Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

Welcome to Episode #119 and on today's show I want to talk about Reload - our first Mid Year Mastermind This event is for you and is being held on May 3rd at the 5 star Hilton Hotel in Bournemouth on the sunny South Coast of England. I've put this together for listeners of the show and it follows on from last year's StartUp & Scale Summit - which Piers Linney from Dragon's Den headlined. I didn't want to wait until the autumn before our 2nd summit so decided to put this together for you. I've also partnered with the European StartUp Association and will be hosting the UK leg of their pitching competition at this event - with the winners going through to the final in Malmo, Sweden, in September - for more information if you'd like to pitch your business visit here What is it? It's an exclusive one day event limited to just 100 people that will bring you the clarity you need to re-focus on this year’s goals and ensure 2019 will still be your best year yet - even if you're not on track right now. Why You Need To Attend YOU - This event will help you refocus on your overall business goals, as well as your overall aspirations as a business owner. CLARITY - Ever suffered from shiny new object syndrome? I get it! This event will assist you on regaining the clarity needed to sign off on those goals and plans. GROWTH - You'll not only get to learn from our expert speakers throughout the day, but every attendee will also get a mentoring session with one of the mentors that I have hand-picked from my network. For the full schedule plus a list of all of the expert speakers and mentor just click here I've put together an amazing package for every attendee including a full day of masterclasses with our expert speakers, a mentoring session, and three connecting sessions with like-minded entrepreneurs. Plus, a two-course lunch, food and drink throughout the day,not including a place on my Podcasting Academy, #Screwitjustdoit merchandise, tickets to future events and a copy of Richard Branson's 'Screw it, Let's Do it' book! Who's it For? Entrepreneurs Business Owners StartUps ScaleUps Managers Freelancers Plus! ANYONE that wants to help build a powerful, profitable business. ReLoad will inspire you to think big as you build your business. With listeners in 104 countries now, I know you can't all make it. However, if you can, I encourage you to spend a day working ON your business - not IN your business. If you've got any questions just email alex@screwitjustdoit.org or Dm me via social on @alexchisnall - I' love to meet you in person and hope to see you on May 3rd in my home town of Bournemouth!  

"Why are you coming to my site? Who are you? Because personally I couldn't explain to anyone why have you got 6 million visitors coming to your site every month? I know what they're doing on my site, but why are they doing it?" Welcome to episode #118 of Screw it, Just Do it where I welcome Chris Parker. Chris has a problem that most of us would love to have - what to do with 6 million web visitors a month? He's the founder of whatismyipaddress.com . He's an entrepreneur, and online privacy and security expert and he's got a fantastic story to tell... Just wrapped up my first Podcast Masterclass from the Screwitjustdoit HQ in Bournemouth and I'd love to help you if you're thinking of launching a podcast. You are you're on my media so in my opinion, if you've got your own business, you should have your own podcast. I'd love to help you with it, take a look at my brand new Podcasting Academy here plus I'll be announcing new physical Masterclasses next week. On to Chris's story, and he's clearly doing a pretty good job of monetising his 6 million visitors already by bringing in just under 7 figures a month for the last few years.  You can see how you can get close to Tim Ferris's Four Hour Work Week by not employing any staff, not having an office and choosing how many hours he works in his business every week. Plus he loves the fact that by employing freelancers he's able to help others pursue their entrepreneurial dream. On today's show we talk about: The beauty of staying small The Importance of mentoring If in doubt, ask - for help. Let's StartUp!

"If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus coming to the showground Saturday", that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk into town, that's promotion. If an elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed and the local newspaper writes a story about it, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it that's public relations. If the citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately they spend a lot of money at the circus, that's sales. And if you planned the whole thing, that's marketing." Welcome to episode 117 of Screw it, just do it. I'm your host Alex Chisnall and on today's show, it's my pleasure to welcome Allan Dibb. Alan is a serial entrepreneur, marketeer, technology expert and number one best-selling author of the book 'The one-page marketing plan'. Now, when I heard about this book I thought we all need to know about how to get new customers, make more money and stand out for the crowd. I didn't realise Alan lived in Melbourne, Australia but it's not a problem, got him on the phone and recorded a show for you. Before we dig into that I would just like to say a massive thank you to everybody who has subscribed and downloaded the show this week - we hit a high of number three in the iTunes chart which blew my mind! The only two shows above us were Rob Moore's 'Disruptive Entrepreneur' and buy some strange quirk of fate, I was with Rob last weekend at his business building conference. And number one, surprise surprise, was Gary Vaynerchuk - never going to shift him from the number one slot are you?! So, the UK and the US number one business podcasts were ahead of mine, so a huge thank you for anybody listening now who has subscribed to and downloaded our show. I never knew that was possible, it means the world to me. It means more people get to hear the Screw it, just do it! message, more people get to be impacted, and can help to start and scale their businesses. So a huge, huge thank you!

