From Bedroom to Boardroom | With Rob Spence

About That Weekly Episode Thing… | Plus, Everything You Need to Know About The Sales Circle | Episode Thirty Six Last week Rob announced he wouldn't be doing weekly episodes anymore. This week he's back. He finds this funny. More importantly, he's here to tell you everything about The Sales Circle — where it's been, where it's going, and why you should be listening. What We Cover Yes, He's Al...

Not Goodbye — Just See You When I See You | Episode Thirty Five  A short one — Rob promised it would be, and he means it. Nearly 40 episodes in, nearly a year of weekly episodes, and now a change in how this podcast works. It's not bad news. It's just honest news. What We Cover The Announcement From Bedroom to Boardroom is not ending. Rob is not going anywhere. But the weekly cadence is. He w...

Animal Media Update: Orders Every Day and Loving Every Minute | Episode Thirty Four A few episodes back, Rob introduced Animal Media — his physical media side hustle. He's been getting messages asking how it's going. Here's the honest update. What We Cover A Quick Recap Animal Media is Rob's side project selling DVDs, Blu-rays, mystery boxes, and movie night hampers through animalmedia.co.uk . The...

The Sales Circle Book Is Coming — And It's Been Worth the Wait | Episode Thirty Three Rob's been sitting on a secret. A new book is nearly ready — the fourth of his career — and this one is different from anything he's put out before. He's finally ready to talk about it. What We Cover The Sales Circle — Part One Rob's long-running podcast The Sales Circle is the foundation for this book. When he l...

The League Two Striker: Why Letting Good People Go Is Sometimes the Best Move | Episode Thirty Two A team member of two and a half years has just left Paragon — on good terms, with a handshake and a thank you. Rob uses it as a chance to talk about one of the harder, quieter parts of running a business: what it actually means to let good people go, and why it doesn't have to be a bad thing. What We...

Sometimes Settling Is Winning: Why I Took £2,500 Instead of £12,000 | Episode Thirty One Rob has just settled a debt dispute. He's accepted £2,500 from someone who owed him closer to £12,000. He knows he had the case. He knows he probably would have won. He settled anyway — and he's going to tell you exactly why, and why he'd do it again. What We Cover The Numbers By the time court fees, legal fee...

Your Results Don't Define You: A Letter to My Younger Self | Episode Thirty GCSE and A-level results season. Rob has a message for anyone who opened an envelope this week and felt their stomach drop — and for anyone who's ever let a set of grades convince them their best days were already decided. Spoiler: they weren't. What We Cover The SATs Test Cast your mind back to Year 6. Remember how enormo...

Zero Enquiries for Eight Weeks: What a Dirty Website Taught Me About Trust | Episode Twenty Nine Two to three inbound enquiries a day. Then overnight — nothing. For eight weeks. Rob tells the story of how a malware attack, a negligent web guy, and a GoDaddy runaround cost his business tens of thousands in potential revenue, and what he eventually did about it at half nine on a Tuesday night with h...

Say Yes to the Side Hustle: How a Hobby Became Animal Media | Episode Twenty Eight Rob is pacing around the studio with a handheld mic — literally can't stand still — because something has properly lit him up. A hobby that started three or four months ago has snowballed into a new business idea, a Shopify build started at 5am, and a growing TikTok community. This one's all energy. What We Cover Th...

It's Not the Mistake. It's the Recovery | Episode Twenty Seven Rob sent a meal back at a restaurant on Saturday night. He doesn't do it often, and he doesn't take it lightly — especially given his background in hospitality. But the story that followed turned into one of the clearest customer service lessons you'll hear. What We Cover The Night in Question Rob, his fiancée, and their almost-one-yea...

You'll Never Get Slagged Off By Someone Doing Better Than You | Episode 26 An impromptu one — but sometimes the unplanned episodes are the best ones. Rob's had a run-in with a hater this week. Not a faceless internet troll, but someone in the Leicestershire business networking community who's had it in for him for a couple of years. He's telling the full story, naming what she did, and using it as...

Two Years In and Just Getting Started: A Fresh Chapter for Paragon Creative Studios | Episode Twenty Five After two heavy episodes, Rob made a deliberate decision to keep this one positive. No complaints, no court cases, no politics. Just a genuine milestone and a renewed sense of excitement about what's coming next. What We Cover Happy Birthday, Paragon Creative Studios Two years ago to the day o...

