The Start Up To Grown Up Podcast

Is your firm's growth a success, or is it slowly drowning you? You’re winning clients and the work is piling up, but it feels like you're hanging on by your fingertips. This feeling of being trapped is the scaling crisis, a predictable stage where your methods become a bottleneck and you, the owner, can’t escape client work. In this episode, we’re giving you the playbook to break free by shifting...

Do you wish your team would step up? Do you believe your team is seriously punching below it's weight? Have you found this? You know they could be doing more, and you desperately need them to be doing more, but instead, you’ve become their ultimate security blanket. Every problem, every tricky bit of work, ends up back on your desk. This traps you in the day-to-day grind of client work, leaving no...

Does the thought of going out to network fill you with fear? But you know you need to network to generate more business? In this episode, I'll explore how you can network on your terms in a way that works for you. What you'll learn in the podcast episode: - What effective business networking really is (and isn’t) - How to manage your energy levels when networking - The importance of having a goal...

Do you get good referrals? Enough to fuel the growth of your firm? Most professionals don't... Here's what they do wrong. In this episode, I'll explore why the common advice to just 'ask for referrals' often fails and can feel awkward for everyone involved. Instead, I'll walk you through a framework to make referrals a predictable and consistent part of your business growth, removing the guesswork...

What happens when you achieve your biggest business goals, only to find you’ve completely broken yourself in the process? This year, my businesses are on track to have their best-ever year for both revenue and profit. At the same time, my body finally gave up, leading to a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia which has forced a complete lifestyle change. This episode is my honest reflection on how my ambitio...

The summer is ending, and it's a time for reflection. But what if you've lost your mojo for running your firm and are dreading getting back to the daily grind? If that sounds like you, this episode will help. In this episode, I get personal about my struggles with burnout and the health diagnosis that forced me to re-evaluate my work-life balance. The episode will challenge you to answer a really...

Is employing experienced hires expensive? What if you could grow your own? In today's podcast episode I am doing something different. My good friend, Susan Heaton-Wright's Tedx talk came out this week:"How to unlock brilliance in others" - https://youtu.be/mQ-0Z8v9gMg?si=nu7-h3kwoDXAf94S (It's a quick 8 minute listen and do stay until the last 10 seconds where you are in for a real treat) On my su...

Have you ever gone deep to discover why your not-so-healthy habits and behaviours are holding back your business growth? And what it is going to take to change them? I had my first session with my therapist last week. This episode is some of the reflections that has come out of the first session. The concept of 'Choose Your Hard'. I've realised that changing my habits is difficult, but so is stayi...

Does Business Development drop to the bottom of your to do list? Here’s how to fix the problem (and its not what you think it is) What you will learn from this episode: - What committing to Business Development really means - The 5Ps to always make time for Business Development - The true cost of those low fee and needy clients Related episodes: Steal my top idea to consistently generate new busin...

Are you tired of your lead generation being haphazard at best? Do you feel trapped in the day-to-day operations of your firm, constantly firefighting, tied to your high billable hours? If so, then this episode is for you. It shows you how to put your marketing on autopilot by focusing on delivering a flawless client experience. The episode introduces the concept of the Market Flywheel. A series of...

If you went back to 2022, what do you wish you had learnt back then? If you are anything like most business owners, hindsight is a tough teacher. This is a short podcast episode on the 7 lessons that I wish I had learnt 3 years ago. Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Welcome to a free podcast episode of Start U...

Have you become addicted to work? A slave to your to-do list and feeling like you are always on? This is how to step back and get that sense of perspective. In the episode I talk about tips and techniques to rebalance your day. To move away from a state of chronic stress. Sadly, what used to be my strengths are now a liability. I can’t just push through now. In this episode, you will learn: - What...

Is your body telling you that it can’t carry on at this pace? But being driven and pushing through is what you know best? For many driven business owners, the ability to ‘push through’ is not just a strategy, it’s an identity. But what happens when that strength becomes the very thing holding you and your business back? In the episode I candidly talk about how I am failing at learning to pace myse...

