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Brand to Scale is a podcast where we talk to business leaders and industry influencers about how they built their brands. Each episode dives into real stories about starting up, growing through challenges, and what success looks like behind the scenes. It's an honest look at the people and ideas driving business forward.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:13:11
Unknown
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:00:13:15 - 00:00:34:18
Unknown
Welcome to Brand to Scale, where I speak with leaders and founders about how they're building great businesses. I'm Jess, and today I'm joined by someone who's been at the heart of some of the UK's most exciting digital growth stories. Richard has helped grow businesses like Gymshark, The Hut Group and many, many others and now leads the Growth Foundation, helping brands scale with purpose and clarity.
00:00:34:20 - 00:01:02:15
Unknown
Richard, it's really nice to have you here. I am sure we are going to cover, a lot of those. That name drops there a little bit later, but for those of them, for those of us who don't know your whole story, tell us a bit about yourself and your journey so far.
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Unknown
I'm sure you will.
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Unknown
The highlights.
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Unknown
Standard love. Yeah.
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Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
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Unknown
I'm.
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Unknown
My.
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Unknown
Yep. Different roles.
00:05:07:20 - 00:05:20:21
Unknown
Amazing. Yeah.
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Unknown
He.
00:05:57:06 - 00:06:33:18
Unknown
Is in the.
00:06:33:20 - 00:06:47:10
Unknown
While.
00:06:47:12 - 00:07:09:00
Unknown
The big. Always a big question. And that. Always a big question. Founders.
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Unknown
Who?
00:07:16:19 - 00:07:20:19
Unknown
Yeah.
00:07:20:21 - 00:07:45:20
Unknown
Yeah. It's, Yeah. It's a it's a fascinating career journey, I would say. And one of the things that. And this is a conversation I've had recently with someone up and coming and the businesses that I'm working in, and you've got, you went from retail, you were in a band, and then you were kind of lucky enough to like combine those two things almost with play.com at the beginning, if I can put it like that roughly.
00:07:45:22 - 00:08:13:01
Unknown
What was that, an accident? Was there a pivotal point? Have you done any formal qualifications as well?
00:08:13:03 - 00:08:24:09
Unknown
For.
00:08:24:11 - 00:08:39:10
Unknown
Yeah.
00:08:39:12 - 00:08:57:18
Unknown
Okay. It's like. How am I going to eat that? Thanks.
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Unknown
Wow.
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Unknown
She's.
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Unknown
Since.
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Unknown
Yeah.
00:10:04:16 - 00:10:17:20
Unknown
I love those magazines. Yeah. Remember those?
00:10:17:22 - 00:10:43:21
Unknown
Yeah.
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Unknown
Oh, clever. Yeah. Love that.
00:10:54:02 - 00:11:05:17
Unknown
Genius.
00:11:05:19 - 00:11:16:14
Unknown
Wow. One.
00:11:16:16 - 00:11:34:21
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. That's probably why you. You sort of hunted that down quite aggressively. Really? Like, I'm. It's going to happen. I'm going to happen. I'm going to email them. Keep in touch. That way.
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Unknown
Absolutely.
00:11:48:08 - 00:11:55:18
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:55:20 - 00:12:26:04
Unknown
Amazing. Brilliant. I expect that was quite a steep learning curve. Then, going from where you were into a junior marketing role. Yeah. What was that like?
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Unknown
Yeah.
00:13:16:04 - 00:13:36:07
Unknown
The.
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Unknown
I was.
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Unknown
With.
00:13:51:10 - 00:13:55:22
Unknown
Wow.
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Unknown
Huge.
00:14:08:12 - 00:14:17:05
Unknown
Yeah.
00:14:17:07 - 00:14:30:01
Unknown
Not a thing.
00:14:34:05 - 00:15:09:04
Unknown
Interesting. So you could see where it was going, but maybe didn't have the authority or the persuasion skills at that point to persuade senior leadership that that's the direction you needed to go in. Would that be correct.
00:15:09:06 - 00:15:29:21
Unknown
Yeah.
00:15:30:00 - 00:15:41:07
Unknown
Who?
00:15:41:09 - 00:15:47:12
Unknown
Nice.
00:15:47:14 - 00:16:16:11
Unknown
Yeah. I'd love to get into the pivotal point. Trigger point of launching your own business as well. The Growth Foundation. But before we do that working, I think there's a lot of value in people putting some, you know, a period of time of their life and going and working for people and businesses to learn a lot about, people, management like how that works.
00:16:16:12 - 00:17:07:22
Unknown
Then some lessons of what to do, what not to do. And I imagine that you learned some things along that way before you went, and did your own thing. So yeah, I'd be interested to know what those were and anything that you took away from those experiences or left behind.
00:17:08:01 - 00:17:15:15
Unknown
The.
00:17:15:17 - 00:17:44:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:17:44:02 - 00:18:11:04
Unknown
Yeah.
