Entrepreneur Life

E15: Marketing Manager & The Recession

First off, I had a bloody nightmare recording this one, my phone cut me off 3 times so I had to re-do 8 minutes worth of footage a few times (lots of expletives were said)

Yes we have conducted the interviews for the marketing manager, which is really exciting and I’m very pleased about with the questions being asked in the interview. These confirmed my expectations on the shift we are seeing in employment world.

I also discuss the upcoming recession, raising interest rates and how the media are portraying this. Again lots of bad language used here!

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurlife #business #development #recession #interestrates #marketing #marketingmanager #challenges #challengingtime

E14: Business is Hard, Really Fucking Hard

The last few weeks have been tough, really tough. I really want to share the downs of running, building and developing a business along with the ups. Let’s face it the Ups are easy, it’s the downs where it’s hard.

 

It’s fair to say the last few weeks have had lot of downs for me and trying to move out of this is hard, which is where My Why come into play. Perspective and mindset are big themes in episode 14 and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurlife #business #development #mindset #belief #mywhy

#challenges #challenging time

E13: Narrowing in on my Why

This week I wanted to really focus in on my Why. With recent events that have happened, leaving my attraction business, my Gran passing away, and being more mindful about what I want from life. These things have enabled me to really focus on the important things in life and where I can make the biggest impact and difference, achieving the things I want to achieve.

Will I take the road to politics, or steer away to a more business led journey?

I also highlight recent sickness reports within our business and the impact employee sickness has on an organisation.

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurlife #staff #employees #sickness #employeesickness #why #mywhy #primeminister

E12: Resigning from my own company

Last week I handed in my resignation as Marketing Manager of the Attraction Division.

It may sound strange resigning from a position within my own business, but as Owner, Founder and CEO I have held multiple roles over the years many of which at the same time.

My business has now reached a stage where it needs someone who can provide it more than I am able to give in this role. It's not a question of want or willing (that I have in spades) but one of knowledge and expertise.

I also said goodbye to my last surviving grandparent, as my grandmother passed away a few weeks ago and last week was her funeral. My Gran had a huge impact on me and gave me numerous lessons, learnings and advice on running a business. These lessons that have stuck with me to this day and some of the fundamentals that underpin The Campbell Group.

E11: I would be a Shit Prime Minister

Having to re-record episode 11 as the original version breached an NDA.

This week I discuss moving the businesses into a divisional model and replacing myself as the director in the attraction division.

I talk about using agencies and why I have recently terminated one of our contracts.

Plus the main section, and on topic, as to why I would be a shit Prime Minister now, but in 10 years’ time I could be one of the best we have ever had.   

E10: The Way My Mind Works

I wanted to explain a little about how my mind works and how I perceive and analyse daily occurrences. I don’t think this is completely unique but does reflect the entrepreneur within me.

I announce the big decision I just made about appointing a new attraction division director and who is taking on this role.

And following on from episode 9, last week’s podcast I discuss the challenges you face when people don’t agree with your decisions and how to handle this.

#entrepreneur #entrepreneurlife #business #mindset #work

E9: Indecision

Not making a decision can be more costly than making the wrong decision. I know it sounds hard to believe but it’s very true.

Each of us faces many decisions each day, but how do we know the choice we make is the right one?

We don’t is the short answer.

We use our experiences to choose and deal with the outcomes.

Consider how your decision could affect 75 people, their wider families, suppliers’ business and 100,000+ visitors and does that make a change to the process you would follow?

In episode 9 I discuss making decisions, not making decisions and the impact for both. I also pick up on Entrepreneurs being born and not made and how we lose so many entrepreneurs early in their life. Again, this comes back to a decision.

E8: Take, Take, Take

In episode 8 I discuss allowing people to Take, Take, Take, and where to draw the line.

After a recent experience with an organisation who literally took the piss, I wanted to explain why we will never (big word) let our services and products be used for free again.

This is an episode I hope I would never have to record and its sad that this can happen, but I felt it was important to share the experience.

 

 

E7: Valuing Our Business

In this episode I wanted to cover how I value our business and what metrics I use to do this initially.

I look at valuation of our business in 3 ways,

1. The value of our individual products & services, the current position and growth of these
2. The monetary value of our business as a whole, based on the P&L and balance sheet position
3. The value of our people (our employees) and how we can truly value what we do through this metric.

Plus I come out with a HUGE statement – We don’t pay our employees enough.

E6: Visiting Shepton Mallet Prison

I spent a few days in Somerset visiting the team at Shepton Mallet Prison and was incredibly impressed by how well organised and together the whole team was.

I spent some time reflecting on what makes a good manager and the difference between this and a good leader. That brought me to the realisation that I’m not a good manager (something I have known for while, but not said). Having me managing people has probably slowed down our growth and this is something I’m trying to rectify in coming weeks.