My Items

Callum Lea (Sporting Wellness) speaks to Ted Lawlor about providing support for athletes, the ups & downs of his journey and the impact of connecting with politicians & influencers. Watch the full interview below:

Meet Luke Redhead, founder of Sentry Collective, helping founders & solopreneurs generate conversations with their dream client. From the entrepreneurial journey to tips on staying genuine on LinkedIn, Luke shares a lot in this 10-minute conversation. Watch the full chat here:

Jamie Reilly (Client Services Manager at Spark and founder of Reizia Digital) speaks to Ted Lawlor about how to prepare for a life of entrepreneurship, balancing a 9-5, personal brand and so much more. Listen to the podcast here . Watch the full chat here:

Emily Tout (Mighty Slice) speaks to Ted Lawlor about designing a brand, the strategy for food companies and much more. Listen to the audio here or watch the 10 minute chat below:

How did being in the Army help life as an entrepreneur? 🤔
Well, Mark Moseley joins Ted Lawlor to reveal all, including his experience on The Apprentice and connecting with Gal Gadot AKA Wonder Woman! 🦸‍♀️ Listen to the chat here or click below to watch:

Meet Dan Aldridge, founder of Eat The Bird . Dan speaks to Ted Lawlor about building the one of the UK's most exciting fried chicken chains, the transition from street food to bricks & mortar and much more. Listen to the audio chat here or watch the full conversation below:

Chris Caffrey (Legacy Club) speaks to Ted Lawlor about the importance of networking. If you want to understand how your network can increase your networth, then this is the podcast for you. Listen on your favourite audio platform... Spotify Apple OR watch the full conversation on YouTube .

Aditya Mahaptra (Augmentum Media) talks to Ted Lawlor about the latest marketing trends you should be making the most of, how to track your business results and so much more. 
If you want to learn how to boost your business to the next level, then this is the podcast for you. Please do subscribe and share this episode with a friend, it really does help us develop. Watch the full conversation on the Youtube video below or choose your favourite podcast platform: Apple

Spotify Transcript: yes people it's Ted Lawler and welcome back to another episode of the If Only They Knew podcast today we're joined by0:06
our DTR founder of augmentin media who talks about the latest market and Trends and how to track your business's results0:13
so if you want to learn how to boost your business to the next level then this is the podcast for you0:20
they knew0:25
mahapatra and business and Andrews right now from Glasgow originally and what0:31
I've been up to the last uh last year as myself and my co-founder have been0:36
building augmented media which is an influencer marketing agency that is0:41
exclusively working with brands in the health and wellness space who were you0:46
before this like were you one of those people that were was born an entrepreneur as some people say or did0:53
you fall into this industry who who who were you before you started this business yes I mean I've been sitting at1:00
class myself as one of those early entrepreneurs the airless memory I've got of that actually it's quite funny I was1:07
in Tesco one time and then in the reduced style they had like literally 200 boxes I've just was very much1:14
chocolates that were down for like a pound 50 to like eight Pence nine Pence so I remember convincing my mom to grab1:20
everything on that aisle and then the next month I was like literally just adopted our salesman I went around every1:26
door I could find just saying it's for a school project um you know with different flavors this kind of stuff just selling it1:31
door-to-door so that's the airless recollection I've got I must have been about 12 13 maybe wow okay yes I'm most1:39
entrepreneurs do sort of start that route isn't it like what what what do you think it was that made you even1:45
think that because I know that even though I sort of count myself as an entrepreneur like I know at that age I1:51
wasn't really in that mindset like if I would have saw reduced chocolate I probably would have just nicked it anyway I wouldn't have been thinking1:58
about um selling it on so what'd you think gave you that little that little switch inside of you from an early age I was2:05
always quite I wouldn't say motivated but I was quite fascinated by money like everything would just kind of based2:11
around that so I just kind of saw as a chance if I can buy this like 10 pence and then like go around selling it at2:17
even 40. I can make myself a you know I tell you to be some and I'm not thinking you know profit and the bank Investments2:23
I'm thinking a bit of money combine your bike maybe get some sweet Sun have a tea take away this kind of stuff but I think2:29
it's just interesting that from an early age you know I saw chocolate and I'm thinking right how can I how can I profit off this do you think that is2:36
like I know you thought of you you mentioned it there like do you think some people2:41
are just whether they think they're born an entrepreneur or not do you think some people are born with that I guess it's a2:48
gift isn't it that that little thing like that like you said you you don't really know why you thought of it you2:54
just thought of it do you think you have to be born with that little spark inside you or how how do you think that that3:00
comes about I mean so Dee I've never really thought of myself as having any of those gifts that people are just born3:07
with but there are definitely some traits that make you know good entrepreneurs and to be honest I think3:14
that anyone that works hard at it can develop those traits for example a big3:19
thing and the industry obviously is just being really patient for results nothing's gonna happen overnight you3:25
know all of these businesses that people look at and think wow they've grown so fast it's actually been a long kind of3:31
work in the progress and this is where most business Founders they tail off they don't see immediate results and3:37
they think either one is not working I'm just gonna stop or they think two I'm gonna just switch to some of those3:43
completely and they just lose traction and start again and talking of of that traction what was it how did you go from3:51
the kid that saw the opportunity to sell sweets then that massive gap between then and then now what you do like how3:57
how what happened there what was the what was the things that sort of got you on on your journey yeah so it was a very4:04
kind of odd turn of events but it all started I was 15 and one of my passions4:10
was cricket so I've been playing for a few years and then I had to call up I was 15 years old to be part of the4:17
Scotland under 15 Squad so I was playing there and I thought you know what I'm4:23
actually loving this is something that I want to take further I want to do this for a living and at that stage you're4:28
thinking for me to kind of live up the gears progress the big thing to focus on is Fitness Nutrition recovery just4:35
improving yourself in every aspect so I made a really conscious effort to focus on that4:42
um I remember you know Friday night be in the gym whatever eating healthy and it did work you know we saw great4:47
results uh played under 15 under 17 and then after that I got quite a bad injury4:54
never quite made it back but the habits that I formed you know lasted with me until now and it was from that that I5:01
thought I want to give something back to this health and wellness space and throughout all this uh my well the5:07
person that's now my co-founder sambov we had met in the under 15 squads developed a really great friendship over5:13
these shared interests and we thought yeah so we wanted something that is directly in this space working with all5:20
these people and trying the impact that the space had on us it'd be great if we could help other people5:25
experience the same impact and this was the time I think it was late 2021 it was5:31
this time that the Creator economy was starting to pop off it was when kind of uh Jake Paul and both Logan Paul story5:38
and KSI their performance Prime and we saw just how powerful it was when these people that had a social media audience5:45
that influence on social media they were launching brands in completely different spaces but because of this you know5:51
passionate audience that built up they were able to just take that brand from A to Z really really quickly and we5:57
thought you know there's a gap in this market there's no kind of there's no influence in marketing agency that's6:04
working exclusively with health and wellness Brands and this is actually quite a big problem because as a brand6:10
you don't want to just work with any old agency you want to work with someone that understands your mission you know6:16
understand your ethos they get why you're doing what you're doing and they also share your passion for essentially6:22
making the world a healthier place So after talking to kind of lots of brands in the space we noticed that6:28
there's no other agency doing this and we just saw it as being a perfect Market fit with our passion and experience in6:35
the space so you said there you had a you had a passion for the the health before any of this right you had the6:41
passion for the the science and the reasons why and and the nutrition behind everything is that right yeah so6:48
essentially between the years of me being 15 and I guess 17 18 I turned into6:53
a bit of a geek for all this in terms of like the whole Fitness aspects uh you know exercises in the gym7:00
um because I was obviously doing Cricket so functional movements how you can get faster stronger fitter things off the7:07
pitch for example you know what I should be eating to become one of those top performing athletes and then the mindset7:13
aspects of it whether it's meditation whether it's mindfulness goal setting I7:19
just kind of became really really committed to improving in all these spaces and then when the tracker thing7:25
didn't work out I thought I really have enjoyed all these side benefits so how can I take this passion7:31
online and actually make it a business and make a living off of it if it's not playing Cricket yeah how important do7:38
you think it is for people to tap into that passion because I see a lot of people that let's face it they don't7:43
they don't like their their day jobs and and I guess if I had to guess the main reason probably for that is because it's7:50
not related to their passion at all so how important do you think it is for young people especially to tap into that7:56
passion I think it's probably the single most important thing that they can have in life because if you're working on8:03
something that frankly you don't really give a about then honestly it's just not going to work for you I mean8:09
there have been times when me and Samba for what's you know 12 30 in our days but it's not really felt like work8:15
because you're working with something you're passionate about and you're just so focused on making the vision that8:21
you've got you're so focused and making it a reality that you just stop looking at the clock and it's just the case of8:26
how can I get this done and then once that's done it's you know what's next and how is that helping us grow so you8:33
know as a kid actually I always wanted to go into Investment Banking and then over the last two or three years you8:39
know you realize more about doing this for I just just want to make money get rich but actually is the passion there8:45
for that and for me the answer it was just no it's not yeah no I get that and and talking of like the workload I'm a8:52
writing saying shortly after setting this up the the company up you went into uni is that right yeah yeah that's right8:58
so I set the company up when I was in the the latter stages of S6 at school so9:06
then I moved to University and obviously workloaded University taking a part-time9:11
job at University as well to fund the business and just fund daily living costs and then the business of course9:18
itself going to the gym has been a struggle balancing all of this but you9:23
know it's just one of those things that you have to get done and just keep moving with it and just quickly as well I forgot to mention obviously where you9:29
grew up and you mentioned school there was there much of an influence or role9:34
models for you that was anyone else doing this sort of thing or was you was you sort of one of the only ones trying9:40
to pursue an entrepreneurial path I think in my school certainly in my year9:45
I was the only one but because I had my co-founder who was in quite a similar9:51
position he also went to a nearby school and was in a similar position because we9:57
had each other it didn't feel like much of the time and then building off this and building off you know what it just10:03
mentioned our Focus early on was definitely getting into the right Network because what your network is10:09
especially starting out it can be everything and honestly I don't think would still be going if it wasn't for10:15
the network we managed to build up uh quite early on you know you mentioned school10:21
um there was a person two years above me uh certain mean he'd built up a similar10:26
agency in the space thing influencer marketing so I reached out to sir I was like you know I'd love to just chat with10:32
you for you know 10 15 minutes sometimes picked at a 10 minute call went on for about an hour and a half and by the end10:38
of it you know but kind of found ourselves a mentor there it's done everything we've done and was happy to10:43
share the experience and pass on the knowledge they've gained I I laughed then um I don't know whether you know10:49
like I know I know Sue hit so that that was quite that's who I was thinking of because I know obviously you're both10:54
from the same area I should have known each other um but yeah that made me think like it's11:00