00:18:19:15 - 00:18:34:09
Unknown
When.
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Unknown
Yeah.
00:18:51:12 - 00:18:58:05
Unknown
Yeah.
00:18:58:07 - 00:19:18:01
Unknown
It's the Rubik's cube. To me too.
00:19:18:03 - 00:20:04:12
Unknown
So. Yeah.
00:20:47:08 - 00:20:54:13
Unknown
Yeah.
00:20:54:15 - 00:21:02:17
Unknown
When the.
00:21:02:19 - 00:21:12:06
Unknown
You.
00:21:12:08 - 00:21:16:19
Unknown
Who?
00:21:16:21 - 00:21:24:14
Unknown
You.
00:21:24:16 - 00:21:31:08
Unknown
That my sense? Yeah, absolutely.
00:21:31:10 - 00:21:35:13
Unknown
That involves.
00:21:35:15 - 00:21:58:00
Unknown
Wow. Yeah. I can imagine as well that that put you in a good position then to. Yeah. To, to see that company because you were a bit more proactive with the, with those actions.
00:22:21:03 - 00:22:30:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:22:30:14 - 00:22:37:22
Unknown
Yeah.
00:22:38:01 - 00:22:41:17
Unknown
Yeah.
00:22:41:19 - 00:22:50:00
Unknown
The.
00:22:50:02 - 00:22:55:21
Unknown
Yeah.
00:22:55:22 - 00:23:07:16
Unknown
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You see the bigger picture?
00:23:07:18 - 00:23:20:11
Unknown
Yes. Exactly. I'm on. Can present the evidence as well. Yeah. From, from the outcomes.
00:23:20:13 - 00:23:49:02
Unknown
What do you think are the. Because there's a lot of marketers I have a tough time. I feel especially in businesses that are I know particularly, relying on, you know, numbers and the metrics and ignore that sort of brand awareness, storytelling feeling. What what is if you're a marketer in a business at the moment, you feel like you're not being heard or you don't know what you know is, is wanting and to be presented from you?
00:23:49:02 - 00:24:50:10
Unknown
Like what? What are the things that person can do to show the value of what they're doing? Because I don't think it is massively valued in every industry or every business at the moment. Yeah.
00:24:50:11 - 00:25:06:20
Unknown
Okay.
00:26:12:22 - 00:26:36:04
Unknown
The.
00:26:36:06 - 00:26:48:07
Unknown
Yeah.
00:26:48:09 - 00:26:55:19
Unknown
Yeah.
00:26:55:21 - 00:27:02:13
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:02:14 - 00:27:06:08
Unknown
Yeah.
00:27:28:14 - 00:27:31:05
Unknown
Yeah.
00:27:31:07 - 00:27:41:01
Unknown
Yeah.
00:27:41:03 - 00:28:14:08
Unknown
The.
00:28:14:10 - 00:28:22:13
Unknown
Yeah.
00:28:22:15 - 00:28:35:09
Unknown
And.
00:28:35:11 - 00:28:50:08
Unknown
Yeah. It's a smaller space.
00:28:50:10 - 00:28:55:08
Unknown
Really? Yeah.
00:28:55:10 - 00:29:02:06
Unknown
Yeah. By,
00:29:02:08 - 00:29:05:08
Unknown
Yeah.
00:29:13:17 - 00:29:21:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:29:21:02 - 00:29:25:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:29:25:02 - 00:29:34:02
Unknown
Yeah.
00:29:34:04 - 00:29:40:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:29:40:13 - 00:29:49:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:29:49:13 - 00:30:23:03
Unknown
Yeah. 100%. I think I'd like to come at the next session from both angles. I know you you recruit for businesses as well so that you find the, the right people but for for businesses. And I seen this happen a lot who are looking to hire their first marketing, team member. Often what I see is they don't really understand what marketing is, so they just go out for a marketing manager or a generic job description of some kind.
00:30:26:14 - 00:30:50:01
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. And I want, you know, this, this and this this and then this. This poor marketing manager comes into the business, and then the first thing they are told is we want more sales or we want more revenue. Yeah. Do more sales. You don't have any resource or team or a marketing budget often. But this is your your goal.
00:30:50:01 - 00:31:15:07
Unknown
And that marketing manager might have a specialism in other things. Marketing is very broad. But isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I, I found, I found that quite often the market is brought in and they are expected to be the expert on SEO copywriting. A designer as well. No, no. How to set up ads, all of that stuff.
00:31:15:07 - 00:31:33:05
Unknown
And they just drown and they struggle and then they leave, and the the leadership just goes all well, they were rubbish. Is I actually you did the recruitment wrong. Half.
00:31:33:07 - 00:31:53:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:31:53:02 - 00:32:07:05
Unknown
Yeah.
00:32:07:07 - 00:32:12:01
Unknown
Yeah.
00:32:12:03 - 00:32:25:04
Unknown
In the.
