Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

On today's show I welcome Julia Kessler and Kerstin Robinson, founders of Nix & Kix, a health-focused soft drinks brand with the added kick of cayenne pepper. I met up with them on the hottest day of the year at their London HQ, and they managed to rehydrate me with some of their delicious drinks. Serendipity brought the two of them together when they were both at the airport moving from Germany to the UK as you'll hear during our chat. They're now at the forefront of exciting brands reshaping the soft drinks market, ditching the sugar-fuelled excesses of the last few decades with a very definitive USP, through adding cayenne to their drinks. To my delicate palette is is subtle, yet distinctive, and sets them apart from others in their category as cayenne helps to boost metabolism and been proven to increase endorphin levels, giving that feel good pick-me-up. It certainly worked for me as I was most definitely flagging in the London heat! They've come a long way from a small shop in Shoreditch in 2014 to 4,000+ outlets throughout the UK and Europe, including all the big supermarkets as well as restaurant chains such as Wagamama's and Giraffe. This is a brand with a difference. A FINAL reminder that our August contest ends this week - you can win an all-day ticket to October 17th's Entrepreneur Summit 2019 in Bournemouth, Uk. You'll get to hang out with me and the team that bring you this show, plus meet our all-star line-up of speakers, and join us at the after-parties. Maybe we'll even shoot some content for the show! Just leave a review, screenshot it, and email alex@screwitjustdoit,org before the end of August, when I'll pick a couple of winners. If you'd like to make sure of attending, just click the link to the event above to purchase a ticket, using the promo code SIJDI to get 10%. Let's StartUp!

"Storytelling is the most underrated skill in business" So says Gary Vaynerchuk in his 2009 book, 'Crush It'. Still as relevant in 2019 as it was a decade ago. People like hearing stories. They also like sharing stories that they resonate with. So how are you telling your story? How are you documenting what you do, and educating your audience about your product/service? What medium are you using: the written word, video or audio? There's a form of communication out there for everyone. Whether you want to write a blog, record a vlog or host a podcast. The key as always is simply to start with one. To try. Then practice, get better at it. Then there are multiple ways to share your story: video with Facebook and Instagram Live, or a Youtube channel. Audio with Podcasts on Apple, Spotify, etc..or written content in long form like a blog or Linkedin, or shorter form like Twitter, etc.. Since I launched my podcast agency a few weeks ago, people from all sorts of industries are asking me if they should have a podcast. Accountants, car dealers, to name but a few. A common cry is that they don't think people will find what they do 'interesting'.  How do you know if you don't try? Plus, there are so many different ways you can make it interesting. What's your story? What are you so good at what you do? What makes you unique? What interesting businesses do you see, or characters that are your clients? Could you offer your advice, or your opinion on different trends in your industry? Or simply document your journey, the challenges that you encounter along the way. No one just wants to hear about the successes. Choose your medium. Communicate with passion. Then you'll be telling a great story. And people will listen. And share it In time, you'll have a whole archive where people can see how your business evolved over the years, and how it grew with you. Just be real. Nobody likes being sold too. But people like to buy from people they like, trust and respect. And the best story teller always wins in the end. Now go tell yours. People want to hear it.   But they don't like being sold too. 

"I ran into several angel investors. They came up with this idea, and said 'You are the guy with the brains from the space side, do you want to quit your job and start an entrepreneurial venture and see how we can make money in the space industry?' That was basically the pitch.  On which I quit my job." Welcome to episode #157 with Coen Janssen, Co-Founder of Hiber, whose miniature satellites are helping to get the world online and help connectivity.  Having launched its first nano satellites into orbit in late 2018, Hiber will be providing connectivity to the 90% of the world lacking a network, and at a significantly cheaper price than existing alternatives. I recently caught up with Coen, who's based in Amsterdam, via a Skype call to discuss how Hiber's technology can bring changes to a wide array of different industries. A reminder that we're running a contest throughout August where you can win an all-day ticket to October 17th's Entrepreneur Summit 2019 in Bournemouth, Uk. You'll get to hang out with me and the team that bring you this show, plus meet our all-star line-up of speakers, and join us at the after-parties. Maybe we'll even shoot some content for the show! Just leave a review, screenshot it, and email alex@screwitjustdoit,org before the end of August, when I'll pick a couple of winners. If you'd like to make sure of attending, just click the link to the event above to purchase a ticket, using the promo code SIJDI to get 10%. Coen Jansen says the value of IOT, or internet of things, is estimated at roughly $4 Billion, although the total monetary impact is expected to be in the Trillions of $. Hiber have already had a host of companies from agriculture, logistics, transportation and environmental sectors all sign up to their network.  I personally find this really fascinating, and I hope you do too. Let's StartUp!  

