Never Settle Podcast

Caroline McKenna is the founder of Social Good Connect, an organisation helping charities and social enterprises to develop, grow and prosper. They're on a mission to build connected communities through an online platform that connects employees with charities to positively impact the communities in which we live and work. In response to the Coronavirus crisis and the demand for volunteering across Scotland, Social Good Connect accelerated their digital platform to launch during the Coronavirus lockdown. In this episode, we’re digging into the story behind Social Good Connect, Caroline's journey in the world of social entrepreneurship, and how that's brought her to where she is today. If you’d like to connect with Caroline or Social Good Connect, you can email her at caroline@socialgoodconnect.org or head to their website at socialgoodconnect.org.The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here:•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK •Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ •Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

La Fabrica is a cycle cafe in the heart of Girona, merging the passions of its founders, husband and wife Christian and Amber, their vision and heart. Amber and Christian moved to Spain over 12 years ago when the promising career of a professional cyclist was offered to Christian in Girona. Starting as a Stagiaire, he was able to work his way to the top tier of the peloton, riding in races he had only dreamed of as a child. World Championships, The Classics in Europe to the National Championships in Canada… he was riding them all. While Amber was happy to support him, travel and live an enjoyable life of early retirement, she knew Christian’s cycling career was only going to be a long journey. So she decided to follow her dream of opening a a small, specialty coffee shop in their adopted hometown of Girona. After just 2 years, they were the owners of 3 incredible businesses at the forefront of cycling and coffee culture in Spain. In this episode you’ll hear the incredible story behind La Fabrica, Christian's professional cycling career, the journey to building Girona's only in-house coffee roasters, Espresso Mafia, and luxury bicycle shop, The Service Course. If you'd like to connect with Christian and Amber, you can follow them on Instagram @lafabricacafes or head to lafabricagirona.com. The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here:•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK •Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ •Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

Goose's Quizzes are an Edinburgh based pub quiz company, taking a design-led approach to the world of pub quizzes. Since the Coronavirus lockdown, founder Goose has moved Goose's Quizzes entirely online, hosting pub quizzes every night on Twitch. In the space of just a few weeks, Goose’s Quizzes gained thousands of new followers, built a growing online community and created an entirely new revenue stream overnight, all driven by their purpose of bringing joy to viewers every single day. Join us as we delve into the fascinating story behind Goose's Quizzes. We discuss Goose's background in service design and how he's applied this to pub quizzes. You'll also hear how Goose has innovated his business model in a time of crisis with a focus on spreading joy. You can connect with Goose's Quizzes at goosesquizzes.com and you can listen to all their online quizzes at twitch.tv/goosesquizzes.The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here:•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK •Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ •Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

Vero are an Aberdeen-based recruitment agency disrupting their industry with an approach that's transparent, trusted and, most of all, human. Vero are unashamedly selective in their recruitment process and are amazing at what they do, taking a content-led approach to finding the right people for organistions. In this episode, you’ll hear co-founder Andrew Ferguson’s story, his forward-thinking approach to recruitment and his insights on finding the right people for your organisation. You can connect with Vero on Instagram @verorecruitment and check out their website verorecruitment.com.The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here: Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

To round off Season 3, we’re chatting with Illustrator and Ink Evangelist Johanna Basford OBE. Johanna’s illustrations are hand-drawn, predominantly in black and white. She has designed colouring books, wallpaper, beer labels, tattoos and even drawn on cars! But Johanna is perhaps best known for pioneering the adult colouring book trend. After studying at DJCAD, she was quickly noticed for her distinctive style, and since then has worked with global brands the likes of Starbucks, Penguin and Staedtler. Johanna’s story is a fascinating one of innovation and tenacity. And she doesn’t play by the rules. In this episode, we dig into the incredible journey from starting off as a young design student to now selling over 21 million colouring books worldwide and being awarded an OBE. Johanna has a real passion for giving people the tools to be creative in their own way, and she has just launched her own online course, Inky Art School, where she offers people a unique art school experience. Johanna also tells us about her brand new book, How to Draw Inky Wonderlands, in which she shares her drawing tips and tricks, and how she’s collaborating with the drawing community, inspiring millions of people around the world to put down their devices and pick up a pencil. Finally, she shares the exciting things she’s got planned for the future and some words of wisdom for budding designers. Johanna is one of the most inspiring guests we’ve had on the podcast to date, and a real testament to why you should Never Settle until you’re living your dream. If you’d like to keep up with Johanna’s inky adventures and be the first to know when she next runs a course like Inky Art School, you can sign up to her newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/johannabasford.com/inkyemail. You can also order Johanna’s new book here: https://www.johannabasford.com/books/ And you can follow Johanna on Instagram and Facebook @JohannaBasford. The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here: Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

