How do we put down our armour of self-sufficiency and competence? While it protects us from challenges and shields us from criticism, it also cuts us off from deep connection and essential support. We think that we need the armour to “hold ourselves together” because if we “let go”, we might not be able to pull ourselves together again. Holding it all in affects our ability to be creative, make healthy business decisions, and have lives which spring from our core values. Holding it all in is a form of unkindness to ourselves because we’re not allowing ourselves to show weakness. We’re telling ..read more

Writing a book takes time and effort. And life's too short to write a book that no one will read. On this episode, we invited someone to help us understand how to minimise the risk of writing books that aren't actually useful or reach their audience. His name is Rob Fitzpatrick and he's the author of Write Useful Books, The Workshop Survival Guide and one that we've been recommending for years, The Mom Test. Carlos has been reading his latest book Write Useful Books and thought it was a really useful  take on how to approach writing non-fiction that helps peo ..read more

We’re joined by Tad Hargrave, founder of Marketing for Hippies, who shares his thoughts on how to market well so that sales becomes effortless. We talk about purpose, problems, premise and promise. Our obsession with selling tactics is actually compensation for our poor marketing. When we’re having to work hard to “convince” people of the value of our work then we’re probably talking to the wrong people. As a creative or purpose-driven entrepreneur you’re repulsed by the idea of manipulating people or having to convince them to buy from you. And so you’re put off the idea of “selling”. Un ..read more

Most creative and purpose-driven entrepreneurs love coming up with new ideas and working with their customers and clients. But they hate sales, marketing and working on finances and spreadsheets. They also complain about cashflow, profitability and burnout. Their wheels are spinning because they focus on a narrow aspect of their business (delivery and ideas). And they ignore all the other bits that they consider “boring” or “uninspiring” or “difficult” (finances, marketing, positioning, selling, recruitment etc…). There’s a massive imbalance in where they put their attention and energy. Alan ..read more

How do we realise worthwhile ideas in the world? Define a goal, create a plan, build a great team? That's how we're told to do it. How about instead, we listen to what we're really called to do? Tom Nixon is an entrepreneur, founder of org-chart startup Maptio, and the author of the book Work with Source, which introduces a new perspective on being a founder, based on research conducted by Peter Koenig. Chatting with Laurence and Carlos, he discusses how finding and cultivating sources of creativity leads to greater autonomy and happiness, and the balance that needs to be struck between giving ..read more

What if you don’t agree with mainstream definitions of success? What if, when looking at what everyone seems to value and strive for, you start to feel like “do I actually belong here?” You see the well trodden path to success The one validated by the hundreds of thousands that have gone before you. Each of their steps deepening the footprints of those that went before. As if this is the only way. But it isn’t. Not everyone has a path dictated to them by others. And some of us don’t even know what path we want to take. Instead we take a more creative and emergent route. Also known as the exper ..read more

Are you a company of one? From Paul Jarvis’ book of the same name a company of one is a founder who does not believe in growth for growth’s sake. Their goal is to build a company that is focused on being better rather than bigger. In this episode of the podcast I talk to one of our Happy Startup members who’s taken the company of one mission to heart. From this conversation you’ll hear about why Francois decided to work for himself, what he’s learned about authenticity in business and why he’s valued being part of a business community that doesn’t just offer support at the business level but a ..read more

How can we challenge the idea that in business only the unkind and ruthless rise to the top while the caring and compassionate get overlooked. In this beautiful conversation with Christina Kisley and Graham Allcott we explore why we need to find more kindness in business and why we’re less likely to hear about kind leaders than unkind ones. In actual fact there are more kind leaders than we think and we need to make people more aware that kindness is compatible with business success. While being kind may not immediately increase your profits it will make your business more sustainable and resi ..read more

Eiji Han Shimizu is a purpose driven filmmaker and creative entrepreneur who discovered the many different ways we find happiness by making the movie Happy. During this conversation we find out about his pursuit of happiness and how he got greedy for it. Having ticked off all the different paths to happiness the last one on his bucket list was to find meaning. He says that we all have different elements to our lives that seem like a set of senseless dots but when you’re able to connect them that’s when we find meaning and purpose and achieve the focus to make the impossible happen. His latest ..read more

This episode of the podcast is another window into our community where you get to know our members and what they do. Today I’m talking to Simon Batchelar, cofounder of Pallant Digital and the Marketing Success Club. He shares his journey from running a digital marketing agency for large clients to now offering courses and coaching to founder run businesses that he believes can make a difference. Simon has a need for adventure and impact and believes that change happens from the bottom up. He wants to help amplify the voices of small business doing good things so they can all make a big impact ..read more