quite surreal that that happened that connection but it also shows the importance of showing up like and and11:07
documenting a journey as well because if if super hit wasn't documenting his11:12
journey you may never have known what he was up to and it makes sort of not11:18
necessarily past the Baton down but you get what I'm saying right like it may never have sort of sparked in you to to11:23
ask for advice and then help you get to where you are now so people in a couple years time or perhaps now are actually11:30
probably watching you and you'll have the same impact that had on you and then it would just be like11:37
I mean that that's definitely the the power of building a brand in public I11:43
mean it's often a fine line between kind of you know talking too much about your own exploits but then what I've realized11:50
is that people are genuinely interested in what you're doing they're curious to kind of follow your progress uh your11:56
goals Etc and if you're building a brand in public and the key thing is to make sure you're sharing kind of the wins as12:03
well as the losses it means that people that are in a similar stage of development as you can look at it and12:08
think that they're not allowed in what they're doing there are other people out there that they can reach out to for12:14
support to have as part of their Network and it's quite a key it was definitely a key in our growth and you know it's nice12:20
to think that someday we might be able to have the same influence as someone that suits and Rob with Mack Isaac and12:27
other men to remind that they've had on us and and talking about the actual uh practical steps like how did you get12:34
started then like once you had sort of understood as a market you wanted to get in to you you've got a bit of advice12:39
what were some of the Practical steps say to like get your first client like how did that work yeah I mean of course12:45
the first month to be honest there was no no effort to get clients at all which12:50
was mainly because for us we wanted to understand absolutely everything about the space so that meant literally just12:57
consuming content on influencer marketing Creator economy making sure that before we spoke to clients we knew13:03
exactly what we were doing and then the second part of that was actually just having lots of Zoom calls Google meets13:11
um just discussions with Brands and the space that would be you know future prospects not to try and sign them but13:17
just to understand is there really a demand for what we're doing because when you're starting a business the most important thing is validating13:24
that customer demand because you can it's fine to you know set up a business form the company get a website Etc and13:31
then you realize actually no one wants to buy your service so the key thing for us at first was making sure all these13:37
Brands uh they actually needed us and the solution that we could offer them was one that they'd be interested in13:42
going for yeah no I love that I love that you've done it that way because a lot of people do it the opposite way they and so I've been dealt with this in13:49
the past like because I'm like my background's more marketing I enjoy building the website and building the13:56
fires and building all this like the emails and stuff so I do all of that I do all the promotion before I've even14:02
got the product so I'm glad you do it did it that way um do you have any14:08
do you have any regrets or thoughts on the way that you did it would you go back and change change that process14:14
because it seems like like I said it seems like you've done it like the perfect way I guess to be honest we did14:20
go about the rate we're doing and of course that was because from the start we had kind of mentors in place for14:26
advising us at every stage of the process so once we've done this Market validation again returned to them and it14:32
was you know one of the steps that we now need to take to find clients and then the answers there were one14:38
obviously we spoke about building a brands in public the extension of that is using that public and you know14:45
personal Brands to actually find clients in the space so what we started doing was posting content on marketing14:52
influence and marketing health and wellness four or five times a week on LinkedIn and just attracting our Target14:58
Market on there you know health and wellness Brands we were trying to reach all the key decision makers and kind of15:04
impress them with our content and then have them coming to us as inbound leads them we could then not try and convert15:10
over time and then the second part of this was going to all the kind of trade shows and events so we went to Ife in15:17
March of 2022 and we must have spoke about a thousand health and wellness15:22
Brands there over the course of four or five days and you know from that it was just further learned that there was a15:28
demand for us and you know got a lot of prospects out of it as well it's good to hear that you did it that way you put in15:34
the hard work because a lot of people especially young people given the15:39
generation as well right of of everything instant gratification you go on Tick Tock yeah instant a lot of15:46
people want to put out content but they don't want to put out free content they want to yeah they want15:52
to get paid for it like well I put in a few hours making this content so I should get paid for it whereas what15:58
you're saying I guess is no you put in the few hours yeah that's the best way to do it it doesn't mean that you have16:05
to sort of pay for it let it go out let it go out for free and you'll generate more value and more leads that way I16:12
guess absolutely I mean I think you've hit the nail in the heads with the kind of instant gratification idea but the16:18
thing is you know in the long term especially for you to build a business that is successful16:24
the first few months are not going to bring you you know instant rewards and instant gratification it's more a case16:30
of building a solid kind of foundation a solid base that then after that everything you do is just adding to it16:36
rather than you know kind of building the base as you go and for us with the content our thought process was if we're16:43
giving out all this free advice to Brands all this kind of free value then from their perspective their thinking if16:49
these guys are posting this stuff for free then just imagine what I could get if I actually work with them on a paid16:54
capacity and that's what's kind of held through for us even till now yeah I love that and talking about giving out stuff17:01
for free I'm a writing saying part of the work you do for the client or part of the ideas that you you come up with17:07
and you create one of those ideas was like to to give out free drinks to influencers is that part of of what you17:14
do how does that work yeah so essentially um I think what you're mentioning there is one of our campaign strategies and17:21
that is influencer seating and you know the term has became increasingly popular in the space now and that's because with17:29
especially the the recession kind of coming the big Focus right now at an influencer marketing campaigns and17:34
marketing in general is running campaigns that are authentic and genuine and by this what I mean is if you go to17:41
influencer tomorrow and say you know what I'll give you two grand just make some posts with my products just you17:48
know highlight these aspects of it that's not a very authentic campaign you've told them what to post and they're not really getting their own17:54
message across and the thing is to that influencer's audience this will be so clear so you're not going to see results18:01
from it whereas what we have been doing for the past few months is running seating campaigns where brands are18:07
sending out products to influencers uh no strings attached so the influencer doesn't need to post a return18:14
but what we're doing there is tracking how the influencers engage with it whether they're you know because if18:19
they're putting out content just like that it means that they're truly engaging with the brand and truly buy against their mission and is these18:26
influencers that we then look to Target on the long-term paid capacity basis and talking of that strategy there are like18:32
they're only are there any other strategies that you can talk about like obviously without giving your whole18:37
entire business model away but like other other strategies that companies or18:43
even personal Brands out there um Can Implement because some of the things I've heard over the past year are18:50
like micro influencers are more important yeah personal brand building a community are they still things that are18:57
in place or have they died out as well what's the lands yeah these are all very much in place and the the shift that19:03
we're seeing to working with all these micro Nano influencers is definitely a trend that's going to remain very19:09
relevant in 2023 and again that's just building on the trust and authenticity19:14
aspects as well as engagement because these micro influencers and animal influencers they've been able to build19:21
very close to net communities their followers are you know very close to them close to heart and it's because of19:27
this that these guys they really Drive conversions and as well as this they can be instrumental for Brands to build that19:35
close to that community that kind of passionate audience that will really engage with their products and you know19:41
it's just something that we're going to see a lot more of going forward as well into the year and talking of uh small influences in19:49
terms of seeing results or clients that are easy is to work with is it easier to work19:56
with a smaller client with untapped potential or is it easier or better to20:02
work with a bigger client that already has eyes on the brand like because I know there's that sort of balance you20:07
you the bigger brands have the audience already but it may mean that there is the change may be quite small whereas20:14
the small brands are fresh so it's a whole fresh canvas isn't it so yeah what's your take on that what who's20:20
better or easier to work with yeah I mean that's a great question and obviously we've been able to work at20:26
both ends of the spectrum when we started off the focus was on working with smaller Brands and really building20:32
up case studies testimonials and then recently we've been able to scale to working with big eight figure brands for20:39
example Hunter and gather be brought on are valued at I think you know 8.1 million or something crazy like that so20:45
you know they were a big big client for us um I think in terms of working with them20:51
the main thing for us and it doesn't really come down to the size of the brands but what we've seen20:57
is some brands are just a lot more Hands-On which is great in terms of communication and showing an actual21:03
interest and passion for you know what we're doing for them the best clients we've worked with for example one of our21:09
very first clients they were a startup but because of this their founder he was you know every day if we thanked him21:16
he'd be replying fairly uh quickly anyway showing an act of interest every week and what we were doing the results21:22
were bringing uh ideas for how we could scale you know with him he was very Hands-On with that whereas some other21:29
brands we've worked with it's more just a case of you know leaving at SARS which is fine but then if we want to run21:35
something uh past them and they're taking you know a week two weeks to reply it's not very practical for us to21:41
then scale the campaign and keep going with momentum and speeds and talking of of the results that like how easy is it21:47
to track results because like I said I come from a marketing background as well and sometimes it's hard to sort of21:54
attribute certain acts to certain results because you may put out like say this podcast I may say wow this podcast22:01
amazing I'm going to put it out and then someone owes and buys one of my caps and it's like yeah sometimes it's not easy22:07
to track say well this person watch the podcast then went away on a friend's computer and then bought my cap like22:13
it's so hot sort of like attribute those things so yeah how do you go about tracking results yeah so dragon's22:20
definitely an aspect that many Brands struggle with so what we've kind of done over time is we've built in kind of22:27
tracking materials and resources we can use for example with seeding campaigns we've got a kind of custom spreadsheet22:35
that has every influencer and then we've got automations in place so that if any influencer post content it automatically22:42
logs into the spreadsheet and then it has links to the content as well for Brands to view and then with kind of22:48
more paid campaigns the big thing there for us is using affiliate codes UTM22:53
links all these methods of tracking to ensure that effort influencer is driving sales then we can attribute that to the23:00
influencer because otherwise not just from a Brand's Roi perspective but for23:05
us looking to go forward we need to know which influencers are performing best so that we can put more budget into their23:12
spend and also find influencers who have similar audiences and similar23:17
characteristics because they're more likely to perform better so for this obviously we need to be able to see23:22
which influencers are driving the the higher wise yeah none of that makes sense and you sort of mention it there23:28
about assigning budgets is is marketing almost like a pay-to-play landscape23:37
um because it's something I've been thinking about a lot some of my other guests they've mentioned some of the things they've done in terms of going23:44
viral with with content that's like completely free like one one person23:49
