Podcasts about Young Enterprise

Robin Sheppard-Capurro hosts the show today, covering the following topics:1 - We start with a tribute to former Crown Prosecutor and Barrister, Robert Fischel, who died earlier this year, aged 72. A ceremony at the Supreme Court yesterday in his memory. GBC Newsroom's Katy Docker summarises the tribute, and studio guest Charles Gomez adds his memories of Mr Fischel KC.2 - The UK has signed a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but what does this mean for Gibraltar? Charles Gomez is an Honorary Professor of International Law and International Relations of the University of Cádiz and a member of the Key Advisory Group for Law at the University of Gibraltar. He shares his strong opposition to the Chief Minister's views in Parliament yesterday, where he said the UK has made the right decision.3 - The winners of this year's Young Enterprise competition are a group called "Collectify" - a company selling trading cards about the Rock's community and culture. The top prize was awarded at a ceremony earlier this week where all the teams made their final presentations. Jessie Chipol-Nuñez spoke about what the group have learned on their journey, with a look-ahead to the next stage.4 - Sport: Jose Marie Luis gives a round-up of the week's sports news, including Scott Wiseman's appointment and squad announcement for the up coming Nations League matches. And it's 50 days until the Island Games - we check in with Linda Alvarez and Louis Chichon of the Gibraltar Island Games Association for the latest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today marked Richard Ullger's last day with the Royal Gibraltar Police. The outgoing Commissioner of Police is retiring after 37 years of service with the force. Mr Ullger took over from Ian McGrail as Commissioner in July 2020. He was originally set to serve for two years but his appointment was extended twice. An emotional moment for Richard Ullger, as Christine Vasquez confirmed.The cost of the McGrail Inquiry has hit £5.7M. It was 3 million in early April last year, so in the past 12 months the cost has almost doubled. As it is a public inquiry, it's funded by the government with tax payers money. It was called to address public concern about how and why Ian McGrail retired early as police commissioner in 2020. But the fact the cost has risen to 5.7 million points to the many documents prepared by everyone involved in it since the last public hearings. We went through the final day of last week's hearings in detail.Bringing generations together - one card at a time! 'Collectify' is a Young Enterprise team aiming to combine the fun of collection cards, with the education of Gibraltar's cultural figures, landmarks and more. The team consists of 9 individuals, 3 of them joined us in the studio: Jessie Chipol-Nuñez, Celine Cruz and Adi DhanwaniThe Government has proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act 2010 which set out to make tax avoidance harder. The Commissioner of Income Tax would get new powers, including involving a person's professional or regulatory body when it's believed they have submitted, or helped with, a tax return suspected to be inaccurate. We asked Grahame Jackson, the Chair of the Association of Tax Advisers, how the proposed law has gone down among industry professionals.And, Jose Mari Ruiz filled us in on the latest in local sports including the athletics round the rock race, a women's hockey training camp and the latest football results as both Lincoln Red Imps and St Joseph's have their eyes on the Rock Cup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

International football is back at the Europa Point stadium this evening. The history-making team is back in action - they recently became the first to represent Gibraltar in the UEFA Women's Nations League. They take on Slovakia. How's the team feeling? And how windy is it at EP? We asked our sports reporter Jose Mari Ruiz.Balanced Being is a Young Enterprise team promoting happy, healthy lifestyles for children. It remains to be seen who will win the overall competition, but this week they won the pitch battle organised with StartUp Grind! Congratulations to Isabelle Ramos, Stan Bealanovic and James Vinet.Did you watch Viewpoint? Really interesting, live discussion around the use of weight loss drugs: how they can be used properly and how they are being misused. But what is beautiful? Shelina Assomull and her panel shone a light on this issue.And, any plans on Sunday? From jumping castles to hook a duck, crazy golf - you name it, it's happening at the Easter carnival! PossAbilities are hosting it, the group's Nicole Buckley, Ay-Lee Latin, Jade Yusifredo and Dakota de las Heras told us more about the event. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chief Minister the Deputy Chief Minister are in London for treaty negotiations.The Government says it remains firmly committed to securing a treaty which is safe and secure for Gibraltar. It reiterates the status quo we have enjoyed post-Brexit is not an option while being very clear that No Deal would be better than a bad deal. Our News Editor Christine Vasquez has been following the negotiations.It was a case of nearly but not quite for Gibraltar on Saturday. An encouraging start to their World Cup qualifying campaign despite losing 3-1 to Montenegro. So what positives could they take in to tomorrow's game against Czechia in Faro. We tuned in live to Gibraltar's pre-match press conference with interim head coach Scott Wiseman is alongside Ethan Britto. Our sports reporter Louis Parral gave us his reaction to the conference, and looked back at the rest of the sports news from over the weekend with Louis Parral, covering the 9-ball pool tournament, the first touch rugby event on the Rock, and the athletics trophy presentation.We look ahead to Bloomsday, which celebrates the life of Irish writer James Joyce ((on June 16th)). Think music, song, poetry, and theatre on an Irish theme. Gibraltar has a special connection with Joyce's book Ulysses, as his main female character, Molly Bloom, is a Gibraltarian (her mother is from La Linea and her father is an Irish soldier based on the Rock). We spoke to author Rebecca Faller about Bloomsday.And, "small act, big impact!" That's the slogan of "Enviromemo" - one of the many talented groups in this year's Young Enterprise competition. Their eco-friendly stickers help remind you to switch off your lights, and are made entirely from compostable and recyclable materials. We spoke to team members Sara, Alice and Danille. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

International Women's Day is tomorrow, and last night Katy Docker chaired a discussion on Viewpoint about local women's issues. She has also compiled a timeline of significant historical moments for women on the Rock. We reflected with Katy how much progress has been made over the years, but also how there is still a lot of work to be done going forward to achieve equality and equity for women. The countdown is on! 196 days to be precise - until the start of the 2025 Netball World Youth Cup. Some of the best U21 players from around the world will descend on the rock for a week of elite competition. Organisers Dylan Trenado, Alex Rodriguez and umpire Nadine Pardo-Zammit were in the studio with the official match ball that was recently revealed. Who doesn't love classical music? Ahead of World Water Day later this month, the Convent Ballroom will host a recital in support of local charity Action 4 Schools water well projects. We spoke to Jimmy Bruzon heads the charity, as well as Nathan Payas who will be performing live. Abacus is collecting children's winter clothes on behalf of The Orphans Project Morocco to help children in need. They are accepting donations of warm clothes for kids up to the age of 16 and are asking the community for their help. Deena Abboubi is heading up the clothing drive.Budding entrepreneurs at St. Annes school are getting the chance to pitch their big ideas to potential investors this afternoon... The pupils are taking on a Dragons Den style challenge, as part of their work in the Young Enterprise fiver challenge. Our reporter Shelina Assomull forms part of the judging panel.And, Louis Parral told us what we can look forward to this weekend in local sport, with athletes setting off for the Winter Special Olympics, and the final stage of the roadrunners league, and the football league title race coming down to the wire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

⚠️ Warning - this week's pod features some of Gibraltar's brightest business talent. ⚠️ We're back after a short break with a special youth entrepreneurship episode. We swapped the studio for school and met the people involved in this year's Company Programme by Young Enterprise. Host David Revagliatte teams up with James Barton to co-host the show and chat with Sean Michael Federico from Young Enterprise Gibraltar, Michaela Rees from Knightsbridge Incorporations Limited and GFSB, Isabella Lombard from Hassans. They also meet some of the teams competing for the coveted Company Programme award. Since 2021, the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses has been exploring the issues driving business on the Rock. The podcast is sponsored by Gibraltar International Bank International Bank and produced in collaboration with Motion Gibraltar and Barton Solutions.hashtag#Gibraltar hashtag#Business hashtag#Podcast hashtag#Youth hashtag#Entrepreneurs

Good afternoon and welcome along to today's edition of Gibraltar Today, we'll be talking about...The demolition of the Victoria stadium meaning the end of an era for Gibraltar Athletics...-A breaking news story regarding strikes at AquaGib and how it could affect fresh water supply across the Rock.-Young Enterprise Gibraltar look ahead to next week's product launch event.- And we're off to Toronto (Canada) to meet our latest “Llanito Abroad”! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spending the day with young enterprise at Barton Peveril with Donna Bennet. Thanks guys.. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Young Enterprise and Sales Confidence 02:48 The Role of Drama in Sales and Confidence Building 06:10 Understanding Customer Connection and Emotional Selling 09:12 The Exciting Potential of the Younger Generation in Business The young entrepreneurs Instagram accounts.. https://www.instagram.com/comfort_and_care.528/https://www.instagram.com/dakota.gregory1014/https://www.instagram.com/shopseasonalsupplies_bpevril/https://www.instagram.com/finest.graphic/ Full notes further down... This is a bonus episode of

The Times newspaper says the former Police Commissioner Ian McGrail and Chief Minister Fabian Picardo are locked in the sort of feud usually associated with banana republics.With six days to the start of the main hearings, there is a schedule of who will give oral evidence when.Details from our reporter Ros Astengo.-After spending four years in Government, what's the view like from outside?Vijay Daryanani narrowly missed out on a place in parliament at October's election.He joins us now, good afternoon Mr Daryanani - how's life outside of frontline politics?-Bishop Carmel Zammit turns 75 this year, and has written to the Vatican about succession planning following his retirement. He joins us.-We speak to The Young Enterprise team 'Connect'; a company focusing on supporting Gibraltar's neurodiverse and disabled community. Natalia Porter, Sarah Bensadon and Anna Jimenez will join me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rob Young is a star at Signal Connect and he's here to talk about the tech he loves and the projects he can help with. Call Rob at 248-896-8595.

Transparency International UK says inquiries legislation being proposed in Gibraltar now is almost 20 years old in the UK. The corruption watchdog is concerned it's intended to undermine the McGrail inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the early retirement of the former police commissioner. The Government says it has no intention to use the power to stop or delay the McGrail inquiry. It believes the proposed law would not affect the independence of the current inquiry, or obstruct its progress, or influence any witness. Our reporter Jonathan Sacramento has been speaking to the Chief Minister. The religious festival of Ramadan has begun. It is considered the most important time of year for the Muslim community. Locally, as around the world, it is marked with fasting and prayer. Deena Abboubi & Aya Chahid from the Muslim Youth of Gibraltar group spoke to us in the studio. Gibraltar's relationship with the European Union is still the subject of ongoing negotiations between Gibraltar, UK, Spain and EU officials. This week the Europe Minister Leo Docherty visited the Rock and said those negotiations would be intense this month. Jared Peralta, who is the Country Director in Gibraltar for The Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council, was here to discuss what role the Commonwealth could play in Gibraltar's future. And, budding entrepreneurs at St. Annes have tried their hand at starting their own businesses. Year Six pupils have spent four weeks researching and strategising with their teams on the best ways to get their ideas off the ground. With a budget of five pounds per pupil - provided by the Young Enterprise board - many of these 11 year-olds have ended up taking home profits, after selling their products and services at a business fair in the school. Shelina Assomul was at the school earlier today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today is International Angelman Syndrome Day. Sean Tunbridge is the only person in Gibraltar with the condition. It is a rare genetic condition that affects the nervous system. His parents, Jane and Wayne Tunbridge shared their journey.England's Woman's International football team, the Lionesses, will soon be playing two matches just across the border in Algeciras. The side won the Euros back in 2022 and just missed out on the World Cup last year. Ramone Roberts, Algeciras FC CEO, was in the studio to tell us more about both games.Sir Kingsway, the macaque who went to La Linea, has been released back into the Upper Rock Nature Reserve after receiving medical treatment and being microchipped following his adventure. Our reporter Christina Cortes witnessed Sir Kingsway being reunited with his pack.And, Young Enterprise group ‘Tiny Minds' has teamed up with Little English language school to write a book to help promote bilingualism in Gibraltar. Nathalie Chipolina, Lauren Garcia and Anna McComb from Young Enterprise, as well as Chris Hedley from Little English, told us more about the project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise, joins Teresa Senyah to discuss making Maths relevant and relatable to learners, exploring applied learning approaches, and promoting incorporating financial literacy in mathematics education.

