Building The Brand with James Burtt

What happens when you post a video every single day for 243 days and STILL can't break 1,000 views on TikTok? Layton went from working as an electrician to building a successful personal brand, growing an audience of nearly 250,000 followers and securing brand partnerships with companies including Sony, DJI and Adobe. But his success didn't happen overnight. He committed to posting content...

Guy Phoenix builds £25M super homes for billionaires complete with shark tanks and helipads! The Channel 4 star reveals how he went from terraced houses to Monaco mansions. How do you go from building standard terraced houses to building some of the most extravagant luxury homes in the world for billionaires? Guy Phoenix - luxury home builder, star of Building Britain's Superhomes on Channel 4...

Former Diary of a CEO Head of Trailers Ant Smith - one of the first 10 key hires who helped build the world's fastest growing podcast - reveals his short form content strategy  for YouTube Shorts, TikTok and podcast trailers.  Ant goes full tactical on how to go viral short form. Ant made 450+ trailers for Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, turning 90-second  podcast trailer cuts into miniat...

How do you help build one of the UK’s best-known challenger beer brands, walk away from the business you helped create and then start all over again in a completely different industry? Hannah Williams helped build Tiny Rebel from a home-brewing experiment into a major independent brewery employing around 120 people, while acting as CFO and helping scale the company through rapid growth. Today, she...

How do you build a £50 million business empire, operate more than 30 companies, employ 3,000 people and keep acquiring businesses without giving away equity to investors? James 'Jimbo' Sinclair has spent his career buying businesses, building management teams, acquiring commercial property and turning struggling or overlooked companies into valuable assets. Starting out as a teenage childr...

How do you build a multi-million pound ecommerce brand  without white-labelling, without forcing subscriptions, and without a big ad budget? Tariq Kazemi, co-founder of BLD BRO, did it by building a community before he had a product. What started as an Instagram page to change the narrative around hair loss has become a 7-figure skincare brand for bald men, stocked in their own warehouse, funded b...

How do you start an influencer marketing agency at 17 whilst battling stage three Hodgkin's lymphoma, scale it to 7-figures and sell it for millions by 24?  Suhit Amin did exactly that. WATCH THE FULL PODCAST NOW ON YOUTUBE In this episode, host James Burtt sits down with Suhit Amin, founder of Saulderson Media, to deconstruct the tactical playbook behind building an influencer marketing agenc...

How do you build a business from scratch with no assets, no backing and no safety net - twice? In this episode of Building The Brand, Andrew Coulson shares his brutal, tactical business failure story and comeback. From packing sandwiches at 8 years old after his father’s breakdown, to walking out of school at 15 to become a commodity trader, to building a design agency to 45 staff by age 25 - and...

Can being £24,000 in debt become the foundation for building one of the UK’s fastest-growing personal finance brands? Sammie Ellard-King is the founder of Up The Gains, a UK personal finance platform built around helping Britain get financially fit, and the founder of Gains App - a money management and fintech app designed to make budgeting, spending, cashback and everyday financial decisions simp...

Can going viral actually grow your business… or are most brands chasing attention without knowing what to do with it? Joel Macadar is the founder of 8original, a multi-award-winning social media agency that has generated more than half a billion organic views in the last 12 months. In this episode of Building The Brand, Joel breaks down the social media strategy behind viral content, organic growt...

Can one self-taught editor change how an entire industry promotes its content? Anthony Smith is the former Diary Of A CEO trailer editor who helped transform podcast promotion from simple social media clips into cinematic, emotionally charged miniature movies. Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingthebrandofficial Want more from Building The Brand - connect here: https://buildingth...

Can losing your father, losing the business you built in his honour and taking a job you never expected become the foundation for your biggest opportunity? Danny Gray is an entrepreneur, commercial strategist, former Commercial Partnerships Director within Steven Bartlett’s business ecosystem and co-founder of LVLS, a wellness brand launched into 750 Boots stores from day one.  After losing his fa...

