Screw It, Just Do It | Alex Chisnall Chats With Ray Kelvin, Richard Reed, Steven Bartlett & Others Every Week. Alex Chisnall:

What's the one thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unecessary? In episode #126 I talk about the one thing that stands between you and your goals. The one thing is about getting extraordinary results in every situation.  No matter how success is measured, only the ability to dismiss distractions and concentrate on your one thing stands between you and your goals. The one thing is about getting extraordinary results in every situation. Having just re-read the awesome book 'The One Thing' by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan for the umpteenth time, I thought it about time to share it, and my thoughts with you. This one is the Game-Changer. Let's StartUp!

"When we sold that business we actually retired. We went on this phenomenal holiday to Thailand and Malaysia for 6 weeks but after a matter of days, we were both really bored. We were in the pool in Malaysia and we just said "look, we know, we've got to do Grenade now" and the rest is history. It was meant to be a hobby, we were meant to be able to do it from wherever we were in the World but it very quickly turned into an obsession. This isn't a sob story...Grenade was our baby." Really enjoyed this chat with Juliet Barratt, Co-Founder of sports nutrition brand Grenade. They launched during the last recession during 2009/2010 with just £27 in the bank then sold for £72 million to Lion Capital last year. Juliet left as of the 1st January and she's now doing a lot of giving back, working with the Princes's Trust, Virgin Unite, working with some start-ups as well. Whereas her husband and Co-Founder Alan is still the CEO of Grenade. Grenade has over 50 staff, it retails in more than 80 countries around the World

Following a shared passion for health and fitness, husband and wife Alan (CEO) and Juliet Barratt (CMO), founded sports nutrition start-up, Grenade, during the last recession. After launching in 2010 with just £27 in the bank, Grenade was sold for £72m to Lion Capital in 2017 and since then has continued to grow strongly. It now has over 50 staff, and retails in more than 80 countries around the world. Grenade is now the market-leading sports performance and active nutrition brand, incorporating a wide range of innovative, high-protein and low-sugar products. Grenade has been named as one of the UK’s fastest growing companies and was featured in The Sunday Times’ Fast Track Top 100 in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. This is the Trailer for episode #125 which will be released at midnight on May 1st and features Grenade Co-Founder Juliet Barratt being interviewed by podcast host of Screw it, Just Do it - Alex Chisnall. Interviews like this are the reason I got into podcasting in the first place. Juliet and Grenade's

On a personal level my why is to provide better opportunities and a better life for my two girls. On a wider level still, its to help everybody live the life that they want. On their own terms. To be in control of their destiny. If they so choose. I guess you could call it a Screw it, Just Do it attitude. One of the challenges that we have is that it's becoming increasingly difficult to get our voices heard above the noise that's out there on social media. Did you know that there are now more than  2,000,000,000 websites 2,000,000,000 Facebook Users 500,000,000 Linkedin Users 500,000,000 Blogs, 260,000,000 Twitter Users 111,000,000 Instagram Users 23,000,000 Youtube channels Yet only 550,000 podcasts... You can see where I'm going with this one so I'll let you finish the sentence. Creating and growing this podcast has completely changed both my business and personal life. And it's also the fastest growing form of media. I believe there's a massive opportunity here for you. In the same way that everyone was

"Instagram's actually terrible at connecting people in the offline world. And, it really is a photo contest. It doesn't really matter how knowledgable you are or how qualified you are as long as you're taking nice pictures, that's how you're going to grow your influence, and so we're basically saying "look this is total BS", on myCrew, we're championing people of influence versus "influencers". We're saying, on myCrew, you're going to build the real influence and the more you do, the more sessions you host, the more people you attract and the more sign-ups you get, and actually, people showing up, the more prominent and influence you're going to get on our platform. And that's a pretty powerful sale for the people we want to attract." On today's show, I welcome Greg Drach, Co-Founder of the world's first social platform for fitness, myCrew.  myCrew was created by the brains behind the world's largest social running club, Midnight Runners, and global internet phenomenon Dubsmash. Having witnessed both the tran

