The Happy Entrepreneur

This episode is a meaty one in which the conversation covers 10 year plans, cottage renovations, business goals, life goals, selling companies, self-awareness and leadership.My talking partner on the podcast is Ray Richards, founder of Do Something Different. He's fascinated by behavioural flexibility and is on a mission to make the world a better place by helping people make better behaviours. He's also an experienced entrepreneur who's sold two businesses and is now in the process of growing his third.Along the journey he's learned many things not only about business but about himself. He says he's "inherently lazy" but what he really means is that he doesn't want to spend all hours of the day on work, as he's got other things he wants to do. So what does that mean when it comes to leading a business? What makes a leader?When we think of great leaders we associate them with traits such as drive, charisma, resilience, clarity and clear communication.However, I believe that we can all lead in our own way. To do so we need to ask ourselves some probing questions. What are my personal (emotional) needs and where do they come from? What does my organisation, business or work need to be to address these needs?With that deeper understanding of ourselves we can develop a style of leadership that feels authentic and purposeful. We may not become the next Steve Jobs, but we'll build a business that does the job of making us happy.And that's what Ray wants. To do work and build a life that makes him happy. Listen on to hear his thoughts about leadership and how he needs to lead now.

In this episode I talk to Rob Day about the traps and pitfalls of founding an agency business.When Laurence and I started our digital agency back in 2004 we didn’t have a business plan or exit strategy. We just enjoyed doing the work and wanted to continue doing it and get paid. We grew organically taking people on when we couldn’t handle the workload.Over time we got more work and therefore needed more staff which meant finding more work to keep the staff happy (and paid).We then did less of the work we enjoyed (i.e. designing and coding) and doing more of the work we didn’t enjoy, and had never been trained to do (i.e. management and sales).Without a clear vision for the business (and for ourselves) we spent more time in the doing and less time in the being. We felt that we needed to become a well respected agency doing innovative work but we didn’t know what that meant for us individually and also what it meant for the future.Who wants to think about exit strategy when you’re doing work you love?Who CAN think of exit strategy when you’re too busy trying to feed the beast?And why even think of an exit? If there’s a need to exit why did we start the business in the first place?If this story sounds familiar to you then you’ll relate to this episode of the podcast with Rob Day, cofounder of Liquid Light, a digital agency based in Brighton. Amongst other things he now coaches agency founders by sharing his knowledge and awareness of the hidden traps and pitfalls of founding a service based business.If you’re early in your journey then you’ll learn what to look out for as you grow your business. If you’re a seasoned agency founder you’ll probably nod your head in agreement and maybe be inspired to look at your work differently.

Brendan Kearns is a designer and founder of Studio Rival. For many people his career path is already a mark of success having worked at Twitter, Invision and Google. But like most creative entrepreneurs he has his own definition of success that isn’t driven by money or status.In this episode we talk about his time working for tech giants, his view on the role of designers and what it means to him to be an entrepreneur.Brendan is definitely values driven and you’ll hear about how he puts those values into action when choosing clients. He’s also pragmatic and looks at the bigger picture of what he’s trying to achieve rather than being too strict with his values. For instance, even if there isn’t an exact values match with the client, if the money is good enough he’ll see it as an opportunity to create change in the organisation and also fund other projects that he believes in.Like myself and Laurence, Brendan took an unorthodox route into his profession, studying at a business school before becoming a designer. This has meant he’s been able to look at things differently and not be conditioned by orthodox training. Rather than being T-shaped he aspires to be comb-shaped. This means, instead of being a specialist in one area he’d rather have a good knowledge of a broad set of disciplines.If you’re a creative professional looking to make the leap or you’re an early stage entrepreneur wanting to be assured you’re on the right path then this episode is for you.

Does creating impact always have to take effort and hard work? Can you make change without forcing it? According to Rei Chou it is possible. You just have to hold on less tightly to the outcome and be more honest about why you need to be a changemaker. This takes some inner work, which according to Rei is an exploration into what you don’t know that you don’t know about yourself.Rei is a former marketing creative now Reiki master and healer and also founder of The Feast. The purpose of The Feast is to gather people who can share in their abundance (their gifts and talents) so that they can effortlessly help each other. I believe this work embodies Rei’s perspective on how creating impact can be easier and more joyful.For some people it’s hard to let go of the belief that big change takes hard work. But if you can believe that it’s possible maybe you can make it reality. While this all sounds a little woo woo I think there’s some truth to it, even backed by science. Our perceptions are governed by our beliefs and values. And so if we can change our beliefs we can change what we see and spot different opportunities around us.This episode is a bit of a deep one but I recommend you stick with it. If you’re struggling at work or in your business and you can’t see a way forward maybe the thing that’s getting in your way is actually you. Once you get out of your own way life will get a lot easier.You can find out more about Rei and her work here - https://www.thisisreichou.com/

Carrie is an author, entrepreneur, community builder and consultant and has been building online communities for the past 15 years. Her new book Building Brand Communities is about how companies can create a greater sense of belonging and therefore create more positive impact in the world.Her experience in tech startups did not create a great positive impact for her. She started her professional life in the publishing world and then moved into a tech startup where she found the step change in the pace of work overwhelming. During our conversation we touch on the idea of a calm company, as evangelised by the founders of Basecamp. Rather than trying to achieve growth at all costs we should be creating a new definition of success.However, can you have a calm company if you're not a calm founder?Lately I've been having a number of conversations about leadership and inner work. I was struck by the quote "the organisations we create bare the scars of their founders". What this means to me is that the companies we create will reflect who we are, what we believe and what we need. If we're not aware of some of the unconscious needs and behaviours that we bring to the company, they'll play out in the way our company grows and evolves.In this episode Carrie says "ultimately everyone looks to the founder, how do they work, what do they care about, are they paying attention to what I'm doing, and if not what do I need to do make them pay attention to me".In a previous podcast with Christina Kisely I discovered the idea of the "law of the lid" and that an organisation can only travel as far as the founder.So, when you're thinking about your business and how well it's working and where it's going I believe it's also important to look inwards and ask the question "where am I going" and "how am I being".