On today's show I want to give you three simple tips for Linkedin and how you can be using it to get far better reach and engagement. If you're not using LinkedIn, or aren't being very successful on there, then I want to share with you the three tactics that I use that have been working really well for me in my business this year. I've noted that a number of entrepreneurs that I follow who are well respected in the social media space, all say that if they were starting over again, Linkedin is where they would invest a lot of their time. The reasons are that you can build great engagement with your prospective customers, build great reach, and it's also an amazing tool to build your network - and then leverage that network. Take a listen to this short 8 minute episode for my three tips on how you can build your network, engagement and reach. Let's StartUp!

"If you keep on trying something long enough you will figure it out. A lot of people aren't willingly to put that time in." I say to my team "Fail faster, faster, faster, faster. I want you to fail twenty times today so that we can get to the next step and figure out what to do next. Every time we fail we learn something new, and we continually whittle down the possibilities of what will work. That's not for everyone. I love it now.  I've been making products that are first in the world, only in the world for about seven or eight years and it's super-scary in the beginning because you have no idea whether it will work at all. There's no blueprint. There's no case study on this business did it and this is what we can learn. But once you do it and you're alone in your market, it's really unique to not have a single competitor To be truly alone." Joining me for episode #155 is Melissa Snover, the founder of Nouris3d, a maker of 3D printed personalised vitamin supplements. Now while the idea of 3D-printed food may seem in the realms of science fiction for some, the technology is very much present and already being used. Presently the tech is limited and relatively expensive. Using something called extrusion current 3D printers can only handle paste or puree ingredients like chocolate.  However, technology is starting to gain traction with users understanding how it can meet the changing needs of customers.  One company identifying a need for the technology is Nourish3d which has developed a system to make personalised vitamin supplements customised to the users requirements. Melissa says it combines customisation, convenience and new technology all in one hit. The sim os for people to get a faster track on optimising their health and achieving their goals. Previous to this Melissa founded the Magic Candy Factory which enabled people to 3D print their own sweets in near limitless designs which you may have seen on Dragon's Den back in January this year. This week I've announced another amazing speaker for this year's Entrepreneur Summit 2019 in Bournemouth - the youngest ever finalist on BBC TV's The Apprentice, Camilla Ainsworth. Since appearing on Lord Alan Sugar's show she has launched her own gourmet nut milk brand, Mylk Plus. Click the link above to join for a star-studded day-long event with Dragon's Den Star Piers Linney, Lush Founder Rowena Bird and Grenade founders Alan & Juliet Barratt. Plus you've still got time to enter our August contest to win tickets by simply leaving a review, screen-shorting it and emailing alex@screwitjustdoit.org and I'll pick two winners. You'll get to hang out with me and my team for the day, meet the speakers, and we'll even take you out for some food and maybe shoot some content together. No time to dive into this fascinating chat with Mel, Let's StartUp!      

Welcome to episode #154: Patience, Plateau's and perseverance. Why do we expect overnight success?   I went for a 5K run the other night to try and beat my personal best. I was initially pissed off that I didn't get it. But in retrospect, I'm more pissed off that I quit. I quit with about 250 yards left to run when I realised that I wasn't going to get a PB.   I know I shouldn't have quit. I should have finished the full 5k.   Why should I expect success when I've only been running 5k's for the last 6 or 7 weeks FFS!   Anything worth achieving takes hard work. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.   I tried again on Saturday and missed out by 4 just seconds. But I didn't quit this time.   We now live in an on-demand society where we can get virtually anything on demand, a book from amazon, a movie from Netflix, a podcast on iTunes, even a pizza from Dominos.   It wasn't like that when I started this entrepreneurial journey nearly ten years ago now. Couldn't believe that when I realised it. I left Virgin Atlantic on 9/9/09   But it's only now, with the launch of my podcast agency, that I feel I've really found my niche.   And over the last four years I was told today that I helped 300+ entrepreneurs through Virgin Start Up either start a brand new business or grow their existing business in that time.   I've seen so many expect success quickly.   When they don't find success straight away, when it gets hard - and it will - they switch to something else, and quit.   But it doesn't work like that.   The rules of success are the same that they have always been.   You've got to show up every day and put the work in.   I tell my two girls, both dancers, that the most successful ones aren't the one's with the most skills or the biggest talent.   They're the one's who were the most patient and who persevered.   Most people quit whilst they're right on the cusp of success.   Don't let that be you.   Do what your competition isn't prepared to do.   Be patient, learn to weather the plateau's that'll you'll eventually meet - and persevere.   Because if you do you will succeed in the end.