Sarah Downs and Yekemi Otaru are cofounders and directors of Doqaru, a business management consultant based in Aberdeen. In their first eight months, they’ve hit the ground running. They’re now a team of 5 with award nominations, including a nomination for Scottish Startup Entrepreneurs of the Year in The Great British Entrepreneur Awards. Based in Aberdeen, the oil capital of Europe, Sarah and Yekemi talk about their experiences of running their separate businesses during the oil downturn and what it’s like running a business together in the energy sector of Aberdeen today. Before Doqaru, Yekemi also wrote a book, 'The Smart Sceptic's Guide to Social Media in Organisations', which reached the top 100 in 5 categories on Amazon. By merging together, they were able to offer a unique content marketing service to other technology and engineering businesses and provide a vertical alignment to an industry that didn’t have that. We dig into the journey of building a brand from a joint merger and how to develop a genuine and engaging brand voice as a business develops. You’ll hear why businesses today need to give potential customers an aligned message, both in person and online, and why they should be living and breathing their brand culture. And finally, we dig into the future of Doqaru and their plans for international expansion. If you’d like to keep up with the Doqaru journey, you can follow them on instagram @wearedoqaru or head to www.doqaru.com. And if you’d like to get in touch with Sarah or Yekemi, you can email them at info@doqaru.com. The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here: Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

In this episode, we’re in conversation with the fabulous Deirdre Robertson, CEO of Dundee Heritage Trust. Dundee Heritage Trust runs 2 globally renowned 5 star visitor attractions in Dundee, both recently awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Trip Advisor’s Hall of Fame. Deirde and our podcast host Alasdair first met back in the 80s at Ernst & Young in Dundee, when the city was a very different place. We dig into the gradual regeneration of the city over those years, how Deirdre has seen the transformation of her hometown, and the impact of the new V&A Museum as it spreads outward. Very much epitomising the attitude of Never Settle, Deirdre has had a hugely varied career spanning many roles, from finance to art, which we begin to unpack in this episode. Her lifelong passion for art and for the City of Dundee have combined to form a fascinating journey, including a role in the Damien Hirst show at the Tate, the museum’s most commercially successful exhibition at the time, and a Masters Degree at DJCAD on Dundee’s Law Tunnel. And finally, we explore what the future holds for the City of Discovery and the exciting projects Deirdre has in the pipeline. If you'd like to get in touch with Deirdre, you can email her at Deirdre.robertson@dundeeheritage.co.uk. The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here: Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

In this episode, we chat with Ed Molyneux, Founder and CEO of FreeAgent. FreeAgent is an award-winning accounting platform that puts businesses in charge of their finances, with over 200 employees and more than 60,000 users worldwide. You’ll hear how Ed cofounded FreeAgent back in 2007 without any background in accountancy, and how the power of ignorance played a central role in the early days of the FreeAgent journey. It was a pivotal time for a lot of new businesses coming to market, and a pivotal time for the evolution of tech too, and we chat about how much the internet’s capability played a role in Ed deciding to do what he did in those early days. We also chat about building a culture and a brand and how Ed encouraged people to buy into what he’d created. Despite FreeAgent’s worldwide success, Ed isn’t one to rest on his laurels. He’s determined to Never Settle, always looking for new and innovative ways to grow the business, which he shares with us on the show. Finally, we delve into the future of FreeAgent, the newfangled opportunities arising from the convergence of banking and accounting, and how FreeAgent are breaking new ground with helping customers in ways they couldn’t imagine before. If you’d like to keep up with Ed and the FreeAgent journey, you can follow them on twitter @Freeagent, or email Ed at ed@freeagent.com. The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here: Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