"The January rush happens, every year, in February, people are giving up. How do we fix that problem? Using these 3 things that we've identified, how do we apply that to a product that can tackle that particular industry?  "All of us have jumped on planes and lived overseas and started other companies. Once you've got that passion and bug to try and do something that you really enjoy, it's difficult to put that down when you've really got that great idea, or you think you've got that great idea and trying to deliver it. "I think there's going to be more innovation in the next 3 years in the fitness sector than we've had in the last 30 years. A lot of the stuff that Dan mentioned, Sammi mentioned, technology, it's all coming to a head now and it's going to create some incredible businesses. And I do think there will be a Netflix of fitness, a platform that will be as familiar as Spotify, Uber, Netflix in the fitness sector and we hope we're that platform but there are some other great companies out there who a

"I love performing but actually, I'm overcoming it now, but I really freeze up and get nervous when I have to talk in public. I like the idea of a performance speech to the public but the free, off-the-cuff, point a camera at me, I just don't become myself. When I performed at the Opera House, you can't see the audience, nice big spotlight, only child here got to be a princess for 13 years, when I wasn't being all the other hilarious roles.    Pietra quite often says to me "I know you want to go to Mars but we've only got the petrol to get to the moon".   I always hated it, I always hated performance. I think that it takes a long time for people to realise what their strengths are.   Ella took me to see a concert of Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Cadogan Hall and that was just amazing but we could see a gap at that moment to fill and it had never been done before so there was no challenge at that point for us, we were just so committed that it was a project that lasted five years for us. It had a setback, it had

On today's show, I welcome Timothy Armoo, the 24-year-old CEO and co-founder of Fanbytes, a mobile video advertising platform helping brands like Warner, Apple Music and Sony reach teams through Snapchat and TikTok influencers.  Fanbytes' campaigns have seen then featured in Forbes, Huffington Post and The Times, to name but a few, with Forbes describing them as 'rewriting the rules of social for generation z'.  Fanbytes is Tim's third company, having started his first company at just 14 and selling his second company at just 17.   So, a big challenge for any marketing team for a brand is reaching and engaging with their target audience. More challenging still, is trying to figure out who is that audience is.    Fanbytes, with its exceptional understanding of generation z, tells brands who they should be marketing to and how they should be doing it.   Snapchat is the platform of choice, along with TikTok, through which search Fanbytes distributes its client's videos ensuring maximum engagement through targeti

Welcome to Episode #119 and on today's show I want to talk about Reload - our first Mid Year Mastermind This event is for you and is being held on May 3rd at the 5 star Hilton Hotel in Bournemouth on the sunny South Coast of England. I've put this together for listeners of the show and it follows on from last year's StartUp & Scale Summit - which Piers Linney from Dragon's Den headlined. I didn't want to wait until the autumn before our 2nd summit so decided to put this together for you. I've also partnered with the European StartUp Association and will be hosting the UK leg of their pitching competition at this event - with the winners going through to the final in Malmo, Sweden, in September - for more information if you'd like to pitch your business visit here What is it? It's an exclusive one day event limited to just 100 people that will bring you the clarity you need to re-focus on this year’s goals and ensure 2019 will still be your best year yet - even if you're not on track right now. Why You Nee

"Why are you coming to my site? Who are you? Because personally I couldn't explain to anyone why have you got 6 million visitors coming to your site every month? I know what they're doing on my site, but why are they doing it?" Welcome to episode #118 of Screw it, Just Do it where I welcome Chris Parker. Chris has a problem that most of us would love to have - what to do with 6 million web visitors a month? He's the founder of whatismyipaddress.com . He's an entrepreneur, and online privacy and security expert and he's got a fantastic story to tell... Just wrapped up my first Podcast Masterclass from the Screwitjustdoit HQ in Bournemouth and I'd love to help you if you're thinking of launching a podcast. You are you're on my media so in my opinion, if you've got your own business, you should have your own podcast. I'd love to help you with it, take a look at my brand new Podcasting Academy here plus I'll be announcing new physical Masterclasses next week. On to Chris's story, and he's clearly doing a pretty