"I met Steve Hindy and he was the owner of Brooklyn Brewery. The first time I'm at a brewery. I thought "This is cool, they're making a lager, but it's not boring and it's beautifully packaged." I came back and said that's what I want to do. So I then built a brewery in the basement of the pub out of clapped out this and that. We went from brewing one day a week to brewing seven days a week. I was never going to be the best publican in the world.  It was like an idea that just started snowballing, and rolling, and it felt right and it felt good. Even though it was a massive gamble. I've had dark days, but I've never thought of failure. I've never thought about the repercussion of things. I've learnt a lot from mistakes though. We've made plenty of them." Welcome to Episode #153 with Camden Town Brewery founder, Jasper Cuppaidge. Famous for their Hells lager, they shook up the beer industry nearly ten years ago in 2010, and very much heralded the start of the UK's beer revolution. I had an absolutely awesome day at the Camden Town Brewery, meeting Jasper, given a tour of the brewery in a bright orange smurfsuit and wellies, before finishing off by pulling my own beers from behind their bar. And the legends at Camden's even followed up by sending me a case of Stawberry Hells lager. An all-round great experience, they clearly already worked out the way to my heart. Thanks to Hazel Russel for her review of the show, and a reminder that I'm running a contest throughout August to pick two lucky winners to join us at this year's Entrepreneur Summit on October 17th I Bournemouth. Just go to Apple Podcasts, click 'Write a review', screenshot and email alex@screwitjustdoit.org with your screenshot. Full details of this year's line-up, with two confirmed speakers still to be announced are here & on Eventbrite. As I said, an amazing day out at Camden's Brewery, meeting Jasper Cuppaidge, a laid-back Aussie who missed his flight back to Oz in the 90's to remain in London collection glasses in a pub. Ten years later he bought a Hampstead pub and reopened it as The Horseshoe. He brewed his first batch of beer here as a birthday present for his mother. The beer proved successful with the pub's customers and he began to sell it. Jasper began to pursue a full-time business brewing lager and by spring 2010 Camden Town Brewery officially started brewing after renting five victorian rail arches underneath Kentish Town Station in London. Jasper & I talk about: Exit strategies & the sale to AB Inbev for £85 Million Risk Taking - Failure & Opportunity Experiences - Creating & Adding to them Innovation & Inspiration - Vertical Gardens & Strawberry Hells And that's exactly where we pick up the conversation.. Let's StartUp!

A couple of things resonated with me this week. Chatting to ex-Dragon Piers Linney for last week's episode with Antler in London, and then listening to Tony Robbins chatting to former heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson. Piers launched his #Startup with Piers Linney course and, among other things, we discussed why everybody isn't successful - when all of the information to succeed is already out there. I also listened to Tony Robbins' latest podcast with former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. It was interesting to hear Mike talk about what he was prepared to do in order to become a champion. To do what his competitors weren't prepared to do. Whilst they were running on the treadmill at 4am, he was outside in the pitch dark, running in the snow in below freezing conditions. Simply because he knew that it was something his competitors wouldn't be doing. We've got five months of this year left to go. Where are you at? Are you happy with where your business is, where you are personally, your health, your wealth, your happiness? If yes, then that's awesome and I salute you. If not, then I'm here to tell you that it isn't too late to accomplish your goals. Five months is plenty of time. I completed my #1 goal for 2019 back in June - to get a #1 podcast. So I'm here to tell you it can be done.  But here's what you've got to sacrifice

