Ciao for now

Speaker A: Welcome to Strategy and Tragedy. I'm your host, Stephanie Melodia. And as you've probably already gleaned from the episode title, this is a very special solo piece because it is the last installment of Strategy and Tragedy. Uh, You heard me right. After over two years publishing pretty consistently every Wednesday morning and interviewing over 120 entrepreneurs, including some of the country's best, literally, I am putting this baby to bed. Now, who's to say when she wakes back up again? I don't know. But for the moment, I am pressing pause on Stratton Traj. So, first and foremost, a huge, deep, heartfelt thank you. A huge thank you for, for tuning in, for listening, for subscribing, and if you've been here since day one, oh my God. Special shout out to my OGs. Now, I've had some awesome questions from listeners. I'm very excited to do a fun audience Q and A. But before I do, I'm sure the first question that you're all wondering is why, following that announcement, why am I winding down the show? Well, there's a number of different reasons for. For one, it's kind of taken its natural course now. That's not to say that there isn't still gas in the tank. I still love what I do. In fact, I have a pipeline of more guests that I would love to interview. I am innately curious. I love asking questions and just getting permission to do so with microphones in our faces. And I just, I think that the process has been very helpful in refining my interview skills, which is definitely a skill. I cannot go back and listen to those early episodes way too cringe. And there's almost a way of thinking of this as a huge research project. Right. Having sat down, had quality time, and deeply interviewing one on one, these incredible entrepreneurs has also been a wonderful kind of source of data. And I am actually going to be analyzing that data. So watch this space. But for now, I can share a load of reflections from the host side of the table. Having sat across the the table from all of these entrepreneurs, what stuck with me throughout the process who have been, well, I'm not going to name names obviously, but my favorites, what I've learned, what stuck with me. So I'm going to be sharing all of that. But before I do, the other reason why I am winding down the show is to focus on all these other fun projects that just require my time and attention. For one, I have launched a new show with a comedian turned sales expert called Tash Rebuck. Her. Hopefully you've already seen me talk about it. Hopefully you've seen some of the teaser episodes I've posted on, um, the strategy and tragedy feed here as well. But it's called the S word so I am not disappearing from the airwaves. Far from it. You will not be missing my voice. You can head on over to the S word to hear both myself and Tash talk all things sales. It is so fun. I hope anyone who has already checked it out. If you is enjoying it so far, please do let us know your feedback. As always, we love to hear from you but it is really fun. We're both combining humor with this professional kind of subject matter. Expertise in sales, the uh, S word, the dirty word in business, if you hadn't already figured that out, all about sales. So that's one thing. For example, I'm applying all the lessons learned from the past two years. Producing, managing, marketing, my own show, doing most of it by myself and uh, and getting to apply that to the S word to shortcut and ramp us up and hopefully enjoy even more success with Tash. So that's one of the new projects. The other thing that I am doing is I am coaching one on one founders and absolutely loving it. That side of the business is growing, so if anyone is intrigued, would like to learn more about what that looks like, or is interested in hiring me as your professional big sis, then do get in touc. Not only have I learned tons of lessons vicariously through those 120 interviews with these entrepreneurs, but of course run my own businesses. A very successful one which was an award winning marketing agency and helping lots of incredible founders navigate this roller coaster journey. I do that officially as a mentor with one day, which is an 18 month MBA program. Um, but I have these private clients that I work with as well, which is lots of fun. Um, of course the public speaking king. I'm still doing that, which is super fun as well. Very international. Who would have thought? That's one that is taking me around the world which is amazing and exciting and I'm sharing more vlogs and behind the scenes of what that looks like for anyone who's curious and wants to kind of get a peep into that world on YouTube. And finally, last but not least, I am um, world building my signature topic of hacking luck. Now this is something I'm also very excited about and who knows, maybe there's another show that gets launched all about that as well. I am uh, Ms. Content Creator, uh, having lots of fun, um, getting those creative juices flowing and producing all of this fun content. But of course it's meaningless unless you're all enjoying and getting lots of value from it. So, hacking luck, what is this about? Let me fill you in on this one really briefly. So hacking luck is all about how do we actually stack the odds in our favor. Now, some very interesting scientific research has been released that shows that, uh, between talent, effort and luck, it is actually luck that has the biggest bearing on our success or failure. Now, luck, what does that mean? Essentially, any externality that is outside of our control. Now, having lived, eaten, breathed the world of entrepreneurship for the past 15 years or so, I have learned from the best, literally the best segment of the population. Creating their own luck entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are the ones who create their own luck. And so I have refined this concept honestly over the past year now and distilled it down to eight core principles. Four that focus primarily on mindset first and foremost, and then the other four that are more about the practical actions that we can take to again, literally stack the odds in our favor. So, a really interesting subject. There's loads and loads of content that I can dive into on there. I'm already posting about it on LinkedIn and Substack, if you're not already following me. So do check it out and as ever, let me know your feedback. So that is my, I guess, long winded answer to why I'm winding down the show. As I say, it's kind of like some breakups, right? It's not as if they're like one specific reason my show didn't go and cheat on me. It's just kind of a culmination of all these different things. I've had so much fun producing the show, um, hosting these incredible entrepreneurs, but as I say, I'm still getting to scratch that itch with Tash in the studio. And as I say, focus on all these other fun projects and who knows, maybe there'll be another podcast for you to follow along soon. So, moving things along, I mentioned that I've had some awesome questions from some listeners. I will get into those, but before I do, I'm going to share some of my reflections, observations from doing this show for the past couple of years, because there's only so long that you can sit in the host seat and interview all these incredible entrepreneurs and not start pattern matching, not start