00:32:25:06 - 00:32:34:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:32:34:02 - 00:32:48:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:33:05:12 - 00:33:16:04
Unknown
You.
00:33:16:06 - 00:33:36:09
Unknown
Yeah.
00:33:36:11 - 00:33:45:21
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:46:00 - 00:34:01:04
Unknown
Yeah.
00:34:05:16 - 00:34:20:17
Unknown
Yeah.
00:34:20:19 - 00:34:29:03
Unknown
Yeah.
00:34:29:05 - 00:34:37:05
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
00:34:37:07 - 00:34:57:10
Unknown
Yeah, definitely. I it's just it's just a very common scenario that I see, you know, that there's this, need for this unicorn that's a very generic top job description that does everything. And, and also the added, because they don't see they know they need marketing, but they don't quite know why or what needs to be done.
00:34:57:10 - 00:35:26:11
Unknown
The the value of the job is low. So they don't get the right person.
00:35:26:13 - 00:35:36:12
Unknown
Yes. Yeah.
00:35:36:14 - 00:35:49:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:35:49:13 - 00:35:53:18
Unknown
Yeah.
00:35:53:20 - 00:36:03:09
Unknown
Yeah.
00:36:03:11 - 00:36:07:15
Unknown
Yeah.
00:36:07:16 - 00:36:16:13
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:16:15 - 00:36:24:02
Unknown
Yeah.
00:36:24:03 - 00:36:51:20
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:51:22 - 00:37:01:05
Unknown
Yeah.
00:37:01:07 - 00:37:06:01
Unknown
Yeah.
00:37:06:03 - 00:37:14:14
Unknown
Yeah. Say yes to everything and see how. How it pans up.
00:37:14:16 - 00:37:20:04
Unknown
Yeah.
00:37:20:06 - 00:37:49:15
Unknown
It is. It's one of those bugbears of mine, I think, when I just say, oh, we just had a marked manager and she's like 24 and she's got no resources, no, no maps and budget, but is expected to grow business by. I don't know. Is is just in.
00:37:49:17 - 00:37:58:00
Unknown
In.
00:37:58:01 - 00:38:09:08
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Huge. Yeah.
00:38:09:10 - 00:38:13:03
Unknown
Yeah.
00:38:13:05 - 00:38:17:22
Unknown
Yeah.
00:38:18:01 - 00:38:37:21
Unknown
Yeah. Exactly. It's huge. And unfortunately, it comes in the other direction where they've already been through that. They've done it and they've realized something's not working and they don't know why. So then the. Yeah. And usually the problem is that they haven't got the right people that you set in the right seats, doing the right things with the right resources.
00:38:37:21 - 00:39:05:13
Unknown
Definitely. So in terms of, growing business, clearly a passion of yours, growing businesses and working with entrepreneurs, business owners on how to do that. How do you find and how do you work out who you are going to be good fit to work with? Because I'm sure there are a lot of egos floating around in the world out there who are doing great things, and they need help and they need support.
00:39:05:16 - 00:39:38:21
Unknown
And if you are going to be that sort of, you know, conscious, conscience on the shoulder situation, like you're going to have to get on. Right. So how does that work?
00:39:39:00 - 00:40:08:13
Unknown
For.
00:40:08:15 - 00:40:13:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:40:13:02 - 00:40:18:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:40:18:13 - 00:40:40:14
Unknown
We.
00:40:40:16 - 00:41:00:16
Unknown
Yeah.
00:41:00:18 - 00:41:29:10
Unknown
Yeah.
00:41:29:12 - 00:41:33:13
Unknown
Yeah.
00:41:33:15 - 00:41:42:21
Unknown
Yeah.
00:41:43:00 - 00:42:12:04
Unknown
And you can gather that solid personality type, can't you, with a conversation. Yeah. Yeah. That's quite an easy tell. What about what about red flags that would be like this is and going to be someone we can work with or. I don't agree with your leadership style or how you work with your team or wherever that might be.
00:42:19:06 - 00:42:32:03
Unknown
Well, that's good, that's good. I thought you might have some horror stories.
00:42:32:05 - 00:42:45:02
Unknown
Yeah.
00:42:59:18 - 00:43:05:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:43:05:14 - 00:43:37:16
Unknown
Yeah.
00:43:49:03 - 00:44:15:11
Unknown
Who.
00:44:20:12 - 00:44:26:16
Unknown
Yeah.
00:44:26:18 - 00:44:31:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:44:40:09 - 00:44:44:16
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:53:00 - 00:45:07:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:45:07:13 - 00:45:16:22
Unknown
Yeah.
00:45:17:01 - 00:45:21:15
Unknown
Yeah. Hundred percent.
00:45:21:17 - 00:45:48:05
Unknown
Yeah. That's a slog. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Thinking about, practical examples like that then. So we talked about, you know, leadership traits and personality types and stuff and it is a thing these days, isn't it, that the founder is a celebrity? It's a thing especially in, you know, Gymshark. Good example right. Yeah. All of that stuff. The founder is the face of the brand and has celebrity status.
