Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

I welcome Cemal Ezel, Founder and Ceo of Change Please to episode #179 of Screw It, Just Do It: UK Social Entrepreneur Of The Year, 2017, $1 Million Chivas Venture Winner, and Richard Branson's Startup of the Year 2018 - and the man responsible for the coffee you're drinking onboard a Virgin Train or Virgin Atlantic Airways aircraft. I had the pleasure of catching up with Cemal twice in one week in October, as he very kindly spoke at my Entrepreneur Summit 2019 and at the SME forum I host for British American Business every quarter for UK businesses looking to scale in the US. Now I've known Cemal for 4 or 5 years now and the growth of his business has been nothing short of phenomenal. I last interviewed him two years ago in 2017 and other than Piers Linney, this is the only repeat guest I've had on this show. Why: Because my 2017 interview with him was, and still is, my personal favourite of every episode ever recorded for this show. I wanted to highlight what's possible - anything - if you're super-focused, persevere and are very clear on your why. It's just one hell of a story. Change Please trains people who are homeless as barista's and provides each person with a London living wage job, housing, bank account and mental health support. Today's episode comes in two parts, first my chat with Cemal in front of our live audience, complete with paper rustling form yours truly, secondly, an up to date talk from Cemal on Change Please's expansion into the US and the challenges that they have faced. We talk about: The perceptions that need changing around social businesses Distribution being the biggest challenge The currency of the future StartUp!

So this Week I was a guest on a live webinar with Rachael Taplin from Media Match Maker. We had 30 minutes of guests asking me their podcasting questions followed by 30 minutes of pitching ideas for their own podcasts. I loved this format and love the idea of hosting my own live webinar with you! Do you like this idea? If so, direct message me @ @alexchisnall on LinkedIn, @alexanderchisnall on Instagram or email alex@screwitjustdoit.org in the meantime, here were the most commonly asked questions I received - along with my answers. let me know your thoughts!  

So, I'll be honest with you. I've been helping X-Forces Enterprise, an organisation that helps ex-military servicemen and servicewomen transition from military to civilian life, by helping them create their own podcast and vlog. When I heard their  founder of X-Force's personal story, I wanted to share it with you. I obviously had to ask her, as I didn't realise she hadn't shared it publicly before. It's a story that I believe can only inspire more of you to not only start your own businesses, but also illustrate that you don't have to let what's happened in your past hold you back, or be the narrative to your present and future. Ren Kapur MBE set-up X-Forces Enterprise in 2013 after seeing a number of troops return home from active service and struggle to find work. They now offer support to former members of the armed forces and their families and helps them start up their own businesses by offering funding, mentoring and education through a regular programme of workshops. Ren has subsequently been awarded an MBE for her services to enterprise in the Queen's birthday honours. That's impressive, but it was her personal journey that interested me, and what she's overcome to achieve this success. She left school at just sixteen and two days for an arranged marriage, had two children whilst still a teenager herself, then had her children taken away whilst they were still very young. In episode #177 we talk about her: Unconventional upbringings & how your past needn't hold you back Opportunities starting a business offers Community - belonging, family and support Let's StartUp!

I'm surprised that I've never talked about this in #175 episodes of Screw It, Just Do It, but I don't think I ever have. I wanted to put it out there to firstly, help anyone else who's feeling that they're on the verge of burning out, and secondly, to put measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. So, the end of 2019 is in sight and we're all trying to finish the year strong, smash the goals we set out at the end of 2018. Plus we've also got an eye on 2020 and planning for next years success. So there's a lot to take in, and if you're not careful you'll be on the edge of burning out and not accomplishing either. This past week to ten days has probably been the craziest time this year. I was launching new podcasts for clients in London, hosting my annual summit in Bournemouth, then a few days later speaking at the Nec for the first time in Birmingham. All whilst trying to produce two episodes of this show as well as meet with potential new clients for my new podcast agency, and liaise with potential new guests for the podcast. So, I hope this episode reassures you that you're not along in feeling on the edge of burning out, and gives you some of the tools to prevent it happening again. And if you'd like to know what I've taken form speaking to some of the most successful entrepreneurs on this planet, then listen to #072 Success Habits, Rituals & Routines here

"There were people there from Marks & Spencer & John Lewis. They were asking ‘how do you get people working for you?’ And Mark said ‘we’ll we take all the ones that you don’t want! We’ll take people with piercings, facial hair, tattoos, coloured hair, whatever you like. If you’ve got the passion and you want to work with us and you’re going to enjoy what we do, then you’re very welcome” Welcome to episode #175 with LUSH UK Co-founder Rowena Bird, recorded live at last Thursday's Entrepreneur Summit 2019 at the Hilton in Bournemouth. This is how we opened Entrepreneur Summit 2019, myself and Rowena in front of our sold out audience for our 2nd annual summit in Bournemouth. It was difficult to pick a highlight, but this has got to be up there. Rowena was one of six people who founded LUSH, the cruelty-free cosmetics brand 25 years ago in Poole, Dorset - the town in which I now call my home. Lush was set-up after the demise of the six partners previous business, Cosmetics To Go. They started with just one shop on Poole High Street, and have grown to over 900 worldwide, and a turnover of over $1 Billion. This, is my chat with Rowena Bird. We talk about: All Are Welcome Always Be Curious  Autonomy Let's StartUp!