noticing some common themes, and of course, some fun stories from behind the scenes. So what I thought would be the first, most useful thing to share with you is my top three observations of the most successful people that I have interviewed. So first of all, they make it look easy. Now a few of the guests that come to mind here, Jodie Cook, Team gb, Powerlifter, uh, serial entrepreneur, uh, Maya Raichura, who has got more of a social presence, so you may have heard of her. She has written the book called Visualize and her thing is all about mental fitness. Lottie White, whose business Myomaster was named in last year's, um, Sunday Times fastest growing companies. Ben Kumba, the founder of awesome Supplements. Uh, PT turned entrepreneur. Timothy amu, the founder of Fanbytes, which sold for millions. Uh, the list goes on. I've got a few more I've written down here. Mike Bander, serial entrepreneur Jenny Quigley Jones. She incredibly exited her business at such a young age. She scaled it up and just had this humongous success. So these are just a handful of names from that 120 list that do come to mind for me in terms of making it look easy. They make it look easy. And it's actually kind of frustrating when you're sat in the host seat because I know it's not that easy. I know myself firsthand. I know from the private clients that I coach, one to one. I know from my founder students, um, on the MBA program that I mentor, like, it is not that easy. But these guys in particular, they're just like, I think they're built different. I think they're built different. And definitely Lottie White, I remember I kind of challenged her a little bit more towards the end of the show because I felt like there was just more under the surface, um, Timothy Armu as well, maybe. Jenny Quigley Jones. Like those are again, just kind of three of those I mentioned when I did kind of scratch beneath the surface because they've put in so many reps over the years. It, it has now become second nature to them. And I think it's like so many things in life that we do that we take for granted. And actually I think there's a really important lesson here to um, in how we can undervalue ourselves sometimes because we don't always realize the things that we are good at, whether it's a natural talent or, or whether we have put in that effort over the years. But because it has been so many years, it has now become second nature to us. But we forgot that there was once a point where it wasn't that easy. I know a friend of mine, for example, who's a very talented marketeer, um, another one who just finds it really easy to strategize in situations. And these are just some of the examples off the top of my head of real life. People who just, it's the fish in water syndrome, they just forget that not everyone has this ability, not everyone has this strength. And crucially, just because it comes easy to you doesn't mean that you shouldn't be charging for it basically if you are in, in kind of a service based field. So going back to these entrepreneurs, Lottie White in particular, when I did challenge her a bit more on that, she did share that actually. She, she very strictly curates her media consumption. She strictly curates who she's following online. Um, she is very strict about the time that she does spend on social media, the podcast that she listens to, she curates the information in the same way that we would, um, be strict with ourselves if we were on a diet, right? If we're on a diet, we're trying to lose weight or there's a specific goal that we've got. Again, it's the same thing. It's actually that mental strength, that mental resilience and I think also spending time kind of with yourself, the meditating, the journaling, the going out in nature, touching grass, you know, whatever works for you. But these practices are very, very vital, especially when you're on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship. They're very vital in maintaining that center of gravity, that inner balance that you need so that you don't so easily get thrown off course when the inevitable happens. And the inevitable does happen. We get these things that are, ah, thrown at us from left field and it's always, always, this is another lesson, always the things that are completely unexpected that do the most damage, which, you know, sounds obvious, but when these unexpected things come out of left field, it's having that inner center of gravity to not get pushed over so quickly. I think the other thing here on this point, on making it look so easy is perhaps there's an element of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I think that having been through a lot of trials and tribulations, obviously for everyone that looks completely different, but knowing that you bounce back and that uh, you came back stronger than before as well, does help these entrepreneurs to recognize that, uh, actually it's not that bad. And do you know what? That leads me perfectly into one of Timothy Armu's sayings, which is it's not that deep. So they make it look easy. The second observation, they have had a really strong wind in their wings with some sort of mission. Now I think that first list that I mentioned, whether it's Jody Cook, Ben Kumba, Mike Banda, uh, like they are born entrepreneurs, they are serial entrepreneurs, they are built different. But with this next category where they've got the wings in, sorry, the wind in the wings with this mission that's driving them the. There's kind of a different breed of entrepreneur here, actually, which I'm going to call the reluctant entrepreneurs. This is where they are. So just like eaten up from the inside out, can't sleep. It's every waking thought that obsesses their mind on solving this one particular problem. It's this burning fire. It's this passion to more often than not wrong. Oh, sorry, Write some sort of wrong. Not wrong. Some sort of right is to write some sort of wrong. There is this burning desire to just kind of fix this problem that they see in the world. So a few examples on this. Deborah Williams, I absolutely love that interview and I had some feedback from listeners who said that they could really in, they really enjoyed it and they could really tell that chemistry that we had. And I love to hear that as well. And you know, there's a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of guests who have been on the show who I've met for the first time in person in the studio. And so you don't always know what that chemistry is going to be like. You don't always know how you're going to get on with each other. But yeah, Deborah Williams is definitely at the top of the pile with just instantly immediately getting on like a house on fire. Such a joy to spend that quality time in the studio with her. She is the founder of the Women's association and so the mission that she's solving is gender inequality. Another example that I would put in this camp is Padman Vamadivan. Such a lovely guy. Oh my goodness. One of the loveliest guys I, I've ever met, let alone interviewed. He's the co founder of Astron, a health intelligence platform to help literally cure cancer. When we talk about solving problems in entrepreneurship, there is arguably no greater problem to solve than cancer. So this guy's literally doing it. He is of course, doctor, um, so doctor turned