Screw It Just DO It with Alex Chisnall

He was hiding £24,000 of debt from everyone... until one question exposed everything. Sammie Ellard-King had been hiding £24,000 of debt from everyone around him. His friends. His girlfriend. His family. Then someone asked him how much he needed to retire. He didn’t have an answer. And worse, he realised how far behind he really was. In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with Sammie,...

They hit December with no money left. No salary. No backup plan. Just one decision to make: quit... or remove the option to quit completely. Simon Gardiner built Carrington West from a garage during the worst recession in decades. But the real turning point wasn’t the start. It was the moment there was no way out. In this Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Simon shares the moment he and hi...

She sold her business. And in the process, gave away something she should never have signed over. Calypso Rose built multiple businesses from scratch with just £2,000. One became the number one product in Selfridges. Another she scaled and sold. But the biggest lesson didn’t come from building. It came from the deal she wishes she could undo. In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with...

lain Ward was doing a medical trial for extra cash when an MRI scan found a stage three brain tumour in his head. He was 31. His prognosis was one to five years. His first reaction? Bollocks. His second? A plan. In this Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Iain explains how a brain cancer diagnosis became the clearest direction he had ever been given, why he calls himself the luckiest unluck...

Jason thought he had already failed at 22.He was 22 years old when he found out he was going to be a father. He was living in a flat, going out every weekend, talking about the business he was going to start one day. Then everything changed. He moved 26 miles away to a town where he knew nobody, walked away from his social life, and started an electrical engineering company in a garden shed. No fa...

Darren O'Reilly spent his early years on the professional rugby pitch, representing giants like Leinster and Harlequins and playing in an underage World Cup for Ireland. In that world, his nutrition was meticulously managed by club staff; every meal was tailored for recovery and performance. Then he made the transition to corporate life, and the system broke. Without a team of nutritionists, D...

In this episode of Screw It Just Do It, I sit down with Nishant Sharma, founder of Rutland Square Spirits and the mind behind Rutland Square Gin. Nishant didn’t arrive in Scotland with investors or a master plan. He arrived with £500 in his pocket and the determination to build a life from scratch. He had a roof over his head and food on the table, but no real direction. What followed was years of...

Most founders focus on raising capital. Dom focused on timing, expertise and people. In this Bite Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with Dominic McGregor , co founder of Social Chain and founder of Fearless Adventure. Dom started Social Chain at just 20 years old and helped scale it into one of the most influential social media agencies in the world before exiting through a $200 mil...

They didn’t grow up in the drinks industry. They didn’t have investors lined up. They had £12,000, two corporate jobs, and a spicy margarita made on a balcony during lockdown. In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with Alice Parmiter and Wynter Karo , co-founders of Pimentae, to unpack how they turned a tequila knowledge gap into one of the UK’s fastest-growing tequila cocktail brands...

Claire Warner helped build Belvedere Vodka for 15 years. She created 13 expressions. She climbed the ranks inside LVMH. She understood how premium alcohol brands scale. Then she made a call most people would avoid. She decided the world did not need another vodka. In this Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Claire explains why she left a secure leadership position to build Æcorn Drinks, how...

Rory MacFadyen never planned to run an apparel brand. He was on a solid corporate trajectory in sport. Middle East sponsorship deals. Major events. A comfortable path. Then he saw the scale of waste in sportswear. At the same time, his best friend Pete discovered how to turn unlimited plastic waste into performance fabric. That was the spark. In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, Rory shares how...

When Dr Leah Totton applied for The Apprentice, she was a full-time NHS doctor with no business experience and a clear career path ahead in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She didn’t expect to win. But winning meant walking away from certainty and stepping into the unknown with Lord Alan Sugar as her business partner. In this episode, I sit down with Leah to unpack what really happened after the camer...

When I sat down with Robert Hanna, I did not hear a story about failure. I heard a story about comfort. He was a director at a legal recruitment firm. Well paid. Progressing. Respected. By most standards, successful. But approaching his 30th birthday, he realised something uncomfortable. He was building someone else’s legacy, not his own. That realisation led to a decision. Start his own legal rec...