Keelan he's got a company called brownies and I say brownies because that's the that's the name of it that23:55
isn't my list or anything like that um yeah he's got a brownie company um and what he done he put out like a24:01
post saying that he he made a brownies McFlurry and that went viral on LinkedIn24:06
and he got hundreds and hundreds of messages and that was obviously all free so what's your thoughts on that is24:12
marketing a pay-to-play aspect and how much can you do for free24:18
yeah I mean great question but you know what we like to tell clients is that you can actually get involved with very24:24
little or no budget at all for example the great thing about influencer seating is that you're not paying influencers so24:30
it's very easy to get started especially on a kind of low scale um you know start because all your all24:38
your costs are essentially as whatever your manufacturing cost was and I think you know like you're mentioning there24:44
about the tech talk what we are seeing now is an attention economy moving into 2023 and what I mean by this is that24:52
consumer attention is very scarce it's very limited but Brands keep on putting out content there are new brands coming24:58
in every single day and what this means for Brands is that they need to be making a conscious effort to gain25:04
attention and hold on to it you know some great ways of doing this are short form content like you mentioned Tech25:10
talk and then also the other one that we are quite big on Brands using is user25:16
generated content and simply this is is just content which is made by the users of a brand so from the seating campaign25:23
for example if you send across product influencers and then they are reposting25:28
it or making views with it this kind of content is proven to perform so much better because as a consumer you would25:36
rather see another consumer sharing and documenting their experiences with the brands rather than just a video of a25:42
brand saying to you this is our products this is what it does etc etc you want to see exactly how someone that was once in25:50
your place how they're benefiting from it and that's that's really useful for for myself and my audience as well I imagine25:57
in in terms of other strategies like what would you suggest so26:03
for for smaller Brands and perhaps perhaps a bit of a left-filled one but like for personal Brands who may not26:09
have a physical product to to to send out to people say like what platforms26:14
what processes do you think they should be doing is it like sort of like you mentioned there about Tick Tock and reels is it just putting out content26:21
content content yeah I mean I think it's definitely a mix when it comes to Quality and quantity but like you've26:29
mentioned especially for a personal plan going forwards this year I think the short form content space will be massive26:35
it's something that you know myself I'm looking to start rolling out more and more but the thing a bit short from26:41
content is you know it's not very long it captivates attention and people can26:46
flick through it really easily so because of this um you can re-watch a certain piece of content a lot of times and then on Tech26:53
talk especially the algorithm just kind of shoots that to the top so I think for anyone looking to make a personal brand27:00
short form content is a must and then if you're looking to build a brand from what kind of business reasons or27:07
entrepreneurship reasons platforms such as LinkedIn are where you need to be uh just kind of posting value on there you27:14
know whatever your target audience is you need to think what kind of problems will my target audience be experiencing27:20
and how can I solve them so for example what we've done at the start of this year was had conversations with bigger27:27
brands in our space uh seven figure eight figure Brands and we spoke to them saying what problems are you guys27:33
worried about in 2023 and what goals do you have in 2023 and based off their27:38
responses to this we formulated our content strategy which was designed to essentially Target these problems so27:45
that anyone seeing our content uh they kind of knew how we could help them and what problems we could tell themselves I27:53
love that and talking to content you're definitely making this easy for me like the way you speak is so accurate and27:59
precise like I understand exactly what you're saying so these these will make really good Clips to go out online as28:04
well so thank you um the final few things like let's do a28:10
quick fire around if you don't mind yeah of course the first quick fire question what would your one piece of advice be28:16
for young entrepreneurs honestly what cards like it can be very tempting sometimes to you know just have lazy28:23
days and that's fine have have one but the main thing is you need to build momentum so just try and strain together28:30
things like if you are focusing on going to the gym every day for example try and string together two and then three and28:36
then four and then once you've built that momentum it's just so much easier to carry on with it so whether it's28:41
meditation whether it's going for a code dip in the sea or a cold plugs like I said that you've been doing the main28:47
thing is uh consistency with it just make it a habit to do it every single day and then don't look back after it28:53
yeah I love that and I'm glad you uh called me out on that because yeah that's definitely something I've I've been trying to do as well just show up29:00
every day and if you've got to take one day off do it but then come back the next day absolutely yeah I loved it29:06
um the second one who are some of your favorite favorite creators or entrepreneurs out there at the moment29:13
um I know you said you was on LinkedIn so I don't know whether you've seen anyone in particular on LinkedIn but yeah who are some of your favorite29:20
um creators and entrepreneurs yes in terms of entrepreneurs the motor role29:25
models are absolute Inspirations to me so that would be so I mean obviously we spoke about and he's basically built up29:32
a seven-figure agency in our space and then the other one is Robbie mcisaac who basically I met him through a summit but29:39
his mindset and his kind of Drive the termination to work well is something that's played a big part in me kind of29:45
having the same attributes and I'd say to any other young entrepreneur out there your mindset is basically what's29:52
going to make a break the dream for you because you need to be able to put a long days of hard work you need to be able to just get done even when you29:59
don't want to do it and honestly Robbie's you know one of the best people for that in fact it was on Dragon's Den30:05
like you know two or three days ago and last night actually it was on Dragon's Den so incredibly proud of him for that30:11
that's amazing I'm gonna check that out I think I may have seen a little clip on yeah earlier so I'm gonna I'm gonna30:16
definitely check out that absolutely oh that's amazing um is there anyone you sort of touched30:21
on it there is there anyone you'd like to thank I guess those would be the two right yeah I mean the big one that I've30:27
not mentioned yet but obviously have to be my parents I mean I'm very very fortunate that my parents30:34
are so kind of supportive of what I'm doing um my mom especially is just even with30:40
the cricket stuff when I was 15 I was playing for Scotland so I was you know going halfway across the country and you30:46
know my mom would just be like yeah let's find out I'll drive you no problem so two or three hour Journey should certain way they will a play come back30:52
and then even when it comes to just basic stuff for example I'd go to the gym come home you know nice hot meal was31:00
ready chicken rice she doesn't even eat chicken but because I wanted it for the nutrition she was31:05
like yes that's fine I'll cook it for you so yeah I mean they played a massive part in this and then my co-founder31:11
samboth like I cannot I couldn't be doing this alone to be honest and I guess that just goes to say to everyone31:17
else out there that's looking to start uh having the right co-founder can be what makes or breaks it for you as well31:23
because the Ruby days where you just can't work you're just you know not31:28
feeling it at all and then having a co-founder there to either help you out or just push you on Spar you or motivate31:34
you it is literally one of the the biggest benefits that you can have in a business and finding the the right31:40
co-founder is I think it's crucial yeah no 100 I agree with that one without my co-founder and one of my other31:46
businesses I would have quit a long time ago you just need someone to keep you accountable to check in at 100 yeah31:54
and what a couple last Quick buyers what what's one thing you wish you knew at an32:01
earlier stage obvious see my show is called If Only They knew so that's a question I think about a lot so what's32:07
one thing you wish you knew I mean I mean sometimes I wish there had been more clear than earlier on about the32:12
whole kind of discipline and perseverance aspects like over the last year I've been reading a lot of seller32:18
development books and sometimes I just wish that it got started earlier for anyone that's looking to do this is very32:25
easy like even simple books such as you know Seven Habits of Highly Effective People or mindset by carlswick these are32:32
all great books for error looking to start out in the space and just keep on building from there because what I found32:38
is that instead of making mistakes yourself and learning from them if you can just read and consume as much32:45
knowledge as you can you'll learn from the mistakes of others and you just won't repeat them yeah no 100 I agree32:50
with that one as well I've agreed with everything you've said so far um the last last couple what is the32:57
meaning of life to you now this is a question that's thrown a few people off so far in this season but yeah that's a33:03
deep question um for me it's definitely not something33:09
that I've you know sat and thought about but at the moment I guess looking back33:15
in 10 years time I'd have wanted to make this a successful business and then oh honestly I'd love to just have something33:21
that positively impacts people so whether they're starting a health awareness brand of my own something that33:27
we're very very passionate about right now is just kind of giving back so we've got plans in place to run some charity33:33
events and kind of increase the impacts we're having whether that is working with some Charities on a kind of pro33:39
bono basis stuff like that we're very keen to look into doing that as well I33:45
mean I know everyone says this but I think at the end of the day we all just want to leave some kind of Legacy behind33:50
and just something that we can be remembered by and 4B that is leaving behind something positive and33:57
like so it's like like for obviously if I can Inspire even one more young entrepreneur to just go for it and take34:03
the plunge then that's a successful day for me that's amazing I really like that answer what what's next for you then in34:10
terms of working towards that Legacy is there anything in the pipeline for for say the next few months the next few34:16
years what's next well from a business perspective we've got a few events coming up so we'll come back to Ife in34:23
March and an event called performix where we're looking to just again meet uh hundreds of Brands uh hopefully work34:30
with a few of them and from our personal aspect I'm really big on just continuing the the self-development and kind of34:38
just getting better one percent every day and a dream of mine that I've started actively working on now this34:44
year as well as I'm looking to launch a book towards the end of the year just34:49
kind of containing you know stuff on mindset motivation young entrepreneurship just kind of34:54
documenting all my experiences some life hacks some you know actionable pieces of35:00
advice that other young people can take and just take the first step so I've set35:05
the timeline for around start of December I'm just looking forward to cracking on with that as well yeah that35:12
does sound really exciting and the good thing about being a podcast host is you get all these young entrepreneurs on and35:18
then you get to sort of understand who they are and then grow as well so yeah I'll be excited to watch your journey35:24
the very very final thing then from me um what have you got a final message to35:29
anyone listening or if not where can people find out more about you and your company yeah I mean final message after35:36
is kind of any young entrepreneur out there then the two things that I'd say to them is one find the right Network35:44
because if your network is dragging you down and by Network here I mean the people that you surround yourself with35:49
on a daily basis if they're dragging you down you know they've got bad habits then that will rub off in you I know as35:56
a person I was the same I always wanted to think that I'm strong enough that my environment won't affect me but the36:03
truth of it is if your friends are going out every single night drinking you know not doing anything productive then that36:08
is what you'll turn into so you need to surround yourself with other high value individuals whose other people that have36:14
the same goals same aspiration same motivation and then that will play a massive part in you reaching yours and36:20
uh yeah I mean Freddie was looking to find me LinkedIn is probably a good uh good place for that36:27
so it's just a DTR Aditya mahapatra on LinkedIn and I'm always happy to chat to36:33
anyone that reaches out there perfect it's been an absolute pleasure having you on mate I really appreciate your36:39
time as well as well so I'm going to watch this back afterwards and make some notes for36:44