entrepreneur. And um, that's what I mean, right? Like super successful in his career, very sought after day job and yet discovered this problem, seen it from the inside out. So an expert in the field as well and actually saying, you know, there are other ways that we can solve these problems. I'm going to try my hand at it in entrepreneurship. I need to mention a third entrepreneur that has done so, so well, super successful, and again, in large part has been thanks to the mission that's been driving them. And it is Anna Sophie Hart Vigson Hart Vixen. I hope I'm pronouncing the name correctly. Um, I haven't had to say her surname out loud for a while, but she is one of the three co founders of Female Investor, which as the name suggests, is all about getting more women into investing. And, um, true, like empowerment through financial education. Um, they are doing phenomenally well. I'm very, very, very happy to see it again. I got on with Anna Sophie like a house on fire. So I hope that you've enjoyed some of these interviews. I'm kind of name dropping here. If it feels like I'm also kind of name dropping a lot of different guests, I feel like I could, I won't do this because I don't think anyone has the time, but I think I would have the capacity to sit through, like, go through the list of every single interview and sort of share like my comments what stuck with me, like key takeaways. So I'm just kind of peppering my, my top, like favorite ones here for you guys. The third observation of the most successful people that I've sat across from is that they are insanely resilient, like next level resilience. But what's been interesting is there's a subset of people who have strategically found a very interesting way to build their resilience and it is by having fun. Now I've posted about this a lot as well, and, um, I think we need to talk about this a lot more because for me, at least the word resilience. Let me ask you first and wherever you're listening to this, leave me a comment. Find me on social. Let's try and make this a bit two way because obviously I'm sat here just monologuing. But the word resilience to me conjures up these images of like gritting your teeth, clenching your jaws, like fisting up your hands, like white knuckling through, like a challenging time, right? It's like, oh, I got to like be resilient. Um, to be honest with you, as a girl of the 90s, it's the, um, TV ads for shampoo where they do the CGI of the strands of hair and they're all like broken and split ends and they talk about kind of building resilience. That also comes to mind for me when I think of resilient. But when you think of like a resilient person. It's kind of like someone who can like roll with the punches. Someone who can, you know, take the hits and get back up again. But this strategy of having fun, of being joyful, being playful, um, definitely cultivating a fun atmosphere at work, developing a more kind of joyful culture is, um, the best way. It really, it sounds kind of, it sounds like such a juxtaposition. Right? It sounds counterintuitive, but, but it kind of goes back to the first point on helping people retain that sense of perspective. It's a bit like Timothy Armu's mantra of, you know, it's not that deep. But more crucially, and I think on an individual level, for some of these entrepreneurs, it really boils down to energy management. I'm obsessed with. And actually another one of my favorite interviews was with Simon Alexander Ong, who is the author of a book called Energize. So we do talk about this topic as well. But we are in this for the long haul. In business, everything takes much longer than you expect it to. We get these market shifts coming left, right and center. Uh, if you're in B2B sales as a quick stat, um, research shows that only 3% of your audience is ever in market at any one time. So that means you need to stick around, you know, even longer and create an even bigger window of opportunity. There are all these reasons that point to the need to be resilient, to be, to be in it for the long, the long haul. Um, in fact, I also interview Chris Ducker, who's the author of the Long Haul Leader. Right. Um, there's no such thing. We all know, right? There's no such thing as like get rich quick or you know, even if you were able to find product, market fit, scale your business and sell it honestly, like between five to 10 years, like you're lucky. Okay, so this is where resilience is such a non negotiable because you just need that staying power. You need to stay in the game for long enough. And so managing your energy to be able to stay in the game for the long haul means having fun while you're at it. And having fun is the best strategy to energizing yourself to keep going. Right. One other quick comment here is I've also had the pleasure of interviewing athletes turned entrepreneurs and there is definitely, definitely something to be said for this other subset of entrepreneur. I feel like maybe there's another kind of post I should do here on like the different categories of, of entrepreneurs. Like there's the ones who are just like built for it. It's in their bones. They dropped out of school at 16 and that's all they've ever known. And they're completely unemployable. So to. There are those that are reluctant and they're just so driven by a particular mission and trying to solve a problem that keeps them up at night. And then this other subset is. Is these athletes that are so just again, like they, they've trained themselves to have all of those entrepreneurial non negotiables. The resilience, the work ethic. I will say it, in this post hustle era, um, you have to have the work ethic, you have to have a bit of that hustle at least to build a business. Um, and some of them that come to mind. So one is with Thomas Panton, who was an Olympic swimmer and just built for it. Again, like absolutely built for it. The, the persistence, the tenacity, the overcoming hurdles. Thomas is also one of the few guests who have been on the show twice. Um, and I love that as well. I actually really love doing a part two with the guests. Um, the first one feels very much getting the lay of the land, scratching the surface. And so second time around you get to go deeper. And even more interestingly for me, and I hope this has been good for you too, is seeing what has happened and checking back in with them like a year, a year and a half later and seeing what state the business is in at this point. Right. So anyway, my point is that Thomas Panton is one of those who's been on the show twice. And uh, Maya Rotura as well, she was also in sports. And so that also makes sense, connecting it with this idea of mental fitness. And so if any of you have got any sort of like sporting background, then that is the best, the best breeding ground for entrepreneurship, I would say. So those are my top three observations of some of the most successful entrepreneurs that I have had the privilege and pleasure of sitting down with. They make it look easy, they have a mission that drives them and they build that resilience through having fun. I didn't name drop a few on that one, but some people that come to mind are, uh, Daniel Sherbakov, uh, Farah Kabir, Johnny Burch. There are so many. So if I haven't said your name yet, and you're listening, apologies, honestly, I've interviewed over 100 