"If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus coming to the showground Saturday", that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk into town, that's promotion. If an elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed and the local newspaper writes a story about it, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it that's public relations. If the citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately they spend a lot of money at the circus, that's sales. And if you planned the whole thing, that's marketing." Welcome to episode 117 of Screw it, just do it. I'm your host Alex Chisnall and on today's show, it's my pleasure to welcome Allan Dibb. Alan is a serial entrepreneur, marketeer, technology expert and number one best-selling author of the book 'The one-page marketing plan'. Now, when I heard about this book I thought we all need to kn

"The lowest point in that journey had to be a debt collector coming round to the house. And if I hadn't found that money...that day...then things were getting taken away.  And that's a real blow to your pride. I didn't want to feel that I was letting my wife down. I didn't want to feel that I was letting my girls down. My family down. It was horrible. I think that was the lowest point I ever reached. This guy rocking up in his car and refusing to move his car out of my driveway until I paid him what I owed him." So Right Now... What's Holding Your Business Back? What's Holding Your Idea Back? What's Holding Your Passion Back? What's Holding You Back From Pursuing Your Passion? And What's Holding You Back From Creating A Lifestyle, And A Life Of Ultimate Success For Yourself? However That Looks Like For you. Do You Feel Right Now That: You Don't Get In Front Of The Right People? You Don't Have The Right Tools? You Don't Know Where To Start?  You Don't Have Something To Sell? You Don't Have People To Sell To? Y

“In for £100k, six months before the first ever festival, thinking it was going to cost 100k to put on. I ran out of money. We had to remortgage the house. Had to find another £200k. It cost £300k to put on in year one. I was expecting it to be £100k. It was a big risk and if no one turned up to that front gate on that first day, we would have lost the house. It’s as simple as that. Looking back now, 12 years on, I'm glad we did take the gamble but year one was a huge gamble." On today's show, it's my pleasure to welcome Roger Woodall, Founder of the Bournemouth 7s Festival. This episode is split into two parts: the first part was recorded live at one of our events back in January in Bournemouth, talking about 'how to build a knockout brand' and this is his take on what he did to build the Bournemouth 7s Festival into what is very much a knockout brand. From 4,000 people in year 1 to over 30,000 people coming up to year 12. We dig into his career, how he got into the promotions industry, promoting events and

"I can't accept failure. I can't have it. I will not accept failure..I'm not scared. I'm not frightened and I'm not going to fail". So spoke Ted Baker founder Ray Kelvin in the 2nd part to my live Q and A with him. Ray tells the story of how he started with one shop in Glasgow. He brings us right up to date with Ted Baker currently valued at £1.6 Billion, as well as his latest ventures. These include investing £80 million into the UK's number 1 Hilton hotel which he owns as well as launching This WorkSpace, his co-working vision set to rival We Work.  During the course of the interview he covers a lot of ground including the Grenfell fire tragedy, how stressful he finds it living in London as well as the importance of fishing... having a work life balance before finally offering opportunities to a student, a tailor and a model in the audience to work for Ted Baker. 

Welcome to Episode #113 of Screwitjustdoit. On today's show I bring you a 'live' event when I hosted the recently resigned billionaire founder of Ted Baker, Ray Kelvin cbe. On Monday, March 4th Ray resigned, bringing the curtain down on one of the most remarkable careers in British fashion retailing during the last three decades. Sky's Ian King said that Ray's business achievements should be noted as a cloud hangs over his departure. He says that "many successful retailers are good traders, like Sir Philip Green, who are adept at knowing the right price at which to buy and sell fabrics and garments. Others, like Peter Simon, the founder of Monsoon and Accessorize, are good at knowing what designs will sell well and what will not." He adds "It is very rare for one individual to have the complete package - but Raymond Stuart Kelvin did. It was a talent that helped him build an empire worth nearly £1.5bn when the shares peaked last summer."   I've hosted Ray twice at 'live' Screwitjustdoit events at a sold out w