myself it's really going to help me so thank you so much appreciate that thanks for having me on appreciate that
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In this episode of the If Only They Knew Podcast, Keelan Waldock (owner of BWOWNIES) speaks about building a community around brownies, his viral McDonalds campaign, working with Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO Tour and so much more! Please do subscribe and share this episode with a friend, it really does help us develop. Watch the full conversation on the Youtube video below or choose your favourite podcast platform:
Apple Spotify Transcript: yes people it's Ted Lawler from If Only They knew the hub for young business Minds in this episode we speak to Keelan0:06
waldock founder of brownies and he talks about how he's gone viral building a0:12
community and so much more so if you want to learn how to get stuck in and build a community for yourself then this0:17
is the podcast for you0:25
yeah so I'm Keelan waldock founder of brownies um and yeah I'm just on a mission to to0:32
make the the most exciting brownie brand in the world and and you're certainly doing that we were just speaking off0:38
camera there and I said it feels like I know I know I've known you for so long even though we've never spoken apart0:43
from the LinkedIn DMS to get this course started so you're obviously doing something right um how does it feel to0:49
at this stage be doing relatively successful not even relatively really successful actually0:55
for for this stage yeah no thank you mate um means a lot I mean you're killing it as well1:00
um but yeah nice it's it's been a been a really crazy Journey um yeah it's it's pretty crazy to be1:08
sitting here now like it's my my job so I never thought that would be the case1:13
so it's been a it's been a crazy few months well yeah it certainly looks as1:19
well even from what I've seen on LinkedIn but before we get into what you're up to now um what was you like before all of this1:25
because I'm all right saying you wanted to to you had a passion for sports um and weirdly enough it's I spoke to1:32
Joe from please cakes and he sort of said something similar like he had a passion for for that that sort of thing as well and1:38
then ended up in the food industry so for you who were you before all of this like how did you get to this point I1:44
never I've always felt like I'd never really fit in like I never liked I didn't get on well with school1:51
um like I didn't really I I just didn't understand how to learn basically I1:56
couldn't get my head around it and I was always finding ways to do stuff differently2:01
um like for example I would study I I realized from an early age that I2:07
didn't I didn't need French so yeah I just study uh maths and English in those2:14
lessons yeah and so things like that just made me feel like I didn't fit in and I was different2:20
um but yeah I had a massive passion for sports what was all I knew that I was you know that's all I did every day2:28
um and like whatever I did I always wanted to be the best at2:33
um and if like I was I'm a terrible loser if I still today like if I lose to2:39
my younger brother or dad or anything I will literally go away and play it for like hours until that doesn't happen2:46
again uh I'm not even joking yeah it's bad it's bad but it's good2:53
um so yeah I think I just had a massive passion for sport um wanted to to play professional as3:00
everyone does in started off as football and then ended up3:05
um playing Cricket um played for County um but obviously wasn't wasn't good3:12
enough but really enjoyed it um but alongside that I also had a3:17
massive passion for food um I loved cooking um and I love putting my my own spin on3:24
different recipes um I loved watching Jamie Oliver um if I wasn't watching Sky Sports News3:31
I was watching you know Jamie Oliver Jamie one of Jamie Oliver's cooking shows or something so3:37
um yeah I think that was where those sort of two passions started and3:43
um eventually ended up falling into into brownies when you mentioned like Jamie3:50
Oliver there it got me thinking like do you feel like you would have had the passion for3:56
cooking and baking and food if it wasn't for I know this sounds really weird but like if it wasn't for Jamie Oliver like4:02
do you think it was like uh either whether it was Jamie himself or other people that you looked up to if it4:10
wasn't for him or them do you think you'd still have the same passion like where does that passion come from4:15
um yeah no I definitely think he was a big part of it and like looking back on it now like when you think of a chef you4:23
don't like you think of you know someone in that white chef with a hat like Jamie4:28
Oliver doesn't fit that description um and I guess that's something that I4:34
apply today like um outside of Joe from please cakes there isn't really anyone like us who4:41
looks like us and and bakes like in that industry um so I guess that's sort of where that4:48
sort of thing comes from but I think ultimately it just comes down to this4:54
whole like being the best um and I haven't done enough digging into my childhood as to where that comes5:00
from but it's probably just more like getting that external validation yeah5:08
I guess in a way like I'd always want to be that one person who um would would I was a goalkeeper so I'd5:15
always want to save penalties or yeah yeah make that match winning save um I'd always want to be that person so5:22
yeah but it seems like that's an important point though like about5:27
you said there like you haven't sort of dug into your childhood and I think that's important an important point to5:32
raise because I think that's where like most passions come from right like for me for example when you when you sort of5:38
Trace back you're like oh yeah you can tell you is always going to end up in marketing in some format because I used5:44
to stack up like video cases put like some really cheap camera on top and film5:49
myself playing like modern warfare one or two whatever it was at the time and like brand that and then upload that to5:55
YouTube and then do vlogs and stuff and this is when I was like 13 14 whatever it would have been6:01
um so you could tell my passion for marketing was always there so I guess that that sort of what you're saying6:06
isn't it like passion sometimes comes from your your younger self and and on that point is it do you have any other6:13
advice on to how somebody can tap into their passion like do you think if6:18
you're interested in Lego as a kid you may have a passion for construction for6:24
example yeah yeah an example but you know what I mean right yeah no I think I think as I sort of go to look back like6:30
you said like um I think it's so important to start with to go back and like try and depict6:36
it's really hard and it's a tough thing to do but it's so important because it's just it just unlocks so many sort of6:43
blocked passages in your brain yeah yeah but yeah like then I was just thinking6:48
like um I had the sport which was always wanting to be the best Jamie Oliver6:53
which was um cooking and being different um and putting your personality into6:59
what you're making um and then like I used to love KSI and7:05
the sidemen and all them yeah we probably grew up watching them and yeah7:10
I think when you combine all of those three things you get sort of brownies7:16
that in a way like um and where we want to go so yeah I7:22
think it's so important um but I think it's so important to7:27
Follow Your Passion or at least even if it's not something for your like for7:33
your job if it's not gonna earn you money um it's so important to still fulfill your passions whether it's through7:39
Hobbies or I mean if you're not then you must they uh not sort of enjoying where7:46
you're where you're going or where you're at so I think that's so important uh yeah and I agree I see that a lot in7:51
people as well you can just tell they don't have that passion for what they're doing and you can see it almost eaten away at them can't you but7:57
um fast forward a bit um you obviously you've mentioned there brownies and I I laughed because there's just something8:04
about the name it's just so fun and it really the name itself just sort of conveys the whole the whole brand and8:09
the whole feel for it sort of does does a perfect perfect job in doing that um where did that name come from I know8:16
obviously you're selling Brownies so it's quite an easy one but like yeah where did that come from like how did8:21
you get the idea to actually turn your passion into a business um yeah because you've obviously done a8:27
great job it looks like it's been thoroughly planned out but I Wonder has it and yeah how did you get started8:32
so it all sort of um started in sort of 2016-17 around8:38
then and I was at sick from doing a B Tech in sport8:43
um obviously and uh and alongside that had a job at McDonald's a part-time job8:49
um and um I didn't really and I don't I didn't8:54
enjoy working for someone else I'd done a few jobs you know working Behind Bars and in restaurants and washing um dishes9:02
Etc um but I didn't really like that again I was always looking to do9:09
things in a more efficient way I didn't stick by the book um but I'd always be creating new ways9:17
and and quicker more efficient ways to do stuff to the same standard so I didn't want to do it their way9:23
um so yeah so in a way like I think like I was always sort of set up to to run my9:30
own business um as well my dad was a huge inspiration and9:36
um in in setting his own Plumbing business up so he he tells a great story of um9:41
like he's got no gcses nothing um and didn't have a job9:49
um didn't know what he wanted to do and then went into the job center saw a plumbing9:54
um job advert on the on the wall um and he kept sort of doing it but kept10:00
applying for these jobs but couldn't get uh couldn't get his job so one day he saw this this job advert10:07
um applied and then just took the job of advert down so no one else could apply and and he got the job and then he ended10:14
up setting up his own sort of Plumbing business and um yes so I guess I see the similarities10:20
between two of us but um in terms of brownies um I think it was my nan who like well10:29
basically she's a bit confusing but so like I I I'd always loved making10:35
brownies and and that was the one thing that I could make that was so much better than anything else10:40
um so they they started to pick up um like orders from family friends Etc10:48
um and I wasn't getting paid at that point um just doing it for fun because that was what my passion was10:54
um and I knew they were good um and unlike anything else anyone had tried so my nan then just said like I11:01
should just start into a turn it into a business and um yeah I just set up an Instagram11:07
account um and then off I went and and the name brownie sort of come from11:15
near my nan on the way back from a cricket game talking about setting his business up and I've still got the the11:21
page in my notes on my phone and we were just writing down names I mean some of them are awful yeah and the last one we11:28
got to was was brownies and like there and then I just knew I had something I could literally remember the11:35
feeling I had and I could not believe that um no one had taken it like I was11:41
searching Instagram seeing if it was like surely there was another company with that name um and then I just immediately didn't11:47
really know what I was doing so I didn't trademark it for for a few years and then um didn't buy the domain either wow yeah11:55
I didn't know what I was doing so um just set it up and the next day went12:01
into sit form with um a load of samples and um got everyone to try them all and12:07
share my Instagram page and um that's sort of got the ball rolling for me oh two two points on that is12:14
really interesting startup story actually about two points um two questions rather like do you have12:19
uh an emotional attachment to the brand because it was something you and your12:25
nan sort of work together to set up in that that brief moment and I'm sure there were moments before that as well but that moment where you decided the12:32
name is there an emotional attachment um to that and two did you have a it12:39
sounds like you didn't really have a vision for what you wanted it to be or what you wanted to get from it you just wanted to sort of start that project so12:46
yeah it took two questions there if you don't mind yeah yeah I mean yeah so emotional and I think yeah it's just12:53
amazing really that you started like that and it sort of ended up where it is and um I guess to answer your second one13:01
like I had no idea like where it was going to go no idea all I13:06
wanted to do was really sort of um convince my mum to let me quit13:12
McDonald's and yeah that was my main aim yeah um because I just didn't enjoy it I like13:18
to work when I wanted to work and um I liked building something and doing13:24
something different and I've never done it before so I wouldn't know until I tried it yeah uh I I it was also about13:31
earning a little bit of money um before uni um because that was that was why I was13:38
working in the first place so um I guess they were the main main reasons but no I had no sort of clue13:45
what I was doing like like I said I didn't didn't get the domain name all the trademark13:51
um so yeah it was it was all a bit of a crazy Journey we will get onto that as13:58
well that sort of having that naivety I think has helped me as well and it sounds like it's definitely helped you14:04
um just sort of not knowing what could go wrong or not knowing what to expect we'll definitely dive into that a bit14:09
later on but um in terms of the point of going to UNI I find that really interesting14:15
um obviously part of the reasoning for setting up the business was so you could afford to go to to pay for your way14:22