incredible entrepreneurs, so I feel super privileged for that as well. I thanked you listeners at the top of this episode for of course, supporting the show, for tuning in whenever I hear from you. I. It just, it makes my day. It honestly makes me so, so happy to hear that someone's tuning in and listening. Because obviously when you're just sat in the studio or recording at home like I am now, you don't always know who's on the other side. So do get in touch if you're listening. I always love to hear from you. Now. I wanted to share a few other. Reflect a bit of kind of the behind the scenes. Some lessons even from like the production and marketing perspective of what it's taken to build and promote a show. And I will wrap this up with the audience Q A. I'm really excited to get to that bit at the end. So that's going to be like the cherry on top. Exits. Business Exits was one that I wrote down here as well. I didn't expect to talk about exits as much in business given that the show is more focused on kind of early stage entrepreneurs or at least that's the audience. Right. Is to hear from entrepreneurs who are at least a few steps ahead, learn from their lessons, especially the tragedies. Um, the best, the best lessons come from some of the worst mistakes sometimes. So very much that has been the mission of the show. Um, and so that's why I wasn't really expecting kind of talk so much about sort of selling businesses exiting and where it's come up in some of those conversations. The number one that comes to mind is my interview with Nick Towson Sillet who built and sold Design My Night. And I actually think the title of that episode is the Craziest Exit in History. The Drama. Oh my God. It always seems like the whole exit part of the story never goes to plan. It's almost like if you were producing a film on a whole kind of life cycle of a business. It's almost like the exit is like the final showdown. It's the final chapter. It's coming to the end of the film. And um, this is the opportunity for a plot twist. And it does. It does seem to be another pattern that's emerged. I've noticed. I don't know whether that's because it's so kind of high pressure and it's almost like that culmination of so many years hard work, effort. Ah, Sam Smith. That was another story of finally exiting the business. They IPO'd on the London Stock Exchange. Um, there's a handful of them. If you want to know some more specific exit stories, you can message me and I can point you in the right direction. I found that to be a really kind of unexpectedly interesting kind of topic that came up a few times throughout the interviews. How exits didn't quite go to plan. I mean the Nick Tilson Sillit story includes oh, it's so funny the way he tells it as well. I mean they end up in like A and E and it's just like uh, is like the biggest emotional roller coaster that you can have in like 24 hours. I mentioned before how interesting it's also been to have returning guests. I mentioned Thomas Panton before. I really enjoyed both those interviews with him. If you haven't already tuned in, do check them out. Varun Banut, another one that needs to be name dropped here. He's the co founder of Magic AI. He has won like every award under the sun. I think he's Forbes 30 under 30 as well. Maybe, um, that they've also been really interesting and actually having just mentioned those two, they are very good examples where one is still in the same business and the other one isn't. And obviously we're not kind of comparing apples and oranges here. But it has been interesting to check back in with these founders and see like how they're getting on now. It's an opportunity to dive deeper in their stories and how much of their perspective has maybe changed since I last interviewed them. What's happened in life? How have things evolved? I think what was really eye opening for me on the part two with Varen was when I first sat down with him and he was one of my very first guests. Like at the start of the show we had a different studio and everything, so it all looks different. He was recounting all of these like crazy stories, these dramas. Honestly, perfect guest for a show called Strategy and Tragedy. I am super, super grateful to him for being so open, so honest. He was probably one of. I mean I think everyone is very open and honest. Um, that being said, there's definitely been at least one or two that are maybe a bit too kind of media trained and almost like reading off a script. And I'm like, I want you to just be real, right? Like open up, share the, share the story. You know, warts and all. This is what the show is about. And so again very, very grateful to Varon for doing so. And so. Yeah, anyway, so going back to that first interview, like one of the stories I remember him telling me about was how Russia invading Ukraine had this knock on impact in his supply chain and how much of a headache it created with getting the products, with getting a different parts Manufacturing was such a dramatic, challenging story that he shared with me. And then catching back up with him about two years later was kind of like, yeah, that was just one of many things. And I think it's like to me, I hear that story and I still remember it to this day. I haven't, I don't listen back to the episode. I just remember these interviews and I remember being like, uh, wow. Like that almost like took down the business that was such an existential threat. And then it just kind of goes back to that resilience point of how it was like, yeah, it's, that's, that hasn't even been the worst of it and, and taking it in his stride and, and definitely again it's not easy. And he since became a dad as well between the two episodes and so many life changes, all these different things going on. I mean he also has a co founder again, so maybe that does make it easier to kind of have somebody there in, in the rough waters with you. But yeah, that, that just kind of struck me as well. It was kind of like, oh, wow. Now from m. A podcast production perspective, hands up my alliteration fans. No, this is something that I do get asked about as well. And actually it's funny, I've noticed this really meta thing happen, which Mike Bander actually called effectual thinking on our episode. But it's where you do something with a particular goal in mind or with a particular intention and then being open to these other adjacent opportunities. So for example, mentioning the podcast is of course I'm producing this for you all to listen into, but I have actually been getting these requests on like the actual production, like consulting on like how do we launch and start and scale the show in the same way with public speaking? Right. You may have seen some clips of me on stage giving talks and then actually that's led to me privately coaching people on um, their public speaking or delivering workshops on public speaking. Do you see what I mean? Right. Where it's like led to these other unexpected but very lovely consequences. So anyway, so with that in mind, because I do get asked about that, I will share a bit on that front as well as part of this chunky wrap up episode. So the number one thing I need to mention about podcast production is that there is an expectation to be everywhere now across multiple channels at once. And um, that's totally fine. Obviously