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

"It took two years. The whole journey from thinking about it, doing a full-time job and then changing to a part-time job, and spending all my savings on paying rent. All whilst building up this business. And then I was really panicing as I didn't have enough clients, and didn't know what I was going to do...but everything fell into place and it's now working really well." On today's show I speak to Christine Michaelis. Christine is a German entrepreneur, living and working in England, currently organising the first European start-up festival in Italy. She's also a marketing and creative startup coach who's published five books, created a number of courses all of which are based on helping individuals who want to know how to start and grow a business, and also to market that business successfully. Christine has grown her business successfully primarily through networking. If the thought of meeting complete strangers and talking about yourself and your business fills you with absolute dread then stay tuned for

"The poverty premium is real. Lower income workers can often pay more than everyone else, despite struggling to make ends meet. At Wagestream we give people access to their earned income when they need it, without the need for employers to alter their usual payroll frequency." Peter Briffett wants to re-establish the link between work and financial reward, a link often broken in monthly pay cycles. Launching fintech startup Wagestream with 25 employers, he believes that this can have a significant impact on people’s behaviour with companies already reporting increases in employee retention, productivity and job applications as a result of offering Wagestream as an employee benefit. Co-Founded by Portman Wills and Peter Briffett, former COO of YPlan and CEO of LivingSocial UK, the company raised over £4m in funding from the world’s leading technology and social impact investors. Backers include Village, a global VC backed by leading entrepreneurs, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, as well as QED Investors,

"I just felt that I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm struggling. Everything I do is a juggling act. Entrepreneurs focus on their business and they are a success, where I'm thinking, I'm not a success at anything". On today's show I speak to Tara Howard, who left school at sixteen to go on to become a commercial airline pilot and mum of four. She is now the founder of The Venus Awards which recognises and celebrates the successes of business women throughout the UK.  What started as a one-off awards ceremony back in 2009 is a ten region operation having now launched in London - and with international aspirations.  Tara will be speaking at October's StartUp & Scale Summit along with 16 other speakers. To see our full line-up go to: https://bit.ly/2Owx28y We talk empowering women, men, children... and about changing people's lives.

It's only the second solo episode that i've ever recorded in 84 episodes! But something got me fired up and so here you go :) I've been thinking a lot about the difference between thriving and just surviving. It's a massive difference. But something that only needs small daily, weekly and monthly changes to turn things around. I can personally relate to this, and wanted to record an episode where I break this down for you. It's honestly not as hard as you think. It all comes down to having a strategy. We can all have a goal. But how are we going to get there. It's very rarely a straight line from A to B. But if we keep our end goal in sight, plan how we're going to get there, and make small adjustments as we review our progress, we'll get there. Hope you find this one super useful. And if you'd like to get uber-focused on strategy and finding out what it takes to go from StartUp to Scale-up, join me and my 17 speakers on October 13th for our very first 'StartUp & Scale' Summit  Let's startup.

"If you've got something unique and believe it's genuinely different to the other stuff that's out there, you just need to believe that wholeheartedly, and tell as many people as you can". On today's show I welcome Sara Collinge from Clarity, an International Communications Agency with offices in London, New York, Berlin and now San Francisco.  A number of guests from this show have passed through the doors of Clarity including Freeagent's Ed Molyneux, Vasiliki Petrou from Unilever Prestige and David Galsworthy from Techspace. Other clients include brands such as Fidor, Outbrain and Transferwise.  Part of Sara's remit is to oversee Clarity's international portfolio of fast-graowing tech startups and scale-ups.  Having recently atteending a one-day PR course I found it really beneficial personally and therefore thought it would be massively beneficial for you to hear from a PR expert like Sara and hear the different ways a startup or scale-up can promote what they do. Without the need for a big budget. Add tha

"I think I was always influenced by the freedom of being able to do what you want, which was how I grew up. My parents just always said you can do anything if you pick something you like. Make that your job and you'll always be happy. That's all I ever grew up with". Harley Moon Kemp left school at 16 when, after discovering photography, she initially shot celebrities for free to get noticed. Shooting people like Paul Weller & Liam Gallagher might leave you starstruck. But when your father is Spandau Ballet Star Martin Kemp, and your mother is Shirlie Kemp, one half of 1980's pop duo Pepsi and Shirlie, that's not the case. Fast forward & despite Instagram making everyone think they were a professional photographer, Harley launched her own photographic agency. I caught up wth her to find out how she started out. Let's StartUp!