whilst you're at Uni um but how did you manage that balance between life uni14:28
family and then business like how did you juggle all this going on especially when the business is is doing so well14:34
yeah so um I think before before we go into that14:39
when I went to UNI um in that first year I actually stopped brownies and because obviously I went14:46
into to Diggs so I'm a student Hall so like I couldn't I mean I couldn't make14:53
we were having parties most nights in that same kitchen yeah obviously14:59
stopped it um and you know got everything out my system partied15:05
um probably too much because again like I didn't get I didn't really have that when I was growing up because I was15:12
um so serious with with sport um that I didn't want to drink I just wanted to train and play15:19
um so I didn't have that so when I went to UNI it was a bit I sort of went off the rails a little bit and actually15:26
nearly ended up like failing my exam times if it actually wasn't for kovid I15:32
probably wouldn't have got through because obviously all the exams then went online15:37
um yeah yeah yeah so it was a big help so so yeah so so that was what what15:43
happened then and then obviously locked down here um towards the end of my first year and everyone got sent home15:50
and that's when I started brownies back up again because obviously everyone was at home e-commerce boom uh Tick Tock had15:59
just started um there was some some crazy things going on and we started it up and and16:04
this time it was different it was it was serious um and yeah it sort of just16:11
kept the ball started to keep getting bigger and bigger and yeah but but man like juggling uni and the business and16:19
everything else was like one of the hardest things I've ever had to do yeah16:27
um yeah like if I wouldn't have done it then um I would have regretted it what what are your thoughts on uni in general then16:35
especially in the context of like people in in a similar situation to16:40
you and also that was like a very similar situation to me as well like I started all of this whilst in my first16:45
year of uni because I was like oh no like I feel like if uni is is this all16:51
uni has to offer then I'm in big trouble because it just wasn't it wasn't hitting the spot like I was I was learning16:57
business and marketing but it just felt a little bit outdated with like everything you said like Tick Tock17:03
booming and everything booming all these social media platforms so I had to start something on my own to to sort of learn17:09
myself and experience it um so yeah what's your thoughts on uni for for young people that want to get17:15
into the business world do you think they should go to UNI for that stop gap of a few years to sort of think about17:21
what they're doing or yeah what's your thoughts on that yeah it's a really tricky one because I17:27
sort of see both sides of the argument um I I sort of grew up in a household17:33
completely different to everyone else like my parents were very17:39
um like didn't quite understand University didn't understand you know why I'd go17:45
there learn that and and end up in that debt yeah but to be honest like that was17:51
probably that was the best thing I ever did because I I went there I got I learned so many like just skills life17:58
skills like I become a you become a young man effectively like very quickly18:03
you you have to learn to budget your money um you're you're totally dependent on18:09
yourself you know if you're ill you're you you deal with that um you still got to do all your washing18:15
uh you've got to cook for yourself all these small things that18:21
you a lot of us have the privilege of not even thinking about doing yeah so so18:28
that was that was a key lesson I think it was that independency of like18:34
like this is I'm on my own now like yeah so I think in a way like that really18:43
sort of showed me that I had to do it myself so obviously it goes back to18:48
Brownies but I think oh I encourage I think it totally depends18:54
on who you are as a person in terms of business I definitely think18:59
it's it's outdated I think I didn't go for the course I went for the experience19:06
and the lessons which I think a lot of people forget about when they say you know don't go to UNI because they're19:11
just so focused on the course and they also forget that you can do whatever you19:17
want whilst you're there you're not like revise it I've certainly wasn't Reviving every day like yeah yeah 10 hours19:25
straight you know what I mean you've got so much spare time it's like a job um and and people have side hustles and19:31
things like that so I definitely think if you go to a business if you go to you need to do to to learn more about19:37
business marketing there's stuff on the side um that you can do to get that experience that everyone bangs on about19:43
now um so yeah I definitely think it's it's a tricky one19:49
um but if you want to go go and if you don't know what you want to do then you can always do both yeah yeah you know19:56
that's that's really good advice and I think a lot of the young people listening will be in that boat as well like when they're at that point or do I20:02
do I go to UNI do I stay do I start a business so I think that that will really help thanks for that um fast forward a little bit when you20:08
obviously you come out of uni you said things started to pick up and you treated brownies as more of a like a20:14
real business as things start to pick up a lot more so what was happening there like because you now you're at a stage20:20
where every time I log on to LinkedIn you're there with something whether it's a publicity Stan with the McDonald's which20:28
we'll get into a bit later on and so much there like you're always you're always popping up and you're always20:33
coming up in different conversations I see as well I see you getting tagged a lot in comments20:38
um on LinkedIn especially saying oh check out this guy and and have you seen this guy's work um so yeah how did it all look for you20:46
on that sort of rebound of brownies um getting started after uni20:52
um how did it all look what was you doing and how have you managed to build such a powerful community that you've20:57
built yeah I think it's been a journey and looking back like uni go into uni did21:05
teach me what I didn't want to do and that was teaching or you know uh21:11
anything to do with sports science that side of it um so so that was really helpful21:17
um and then it was just a matter of like what what do I actually want to do yeah and then that was when sort of I just21:25
started up brownies again and I was like right let's just try this again and see what happens and21:31
sort of um just kept posting I remember being sat there and and emailing like thousands of21:39
influencers because I just realized they were all at home yeah and I was just emailing them like21:45
not professional emails at all just from my basic iCloud one21:51
action photos like I didn't I didn't know what I was doing um like had no clue but I would just21:57
send them off and see who got back to me like I was just messaging everyone people from uh my favorite uh Ipswich22:05
towns football clubs yeah yeah in players um big Fitness guys just seeing what22:11
happened and people began to get back to me and and reply and gave me a chance22:17
and um sent them out products again shout me out started picking that ball up again22:23
um and then obviously uh whilst in lockdown um wrote the letter to Joe22:31
um so I sort of always loved what Joe's doing and loved please cakes never even22:37
thought that I could follow in his footsteps or attempt to um and22:44
so like I I just thought all right well I don't remember what I was sort of thinking but22:50
um I just thought I would write this letter for some reason never done this before and22:56
um explain like my my journey my story so far and how I got to that point and um how much23:04
he's inspired me um just done that and then sent it off to him23:10
um and then then a few days later however long it was uh woke up to just like notification please cakes23:17
suspension during your story and it just kept going and my phone was honestly I've never experienced anything like it23:24
it's the first time I've ever had to turn like notifications off and I've kept them off since then but um my phone23:32
was proper bugging out I hadn't ever experienced anything like it it's just um23:37
we got like thousands of followers hundreds of orders overnight never seen anything like it and yeah just that that23:44
one moment sort of changed my life were you prepared for that then in terms of like the actual Hands-On stuff like23:51
getting orders um like obviously it's one thing to prepare mentally for something like that23:57
when your account sort of blows up overnight but to physically prepare for the amount of orders you got and24:03
shipping them out like could you at that point you were a one-man band right so yeah were you were you prepared for that24:09
no not at all not at all um like didn't know what I was doing24:14
um had no systems in place I was like no stock management was literally just um24:21
running loud look I ain't got any chocolate today so I have to order some more like it was literally just that and24:28
uh yeah the the big thing was that I didn't put any24:33
um stock limits on my website so like we had so much traffic the most traffic was24:40
ever coming and everyone wanted to buy some because it was just a an amazing story and it was crazy what sort of24:46
happened and so we we got all these orders in and I'd I've never seen anything like it I was trying to figure24:51
out sort of how long it was going to take me um at the time I just had like a like24:56
one of those half sort of mini fridge things yeah and that was it like nothing commercial just a home oven normal stand25:05
mixer that just fits on the counter top and these trays that you could only make25:10
one box per tray and I had like eight of them I think so I could only make eight boxes at a time wow25:17
um yeah and then that was all in the middle of my second year um exams25:23
um so it was crazy that does sound that sounds absolutely25:29
mental um and then like it weren't only that was it like obviously that's like a big part of your journey so far25:35
um because that that that is a huge huge moment but it wasn't just that that was a really25:40
um big and probably exciting moment for you as well because you had that and then um25:46
do you want to just take us through the the McDonald's thing as well um because when I saw that I thought oh wow I think when I think it was I just25:54
started following you or when I followed you I looked and I was like oh my god wow that's amazing like he's working with McDonald's and then it took me a26:01
while to clock on going yeah so I was like okay so yeah do you want to explain that please because I think that's yeah26:06
yeah yeah sure so like that please cakes post and and everything that happened26:11
with them that showed me that you know this is this is what I want to do like that showed me that this is possible26:18
um and I'll be forever grateful for for Joe and his team for everything they've done for me so26:24
um yeah it's amazing what they've done and um hopefully I'll make them proud and be26:29
able to pay them back one day um but but then from there it was like how can I do this again I sort of I26:37
always say this but I sort of got addicted to this buzz like this dopamine26:42
hit of someone getting back to an email or or something like I just got this26:48
buzz and I still have it now um it's good but it's all about how you harness that26:53
um but we we started to think like how can we do that it was a bit of a gap26:59
between this please cakes and the McDonald's post but um I think that McDonald's post was was27:06
crazy I remember being sat in on the uni campus um and just thinking like April Fool's27:13
is a few days ago away I've got to do something uh no clue what I wanted to do27:19
initially come up with this idea that we were going to make a a brownie Big Mac27:24
because because we thought that would be like people would know that's an April fools yeah yeah yeah yeah27:32
that's a big part of it as well like yeah it was like oh yeah obviously but like I27:38
think with this it was so well executed like like I said it took me like a good few weeks to realize after looking27:45
through posts and I was like hold on a minute I was like something's not right here and then I worked it out27:50
um but yeah yeah go answer I'll let you continue yeah so then I had this this idea27:57
um spoke to a good friend of mine Lewis so he's been hugely important the scenes28:04
um and then also phoned uh my mate Dan who built all our website and and done28:10
all that side of things spoke to both of them about this idea um Lewis we were talking about this idea28:17
of making it a bit more realistic um McFlurry28:23
um that that actually could be real like the um28:29
story of me going from work in there building brownies as a brand to then28:36
having Oro McFlurry it's just an amazing story in it it's it's just regardless of28:43
whether it is the first of April or not like someone reading that who knows nothing about the brand could think that28:48
he's real yeah so then it was all about how can we make that amazing graphic phoned up Dan he28:54
made it and when he sent it to me it's just like that is I could not believe it29:00
it looked so real with the bite marks and that I was just so good29:07
um but it's funny actually because they'd actually changed the uh no one29:12
picked up on it but McDonald's Had obviously changed the the McFlurry packaging because of the uh to get rid29:18
of the plastic yeah she picked up on that but that was a big giveaway but29:24
yeah and then we just put it out and it sort of just went a bit mental and29:31
um we had some crazy things happen off the back of that uh one of which like the the new owners of Ipswich Town29:37