that's how the game works. But what I've realized is the difference between social media, YouTube and pure audible podcast. They are three completely different strategies for each and then even within that social media bucket, you've of course got to contextualize depending on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, whatever. And so I would just, I guess heed my warning on, on this. It's more just a word of warning of being everywhere. And that's where people do say, you know, podcasting is a lot of hard work because of course the actual, you know, the actual episode itself or the actual interview itself really is the tip of the iceberg. You know, even leading up to the actual studio slot that I might have with the guest, there is researching the guest, there is all the logistics around it. It's the scheduling, it's aligning with the studio availability and um, the guest availability. It's all of the prep, it's all of the comms and everything beforehand. And then of course, once you've done the actual episode, you've got the editing, the chopping up, slicing and dicing to put across social media. And they are very, it's having the same show but very much kind of different versions of it across different things. Right. And I think it's a very different consumer across those different channels. It's kind of weird, right, because it obviously is the same show, but somebody passively scrolling on Instagram definitely does not have the same level of intentionality as they would if they were actively tuning in to listen to me on Spotify. Right. And so I think it's, it's compulsory now to do that as part, as part of the marketing. What I would say that, you know, the same thing that worked for and against me is the fact that the format is interview based. Now where that works against me is just the level of saturation. Right. There are so many interview based shows out there and not gonna lie, like definitely DOAC was an inspiration a few years ago. I am, um, a consumer as much as a creator. I do love listening to other podcasts and there was a time I was listening into that and as a bit of a sidebar, it prompted me to look into the media landscape and especially within business podcasts. Of course, notice this was another, yet another male dominated space. And so having a female voice in the mix that wasn't necessarily talking about relationships or fashion or dating or advice in that sense, which is awesome and I love it. But, um, that having a female voice in the business space was definitely sorely missed. That has changed since we've got shows with like Emma Greedy is a top one that comes to mind. Um, Grace Beverly, obviously there are more and more female voices in the Podcasting space, which is great, but that was honestly another motivation for me. So going back to the interview based format, working against me because it was so saturated. But then where it did work for me, linking to the podcast growth here is leveraging your guest audience to help grow the show. Which brings me to the next point that I wanted to mention, which is I don't think a single episode has ever performed as well or as badly as I expected. Case in point, one specific episode that I got myself so worked up about that I thought was gonna be the before and after that was gonna like make or break and catapult me to, uh, brand new heights, was interviewing Simon Squibb. He's probably the more famous one that I've had on the show and released it pretty much. I'm not gonna say quite tumbleweeds, but I am, um, not sat here like Stephen Bartlett. Um, and what I realized through that, obviously hindsight's a wonderful thing. We can always form conclusions based on existing data that we've got. And so it was after it was released and it didn't perform anywhere near as well as I was expecting it to, it did make me realize, well, actually, if you've got a name that's that big, you're already following them anyway. And so there's kind of like, what's the reason to tune into my particular episode, especially if you don't know me? I think also Simon Squibb has been so generous and he has done so many other shows as well. So there is that question mark as to, like, why would you want to tune into this one? It's not as if he shared, you know, he saved an exclusive scoop to share with me on strategy and tragedy. The flip side is I have had other episodes perform surprisingly well, just better than expected. And so again, it's kind of easy to go and look for reasons, ah, after the results are in. I would say, um, the ones that have performed the best have either been down to one of three things. It's either been because there's like a famous brand name in the thumbnail artwork on YouTube or the episode title. Obviously, you know, this is. I learned this from my marketing training as well anyway, which is brands carry a level of value that can't be measured because humans, we, we just like that familiarity. That familiarity breeds trust. And so if we see a name that we know, whether it's the name of a person or indeed a brand, um, in fact, I've actually done a bit of spring cleaning by selling quite a few bits on Vinted. And even with that as well, I've noticed when I put if it's like a good brand name, I've noticed that, you know, those pieces sell a lot more quickly. So it's either there's like they've either worked for a famous company we would have all heard of, or they are the founder of more more mainstream brand, especially in the consumable space. For example, Olivia Ferdy, who's the co founder of Trip Trip CBD drinks, which I love, I'm addicted to. Um, so it's either that it's either famous brand name, it's either something that happens to be trending at the moment. And with that in mind, you can't go wrong with two vowels. You can guess which two vowels they are. In today's day and age, if you put AI into any episode title, into anything, anything. I'm even seeing this already with the S word. We've only just published a few episodes. Um, but already that trend is, is coming across. And then the third ingredient for high performance in podcasting, especially if you have guests to leverage, as I have, is individuals who have very highly engaged communities. I know that's another buzzword, but hear me out because somebody like Simon Squibb, obviously, incredible, he's got a huge following. But I think where he has kind of entered that mainstream and his numbers are so high, I'm not going to say quantity over quality, that would be unfair. But I think that it is a bit of, it's more of that kind of volume play. Whereas actually what really does move the needle is somebody who has got a lesser following, I. E. Just not in the millions, but you know, hundreds of thousands. But the level of engagement with their audience is just through the roof. So as an example, recent example that comes to mind is let's take Anne Lure lecomph, who is a neuroscientist, and she has been consistent releasing her newsletter every week for the past six or seven years or something. It's absolutely incredible. She's putting strategy and tragedy to shame. Only doing my for just over two years, but something about. I think, I honestly think it is the quality and the depth of her work and being consistent with it has cultivated a highly engaged community. I think maybe also the fact that it is via newsletter, so