"I was being hounded by the producers at the BBC. I went to the Virgin Fast Track event, Richard Branson was on stage asking 'Who wants to come on a safari with me'? So I said 'why not?'. He then said 'for this much money' and I thought 'God, I can buy a Porsche' for that. Everyone was sat there saying 'don't do it Piers', but I put my hand up. I ended up at at Sir Richard's private game reserve in Ulusaba in the Kruger national park in South Africa, which is basically like a bond lair... My phone kept ringing and these producers kept calling and asking 'Are you going to join Dragon's Den or not?' Richard saw me sat there puzzling over this and asked, 'Are you alright'? I replied 'No', and he said 'do you want to chat'?. We had a corona together and I told him the story and he said 'Screw it, Just Do it'. He actually said that. He said I would get on a plane for a good TV spot. He said 'Right, let's ring them up', and I said 'ok, I'll do that', and he said 'No - Now' and he made me ring them and I said 'I'm in'. So that's how I ended up on TV. Then he just wandered off and left me." Welcome to #151 with Piers Linney , the first repeat guest on the show, and also our headline speaker at this October 17th's Entreprenur Summit in Bournemouth. You can join us this autumn either by buying a ticket, or by entering my competition to win tickets and hang out with us for the day, come out to dinner, the after party and shoot some content too. All you need to do is leave a review about the show, screenshot it and email alex@screwitjustdoit.org - good luck! I chatted to Piers for this episode in front of a live audience in London with the 72 founders of Antler's UK cohort - the global startup generator and early stage vc which is enabling the world's most brilliant and determined people to build global businesses from the ground up. I'm also honoured to be an advisor for Antler - have a listen to episode #137 with Antler founder Magnus Grimeland for more information on what Antler are doing. This is one great interview with Piers, one of my favourites in the two years. He's been up to a lot since I last spoke to him. A #1 business podcast with Nat West plus he's got a brand new course, Startup with Piers Linney. You can find out full details here - just use SCREWIT20 to get 20% off until the end of August 2019. This was a really enjoyable chat, with a golden nugget of wisdom every time I asked Piers a question. I'll cut straight to my introduction of Piers in front of our live audience. Let's Startup!

Welcome to Episode #150! Today I'm going to be talking about #75HARD. A little over 3 months ago I randomly came across a podcast, Episode #290 of The MFCEO Project by Andy Frisella: A 75 Day Guide To Winning The War With Yourself. In it he launched his program, #75HARD, which has now become a worldwide movement.  I decided shortly after listening to this episode to start the programme myself. There was just something about Andy's energy, his message that resonated with me. A little under 3 months later I've completed it. A massive thank you to everyone who's supported me on this journey, and especially to those who have joined me on #75HARD. The program was a mental endurance challenge - with physical benefits. I completed: 👉🏻 150 workouts in 75 days 👉🏻 75 days of Keto - which I hated - with zero cheat meals 👉🏻 75 days without alcohol 👉🏻 75 gallons of water drunk 👉🏻 750 pages of entrepreneurial/self help books read 👉🏻 Progress pic taken each day Results: 💓 Resting heart rate: Down from 66 to 50 🏋️‍♀️ Body Fat: Down 7% from 24.7 to 17.7% 🍩Weight: Down 1.5 Stones from 12:12 to 11:7 🤸🏻‍♂️Energy: Off the chart. Simply don’t get tired anymore. No post lunch-induced coma at work 🧖‍♂️Skin: Clear complexion:Not red or blotchy anymore 🎙Reached the #1 goal I set for myself in 2019 - getting a #1 ranked podcast in iTunes Observations: 👊🏻Dream bigger & set bigger goals - when I started this challenge my aim was to merely finish & lose a stone. If I realised what I was actually capable of, I would have set far bigger Smart goals. 👊🏻I’ve gotten this far in life with using only a fraction of my potential 👊🏻I am 100% in control of my success & failure - in anything I choose 👊🏻I’m actually mentally tougher than I thought 👊🏻The harder things are, the more I’ve learnt to embrace them & actually enjoy them 👊🏻It’s nothing to do with proving anything to anyone. It’s all about proving the voice in my head is wrong. 👊🏻I’ve been physically more tired than I’ve ever been, but the most mentally awake & focused Two things I found out I love: 🏃‍♂️ Running - against other people & the clock. Developed an addiction to Poole parkrun, started 6 weeks ago & so far knocked 8 minutes+ off my PB 🧘🏼‍♂️Yoga - with no other people & no clock! Especially The Strength Temple with Richie Norton courtesy of Fiit Regrets? 😔Only that I wish I’d dreamt bigger & set bigger goals to achieve. 💆🏻‍♂️ Wish I’d had more than the 1 sports massage my wife Carly Chisnall kindly booked me, as I battled, at times, excruciating lower back pain What next? There is a next! I’ll be releasing a podcast about it this Wednesday- link in the comments below if you’d like to subscribe in advance⬇️ plus the link to the man who started #75HARD Andy Frisella from 1st Phorm Massive Thankyou to all the support I’ve had, and especially to those who have taken up the challenge too💪🏻 #Screwitjustdoit #0to100