🔥 Lit A Fire Under My Arse🔥 ..probably the most memorable comment I’ve been tagged in after last nights Entrepreneur Summit That was 💯 % THE BEST EVENT I HAVE EVER BEEN PART OF 🙌🏻 Listen to all the podcasts watch as many YouTube videos, read as many blogs & take as many courses as you want But you CANNOT beat attending a live event If you’re looking to start, grow or scale your business you can’t NOT be inspired after hearing:  LUSH’s Rowena Bird helped grow a $1Billion business Social Chain's Hannah Anderson leverage 80 million followers on social media for the likes of Superdry Mylkplus’s Camilla Ainsworth leverage the platform BBC Apprentice Show has given Piers Linney about his 5 Key Business Planning Tips Be humbled by Change PleaseFounder Cemal Ezel’s quest to solve homelessness Be amazed at how Grenade®started a business with less than £500 & scaled it to the fastest growing sports nutrition brand in the Uk with Alan Barratt & Juliet Barratt Beyond grateful to our sold out audience & speakers for attending & my team Russ Taplin 🇬🇧 Georgia Fearnley, & Sunny Bird PR for being legends Now there’s a fire lit 🔥 under your ass take 1 action today to move you & your business fwd🙏🏻 Join me next at the Festival Of Enterprise in Birmingham, UK, October 23rd & 24th for FREE

On episode #173 I welcome Brendan Kane, innovation strategist, best-selling author of One Million Followers: How I built a massive online social following in 30 days, and who for the last decade has worked on improving online strategies for Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Disney. He's somebody therefore who's learned to optimise analytics, data and paid media to help companies achieve massive growth. Is this someone we could all learn from? 100% YES! When Brendan set out to achieve his one million followers he was aware that the people he worked with had the advantage of fame and influence. He wanted to see if he could use that he'd learned to build an audience for someone unknown - someone building a following from scratch. He put it into practice and one month later had one million followers on Facebook. He says the experience changed his life and he wrote the book to hopefully impact yours.  Let's StartUp!

Getting people to come to an event that you put on is a huge challenge. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why it's tricky to pull off. Far from wanting to put you off, I wanted to give you some actionable advice on the eve of Entrepreneur Summit 2019 this coming week. ✅ Just because you have a 'well known' name in your space as your headliner - doesn’t mean anyone else knows who they are - or that they share your enthusiasm ✅ There has to be a genuine reason why you want to host an event, and that has to be more than purely financial, or simply because you're passionate about the theme. ✅ Which leads me on to the theme itself - A big mistake people make is when an event blends in with everyone else with an overall ‘business’ topic theme. There are plenty of inspirational talks on podcasts, YouTube and online generally ✅ The value you create for someone else has to be worth their time and money for coming to what you put on - especially on a cold, dark, wet, winter night - in the UK at least! You're competing, especially in big cities with loads of other events, and yours has to stand out above the noise. ✅ It's a fine line positioning your promotional activity, and to not being seen as being 'spammy'.  So address the above, and if you want to throw that event then I'm not going to be the one to tell you not to. I've been throwing events for nearly four years now - and the rewards are pretty awesome. Just seeing one person make a connection, take one actionable insight away, or inspire them to change their life. That makes it all worthwhile. For those of you coming this Thursday for Entrepreneur Summit 2019 - I look forward to meeting you. Last remaining tickets  

Welcome to #171 with former hedge fund entrepreneur David Yarrow  who is now one of the world's best-selling fine art photographers. His photographs can sell for upwards $100,000 and hang in the homes of actor and fellow conservationist Leonardo De Caprio and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to name but two. Indeed his latest book includes a forward by Tom Brady, whilst his previous book, Wild Encounters, sold out numerous times and featured a forward by Prince William. But it wasn't always so. He chose a career in finance over a career in photography, spurning a job with Getty despite taking the iconic image of Diego Maradona holding the World Cup aloft in 1986. He eventually launched his own hedge fund before losing it all in the financial crisis - his marriage, his business. Everything. David decided to go all-in with photography and has built an unrivalled reputation documenting the most remarkable aspects of human nature and the animal kingdom whilst exploring some of the most dangerous, remarkable environments on earth. You may not think you've even got an interest in photography, yet I guarantee that you will have seen at least one or two of David's iconic photographs in your lifetime. From Diego Maradona holding the world cup aloft in 1986, he's now the world's best-selling wildlife photographer with images including great white sharks, lions, tigers, bears plus actresses and supermodels including Cara Delvingne, Pamela Anderson and Cindy Crawford. I caught up with David at the Maddox Gallery in Notting Hill, London, fresh from his appearance on the Piers Morgan TV show. In this episode David and I chat about: Getting out of a job that's becoming redundant Research - Your unfair advantage  How - Why people want to know how you do what you do.. Reinvention - Losing it all in the the financial crash & reinventing himself Let's StartUp!

You Are Your Own Media