Compelling Interviews With Today's Successful Entrepeneurs and Thought Leaders

On this week’s podcast, we’ve been speaking to Shanker Patel, founder and chief executive of Lords Builders Merchants. After first opening its doors in 1985, Lords has grown to its major two and half acre sites at Park Royal and Hayes. For Shanker, business growth has always been in his blood. From helping his father in their family business aged 10 to spending every weekend working when he took over aged 18, Shanker learnt first hand about the practicalities of business. Hear his top tips on how to identify key business opportunities and stand out from your competitors.

Entrepreneurship is literally in Andrew Try’s blood. At just eighteen-years-old, his grandfather founded Windsorian Coaches, putting Andrew right at the forefront of seeing a true businessman at work. From school to owning a successful business Like so many other successful entrepreneurs, Andrew didn’t excel at school (he achieved a D, E and an F in his A Levels). But this encouraged him to explore entrepreneurship in the hope of creating his own business like his grandfather. When he arrived at university, he ended up studying entrepreneurship in the USA, putting him on the right path when he returned to the UK in the late 1980s. Back in the UK, Andrew instinctively spotted an opportunity for a telephone answering and mailbox service aimed at the growing small business sector. The business grew and at one point, he had Waitrose as a client. At the same time, he ran a number of other businesses, often spreading his resources too thinly,  resulting in some failing while others thrived. When contact centres started moving abroad, Andrew recognised the need to change or die. He completely reinvented his contact centre to provide a 21st century switchboard and a concierge service aimed at top law firms. Today, he has a sustainable, growing business that is heading towards employing one hundred people. Hear Andrew’s story Andrew reflects on his journey as one big learning curve and his biggest piece of advice is: focus on one thing, and do it better than the competition. Listen to him share his knowledge, from financing his business to his plans for future growth. The interview is packed with practical advice on how to move into the 4% of UK businesses that get a £1m+ turnover. For further reading into business insight, Andrew recommends Good to Great by Jim Collins, and Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. To find out, visit Comxo or contact Andrew on 01753 710 430.

Emanuel Rosen started his career in marketing as an advertising copywriter before becoming Vice President of Marketing at EndNote - a specialist software company that helps academics publish their research. At EndNote, Emanuel became passionate about word of mouth marketing and made a huge impact on the industry, driving his further success. After the sale of the company, Emanuel recognised that there weren’t any books dedicated to this powerful channel. That's why he wrote The Anatomy of Buzz, the first guide on how to create a word of mouth magic in a campaign. After the brilliant response to his first book, Emanuel has gone on to write a number of guides. The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited focuses on how the internet and social media has fundamentally changed how we communicate. Within this realm, he’s identified a huge shift in power. What used to be brands telling customers what to expect has turned into customers having instant information from previous users and other trusted sources (TripAdvisor is a prime example). His newest book: Absolute Value, helps us better understand what influences customers in this age of ‘nearly’ perfect information. Aside from his own books, Emmanuel also recommends reading Everett Rogers: Diffusion of Innovation and the Heath Brothers: Made to Stick, both of which offer lots of practical advice that can inspire your marketing strategy. 

What would life be like if you could get 25% more energy and purpose out of your team? Will Murray is an entrepreneur and former blue chip director working on the answer. He's the founder of Packtypes: a simple card-based game that is exciting big companies and innovative start-ups through to schools and the general public. Packtypes uses recognised psychology within a pack of cards to help people learn about themselves, friends, family, team mates and business. Hear from Will about how he founded the business and where his drive and passion comes from. He'll also share his mistakes and give you some expert advice on sustainable growth. Find out more about Packtypes and how it could help your business. 

Peter Murley is a senior executive with an enviable level of experience to his name. From his dream of becoming an actor through to taking the plunge to be a self-employed consultant aged just 28, Peter has had an unconventional road to success. Today, he has huge names such as ITV Digital, GO Fly Airlines (now easyJet), Energis and O2, on his CV. He was also a founding director of First Direct. Peter recently left a CEO position for the Hawksford Group, a regulated wealth structuring company with a £20m+ turnover, headquartered in Jersey, CI. In this podcast, we chat with Peter about best practice, challenges he’s faced throughout his career and some of his best advice for those wanting to follow in his footsteps.

In this podcast, we’d like to welcome Simon Lewis, CEO of West Berkshire Brewery and a drinks man through and through. From managing an old-fashioned wine merchant in the middle of London to joining the Red Bull Company before it became a household name, Simon has a wealth of experience in the drinks industry. With huge names such as Bass, Monster Energy and Purity on his CV, we chatted with Simon about how the industry has evolved and where he thinks the art of beer brewing is going in the future.