The Human Experience: How To Make Life Better For Your Customers And Create A More Successful Organization by John Sills About the Book: The essential guide to creating a successful organization by making things easier, better, and more straightforward for your customers. Across all sectors, organizations' fixation with functionality has meant that the 'human' elements of the customer's experience have become neglected.  Strict processes and automated procedures have created organizations full of people who aren't allowed to act in a 'human' way. As a result, and despite these new technologies, customers are no more satisfied than they were a decade ago (according to the Institute of Customer Service) and, according to Edelman, they now trust big organizations even less than they did in the past. In The Human Experience, John Sills draws upon extensive research and illustrative case studies to explain that the emotional experience is just as important as the functional one, and, if done right, will create a more efficient business.  He also demonstrates that the customer experience is not just the responsibility of front-line employees, but shared across the company, from the CEO operating as the spokesperson of the business to the programmers developing a seamless and welcoming user interface. Whether you're a well-established incumbent or an early-stage start-up, on either end of your product or service is a human.  Packed full of practical advice and engaging case studies, The Human Experience is the ultimate guide to creating a culture and an experience with humanity at its heart, helping to develop a customer base that will stay with an organization, and a company that will grow in an increasingly efficient way. About the Author: After starting his career at a market stall in Essex, John Sills has spent the last twenty-five years working in and with companies around the world to make things better for customers.  He's advised organizations such as Sky, The Body Shop, Ovo Energy, Invesco, Morrisons, eBay, and UNICEF.  Now Managing Partner at customer-led growth company The Foundation, John also spent twelve years at HSBC, starting on the frontline and finishing as Head of Customer Innovation. John works closely with Young Enterprise, a charity that helps young adults become the next generation of entrepreneurs, and is a mentor for The School of Marketing. His writing has been featured in The Guardian, Management Today, and WARC, as well as having work exhibited at the Imperial War Museum, The Foundling Museum, and as part of the Bloomsbury Festival.  And, interesting fact – he was an award-winning model! Click here for this episode's website page with the links mentioned during the interview... https://www.salesartillery.com/marketing-book-podcast/human-experience-john-sills

The advice gap is ever-growing and as a profession, financial advisers have a role to play. But is it solely up to the financial services industry?A recently conducted poll on Twitter asked financial advisers what their views were on financial education in schools and whether it should be a collective effort by the advice / financial services industry or whether the onus should be on schools and the government. More than half of the advisers said schools need to do more, around 32% said advisers need to help and some 13% said it's not advisers' problem.Collaboration seems to be a key necessity here in order for it to work and many of the larger financial advice businesses are already trying to do their bit, but what more can be done to reduce the advice gap and increase financial literacy?This week FTAdviser deputy news editor Sonia Rach talks to Mina Karshala, board trustee at Young Enterprise, Jade Rose, wealth planner at Kingswood Group and Daniel Williams, IFA at Morgan Williams & Co and the current PFS Education Champion of the Year.They discuss the extent to which schools and government have a role to play, how advisers can contribute and help and they also touch on the role of social media. The FTAdviser Podcast is the podcast for financial advisers, brought to you by FTAdviser. Each week, FTAdviser is joined by guests from the industry to discuss the week in news and pressing industry issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Financial Conduct Authority is concerned that young people in particular are turning to bloggers and influencers for investing advice - without fully understanding the risks. Scammers are also using social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok to target people, as the cost of living pushes people to look for high return investments. In this podcast, we discuss what red flags to watch out for and how easy it can be to end up parted from your money. The experts on the panel are Giles Mason, Director of Campaigns at UK Finance, Laura Suter, Head of Personal Finance at AJ Bell and Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise. Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Amber Mehmood Reporter: Sandra Hardial Editor: Elisabeth Mahy If you have been affected by the issues covered in this podcast, visit BBC Action Line for advice or support: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/375cB1pZ3FwFRQMh9zLxZhb/information-and-support-fraud (First broadcast 3pm, Wednesday 21st May 2023)

