Despite facing relentless judgment, Camilla Barnard and her team at Rude Health were on a mission to shake up the health food industry. With a vision to make their product look as desirable as it tasted, they rejected the usual brown palette for their branding and instead reflected their fun-spirited and tasty products with vibrantly coloured packaging. But breaking the status quo saw them bombarded with critics claiming her branding was “too sexy and extreme”. However, their cheeky approach soon paid off, and they quickly became a customer favourite, propelling their product range to more tha ..read more

So, let’s cut to the chase. How do you start a side hustle that will supplement your income, and may even become your full-time gig in the future? Say you’ve got an idea for a side hustle – perhaps based on an interest or passion, a gap in the market, or a customer need that you’ve identified. Now you need a play-by-play for transforming it into a bona fide business. This article takes a close look at the business admin considerations that need to be front and centre, and covers the most searched for frequently asked questions (FAQs) on how to go from side hustle to startup. Plus, we feature a ..read more

Tired of the daily grind? It’s time to break free from the nine to five and start building your own multimillion-pound empire. Aron Gelbard did exactly that. He traded in his cushy career, and well as his own personal assistant (PA) and office, for 6am starts at New Covent Garden flower market and the uncertainty of starting his own business. With £30,000 to get his idea off the ground, Aron began planting the seeds for his business and landed on the idea of Bloom & Wild, a stunning letterbox flower company dedicated to delivering beauty and joy right to your doorstep. In this episode, Aro ..read more

Technology can be a huge pain point for any entrepreneur, it can be hard to keep up with and, at times, it can even seem difficult to understand if you’re not an expert. Gousto founder Timo Boldt is about to give you a brand-new perspective on the realms of technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Despite not coming from a tech background, he has utilised AI to transform his business. From cutting down on carbon emissions, to minimising food waste, and helping farmers improve their forecasting, he has truly embraced the power of artificial intelligence. Gousto is now able to give customers ..read more

We’re thrilled to be back with Season 3 of the Sound Advice Podcast: Entrepreneurs Unfiltered. And who better to kick things off than the legend and icon herself, Lynne Franks OBE. Lynne is a trailblazer in PR and women’s empowerment and has completely shaped the industry. With her involvement in the creation of London Fashion Week, to being an advocate for women’s and human rights, and even writing The SEED Handbook as a guide to empower more women to create businesses, she is a force to be reckoned with. And it doesn’t stop there. She runs co-working spaces, retreats and coaching groups to h ..read more

Whether you’re starting a business or planning to expand, having a business plan can help to get you on track and get some detail behind your ideas. However, research from Barclays shows that one in four businesses don’t have a business plan. There are a number of useful tools worth having at your disposal if you want your business to succeed. While one of those is accounting software, so you can keep track of your business admin (forecast your cash flow, manage your invoices, and more), another is a business plan. So what are the advantages of business planning and how could it help your busi ..read more

“How am I going to fund my business venture?” is one of the first questions you might ask when starting a new business. Venture capital is one option to consider. However, it’s worth taking the time to understand how venture capital (VC) works before you accept money from a VC firm. Then once you’ve got clarity on how things work, it’s worth weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of taking on venture capital to fund your business. In this article, we look at the pros and cons of venture capital and consider other avenues you might look at besides the VC route to inject funds into your sm ..read more

When it comes to starting a business in 2024, a boring business may well be the new exciting. It may be a viable alternative to the glitz and glam of an attention-grabbing startup. While this type of business is unlikely to give you goosebumps, its relatively low risk and potentially high returns could see you laughing all the way to the bank. With people hyper-focused on hip and trendy startups in search of the ‘next big thing’, a business of the boring variety presents a unique opportunity to steadily grow a lucrative income stream. If you’re interested in the profits a business can rake in ..read more

It’s that time again, after an incredible season of guests and their stories, we’re rounding off Season 2 with a very special episode, featuring not only Sophie Cornish, chairman of Busby & Fox, but our very own CEO, Steve Hare. After all her success at Not On The High Street, Sophie is taking her expertise back to the world of retail and is also working as an adviser to help other business owners thrive. With their combined experience, Sophie and Steve give their top tips on how to build an effective plan to achieve your desired life, but also how to adapt if that plan doesn’t go down the ..read more

After being born in a caravan on the side of a road and into a Romany Gypsy family, Alfie Best started his journey into the world of business at just 14, buying and selling cars and vans. With an unstoppable entrepreneurial spirit, Alfie has gone on to become a self-made billionaire with 17 ventures and 91 Wyldecrest Park locations in the UK. But it has come with its own set of challenges, from facing racism, making family sacrifices and landing himself in negative equity, he was close to losing everything. In this episode, we explore the true meaning of how hard work and the right attitude ca ..read more