Colin Hewitt is cofounder and CEO of Float in Edinburgh, cash flow forecasting and financial management software for businesses. He’s disrupting the tech ecosystem on a mission to help people with the numbers so they can drive the right decisions for their business. In this episode, we delve into the early days of Colin’s first business, a web design agency If Looks Could Kill, and dig into the Float journey. You’ll hear how Float went from a solution for paying off Colin’s student debt to a Xero app partner and central dashboard for small businesses, with plans for international growth. We chat about the pivotal role of Edinburgh’s start-up culture in the development of Float, as well as the different ways businesses can get funding, from angel investors to crowdfunding. Colin tells us why it’s so critical for businesses to manage their cash flow and how they can do it. And finally, with Sweden set to become the world’s first cashless society by 2023, we delve into the future of cash flow management and FinTech as other countries potentially follow suit. If you’d like to get in touch with Colin, or find out more about Float, you can follow him on twitter @colinhewitt or email him at colin@floatapp.com. The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here: Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

In this special episode, you’ll hear from Ashton McGill, the faces behind the Never Settle podcast. We’re a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses, and in this episode, we explore the theme of bridging gaps between education and industry, and between accountants and business owners. Based on our accountant Alicia’s dissertation project, we also discuss the core skills an accountant should have in the 21st Century: communication, empathy, and curiosity, and the shifting role of the accountant in guiding you through the business landscape. And finally, we dig into the future of work, exploring the shift from the traditional 9-5 and what role technology will play in the near future. Never Settle is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. You can follow us here:Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

Rebecca Reid introduces Season 3 of the Never Settle Podcast and hints at some of our upcoming guests. Never Settle is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses. Follow us here:•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK •Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/ •Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

Vanilla Ink is Scotland’s unique Jewellery School and Studios. Established in Dundee in 2009, Vanilla Ink moved to Glasgow in 2014 and set up in their current home of The Hidden Lane in 2017. An environment that focuses on educating, inspiring and empowering the jewellery industry. Built on transparency and honesty, Vanilla Ink responds to the needs of the trade, giving makers the best opportunity to learn to be a jeweller/silversmith in today’s landscape. We chat to the Vanilla Ink team about the story of Vanilla Ink and where it's heading in the future. https://www.vanillainkstudios.co.uk

Rod Mountain is a specialist ear, nose and throat surgeon who operates and teaches at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. He is also championing the role that design, and the creative industries, can play in improving all aspects of care. “I consider myself as a mature ‘student of design’,” he says, looking to design and other areas of creativity for “helping society completely rethink, reinvent and redesign what is meant by health and social care”. If you want to hear more from Rod, then check out: his TEDxDundee Talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on3KttMgbZE his Pecha Kucha talk at https://creativedundee.com/2015/03/rodney-mountain-pkn/ and this interview that we did with him back in 2016 https://youtu.be/9hNMGCZVUZY

Not many people know Kallum Russell as Kallum Russell. To most, he’s Kallum with a K! That’s how you’ll find him on twitter, it’s also how he introduces himself, and how others introduce him. Kallum is Chief Enterprise Officer and co-founder at Acorn Enterprises, the now Dundee-based business accelerator programme. He’s won awards for his work from all sorts of people and was recently included on the Times Maserati 100 list. He didn’t get a free car though. We discuss Kallum’s journey, the growing ecosystem in Scotland that now supports entrepreneurship, why Acorn is different from the rest. And we talk about books. Kallum’s a voracious reader and shares some of his favourite books with us. Find Kallum on twitter @kallumwithak and on Instagram at @kwithakallum, you can also find Acorns at https://twitter.com/AcornEnterprise

Karen Reyburn is the founder of The Profitable Firm, a creative agency that works exclusively with accounting firms. She’s also an accountant. Not many people know that. She moved to Scotland in 2001, supposedly for 3 years, and never left! After joining an accounting firm, she moved into a Business Development role. This led to more creative roles within the accounting industry, before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. Over the past few years she’s built PF into a specialist creative agency, working with accountants all over the globe. It’s built upon four pillars – creativity, integrity, generosity & rest. We explore all of these in detail, and how combine into creating something very special. You can follow Karen at: https://twitter.com/karenlreyburn https://twitter.com/ProfitableFirm https://www.instagram.com/karenlreyburn/