00:45:48:05 - 00:46:04:09
Unknown
And is that is that a conscious marketing tactic now, to make that happen. And does it depend on that founder?
00:46:04:11 - 00:46:17:18
Unknown
Yeah.
00:46:17:19 - 00:46:29:02
Unknown
Yeah.
00:46:29:04 - 00:46:37:07
Unknown
Okay.
00:46:42:06 - 00:46:50:11
Unknown
Yeah.
00:46:50:12 - 00:47:07:22
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:15:16 - 00:47:35:05
Unknown
Yeah.
00:47:35:07 - 00:47:55:03
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:55:05 - 00:48:12:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:48:12:01 - 00:48:24:08
Unknown
Yeah.
00:48:24:10 - 00:48:28:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:48:42:14 - 00:48:55:19
Unknown
Okay.
00:48:55:21 - 00:49:14:03
Unknown
The.
00:49:14:05 - 00:49:20:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:49:20:14 - 00:49:37:12
Unknown
Nice.
00:49:37:14 - 00:49:45:21
Unknown
Do.
00:49:55:01 - 00:49:57:09
Unknown
Yeah.
00:49:57:11 - 00:50:12:16
Unknown
Yeah.
00:50:12:18 - 00:50:20:14
Unknown
Yeah.
00:50:20:16 - 00:51:12:20
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's a it's an interesting one. And I'm. And I'm always curious to. You might know want answer this in case then might listen. But is that a universe where if, if he hadn't put his face to that product or those products and Mark did it as authentically as he did with his face on it, would that is that product a good enough quality and answers enough of the problems to be successful without.
00:51:30:10 - 00:51:38:12
Unknown
Smart move. Yeah.
00:51:38:14 - 00:52:00:06
Unknown
Yes. Yes.
00:52:00:08 - 00:52:11:22
Unknown
Yeah.
00:52:12:01 - 00:52:27:15
Unknown
Yeah.
00:52:27:17 - 00:52:41:21
Unknown
Yeah.
00:52:42:00 - 00:52:59:07
Unknown
Yeah.
00:52:59:09 - 00:53:14:13
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:14:15 - 00:53:26:17
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yeah.
00:53:32:22 - 00:53:47:09
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. So well you've always got off something to inform nature to improve on. Otherwise you'd be stuck.
00:53:53:18 - 00:54:01:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:01:09 - 00:54:07:00
Unknown
Yeah. Exactly.
00:54:07:02 - 00:54:35:14
Unknown
Is that would that be a, a really good trait to have or, or a trait that you've noticed great leaders have is they, there's always that the, the why I'm doing this is this, they've communicated it really well. And they're aiming for that all of the time because lots of businesses don't have that.
00:54:35:16 - 00:54:43:04
Unknown
Yeah.
00:54:43:06 - 00:54:47:20
Unknown
The.
00:54:47:22 - 00:54:58:04
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:58:06 - 00:55:08:12
Unknown
Yeah.
00:55:08:14 - 00:55:19:03
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:55:19:05 - 00:55:25:15
Unknown
You.
00:55:25:17 - 00:55:45:15
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:55:45:17 - 00:56:07:17
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And they need someone to do the execution and the planning and get it done. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:07:19 - 00:56:16:01
Unknown
Well.
00:56:16:03 - 00:56:27:22
Unknown
Yeah. Chill call. Yeah.
00:56:28:00 - 00:56:36:02
Unknown
Yeah.
00:56:36:04 - 00:56:39:13
Unknown
Yeah.
00:56:39:15 - 00:56:53:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:56:53:02 - 00:57:21:05
Unknown
Yeah. Bottomless pit of money. Go nuts. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think I think you're right. I think it's really important to go right. This is this is why I've started this over here. And this is what I mean. I just do that really well first and get the right people to support you to do it, rather than. And you need that strong, strong partnership with right hand woman, right hand man, whatever it is to say to that founder, who's coming in with all the great ideas.
00:57:21:06 - 00:57:36:00
Unknown
No, that's a terrible idea. Or yes is a great plan, but not yet or maybe,
00:57:36:02 - 00:57:42:05
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think you need that.
00:57:42:07 - 00:58:07:22
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that's a really, really powerful combination is that happens. Well, where it doesn't happen so. Well, I've seen as where you've got that sound and you've got the operator. They work really well together that they then those as a leadership aren't communicate to not vision and mission to the rest of the team that are doing work.
00:58:08:01 - 00:58:19:13
Unknown
That seems to be like a private conversation between those two people. And then it. Yeah.
00:58:19:15 - 00:58:24:00
Unknown
Yeah.
00:58:37:01 - 00:58:43:04
Unknown
Yeah.
00:58:43:06 - 00:58:48:17
Unknown
Yeah.
