Happy MBA

For over a year and a half I’ve been coaching various members of our community on a one to one basis. I get great joy from working with people one to one and helping them get clarity about the what’s ahead of them and what’s getting in their way. I want to help people create businesses and do work that gives them joy, energy and an income. I want to be the best I can be at that and so having the o...

In the episode with Jon Barnes we explore his ideas on education and work. He shares his thoughts on the way we've been schooled and how it has impacted on the way we work. We're all brought up told exactly how things are: what to wear, where to sit and when to speak. Schooling is something done to us rather than for us. We're not given autonomy, and so we don't learn accountability and so lose ou...

In this episode of the podcast I’m joined by Nigel Berman founder of School of the Wild. Nigel has joined us at Summercamp for the past few years. His gift to camp is an immersive experience that leaves attendees with a sense of awe and fuels their creativity. During our conversation he shares his entrepreneurial adventure in accountancy, magazine publishing, speed dating events, online ecostores...

 On this episode of the podcast I talk to Christine Chopyak, a visual strategist and idea builder from Denver, Colorado. We met last year at our Alptitude retreat on Mount Hood in Oregon. She's the author of Picture your Business Strategy, a book that helps you master the principles of "strategic illustration", a proven system for visualising ideas. Christine discovered the power of visual st...

At Summercamp we devote much of the middle Saturday afternoon to hosting an Open Space session. This is a chance for all the attendees to have the conversations and curate the discussions that they want to have. We've found it a powerful way to connect people and to surface the real needs of our attendees. It's a bit scary for people not used to it but if you open yourself up to possibility and ri...

This is the second in my series of podcasts about Summercamp and the people who'll be there. In this episode I'm joined by Christina Kisley where we talk about her work to help people grow. She says “I love helping people grow.” She's an expert in organisational effectiveness and an entrepreneur coach. We met on our Alptitude retreat in 2018 and her wealth of knowledge and humble way means you can...

This podcast is the first in a series of episodes where I'll be focussing on our annual event here in the south of England called the Happy Startup Summercamp. We first held this event in 2013 and we're now into our 7th year. Summercamp is the business event that Laurence and I were looking for when we were running our digital agency. It's a heady mix of inspirational talks, practical workshops, f...

This episode is another intimate conversation and exploration with one of our Happy Startup members, Mart Gordon, a long time member of our community and veteran of our Happy Startup Summercamp. It’s a great bridge between the last two episodes with Charlie and Max where we talked about clarity, conflict and needs to the next four episodes where I’ll be focussing on telling the story of our Happy...

If we're going to work together better we need to be able to manage conflict in a healthy way. There are some big, seemingly intractable problems that need to be solved in the world (as well as some smaller ones) that will need a collaborative and collective approach to deal with them. With any groups there will be friction and being able to work through our differences will be key to working effe...

I'm not sure if I'll ever truly understand how blockchain works and I've got a PhD. However, on this episode talking to Evan Yap I got to understand how it could be used to create social good. It isn't just for creating alternative currencies but it can be applied in so many ways whether that's identity verification, tracking your medical history or switching universities. Listen to find out more.

Several years ago Laurence and I were sat in a room with Charles Davies talking about the Happy Startup School. We were there to get clear about what the school was about. What were we doing this for? During this process we came up with the phrase "Creating spaces for people to discover their role in the world before it's tool late". It's a simple sentence that took me a while to understand and ow...

This episode starts off a bit chaotically as it was recorded just before our first Ideas Café event in London. We were at the 42 Acres event space in Shoreditch which was lovely but also a little challenging with people coming in and out of the space... We've been running retreats and business festivals for the past 6 years. A couple of weeks before the recording of this podcast Laurence, Sophie a...

One of my intentions with my podcast is to share the stories of real startups on real journeys - the ups, the downs and the sideways moments. I'm hoping by sharing the story of Toby Moore , founder of Content Club, you'll connect with his journey of building his business and identify with the struggles and opportunities that he came across. The business building thing isn't a linear path and the d...

In this episode I talk to Ines Gaston who recently joined the community. She’s a trained psychologist in the early stage of her building her coaching business. When I first talked to Ines she was struggling to understand how to reach new customers. She has a need to share her gifts and experience which she knows that can help many people. But given she’s not able to clearly define a target audienc...

If you've got something of immense value, not only monetarily but also in how it could positively change someones life, then it's your responsibility to get it to as many people as possible.   Knowing how to price well is essential not only for the sustainability of your business but also in making sure the right people buy what you offer.   Don't expect your customers to be able to intu...

In this episode I talk to Gail Bainbridge about launching her  first online course . And while we break down her approach by thinking of tactics and strategies it's clear that while all the theory is useful once the rubber hits the road it's a totally different experience. Learning about startup is one thing. Doing it is another. Our intention with the Happy Startup School is to share wi...

When you're launching a new product or business you're going to want to focus down on who you really want to help because if you talk to everyone you talk to no one. In this episode I discuss with Alan Wick the idea of the minimum viable audience. Rather than trying to go broad and sell to everyone you should pick the people who'll love what you do and find out what their dreams, wishes, hopes and...

A big challenge of turning your passion into profits is taking that first step. Procrastination can kill your idea quicker than any customer feedback. Where does procrastination come from and how do we overcome it? In this episode I talk to community member and Tiny Habits coach Mike Coulter about how creating Tiny Habits can get from dreaming to doing. He has a little pop at Simon Sinek and share...

Pricing vs charging and how to avoid burnout.

It’s START season at the Happy Startup School and we believe one of the most important things when starting a new business or project is how you communicate what it’s about to others and how you motivate them to join you or help you. The way to do this most effectively is storytelling and so listen along to find out why.

This is a trial run with using anchor.fm to get into a rhythm for our podcast.

A webinar that Carlos hosted with students from Birkbeck College who wanted to follow up about how to use the Happy Startup Canvas.