The Happy Entrepreneur

At Summercamp 2020, coach David Papa gave a personal, entertaining and vulnerable talk about how to be scared.He believes that the only thing that can stop you living the life you love is not the fear, it’s believing the fear.Fear is just a thought and a sensation in the body. But when you add belief to it, then it’s energy that controls your life.In this week's episode, David shares how this has manifested throughout his own life and how our relationship to fear needs to evolve in order for us to make the impact we crave.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohortWatch David’s Summercamp talk

In a complex fast paced world it’s all too easy to think that we’re unable make any impact. But this isn’t true.At Happy Startup Summercamp 2022, Liana Fricker, founder of Inspiration Space, gave an empowering talk about turning apathy into action.Liana believes that if we harness our inspiration we can inspire others and these small ripples can turn into tidal waves of change. To start we just need to ask ourselves two simple questions:What do I really care about?What can I do about it from where I am?Liana talks about the inspiration flywheel and how we can go from being activated, to elevated, to motivated and back again.We can then start with a small actions that inspire us to make bigger and bigger moves.Think big. Start small. Stay committed.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

The podcast explores lessons for living a fulfilling life, including the power of helping others, the beauty of failure, and the importance of intentional inputs and meaningful friendships. The speakers also discuss their new book, friendship, and their vision 2020 program.

Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst are the cofounders of Hoxby, a community and social enterprise that provides companies with the best talent and helps people work in a way that best aligns with their chosen lifestyle.They're both advocates of what they call Workstyle, and have just published a book called Workstyle: A revolution for wellbeing, productivity and society.They also consult with companies to help them be more resilient and inclusive by learning how to take advantage of the rich diversity of talent across the whole of society.During this episode, you’ll learn more about their ideas, how and why they built Hoxby and what it takes to create organisations designed to cater for individualised ways of working.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

“We are all part of this massive wood wide web. We are all connected, we are all entwined.”Life is full of changes, some are unexpected and traumatic and others can be intentional and nourishing. Coach and Vision 20/20 mentor Lana Jelenjev would like you to help you navigate change by thinking of your life as a tree – whether ripped from the soil or mindfully re-rooted.Re-rooting means digging carefully around your existing roots, gently shaking away old unwanted soil and looking for fertile ground for future growth. Through sharing her own story, Lana invites you to consider how you can consciously make nourishing changes yourself.LinksLana JelenjevWatch Lana’s talk in fullJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

"When you’re writing something about your business. Anything. If it could be used – intact and just as coherently – by any of your competitors. It’s not good enough. Say something that only you can say, instead."Mychael Owen is an enigma. He started his first business at university, won a few awards and by 25 was advising other people how to start and grow businesses By 30 he'd started his first agency, employed 30 people with a turnover of £1.5m.On the surface everything looked great. But soon he started meddling. He was bored, restless and distracted.At 45 he realised that he craved being truly creative again, doing something he felt he was born to do. in short he was rudderless.So he did something drastic – over the next 6 months he closed all of his businesses. The change included'Wasting' (by the old rules) £100k on a business he didn't understandA couple of minor breakdownsChoosing to seek out a new tribe because his old tribe didn't understand him any more andThe unearthing of a four step journey back via 1. generosity, 2. value, 3. confidence, 4. preeminence.Mychael now has something that makes him money and makes him happy because he stops businesses becoming boring, and through his various other projects he meets his needs for writing, designing and hosting.Despite years of entrepreneurial experience, by his own admission he's still winging it and regularly has doubts and fears like we all do.But one thing he knows for sure is this: that the stories we tell matter. And that we should all tell more stories that other people can't tell.Join Carlos and Laurence to hear what Mychael has to say about telling authentic stories that connect with others.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohort

When Carlos was a teenager, he never thought he could be an entrepreneur. He had very specific beliefs around what it mean to be an entrepreneur or businessman – the entrepreneur type was loud, flamboyant and risk taking. The businessman type was sober, stern and hard-nosed.He didn’t identify with either of those types.These days, though, we’ve been given much more opportunity to start businesses; from anywhere, doing nearly anything, for just about anyone. The options feel unlimited. Anyone can start a business. But thanks to Silicon Valley startup culture we have a limited perception of the type of person that can build successful businesses.At the Happy Startup School, Carlos and Laurence talk about doing the business from the inside out. They want to help people build businesses and create impact that is aligned to who they really are. The question then becomes “who am I… really?”One way to explore this question is through understanding the Enneagram. This model can be described as a system of personality typing that defines patterns in how people interpret the world and manage their emotions. It's based on nine personality types and maps each of these types on a nine-pointed diagram, which helps illustrate how the types relate to one another.On this episode, Carlos is joined by fellow Happy Startup members and Enneagram enthusiasts Beccie D’Cunha and Kieran Morris. This is the perfect introduction to the Enneagram and will show you how personal development can lead to professional development.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohortFollow Kieran via LinkedInConnect with Beccie via LinkedIn

One of the core models shared with participants of the Vision 20/20 programme is the Story of Change. Based on the Satir Change Model developed by Virginia Satir (family therapist and author), the Happy Startup School uses it to describe the transformation they wish for others.Rather than build products and services that they hope people will buy, members advocate a more design thinking approach that's based on understanding the change that people want to see in their lives. This helps them focus on making things that matter and creating actual value in people's lives.On this episode, Carlos and Laurence are joined by Serena Savini, HR expert and founder and host of the I'm Back! podcast. She was a member of Vision 20/20 Tribe 4, and she shares her mission to help people come back to work from life changing injuries and experiences. And how this story is helping others.If you're navigating a pivotal moment in you professional life or embarking on a project that is totally out of your comfort zone, then this is for you.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohortThe I’m Back! podcast

Mood is a mobile app that lets users track their mood with one tap a day. It was invented by Gareth Dauncey, a Welsh architect specialising in low-impact design and adaptive reuse of historic buildings.Gareth created Mood after years of spreading himself too thin. Things hadn’t felt right for a while so he started recording how he felt each day with a calendar and coloured pens. Over weeks and months he started to gain a new perspective that helped him take charge of his mental well-being.Following a couple of serendipitous encounters with his now good friend Marco and Ruby Wax he was set on a path that felt like his calling. He turned his manual tracking process into an app, and was able to help others through helping himself.In this episode, Carlos and Laurence talk with Gareth about his journey of creating Mood and becoming more aware of his mental wellbeing.LinksJoin the conversation liveBecome a member of the Happy Startup SchoolJoin the next Vision 20/20 cohortDownload the Mood appFrazzledMind

If you’re like Laurence and Carlos, following a squiggly life isn’t just a matter of circumstance, it’s in your nature.Sarah Ellis, cofounder of AmazingIf, says in her TED talk with her cofounder Helen Tupper “The legacy of the ladder is all around us.” That’s the career ladder; the linear view of life where work is all about straight line progression.Many of us were led to believe that progressing in life was as simple as ABC: school to university to graduate training scheme to skilled professional to moving up the hierarchy to getting paid more, to success.However, Carlos and Laurence didn’t follow that path. Instinctively they knew that it didn’t suit them. It didn’t excite them.They followed a more meandering road. Carlos been an academic, a web designer, a freelancer, an entrepreneur, an event manager, a retreat host, an online course creator, a community builder and a coach… This wasn’t a path that he’d predicted but for him it’s now all starting to make sense.When you follow a squiggly path it’s hard to understand how all your skills, knowledge and experience thread together, and therefore how to use them in the next stage of your journey.“A squiggly career is both full of uncertainty and full of possibility. Change is happening all the time. Some of it is in our control, and some of it's not.” says Helen in her and Sarah’s talk.Accepting this change is the secret to your resilience and understanding the meaning of your squiggly path is key to taking advantage of your future opportunities. However, you can only understand what it all means when you spend time pausing, reflecting, and asking yourself the right questions.On this episode, Laurence and Carlos are joined by one of the cofounders of AmazingIf and co-author of the books Squiggly Careers and You Coach You, Sarah Ellis.They talk about Sarah’s own squiggly career, her transition to entrepreneurship and what success means to her. This conversation is designed to inspire you to make important changes in your career and also make you feel more comfortable with living a squiggly life.