00:58:48:19 - 00:59:04:11
Unknown
Yeah. Done. Yeah.
00:59:04:13 - 00:59:17:21
Unknown
Yeah.
00:59:18:00 - 00:59:26:10
Unknown
Yeah.
00:59:26:11 - 00:59:32:19
Unknown
Yeah.
00:59:32:21 - 00:59:44:10
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Repetition breeds recognition. Yeah.
00:59:44:11 - 00:59:51:06
Unknown
Yeah.
00:59:51:08 - 00:59:55:00
Unknown
Yeah.
01:00:04:14 - 01:00:16:10
Unknown
Yeah.
01:00:16:11 - 01:00:21:01
Unknown
No.
01:00:21:03 - 01:00:29:12
Unknown
Yeah.
01:00:29:14 - 01:00:43:11
Unknown
Yeah.
01:00:43:13 - 01:01:04:04
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It is I think I think the you know, founders grow teams or leaders grow teams. And then they forget sometimes that those people need to understand why you're asking. You. They're asking you to do those things. And what it ties back to you I. And that that comes back to the communication point, doesn't it?
01:01:04:04 - 01:01:27:06
Unknown
You were saying earlier about, Yeah. Yeah. Otherwise, what did you say last time we spoke? Just you. That clarity is just no issue. You said you touched on it a little bit, then. Yeah, exactly. What is, a trend or, a thing that you're seeing with businesses you're working with now with the Growth Foundation. That's a common thread throughout.
01:01:27:06 - 01:01:51:21
Unknown
What issues are they having? What are they not keeping up with.
01:01:52:00 - 01:02:09:21
Unknown
Yeah.
01:02:10:00 - 01:02:14:20
Unknown
Yeah.
01:02:34:07 - 01:02:43:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:02:43:09 - 01:02:50:05
Unknown
Yeah.
01:02:50:07 - 01:03:20:15
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:03:38:14 - 01:03:45:12
Unknown
The.
01:03:45:14 - 01:04:16:00
Unknown
Yeah.
01:04:16:02 - 01:04:21:18
Unknown
Yeah.
01:04:26:18 - 01:04:33:21
Unknown
Yeah.
01:04:34:00 - 01:04:38:01
Unknown
Yeah.
01:04:38:02 - 01:05:03:22
Unknown
Yeah. Exactly. I think that's a great point because I think people well there's a lot of noise there will be for a long time around AI and you know all the usual stuff. But.
01:05:04:01 - 01:05:22:22
Unknown
Yeah.
01:05:23:00 - 01:05:28:19
Unknown
Yeah.
01:05:28:21 - 01:05:36:01
Unknown
Hand painting. Wallpaper. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
01:05:36:03 - 01:05:40:20
Unknown
Yeah.
01:05:40:21 - 01:05:50:04
Unknown
Yeah.
01:06:07:01 - 01:06:18:21
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great point.
01:06:18:22 - 01:06:31:14
Unknown
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
01:06:31:16 - 01:06:38:09
Unknown
Yeah.
01:06:38:11 - 01:07:06:00
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to have these conversations with marketers, copywriters, creatives all over the place because there's, there's still so much resistance to it. And you know, I'm, it's not a quote from me I don't know where it came from, but it was something like, AI is not going to take over jobs, but people who are using AI will take over the people who are not using AI jobs, for instance, because they'll be more efficient.
01:07:06:02 - 01:07:09:21
Unknown
But.
01:07:09:22 - 01:07:13:20
Unknown
Yeah.
01:07:13:22 - 01:07:35:14
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Huge empathy. But there is an element of being practical there in that you still have to be a brilliant copywriter to get the good stuff, to be able to breathe. Yeah.
01:07:35:15 - 01:07:39:15
Unknown
Yeah.
01:07:39:17 - 01:07:48:22
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:49:01 - 01:08:03:00
Unknown
Yeah.
01:08:03:02 - 01:08:16:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
01:08:16:09 - 01:08:24:06
Unknown
Yeah.
01:08:24:08 - 01:08:31:09
Unknown
Yeah.
01:08:31:11 - 01:08:53:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's the important point, is that you still need that crazy creative human brain to get the good stuff out of the collective. Tools.
01:08:53:08 - 01:09:15:05
Unknown
Yeah.
01:09:20:13 - 01:09:25:17
Unknown
Yeah.
01:09:25:19 - 01:09:30:19
Unknown
Yeah.
01:09:30:21 - 01:09:48:16
Unknown
Yeah. Nurturing the ones you got.
01:09:48:18 - 01:09:54:06
Unknown
Wow.
01:09:54:08 - 01:10:02:12
Unknown
E.
01:10:02:14 - 01:10:07:12
Unknown
Yeah.
01:10:07:14 - 01:10:25:09
Unknown
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's, It's interesting because sometimes you do need someone outside of that business with a different perspective to come in and find those leaky buckets. You have to. Yeah.
