The Happy Entrepreneur

How do we realise worthwhile ideas in the world? Define a goal, create a plan, build a great team? That's how we're told to do it. How about instead, we listen to what we're really called to do?Tom Nixon is an entrepreneur, founder of org-chart startup Maptio, and the author of the book Work with Source, which introduces a new perspective on being a founder, based on research conducted by Peter Koenig.Chatting with Laurence and Carlos, he discusses how finding and cultivating sources of creativity leads to greater autonomy and happiness, and the balance that needs to be struck between giving people creative freedom, and not sufficiently defining roles.Go furhterGail Bradbrook, founder of Extinction RebellionYvon Chouinard, founder of PatagoniaWL Gore: the company others try and fail to imitateFanny NorlinRocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business, by Gino Wickman

What if you don’t agree with mainstream definitions of success?What if, when looking at what everyone seems to value and strive for, you start to feel like “do I actually belong here?”You see the well trodden path to successThe one validated by the hundreds of thousands that have gone before you. Each of their steps deepening the footprints of those that went before. As if this is the only way.But it isn’t.Not everyone has a path dictated to them by others.And some of us don’t even know what path we want to take.Instead we take a more creative and emergent route.Also known as the experimental path.The opposite is the conceptual path; you formulate a vision of what you want to accomplish and then work backwards to plan all the steps to get there.However, if you have no vision of the future the only way forward is to just choose the next step based on what feels right.This isn’t for everyone as it’s much more uncertain and possibly much slower.It’s like following the small country lanes instead of the motorway.In this episode of the podcast we unpack the ideas of a conceptual vs experimental type of person with Kendra Patterson, founder of the Stepping Off Now podcast.We also talk about being a late bloomer and how she came to living a more emergent life.Some key points from the episode:Kendra remembers feeling like a late bloomer at the age of 22, and while working on her PhD suffered a significant period of burnout which led to her resetting her own career expectations.Honestly, I had no vision for the future.Kendra had to redefine for herself what success meant, and avoid judging her own success by what she thought were clear examples of having "made it". For her, a linear trajectory where one thing built to the next simply wasn't reflected in her actual life experience.I'm gonna do what feels good to me.Kendra had to discover a sense of faith that the next moment would bring her what she needed, so she created her own guidepost to lead her forwards.F you guys, I'm just gonna do my own thing!As a novelist, Kendra has had to deal with gatekeepers who make a decision on what's "worth" publishing, and what isn't. Many of those gatekeepers faced similar challenges in the past, and have now pulled the ladder up from beneath them. For Kendra, self-publishing her work has enabled her to reach more readers, free of those gatekeepers.Some useful links from this episode:The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. SingerEmergent Strategy: Shaping change, changing worldsKendra's websiteKendra's podcast - Stepping off now

Are you a company of one?From Paul Jarvis’ book of the same name a company of one is a founder who does not believe in growth for growth’s sake.Their goal is to build a company that is focused on being better rather than bigger.In this episode of the podcast I talk to one of our Happy Startup members who’s taken the company of one mission to heart.From this conversation you’ll hear about why Francois decided to work for himself, what he’s learned about authenticity in business and why he’s valued being part of a business community that doesn’t just offer support at the business level but also at a personal one.If you’re on the Company of One journey and currently finding it a lonely and challenging path then this episode is for you.Francois Souyri is the founder of Paperblade. He empowers businesses who use Office 365 to use the technology to operate and grow more effectively. Rather than waste time trying to solve IT problems he’ll free you up to work on the more important things.If you want his help and support go to 365coach.me for immediate Office 365 support or paperblade.com for strategic IT consultancy.

How can we challenge the idea that in business only the unkind and ruthless rise to the top while the caring and compassionate get overlooked.In this beautiful conversation with Christina Kisley and Graham Allcott we explore why we need to find more kindness in business and why we’re less likely to hear about kind leaders than unkind ones.In actual fact there are more kind leaders than we think and we need to make people more aware that kindness is compatible with business success.While being kind may not immediately increase your profits it will make your business more sustainable and resilient.We talk about the difference between being kind and being nice and we also discuss what it means to be compassionate at work.This conversation is about the soft, yet powerful, aspect of business that few people are good at but more of us need to learn. How we can be strong leaders yet sit with people who are struggling?Christina is a leadership coach helping purpose driven organisations work more effectively.Graham, as well as founder of Think Productive, is also author of Productivity Ninja and is helping transform the productivity and wellbeing of people and organisations.

This episode of the podcast is a recording from our Friday Fireside way back in November last year.We were joined by our good friend Ole Kassow, an inspiration to us ever since we started The Happy Startup School back in 2012.He’s the founder of Cycling Without Age, a movement on a mission to create a world where the elderly remain an active part of society and the local community.Since 2012 it’s grown from a single cargo bike in Copenhagen to 2000 chapters in 50 countries, serving over 1.5 million people worldwide.But when Ole first started it wasn’t meant to turn into a movement. It was just an experiment to see if he could put a smile on the face of an elderly gentleman by getting him on a bike.Retrofitting a cargo bike with a seat he took the man out for a spin which not only put a smile on the old man’s face, but also on Ole’s.The rest is now history.Listen to this episode to learn what it really takes to be a changemaker.You don’t always need big plans to create systemic change. Think big, but start small. In Ole’s experience most stories of systemic change have started with an individual trying to solve a very specific problem with a simple solution.Also, it isn’t just about creating impact for others but also about finding joy in the work. You’re then more likely to keep doing it and also recruit others easily.Find a solution that inspires people.Ole encourages budding change makers to connect their personal story to their story of change. This makes the work feel more meaningful and it also makes it easier to connect with others.You can find out more about Ole and his work here - https://cyclingwithoutage.org/