Jay Morton spent 14 years in the British military, including 10 Jay Morton spent 14 years in the British military, including 10 years in the SAS Special Air Service. Then one quiet moment in the Alps changed everything. In this Thursday Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Jay shares the exact moment he realised there was more to life than chasing promotion inside the Special Forces. Standin...

In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with Dr. Raphael Sofoluke, founder and CEO of the UK Black Business Show. Raphael didn’t start with funding. He didn’t start with a team. He didn’t even start full-time. He had an idea, six months, and a belief that representation mattered. From a 500-person event at the QE2 Centre to a week-long series attracting 16,000 attendees, Raphael shares...

Timo Mullen is the co-founder of Foam Life, a sustainable flip flop brand built after he and his co-founder lost their six-figure jobs during the pandemic. In this Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Timo shares the moment they stopped waiting for certainty and chose action instead. From designing their first product in a week to securing pre-orders, raising investment, and expanding into i...

In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, I sit down with Sahar Hashemi OBE , co-founder of Coffee Republic and the force behind Buy Women Built. Sahar shares the moment that changed everything. Trapped in a legal career that did not fit, she was forced to confront how short life really is. Instead of waiting for clarity, confidence, or permission, she acted. We talk about why most founders overthin...

In this bite-sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, I speak with Cemal Ezel OBE, CEO and founder of Change Please. Cemal shares the defining moment that reshaped his life and career. On a long bus journey in Vietnam, a stranger asked him a question that forced deep reflection. Sitting in a rocking chair at ninety, what legacy would he leave behind. That question led Cemal to build Change Please, a...

Matt Richards MBE is a two time Olympic champion who understands pressure at the highest level. In this episode of Screw It Just DO It, Matt shares how self belief was built early, tested at the 2024 Olympics, and later applied to building a business while still competing at an elite level. We talk about dealing with doubt, staying consistent when outcomes are uncertain, and why feedback and focus...

Simon Alexander Ong is a speaker, coach, and author of Energize. In this Bite-Sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Simon explains why energy sits at the centre of fulfilment, performance, and progress. We talk about acting before the timing feels perfect, building relationships without expectation, and learning to filter feedback properly. Simon shares the moment he realised that waiting creates...

This Festival of Entrepreneurs panel brings together founders who experienced The Apprentice from the inside and lived with the consequences after the cameras stopped rolling. Tre Lowe, Sabrina Stocker, and Daniel Elahi share why they chose visibility, what the show really gave them, and where it genuinely helped or hindered their businesses. We talk about personal brand, resilience, teamwork unde...

Adam Kamani has scaled businesses by focusing on the one area founders struggle with most. People. In this Bite-sized episode of Screw It Just DO It, Adam explains why hiring decisions shape everything that follows, how strong teams compensate for leadership gaps, and why personality matters more than skill when a business starts to grow. What You’ll Learn Why managing people becomes harder as bus...

Henry Firth and Ian Theasby are the founders of BOSH!, one of the UK’s most influential plant-based food brands. What started as frustration with corporate life became a deliberate decision to build an audience before building products. What You’ll Learn Why starting with content de-risked their entire business How £20k funded the first critical leap The discipline behind focusing on the UK before...

Growing on TikTok becomes easier when you understand how the platform thinks. Timothy Armoo explains the system with complete clarity. Most founders post on TikTok without understanding how the platform decides who sees what. In this Bite sized Screw It Just DO It episode, Timothy Armoo strips away the guesswork. He explains why niche dominance matters, how to warm the algorithm, and why video lev...

Sandra Byrne never set out to be an entrepreneur. She left school at fifteen, had no qualifications, and started in retail to get by. What followed was a twenty-one-year journey that led her to build the biggest Lush store in the world on Liverpool’s high street. What You’ll Learn Why acting like an owner matters even when the business is not yours How community and experience replaced marketing b...