messaged me wow yeah just they they said uh said um I'm so proud of you mate29:44
they're over in America and uh I just I just went along with it and then ended up in a in a meeting with him wow29:53
did you feel a bit like maybe I should tell people that straight away because like part of me would be29:59
thinking oh my God like it's a really good like publicity stunt but I'd almost be thinking maybe I should just let30:05
people know and make it really obvious that it's a joke because you like you said you was getting loads of messages people were talking about you saying oh30:12
my God he's like smashed it um yeah what what like surely you must have been thinking maybe let me just30:17
stop it yeah I I got a few I got like I still get messages today and I'll have30:22
meetings today and they'll be like oh that McDonald's collab was sick and I have to tell her April fools it still30:28
happens but um I think I think when I realized I had to start telling people I left it as30:34
late as possible like it was probably like in the afternoon late afternoon I put out a post saying like this is this30:42
is a joke or even the next day I think on LinkedIn um but I think you know like my granddad30:49
I think uh was going round his work telling everyone that he was so proud of30:54
me and that's when I started to think archered I need to actually tell people because30:59
like it was starting to get a little bit like to the point where I didn't want to say to anyone that it was a joke but31:07
yeah I had to but that was all part of it like it had to be believable and I31:12
wanted it to be believable so leaving it as late as possible to tell people was was was very important yeah yeah no well31:20
done on it you smashed it and I think what one of the other things I wanted to get like um across one of one of the31:27
things it seemed like a personal highlight for you as well um just before we we go into the the last few questions31:33
the the Stephen Bartlett thing the Diary of a CEO tour I think that's amazing and31:39
again shows the power that not not in a because I'm the same like31:44
having a bit of naivety and not not knowing certain things and not knowing how things normally work I think has31:51
paid off a lot in your favor hasn't it so if you don't mind just running us through what happened there was Stephen Bartlett I think that's crazy yeah yeah31:58
yeah no that was crazy and and again it's just that naivety that you mentioned is just so important32:05
I think I didn't know what I was doing I didn't know how things work in this sort of Industry so32:11
I was just do I was just going and doing it I was having these ideas calling people saying is this possible and32:17
they'd be like No And I'd be like well like why not like why can't you just do that um so I've always had this mentality of32:24
it sounds really simple but literally um like just doing it like as night say32:29
like I have an idea I do it and I think that's the difference between people that that start their own32:37
businesses and people that have the ideas but never to actually start it32:42
um like you've just got to go and do it um and and if it's not possible and make32:47
it possible um but they had a Stephen Bartlett thing was was mad it was actually coming up to32:54
um a year since since it all sort of happened and it's probably this week actually because it was around my brother's birthday and33:00
we we went to Center parks and I was it's all filmed like that video is filmed in in me and my brother's room at33:07
Center Park so now I just got this idea like I got my mum and dad tickets to see33:14
his um CEO live tour um the Palladium33:20
um and for Christmas and I just had this sort of random idea that like well then33:25
I just ask him if I can sell so my Brownie's there um and I guess it all sort of goes back33:32
to around that time where Joe wrote that letter and I actually dm'd Stephen33:38
asking if I could send him some brownies around that time and he actually replied and wow I supported him in a team out33:45
some and that sort of been in Center Parks when I got that idea I was like all right I'll just ask33:51
him originally sent him a DM uh obviously never heard anything never33:57
heard anything back so I actually unsent it and then um that was when we had this34:02
idea to to put this video up um again that was Lewis sort of said let's34:09
just do a video and put it on LinkedIn um because up until that point Instagram34:15
had been such a focal point for me and I hadn't even I didn't really know what LinkedIn was and it was post-op34:22
um asking if I could sell my brownies at his event thinking like it'll be a cool34:28
cool idea and have a young brand there um and yeah he actually responded uh I34:37
basically asked people to tag him in the comments and um eventually got his attention and and34:43
he he sort of replied saying I've got a DM you um and we'll sort it out we'll34:48
see what we can do upgrading my tickets to to meet and greet and VIP wow34:54
and then yeah again that naivety like we couldn't actually sell the the brownies35:00
at the event because obviously the Palladium have got all the licensing for the food and stuff like that so and35:07
there wasn't enough time to sort that all out um so we um managed to he said look like35:15
you can put flyers um in in all of our VIPs goodie bags so35:21
like it was all a bit of a last minute rush um got all these um custom Flyers made and uh went down35:29
to the Palladium like I wanted to hand deliver them to make sure they'd get there so I went down myself and gave35:35
them over to him and his team and it was a pretty mad moment and yeah it just35:41
that was crazy that that is that is crazy that is honestly crazy and like for me Stephen's such an idol as well so35:48
like to and I guess it would have been for you as well so to have have the acknowledgment even of someone like that35:54
is powerful let alone having them sort of bring you in I think that that's amazing isn't it yeah it was yeah I mean36:00
he's he's a huge inspiration to to me and everyone else um in this area I guess and36:08
um yeah it was amazing to get his attention and hopefully we'll we'll do it again and I know he's going to do36:14
another tour so hopefully we'll actually be able to make it happen this time yeah that yeah that that will be so36:20
satisfying as a fan of yours and a fan of Stevens as well knowing knowing that36:25
almost happened but never quite got that that would be so satisfying for for me and obviously the rest of your community36:30
that would be amazing yeah no it would be so sick yeah obviously we just spoke there about all the the really good36:36
moments um do you think that that would all those moments a big part of it was leveraging the36:44
community that you built putting in those hours beforehand showing how real you are and and all those months of36:51
giving value and emotion to your audience building that Community do you think that that sort of paid off in the36:59
end like like you said you've got all your community to tag Stephen in the comments and stuff like do you think that's a big payoff of having that37:06
Community yeah 100 I think I think I think what it what it is is like37:13
um I've been sort of thinking about this recently and talking to people about it is that like what I've tried to create37:19
is something that sort of hasn't been done before in a sense that37:25
like I I've I'm young and again like no37:30
one really looks like me in in this sort of paid good sector and I've sort of leaned37:37
into that and and and documented this story as I go um and that has built this amazing37:45
community of people who can see one purchase and see37:50
how much of an effect and how much that means to me and and how much of an effect that one purchase has on my37:57
business like they can see it grow and they're growing with the business if that makes sense like38:03
it's just a such a unique thing and no one else has sort of done it or thought38:08
of it in that sense um which I think is so cool and so unique to brownies and I just think it's38:14
only gonna only gonna go from here because because right now we're we're still relatively small you know we're a38:19
fraction of the size of our biggest competitor um but we're doing things that a38:25
business of us so I shouldn't be able to do yeah yeah um which is just so so exciting and I38:33
think it's just really it comes with us to document the journey you know every step is is on there it's like a diary in38:39
a way so yeah yeah it's really cool and I like the concept no it is and and I um38:45
last last like few things as well like of of of this podcast I'm enjoying this38:50
so much by the way um and again I think that that's part of part of the fascination with yourself and the brand38:56
isn't it people just enjoy watching you um but yeah I think it's really important to have that documented and39:02
it's it's I I messaged you the other day didn't I or I put on my on my LinkedIn39:08
profile that um if I had to put money on any entrepreneur in the whole country like39:14
being a success and get into a certain point all my money would be on you like39:19
there would be no heading I'd literally just dump it all on you because it's so clear what like you said what you've39:25
achieved at such a at such an early stage it's so clear to to see where39:30
you're going and it it seems like you have it planned out right or do you know no thank you mate it means a lot and39:37
yeah I'm just really excited about the next few years and what they have in store for brownies and39:44
um I think it's just only gonna get bigger and better and more exciting so so yeah I just honestly can't contain my39:50
excitement and yeah I think we we do we do have it we do have like a rough sort39:57
of plan but I'm quite like I'm very gut LED in in the sense that like I get40:04
ideas and I just go and do them um so but but that's bad because it my40:11
life is just a complete mess and it's all a rush last minute and I want to eradicate that and be a lot be a bit40:18
more structured know the key dates know when we need to start um making products making content40:24
putting out content um so I want to be more structured in that sense and I'm still working and40:30
learning and in terms of things like that and and that side of it but40:35
um I don't want to lose that gut lead aspect either um so it's just a way to manage both but40:41
but yeah it's it's yeah it's a tricky one but um yeah we'll see I'm still gonna have40:48
all these impulse ideas and go and do them because that's what brownies is about but before we get on to what what40:55
is next for you um and then like the final quick fire round I just wanted to ask we spoke a lot about the good41:00
moments there's been a lot of Smiles in this Smiles during this conversation a lot of laughs a lot of positivity but41:06
I'm all right I said you've had a few bad moments um I'm not I also am I right in saying41:13
that um like that on Black Friday you had a bit of an issue with the mixture am I right41:20
in saying that or I made that up yeah no we we've had our mate there's been so many41:25
so many um down points along this journey as as much as they've been up so it's a41:31
complete roller coaster um and I'm still learning that um but yeah we've had a few um a few41:37
nightmares and Black Friday was was interesting because from the outside41:44
it was viewed as our best um our best weekend ever you know and it41:51
don't get me wrong it was it was I I'd never seen anything like it and I never thought we'd ever get there41:57
um but again it goes back to this documentation of the journey and um just being transparent like with my42:05
audience because not enough businesses do that um you know it's all good posting42:11
pictures with uh hundreds of brownie boxes behind you but if you're not going to tell the audience the truth of how42:17
you got there or what happened when you were making them all in it's not it's not there's no point doing it and that's42:23
something I'm not going to lose um and yeah like we had issues with the42:29
mixture it was so cold in the the unit that um when it gets a little bit technical42:35
but when you pour the the mix the chocolate into the eggs it would just seize up42:41
um and we ended up throwing away thousands of pounds worth of ingredients42:48
um because again that naivety like I don't really know what I'm doing never been to catering College42:55
um like all I know is is these these brownies and things in that industry43:01
that area so um luckily had a few contacts shout out43:06
to Dom if you know he's probably not watching but he's a legend and he helped me out um but yeah so we eventually we43:13
got it fixed but um that was yeah that was big because43:18
obviously everyone right now is being affected by the cost of living crisis43:23
um so it's really tough um and obviously our prices are like I'm trying really43:30
hard not to increase my prices because people don't want to don't want to pay43:35
um and whilst everyone else is increasing their prices it's a good opportunity to undercut people yeah in a43:43
sense um because obviously I'm a young growing band and I don't have a mortgage to pay43:49
um and I don't have kids so I can afford to do that but then43:55
like because of because our cost of ingredients is increasing our margin is44:01
just getting Tighter and Tighter yeah but um so obviously Black Friday we wanted44:06
to do a big discount and not increase the discount in terms of what we did44:12
last year that was really important to us um so did it all went well44:19
um obviously tried to sell 500 boxes we didn't think it we was going to do it and everyone told us we we wouldn't be44:25
able to and then we ended up selling 500 in the first 10 hours and44:30
840 in the weekend uh which is the master most you've ever had44:37
um and then obviously I had to mate them all and and this all started going wrong44:42
and um it was a bit of a nightmare and and those best days also had some of our44:49