Read the Room: Why Our High Streets Are Dying and Who's to Blame | Episode Twenty Four Following last week's raw, difficult episode, Rob is back — still frustrated, still honest, but this time pointing his anger somewhere specific. Businesses are closing around him, and he wants to talk about why. What We Cover Knight and Garter — Leicester Loses a Good One Knight and Garter, one of Leicester city...

The Hardest Day in Eight and a Half Years | Episode Twenty Three No studio. No plan. Rob is recording from his car, minutes after letting three members of his telemarketing team go. In eight and a half years of running his business, he's never had to do this before. This is as raw as it gets. Note: the audio quality reflects exactly where and when this was recorded. That's the point. What We Cover...

Adapt or Get Left Behind: Why Change Is the Only Option | Episode Twenty Two Episode Summary Something is changing at Paragon. Rob isn't ready to say exactly what yet — it's still too fresh, too raw — but this episode is his way of processing it out loud. A reminder to himself, and to anyone listening, that staying still is its own kind of risk. What We Cover Change Is Coming — Details To Follow R...

You Can Rebuild a Business. You Can't Get This Time Back | Episode Twenty One An unplanned, slightly chaotic episode — recorded at 4pm with the England pre-match build-up on in the background, because Rob left the original recording on the SD card at the studio. Classic. But amid the chaos, a genuinely honest reflection on what being your own boss is actually for. What We Cover The Accidental Home...

A Company of Giants: Why You Should Always Hire People Better Than You | Episode Twenty Rob's back from holiday and keeping this one short. But the topic is anything but small. A principle he once believed in, drifted from, and is now recommitting to: always hire people who are better than you. Two stories — one from Henry Ford, one from David Ogilvy — and one honest admission about where drifting...

You're Allowed to Switch Off: A Holiday Reminder for Busy Fools Everywhere | Episode Nineteen Short one this week — Rob's on holiday. And that's exactly the point. This is your reminder that stepping away from the business isn't weakness, it's essential. Recorded before he left, with his phone already cleared of emails and LinkedIn. Before You Go Away A few practical suggestions from Rob: Remove e...

Stand Your Ground: The Invoice Dodgers Who Will Always Lose in the End | Episode Eighteen. Rob opens this one at full volume — and for good reason. Two companies are currently refusing to pay their invoices, and he's not staying quiet about it. No names, but plenty of detail. If you've ever been stiffed by a client, this one will feel very familiar. Key Takeaways Invoicing someone and not receivin...

The BNI Hypocrisy Problem | Episode Seventeen BNI has wound Rob up again. In this week's unfiltered episode, he takes on the hypocrisy at the heart of some BNI chapters — not the concept itself, but the behaviour that contradicts everything the network claims to stand for. Two specific incidents this week brought it all to a head. Key Takeaways BNI works for plenty of people, especially those in t...

A slightly scrappier episode this week — Rob forgot to record and wasn't letting that stop him. Hunched over a laptop with a mic, he talks about reigniting his passion for content creation, launching a brand new TikTok channel, and the business lesson that ties it all together: if you don't do, you'll never learn. Key Takeaways Content creation is a skill that compounds — the earlier you start exp...

Too Little, Too Late? Starmer's Small Business Bill vs. The Damage Already Done | Episode Fifteen Rob Spence was doom-scrolling Facebook when a post from Keir Starmer stopped him in his tracks, and not for the usual reasons. For once, something the Prime Minister said actually resonated. In this episode, Rob breaks down Labour's record on small business since taking power, reacts to Starmer's late...

Decide Faster, Win Faster | Episode Fourteen Eight and a half years into running his business, Rob Spence has identified one of the things that's held him back recently — and it's something he used to be brilliant at. Making decisions fast. In this episode, Rob gets brutally honest about the fact that slow decision-making has started to stagnate his business. He backs up his gut feeling with resea...

Why Are We Tied Down by our Emails and Inboxes?! | Episode Thirteen A slightly different episode this week — Rob is recording from home (yes, ironically, the week after the WFH episode) because his partner has just returned to work and baby duty calls. The audio might not be quite up to its usual studio standard, but the conversation is every bit as honest. The topic? Email. Specifically, the quie...

Why I Don't Believe in 'Working From Home' | Episode Twelve In this episode, Rob Spence tackles one of the most hotly debated topics in modern business — working from home. In true From Bedroom to Boardroom style, this one is unfiltered, unplanned, and pulls absolutely no punches. Rob openly admits to being a hypocrite: he loves working from home himself, but as a leader running a telemarketing bu...