it's more long form writing. So that's a parallel with podcasting as well, is somebody is sticking around to listen to your voice for between half an hour to an hour. There's gonna be so much more intentionality and more of a connection there than say, somebody just kind of thumb scrolling past you on the feed. So I think those are my three takeaways, the three kind of learnings from, you know, what makes a particular episode do well, A famous brand name, something that is hyper relevant, that's trending at the moment, or a guest that has a highly engaged community. Okay. I think that's the majority of my reflections, what I've noticed, observations as usual. If you have any follow up questions or you want me to answer anything more specific, either as it relates to entrepreneurship, having sat across the room from 120 entrepreneurs, or indeed podcast production, the marketing behind it, do of course get in touch. And as much as I could keep talking and reflect on the hundred plus episodes, I think I'm gonna leave it there for now and come over to the audience questions. This was the bit I was the most excited about. Okay, um, what's really fun? I'm not gonna name names, but what's funny is a, uh, question I've had from a listener is what's the craziest founder story you've heard? If you're listening to this and you know who you are, then it is your story. That is the craziest founder story I've ever heard. I am not going to name any names, I'm not going to share any details. It is really crazy. It wasn't publicly shared on the show for reasons that would become obvious if you knew all the details of it. But yeah, if you're listening, it's you, it's your story. It's the craziest founder story I've ever heard. All right, I think the other listeners I can name. Uh, okay, so we've got one from Shen Solon. Shout out to Shen. She's. Do you know what? Fun fact. She has been on both. She's the only person so far to have been on both Strategy and Tragedy and my new show with Tasha Reebuck, the S Word. So she's a very lucky girl. She's asked to LinkedIn, DM or not. I. But it's a hell yeah from me, definitely. I'm all about reaching out. I'm pretty shameless with that. Making new connections. Next question. What's your biggest learning? From Bloom to Strategy and Tragedy and onwards. Uh, that one is from Thomas Panton. Thank you so much for the question. Biggest learning. Do you know what I think? It's the fact that we have two resources in life and they are our time and our money. It's only one of them that is finite. We have limited time on this planet. And as much as I started Bloom, that was my marketing agency when I was 29. I think it was 2017, like, BC before COVID I was so naive. You know, this has also been the driving force with strategy and tragedy as well, is like, Jesus, the amount of stuff that I just didn't know. Like, you don't know what you don't know, right? And I think, think I didn't, I didn't appreciate enough. Like, I have time, I still have time, but I didn't. I don't think I had almost, like, enough urgency. And I think this is where that fail fast mantra comes from with, like, Silicon Valley. And I've definitely brought that forward with, like, other ventures and things that I've tried since then, which is just, you know, one thing is, is to be persistent, to stay, you know, stay the course, to be determined, to be resilient like that, that it all stands. That is all still very true. But I actually think, you know, I can only speak for myself. I do think of other people when I say this as well. But I think knowing where to draw the line and knowing when to say that's enough, is. Is a really underrated skill and it's something that we don't talk enough about. And actually, I think this is super relevant to this closing epis, right? Which is, of course, everyone has been asking anyone that I've shared that I'm winding it down, have been like, oh, why? Why are you stopping? And it's obviously a very valid, understandable question, but I don't think I got half the questions about why I'm starting it. When I first announced that I was going to do the show, right, Like, I've definitely had more questions when I've decided to end something than starting it. And, uh, I think it's kind of wrong. I feel like when you appreciate the fact that we're not here forever, and I don't just mean to our time, I think more important than our time is our energy. And so it's like, do you have. Yes, the time, but also the energy to build something and turn it into a success within a certain time frame instead of just kind of like, you know, chugging along. And I think I just. I think that's a big strength and a weakness of mine. I think I am very consistent, but that's not always a good thing, right? I think I can be. I can consistently execute, but possibly in the wrong direction. And so I think that's something I've really taken with me is how much time do we have, how much energy have we got? Let's put this into, but you know, funnel that into building something successful. So I think that would be my biggest lesson. Thank you for the question. Another great question from Thomas Panton, which is both the best and worst piece of advice I've ever received. I think. I wouldn't say necessarily that this is the best piece of advice that someone has explicitly given me, but definitely a very, very, very underrated learning that I myself have had to learn the hard way that's taken me too long to learn. And it's what I help a lot of other founders with, which is not spending enough time, energy resource investing into the core value proposition of your business. What I mean by that is the crux of what's the pain point that you're solving? What's the value that you're adding in the marketplace, what's the headache that you're alleviating for the client that ultimately gets them to part with their cash to give it to you to solve? And, and it sounds obvious, it sounds pretty simple, but the truth is, myself included, many, many, many entrepreneurs, especially first time founders, have gone into business because they've got an idea. And uh, that's great, that's great. But it is the very first baby step. The idea is not enough. You have to, you have to validate it through market demand. You have to see whether customers like actually want this. You have to avoid the hypotheticals in customer discovery. So, you know, happy ears avoid that. Just because you want something is, you know, you don't lead them down a path of like, oh, would you be interested in this, that and the other, because you've got this idea like obviously you're leading them down that path of like, yeah, yeah, sounds great. And I think especially in the uk, being diplomatic, being people pleasers, you know, we're going to say what people want to hear, but what we want to hear is the truth. And so whether it is through customer discovery, you know, market research or what I'm more proponent of is MVPs. And actually actions speak louder than words. And getting people to join a wait list, sign up to a newsletter, pay a deposit, part with some cash for, for what you've got to offer, sign a letter of intent. These are all early stage signals. These are all leading indicators that help denote whether or not you've actually got a strong enough core value proposition to then build a solid business off the back of