Just weeks ago it was being singled out for praise by the US president, now Young Enterprise has seen its funding cut in half. Frank spoke to Carol Fitzsimons, its chief executive Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How well do we look after people with special needs? Zeiviak Bear and Victoria Bula shared their concerns as parents of children with special needs.Jonathan Scott was also joined by the winners of the Young Enterprise competition: Param Nagrani, Karenza Daswani, Emily Moir & Isabella Debenham. They told us about their Gibraltar-themed card game.And, we celebrated 20 years of the Gibraltar Rhythmic Gymnastics Association with Head Coach Sally Holmes, Former President Jeanine Goldwin and coach Pia Alvarez. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nadia Odunayo is the Founder and CEO of The StoryGraph, a new website and app for avid book readers because life's too short for a book you're not in the mood for. The StoryGraph helps you track your reading and choose your next book based on your mood, favorite topics, and themes. Victoria talks to Nadia about coming up with a product based on the concept of mood, what you're in the mood for to read, i.e., this book made me feel this way. How do I find a book that makes me feel similar? They also talk about keeping yourself open to feedback, the ability to flow and change direction, and developing a reviewing system that keeps biases in check. StoryGraph (https://thestorygraph.com/) Follow StoryGraph on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-storygraph-limited/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/the.storygraph/), or Twitter (https://twitter.com/thestorygraph). Follow Nadia Odunayo on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nodunayo/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/nodunayo). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: VICTORIA: This is The Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. And with me today is Nadia Odunayo, Founder and CEO of StoryGraph, a new website and app for avid book readers because life's too short for a book you're not in the mood for. StoryGraph helps you track your reading and choose your next book based on your mood and your favorite topics and themes. Nadia, thank you for joining me. NADIA: Thank you for having me. VICTORIA: And you are a repeat guest at Giant Robots. But for those who missed that episode, tell me a little bit about your journey. And how did this all get started? NADIA: Okay. Yeah, so that first time was in 2015, and that was not too long after I had just got into tech. I did a bootcamp in London in 2014, Makers Academy, and that's where I learned to code. My degree was in philosophy, politics, and economics, so rather different. I worked at Pivotal for about a year and a half after I graduated from Makers Academy. And during my time at Pivotal, I got into conference speaking, and my first talk was around game theory. So I took my favorite topic in economics, game theory, and I combined that with distributed systems because that's what I was working on at the time in Pivotal on their Cloud Foundry PaaS. I think I gave it at RailsConf, and I think someone there recommended me to Giant Robots. And so Ben Orenstein interviewed me, and it was all about different types of conference talks and that kind of thing. So after Pivotal, I left and started a hybrid kind of consultancy/product company with a colleague, did that for about a year, left that, worked for about a year with my friend, Saron Yitbarek, on her company CodeNewbie. And then, when that partnership ended, I essentially had five years of runway from money that I got from the company that I started after Pivotal because we did some consulting with a bank. I'd always been entrepreneurial. I'd been doing various entrepreneurial things since secondary school, actually, high school. It was time for me to just have time on my side projects. And so I started hacking away on one of my side projects at the beginning of 2019 in January, and I haven't stopped since. That's what the StoryGraph has developed into. VICTORIA: Wonderful. And yes, I saw that the very early stages of StoryGraph started as a creative writing e-publication. Is that right? NADIA: So what happened was when I was at university, I started a creative writing e-publication, came up with the name The StoryGraph. Because we had won or we were going for some grant funding or something like that, I set up a corporate entity. And when I stopped working on that e-publication, I remember my mom saying to me, "Don't shut down the entity. I really like the name. I feel like you'll use it for something," that was in 2012. And so fast forward to 2019, and the side project that I was working on was called Read Lists. And it was very specifically focused on tracking and sharing progress through reading lists on a dashboard. But when I was doing customer research, and the scope of the project grew, Read Lists didn't fit anymore. And that's when I realized, oh, I can use The StoryGraph thing again. And so it's basically had two different lives or two different forms, the StoryGraph company. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. And I'm reading about StoryGraph and how it's an Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads. Can you talk a little bit more about the product and why people would want to use it? NADIA: So, as I said, it started life as a very specific focused side project. And I just had so much fun working on it and working in the book space. I'd always been a reader since I was a kid such that I said to myself, I need to find a way to make me building a books product a full-time thing. And so that's when customer research came in because the only way that you're going to make sure that you don't build something that people don't want is by talking to people. As I was doing customer research and figuring out, are there pain points amongst readers, people who track their reading? What would happen was the pain points that came up drove me towards building a more fully fledged reading, tracking, and recommendations product. It actually started as a very focused recommendations product. And then, we got to the point where we needed to build more around it for it to be a compelling product. And as it was growing, we never advertised ourselves as a Goodreads alternative or as an Amazon-free alternative to what was out there. But that was clearly a pain point in the market. There were tweets about us saying, "Finally a Goodreads alternative. It's small; it's independent; it's Amazon-free. And so thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of people have come to us because of that. VICTORIA: Wow. NADIA: And so it got to the point...mainly when we launched our payment plan, and we were trying to figure out the reasons why people were pre-ordering the plan, it was at that point where we decided to lean into the Amazon-free Goodreads alternative because that was what the market wanted. VICTORIA: Was that surprising for you? Or were there other things that came out of your research on your marketplace that kind of were different than what you thought it would be going in? NADIA: I think the most interesting thing about the product development journey was that I at least originally felt like I was building a product that wasn't for me. So what I mean by that is in my earliest rounds of research, what I was finding was that people still didn't think that they had one place to get consistently good book recommendations. And so then I started to explore, well, how do you even give somebody consistently good book recommendations? And one of the factors that kept on coming up was this concept of mood, what you're in the mood for. This book made me feel this way. How do I find a book that makes me feel similar? And so it got to the point where I said to myself, oh wow, I'm building a product for mood readers right now; that seems to be the gap, that seems to be the thing that nothing out there yet had properly attacked. And I had never considered myself a mood reader. I just thought I'm a planner. I'm an organized person. I typically decide what book I want to read, and then I read it. And so there was a point where I was concerned, and I thought, wait, am I now building something that is not for me? But then, as I started to work and do more research and talk to more and more people and thinking about my reading experiences, I developed the hypothesis or the viewpoint rather that I think everybody's a mood reader; it's just the scale. Because there are probably some books that I may have rated lowly in the past that if I had read it in a different frame of mind, or at a different time in my life, different circumstance, it probably would have resonated with me a lot more. Now, that's not to say that's true for every single book. There are some books that are just not going to work for you, no matter what. But I do think we're all on the scale of mood reading. And sometimes we say a book is a bad book, but we just read it at not the right time. And so I think the most surprising thing for me is going on that journey of realizing that, oh, I am a mood reader too. VICTORIA: [laughs] NADIA: And I ended up building an app that's a lot less focused on just the pure ratings. I was someone who, on Goodreads, if it had less than four stars, I'm not interested. And the ethos of the product is more about, well, hang on; these ratings are very subjective. And someone else's two, three-star could be your next five-star. What are the factors that really matter? Do you want something dark, adventurous? Are you looking for something funny, light? And then what kind of topics do you want to discover? And then it doesn't matter if the five people before you thought it was average; you might think it's excellent. VICTORIA: Yeah, it reminds me thinking about how bias can come in with authors and writing as well. So a simple five-star system might be more susceptible to bias against different genders or different types of names. Whereas if you have more complex numbers or complex rating systems, it might be easier to have different types of authors stand out in a different way. NADIA: That actually relates to what was going through my mind when I was developing the reviewing system on StoryGraph. You can just, if you want, leave your star rating and say no more, but the star rating is lower down on the page. And up front, we say this book would be great for someone who's in the mood for something...and then you've got checkboxes. And how would you rate the pace of the book? And if it's a fiction book, we ask you, "Are the characters lovable?" Is there a flawed narrator? Is it plot-driven or character-driven?" Questions like that because the thinking is it doesn't matter whether you are going to give the book two stars in your own personal star rating. You can still help someone else find a book that's good for them because they will be looking at the summary on the StoryGraph book page, and they'll go, "Oh wow, 80% of people said it's lovable. There's a diverse range of characters, and it's funny. So the topics fit things I'm interested in, so I care less about the average rating being like 3.5 because everything else seems perfect. Let me see for myself." And actually, we've also had a lot of feedback from people saying that "Oh, normally, I never know how to review a book or what to say. And this system has really helped me, almost give me prompts to get started about explaining the book, reviewing it for other people to help them decide if it's for them. So that's great." VICTORIA: That makes sense to me because I read a lot of books, maybe not as much as I would like to recently. But not all books that I love I can easily recommend to friends, but it's hard for me to say why. [laughs] You know, like, "This is a very complicated book." So I love it. I'll have to check it out later. It's been four years since you've been full-time or since 2019, almost five then. NADIA: Yes. VICTORIA: If you could travel back in time to when you first started to make this a full-time role, what advice would you give yourself now, having all of this foresight? NADIA: Have patience, trust the process because I can sometimes be impatient with, ah, I want this to happen now. I want this to pick up now. I want these features done now. I'm a solo dev on the project. I started it solo. I have a co-founder now, but I'm still the solo dev. And there were so many things, especially now that we've got a much larger user base, that people complained about or say is not quite right. And that can be really tough to just have to keep hearing when you're like, I know, but I don't have the resource to fix it right now or to improve it. But I think one of the things is, yeah, having faith in the process. Keep going through the cycles of listening to the customers, prioritizing the work, getting the work done, getting the feedback, and just keep going through that loop. And the product will keep getting better. Because sometimes it can feel, particularly in the first year when I was so low, you sometimes have moments of doubt. Or if a customer research round doesn't go super well, you start to wonder, is this only a nice-to-have? And is this going to go anywhere? And so that's one piece of advice. And I think the other one is knowing that there are several right paths because I think sometimes I would agonize over I want to do the right thing. I want to make sure I make the right choice right now. And, I mean, there are some things that are not good to do. You want to make sure that you're setting up your customer interviews in a non-leading way. You want to make sure that there are certain standards in the product in terms of the technical side and all that kind of stuff, so there's that. But I think it's understanding that you kind of just have to make a decision. And if you set yourself up to be able to be adaptive and responsive to change, then you'll be fine. Because you can always change course if the response you're getting back or the data you're getting back is going in the wrong direction. VICTORIA: I love that. And I want to pull on that thread about being open to changing your mind. I think that many founders start the company because they're so excited about this idea and this problem that they found. But how do you keep yourself open to feedback and keeping that ability to flow and to change direction? NADIA: I mean, I didn't set out to build a Goodreads alternative, and here I am. VICTORIA: [laughs] NADIA: I just wanted to build this specific side project or this specific...it was a companion app, in fact. Like, the first version of the thing I built, the first thing you had to do was sign in and connect your Goodreads account so that we could pull in your shelves and start creating the dashboards. So as a solo bootstrapping founder, building a Goodreads alternative was not something that I thought was going to lead to success. But through years of experience, and just hearing other people's stories, and research, I just learned that it's such a hard space just running a startup in general, and 90% of startups fail. And I just said to myself that, okay, the only way I can kind of survive for longer is if I am open to feedback, I'm open to change course, I'm patient, and I trust the process. These are the things I can do to just increase my chances of success. And so that's why I kind of feel it's imperative if you want to go down this route and you want to be successful, it's vital that you're open to completely changing the product, completely changing your direction, completely going back on a decision. You'll either lose customers or you'll run out of money, whatever it is. And so yeah, you've got to just basically be quite ruthless in the things that are just going to minimize your chances of failing. VICTORIA: That makes sense. And now, I have a two-part question for you. What's the wind in your sails? Like, the thing that keeps you going and keeps you motivated to keep working on this? And then, conversely, what's kind of holding you back? What are the obstacles and challenges that you're facing? NADIA: I think this kind of role...so I'm like founder, CEO, and developer. In general, I think I thrive under pressure and pushing myself, and trying to always be better and improve. So I'm always trying to be like, how can I improve my productivity? Or how can I run the company better? All these kinds of things. So I feel like I'm getting to explore maximizing my full potential as someone in the world of work through doing this. So that just intrinsically is motivating to me. I love books, and I love reading. I think it's such an amazing hobby. And the fact that I get to make other readers happy is awesome. So even just as the product has grown, the messages that we get about if someone got a perfect recommendation from StoryGraph, or they hadn't read for years, and now an easy form of, you know, what are you in the mood for? Check a few boxes, and we'll show you some books that fit, whatever it is. That's just so...it's so awesome just to be able to enhance readers' lives that way in terms of the things they're reading and getting them excited about reading again or keeping them excited. So those are the things that keep me going, both the personal nature of enjoying my work and enjoying trying to be the best founder and CEO that I can and building a great product. It's always great when you build something, and people just enjoy using it and like using it. So I'm always incentivized to keep making the product better, the experience better. I'm currently mid a redesign. And I'm just so excited to get it out because it's going to touch on a lot of repeated pain points that we've been having for years. And I just can't wait for everyone to see it and see that we've listened to them. And we're making progress still like three and a bit years on since we launched out of beta. What's tough? Previously, what's been tough is navigating, remaining independent, and bootstrapped with just personally trying to make money to just live my life. So I had five years of runway. And it was this tricky situation about when I had a couple of years left, I'm thinking, wow, I really like doing this, but I'm going to need to start earning money soon. But I also don't want to get investment. I don't want to stop doing this. I can't stop doing this. We've got hundreds of thousands of customers. And so kind of trying to balance my personal needs and life situations with the work I've been doing because I've been working so hard on it for so long that in the last couple of years, it's gotten to a point where it's like, how do I craft the life I want out of a product that is very not set up to be an indie bootstrapped product? [laughs] Typically, you want to do a B2B. You want to start earning money from your product as early as possible. And I feel like I've landed in a product that's typically funded, VC-backed, that kind of thing. So kind of navigating that has been a fun challenge. There's not been anything that's kind of demoralized me or held me back, or made me think I shouldn't do it. And it's just kind of been a fun challenge trying to...yeah, just navigate that. And we've been doing things like we're currently in the process of transitioning our...we have a Plus Plan. And when we launched it, it was essentially a grab bag of features. We're completely changing the feature set. And we right now have six and a half thousand people who are on that plan. But we don't have product market fit on that plan, and I can tell from when I do certain surveys the responses I get back. And so we're completely transitioning that to focus in on our most popular feature, which is the stats that we offer. And so that's kind of scary, but it's part of making that Plus Plan more sticky and easier to sell because it's going to be for your power users who love data. So they want all the data when they are reading. And then the other thing is, okay, what kind of business avenue can we start which fits in with the ethos of the product but brings in more revenue for StoryGraph? And so, we launched a giveaway segment in our app where publishers and authors can pay to list competitions for users to win copies of their books. And it's essentially a win-win-win because publishers and authors get another channel to market their books. Users get to win free books, and readers love winning free books. And StoryGraph has another revenue source that helps us stay independent and profitable, and sustainable in the long run. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. And there are two tracks I want to follow up on there; one is your decision not to seek funding; if you could just tell me a little more about the reasoning and your thought process behind that. And you've already touched on a little bit of the other ways you're looking at monetizing the app. NADIA: Since I was a teenager, I've always been interested in business, economics, entrepreneurship. I've always felt very entrepreneurial. I've read so many founder stories and startup stories over the years. And you hear about venture capitalists who come in, and even if it's fine for the first year or two, ultimately, they want a return. And at some point, that could come at odds with your mission or your goals for your company. And when I think about two things, the kind of life I want and also the nature of the product I'm building as well, VC just doesn't fit. And I know there are so many different funding programs and styles right now, a lot more friendlier [laughs] than VC. But I'm just focusing on VC because when I was younger, I used to think that was a marker of success. VC funding that was the track I thought I was going to go down, and that was what I kind of idolized as, oh my gosh, yes, getting a funding round of millions and millions and then building this huge company. That was how I used to be, so it's so interesting how I've completely gone to the other side. That idea that you could have mismatched goals and how it's ruined companies, once you take the first round of funding and you grow and expand, then you've got to keep taking more to just stay alive until some liquidation event. That just doesn't appeal to me. And I just think there's something ultimately very powerful and valuable about building a product without giving up any ownership to anybody else and being able to make it into something that people love, and that's profitable, and can give the people who run it great lifestyles. I just think that's a mark of an excellent product, and I just want to build one of those. And then I think also the nature of the product itself being a book tracking app. I think the product has done well because it is run and built so closely by myself and Rob. And so it's like, people talk about how, oh, you can tell it's built for readers by readers by people who care. And I run the company's Instagram, and it's not just me talking about the product. I'm talking with a bunch of our users about books and what we're reading. And it really feels like it's just got such a great community feel. And I worry that that can get lost with certain types of investment that I've previously thought that I wanted in my life. And so, yeah, that's the reason why I've kind of strayed away from the investment world. And then it's gotten to the point, like, now we're at the point where we don't need funding because we've been able to get to profitability by ourselves. So we don't need any type of funding. And we're just going to try and keep doing things to keep making the product better, to convert more people to the Plus Plan. And, hopefully, our giveaways platform grows in the way we want such that our goal is to just stay profitable and independent forever for as long as possible. And we think that way, we're going to have the most fun running the company, and the product is going to be the best it can be because there's not going to be competing incentives or goals for the product. VICTORIA: That makes sense. And it sounds like, in reality, in the real case, you had a team, and you had the skills yourself to be able to move the product forward without having to take on funding or take on additional support, which is awesome. And I actually really like your background. I also have a degree in economics. So I'm curious if the economics and philosophy, all of that, really lends itself to your skills as a founder. Is that accurate? NADIA: I don't think so. VICTORIA: [laughs] NADIA: I love my degree. I get sad when I meet econ grads or econ majors, and they're like, "Oh, I hated it. Oh, it was so boring," or whatever. I'm like, "No, it was so great." I'm a big microeconomics fan, so I was all about...I didn't like macro that much. I was all about the game theory and the microeconomic theory, that kind of stuff. I don't think there's anything that really ties into my skills as a founder. I feel like that's more to do with my upbringing and personality than what I studied. But, I mean, one of the reasons I did love my degree is because there are elements that do crop up. It's such a widely applicable...the subjects I did are so widely applicable, philosophy, different ways of seeing the world and thinking and approaching different people. And then, obviously, economics that's essentially behavior, and how markets work, and incentives, and all that kind of stuff. And when you get to pricing and all those sorts of things, and business, and then politics as well, I mean, everything is politics, right? People interacting. So there are definitely things and conversations I had at university, which I see things crop up day to day that I can tie back to it. But yeah, I think it doesn't really...my specific degree, I don't think it's made me a better founder than I would have been if I'd studied, I don't know, English or Math or something. VICTORIA: Right, yeah. I think economics is one of those where it's kind of so broadly applicable. You're kind of using it, but you don't even realize it sometimes. [laughs] NADIA: Yeah. MID-ROLL AD: thoughtbot is thrilled to announce our own incubator launching this year. If you are a non-technical founding team with a business idea that involves a web or mobile app, we encourage you to apply for our eight-week program. We'll help you move forward with confidence in your team, your product vision, and a roadmap for getting you there. Learn more and apply at tbot.io/incubator. VICTORIA: So what made you decide to go to a bootcamp right after finishing school? NADIA: So I'd always been entrepreneurial. I remember...I don't know where exactly it started from, whether I got it from my mom. I know she's always been very entrepreneurial and into business. The earliest memory I have of doing something that was very specifically business-oriented was in what we call sixth form in the UK, which is essentially the last two years of high school before you go to university or college; we had this scheme called Young Enterprise. And essentially, you got into teams of people, small teams, or they could be quite big, actually. It could be up to 20 people. And you started a business, and there were trade shows, and pitch meetings, and all that kind of stuff, so I remember getting involved in all that sort of stuff at school. But I'd always been on the investment banking track because when I was young...so my parents...we come from a poor background. And so my parents were very much like, you know, try and find high-paying careers to go into so that you can pay for whatever you want and you have a much better lifestyle. So I had gotten onto the investment banking track from the age of 14 when I went with a friend...at the school, I went to, there was a Take Your Daughter to Work Day. My dad said, "Oh, you want to go to try and find someone whose parent works in an investment bank or something like that. That's like a great career to go into." And so I went with a friend's dad to UBS. And I remember being blown away, like, wow, this is so fascinating. Because I think everything seems so impressive when you're 14, and you're walking into a space like that, and everything seems very lively. And everyone's walking around dressed sharp. They've got their BlackBerries. So from the age of 14 until 20, it would have been, I was very much I am going to work in an investment bank. And I did all the things that you would do, like all the schemes, the spring programs. And it got to my final internship. And I just remember at the internship being rather disillusioned and disappointed by the experience. I remember thinking, is this it? I was studying at Oxford, and I put so much into my studies. And I remember thinking; I'm working so hard. And this is what I come to? Is this it? And so around the time as well, I was also meeting a lot of people in the entrepreneurship space, social enterprises, people doing their own ventures. And I just remember thinking, oh, I feel like I've got to go down that track. And I ended up winning a place on a coding course. It was set up specifically to help more women get into tech. And it was called Code First Girls. I won a place that started...it was just part-time. What I did was I actually...I got the banking job from Deutsche Bank, it was, but I decided to turn it down. It was a very risky decision. I turned it down, and I stayed in Oxford after graduating and worked in the academic office for a while. And then, twice a week, I would go to London and do this coding course. And during it, on Twitter, I remember seeing a competition for a full-paid place at this bootcamp called Makers Academy. And I just thought to myself, having tech skills, I'd heard the feedback that it's a very powerful thing to have. And I remember thinking I should go for this competition. And I went for the competition, and I won a free place at the bootcamp. If I didn't win a free place at the bootcamp, I'm not sure what would have happened because I'm not sure whether at that point I would have thought, oh, paying £8,000 to go to a software bootcamp is what I should do. I'm not sure I would have got there. So that's how I got there, essentially. I won a competition for a bootcamp after having a taste of what coding was like and seeing how freeing it was to just be able to have a computer and an internet connection and build something. VICTORIA: Oh, that's wonderful. I love that story. And I've spent a lot of time with Women Who Code and trying to get women excited about coding. And that's exactly the story is that once you have it, it's a tool in your toolset. And if you want to build something, you can make it happen. And that's why it's important to continue the education and get access for people who might not normally have it. And you continue to do some of that work as well, right? You're involved in organizations like this? NADIA: Like Code First Girls? No. I did some years ago. I would go and attend Rails Girls workshops and be a mentor at them, at those. And while I was at Pivotal, I helped with events like codebar, which were essentially evenings where people who were learning to code or more junior could come and pair with someone more senior on whatever project they wanted to. So I did a bunch of that stuff in the years after leaving Makers Academy. And I was even a TA for a short time for a couple of weeks at Makers Academy as well after I graduated. But in more recent years, I haven't done much in that space, but I would love to do more at some point. I don't have the bandwidth to right now. [laughs] VICTORIA: And you're still a major speaker going and keynoting events all around the world. Have you done any recently, or have any coming up that you're excited about? NADIA: So before the pandemic, my last talk, I keynoted RubyWorld in Japan. That was in November 2019. And then the pandemic hit, and 2020 June, July was when StoryGraph had some viral tweets, and so we kicked off. And amongst all of that, I was being invited to speak at remote events, but it just didn't make sense for me. Not only was I so busy with work, but I put a lot of hours into my talks. And part of the fun is being there, hallway track, meeting people, being on stage. And so it just didn't appeal to me to spend so much time developing the talk to just deliver it at home. And so, I just spent all the time on StoryGraph. And I remember when events started happening again; I wondered whether I would even be invited to speak because I felt more detached from the Ruby community. Most of the conferences that I did were in the Ruby community. StoryGraph is built on Rails. Yeah, I just thought maybe I'll get back to that later. But all of a sudden, I had a series of amazing invitations. Andrew Culver started up The Rails SaaS Conference in LA in October, and I was invited to speak at that. And then, I was invited to keynote RubyConf, that was recently held in Houston, Texas, and also invited to keynote the satellite conference, RubyConf Mini in Providence, that happened a couple of weeks earlier. And so I had a very busy October and November, a lot of travel. I developed two new talks, a Ruby talk and a StoryGraph talk. It was my first ever time giving a talk on StoryGraph. It was a lot of work and amongst a lot of StoryGraph work that I needed to do. All of the talks went well, and it was so much fun to be back on the circuit again. And I'm looking forward to whatever speaking things crop up this year. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. I'm excited. I'll have to see if I can find a recording and get caught up myself. Going back to an earlier question, you mentioned quite a few times about market research and talking to the customers. And I'm just curious if you have a method or a set of tools that you use to run those experiments and collect that feedback and information. NADIA: Yes. So I remember one of the first things I did years ago was I read "The Mom Test" by Rob Fitzpatrick. And that's great for just getting the foundation of when you talk to customers; you don't want to lead them on in any shape or form. You just want to get the raw truth and go from there. So that's the underpinning of everything I do. And then, I learned from friends I made through Pivotal about how you put together a script for a customer research. You can't just have bullet points or whatever. You should have a script. And the foundation of that script is a hypothesis about what you're trying to find out in that round of research. And once you figure out your hypothesis, then you can put together the questions you want to ask and understand how you're going to measure the output. So the first ever thing I was trying to find out when I first started interviewing people was just very general. It was just like, are there any pain points? I was just trying to figure out are there any pain points among the avid reader group of people? And then I remember the results from that were, "No place for consistent, high-quality recommendations." And so then I said, okay, how are people finding recommendations now, or what are the factors that lead to people thinking a book was great for them? And that's how I ended up getting to the moods and pace. But when I do my interviews, I record them all. I watch them back. And I condense everything on sticky notes. And I use a virtual tool. And I try to take word for word. When I summarize, I still just try and use their specific words as much as possible. So I'm not adding my own editing over what they say. Every single interviewee has a different color. And I essentially group them into themes, and that's how I unlock whatever the answers are for that round. And then I use that...I might have been trying to find out what to build next or whether we should go down a certain product direction or not. And so, depending on the outcome, that helps me make up my mind about what to do. So that's the high-level process that I follow. VICTORIA: Well, that sounds very methodical, and interesting for me to hear your perspective on that. And you mentioned that you do have a redesign coming out soon for StoryGraph. Are there any other particular products or features that you're really excited to talk about coming up soon? NADIA: Yeah, I'm so excited about the redesign because we're bringing out...it's not just a UI improvement; it's a user experience improvement as well. So there are a lot of little features that have been asked for over the years. And actually, it was trying to deliver one of them that sparked the whole redesign. So people really want a marked as finished button. There's no way to mark as finished. You just toggle a book back to read. And some people find this quite counterintuitive, or it doesn't quite explain what they're doing. And so when I came to deliver the mark as finished button, this was months and months ago now, I realized that the book pane was just becoming so cluttered, and I was trying to fight with it to squeeze in this link. And I remember thinking; this is not the only thing people want to see on the book pane. They also want to see when they read the book without having to go into the book page. They also want to be able to add it to their next queue. And I just said, you know what? I need to redesign this whole thing. And so I was able to luckily work with Saron Yitbarek, who is married to my co-founder, Rob. There's a funny story about all of that. And she helped me do this redesign based on all my customer research. And so I'm just so excited to get it out because the other thing that we're bringing with it is dark mode, which is our most requested feature in history. And it's funny because I've always felt like, ah, that's a nice-to-have. But obviously, for some people, it's not a nice-to-have; it's an accessibility issue. And even me, I'm quite strict with my bedtime. I try and be offline an hour before bed. In bed by 11, up at 6, and even me if I want to track my pages, I'm like, ooh, this is a bit bright. And my phone itself is set on adaptive, so it's light mode during the day and dark mode during the night. And even me, I can see why people really want this and why it would just improve their experience, especially if everything else on your phone is dark. So I'm really excited to get that out, mainly for the UX improvements. And the other thing I'm really excited to do is transition the Plus Plan to being the advanced stats package rather than the random selection of features right now. Because not only will the people who pay us get more complex stats functionalities such that they feel like, wow, the subscription fee that I pay not only does it still make me feel like I'm supporting an alternative to Goodreads, an independent alternative to Goodreads I also get such value from these extra features. But the other thing is what I found from my customer research is that if you're a Plus customer, there's often one or two of the Plus features that you love and that you don't really use the others. But they're all really great features. And so what I'm really excited about is that we're going to make all the non-stats features free for everybody. And so I'm so excited for, like, we have a feature where if you put in a group of usernames, we look at all of your to-read lists and suggest great books for you to buddy-read together. Now, there's a bunch of Plus users who aren't social and don't care about it. But there's going to be a bunch of our free users who are so excited about that feature, probably will use it with their book clubs, things like that. We have up-next suggestions where we suggest what you should pick up next from your to-read pile based on a range of factors. It could be, oh, you're behind on your reading goal; here's a fast-paced book. Or this book is very similar to the one that you just finished, so if you want something the same, pick up this one. And, again, that's behind a paywall right now, and I'm just so excited for everybody to be able to use that. When I remember starting out with StoryGraph, I remember thinking, wow, the way this is going, wouldn't it be so cool if we could just suggest books that would be the next perfect read for you? Because a lot of people have a pile of books by their bedside table or on their shelves, and they're just like, well, which one should I start with? And this tool literally helps you to do that. And so I can't wait for everyone to be able to try it. And so that's why I'm excited about that transition because the Plus Plan will be better, and the free product will be better. VICTORIA: That sounds amazing. And I'm thinking in my head like, oh, I should start a book club with thoughtbot. Because there are some engineering management and other types of books we want to read, so maybe we could use StoryGraph to manage that and keep ourselves motivated to actually finish them. [laughs] NADIA: Cool. VICTORIA: No, this is wonderful. And what books are on your reading list coming up? NADIA: Yes. I am excited to read...I'm not sure...I'm blanking on the series' name. But the first book is called "The Poppy War." I don't know whether it's called "The Burning God" or if that's the third book in the series. But it's this very popular trilogy, and I'm excited to read that soon. I'm doing a slow chronological read of Toni Morrison's fiction. I recently read "Song of Solomon," which was great, really, really good. And so I'm excited to read more of her novels this year. I'm also on a kind of narrative nonfiction kick right now. I love narrative nonfiction. So I just finished reading "American Kingpin," which is about Silk Road. And I've picked up "Black Edge," which is about SAC Capital and Steve Cohen and that whole hedge fund insider trading situation. So I'm probably going to look for more of the same afterwards. VICTORIA: Well, that's very exciting. And it's inspiring that as a founder, you also still have time to read [laughs] and probably because StoryGraph makes it easy and motivating for you to do so. NADIA: Yeah, everyone thought that my reading would tank once I started the company, but, in fact, it's multiplied severalfold. And a couple of reasons; one is it's very important in general for me to make time for me because I'm in a situation that could easily become very stressful and could lead to burnout. So I make sure that I make time for me to read and to go to dance class regularly, which is my other main hobby. But then, secondly, I feel like I can justify it as work. Because I say, wow, me being a reader and being able to communicate with people on Instagram and on Twitter about books, not just the product, adds legitimacy to me as the founder and developer of this product. And so it's important that I keep reading. And it also helps the product be better because I understand what features are needed. So, for example, I never used to listen to audiobooks. I'm a big podcast person; I love music. So between those two, when does audio fit in? And also, I didn't like the idea that I could just be absent-minded sometimes with some podcasts, but with a book, you don't want spoilers. It could get confusing. But I started listening to audiobooks because we had a large audiobook user base. And they would ask for certain features, and it was really hard for me to relate and to understand their needs. And now that I have started listening to audiobooks as well, we made some great audiobook listeners-focused additions to the app last year, including you can track your minutes. So you can literally get you read this many pages in a day, but you also listened to this many minutes. You can set an hours goal for the year, so not just a reading goal or a pages goal. You can set an hours goal. Or maybe you're someone like me, where audiobooks are the smaller proportion of your reading, and you just want it all calculated as pages. And so I've got it on the setting where it's like, even when I track an audiobook in StoryGraph, convert it to pages for me, and I just have my nice, all-round page number at the end of the year. VICTORIA: That's so cool. Really interesting. And I've had such a nice time chatting with you today. Is there anything else that you'd like to share as a final takeaway for our listeners? NADIA: If you are someone who wants to start a company, maybe you want to bootstrap, you've got a product idea, I think it's honestly just trust the process. It will take time. But if you trust the process, you listen to customers and really listen to them...research ways to talk to customers, and don't cut corners with the process. There have been so many times when I've done a whole round of research, and then I say, oh, do I have to go through all these now and actually do a synthesis? I think anecdotally; I can figure out what the gist was; no, do the research. You don't know what insights you're going to find. And I think if you just trust that process...and I think the other thing is before you get to that stage, start building up a runway. Having a runway is so powerful. And so whether it's saving a bit more or diverting funds from something else if you have a runway and you can give yourself a couple of years, a few years without worrying about your next paycheck, that is incredibly valuable to getting started on your bootstrapping journey. VICTORIA: Thank you. That's so wonderful. And I appreciate you coming on today to be with us. You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Mastodon at Victoria Guido. This podcast is brought to by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thank you for listening. See you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot, your expert strategy, design, development, and product management partner. We bring digital products from idea to success and teach you how because we care. Learn more at thoughtbot.com. Special Guest: Nadia Odunayo.