darkest days um so yeah I'm still learning and I44:55
think that's the important thing and that's why it's so important to document a journey because not only can they see45:00
the business grow they can see me grow as a person which I think is also quite important45:05
um but yeah luckily we got through it all and um we're we're still not in the position45:13
that we plan to be in but that lack of money has driven creativity45:22
um in our business the whole way through so it's not a worry to me45:28
um at all and I know lots of businesses are worried about it especially in the food industry45:35
um because there's so much it costs so much to make the product um so yeah it's a it's a scary time but as45:43
we learned in the pandemic crisis does bring amazing opportunity and lack of my45:49
I'm a real big believer in lack of money driving creativity um so yeah it's we've got some big45:55
things planned no I love that I really I really like that one I like the fact that you're documenting it all one for46:01
for people like me to learn and for two for you to look back on in a few years and be like wow I can't believe I was46:07
doing that or I can't believe I looked that young and all that stuff like in a good few years like I think it's really46:13
good to look back on for yourself um but yeah very very exciting before we46:18
get on to what you are up to next which I think is a big big sort of thing to46:25
talk about um let's just quickly do the quick fire around if you don't mind so46:30
one thing you wish you knew at an earlier stage quiet this isn't going to be46:36
quickly I wish I knew at an earlier age um46:42
I probably I don't know there's a quote by uh Matt Fraser who's like the fittest46:48
guy on Earth he uh he said this amazing quote I wish I I heard earlier and it46:54
was um today I'm gonna do what others won't so to tomorrow I can do what47:00
others can't love that yeah that was amazing and that stuck with me and something I think about every day so47:07
yeah no I love that and what to to you this is quite a deep one and it's thrown47:13
the people I've asked so far it's throwing them off quite a bit but what's the meaning of life there's loads of47:18
different aspects to it but I think it sort of all boils down to just having47:23
fun like I've only got one sure so I'm just going to go for it and have47:30
that mentality of having nothing to lose especially as a young person47:36
um so yeah I think that's what I I'd probably say just having fun yeah that's47:42
been a reoccurring theme so yeah I'm glad I'm glad you um followed the suit with that one because I I agree47:49
um what do you want your legacy to be if you want a legacy at all um I think it would just be someone who47:56
um when out and done everything he said he was going to do48:03
um because like we sort of touched on earlier there's so many people and I I remember48:09
at school so many people saying that the things that we're gonna do and and and now I still get people who want to be48:17
entrepreneurs and and want to be want to run businesses but and have all these48:22
ideas but never actually do them so I think I want to be known as the48:29
person who's got an idea and gone and got it and and just go for it um I think that's that's my main thing48:36
yeah and sort of uh attach to that in some way what was your advice be for young entrepreneurs if you had to pick48:42
one piece of advice yeah just go in for it yeah literally like Yeah It's Tricky48:48
but you've got to just go for it especially young entrepreneurs we've got well most of us don't have anything to48:54
lose literally and I think it's important to think about like what's the worst that's gonna happen49:01
um all that's going to happen is it's not going to work out you might lose a bit of money and you might49:09
you might lose a bit of motivation or passion but that is going to look so49:14
good on your CV and like that failure will look so good on your CV better than49:21
any experience or any degree can get you so um yeah if you've got an idea and you49:27
want to start something just start now not tomorrow now I love that and the49:32
final one out of this little segment um who are your favorite creators or entrepreneurs at the moment who who are49:39
you looking up to yeah that's another big question um oh I like at the minute49:46
um I do like I've always loved KSI and and the sidemen and those boys49:53
um just think what they've done is amazing um you know comment like again it goes back49:58
to that passion thing they had no idea that they were gonna make money from this they started it just as a passion50:04
and now they're like it's it's the closest thing to beat Romania50:10
it's crazy so I think yeah those those boys and in terms of50:17
business and entrepreneurialism um I guess yeah Stephen Bartlett's the50:24
big one um I think he'll always be an inspiration to me and and also Grace50:29
Beverly um I think it's amazing what she's done yeah um and uh she was a big inspiration for50:37
me whilst I was at Uni so so um yeah both of them are amazing yeah no50:44
that's that's so weird that you said that because they are all mine as well um and I do have to say just before we get into the very final question thanks50:51
for your time as well but I I have to say that Joe from please cakes actually shouted you out on that little segment50:57
so yeah no well Joe Joe would be on there as well obviously I just thought I'd just put the thingy51:04
so you don't um don't get a Badness51:09
wrote that massive letter to him otherwise yeah that's it that's it um the final question then like I said I51:15
really appreciate your time um and thanks for the extra time as well um really appreciate it really enjoyed this conversation what's next for you51:24
um do you have any Pub big publicity stunts lined up um are you going B to B51:29
um which is some something I know that um other food companies are sort of starting to look at a lot more in terms51:36
of moving their whole Focus to to that that route um so yeah what's next for you yeah like51:42
again got some huge huge um stunts and and stuff planned so51:48
that's going to be super exciting obviously you don't want to give too much away but there could be something51:54
coming in like very very soon um so yeah and and we'll continue to do51:59
that throughout the year so keep your eyes peeled for that uh it's gonna be crazy and52:05
gonna be bigger and more ambitious than than last year's that's for sure52:10
um and and yeah in terms of brownies and I think it's just diversifying our52:17
income streams at the minute because we've only got one and we've only ever had one um and52:24
um that's obviously direct to Consumer through social media um and it I think a big one for us is52:32
going to be events and festivals go into them um so that's been really interesting52:38
trying to figure out how we can do that on a tight budget um because obviously it's all we've bootstrapped the whole thing so52:45
um that's going to be interesting um corporate gifting is another big one yeah and then the long-term vision is52:52
obviously getting stopped in in Shops and and farm shops and also the big52:57
major retailers we've got some really cool ideas which will hopefully53:03
um launch and then so yeah that's the big long-term aim but um yeah uh really really excited for53:11
that and I just want to say a massive thank you for having me on I think it's amazing what you're doing and that's53:16
right thank you man yeah you're following your passion as well so so that inspires me too all right brilliant53:22
thank you I really appreciate the the client words I appreciate your time as well um like I said we've gone a little bit over so I really appreciate it um if53:29
you've got a final message for anyone listening or you just want to tell them where to find out more about you please53:35
do let them know yeah just go drop us a follow uh at underscore brownies underscore on Instagram or53:42
www.brownies.com uh it's just like brownies but replace the r with another w53:48
a brilliant thank you so much mate all right thank you mate
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In this episode of the If Only They Knew podcast, Ted Lawlor speaks to Joe Moruzzi about the rapid growth of his cheesecake brand Pleesecakes, making a cake for the Queen, the impact of Joe Wicks sharing the business and so much more. This is a great conversation for anyone wanting to build a community, learn how to go viral or just wants to be inspired! Please do subscribe and share this episode with a friend, it really does help us develop. Watch the full podcast below: Or listen on your favourite audio platform... Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Transcript: yes people is Ted Lawler from If Only They knew the hub for young business Minds in this episode we speak to Joe 0:05
moritzi founder of please cakes and he talks about baking a cake for the queen how Joe Wicks impacted his business in 0:12
the early days and building a powerful brand and so much more so if you two want to learn how to grow on social 0:17
media and build a community then this is the podcast for you 0:24
every young business Minds so my name is Joe moritzi I'm the founder of please cakes uh currently 0:32
known as please now and it's a cheesecake company that started in January 2017 with the intention of 0:38
making a bit of extra cash on the side of my painting and decorating company and it's kind of scaled over the last 0:43
six years to a point whereby we are about to launch into their big retailers this year with the most Innovative and 0:50
exciting dessert products which is in line with our mission which is to become the world's most exciting dessert brand 0:58
nice and yeah you certainly carry that energy as well as one of the reasons I want to join this show you just there's 1:03
something about you and and the brand itself it you're you're able to sort of convey that energy and that excitement 1:09
so it definitely it comes across well thank you yeah thank you I'm I'm super passionate about what I do and yeah 1:16
um it's uh so originally I was I was I was I've always been a foodie and I've always been interested in food love 1:22
eating food love experiencing new new flavors and stuff like that and um always been creative so I think the 1:28
combination of putting both together has really helped um this business grow perfect and who are you before all of 1:35
this before all the um all the success came and all the followers came in because you've got like literally 1:41
millions of followers millions of views uh you've obviously been on TV multiple times and worked with massive Brands 1:47
massive people who were you before all of this like you like you mentioned um before you use like a paint and paint 1:53
and painter and decorator rather but you also did a few other bits as well I wanna I wanna say correct me if I'm 1:59
wrong you're like into stunts like he was a stunt man well I was training for standing straight yeah that was I look 2:06
like yeah I'll explain my journey in terms of like my working career like my professional career but 2:11
um I grew up in in tadworth in in Surrey All My Life um and I live in Epsom now 2:18
um and I was kind of I I never sort of I enjoyed school but I was an academic you know I was I I loved 2:25
um uh physical things I I love sport I love beer I love the Arts love being creative and I never really knew what I 2:32
wanted to do you know it was I never had a Direction all I knew all I wanted to do was something I was always quite 2:38
ambitious so there I was always looking at things that were slightly Outreach 2:43
like like becoming a pilot or becoming a stunt man but the process of getting to 2:48
these these positions um was slightly hindered in terms of like my my ability to 2:55
um um keep myself um motivated and my my attention span is 3:02
quite small basically so I lose I lose interest I lose attention quite quite easily and so I left school at 16 with 3:10
no real Direction I didn't know what I was doing I didn't know what I wanted to do I was heavily involved in sports I 3:15
was I was playing squash and and coaching squash I was playing for the county and I was doing that and I was 3:21
doing life Garden on the side so I was working at my my local David Lloyd as a lifeguard 3:26
still had no I didn't really have any direction over that period that was from about 16 to about 20 and I left I left 3:33
the UK when I was 19 to go to New Zealand to work for for six months or so 3:38
so again just trying to find things I was interested in and I returned on return I I fell into various jobs again 3:45
so the first thing that I fell into was landscape gardening so I did that for a year which I kind of loved it was it was 3:50
I was it was physical again it was Outdoors but again not not really not really passionate about that that job I 3:57
then became I then fell into painted but I only fell into painting because of the stunt thing so wow 4:04
um one of my family friend was the head stunt coordinator on on the Harry Potter 4:10
Harry Potter films and I started doing a bit of extra work and met people on set and met the stunt guys 4:17
and saw how much of a fun environment environment it was and to become a stunt 4:23
man you need to get on the UK to register basically and the UK register requires you to be or to master six 4:29
different disciplines so it's either fighting falling driving riding water scuba diving or swimming or whatever it 4:35
is and I started training for the stand register so um I was doing like kickboxing or whatever 4:41
it was but I had to fund this and and that's when I fell into Painting and Decorating to fund this the stunt 4:46
training and unfortunately it just got sort of fizzled out and I had to earn a living actor it was taking up too much of my time having this full-time job and 4:54
and trying to and trying to train at the same time plus you have to do like 60 days in 5:00