it. So, um, yeah, very, very practical and honestly kind of uncomfortable advice because again, people just, they have this idea and they have a vision of what they want to build and what they want to create. And I honestly reckon, um, again, I'm going to put myself in the same category. There are a lot of entrepreneurs that just need to scratch that itch. And I think the first business, in my case it was the marketing consultancy. The first business is almost like the pancake. And I think, you know, it's like the first pancake. Right. Um, I think depending on how you look at it, I was either incredibly successful with the first pancake or just took too long to like learn that, that product market fit lesson. So I think that that would be what I'd answer to. Kind of best piece of advice, worst piece of advice I had. Again, this wasn't like explicit advice to me, but it was during an interview on the show as the guest was saying this thing. I knew that it would stay with me, uh, like for a long time. Like as they were saying it. And they are again, one of the most incredible people. They've had just tremend success with their business. But where they've taken kind of that laser focus to the extreme, they have made a conscious decision to neglect a lot of other parts of their life. And I get it. Like, I love how Maya, she said on the show about going through seasons and how of course it's just completely unsustainable to keep hustling and, you know, just keep going, keep going. It's just not realistic. Um, but this particular guest was just. They kind of took it to the extreme and look, it clearly works for them. They have had a lot of incredible success. But I think just for me, like, I need. It kind of goes back to the, to the resilience strategy. Like, I need fun, I need joy, I need friends. I do need to just kind of catch up with people. Not all the time. Again, we do go through seasons, but again, I wouldn't say it's the worst piece of advice, but that is probably what comes to mind with that question. Uh, thank you so much for submitting the question, Thomas. Another one from Skylar. How to turn a fun project with friends into a successful business. Okay, that is a good question. This one is obviously very dangerous territory. Just because you are, uh, friends with people does not mean that you are, have a successful business together. Obviously it can provide a very lovely and healthy solid base to your relationship and perhaps, um, you know, provide a little bit more leeway and tolerance with each other. Because you do already know your, you know, you do know each other as friends. But I think you need to be really, really careful with it. I think that in some ways it can be, be as much as it can be helpful. It can be a lot harder because you have only known each other through that friendship capacity. Like in that context, you haven't actually worked together. Like I've seen a lot of very successful co founder relationships emerge from having worked together at uh, another company before. Friends is a tricky one. It has worked. You know, actually one of the guests that I interviewed where this did work was with Farah Kabir. But my advice would be, if you've never worked together, is to draw up a charter between yourselves, um, even, you know, a contract to make things a bit more legal and professional. And I would include in it, uh, things about ways of working, core values, you know, how you align, how you don't necessarily align, what's your vision for the business. In fact, another great episode to check out on this was with Nicole Pozner, who is a conflict coach. So I think even that is a good exercise in and of itself. Being formal, being professional and, and sort of taking that step. It might feel awkward in the moment, but, but making that shift from the more kind of friendly conversations to something that's more official and formalized. The other piece of advice I would give is, as part of that contract is to have an exit clause and to, and this again is what we talked about in the episode with Nicole is to talk about what happens if this doesn't work and talk about it, uh, up front before you do get stuck into the business, before any tragedies have hit so that you don't have those emotions getting in the way. What are those kill switch moments as part of that decision making process? And how do we feel about, you know, being friends and returning to having this friendship after, after potentially, you know, this business not working out. Um, I should have also mentioned. I can't believe I totally blanked on this one. But another good example to check out is Richard Harpin and Jeremy Middleton. I've interviewed both of them. They Both co founded HomeServe, which was a humongous success. They went public IPO'd. They were. They have been friends for a very long time. So if you want to deep dive on any of those Farah Kabir, Richard Harpin, Jeremy Middleton and Nicole Bosler gang. I've got a repertoire of like 120 episodes, so there is a wealth of content to be diving into here. Okay, another question from Akash Mehta, who again was another guest on the show. He's the co founder of Fable and Main, a very successful hair care brand. So, Akash, thank you so much for the question he's asked. What's a tragedy that happened when you were younger that shapes you still today? Do you know what? I actually do have a very clear answer to this one. Wasn't my own personal tragedy. It was actually growing up on island that attracted a lot of tourists and actually witnessing through all of these holiday makers how much we have this idealized version of our future themselves. And so this was, I guess, a deeper psychological, uh, insight that I had when I was like seven years old. Relating it to entrepreneurship specifically is you've got the players on the field and you've got the spectators of the sport until you actually go and do it for real. It's, it's very different. It's like, oh, suddenly all of these pieces are going to come together when the truth is, wherever you go, there you are. It's actually putting in the work to achieve it, as opposed to just expecting this, like, postcard fantasy of your future. It's all going to come true. Next question from Ben. What three bits of advice have stayed with you from all the guests you've interviewed? Okay, so I guess kind of similar to Thomas's question, I think I've shared a lot of reflections already so far. So I think it is, is the level of focus that you need, the, the strength of the mission that you've got, you know, the mission that does feed into the core value proposition that I was talking about as well. And the third one, it is that next level resilience. It's like, it's not taking no for an answer. It's like, keep going, keep going, keep going. Especially as it relates to fundraising. Like, you get so many doors slammed in your face place. Um, there's so many great examples of that. I'll shout out Varun again. He broke down his fundraising process in, um, in the set, in the part two, the second interview that we did. Olivia Parks, shout out to her. She's phenomenal too. She also broke down how she fundraised hundreds of thousands for her business. And so, yeah, and so just that it's like, you've got to be a beast. You know, that's what I was saying before about some of these athletes as well. Anyone