Julie Christie is the owner of online membership site Togs in Business, where she helps professional photographers run better businesses. Julie’s is an interesting story. Originally from the west coast of Scotland, where she trained and worked as a school teacher, Julie and her family moved across the country to the east after her husband got a job in Aberdeen. After deciding that she didn’t want to go back to teaching, Julie decided to see if she could make some money as a photographer. The rest is history! This is a fascinating listen, as Julie learned the ropes and pivoted to an online business. There’s so much to learn in this hour-long conversation. You can connect with Julie at: https://togsinbusiness.com/

DJCAD is rightly lauded as one of the top art & design schools in the UK. On today’s episode we speak to 4 final year Design students - Julie Cumming, Cameron Malcolm, Cameron Watt & Finlay Clark. All four are studying Product Design as part of DJCAD’s Social Digital programme. We discuss what brought them to Dundee, what they’ve learned during their time in the City, some of the exciting opportunities and projects they’ve been involved in, and where they look for inspiration. You’ll also be surprised to hear about their plans for the future. Support Social Digital’s Indiegogo campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/social-digital-18-design#/ Follow the guys online at: Julie - https://twitter.com/juliecreatdthis Cameron M - https://twitter.com/CMalcs Cameron W - https://twitter.com/CWatt_PD Finlay https://www.instagram.com/fclark_designs/

Gary Turner is co-founder and managing director at Xero UK and is responsible for Xero's business operations across Europe, Middle East & Africa. Xero is the multi-award-winning global leader in online accounting software with more than 1.2 million paying subscribers around the world. Under Gary's leadership, Xero UK has scaled from a three-person startup with annual revenues of £50k to what will surpass £30m during 2018. A native of Glasgow, Gary previously held executive roles at Microsoft, Systems Union and Pegasus Software. In this episode we hear about Gary’s journey in the world of accounting software, explore what makes him tick, and talk about delivery robots in Milton Keynes! Follow Gary on Twitter at https://twitter.com/garyturner Follow Xero at https://twitter.com/Xero You can find The Cluetrain Manifesto, which Gary talks about and which was also a hugely influential book for me at http://www.cluetrain.com/ Finally, here’s a link to a story about the delivery robots in MK https://tamebay.com/2017/12/i-chased-by-a-robot-in-milton-keynes.html

Kev & Gillian O’Neill are the co-founders of video marketing agency 29 Studios. I’ve been lucky enough to work with them several times over the past dozen years or so. In this episode we explore their journey as video pioneers and hear about their experiences working in Silicon valley with brands like YouTube and Google. They share their passions for travel, for exploring the world, for pushing the boundaries, and we talk about creating culture within a business. You can connect with them via the website at https://www.29studios.com/ or on twitter at https://twitter.com/29studios, https://twitter.com/kevoneil & https://twitter.com/gillianoneil You’ll find their 29ers Show on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/29studiosUK

Ryan McLeod is a Dundee-based Designer. He’s also the host of the popular Creative Chit Chat Podcast. After graduating from DJCAD, Ryan did a Masters in Design before spending time in Canada. After returning to Scotland, he did a stint working in one of the country’s biggest agencies before moving back to Dundee and setting up his own design studio, Slurpp. In 2017 Ryan launched the Creative Chit Chat podcast, which tells the stories of Dundee’s thriving creative sector. In this episode we talk about Ryan’s journey, dig into the design process, solve the problem of Dundee’s taxi service, and explore the benefits of side projects. You can follow Ryan on twitter at https://twitter.com/madebyslurpp, find his websites at http://madebyslurpp.com/ and http://cccdundee.com/ and of course you can subscribe to Creative Chit Chat on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/creative-chit-chat-dundee/id1173354319?mt=2

Kirsty Thomson is a social entrepreneur and the founder & CEO of both ACK & The Circle. She setup her first business 6 years ago after returning to her hometown of Dundee and being unable to find a job in academia. As a psychologist & researcher, Kirsty applied those skills to creating firstly ACK & then The Circle - both organisations that are focused on solving problems for their target audience. In this episode we discuss Kirsty’s journey, how she got started in business, where that journey has taken her, and then dive into her experiences on the Saltire Fellowship in Boston this past Autumn. Kirsty’s is an inspiring story of a young woman who’s achieved a great deal in the past six years since she launched her first business. What does the next six years hold for Kirsty? Listen in to find out! You can keep up with Kirsty and her businesses on twitter by following them on - Kirsty https://twitter.com/Kirsty1Thomson ACK https://twitter.com/weareACK The Circle https://twitter.com/thecircledundee