"We've grown by 1200% already in 2018 and this is the opportunity when you can really sky-rocket the brand and enter into a lot of markets with the kind of growth trajectory that we're on.   So by not investing in the channels that you need to be investing in , in these type of moments, then you end up losing opportunities, you end up losing the ability to leverage this to the fullness of its ability. So that's the kind of challenge where we're at this moment.  Hence why there is a need for us to take on some serious investment to really sky-rocket this opportunity that we've been given." Welcome to Episode 81 of Screw it, Just Do it. On today's show I welcome Kris Ingham, founder of Rejuvenation Water. Rejuvenation water is a functional water enriched with amino acids. Launched in the UK in 2016 it's one of the fastest-growing drinks brands in the UK He originally came up with the concept ten years ago after discovering th ebenefits of amino acids whilst at Uni. After creating the drink and shifting it to a

"I sat down and did some thinking and thought that feeling that i've had since I was a kid. I now understand what that is. It is that I want to stand on my own. I want to take that accountability and I want to take control of something that's going to change the world." I welcome Rob Moncrieff, founder of MotionLab-Bags. The culmination of a ten year journey, Rob has just launched his business on Kickstarter: https://kck.st/2AsyPcK On today's show I find out what in Rob's background propelled him to leave his secure career with Shell to instead launch this product. Rob also talks us through his Ten Steps to "Designing, Creating and Selling Your Product", which in his case was his motion-lab bag which he describes as 'the most innovative product in the world'.  

Jim Cregan joins me to talk about how he went from British building site to Australia and back again. In the process he launched his own brand of Iced Coffee having not been able to find it in the UK on his return from OZ. You can now get Jimmysicedcoffee in Tescos, Sainsbuys, Waitrose, Selfridges and even in Animal's clothing shops. We talk brand building through University tastings, his Ride Club, Cinema Club and festivals. Let's StartUp!

"So what happened was that I was making these amazing contacts and making all this content about them, but there wasn't a natural home for it. So I did some research and put together a pitch to the two Managing Directors and I had this idea for Startups Magazine. They were really fantastic and took a leap of faith with me and they just said run it for a year and see what could happen...and here we are." On today's show I welcome Daisy Stapley-Bunten from Startups magazine. An interesting question is always "Can someone be an entrepreneur within an existing organisation, eg when it's not their own company".  Well Daisy had an idea to start a magazine, so she went to the directors of the publishing firm she was working for and pitched them her idea. A magazine for startups that champions all tech startups, and passes on the stories of experience from those who took a leap of faith with their idea. Time Stamps:   Soundbite: 0:33 Intro: 1:30 Getting Started: 2:30 Testing: 4:22 Launching: 5:35 Growth: 6:30 The sto

"To be an entrepreneur you kind of have to like being punched in the face and overcoming these adversities... because you will get them every single day." On today's show I welcome Rob Thorp form Vite who's founded one of the leading Nootropic brands in the UK. Rob comes form a background in foreign exchange trading. He had an entrepreneurial scratch to itch and decided to do just that by leaving to set up his own business. He decided to look at competitors, their reviews and looked at different ways he could improve different products and services and this is what he decided to settle on. So he launched a performance nutrition brand on Amazon aimed at students and busy professionals that aid energy and productivity - something he could relate to. After just 12 months Vite is ranked 3rd in it's sector but now finds the challenge of trying to grow a brand outside of Amazon which offers instant traffic and feedback, but lower profit margins. Let's StartUp!   Time Stamps:   Soundbite: 00:17 Intro: 00:31 Introduc

" When I had my son I thought I would spend a year gazing into his eyes and being a real earth-mother. Very quickly it didn't go to plan and I ended with an emergency caesarian, I couldn't breastfeed and I felt like a real failure to be honest. I was also massively sleep-deprived and I couldn't imagine having the same career and because TV was incredibly sociable and was about going out for drinks. But I was in a different place now." Erin Thomas Wong, created the Making Mumpreneurs online community for mothers starting and running businesses around family life. Having children has inspired a new generation of mums to start their own businesses.  The Making Mumpreneurs online community is designed to support and empower mums running their own business. Founder Erin Thomas Wong formerly worked in TV production, but once her son was born, Erin set up a number of businesses from home including Ealing Mums in Business and Pitter Patter Hub, a hub for parents and carers with young children and babies. She was awar

"So I was in New York at the time filming & Ed phoned me up..and it was our first big one...and you could walk into the shops and see your own brand there on the shelves...& that was so significant at that time as we would have had another two or three months...before we went bust." I talk to the founders of Candy Kittens about their health conscious sweets that aren't just for kids. Candy Kittens was an idea that Made In Chelsea star Jamie Laing originally had but, after meeting entrepreneur Ed Williams they pivoted from sweet shops to packets of sweets, and after five years are stocked everywhere from Top Shop to Tesco's. We cover everything from how they grew their brand through social media and the Candy Kittens army, through to how it's better to be an entrepreneur working for yourself - than building someone else's dream.