#014 - Welcome to Chatting with Channing, the podcast for Channing School that lets you, the listener, find out more by hearing from people throughout the school community. Each episode, you'll hear real stories from staff, from pupils, from parents and the school's alumnae, to give you a true reflection of life on Highgate Hill.Now this episode is great because we're speaking to three sixth formers at school. Anushka, Inès and Grace are all in Year 12 and heavily involved in the school's Young Enterprise programme. So naturally, I ask them what Young Enterprise is all about and we find out what they're all doing, the initiatives they're all involved in and what the important factors are for them working on these projects.The great thing I discovered on this is that Young Enterprise isn't just students working in isolation on these projects or even in pairs. But instead they work in bigger organisations, just like in real life. Because, it is real life!So enough from me, instead let's get into this episode as we speak now to three students involved in Young Enterprise. Channing School Online:Facebook: www.facebook.com/channingschoolLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/channing-schoolTwitter: twitter.com/ChanningSchoolYoung Enterprise links:https://www.instagram.com/_need4beads/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/secure.the.bag.co/?hl=en

Jane's interest in the business world began in France and then she joined hypermarket company Savacentre Ltd before becoming the youngest store manager ever appointed by high street chain Argos. After a nine-year break to have a family, Jane was asked to teach Business Studies, Retail Management, Customer Service, Hospitality and Life Skills at North Hertfordshire College. Simultaneously, she undertook a Certificate of Education with Greenwich University and then joined the charity Young Enterprise – initially as a volunteer and then as a full-time member of staff. Jane was conscious that no one way of learning fits all. To address this gap in the market, she set up ELSA Next Generation, a not-for-profit business and started delivering bespoke programmes and workshops, all ensuring young people begin to understand the steps needed from education to employment. ELSA Next Generation is a proud Partner of the Hertfordshire Virtual School and has the support of over 500 business and community volunteers. Jane is continually looking to inspire, enthuse and excite others whilst ensuring that she is equally challenging herself, through her love of learning.  Join me every week to hear a new gem that you can take away to increase your confidence and enjoyment for running your own business and to help you learn new business skills to live your best life. Resources: - Connect with Jane Shipley - Website - www.elsanextgen.education - Linked in - Jane Shipley - Instagram - @elsa_next_generation - Grab my New Book - Boss Your New Small Business - Start your free 14 day Pocket PA trial: https://PocketPA.com/Podcast/ - Free Training of my TMC Framework - Visit my websites: - Pocket PA - Caro Syson - Cheer We Go - TikTok @smallbusinesswhisperer - Follow me on Instagram: @pocketpa.gb and @carosyson - Follow me on Facebook: @pocketpa.gb

Do you want to Boss It?  I know just the person to help! Let me introduce Carl.  The chances are you have already heard of Carl and might possibly have read his book Boss It.   He is a force within the accounting community, the owner of D&T accountancy, Young Enterprise board member and best selling author and in demand Keynote.  Find out how he does it all in this episode of Accountants Are Sexy, Change My Mind. https://www.instagram.com/carlreaderhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/carlreaderwww.accountingpirates.com www.linkedin.com/in/kellidoorneWant to connect with Kelli? www.linkedin.com/in/kellidoorneIf you would like to find out how Accounting Pirates can help you with your marketing journey, visit www.accountingpirates.com

Nathan is co-founder and director of Quickfire Digital and he is leading innovation in the area of digital transformation.Quickfire works with businesses to improve efficiency, profitability and scalability through the use of technology. Most commentators would call this 'digital transformation' and, indeed, this is how the agency has described its work.Both on the business front and within the community, Nathan is relentless in his drive to succeed and, while doing so, help others.https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCWXoq8b45Gc0JKzas_uOu8whttps://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/addicted-to-business/id1498468018

Simone Roche MBE chats to Sharon Davies Chief Executive at Young Enterprise and commended Transformational Leader of NPWAwards 2022. Young Enterprise is a leading employability and financial education charity empowering young people across the UK.  Together Simone and Sharon chat about all things NPW Awards and Sharon's career at Young Enterprise. Listen to learn: What makes a great leader How business leaders invest in and engage young people About Young Enterprise celebrating 60 years of transforming young peoples futures Check out Young Enterprise here. Sign up to our Power Platform to check our out events calendar here.  Download this episode's Cheat Sheet here. Find us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram 

We are getting more and more young people into business.The amount of young people between 18 and 30 running their own business is growing in what we call the purpose led business space.Young enterprise scheme chief executive Terry Shubkin joined Mike Hosking.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are getting more and more young people into business.The amount of young people between 18 and 30 running their own business is growing in what we call the purpose led business space.Young enterprise scheme chief executive Terry Shubkin joined Mike Hosking.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To celebrate 10 years of SaaStr, we're revisiting some classic podcast episodes. Up today: a 2016 interview with Harry Stebbings and Front Co-Founder and CEO Mathilde Collin. Just this week, Front announced their Series D at a 1.7 billion dollar valuation that makes Front one of only 11 SaaS Unicorns founded and led by women.   Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the

Listen to this episode of our latest Business Gateway Connections series, where host Danny Gallagher, Business Gateway Highland Manager is joined by Geoff Leask, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise Scotland, a Scottish charity dedicated to inspiring young people to learn and succeed through enterprise. Every year Young Enterprise Scotland supports around 16,000 young people, from all backgrounds, to develop business knowledge, entrepreneurial skills & ultimately become more employable. Join us for an in-depth discussion with Geoff as we explore what it takes to run a business as a young person in Scotland as well as uncover the challenges faced by young people in today's business environment.

The cost of living crisis is fuelling valid fears about personal and household finances - but what happens when money anxiety gets out of control? Many young people worry about their own and their family's finances, but what can they do to conquer the fear? We hear from Iona Bain, musician turned financial author who specialises in millennial personal finance. She founded Young Money Blog after suffering with money anxiety herself. And we also hear from Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise, the national charity providing enterprise and financial education to young people up to the age of 24. Presenter: Bukiie Smart Producers: Paul Waters, Maggie Latham & Drew Miller Hyndman Production Coordinator: Janet Staples Editor: Emma Rippon

This fortnight's Raise Her Up features business leader and GDST alumna Debbie Wosskow, a successful entrepreneur since the age of 16, when she won a school Young Enterprise competition. She went on to launch and then sell her online home exchange business Love Home Swap, which she set up having seen the Hollywood blockbuster, The Holiday. In 2017, she co-founded Allbright with her business partner Anna Jones, a global women's networking platform to allow working women across the world to connect, create, and collaborate at all stages of their careers. Debbie will also feature as a panellist in our GDST event in partnership with the Women of the World festival in March 2022, on the theme of Girls, Power & Change: should we teach disruption or how to play the game? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Katy Clark Labour MSP for the West Scotland, tells Bloomberg's Caroline Hepker that Boris Johnson's roll-back of covid restrictions sounds 'highly concerning' with short term policy 'lurching' from one measure to the next. Sharon Davies, CEO of Young Enterprise discusses the need for financial literacy as young people gain access to money at a very early age in a cashless society but not the financial skills to avoid financial abuse, fraud and debt. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simone Roche MBE chats to the CEO of Young Enterprise, Sharon Davies, as they reflect on the last twelve months and what lessons they'll be taking with them into 2022.    Listen to Learn Why smart business means investing in and listening to your people  How opportunities and support are the keys to place based social mobility  Why we need to harness the diverse thinking of future talent  How Sharon is bringing financial education to the next generation Find out how you can support Young Enterprise in their mission of helping young people everywhere succeed.

In an episode first aired February 15, 2021: DJ Andrew Sandoval presents Real Good Productions by Steve & Bill Jerome with selections from Society's Children, The Furnacemen, San Francisco Earthquake, The Doughboys, Barry Darvel, The Young Enterprise, Reparata & The Delrons, Christopher, Marie Applebee, The Blades Of Grass, The Front End, Christopher & The Chaps, Renee St. Clair and The Ox-Bow Incident.And in the artist spotlight even more Real Good Productions of the Fifth Estate and their earlier incarnation as The "D" Men. 

“But people always ask me what it is. So, I work with business owners to be, in effect, their extra pair of eyes and an extra pair of ears. You know, the cliche out there is it's lonely at the top. And it very much is, and you know, what I find these business owners just need somebody to talk to and bounce things off.” “We had five years when we only had freelancers, we then take the big scary step of an office and staff that's proper grown up, you know, that's proper grown-up stuff, and at the time is scary. And then, you know, the business growth and business growth isn't linear. It's, you know, it's up and down around backwards.” TIME STAMP SUMMARY 00:40 What is a business sounding board?04:16 Being coachable07:51 Building the business space14:44 Running the business19:43 Working with clients23:07 Problem solving Where to find Phil Fraser:LinkedIn at @philfraser.https://philfraser.co.uk/ Who is Phil Fraser?Phil went from a kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million-pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He's travelled the full SME business journey.Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach, Business Mentor, and ‘personal NED'). In simple terms, he's ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes' for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. The key time most Business Owners look for outside help is when they reach a ‘next stage/step up' point in their business journey. That's where Phil comes in. It doesn't need to be ‘lonely at the top'.As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.Over the last 12 months Phil has appeared on over 25 podcasts, from around the whole globe, talking on a variety of business subjects. You can view them all at https://philfraser.co.uk/watch-hear-phil/.Phil is also a volunteer Mentor with a number of organisations including The Prince's Trust and Young Enterprise and is an active Angel Investor. He also mentor's start-up businesses.You can usually find him on LinkedIn at @philfraser.Alternative contacts Email – phil@philfraser.co.ukMobile – 07960 490416Web – https://www.philfraser.co.ukYouTube - https://bit.ly/2OyDYaK    

Chances are that your entrepreneurial idols were born after the turn of the millennium, but Ben Towers is here to change that. He's been working since before his twelfth birthday, getting his start on web design projects for friends and family before launching into the stratosphere: we're talking British Royal Family, angel investment, and consultancies with companies like GSK and IHG. In 2015, he was named to The Time's Superteens list, and since then, he's only gotten more polished in his business practices. He's 22, and he's been in business for half his life. Ben has a passion for tech – he was the kid in primary school who would “be taking apart the printers,” and at a young age, he was tapped by a family friend to build her website. He brought some previous experience to the job, and filled in the gaps by watching YouTube tutorials on things like how to add contact forms. He netted himself $50 and was super jazzed. Like many youthful entrepreneurs, his first expenditure was candy. But he'd caught the bug. He freelanced for most of his teens, ultimately selling his digital agency Towers Design to Zest The Agency in 2017: a buyout before legal drinking age.Growing the company meant growing out of his “craft,” which was coding, and into management and leadership. He stayed engaged in the work by allowing himself to sit in on client creative sessions, giving him a bird's eye view and input in the creative ideation, without getting caught up in the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day. Ben managed 26 people by the age of 18, working with brands like Virgin Racing, and he credits his mentors with helping him get an array of skills. “For me, mentoring is not about having one person who is your mentor; it's about having multiple mentors.” Ben started collecting his mentors when he was in his teens, calling on people to share their expertise in sales, marketing, finance, and other areas. Never having had a boss before, Ben knew he couldn't rely on his own experience in the workforce to guide his management style, so he had to use his mentors' inputs and opinions to help him lead his team. Before COVID, Ben maintained a robust speaking schedule, which he credits with helping him grow his client base. Clients included the inaugural Young Enterprise with the UK government, aimed at unlocking a Silicon Valley mindset in England, and working with the British Royal Family on their initiatives. He used COVID as a chance to reset a bit—”leave the laptop at home”—and travelled through India and Thailand, falling in love with the local focus on community.This focus influenced his work on Tahora, his community and culture app that he started in 2020. Tahora is designed for employees and their psychosocial needs, aiming to enrich their work community through better connections. He says that 47% of people don't have a close friend in the workplace, leaving many folks without a sense of camaraderie and connection for long hours of the day. He shares the story of two employees who had trained for the same half-marathon without ever talking to each other about their hobby; his POV is that people's well-being at work can be supported through friendships. Tahora comes from the Maori concepts of health and togetherness. “So often, we see community as just a group of people. In the Maori community, everyone has a part to play. Everyone belongs.”

Like it, love it or loath it, presenting is one of those key skills all entrepreneurs should learn to master. Being able to speak effectively to an audience gives you the power to communicate, influence and persuade.In this episode, tune into presenter extraordinaire, Alex Simmons. Learn about his journey from Young Enterprise national finals and ‘DJing' at teenage club events to talking to tens of thousands of people at Wembley and the 2020 Black Lives Matter event in London's Hyde Park.Alex shares how to plan and prepare presentations, how to structure thinking, how to use your voice and critically how to speak so people buy into what you say. Humble and still learning himself, Alex is one of the standout guests in this series.A bit of Podcast background...UK-based Peter Harrington set up his first business following graduation in York in 1989. He has since started and grown several companies in various sectors including research, marketing, design, print, educational software and consultancy. Over the last 30+ years, Peter has employed over 1,000 people and experienced many highs and a few lows including burglaries, floods, fire and of course the most recent pandemic.As well as being the CEO with the SimVenture team, Peter is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at the London School of Economics and London South Bank University.Big thanks to LSE Generate, the SimVenture Team and Seajam Moths for supporting the Startup Survival Podcast.Find Guest details and all Reference SourcesThe full podcast series together with additional materials, guest details and hyperlinks to all episode reference sources is available on Peter Harrington's Blog 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to Entrepreneurship'.

The team from Whai Young Enterprise company made up of students from Te Kura Maori Nga Tapuwae in Auckland join us now on #PacificDays to korero about their vision to pass on the stories of our Tupuna, to the next generation. Instagram @whai_nz See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Leaderhip BITES, I have the indomitable spirit that is Sharon Davies, the Chief Executive of Youth Enterprise.Young Enterprise believe that the potential of the UK's young people is unlimited, and an academic education on its own is not enough. As a national charity they motivate young people to succeed in the changing world of work by equipping them with the work skills, knowledge and confidence they need.They work directly with young people, teachers, parents, businesses and influencers to help build a successful and sustainable future for all young people and society at large.Through their hands-on employability, enterprise and financial education programmes, resources and teacher training, they aim to reduce youth unemployment, help young people realise their potential beyond education and empower a generation to learn, to work and to live.Visit the website: livingbrave websiteYou can see all links below.