01:10:25:11 - 01:10:32:11
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:32:13 - 01:11:01:03
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Firefighting all over the place. And then you can. Yeah. You can't find the the holes and plug the holes. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. It's it must be quite satisfying, you know, to go in, support a business owner founder and grow a team, help them get the right people.
01:11:01:05 - 01:11:32:17
Unknown
The.
01:11:44:21 - 01:11:51:02
Unknown
Oh, wow.
01:11:51:04 - 01:11:58:03
Unknown
He's left his job. He's crazy. Yeah.
01:12:07:11 - 01:12:25:18
Unknown
Oh. That's brilliant. And do you know what that's really telling? That that's the story you told. Not, you know, we got this business to like, 20 million know, but it was the human you know, impact story. Yeah.
01:12:40:10 - 01:12:50:20
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:12:50:22 - 01:13:14:07
Unknown
Yeah.
01:13:14:09 - 01:13:20:02
Unknown
Yeah.
01:13:20:04 - 01:13:24:08
Unknown
Yeah.
01:13:24:10 - 01:13:40:10
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. And that informs. Yeah. How you. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. That's great. What was it called? The jelly effect. We'll find a link to that.
01:13:40:11 - 01:14:19:09
Unknown
Brilliant. Yeah, that would be great. So what advice would you give to a founder now? And perhaps someone who's just left a really safe corporate job starting something, is doing alright, that maybe they add a bit of panic mode. What to do next?
01:14:19:10 - 01:14:35:20
Unknown
Yeah.
01:14:51:09 - 01:15:08:07
Unknown
Yeah.
01:15:08:09 - 01:15:14:08
Unknown
Yeah.
01:15:14:10 - 01:15:23:05
Unknown
Yeah.
01:15:23:07 - 01:15:30:01
Unknown
Boost the stuff that's working organically. That makes complete sense. Yeah.
01:15:30:03 - 01:15:51:03
Unknown
Yeah.
01:15:55:09 - 01:16:02:01
Unknown
Yeah.
01:16:02:03 - 01:16:17:15
Unknown
In.
01:16:17:17 - 01:16:26:18
Unknown
Be specific.
01:16:26:20 - 01:16:37:02
Unknown
Yeah.
01:16:37:03 - 01:16:50:05
Unknown
Yeah.
01:16:50:07 - 01:16:54:09
Unknown
Yeah.
01:16:54:11 - 01:17:15:20
Unknown
You. Yeah.
01:17:15:22 - 01:17:26:20
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
01:17:26:21 - 01:17:57:06
Unknown
Don't panic. Don't panic. I've asked for help is definitely, Definitely one that I would throw in there as well. Yeah. Because it can be quite a lonely place, especially if you are start out.
01:17:57:07 - 01:18:06:21
Unknown
Fingers crossed. Yeah.
01:18:07:00 - 01:18:19:08
Unknown
Yeah.
01:18:19:10 - 01:19:03:11
Unknown
Yeah. Hundred percent. Definitely. Yeah. It's out there somewhere, and someone can point you in the right direction. Yeah, if you. If you ask. Definitely. How important do you think branding is? To, to get into that growth stage of business and that exploding do enough businesses put their. So I mean the the visuals and the vision and the mission and the stories of why that brand and how that's communicated out into the world.
01:19:03:13 - 01:19:36:02
Unknown
I know you have to check what the other person means. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or is it. Yeah. Yeah. I think yeah. I think what I mean is the. Yeah, exactly. What I mean is I'm that the foundations of that business and how it's presented communicates it to the world.
01:19:36:04 - 01:19:44:20
Unknown
You need to be. Yeah.
01:19:44:22 - 01:19:56:11
Unknown
The.
01:19:56:13 - 01:19:59:13
Unknown
Yeah.
01:19:59:15 - 01:20:20:03
Unknown
Yes. That's. Dream bedroom. Woo. Woo.
01:20:20:05 - 01:20:27:10
Unknown
Yeah.
01:20:27:12 - 01:20:37:22
Unknown
The the. Yeah.
01:20:38:01 - 01:20:48:07
Unknown
Yeah.
01:20:48:09 - 01:20:53:20
Unknown
Brilliant.
01:20:53:22 - 01:21:04:07
Unknown
Yeah.
01:21:04:09 - 01:21:13:13
Unknown
Yeah.
01:21:13:15 - 01:21:23:21
Unknown
Or. Yeah.
01:21:23:22 - 01:21:35:10
Unknown
Yeah.
01:21:35:12 - 01:21:46:13
Unknown
Yeah.
01:22:05:13 - 01:22:14:04
Unknown
Huge.
01:22:14:06 - 01:22:21:18
Unknown
Yeah. No, it doesn't. Yeah.