Sarah Metcalfe is the founder of Happy Coffee Consulting and a long time member of the Happy Startup School. She’s passionate about creating happy workplaces and this September she launched her very first online summit about Happiness at Work. The idea came to her in March and within 6 months it was up and running. Now that’s idea to action!In this episode we talk about her work and how she helps companies create happy work places and she shares her view about how companies focus on the wrong things when trying to bring happiness to work. We also hear how she and her team managed to pull together a 5 day summit with 40 talks and workshops. She shares her approach, some of the challenges they faced and what she’d do differently next time.According to Sarah launching your own event like an online summit is a great way to bootstrap your way to spreading the word about your work, developing your own program of learning, growing your email list, but most of all, getting to learn from amazing people that you respect and admire.If you’re thinking about growing your impact and spreading awareness about the work you do then this episode is for you.Find out more about Sarah and her work here:- https://www.happycoffeeconsulting.co.uk/- https://happiness-at-work.teachable.com/- https://www.facebook.com/happinessatworksummit/

One of my highlights from this year’s Happy Startup Summercamp was watching Laurence Shorter’s Spiritual Experience. Think of it as stand up comedy meets group therapy meets chat show meets transformational workshop. I like to call it cheerful introspection.I’ve come to believe that many of the challenges that we find in business and leadership come from a lack of clarity. This is a lack of clarity about where you want to go, but also a lack of clarity of what you stand for and what you want. Getting clear on these things can lead to very deep and very uncomfortable conversations very quickly.Laurence loves to have these conversations, including ones on God and death and he approaches them in an entertaining, engaging and educational way. I believe humour is a great leveller and helps us discuss tough topics in more accessible and less painful ways. I’d love to bring more of this to the world of work and personal growth as I know it definitely helps me to think about the big questions without spinning out.In this episode of the podcast I talk to Laurence about where the idea of his chat show came from, what he struggles with and what it means to be happy and ambitious.Next week on November 13th we're broadcasting a live viewing of the Spiritual Experience. If you'd like to join us then register here - http://ahappy.link/shorter

Alexander Kjerulf is the founder of Woohoo Inc and is the original Chief Happiness Officer. Laurence and I first met Alex over 6 years ago when we went to a conference in Denmark for innovators trying to change the world of business. He’s an amazing guy with an infectious positive energy. When we were over there he invited us to dinner and it was my first experience of Cards Against Humanity. I can’t remember ever laughing so much.Alex’s mission is to bring more happiness and positivity to the world of work. He does this by giving talks and running workshops for companies all across the world. He’s written a number of books and built up a network of positivity professionals who use his materials and resources to impact more businesses. However, after doing this work for 16 years Alex has decided to take a break. He’s found himself having less energy and motivation and is less happy at work, which isn’t a great place to be for a Chief Happiness Officer.Listen to this episode to find out how Alex started the business, what it was like in the early days, how it’s grown and why in 2020 he’ll be shutting it down for at least 6 months and maybe, forever.

The entrepreneurial path is an uncertain one. When you decide to claim control over the direction of your work (and life) you also to take on the responsibility for the big decisions and regularly you don’t always have all the information you need to make them. You can try to think your way to an answer and systematically way up all the pros and cons but that may not be enough.It doesn’t take long to Google around and find different systems and methods for making big decisions. But using these logical approaches can sometimes take more time than you have and also not even lead you to an answer. Sometimes you have to go with your gut. But how do you do that? If you’re a thinky person like me, going with your gut doesn’t always come naturally.In this episode I talk to Jonny Miller who recently shared a Medium post about a big decision. We hear more about the two paths he had to choose between and his approach to making the decision. He shares his own values spreadsheet tool, a fear setting exercise and the idea of regret minimisation. But what I liked most about this episode was hearing about how in the end he combined these rationale strategies with a purely intuitive approach.If you’re a thinky person but also a believer in intuition you’ll find this episode really useful.Some things that we discuss:The Crossroads of Should and MustChoosing curiosity over fearFind out more about Jonny here:On LinkedInOn TwitterHis websiteHis podcast

We hear it said by influencers and Instagrammers, “find your passion and make it happen”. However when you identify so closely with the business you want to create you want to make it perfect and you fear even more that it will be rejected. And that slows you down. That’s because if you’re work is rejected doesn’t that mean you are rejected?On this episode I talk to Kim Slade founder of Unlost and Touch Video Academy. One business is a passion project born from his need for adventure and having awe-inspiring experiences that builds confidence in others. The other business is his pursuit of a market opportunity because of the skills he’s acquired and his innate creativity. One is driven by the artist in him and the other by the entrepreneur.It’s interesting to hear Kim speak about how he has been able to move fast and develop Touch Video Academy because he was less wedded to that idea. He talks about how developing the academy taught him so much more about launching a business and how he wants to use this learning with Unlost.Listen to his rollercoaster journey of having, losing and regaining his confidence and how his need to inspire confidence in others and reminding them of who they are at their core underpins all the work he does.Find out more about Kim and the work he does:https://www.unlostco.com/https://www.touchvideoacademy.com/