Nathalie Richards founded EduKit to help schools to ensure ALL students could access life-changing support in order to achieve their potential. Now, 7 years on, over 150,000 students have taken EduKit Insight surveys and they have connected thousands of schools with impactful youth interventions via the free EduKit Connect service. And in the summer of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, they worked with schools to launch a powerful Wellbeing mobile app to ensure that all children would have critical mental health and wellbeing support at their fingertips. Nathalie has worked with young people for many years. After being bullied as a teenager, Nathalie decided she wanted no child to feel alone in dealing with a problem at home or School. She set up her social enterprise, EduKit, in 2014. Since then, she has enabled thousands of students to seek help and improve their mental health through EduKit's online student wellbeing surveys and, more recently, the EduKit mobile app. Nathalie is an experienced interviewee and speaker. She chaired the London Knife Crime Conference organised by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, sits on the Board of Virgin Unite and has mentored children and young people with ‘100 Black Men of London' and 'Young Enterprise.' Website https://www.edukit.org.uk/ (www.edukit.org.uk) Social Media Information @Edukitters Show Sponsor The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. Get a FREE e-copy of their professional journal at https://www.educationonfire.com/education-on-fire/201-read-write-code-with-jeremy-keeshin/nape.org.uk/journal (nape.org.uk/journal) Support this podcast

In today's episode we interview Julia Neale from Young Enterprise Worcestershire. She explains about her passion for supporting pupils in their YE support programs. YEis a national charity who specialises in Enterprise education and Finance education.

Wow, we hope that this Impact Sessions Podcast Episode Will Blow You Away..... It certainly did us! Former Podcast Guest, Paul Lillywhite contacted me and said he was working with an inspirational team who he felt would be great guests for the Podcast and a real value add to the Podcast library - How could I resist? That they turned out to be a team of 6 x Lower 6th / Year 11 Students from St. Peter's School in York was the real surprise, but not once we had met and interviewed them. It has been an absolute pleasure to see such passion, energy and focus of the team, a team who are a great credit to themselves, the school and their business - YES, THEIR BUSINESS! The team are competing in a national Young Enterprise Competition, setting up and running a business over the course of 3 terms, with all of the required rigour, focus and structure you have to demonstrate as you would if you have to manage and run a business with in the "real world". They chose a Social Enterprise Structure for the business, appointed a Board of Directors including Joint Managing Directors, a Sales Director, a Marketing Director, and a couple of Social Media stars, all supported by a cast of over 20 Students all playing other key roles. It has been some journey - So what is the business? During lockdown 1 in March 2020, one of the Students, Lucy had an idea for a simple cookbook to help her elderly Gran / Nan who had previously been diagnosed with Alzheimer's but wanted to still enjoy cooking with her husband and her Carer, (and hopefully Lucy after lockdown was lifted). It was not an idea for a business at that stage, just something great she could do for her cherished Gran / Nan. From that simple idea, "Caring Through Cooking - Bringing Generations Together" was born as THE idea that St. Peter's wanted to adopt as their business entry in the Young Enterprise Competition come September 2020.  From then to March 2021, the journey has been one of creativity, collaboration, communication and of course hard work. It has been about researching, launching & published an excellent cookbook "Caring Through Cooking - Bringing Generations Together". Developing their sales & marketing strategies including an Instagram presence, a website and even a QR code backed series of cookery demonstrations to support the book and conducting market research and collaboration projects with the Alzheimer's Research UK to validate their products from a safety and accessibility perspective. All whilst working and studying remotely for the vast majority of the time! Watch or listen to this episode to see how the students have managed all of this and have a product range on the launchpad of success. If you have experienced a relative with Alzheimer's or if you just want to help these excellent students to make a difference, their contact details, including where to buy the book or access their product range are included here. A truly inspiring episode of The Impact Sessions Podcast, we hope that you will agree. Contact Details St. Peter's School Young Enterprise Team - Caring Through Cooking - Bringing Generations Together Lead Teacher - Mr Dominic Shread Email - d.shread@stpetersyork.org.uk Website for Books - https://www.ye-tradingstation.org.uk/product/bringing-generations-together-cookbook?v=282  Instagram - caringthroughcooking 

In this podcast, Kate interviews Hems de Winter. Born in Rotterdam, Hems found himself totally unsuited to the family traditions of dredging, land reclamation and civil engineering and, devoid of any meaningful qualifications, opted instead to leave school in Liverpool and try for a career in journalism. After various roles including court reporter, chief reporter and chef sub editor, he was appointed Editor of the Liverpool Weekly News at the age of 25. Hems left journalism after ten years and spent several years as a press officer with Cheshire County Council before joining his first PR consultancy as an account executive. It was in 1989 that he took the decision to launch his own agency and 33 years later, de Winter PR still flourishes, having transformed itself from a small, parochial lifestyle business into a multi-award-winning agency with global clients. Hems left the agency in good hands three years ago to launch ‘Hems de Winter Consulting' and pursue his passions for helping business owners create more sustainable and more successful values-led businesses, and mentoring young people. He is now working with agencies and organisations across the North West. Hems is a TEDx speaker, Young Enterprise board member, mentor, hospital governor and a trustee on several charities. Connect and find out more at: http://hemsdewinter.co.uk/ 

This week's guest is Sharon Davies the CEO of Young Enterprise & Young Money. A youth focused organisation which supports young people with hands-on employability, and financial education programmes. We chatted about the importance of connecting talent with opportunity and the positive impact this can bring to the lives of young people as well as teachers, parents, businesses and influencers. At the start of 2021 Sharon has launched a podcast called Enterprising Mindsets Podcast for Young Enterprise which can be found on all podcast platforms. https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk https://www.twitter.com/sdavies1971 Thank you to flexy for supporting this episode of the podcast you can find out more: https://get.flexyapp.uk - - - About Rocket Pod Rocket Pod: How Visionaries Forge Their Thoughts into Reality 'Compelling stories deconstructing how growth minded individuals achieve the destinies they choose' Rocket Pod has been co-founded by three entrepreneurs, three generations spanning Gen Z, Millennial and Gen X. Between us, we have +40 years of professional experience spanning e-commerce, digital marketing, web and media production, logistics, photography and FinTech. Rocket Pod has been created to engage visionaries about their life journey's and uncover true life experiences deconstructing how these individuals get from an idea and transition it into reality. Through our series, Rocket Pod will deliver a refreshed perspective on life and provide tools and knowledge through quality audio to make a positive impact on others lives. Growth minded guests will share their stories with listeners and help them take the next step to achieving greatness in whatever they put their mind to. https://www.instagram.com/wearerocketpod https://www.facebook.com/wearerocketpod https://www.twitter.com/wearerocketpod - - - The Rocket Pod Team: James Cuss Co-founder & Co-host James is a Serial Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of flexy https://get.flexyapp.uk Harry Daymond Co-founder & Co-host Award Winning YoungEntrepreneur, 20 Under 20 & Founder of The Cocktail Connoisseurs https://www.thecocktailconnoisseurs.co.uk Peter Haynes Co-founder & Producer Peter is a Designer & Maker at A Collection Of. https://www.acollectionof.info Music Producer Created exclusively by KANON https://www.soundcloud.com/kanonmusic --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocketpodmedia/message

Multi-award-winning social media expert & influencer. Co-Founder of BusinessOwnerSociety.com and CEO of Brand Branding PR LLC. getty The world as we know it seems to have changed overnight. None of us have experienced a global pandemic on this scale, with so many businesses forced to shut down to help stop Covid-19 from spreading. But from great adversity comes great opportunity. It’s time to adapt to survive, and social media marketing can help businesses withstand this stormArmed with an arsenal of varied skills and experience, Sophie has helped both new start-ups and existing businesses to communicate the right brand message to their constantly evolving target audience, build brand awareness and increase market share. Sophie is an official member of the Forbes Agency Council, and is an award-winning social media influencer. In October 2019, Sophie won a MarCom award recognizing her as the best social media influencer building awareness for local businesses. Head hunted for the PR Executive role of a major UK magazine aged 18 (The Big Issue), Sophie went on to build a successful career as an event promotions manager in London. Sophie worked on some major events including album launch parties for Kanye West and John Legend, as well as organizing annual parties for huge clients such as FHM Magazine and launching new products for global powerhouses including Jean Paul Gaultier. Sophie's first business, a global entertainment agency, was nominated for 3 prestigious business awards including Business Innovation, and was selected as 1 of 6 companies to be showcased by Richard Branson for his Back of an envelope campaign. Sophie went on to become a business mentor and guest judge for The Young Enterprise - an entrepreneurial program for young people in schools and colleges across the United Kingdom. Sophie's Social Media clients will on average see their engagement rise organically by as much as 500% within 3 months. Sophie is currently based in Miami, where she’s a regular ‘Hero’ at Miami Ad School teaching advertising students all of the social media tricks of the trade.

Welcome to Episode Episode #284: Improving Your Financial Future, with Jeff Lestz, CEO of Genistar Ltd, a financial education company whose mission is to help families become debt free and financially independent. During this episode, we will be talking about: Financial Tips: Have a plan CCMP (Clear Concise Mental Picture), Understand the Rule of 72, The Magic of Compound Interest The biggest mindset is having a winning positive attitude Having a mentor is one key to success. Being influenced by like-minded people will help you focus and achieve your goals Being stoic. Focus on things you can control which is your attitude and your activity In partnership with Draper Esprit, one of Europe's largest tech-focused venture capital firm. Make the future. Make it better. Make it happen. Learn more about the content discussed in this episode: Learn more about Genistar here and contact Jeff at jefflestz.pa@genistar.org. Some book recommendations: True Riches: Prosperity with Purpose, Your Journey to Financial Freedom, Against All Odds. - Visit the Young Enterprise website here. Learn more about The Secret History of Credit Card here.

Joshua Peauafi currently works at the Young Enterprise Trust as the Wellington Regional Coordinator.  The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) is an opportunity for students to unleash their inner entrepreneur and experience the start-up world first-hand. It is an experiential programme where students set up and run a real business.  Each YES company creates their own product or service and brings this to market! Supporting local companies is paramount while striving to be sustainable and environmentally conscious where possible. He also co owns POTPLANT STUDIO with his wife Nicky where they send high quality, real living indoor plants across the region as well as New Zealand wide. Young Enterprise Trust: http://youngenterprise.org.nz/ POTPLANT STUDIO: https://www.potplantstudio.co.nz/  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

As the Chief of Excitement at the Young Enterprise Trust, Terry is leading, driving and activating an entrepreneurial mindset (and skill set) in school students across New Zealand through their incredible programs. Like all organisations, they have needed to reimagine their organisation model with a globally changing landscape and get out of the small organisation mindset and think big with no limits.

Today I spoke to Zack Fortag from the Ahead of Time Academy about his passion for helping young people between the age of 15 and 25 who want to start a business. Zack runs a charity which helps support young people in Essex in the UK and his academy can help young people around the world with key learning opportunities, blogs and other key material. Zack's Linked In profile is here: My name is Zack Fortag I am a 19-year-old entrepreneur from Essex. When I was just 15, I started Ahead of time clothing which was a motivational clothing brand to help young people in fashion and business. In our duration we helped over 100 young people work in fashion and the business industry. Our clothing also was very successful we sold into 13 countries, worked with the largest fashion show in the UK and had partners such as Asos, Boys base and many stores across the UK and USA. Also, I ran Ahead of time academy which was extremely successful we employed five people and had a great office, I also have done public speaking and events for Young Enterprise. My latest venture is Ahead of time academy which is a CIC not for profit organisation aimed to help young people learn skills and gain connections for life. So far in our first few weeks we have secured some of the biggest charities as partners.

Terry Shubkin is Chief Excitement Officer at Young Enterprise which is focused on "Inspiring Students. Unleashing Leaders."  In this interview we hear about her life journey and what led her to taking on that role.  I really enjoyed hearing about her background and interesting journey and lessons learned when making life decisions ("what's the worst that could happen?") as well as the work being done to promote enterprise among high school students.  We also talk about the shift in focus over time among students who are increasingly interested in the impact their companies will have.  With thousands of alumni who have been through the programme there is now a lasting legacy of businesses whose CEOs first learned about business through YES. Website: http://youngenterprise.org.nz/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YoungEnterpriseNZ Report on Social Enterprise mentioned: https://www.theimpactinitiative.org.nz/publications/structuring-for-impact YES Annual Report here 2 minute overview video of what they do - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih7BKfNzdcc 2019 YES Alumni Report (Life after YES) – gives the outcomes from our alumni survey including the stats I mentioned around the number of entrepreneurs, the number of companies they have created and the number of jobs - http://youngenterprise.org.nz/assets/Uploads/YES-Alumni-Report-2019-Final.pdf Video if people want to volunteer and not sure what it means to mentor a YES company - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHUEJ4D5jDc If people want to #loveYES and #shopYES – the YES Market where YES companies can sell their products online in a central place. http://www.yesmarket.co.nz/businesses​ Social enterprise book here From website: "Our vision at Young Enterprise is to build a pipeline of entrepreneurial-minded young people who will boost the prosperity in Aotearoa. We do this by preparing young people to thrive in business and in life. We create authentic learning experiences and bring enterprise into the classroom." Video of this interview: https://youtu.be/QXF2OR68nRg For more interviews check out www.theseeds.nz      

I found a friend! Ellen Ave, Episode #6:  YES mastermind Madi Barnett joins us today to talk about starting up businesses in school, all of it's benefits, and how they've adapted to work through COVID. She also talks about a couple of innovative new companies coming out of the woodworks: @purposeswimwear and @cloudmassnz. For more information on YES, follow my sis and flick her a message (@madifbarnett) or check out the Young Enterprise website here (http://youngenterprise.org.nz/). Subscribe, share this with your brothers, besties, bros and buddies, and follow along the journey! Cheers. Follow: @barneybarnett01 (https://www.instagram.com/barneybarnett01) and SUBSCRIBE to the podcast! 