01:22:21:20 - 01:22:50:15
Unknown
And. This is it. Yeah. That's a tool. 100%. Yeah. It's something I say as. As you work with business, it's like. Oh, well, you know, that brand of that has got, you know, a 2 million pound marketing budget and it's like they didn't at the beginning. But what they did do. Yeah, what they did do was make sure they had a compelling story, a compelling vision mission.
01:22:50:15 - 01:22:57:08
Unknown
And then they communicated that organically. World.
01:23:01:12 - 01:23:12:11
Unknown
Yeah.
01:23:12:13 - 01:23:25:21
Unknown
Yeah. But.
01:23:26:00 - 01:23:33:18
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:23:33:20 - 01:23:39:16
Unknown
Yeah. Nice.
01:23:39:17 - 01:23:57:13
Unknown
Yeah. Is that a.
01:23:57:15 - 01:24:01:17
Unknown
Yeah.
01:24:01:19 - 01:24:13:18
Unknown
Well.
01:24:13:20 - 01:24:17:18
Unknown
Yeah.
01:24:17:20 - 01:24:24:19
Unknown
Yeah.
01:24:24:21 - 01:24:55:04
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's hugely important to to do that work at the beginning. And so I'm continue to do it as well. It should be an evolution. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.
01:24:55:05 - 01:25:03:06
Unknown
Yeah.
01:25:03:08 - 01:25:14:00
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:25:14:02 - 01:25:25:14
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have to have them conviction don't you. And what and what you're doing otherwise. Yeah.
01:25:25:16 - 01:25:56:02
Unknown
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah definitely. I think no. Know who you are and, you know, stick to it. And it comes back to the authentic authenticity thing. And it's interesting. It ties back to what you said about, play.com at the beginning. You know, if you do brand branding really, really well from the beginning, you will just be able to have a typeface and, and art and everyone know who it belongs to.
01:25:56:04 - 01:26:17:04
Unknown
It is that powerful. If you if you do it correctly.
01:26:31:06 - 01:26:42:05
Unknown
Yeah.
01:26:42:06 - 01:26:50:22
Unknown
And.
01:26:58:06 - 01:27:04:18
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:27:04:20 - 01:27:11:11
Unknown
Yeah.
01:27:11:13 - 01:27:16:06
Unknown
Yeah.
01:27:16:08 - 01:27:20:19
Unknown
Yeah. 100%.
01:27:20:21 - 01:27:32:09
Unknown
Yeah.
01:27:32:10 - 01:27:38:15
Unknown
Yeah. They do stick. Yeah.
01:27:38:17 - 01:27:48:18
Unknown
Yeah. And it stays. That's that subliminal advertising happening again. Yeah.
01:27:48:20 - 01:27:56:13
Unknown
Yeah. I remember.
01:27:56:15 - 01:28:08:00
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. It's not magic. Is marketing.
01:28:08:01 - 01:29:03:19
Unknown
Yeah. You you can have that one toy. You can have that one. I it's very. And you, you help businesses grow. You help them, do what you do, which is very, very satisfying. But you also, running your own thing. So the advice and, you know, everything we talked about in terms of marketing. Now, are you doing that well for yourself or is it falling off the table because you're doing it for so many other brands?
01:29:03:21 - 01:29:13:21
Unknown
And. Yeah.
01:29:14:00 - 01:29:25:15
Unknown
Yeah. It's a shell. Yeah. Holes in the floor. Yeah.
01:29:39:16 - 01:29:48:01
Unknown
Yeah.
01:29:48:03 - 01:29:53:21
Unknown
Yeah.
01:29:54:00 - 01:30:07:01
Unknown
Yeah.
01:30:07:03 - 01:30:16:17
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:30:16:19 - 01:30:24:20
Unknown
Yeah.
01:30:24:22 - 01:30:32:04
Unknown
Yeah. Practice.
01:30:32:05 - 01:30:38:00
Unknown
Same.
01:30:38:02 - 01:30:44:05
Unknown
Yeah.
01:30:44:07 - 01:30:50:13
Unknown
Yeah.
01:30:50:15 - 01:31:03:19
Unknown
Yeah. And hundred percent.
01:31:03:21 - 01:31:36:17
Unknown
Yeah. I I I I relate, and it's not an unusual thing that I hear in these conversations. Around that, you know, like, too many tabs open, 15 projects on the go at the time. Three conversations happening over here, darting all over the place. Is, you know, it seems to be a common, common thread with, with people building things.
01:31:36:18 - 01:31:45:21
Unknown
Yeah.
01:31:46:00 - 01:31:49:02
Unknown
Then.
01:31:49:04 - 01:31:59:06
Unknown
Yeah.
01:31:59:08 - 01:32:03:11
Unknown
Yeah.
01:32:03:13 - 01:32:11:17
Unknown
Yeah.
01:32:11:18 - 01:32:24:18
Unknown
Yeah. It's. Yeah, it totally is.