This week I'm super-proud to announce the first ever #screwitjustdoit 'StartUp & Scale' Summit on October 13th, 2018 Held over one full day at This WorkSpace, Ted Baker founder Ray Kelvin's will speak at his 1st co-working space, along with a host of other successful entrepreneurs who have featured on the podcast and at our 'live' events. Head over to

It has been an insane year for Amber Venz Box. In the course of 12 months, her online-shopping app, LIKEtoKNOW.it has drummed up more traffic than Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr or Twitter did in the same length of time... A few years earlier Amber and her boyfriend now husband, Baxter Box, had revolutionized the fashion world when they figured out how to do the near impossible: easily monetize the content of fashion blogs.  Amber Venz Box, the Co-Founder of both rewardStyle and LIKEtoKNOW.it, has created two platforms that have not only shifted our behavior as consumers but have also disrupted an entire industry. Her idea that brewed in a coffee shop and grew in a tiny apartment has exploded into a multi-national business with 250+ employees across eight offices around the world.   In 2011 Amber, who had just started her blog VENZEDITS.com, and her boyfriend at the time (now husband) Baxter Box, co-founded RewardStyle to provide a way for bloggers to monetize their shopping referrals, similar to personal stylis

On this week's show I speak to Vasiliki Petrou, Group CEO and Executive Vice President of Unilever Prestige, the premium division of Unilever Personal Care and home to eight differentiated brands across luxury skincare and hair care, including Dermalogica, Murad, REN, Kate Somerville, Living Proof and Hourglass Cosmetics. With more than 25 years in the industry, Vasiliki champions authentic, innovative and purpose-driven brands that drive social change and offer truly progressive products, and is passionate about supporting female entrepreneurs. Fluent in four languages, Vasiliki holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in NYC and a Master’s degree in English and Communications from University of Texas. Vasiliki is a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of the Kellogg Foundation Fellowship recognising female leaders, and current Chairwoman of CEW UK, the leading beauty industry association. There's an intro for you! Vasiliki's role with Unilver's is to help the brands they acquire reach their full potential and is

I believe how you start and end your day really matters. Since starting this show just over a year ago, I've gotten a lot of questions from listeners about what my morning routine, daily habits and routines look like. So, I decided to record my first solo episode answering this exact question. Between this podcast and the 'live' #screwitjustdoit events, I've interviewed well over a hundred and fifty successful entrepreneurs now. In those interviews I've found that some of the commonalities that these successful entrepreneurs share are in their success habits, rituals and routines. I had some of my own from my health and fitness background, as well as from avidly reading everyone from Tim Ferris to Tony Robbins. I try to take one thing away from each interview and try implementing it in my life. A lot of those success habits, rituals and routines have now become my success habits, rituals and routines. I'm certainly not saying that what I do is perfect, but I'd like to share my learnings with you, and hope it

"Privacy is an inate right of every human being in the world. It's not something we're going to give away." Mark Weinstein is the Founder and CEO of MeWe, the Next-Gen Social Network known as the "anti-Facebook." Mark is world renown as a leading privacy advocate and one of the visionary inventors of social networking. He is ranked one of the "Top 8 Minds in Online Privacy," and was named “Privacy by Design Ambassador” by The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada.  Mark's articles about privacy and social media have appeared in The Mirror (UK), HuffPo, USA Today, InfoSecurity Magazine, Dark Reading, The Nation, and many others. He’s often quoted on MarketWatch and has appeared on PBS, FOX News, and CNN. Mark has been a featured speaker and social media/privacy expert on the stage at many conferences around the globe, most recently at EY’s Strategic Growth Forum and at the KNOW Identity Conference. He has also spoken at the 16th Annual Privacy and Security Conference, Global Security Confe

"I remember when I wrote my business plan for crowdcube and I think I said that we would be a £3 million brand in 5 years time and in our second year we beat that... and suddenly the goalposts moved". Pippa Murray, founder of Pip & Nut is #screwitjustdoit's most popular  podcast - as chosen by YOU! You can find out the Top 5 by visiting our Facebook page here: Pippa is the founder of wholesome nut butter brand Pip & Nut which she founded in 2015 with a startup loan in which she has rejuvenated the humble peanut butters of the high street and she's also a previous Virign Foodpreneur winner. Pippa started with a £10,000 startup loan from her kitchen table and used that to rent to use a commercial kitchen and sold her first products in London markets at the weekends whlst working part-time as a theatre producer. Fast forward to 2018 and she's turning over £3 million, is stocked in every supermarket in the UK and has just raised £1 million to fuel future growth. Let's StartUp!

"At the start of this bus journey this american traveller sat next to me and asked me what I did. I explained I wasn't too happy with my job and he basically said something that changed my life. He said if you're not happy you should do the rocking chair test. Essentially this is to imagine sitting in your rocking chair at the age of 90 and thinking about your legacy in the world, who you have helped, have you left the world in a better place, who's going to remember you, and for why. That was a pretty profound moment at the start of an eighteen hour bus journey. I was thirty minutes in going "No, no, no. I haven't done anything of any significance that's going to make a difference in the world. If I died tomorrow no-one's going to remember me. I've not left the world in a bette place and that really struck me hard. Whilst everyone else was asleep on the bus I was bolt upright thinking about my life about what I need to do to make changes." So #screwitjustdoit is one year old. To mark the occasion and celebra