"The lowest point in that journey had to be a debt collector coming round to the house. And if I hadn't found that money...that day...then things were getting taken away.  And that's a real blow to your pride. I didn't want to feel that I was letting my wife down. I didn't want to feel that I was letting my girls down. My family down. It was horrible. I think that was the lowest point I ever reached. This guy rocking up in his car and refusing to move his car out of my driveway until I paid him what I owed him." So Right Now... What's Holding Your Business Back? What's Holding Your Idea Back? What's Holding Your Passion Back? What's Holding You Back From Pursuing Your Passion? And What's Holding You Back From Creating A Lifestyle, And A Life Of Ultimate Success For Yourself? However That Looks Like For you. Do You Feel Right Now That: You Don't Get In Front Of The Right People? You Don't Have The Right Tools? You Don't Know Where To Start?  You Don't Have Something To Sell? You Don't Have People To Sell To? You Don't Have A Way To Sell It? Maybe You're Just Concerned About How Many Times You've Failed In The Past? You're Afraid It Won't Work? So What's That Thing That's Holding You Back? Maybe It's Just One Thing?  Maybe It's A Few? Well, A Million People Or More Have Had The Same Problem You've Had And They've Figured It Out. One Day I Woke Up And Decided I Don't Want To Have This Problem Anymore Either. I've Done A Decade Of Failing For You. Here's My Story. So Let's StartUp!

“In for £100k, six months before the first ever festival, thinking it was going to cost 100k to put on. I ran out of money. We had to remortgage the house. Had to find another £200k. It cost £300k to put on in year one. I was expecting it to be £100k. It was a big risk and if no one turned up to that front gate on that first day, we would have lost the house. It’s as simple as that. Looking back now, 12 years on, I'm glad we did take the gamble but year one was a huge gamble." On today's show, it's my pleasure to welcome Roger Woodall, Founder of the Bournemouth 7s Festival. This episode is split into two parts: the first part was recorded live at one of our events back in January in Bournemouth, talking about 'how to build a knockout brand' and this is his take on what he did to build the Bournemouth 7s Festival into what is very much a knockout brand. From 4,000 people in year 1 to over 30,000 people coming up to year 12. We dig into his career, how he got into the promotions industry, promoting events and then promoting festivals, also, growing a clothing brand, Viper 10, as well. Part 2, I was intrigued enough after listening to him at this event, to schedule in some time with him at his HQ and dig a little bit deeper. To find out more about the man himself up, what makes him tick, find out about his family, what it takes to put on an event such as the Bournemouth 7s Festival. What goes into it, what are the emotions involved from day one when everybody turns up, to the day when everybody leaves on the final day of the festival? We also touch on things such as the Manchester bombings at the Arianna Grande concert, how that impacted their festival a couple of years back. We talk about earning the right for repeat business and we talk about temptation, the grass being always greener, offers that he's had for the business, offers to launch multiple events in different locations. An interesting fact is that most festivals take 7 years to make a profit. Dodge made one from year one. Let's start up! 

"I can't accept failure. I can't have it. I will not accept failure..I'm not scared. I'm not frightened and I'm not going to fail". So spoke Ted Baker founder Ray Kelvin in the 2nd part to my live Q and A with him. Ray tells the story of how he started with one shop in Glasgow. He brings us right up to date with Ted Baker currently valued at £1.6 Billion, as well as his latest ventures. These include investing £80 million into the UK's number 1 Hilton hotel which he owns as well as launching This WorkSpace, his co-working vision set to rival We Work.  During the course of the interview he covers a lot of ground including the Grenfell fire tragedy, how stressful he finds it living in London as well as the importance of fishing... having a work life balance before finally offering opportunities to a student, a tailor and a model in the audience to work for Ted Baker. 

