Quietly Disruptive

What happens when a former army officer stationed in Somalia looks at his freeze-dried military rations and thinks, this technology could solve a problem that every parent in the country is dealing with? That one thought, had thousands of miles from home, turned into More Toddler Meals, a freeze-dried meal company for young children that Ed has spent four years building from a kitchen that doubled...

What do you do when you find an assumption sandwiched between two truths that both feel real? That's what today's episode is about, as finding the assumption that's been hiding in plain sight is one thing. Knowing what to do with it is another. In this episode, you'll hear: The question I ask founders when they're stuck, and why the answer is almost always the same Why ass...

What do you do when you have two things at odds with each other? That to have one, you have to sacrifice the other? For example, you want to get clients, but don’t want to sell. You want to raise your prices, but don’t want to be rejected.   This is the pattern I call, two truths and a lie. It’s where you hold two things that feel true, but they almost cancel each other out, and so you get stuck i...

When was the last time you had a thought that was entirely your own, one that wasn't shaped by something you'd just read, listened to, or scrolled past? That's what today's episode is about. I share 4 simple options to help you create the space for your own thinking to rise to the surface, and not one of them involves meditation or anything that ties you up in knots. In this ep...

September arrived like a tsunami. The inbox filled up, the to-do list doubled, and suddenly it feels like everyone has a plan except you. When everything gets loud, the instinct is to consume more and reach outward for someone else's certainty as it feels safer than sitting with your own uncertainty.  But what if that instinct is the exact opposite of what you actually need right now? In this...

If you've been showing up, doing the work, having the conversations, and it still feels like nothing is moving, this episode might change what you're looking at. The problem when you're in the marvellous middle isn't the work but how to know whether it's working. Most founders are tracking the wrong things, and it's making the silence feel worse than it needs to. In t...

There's a part of building a business that nobody wants to talk about. Not the starting, that gets all the limelight, but the middle bit, the part where you've done the work, been consistent, and it feels like nothing is happening. Most founders call it the messy middle. I call it the marvellous middle, and I think understanding why might change how you experience everything that comes a...

Knowing the small things matter is one thing. Knowing where to actually find them, and use them, in your business is another. That's what today's episode is all about. I walk you through 5 specific places to look and use the small things to help create a business that creates a feeling and experience, not just looks great.  In this episode, you'll hear: The five touchpoints where th...

Before diving into the big autumn plans and the Q4 energy that September always brings, I want to start somewhere smaller. I think the things that actually make the biggest difference in your business are rarely the big visible things, but instead are the small, almost invisible ones that nobody asked you to do but that people absolutely feel when they are there. Those tiny moments are where trust...

What happens when a skiing accident, a drawing of a wildebeest, and a pair of floppy antlers all collide? You get one of the most joyful, proudly absurd businesses I've ever had on this podcast. Maddy and Iain are the husband-and-wife team behind Bewilderbeest, a greeting card and gift brand stocked in National Trust, Waterstones, and Fortnum & Mason. Built from a kitchen table with no in...

Giving yourself permission sounds simple. Knowing what to do with it afterwards is where most founders get stuck, because the moment you say "I'm doing it," that's exactly when everything you've been avoiding decides to show up at once. That's what today's episode is about, and it's more practical than you might expect. In this episode, you'll hear: Wha...

If you've got an idea tucked away in a notebook, a website sitting in drafts, or a version of your business that you've been carrying around for months or even years but haven't done anything with yet, this episode is going to ask you a question you might not be ready for. There's a reason you haven't done it yet, and it's probably not the one you think. In this episo...

What happens when a 19-year-old sitting at his dining room table during lockdown, struggling with anxiety he didn't yet have a name for, decides to turn his own mental health journey into a skincare brand that is changing how men think about taking care of themselves? That's Louis Watkins' story, and it's one of those conversations that will make you rethink what it takes to bu...

What if you could visit the version of your life where everything you've been holding back from has already worked, walk around inside it, notice every detail, and come back knowing exactly what you're building towards? That's what this episode does. It's one that is meant to be experienced, not just heard. (and top tip : save this one for a moment when you can be fully in it,...

Every founder knows the question: What if it doesn't work? It arrives uninvited, feels heavy, and has a way of closing things down before they've even had a chance to start. But what if there's a different question, one that opens everything up instead? In this episode, you'll hear: A personal story about the moment this question nearly stopped me from stepping into coaching, a...

Some conversations make you want to unleash your inner artist. This one will. Lu started ToodlePip in lockdown as a hobby that was only ever supposed to pay for her nails and eyebrows. What it became is something else entirely, and her vision for the future gave me actual goosebumps. In this episode, you'll hear: How ToodlePip started, what it's named after, and the moment Lu decided to...

If you've ever sent a message, had a brilliant conversation, and genuinely believed something good was coming from it.....and then heard absolutely nothing back, this episode is for you, because I've been there more times than I can count. What I've learned from getting it wrong is honestly some of the most useful feedback I've ever had. Following on from our last episode about...

If the word outreach makes you flinch or you've been avoiding it because it feels pushy, salesy, or like you'd have to become someone you're not to do it, this episode might change how you think about it entirely. Outreach doesn't have to look like the spammy LinkedIn message that arrives 30 seconds after a connection is accepted. There is another way. In this episode, I share...

If you've ever had the idea of writing a book tucked away somewhere in the back of your mind, filed under someday, waiting for the right time, then this conversation might be the nudge you need to dust it off. My guest Amy Warren is the founder of The Writing House and TWH Press, and her journey from solicitor to self-published author to landing a book deal with Penguin is one of those storie...

Wanting to work differently is one thing but actually holding it is another, and that's where most founders come unstuck. It's not the big dramatic moments that pull you off course, but the small ones — the perfectly reasonable request that falls just outside your hours, the single yes that feels harmless, the instinct to fix something for someone at your own expense. Each one is a small...

The eight-hour workday traces back to the second industrial revolution, so why are so many of us still working that way in the 21st century, in businesses we started specifically to do things differently? I did it for years. I worked eight hours, then ten, then twelve, and the days blurred into one long line that I didn't consciously choose. I was exhausted, depleted, and convinced that more...

You know exactly what you want to build, so what's actually stopping you? In almost every conversation I have with a founder who is ready to build the real version of their business, the same four things come up, and today I'm naming them out loud, because sometimes just hearing them is enough to take away their power. In this episode, you'll hear: The four most common things I see...

Is there a version of your business that you already know about, one that you can see, feel, and describe in detail to anyone who asks... but you haven't built it yet? That's what today's episode is about and why so many founders keep the business they actually want tucked away in a someday folder. In this episode, you'll hear: Why I spent years building the safe version of my...

The alternative of hustle is  one word: specific. Not doing less, but doing the right things for the right people with the right intention behind every decision. Hustle says do more of everything and see what sticks, but building specifically says know exactly who you're building for and what actions actually move you forward. In this episode, I walk through four things that genuinely move th...

Working hard isn't the problem but working hard on the wrong thing or in the wrong way is where it gets expensive. And not just in energy, but in time spent going in the wrong direction, and decisions made from exhaustion rather than clarity. This episode is about why hustle culture feels like progress from the inside but works more like a hamster wheel, and why the same action done different...