valuation of over $5bn dollars. His mission is to help business founders build valuable businesses and create life-changing exits so they can realise freedom, wealth, and impact.  CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook page: https://scaleup.vip/FB  Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI  Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG  Scale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://suyb.globalSupport the show: https://highvalueexit.com/