Welcome to Episode #113 of Screwitjustdoit. On today's show I bring you a 'live' event when I hosted the recently resigned billionaire founder of Ted Baker, Ray Kelvin cbe. On Monday, March 4th Ray resigned, bringing the curtain down on one of the most remarkable careers in British fashion retailing during the last three decades. Sky's Ian King said that Ray's business achievements should be noted as a cloud hangs over his departure. He says that "many successful retailers are good traders, like Sir Philip Green, who are adept at knowing the right price at which to buy and sell fabrics and garments. Others, like Peter Simon, the founder of Monsoon and Accessorize, are good at knowing what designs will sell well and what will not." He adds "It is very rare for one individual to have the complete package - but Raymond Stuart Kelvin did. It was a talent that helped him build an empire worth nearly £1.5bn when the shares peaked last summer."   I've hosted Ray twice at 'live' Screwitjustdoit events at a sold out www.thiswork.space in Bournemouth, Ray's first brand new co-working space. We started with a question direct from Richard Branson on Necker Island and continued for over two hours. I've therefore divided the show into two parts.  In Part 1 Ray tells us how he still works every Saturday in a Ted Baker store, and still doesn't even own a computer. The self-titled "boy done good" goes on to share insights including how he built Ted Baker without any formal advertising based on "common sense", and his four 'P's': People, product, passion and profit. Part 2 will be released 48 hours later, this coming Friday on March 8th. You don't want to miss either of these. Whilst the sound quality is not up to the usual standard, this was recorded 'live' and Ray liked to keep moving amongst the audience. I think it's worth it to hear the Ted Baker story - from 'the man closet to Ted'. Ray's quirks included refusing to have a photograph taken of his entire face (see the image of me with him on our Screwitjustdoit Facebook page) and requiring journalists who were late to meetings with him to do press-ups as a punishment. Profiles of Ray would also regularly mention that he greeted visitors - even those he had not met previously - with a hug. It was explained Ray had given up handshakes more than 20 years earlier due to his arthritis. It was seen by those who knew Ray - his suppliers, shareholders, City analysts and journalists - as no more than harmless eccentricity. It was just another quirk of a founder who was on first-name terms with all of his employees, ate with them in the staff canteen and who, when he was not toiling in head office, could often still be found working in his own shops. Hugs were described as part of the company's culture. But the definition of what is or is not acceptable behaviour in the workplace changed with the rise of the #MeToo movement and suddenly, late last year, Ray found himself being accused by a number of his employees of giving them unwanted hugs. Ray, who has denied all allegations of misconduct, stepped down from day-to-day running of the business in December and Herbert Smith Freehills, a City law firm, was brought in by the board to investigate the allegations. It has not yet reported its findings and is not expected to until the end of the month at the earliest. Two months into the independent investigation into Ray's behaviour, Ted's board, led by executive chairman David Bernstein, has decided he must stand down, suggesting the allegations against Ray make it untenable for him to stay as a director of the company." The big concern for shareholders is whether the company can continue to enjoy the remarkable success it has without its founder at the helm....  Let's StartUp...

”Don’t take on Big Money. Because the moment you take on big money, it’s like sliding doors. Your world is determined. You’ve turned left and the options of right will never come back to you ever again. And the amount of people who have never asked themselves ‘Where do I want to be when I’m 70’...put your hands up if you’ve answered that question” At our latest London event, we got FOUR amazing brands to tell you how they did it. Hear from entrepreneurs Holly Tucker (notonthehighstreet.com, Holly & Co), Merlie Calvert (Legal Tech Startup Farillio), Emily Austen (EMERGE Public Relations) and Vasiliki Petrou (Unilever Prestige Group) on how you can start to develop a brand that’s attractive to customers on little or no budget and then how to grow it to a wider audience. Customers now want to know the story behind the business, what it stands for, and why they should care!  You don’t need a multi-million pound budget to start building your brand.  We've got four amazing entrepreneurs and their brands to tell you how they did it. Let's StartUp!

"I've done a lot of pitches and it was just an experience that I don't think that you can replicate or ever go through again. I'm glad I did it but it was just horrific, it wasn't fun! It was very surreal. I've been watching since I was a kid and then you walk into that den and you see these people you've been watching for so long...it was just crazy! I wouldn't do it again!" Dan started his career by working as a chef at three Michelin star restaurants, and also later became a private chef to celebrities like Kylie Minogue after winning several cooking competitions across the UK and overseas. However one thing that stood out for him was the tremendous amount of food waste that he saw over his career. Therein lay the idea for using recycled salmon skin to make consumer-friendly snacks, just over two years ago now. So, Daniel and his business partner, Dominic Smith, decided to ask fishmongers in the UK for salmon skin as it has the perfect thickness and comes in high nutrition wise after being cooked: 63g of protein per 100g and full of omega 3's. Really interesting story, you may have just seen Daniel on Dragon's Den, turning down an offer of £30,000 for a 35% stake. He had already had an offer from an entrepreneur called Johnathan Brown who's now a shareholder of food startup Sea Chips, who also owns 10% of the salmon market in the US and has over 30 years of salmon processing experience. So, a pretty amazing mentor and investor to come across! Let's StartUp!

"I think influencers are a key driver in our brand building process. Today, you're talking a lot of start-ups and scale-ups, every euro we invest needs to come along with a certain return on investment and I think working with influencers, obviously targeted influencers, they can help scale your business, Build that awareness level on a very rapid basis, and add a considerable amount of investment. It's not a huge investment from going on the radio or TV campaigns but it does allow you, at an acceptable investment, to reach a larger audience." Jurgen and his two co-founders Luis and Coen were university classmates, dog-loving entrepreneurs from Belgium. They went into business together after spotting a gap in the market for healthy, nutritious food for their dogs, who happened to be called Edgard and Cooper. They founded the company in Belgium in 2014 and launched in the UK in 2016. The brand is unique and you'll find out why if you dive into the podcast. It's also the first brand in Europe to have full range in biodegradable packaging, something they're massively passionate about - sustainability. They now retail in ten countries, this is in less than 3 years with over 6,000 distribution points and are on track to double in the next 12 months. They've already achieved £10million in annual retail sales in less than 3 years of trading, which is pretty amazing and they've just launched into catfood in January as well. So, these guys are scaling pretty rapidly hence it's an interesting story to find out how they're doing that in what's perceived to be a massively saturated market, dominated by a couple of big players. Welcome to episode 110 Let's StartUp!