What do you do when you find you've been given some bad news which will become life-changing? This is what happened to me this week when I had my first session with the Rheumatologist. In the episode I candidly talk about how I am processing the news and how I am going to be adjusting. If you find this episode useful, please share, comment, and subscribe to the Start Up to Grown Up podcast so you...

Does social media feel like a grind and exhausting? Ever wondered how to build up your tribe of loyal clients and fans on social media? In this episode, I cut through the noise and share the exact playbook I've used to grow my Substack community to over 1000 subscribers and 1800 followers in just nine months. This is the exact same playbook that I have used to grow large follower numbers on Linked...

Are you feeling swamped by your own business? When your firm starts to grow faster than you expected, it can feel like you’re being pulled in a million different directions at once. You’re stuck firefighting, trapped in the day-to-day client work, and you have no headspace left for the strategic thinking you know you need to be doing. In this episode, I share a very personal story about a bonkers...

Feeling the squeeze? Not a fan of 'mindfulness' to reduce your stress levels? Running a growing business is a marathon, not a sprint. And while a bit of pressure can be motivating, too much leads straight to stress, overwhelm, and even burnout – things no busy business owner has time for! PS: The episode does not suggest starting a daily yoga or meditation habit. (But these can help!) In this epis...

Do you ever have a great day where your business feels like it's flying, only to find that later that evening, a corrosive, critical voice has set in, making you question everything? If so, you’re not alone. That voice is a normal part of the journey to grow and scale your firm. But if you let it run the show, it can cause untold damage to your ability to grow and scale your business While it's te...

E ver feel weird picking up the phone to call a client out of the blue? You’re not alone. In this honest and practical episode, I share the one simple tactic that has helped my clients generate more business consistently - without any sales scripts or awkward cold calls. This episode is all about why unscheduled client calls are one of the easiest, most effective ways to grow your business, and ho...

Ever feel like you should be "great" all the time, especially as a business owner? In this honest and vulnerable episode, Start Up To Grown Up gets real about those times when things just feel... meh. It’s a common experience when you’re juggling the pressures of leading a business, supporting your team, and managing your personal life. In this episode I'm ditching the highlight reel and talking a...

Has AI decimated your search engine traffic and ability to get people to sign up to your email list? You are not alone. It’s been a tough few weeks. In this episode, I'm breaking down the reality of what's happened to our two businesses - The Accountants’ Growth Club and How To Make Partner . AI has seriously disrupted our web traffic, and new international VAT rules have added another layer of co...

Struggling to build a strong pipeline of new business that you can rely on? In this episode, I open up about the real challenges we’ve been facing in our own marketing and share the key lesson it’s taught me: scaling a service business isn’t about doing more, it’s about building better systems. I’ll walk you through the four core business development processes you need to fix or strengthen before...

Ever faced a situation where 80% of your fee earning team walk out on 1 day? That’s exactly what happened. This is what this podcast episode is about - coming back from critical setbacks in your business. This episode explores: - How to find the momentum to carry on even when it seems hopeless - How to rebuild stronger - 6 lessons to overcome a critical setback Welcome to a free podcast episode of...

How to deal with your firm’s Dysfunctional Star (without losing your sanity) Your Dysfunctional Star is likely to be working on your biggest clients and praised for bringing in new business. But they cast a long negative shadow with their behaviour. In a small business – whether you're running an accountancy practice, a law firm, or a consultancy – this Dysfunctional Star presents a particularly a...

Do you wish that your team would step up and take initiative? Are you tired of team members not pulling their weight? You are not alone. As you will find out in this podcast episode, there is no such thing as a well-rounded small business owner. We all have our strengths, preferences and weaknesses. The problem is, as small businesses evolve, owners - particularly in knowledge worker type business...