We kick off Season Two with the wonderful Debbie Wosskow OBE, angel investor and serial entrepreneur. Debbie tells us all about her early days in Sheffield (where her first business selling scrunchies won her a Young Enterprise award at 15!) and the ups and downs of growing and selling two successful ventures before co-founding The All Bright with Anna Jones.Debbie's tips on mindset, habits, and resilience are invaluable for founders at any stage of growth, and her candid insights about the importance of community offer a fresh perspective on forging a path to success with friend-preneurs and mentors at our side.Check out The All Bright at: https://www.allbrightcollective.com/And for more great Entreprenora content, sign up to our newsletter at www.entreprenora.co.uk and follow us on Instagram @entreprenora_official.Let's do great things together

This week we are joined by Fenella and Felicity to talk about Christianity, community and their faith.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined again by Tilda talking about cyberbullying and social media.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Tilda talking about bullying and its potential effects on mental health.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Lauren talking about coming out, relationships and the LGBTQ+ community.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Zara talking about first relationships, breakups and putting yourself first. Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Nell talking about eating disorders and her personal experiences. Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.If anything discussed in this episode resonated with you, follow these links for expert advice and help:https://www.mind.org.uk/https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/eating-disorders/Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Lizzie and Lizzie to talk about their experiences with divorce, new families and the challenges they faced. Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Amelia to talk about puberty, acne and self confidence.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Kunmi and Yimika to talk about racism, how it should be dealt with and how to educate yourself.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Clem to talk about Imposter Syndrome - when you feel inadequate despite your success.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.TIME Article: https://time.com/5312483/how-to-deal-with-impostor-syndrome/Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

This week we are joined by Charlie, talking about how she managed taking public exams and the stress that comes with it.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

I first met today’s guest when I was 16 while doing Young Enterprise at school and since then I’ve also known him to be incredibly passionate and supportive of entrepreneurship for people at every age and stage of the journey.   Ciaran Sheehan is an entrepreneur himself, probably best known as a leading Executive Recruiter and Board advisor to many companies in NI.   But he also has business interests in Care Homes and most recently a very exciting venture in tourism in North Donegal on the Wild Atlantic Way – an authentic holiday, glamping, camping experience that is really taking off!   In today’s episode, we talk about the importance of serving customers, how he ended up buying a holiday park in Donegal and the legacy of entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland.   // To see a 'treasure trove' of all things related to Ciaran (including a photo) please visit https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/ciaran-sheehan-clarendon-executive   Best Of Belfast is Northern Ireland's #1 Interview Podcast. We've shared 100+ hour-long conversations with incredible people from Northern Ireland.   To find out more, or join 'The Producers Club' please visit https://bestofbelfast.org/   Cheers!   — Matt       

This week we are joined by Nancy as she shares her experience of coming to England from China. We also discuss Christmas in a Non-Christian country.'Non-Christians at Christmas' - guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/24/non-christians-at-christmas-i-love-it-as-much-as-i-love-diwaliWe will now have a two week break over Christmas and New Year but we will be back on 7th January 2020 with Charlie to talk about exam stress.Let us know where you stand on this week's issue by messaging us on Instagram, Twitter or the Website.Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org where you can purchase your copy of "Note to Self."Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Welcome to our new podcast "Pod To Self" - Insights and Anecdotes brought directly to you by teens. Instagram: @perspective_yeTwitter: @ye_perspectiveWebsite: www.perspective-ye.org - Where you can purchase a copy of Perspective's book "Note to Self"New Episode coming on Tuesday!Music: Rockapalooza! by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

The first step to dealing with bullies is knowing when your child is a victim. Here are some practical tips to prevent & handle bullying This week, Sue speaks to Young Enterprise's Alison Collington all about what her service can offer to all children to help them to develop their entrepreneurial abilities and knowledge. In Sue's Tuppence Worth, there is a discussion about 'When did my naked child become nude?' after a Washington Post article and, in Don't Stew Ask Sue, there are lots of tips about how to prevent bullying when our children return to school.

Mike Dicks is an Illustrator, Designer, Author, Satirist and the man behind The Mayor of Trumpton, The Brexit Comic, Mike & Scrabble. My particular favourite can be found on Linkedin where Mike describes himself as the CEO of Camberwick Analytica. But Mike's third career has been borne out of necessity. Mike was a very successful TV & Web guy whose bleeding edge technology and bleeding edge thinking had clients queueing at his door but he needed a job he could do from home in his pyjamas because one day Mike received a diagnosis of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia or CLL or Cancer. Mike had no choice but to slow down. Mike's story is about energy. For the first 50 years he had it in spades and used it to good effect. He's been one of those people who consistently spots something new and translates it for the rest of us. When we see a new-fangled technology, Mike sees solutions and opportunities. An early career in computer sales (when most people hadn't ever seen a computer) lead to a career in TV, which lead to a career in website development (when most people thought a website was an electronic brochure), which lead to a part-time career training and then Mike was forced into a career as a designer, author, cartoonist and now artist. These days Mike's work is delivered through his series of Avatars. The whole idea of using pseudonyms as a lubricant for creativity and in Mike's case thoughtful, important, purposeful creativity seems obvious when you hear Mikes story but it wasn't obvious to me before this conversation so thank you Mike. At the very beginning of this conversation, Mike suggests he doesn't bring out the real Mike Dicks ever. I reckon he got pretty damn close during this conversation. If you're vaguely interested in the idea of spending your precious time doing what you want to do - I'm pretty confident you'll enjoy this. As Mike says "Who's saying you can't do what you want to do?"

There's not long to go now until young people pick up their exam results! This can be a tense and nerve wrecking time for parents and young people, so this month we're chatting about how to manage your expectations and other options for your young people other than the traditional academic route. We also talk to Young Enterprise about investing in young people's entrepreneurial and employability skills. 

RagDogs is a new start-up founded by 6 young women from Bloomfield Collegiate School that sell eco-friendly dog toys made from recycled materials.   We had the absolute honour to sit down with them to discover what they’ve learned along the way, how they feel about the big final in London and what it’s been like to juggle starting a business with your A-Levels.   // To see a 'treasure trove' of all things related to RagDogs (including a photo) please visit https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/young-enterprise-northern-ireland-ragdogs   Best Of Belfast is Northern Ireland's #1 Interview Podcast. We've shared 100+ hour-long conversations with incredible people from Northern Ireland.   To find out more, or join 'The Producers Club' please visit https://bestofbelfast.org/   Cheers!   — Matt 

Tim Matthews meets the school teams involved in the Young Enterprise Surrey Finals held at Epsom College.

Young Enterprise Team "Our Final Straw" Joins the Podcast Young Enterprise competitors Our Final Straw join us on this week's podcast. Last week, we had another team in the competition, County Colour. They come from the same school that Graham attended, just a few years back! Welcome to Jasmine Keith and Natalia Basaraba from South Craven School! Our Final Straw sell bamboo straws which come with a type of pipe-cleaner and they throw in smoothie recipes to use the straws with! Additionally, they sell bamboo toothbrushes, which we heard a lot about on our podcast with Chris Fous or Woobamboo - episode 96. Jasmine and Natalia are part of a 6 person team, whittled down from an original 14! They are the stayers! The team has 5 girls and one boy. The boy is HR director, so by the looks of the staff reduction, he's had his work cut out! Young Enterprise Competition Our Final Straw will be competing at York on Wednesday 8th May 2019. At the time of the original competition the team hadn't got off the ground in terms of sales. However, they have now. They have joined plastic free Facebook groups, and they have since sold 20 straws online. What is a Bamboo Straw An ordinary straw made from environmentally friendly. Thicker than a normal straw. The last a long time. You can also put them in dishwashers. The pipe cleaner helps you clean it regularly. The Idea 8.5bn straws are used every year in the UK. This inspired the team. It is a small change and that's better of nothing. They added free recipes. A perfect way to use the straw. They promote a healthy lifestyle. They are all smoothie recipes. The recipes were made up by the team. In fact, the customers really like the recipes. The Team Natalia is finance director controlling inflows and outflows. Jasmine is secretary. Charlotte is MD, Nya is Marketing and Max is HR and Pippa in Customer Services. The Product They buy the straws from different wholesalers and cleaners from other sources. Then they package everything up. Our Final Straw won the Young Enterprise trade stand competition. Nationally! What are the Benefits? Confidence, professionalism. Knowing how to speak to the public, and how to run parts of the business. Year 12, Lower Sixth. So here are a few images of former South Craven School pupil Graham Arrowsmith around the time...!! Too much? Probably, but I enjoyed seeing myself thin and with hair again! South Craven school teacher Mr Light also gets a mention. He allows the team use his room for meetings. And he took a driving test to be able to take the team to the next round in York! Well done him. Are the Girls Vegan? Watch the video to find out! http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Our-Final-Straw-Vid1a.mp4 Publicising Our Final Straw They have access to a shopping mall in Skipton called Craven Court. How did people respond? Local people were really supportive. Something has to be done about plastic. This commitment really helps their sales. A small change makes a huge difference. The team has also sold a large order with Skipton Building Society for their sustainable shop in their canteen. Thank you to Jasmine Keith and Natalia Basaraba from South Craven School. The next 100 days podcast is brought to you by Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith

Young Enterprise with Colour County from Giggleswick School Young Enterprise team entrant Colour County scooped top prize in the Craven and Harrogate Company of the Year Award. Graham Arrowsmith was one of the 3 judges. On the podcast we had Colour County team members Theophile Chenel, Michael Robinson and  Sacha Pauzner. Theo and Sacha both hail from France (Nice and Paris respectively) and Michael is from Skipton. The team are in Year 12, which is the Lower Sixth. Young Enterprise sets schools against each other. Teams from local schools compete locally, with the winners and runners-up competing regionally, nationally and even internationally! It is some opportunity for them. Colour County won through the first round, where Graham Arrowsmith with two others judged their entry the best of the day. What are Colour County Selling? They created a colouring book. The drawings inside depict well known places in Yorkshire. Colour County offers them an opportunity to market a local variant for Lancashire and other counties throughout the country. The pictures were drawn by students and teachers at Giggleswick School. Their first book is Colour Yorkshire, as the school is sited in North Yorkshire. Their Market Colouring in is not just for young children, but they also recognised other age groups like the soothing qualities of relaxing by colouring pictures. Theo mentioned middle aged, by which he probably means people in their thirties! And old people (Kevin). Sacha is the Financial Director of Colour County He explained that the team has made a big profit of £300 on £700 sales. The Average price was £5. What other roles are there? http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Colour-County-vid1.mp4 They share the roles - like sales director. Finance have two roles - banking and sales. Are there prima donnas amongst them? Yes. They have done well, so they have overcome these issues. They have stayed true to their agenda. Have there been serious arguments? Only at the start really. Then there was a split vision. They examined alternatives. Where can people buy one of the colouring books? Local stores and they have a deal with Welcome to Yorkshire too. They had a school contact. There are 32 pages in the colouring book. Priced at £5, it is made of recycled paper. How did they pick the things to draw. They did research. But, importantly the team ensured they had the rights to the drawings. E.g. the five rise locks - additionally they added 'fun facts' about each location. They added Whitby. Known for Count Dracula living in Whitby Abbey. Planting a Tree for Every Book County Colour were thinking about planting a tree for every book sold. That's probably not possible, but a tree planted for every 20 books sold might be. This commitment has the benefit of helping environmentally, but supporting the rationale for purchase too. The buyer not only gets a colouring book, but assists in a tree being planted. It seems the best way to do this is to make it a retail/shop offer. Buy 30 books at £3.50 and we'll plant a tree in your name. How did the Team do in the next round of Young Enterprise The team's teacher Kyle Holland will keep us informed of the team's progress in the Young Enterprise competition? Microsoft Teams and Snapchat These services were used to connect the team members for sharing documents. And they cannot miss out on using Snapchat. SilsdenTownHall.org.uk This website was mentioned. here is the interview about the Jigsaw Festival. Click "YouTube" for the interview on You Tube:  What Did they Get Out of the Young Enterprise Experience? http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CC-Vid2.mp4 All Managed By Kyle Holland He wanted to provide a real life application, but in the classroom. The applications stretched across lots of abilities - artists, drama students for presentations, marketers. 12 students sell the shares,