that's had this more kind of like physical training ground has been, um, perfect training for entrepreneurship, I think. What's one thing that one of your guests said that rewired your brain? This one is from Mostyn Wilson, thank you so much for the question. Mostyn, do you know what effectual thinking by Mike Bander, uh, tune into that episode, that conversation around effectual thinking. That, that, that definitely rewired my brain. Can strategy prevent tragedy? No. Hence the title of the show, Strategy and Tragedy. Do you know what a bit of the backstory for the name there is? One of my favorite quotes, uh, I believe is by Muhammad Ali, which is a business plan is great until you get punched in the face. Right? And so that's what it is. You can have the best strategy, you can have the best plans, but then Suddenly World War 3 kicks off, or Russia invades Ukraine, or Trump's announcing tariffs, or AIs developing at breakneck speed. Like all of these unexpected events coming out of left field. M mean that again, you could have the best strategy in the world, but honestly the best, the best one is, is one of agility, of flexibility, is being able to navigate those changes. The only constant is change, as they say. Right, so, so no, strategy can't prevent tragedy. Was there any episode or part of an episode you pulled the plug on, but can now talk about. Oh my God, that is such a great question. Um, I mean, look, I'm still not going to talk about it, at least publicly to respect the guest wishes and their privacy, but there was one episode that was really difficult for a number of reasons. And afterwards with the edit requests as well, there was a bit of back and forth and I asked my guest the traditional closing question, which is my long term listeners will know one tragedy that's taught you an unforgettable lesson. And yeah, kind of annoyingly, they wanted to just cut all of that. And that's kind of the point of the show. And it is a long standard tradition that I did like to keep. So yeah. Okay, couple more questions. Oh my God, I love all of these. You guys have asked such great questions. Um, one from Laura Blanco Moreno, Mucha Gracia Huaba. So she's asked, how do you juggle the 100 things that you do? Um, yeah, I'm very organized, definitely having systems, having people you can rely on. Um, and you know what, I'll go back to the point. On time versus energy management. I think it's much more about managing your own energy versus the time because you could have a hyper productive one hour versus dragging yourself through like a full eight hour work day. So I think if you've got the energy, if you, you know, care about what you do, if you're passionate about it, as I Am, you know, it doesn't, it's not difficult when you just love what you do. Right. I uh, know that's such a cliche. I know it's such an old kind of like trope, but loving what you do means that it's a lot easier to energize yourself to keep going and how to deal with stress or burnout in the process. Well, actually, you know what, that links back to the energy management piece. Right. I think if you are feeling overwhelmed, which of course, don't get me wrong, I definitely have in the past and I think sometimes you need to do what feels very counter intuitive. So by that I mean the moments that you're feeling the most overwhelmed or most risk of burnout is exactly the time that you need to be doing less, not more. The moment where you feel like you, like there's no, there's no chance come hell or high water that you can meditate or journal. It's probably the exact moment that you actually need to. I think going out, you know, for walks, getting daylight if you can, touching grass, you know, going back to nature is always very helpful. The journaling, the meditating. You know, I feel like these are kind of all the typical kind of go to's, but I think honestly more for me personally it's about doing what you love, um, and having the fundamentals in place, having the foundation set. Like I need a lot of sleep, actually. I need a lot, a lot of sleep. Like I'm not here like 5am hustling away. I, I, I do prioritize my sleep. I do have good kind of routines. I also prioritize my fitness as well. So working out, out. And so yeah, that's what I mean by the foundations. Like taking care of your mind and body if you can. I know we don't all have that privilege, but doing, doing whatever you can to release the valve, to let that pressure out is, is helpful. And then yeah, if you are doing what you love, if you're doing things that, that you enjoy. Like I give myself treats as well, I do give myself kind of rewards for getting through something. Um, it makes it a lot easier. You know, my interview with Anne Law, she was saying about how we, a lot of, how we visualize time, especially with like calendars and how, you know, especially like, yeah, just uh, our work calendars are kind of organized. They're, they're visualized as these kind of blocks and actually we, we perceive time on a more elastic basis. And so if you can lose yourself doing something that you Love, then, yeah, suddenly you lose a lot of time. Time gang. Oh, my goodness. Thank you so, so much for listening. Thank you for all the fun questions. I love doing this. If you want to do the same, we're going to do, um, audience Q and A on my other show with Tash Rebuck as well on the S Word. I would love to get more audience involvement with my new show as well if I do launch that. So watch this space. Um, thank you, of course, for submitting all your questions. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the show. Big thank you to the guests as well, who have, um, dedicated some of their very valuable time to allow me to ask them lots of questions. I hope you found this helpful. I hope you've taken something from the episodes that you have tuned into. And before I finally leave you here, I mentioned before, my traditional closing question on the show is what's one tragedy that's taught you an unforgettable lesson? One of the most common answers, answers to that question is not taking better care of yourself, especially as a founder, especially if you're fundraising, if you've got a team, if you've got investors to answer to, if you've got board members, the list goes on and on and on. It can be very, very easy to deprioritize yourself, when in fact, you need to be treating yourself as the company's greatest asset. A helpful reframe here is if you were the executive assistant and it was your role to take care of your CEO, how would you take care of them? How would you make sure that they do get enough quality sleep, that their diary is setting them up for success, that they're not overloaded, that they are still integrating moments of fun. It might be a walk and a talk with a friend. It might be prioritizing your fitness. It might be doing just something fun, like having a hobby. Whatever it is, utilize that reframe to see yourself as the company's greatest asset. Self care isn't selfish, as the Instagram kind of hashtag quote goes. And so I want to leave you on that note. That has been the most common answer, uh, to that traditional closing question across 120 episodes. Take better care of yourself, yourself, gang. A huge thank you, and I look forward to welcoming you to one of my new shows. Thank you so much and I'll hear from you soon.