At 29 years of age, Councillor John Alexander is the youngest leader of any Council within Scotland. John took over the Council leadership in May 2017 having originally been elected in 2012 at the age of 23 and serves the community where he still lives. We talk about the changing political landscape, the move to a more collaborative style of politics (of which John is a champion) and delve into what motivates him to live his life serving the community. 2018 is an exciting time for Dundee, with the waterfront development and the opening of the V&A Museum of Design, however, we also talk about the social challenges facing the City - a subject very close to John’s heart. As a modern politician, John doesn’t spend his time sitting in an ivory tower, rather he likes to get out and meet the people of the City, listen to what they have to say, and involve them in the political dialogue. He also makes use of social networks to connect and you can find him on the following platforms: Twitter https://twitter.com/CllrAlexander & https://twitter.com/DundeeLeader Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CouncillorJohnAlexander/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cllralexander/

Chris Marr is the Founder of the Content Marketing Academy. Chris is a ‘no bullshit’ kind of guy and through CMA he wants to help you to understand how the dramatic shift in consumer behaviour impacts how you communicate, get new customers and grow a profitable business. In this episode we explore Chris’ early working life inside a large University and why he vowed never to work for anyone again; Chris talks about the importance of learning everyday; we dig into the rebrand of CMA in the summer of 2017 - an event that Chris describes as the most important decision he’s made in business. We also learn about his Jonny Cupcakes obsession, and what makes the brand such an influence for Chris. https://johnnycupcakes.com/ And finally Chris shares the reason why he does what he does with us. Find out more about CMA at: https://www.thecontentmarketingacademy.co.uk/ Connect with Chris on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/chrismarr101

Gillian Easson is Director of Creative Dundee, an organisation that supports creative talent to base, grow and sustain their practice in and around Dundee, by connecting and amplifying the city’s creativity. In this episode we discuss the beginnings of Creative Dundee, which Gillian started as a blog in 2008 with co-founder Lyall Bruce. We explore the changes that have taken place in the City’s creative community since then and discuss the new Creative Industries Strategy that Gillian’s team led on, and which was published in October 2017. Find out more about Creative Dundee at: https://creativedundee.com/ Twitter https://twitter.com/Creative_Dundee

The Dundee Centre of Entrepreneurship opened on 24th September 2017. A partnership between Elevator, who run the successful Aberdeen Accelerator, and the University of Dundee, this is the first Accelerator program to run in Dundee. In this episode we speak to Simon Fraser from Elevator & Brian McNicoll from the University of Dundee. You’ll hear about both organisations aims for the Centre, as well as their views on the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in the City. Brian also gives us a glimpse into his past as a computer games entrepreneur. It’s another fun & fast-paced show for you to enjoy! Simon Fraser http://www.elevatoruk.com/ Brian McNicoll https://www.dundee.ac.uk/entrepreneurship/theteam/details/brian-mcnicoll.php

Gavin Bell is an Edinburgh-based Entrepreneur, speaker & YouTuber. He’s also originally from Shetland, where his parents still live, and many of Gavin’s YouTube videos share the beauty and remoteness of the Island. In this episode we get into the detail of how to succeed with Facebook Ads (Gav’s a world-leader in this stuff), we talk about Facebook Watch, the App giant’s new video platform and drill into Gavin’s life as a YouTube creator. You’ll learn Gavin’s process for creating videos, how he shares them on different platforms, and he shares his tips for getting started with video. Enjoy the show! Gavin Bell Twitter https://twitter.com/MrGavinBell Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MrGavinBell/ Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYwX0DRfD06rx1E9iNa7fFw Training Course http://mrgavinbell.com/amplify Alasdair McGill - Host Ashton McGill is the culmination of a career that started back in 1987, when I was a young trainee accountant. Fast forward 30 years, many of which were spent as an entrepreneur and as a designer, and I've come full circle - back to running an accounting & consulting business. https://twitter.com/ali_mcgill Ashton McGill http://www.ashtonmcgill.com/ Everything that we do has been thoughtfully designed around the needs of clients. We've learned what those are from years of research, and we've used our design expertise to create an accounting experience that breaks with convention and puts the client at the heart of the process. It's Accountancy re-imagined.

Alasdair McGill introduces the Never Settle podcast - he gives the lowdown on what the podcast is about as well as a clue on our first guests.