Can a working-class entrepreneur build a £50 million revenue business from his spare bedroom, sell it for $100 million and still hold on to the things that matter most? Andrew Hulbert is the founder of Pareto Facilities Management, the bootstrapped business he grew from a laptop in his bedroom to £50 million in annual turnover, 550 employees and a $100 million business exit. Watch more episodes: h...

Can a 20-year-old with no experience turn one TikTok creator into a £250,000 opportunity and build one of the UK’s most respected social-first talent agencies? Benjy Leslie is the founder and CEO of Connect Management, one of the UK’s leading creator talent management and influencer marketing agencies. In just six years, Connect has grown from a lockdown start-up into a major force in the creator...

Benjy Leslie is the founder and CEO of Connect Management which has grown from lockdown start-up into a social-first talent agency representing the biggest names in modern media. LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE NOW

Can rebellion, enthusiasm and one strange idea change your entire life? Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the wider YO! brand, shares the extraordinary journey from boarding school, rebellion, prison, rock and roll stage design and TV rights to launching YO! Sushi at 45 and building one of Britain’s most recognisable modern brands.  Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@buil...

Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi, YOTEL and the wider YO! brand, shares the extraordinary journey from boarding school, rebellion, prison, rock and roll stage design and TV rights to launching YO! Sushi at 45 and building one of Britain’s most recognisable modern brands. Full episode out now on APPLE | SPOTIFY | AMAZON MUSIC

Can you lose a multi-million-pound fashion business almost overnight… and still come back to build a brand in a completely different industry? Charles Gay is the founder of Favela, the Brazilian-inspired beer brand bringing sunshine, culture, gluten-free lager, hospitality partnerships and premium party energy into the UK and European drinks market. Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@bu...

Meet Charles Gay, the entrepreneur who has raised £4M to create Favela Cerveja, the Brazilian beer brand set to take on the drinks industry giants! His journey from multi-million pound fashion mogul to FMCG challenger brand is a wild ride - you'll love this! Get the FULL EPISODE now, on your favourite podcast player

Can you build serious wealth without academic success, qualifications or even being able to properly read a contract? James Martin who is an entrepreneur, investor, mentor and commercial landlord who has amassed a huge net worth through business and property certainly thinks so!  Watch more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingthebrandofficial Want more from Building The Brand - connect here...

If you love this short clip, you will LOVE the full episode where James Martin shares how he went from leaving school at 14 and being unable to read contracts, got ripped off for millions, bought back the business he sold, and built a £50M+ property empire from lessons that nearly broke him. FULL EPISODE OUT NOW ON YOUR FAVOURITE PODCAST PLAYER

Can you start at the bottom of an industry, back yourself before anyone else does, raise millions, build a fast-growth startup and sell it within three years? FOR THE FULL STORY GET KAROLINA’S NO.1 BEST SELLING BOOK ‘HER PLAY’ Karolina Pelc is an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author and the founder of BeyondPlay, the iGaming startup she launched in 2021, raised £6.1 million for, and sold to Fan...

Can you rebuild your life after narcissistic abuse, trauma, anxiety, depression, debt and losing almost everything? Caroline Strawson is a trauma therapist, nervous system expert, author, coach and founder of The Mental Wellbeing Company and TIDAL. After experiencing narcissistic abuse, anxiety, depression, PTSD, self-harm, chronic illness, £70,000 of debt and having her house repossessed, Carolin...

Phil Graham is an entrepreneur, business strategist, investor, mentor and founder of the multi-million pound brands Fitness Entrepreneur and Expansion Partners. After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 16, Phil refused to accept the limitations placed on his life. He rebuilt his health through bodybuilding, nutrition, training and self-education, before turning that knowledge into one of the...

Frankie James is the founder behind the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Ideas Fest and one of the UK’s most influential entrepreneur communities. In this episode of Building The Brand, Frankie shares how she built a platform that celebrates and connects British founders, startup leaders, scale-up businesses and some of the UK’s most exciting future household-name brands. The Great British Entre...