01:32:24:19 - 01:33:00:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a it's an interesting one. Is that because I think I, I definitely am one of those I'm going to deal with that now. And then it's done. Take off the less move. And but like you said when when things are coming in all over the place that's just as a rolling thing and you can't get to the actual thing that you were planning on do, but on doing for that.
01:33:00:09 - 01:33:05:18
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. And then it'll come back.
01:33:05:20 - 01:33:33:08
Unknown
Yeah. And that's and that's what I was going to add to that then is like, if you are managing a team and you're working with people, I feel a response, ability to not ignore them if they are coming to you for help for that time. So you feel like I need to respond, that I can I can't get to that right the second, but time blocking is, is a huge part of what I'm trying to figure out.
01:33:33:08 - 01:33:56:12
Unknown
So that I can pass that on to to the teams that I work with. And as I've got older, I've also realized, you know, it's not life and death. Nothing terrible will happen if I just leave that for 50 minutes and, you know, go and have lunch for a change. It's one of those, yeah, those realizations.
01:34:01:19 - 01:34:08:20
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:34:08:22 - 01:34:39:06
Unknown
And I think there's an element of, especially, you know, working in that industry for so long if you don't jump on that opportunity immediately, often it's gone. Yeah. And you're like, I. Yeah. Proper FOMO like someone else will, you know, get on that in another business. Another company.
01:34:46:17 - 01:34:50:08
Unknown
Yeah.
01:34:50:10 - 01:35:00:09
Unknown
Yeah.
01:35:00:10 - 01:35:24:01
Unknown
Yeah. I always do that as well. I've got to give myself a deadline. Yeah. I got to give myself a deadline. So it happens but also allow room for fire. Fire happen over there. Someone that got stuck into it. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Interesting. I think it's, It's a high speed industry to be in business, and you'll have to be curious and keep up.
01:35:24:03 - 01:35:34:08
Unknown
Keep up with the game. Definitely.
01:35:34:10 - 01:35:59:08
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you have a conversation with like a content marketer of that and you're like oh actually. Well what worked last week on that channel. Something else is updated. Yeah. We need to rethink that whole. Yeah. Whole whole strategy. Yeah, definitely. Fun. I wouldn't have it any other way, though, would you?
01:35:59:10 - 01:36:08:09
Unknown
It's.
01:36:11:10 - 01:36:31:19
Unknown
Is that a part of you. Enjoys it. Enjoys the fast paced ness and the challenge and the chase. Yeah.
01:36:31:21 - 01:36:42:05
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:36:42:07 - 01:36:48:18
Unknown
Yes. Yeah.
01:36:48:20 - 01:36:53:09
Unknown
Yeah.
01:36:53:11 - 01:37:22:12
Unknown
Yeah. Is satisfying in there is really satisfying. So that's my work. Definitely. So I'm going to bring it back to the alchemy theme. If you add a personal alchemy formula or ingredient for success, what what couldn't you do without. And it could be a personality trait that you have that you wouldn't be where you are without. Or it could be, you know, a person you've worked with.
01:37:22:14 - 01:37:55:04
Unknown
Yes. Great book.
01:37:55:06 - 01:38:08:18
Unknown
Not for recognition. Yeah.
01:38:08:20 - 01:38:13:07
Unknown
Yeah.
01:38:13:09 - 01:38:49:07
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah.
01:38:49:09 - 01:38:58:08
Unknown
Yes. Or energy. Vampire. Be an energy vampire. Yep.
01:38:58:10 - 01:39:04:00
Unknown
It can be.
01:39:04:02 - 01:39:18:20
Unknown
Yeah.
01:39:18:22 - 01:39:26:15
Unknown
Yeah.
01:39:26:17 - 01:39:33:06
Unknown
Yeah.
01:39:33:07 - 01:39:53:06
Unknown
Laugh off. I love that bit about accountability, though, because I think the there can be a culture of, you know, blame that happens in, in businesses. You know, that was your idea of that an hour of things. But if you are responsible for that team and you've, you know, you've stallion's.
01:39:53:08 - 01:40:02:10
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:02:12 - 01:40:08:06
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:08:08 - 01:40:14:12
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:14:14 - 01:40:19:04
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:19:06 - 01:40:28:19
Unknown
You. Yeah. Possibly. Possibly.
01:40:28:21 - 01:40:32:01
Unknown
Who?
01:40:32:03 - 01:40:38:03
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:38:05 - 01:40:42:11
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:42:13 - 01:40:51:17
Unknown
Yeah.
01:40:51:19 - 01:41:09:04
Unknown
Yeah. Absolutely. Stop dwelling in the, In the mistakes and move. Move forwards. Definitely. Listen. Oh. Thanks, Richard. That was amazing. I feel like we could have talked for days, and I think.
01:41:09:06 - 01:41:30:00
Unknown
Thank you for coming on, and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
01:41:30:00 - 01:41:37:00
Unknown
Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Bon scale. Look out for another episode dropping very, very soon.