If you want to hear invaluable insights on how to survive as a retailer and fashion brand for over 30 years this interview with Simon Carter, the founder of the famous men’s fashion brand of the same name, is for you.   He started off door knocking on The King’s Road in London selling men’s brooches. Today, he operates a multi-million pound global business with a presence in over 25 different countries. A huge achievement. Simon shares where his brand is positioned in the market, where his inspiration comes from, the setbacks he has had over the years and how he has overcome them plus his opportunities and challenges for the future. He even explains how he avoided using private equity or venture capital to fund his growth.   We really enjoyed hearing Simon’s experiences and hope you do too. He is unique. Even his choice of favourite business book is different, in fact he has never read one. He prefers to get inspiration from travel, figures from history and architecture. The closest thing to a business book he has read is Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek.   As for his favourite charity he likes the unsung, unglamorous organisations, most notably The Salvation Army.   You must make time to listen to this interview, it is really good.

This a compelling interview if you want to hear first-hand from an accomplished marketing director who identifies with, indeed has a passion for,  driving success with owner managed retailers.   Meet Phil Geary, the Marketing Director at one of Britain’s fastest growing retailers, The Entertainer toy shop chain. Hear what he has learnt during a career of working closely with some our countries best known brands, Lloyds Pharmacy, Holland & Barrett, Bounty and of course The Entertainer.   One of Phil’s best pieces of advice for any growing business is to consistently ask “What does the customer want, need or think?” But more than this he points out that these questions cannot be answered around the boardroom table. You must get out and speak with staff and customers. They have lots of the answers and instinctively know what is right and wrong.   During the interview he shares with us what is at the core of The Entertainer’s success. His views on the internet and fears around the intrusiveness of new technologies and personal data. His greatest set back? A lot of us will remember an advertising campaign run by Holland and Barrett, the problem though is that it had no impact on sales. Ouch! Hearing how he overcame this set back is compulsive listening. He also discusses the “Rule of unintended consequences” where he used a celebrity to open a store which attracted so many people that the store had to be closed and of course sales were massively below expectation.   His favourite business book Howard Schultz – Onward – How Starbucks Fought For Its Life Without Losing Its Soul. He is particularly enthusiastic about the time when Schultz closed all 11,000 stores for half a day to reinforce the staff’s coffee making skills. His favourite charity Acorns – It’s a children’s hospice.  https://acorns.org.uk Finally, a list of The Entertainer stores is on their website http://www.thetoyshop.com  

Colin is a highly successful businessman and accountant who has faced the challenges of fast growth and turnaround both here in the UK and in the USA. His is also an author and the founder of Cavendish (1998) which is a vehicle for him to share his vast knowledge and experiences mainly focusing on leadership and systemisation of businesses to drive efficiency, sales and shareholder value. He likes to help companies mature towards successful exit strategies and holds a number of non executive positions amongst Britain’s SMEs. Favourite book (he has 2) Tom Peters – In Search of Excellence Edward Gibbon – The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire Favourite charity Derbyshire Air Ambulance www.theairambulanceservice.org.uk Contact : www.cavendish-mr.org.uk

Rasheed is like so many successful entrepreneurs in that his is a very driven and tenacious person yet he is also very different.   Firstly he runs his own life & business coaching practice but unlike most of his competitors, he doesn’t focus primarily on goals, he focuses on the softer more soulful measures such as self-discovery, life balance, self-confidence and personal direction. He encourages people to discover their authentic self and then use this to best advantage. It took Rasheed 3 years of leaning and experimenting to see his business start to grow into what it is today. His biggest learning was to be true to yourself, don’t be scared to be different and stay highly focused on meeting customer needs. Rasheed works with business people, pop stars, politicians and the public. He runs life and business development workshops, is a motivational speaker, and author of the internationally acclaimed Soul Trader – Putting the Heart Back into Your Business. He can also often be seen and heard commenting on radio and TV. Like so many entrepreneurs Rasheed has lots more he wants to achieve including making his own TV show. This is a very thought provoking interview that brings a perspective to life and business that too many of us miss. Rasheed’s favourite business book,  he has 2: Business As Unusual – Anita Roddick The E Myth Revisited – Michael Gerber Rasheed’s favourite charity: Oxfam Rasheed’s contact details Website: www.rasaru.com   New resource for small business owners www.soul-trader.biz   Twitter: @RasheedOgunlaru  @SoulTraderBiz