”Don’t take on Big Money. Because the moment you take on big money, it’s like sliding doors. Your world is determined. You’ve turned left and the options of right will never come back to you ever again. And the amount of people who have never asked themselves ‘Where do I want to be when I’m 70’...put your hands up if you’ve answered that question” At our latest London event, we got FOUR amazing brands to tell you how they did it. Hear from entrepreneurs Holly Tucker (notonthehighstreet.com, Holly & Co), Merlie Calvert (Legal Tech Startup Farillio), Emily Austen (EMERGE Public Relations) and Vasiliki Petrou (Unilever Prestige Group) on how you can start to develop a brand that’s attractive to customers on little or no budget and then how to grow it to a wider audience. Customers now want to know the story behind the business, what it stands for, and why they should care!  You don’t need a multi-million pound budget to start building your brand.  We've got four amazing entrepreneurs and their brands to tell

"I've done a lot of pitches and it was just an experience that I don't think that you can replicate or ever go through again. I'm glad I did it but it was just horrific, it wasn't fun! It was very surreal. I've been watching since I was a kid and then you walk into that den and you see these people you've been watching for so long...it was just crazy! I wouldn't do it again!" Dan started his career by working as a chef at three Michelin star restaurants, and also later became a private chef to celebrities like Kylie Minogue after winning several cooking competitions across the UK and overseas. However one thing that stood out for him was the tremendous amount of food waste that he saw over his career. Therein lay the idea for using recycled salmon skin to make consumer-friendly snacks, just over two years ago now. So, Daniel and his business partner, Dominic Smith, decided to ask fishmongers in the UK for salmon skin as it has the perfect thickness and comes in high nutrition wise after being cooked: 63g of p

"I think influencers are a key driver in our brand building process. Today, you're talking a lot of start-ups and scale-ups, every euro we invest needs to come along with a certain return on investment and I think working with influencers, obviously targeted influencers, they can help scale your business, Build that awareness level on a very rapid basis, and add a considerable amount of investment. It's not a huge investment from going on the radio or TV campaigns but it does allow you, at an acceptable investment, to reach a larger audience." Jurgen and his two co-founders Luis and Coen were university classmates, dog-loving entrepreneurs from Belgium. They went into business together after spotting a gap in the market for healthy, nutritious food for their dogs, who happened to be called Edgard and Cooper. They founded the company in Belgium in 2014 and launched in the UK in 2016. The brand is unique and you'll find out why if you dive into the podcast. It's also the first brand in Europe to have full range

"It was really tough times we faced. We were in for a hundred. Run out of money. No banks were loaning. No sponsors were getting onboard. Everyone shut up shop. So, what's the last thing to do. Re-mortgage the house. Which wasn't a good idea at the time. But is a good idea now. Thank god. It ended up costing us £300k to put on. So if no-one turned up on the first day we lost the house. As simple as that." Welcome to episode #109 of Screwitjustdoit - a special bonus episode recorded at our first live event of 2019 in Bournemouth. I brought together six entrepreneurs and asked them what it took to build their knockout brands.  Joining me and our sold out studio audience were Bournemouth 7's Roger Woodall, whom you heard in the opening, Orchard Pig's Andrew Quinlan, Statzy's Lucy Whittington, The Training Room's Jonathan Davies, The Pistachio Club's Claire Fielder & Inkshed Design Studio's Becks Neale. They join me for a panel discussion on what it takes to build a brand, leaning on their experiences of buil

"I've managed things that I didn't even dare to dream of! We played Glastonbury festival, you know, I've been on stage at Glastonbury, something that I've been to for decades as a punter. The DJs that I've worked with are just jaw-dropping. These are people that I've hero-worshipped for years and I'm chatting to them!" On today's show, I welcome Hannah Saunders founder of Big Fish Little Fish, an exciting music and dance party for the post-rave generation of parents and kids. Around 6 years ago Hannah turned entrepreneur and launched Big Fish Little Fish, the idea behind it being family events with the same fun, quirky, and holiday vibe of summer festivals but for a few hours on a weekend afternoon. Hannah had two young children in quick succession and fell out of love with her job as Deputy Director of Policing at the Home Office. So, in her early 40s, she set up Big Fish Little Fish, aimed at parents keen to recreate the fun they had before having a family but with their children now in tow. The event showc