Business Growth Strategies with Paul Slater Paul Slater joins The Next 100 Days Podcast to discuss business growth strategies. Don't miss out on his free download too, offering 21 Proven Business Growth Strategies. Paul admitted that as a Didsbury lad, he grew up a Manchester United fan. We were tempted to end the podcast on this foul admission, but fortunately we stuck with Paul and allowed him to share his ideas about business growth. He does live in Yorkshire, after studying in Leeds, so on that basis he got a temporary pass. How Can I The Growth Shed? (Click this image) Paul has been focusing more on small businesses recently. He likes their agility and spirit to drive their businesses. In Uncertain Times What is the Best Antidote? Business Growth. If you can drive consistent solid revenues, with good profits and grow that business it is a great place to be. That is what attracts Paul to business growth and why he wants to help small businesses to achieve growth. Consulting Career Whilst still at university, Paul managed to get a consulting gig with a local brewery. Here's a short video as Paul recalls the experience. http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Thesis.mp4 ...Paul's thesis was all about coping mechanisms for stress and the differences between blue collar and white collar workers. Paul was studying psychology and had a keen bent for occupational psychology. White collar managers became micro-managers under stress and effectively passed their stress onwards. Out of university Paul joined and worked for Accenture for 9 years. That's when growth became interesting. He took an MBA in Leeds, In a multi-cultural team, Paul won the Barclays Annual Business Plan Competition. This looked at starting a small business and how it could grow, at least on paper. Young Enterprise (tune into a future podcast) A future set of guests. The winners of the North Yorkshire and Craven Young Enterprise awards will join The Next 100 Days podcast. Graham was asked to judge this regional final and admitted to it being very difficult, but in the same way that Paul excelled in his respective competition, these young students were absolutely first rate and we can all hopefully learn things from their experience. Sweat Equity Whilst at Accenture, Paul noted that a lot of consultancies including and alike them, "lost their minds". They started doing projects with hi-tech high growth companies on the basis of 'sweat equity'. Part fees, part equity. Many projects did not work out. There were a number of errors Paul saw during that time. It was another reason he was interested in business growth. The defining moment for Paul, having finished his MBA and decided he wanted to move on from Accenture, he took a break. We Love Snow He went travelling with his girlfriend. She's now his wife. The first part of their trip was a skiing holiday in Japan for a fortnight. He noticed an opportunity. It was an hour on the bullet train from Tokyo and he thought there should be a whole of event sky business. Using the lessons of his MBA and Accenture, he launched We Love Snow. The business survived a few years and then alas failed. Their ex-pat targets didn't want to ski in Japan. What was the main reason for the failure? Spending far too much money upfront. Too much gold-plated use of the investment. There was a euphoria and they emulated other tech business. There was a practical alternative. Paul realises this to his credit. Otherwise is was also about having the right people. He had recruited capable friends rather than competent. Paul join Oakland Consulting Oakland was a proponent of TQM in the 1980s. Paul stayed there for 11 years. It was a small family business. Ultimately as a partner, he looked at the win-business (from a invisible to clients) and people (establishing a quality group of consultants). When Paul consulted, what was the client engagement like?

Hugh Evans and Graham Laycock meet the 14 school business teams taking part in the Young Enterprise North Surrey Finals on Tuesday 12 March at the Notre Dame School, Cobham. The top four companies go on to the Surrey Finals on 8 May at Epsom College which will also be covered by Brooklands Radio.

Plenty of folk talk the talk when it comes to business advice and motivation. Advisors, consultants or people in high-faluting business roles may be free with their opinions but some have never actually grown an enterprise of any sort.But from teenage entrepreneur to the youngest ever President of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Steve Manley has certainly “walked the walk.”And in his interview on my radio show this week he told a lovely story of walking miles to work in the snow – which turned out to be a formative moment in his career.A door-knocking experience through Young Enterprise while at college showed Steve how much the world of business – and selling products – excited him. He got a job with an office supplies business and was rapidly promoted, turning around performance. All went well until the business was bought by a giant corporate and Steve realised their values weren’t aligned with his own.So Steve – who’d always had a desire to work for himself – and colleague, friend and now business partner Mark set up their own business – initially from the back bedroom of his parental home in 2002 – and grew it, Universal Office Products to a highly successful, multi-million turnover firm.Absolutely passionate about increasing the diversity within the Sheffield Chamber further, and about supporting and encouraging young people, Steve has concrete, specific plans about how, as Sheffield Chamber of Commerce’s new President, he will do this.It was a great pleasure to interview Steve and I think you’ll enjoy the podcast. Oh, and if you’ve every wondered whether to join a Chamber of Commerce: Steve has good reasons why you should.Also on the show, and also a great pleasure to interview: Andrzej Kurpiel. Andrzej is behind Bee Blest, a newly launched social enterprise which “works with honey bees to help lift people out of poverty.”Sales of Andrzej’s popular honey have already supported:a community enterprise project in Rwanda and the developmentand maintenance of beekeeping and allied projects in Sheffield, where disadvantaged and marginalised people are helped both to survive and also given a chance to thrive through working outdoors, making friends and developing new skills.

Have you heard of Miss Tubs? A newish Kiwiana ice-cream start up created by six students, five from Westlake Girls High and one from Westlake Boys, originally started as part of the Young Enterprise organisation programme. Miss Tubs key team are CEO is Caitlin Goodin, Marketing Managers - Charlotte Houten and Victoria Roebuck, Communications Manager is Eda Ye, Production – Lilly Cripps, Finance - Harry Bell. ☆ Giant Sisters: www.giantsisters.com ☆ Jo Brothers: www.jobrothers.com ☆ Contact Jo Brothers: jo@jobrothers.com

EP020 | The Value of a Mentor   http://bulletproofagencynetwork.com/ @BulletproAgency   Bulletproof Agency proudly presents this podcast Welcome back to the Bulletproof Agency Network Podcast, as we join a live session at Prolific North Live 2018. This time we’re taking a look at mentors, and who better to talk us through it than a mentor and mentee duo? Dan Nolan (The E Word) interviews mentor Hems De Winter (Ask Hems) and mentee James Hamilton (PixelTree Media). Topics covered in this episode: Knowing when you’re in control of your business versus just thinking you are. Being a mentor can be just as rewarding as being a mentee. Hems talks about his experience of being overwhelmed and overworked,and how finding guidance helped him. The importance of being able to talk to someone who has been there and experienced what you are going through as an entrepreneur. The key qualities of a good mentor, from confidentiality to honesty. How long it can take to find the right mentor for you. Is there a shelf life to a mentor? When does the relationship end?   How all this can help you find your why. Guest Bios   Dan Nolan Daniel Nolan is managing director of theEword, one of Manchester’s leading independent digital agencies. The agency specialises in working with lifestyle and leisure brands to drive awareness, consideration and purchase intent. Daniel is the co-chair of pro.manchester’s creative committee, the chairman of the Manchester Publicity Association and has previously been recognised as the Digital, Media or Creative Professional of the Year at the Made In Manchester Awards. He is a passionate ambassador for Manchester and the North West’s creative, digital and media industries and has hosted and spoken at conferences and events for the likes of pro.manchester, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Salford Media Festival, the MPA, Manchester Metropolitan University and many more. Working with Manchester Metropolitan University, Oldham College and the UTC @ MediaCity, Daniel is also a leading figure locally in setting the agenda for training and retaining the best creative, digital and media talent in the city. Website: https://www.theeword.co.uk/   Twitter: @iamdanielnolan   James Nolan James Hamilton is Creative Director of PixelTree Media, an award winning creative digital agency based in Rainford, England.   Website: http://www.pixeltree.media   Hems De Winter Rotterdam-born, Hems de Winter is a former journalist and editor who founded the award-winning de Winter PR in 1989. He is now a mentor, lecturer, business coach and speaker whose clients are spread across a range of significant SME businesses within the creative and other spheres of industry. He has also served as a Non-Executive Director in the NHS and as an NHS Conciliator. In his spare time he’s a mentor, school governor, lecturer, business coach, Young Enterprise board member, charity trustee and occasional keynote speaker.   Website: http://hemsdewinter.co.uk/   Twitter: @dewinter_hems   Presenter Bio A journalist and broadcaster for nearly 30 years, Andy runs his own media consultancy in Manchester working with clients like Weber Shandwick, the NFU, and the Institute of Directors.   Andy started in print before 17 years as a BBC presenter & reporter, appearing on BBC Breakfast, Five Live & the Today programme. For five years Andy presented the award-winning BBC1 current affairs programme Inside Out, travelling across   Europe making documentaries on terrorism, the smuggling of illegal guns into the UK and the Manchester IRA bomb. He also made films with Sir Bobby Charlton, Yoko Ono, Lord Heseltine and Johnny Marr.   Website: http://www.andyjohnson.tv/   Twitter: @AndyPJo1   Thanks for coming along and we hope you enjoyed listening as much as we enjoyed putting it all together. Please subscribe to our podcast for more great insights from more great people.   Next Episode Next up we are looking at the power of niche, with a live recording from Prolific North Live 2018. Listen in for some rock ‘n’ roll and, of course, great business advice.

Hugh Evans talks to those taking part in the schools Young Enterprise South East Final at Guildford Cathedral on the 13th June 2018.

Hugh Evans meets the school teams taking part in this year’s Young Enterprise Surrey Final at Epsom College on Thursday 10th May.

Hugh Evans and Graham Laycock meet the school teams taking part in this year’s Young Enterprise North Surrey Final at Gordon’s School, West End, Woking on Thjursday 22nd March 2018 and find out who will be going forward to the Surrey Finals..

We caught up with Carol Fitzsimons, CEO of Young Enterprise Northern Ireland to chat about this amazing, empowering entrepreneurial charity for young folk in Belfast/our wee country, what a CEO actually does and what it takes to get an MBE.   // To see a 'treasure trove' of all things related to Carol (including a photo) please visit https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/carol-fitzsimons-young-enterprise-northern-ireland   Best Of Belfast is Northern Ireland's #1 Interview Podcast. We've shared 100+ hour-long conversations with incredible people from Northern Ireland.   To find out more, or join 'The Producers Club' please visit https://bestofbelfast.org/   Cheers!   — Matt 

Michael Mercieca, CEO of Young Enterprise, Paul Breen, Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster and Alan Lockey, Head of Modern Economy at Demos join Chris for the fourth episode of Article 50. In this edition, they debate whether ongoing tensions over Brexit will continue to bleed into the education system following Chris Heaton-Harris' letter to academics. They also question whether calls for Britain's history of immigration to be integrated into the National Curriculum is a good idea, discuss the implications of tighter immigration controls for international students, and ask: How will the education system be affected by Brexit?

Welcome to Episode 10 of The Official Saastr Podcast. To celebrate this milestone, we have a very special guest: Mathilde Collin. Mathilde is the CEO and Co-Founder of Front, one of the world's most innovative young SaaS startups working in the space of email collaboration and in today's show with Mathilde we discuss: Mathilde's experience as a young founder and CEO in the enterprise space? How did Mathilde manage to attract some of the world's top talent and hire effectively? What were her biggest takeaways from her time at YC?  Why did Mathilde decide to raise US funds rather than European? How has the evolution of content marketing altered Front's sales strategy?  In a round we call the 60 Second Saastr, we also hear: Hiring Your First VP of Sales: When and What Questions To Ask? Mathilde's favourite SaaS resource? Compare UK to US investor mindsets? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings Saastr Mathilde Collin    

We attend the Cornwall Innovation Awards - which celebrates the Young Enterprise businesses in Cornwall this year.

@PaulDeach talks to Alison Collington at the Young Enterprise Presentation Evening at Pine Ridge Golf Club.

@PaulDeach talks to the local winners of the Young Enterprise presentation evening. Chris Bates - Managing Director Tom Hosty - Operations Director Henry Jones - Operations Director Jim Brooker - IT

@PaulDeach talks to volunteer board members and mentors Ken Wilkinson and Derek Wade at the Young Enterprise Presentation Evening at Pine Ridge Golf Club.

The presentations from Young Enterprise Presentation Evening 2014 at Pine Ridge Golf Club

We talk to Tide Line Books who won this year's Young Enterprise in Cornwall and find out the latest about Newquay Airport. #business #Cornwall

The Cornwall Business Award for Young Enterprise in 2012 goes to Divided.