Eiji Han Shimizu is a purpose driven filmmaker and creative entrepreneur who discovered the many different ways we find happiness by making the movie Happy.During this conversation we find out about his pursuit of happiness and how he got greedy for it.Having ticked off all the different paths to happiness the last one on his bucket list was to find meaning.He says that we all have different elements to our lives that seem like a set of senseless dots but when you’re able to connect them that’s when we find meaning and purpose and achieve the focus to make the impossible happen.His latest movie is True North, a manga style animation about the plight of political prisoners in North Korean concentration camps. Animated movies are expensive to make and having been unsuccessful in finding a backer he had to bootstrap its production. While the budget required was still beyond his savings he found a way.It was his calling and it helped him “make sense of his silly life”.He shares many pearls of wisdom during this episode one of them being that when things get hard the secret to keeping going is to play the theme tune to the Indiana Jones movie in your head. That’s the soundtrack to success.

This episode of the podcast is another window into our community where you get to know our members and what they do.Today I’m talking to Simon Batchelar, cofounder of Pallant Digital and the Marketing Success Club. He shares his journey from running a digital marketing agency for large clients to now offering courses and coaching to founder run businesses that he believes can make a difference.Simon has a need for adventure and impact and believes that change happens from the bottom up. He wants to help amplify the voices of small business doing good things so they can all make a big impact.During our conversation he shares some of his ideas about what it means to do marketing well and how to build a trusting relationship with your customers.He’s fighting the get rich quick marketeers out there by helping more people market themselves more authentically and sustainably.You can find out more about Simon's agency work here - https://pallant.digital/.You can also learn about the Marketing Success Club and take their free courses here - https://marketingsuccess.club/Check out his YouTube channel with fellow marketeer Adam Bastock - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusIq1ZLn8kqgGZx4iN71GQ

Will and Joel are friends from university who went into business together. They put all their enthusiasm and energy into it and it grew. They worked hard and they got their rewards.However, at some point it stopped working so well.It went from simple to complex.It went from being exciting and rewarding to just feeling like a job.The spark had gone and they weren’t sure why. They’d focused their attention on trying to make the business work well again but had forgotten to also focus on their friendship.In this episode of the podcast we hear about how improving the communication between founders is more important than trying to improve the business. Particularly if before they were founders they were friends.Will and Joel honestly share the story of their business and their relationship as cofounders. They valued their friendship more than anything else but in creating a false harmony they were doing more harm than good.They’ve both been on a journey of learning not only about business but also about themselves and each other. By discovering what each of them really wanted they were more able to decide where the business needed to go and how it needed to grow.This isn’t just a story of business growth but also founder growth.Will and Joel, because of their friendship, found the courage to be truly vulnerable with each other and through that become stronger together.They reignited their passion for the business by discovering what they needed personally and then exploring how the business could meet those needs.

This episode of the podcast is another recording from our weekly Friday Fireside show. It was recorded on October 2nd and features our good friend Kees Klomp, whom we lovingly think of as the buddhist businessman.Kees is now Professor of Applied Science at Rotterdam University and founding partner of Thrive Institute a think tank looking to reinvent business and society.According to him the business of business is to serve life. That’s its purpose because without life there is no business.During this conversation he shares some challenging ideas about where the current economic system is taking us and what he believes needs to change in order for business to be truly purposeful.We talk about how pain and purpose are intrinsically linked and we also discuss the difference between meaning and purpose.We live in an age where the majority of people feel disengaged from their work and where the businesses they work for are having an adverse affect on our climate and environment. Kees says these are symptoms of a broken system; that system being capitalism.However, he says that it’s impossible to change this system unless we tackle the stories and beliefs that hold it up.And so its up to all of us to reeducate ourselves into a new way of living that’s based on interconnectedness rather than individualism - my wellbeing is your wellbeing and is the planet’s wellbeing.I recommend you get yourself and nice hot drink and find a comfortable place to sit in order to listen to this episode because if you’re like me your mind will be blown.

In this episode of the podcast we shine a light on one of our members, share their work and find out what it’s been like to be part of the Happy Startup School.If you’re launching a business for the first time and are looking for support and guidance during those initial uncertain months then check out our community at http://happystartups.co. We provide mentorship, masterclasses, training and networking to help you build your confidence and your business.Remeny Armitage’s superpower is making friends. She’s turned that superpower into a business and now helps other businesses grow by turning their existing clients into happy and loyal advocates. She knows that if you serve your clients better your profits increase.She started her journey of entrepreneurship over three years ago and during this conversation she shares how she’s grown in confidence and got more clarity about the value she offers.Through the community she’s become more focused and has been “building a fortress around her of really good people”. That’s enabled her to be more bold about her business.She does her work because it makes her happy and others happy. We’re thankful and proud to have her part of our tribe!Are you scared to talk to your clients? Get Remeny to do it. It may be the best thing you ever do.