Mind Your Business

The first of a three part "mini series" dedicated to all things GROWTH !!  Matt and Alan get into a conversation about "levelling up" - their usual fast paced conversation rich with analogies and real life examples - all in 31 minutes! 

What's your purpose ? What is the purpose of your business ?  How many times have you heard these questions ?  Can you answer it ? Is it worth having a purpose ? Matt and Alan get into a conversation about purpose, what it is and why it can really help a business to strengthen and grow.  Real life examples are definitely discussed ! 

Matt and Alan get into a conversation about "Task Creep", "Scope Creep" and other members of the Creep family that are slowing entrepreneurs and their businesses down, getting in the way and causing quite a lot of stress and overwhelm. This episode even incudes Alan being coached by Matt !  The great news is there are always ways of showing the Creep family the door!

Matt and Alan get into a soul searching conversation about the challenges of managing people. Somewhere in the conversation three principles appear that can lead to a more effective management style, engaged people and more optimal results...….

A deep episode !  Matt and Alan discuss an ancient human question - Is it really possible to change ?  This episode discusses personal change and in particular the value of personal change to the entrepreneur. Theory, experience and story telling is brought in abundance to this conversation and we arrive at a clear conclusion!

So many people lead there business without giving themselves the space and time to really connect and live the CEO role. It's really easy for business owners to look on social media and see everyone else living the CEO role (working on their business, not in their business) and end up with a feeling of failure that they are not there yet. The reality is that this is something that a huge amou...

Matt and Alan discuss human energy and energy management as an absolute equal to time and to time management. As always this episode is full of real life examples and ideas on how to maximise your energy levels, create momentum and have a fabulous 2022!

Leaving paid employment to set up a business is one of the bravest things a human being can do. Giving up the security of PAYE employment is a massive step and often, the amount of courage it takes is overlooked (particularly by those that have never experienced it). This week, Matt and Alan discuss courage and business and how important it is to being successful.

Does your 2022 New Year's Resolution involve getting more things done? In our first podcast of the new year, we discuss two Italian time management techniques that can make a massive difference to productivity.

This week the boys are back talking about strategy. We explore 3 distinct, proven strategies: Operational Excellence Product Leadership Customer Intimacy For each strategy they discuss which household names are using it, what the key information is and how that could be implemented into a smaller business.

This week, we dive into the 14 leadership lessons advocated by Steve Jobs. Alan has a really interesting article, written by Walter Isaacson in 2012 (just after Steve died) and we pick a random selection of the lessons and discuss them and their impact on entrepreneurs. We cover everything from why face-to-face meetings are still important to why you should always push for perfection.

On this week's podcast, Matt and Alan have a conversation about leadership styles. Is it important to understand your own natural style and the character traits that make up your personality? Do you know where you stand on a DISC profile? Is it essential to be able to adapt your natural style when dealing with colleagues that have the opposite style? How close should your 'work' per...

How often do you consider the language you use in your business? Probably a lot when you're writing to someone and a little bit less when you're talking on the phone? On this week's podcast Alan and Matt spend 30 minutes discussing an array of different business situations where changing our language can have massive impacts on outcomes.

This week, in our Halloween special, we talk about Vampire Customers! Accepted business wisdom tells us that you make 80% of your profit from 20% of your customers. Matt thinks it's also true that you get 80% of stress from 20% of your customers. So what do you do if you have a Vampire on your customer list? How to you fix them? Do you have to manage them away from the business or can you set...

On this week's podcast Matt and Alan have a great conversation about whether to continually push for business growth or to take some time to strengthen what you already have. Is there any point to growing revenue if it's not adding to your bottom line (net profit)?  Should we be measuring growth in another way, rather than focussing on increasing turnover? If a business is not growing, i...

This week we are talking all about innovation in business.  The modern business world is full of obvious innovation - cloud computing, automated software, machine learning etc, but there is also a lot of off-line innovation happening that is driving some amazing results for more 'old-fashioned' businesses (we use Marks and Spencer as an example).

This week we discuss all things Strategy. Do you have one for your business, do you need one? Recently a hitherto unseen memo from Steve Jobs to his board was released into the public domain. In it, Steve Jobs distills the overall strategy of the biggest company in the world into 5 topics and about 8 lines of text). We discuss that, plus a host of other strategy-related topics in 32 minutes of pod...

This week Alan and Matt discuss how the pace of change in technology has fundamentally changed how businesses operate. Covering everything from Estate Agents to Marketing companies, via Victorian Meat Markets, the boys talk about how business has moved forward over the last decade and speculate on where it will be in 2031.

The boys are back for Season 2! This week Matt and Alan breakdown the destructive power of apathy within a business. Whether that's a business owner's anxiety manifesting as apathy, or self-sabotage or a team member that's having 'one of those days' we discuss all things Apathy and provide some tips on how to deal with it.

This week the boys discuss how relevant a proper business plan is in the modern world. We talk about the important elements that all plans should include, what is just 'fluff' and why it's important to revisit your plan regularly.

This week Matt and Alan discuss the differences between Entrepreneur and Employee Mindsets, and how pivoting between the two is a massively important skill for new business owners in particular. There's also an improptu TV Review of Clarkson's Farm (which is actually relevant to the topic!)

This week Alan and Matt are talking all things toxic culture. Following the open letter from Brewdog's staff to it's CEO (which you can read here: https://www.punkswithpurpose.org/dearbrewdog/ ) the boys discuss the damage a toxic culture can do to a business. Covering everything from different theories of management to one rogue member of the management team, if you lead a team of peopl...

This week, following Cristiano Ronaldo single-handedly knocking $4b from Coca-Cola's stock market value by moving two bottles half a metre, Alan and Matt talk about branding, and how powerful (but tenuous) a good brand is.

On this week's pod, Matt and Alan discuss the nagging voice of self-doubt (the inner critic) and how business owners can sift the positive points out of all the negative thoughts they throw at you.

This week we talk all about the fundamental changes in the employee / employer relationships driven by the pandemic. Hybrid working, a fast-moving, candidate-led, market and challenges with building a culture remotely have all had major impacts on how business owners retain and recruit the best people.