front of camera for the register where you have to well as an extra on on the Harry Potter films on things like X-Men 5:05
warhorse a ton of films that we I was doing it which was again a great experience you know that was a real experience early on must have been 21-22 5:13
um but then I fell into this depending decorate and I did that for for a number of years you know I worked for someone worked for Brendan who eventually became 5:19
my business partner in in painting we set up a company called Palmer our two names combined at the start of our two 5:24
second names combined and um they were successful you know like again it was something I I always sort of apply 5:31
myself like 100 if I'm doing something I'm giving it my all you know so I said 5:37
we set up this company and it was doing well we were doing a big luxury apartment blocks we were 5:42
doing footballers houses it was fairly successful you know we were doing we had 10 15 guys working for us 5:48
but I still had this Burning passion for food I love being I love being creative and that was that was on ground it never 5:54
went away that I know I love food um and I was my dad made a cheesecake one day it was 6:00
back in 2014 2015 or whatever it was and it wasn't very good I then attempted to 6:06
make a cheesecake and progress you know I continue to make them and I don't know what spurred me on 6:11
I don't know why cheesecakes I do like other desserts you know it's cheesecake is not the only dessert I like I'm not 6:17
just yeah but I continue to make them I continue to practice at home in my parents kitchen and just go to the 6:23
supermarkets grab grab the ingredients that I need and experiment with flavors I used to bring them to the building 6:29
site or the painting site for the boys to try so I'd get feedback on my um on 6:34
all the products I was making in little tubs and then I started making them excuse me and then I started making them 6:40
for friends and families for a birthday for an occasion and 6:45
over about a two year period they got better the cakes the products got better and I learned a lot but they were still 6:53
massive inefficiencies no no knowledge on on process or health and safety or 6:59
supply chain or social media at that stage I didn't have 7:04
a clue what the social media was really that was on Instagram but only a personal account uh so literally no training completely self in the food and 7:10
social media and in December 2017 December 2016 I've still got the notepad 7:16
in in our office next door I started writing down these ideas and I was like it's a new year in 2017. I'm gonna I'm 7:23
gonna take action I'm gonna I'm gonna do something about I'm gonna try and turn this into a little bit of a side hustle 7:28
and my intention was to sell a few of these cakes I was making on the side for 7:33
a couple of hundred pound extra a month you know that was that was my plan and I was in this notepad and I was writing it 7:40
down I was trying to write like a really brief business plan but please cakes that kept coming up I kept writing 7:45
please cakes down and there was like the build your own cheesecake bar there was like a bit of a menu there was like the 7:51
different formats all cheesecake all the big cheesecake related okay none of the other formats that we've done today like 7:57
the truffles or the freeze cakes and I then set up an Instagram account so I designed a logo on on an app called 8:04
canva which quite incredibly got picked up in a news article that I did last year with 8:10
um The Today Show in America and canva picked it up through maybe AI that I've mentioned them and we actually appeared 8:16
in one of their uh International TV adverts um as like showing that we use the app 8:23
basically to to for our story which is quite incredible and it was quite an experience like a two-day shoot with they flew over 50 50 crew members from 8:32
um Australia which is where they're from Australia yeah Australia so 8:37
um the incredible experiences that had that have come from plan and seat 8:43
um previously but anyway I sat up I set up this this logo a design and logo on this on the app canva and set up an 8:50
Instagram account on 3rd of January and that led on to that was my that was my 8:56
like pivotal action taking moment setting up that Instagram account I took like six photos on my on my phone and 9:02
back then I think the phones the iPhones were not as good so the quality of the photos weren't great but there was they 9:07
were they were good enough to be able to utilize these platforms as a as a business tool you know and 9:15
luckily like right place right time a bit of luck no no planning involved in it whatsoever one of my good Powers Joe 9:21
Wicks shared the page onto his page and he's got a ton of following and that was again another a real pivotal moment and 9:28
it's and I I say this quite a lot you know it sounded it sounds good it sounds great to get a shout out from Joe Wicks 9:33
but actually because the circumstances that I was in in terms of like my setup I like I was in my mum 9:39
Dad's Kitchen I had no email account I had no website address I had nothing in place I'd like like no supply chain 9:46
no facilities to really produce a product or develop the business so I was 9:51
exposed to a lot of interest on social media a lot of followers requests and orders and stuff like that immediately 9:57
like on the on the 6th of January he shared shared the page and the next day 10:03
I was making cheesecakes and I'd given up Painting and Decorating so it was like this overnight transition it was 10:09
you hear these people nothing's an overnight success and that's absolutely the case but in terms of transition from 10:15
like one one career to the next it was overnight yeah even though I've been making it previously yeah so no I was 10:22
gonna say just just thought to interject there like that is a really important point isn't it like it I understand like 10:28
the idea of like overnight success and and but like you said there's always like a lot of work in the background 10:34
even if it's not directly fitted to what that person became an overnight success with so it seems like that's like a 10:40
similar story with you you spend all those years doing different things from being a stunt man to Painting and 10:46
Decorating like all these all these different things but do you think that all those things all the people you met 10:52
along the way before you even opened up the the please cake Instagram do you think that all of that helped you and 10:59
build you as a character to allow you to succeed with this particular project like I don't think they all had an 11:06
effect on on your journey I think I think that's that applies to to everyone in their Journey like and that stems 11:12
from your childhood I suppose the environment you're brought up in um the People You Meet everything has an 11:19
effect has it has a has a it creates something that potentially could affect 11:26
your um the outcome later in life you know I think and I think it's it everything happens you know like 11:31
everything happens for a reason my painting decorating running that business had transferable skills so when 11:37
I was running that business that was people management or cash flow or whatever it was there were skills that I could take across the police cakes but I 11:43
think it goes back to the 10 000 hours or the the 10-year sort of um concept where nothing nothing 11:50
worthwhile nothing that's that's being built with value with real value happens overnight is that it's that I really 11:56
believe in that ten thousand hour concept or the 10-year concept we've been going um win our seventh year of business now 12:02
please okay you know it feels like a lifetime but it's gone in a Flash and we're still not there you know we've 12:08
still got through some really turbulent times this previous year just gone it's been probably the most testing and turbulent year of the the six years that 12:16
we've been going and I think with that four years away from True success and I 12:21
I how how do I measure success I think when it becomes um 12:26
that's going to be the harder part to measure success but I think at that 10-year point we can really sort of 12:32
gauge if it's been successful or not on that on that point you just mentioned just before that like in terms of 12:39
the time and that things take and obviously um you were fortunate for with please 12:45
cakes for it to be quite a quick thing to get off of the ground like even though you're obviously put in all the work beforehand at the actual starting 12:51
and it being out in the public it seemed like quite a quick turnaround if you want to put it that way but one of my 12:57
questions based off of that is like how do you know when to if things are not 13:03
being as quick as that if things are taking time your Project's taking time like for example me and this podcast 13:08
I've been doing this for five years and like no real sort of no real monetary return or no real direct impact from 13:16
from the podcast itself how do you know or what would you suggest to people like 13:21
how how how should you measure when to ditch a product project or keep going with it like is there is there a way you 13:27
can sell if I stick in a few more years it might pay off or do how do you know when to sort of like cut your losses and 13:34
say I'm out I think it needs to go back to like why you do it the why but what's 13:39
the purpose of you doing it like if it's for money solely then you're probably doing it for the wrong reasons you know 13:46
I think you've got to be led by your passion and a purpose you know I'm passionate about food I love food so 13:52
this could take me 20 30 years it could take me two years doesn't it I'm not looking at the time scale on that I'm 13:57
looking about my the purpose of what I'm doing and I'm trying to create the world's most exciting dessert brand so 14:02
it really has to stem back to the why you're doing it and if you enjoy this podcast it might take 10 15 years to get 14:09
off the ground but if you enjoy it then you keep doing it kind of thing I think that's that's got to be the the focus 14:15
rather than when to pack it and if it is monetary reward only and it's taken too long then 14:23
pack it in like but if you're passionate about enjoy doing it and it's giving you some sort of personal satisfaction or 14:30
it's helping others if it's bringing value to others then stick at it but yeah no thanks I really really 14:35
appreciate that and we in terms of like you're going back to how you got started I find something really satisfying and I 14:43
relate to how you started um like for example at the moment I'm starting a new project and like we're 14:49
trying to get investors and they're asking for business plans I'm like oh no I don't do like it's just not natural for me to do business plans and stuff 14:55
like that and like it seems similar to your story um I believe like a um a burger chain let you use their 15:02
kitchen I think you had your mum as a delivery driver you had no PR or marketing no uniforms no suppliers like 15:08
you literally just got started almost bare bones and and you built it and everyone come to you so yeah what just 15:15
sort of remind us of of that element that sort of bare bone element I think it's the the main thing for me to get to 15:22
for this for me to be in this position where I am today it's it was action 15:28
taken and it was the action of setting up the Instagram account that led to Joe Wick sharing it that led to the opportunities that followed from there 15:34
so it was that initial action taken I didn't have a clue about anything that that was related to this business 15:42
like you mentioned about supply chain about health and safety about processes about the logistics about anything I 15:49
didn't didn't have any clue I've never never dealt with this business before no experience never made a cake before 15:54
professionally like completely self-tool so I I I learned very quickly because I 15:59
was because it was such an instant transition I learned very quickly I made a ton of mistakes you know like I made a 16:04
lot of mistakes probably for the first six years I would say but which is the whole time we've been going yeah I'm 16:11
just starting to learn now I've been on basically a journey of learning for the last six years and I've made so more 16:18
mistakes than I haven't basically yeah and again this is going to be this is the the 16:23
cliche that everyone says you learn from your failures but it really is true um you can't you can't sort of sugarcoat 16:29
and you do learn from your failures um and at the start I surrounded myself with good people I was lucky because of 16:35
social media the ex production manager of Greggs who was made redundant Ian Campbell came on free of charge and sort 16:41
of supported us with the processes and health and safety and and that was a real sort of a great person to be around 16:47
initially I then started hiring professional chefs in the kitchen towards the end of the first year who 16:53
could help me scale up the production but we started on a direct consumer model which is again look at this is 17:01
this is again hindsight in business it happens a lot there's a lot of hindsight that happens okay so I look back now I I 17:07
started these large cakes these big large cakes that are that need temperature control distributions and if 17:12
you get kept at a certain temperature all these toppings on top that were hugely delicate like you cannot 17:18
distribute them we could distribute them but we only had one van so we couldn't reach the whole of the UK so we started trying to Outsource and use couriers and 17:25
they they take this box this beautifully decorated box this expensive cake product for someone's anniversary or 17:31
birthday or wedding and they kick it they kick it down the road you know they completely because they don't really 17:38
care about what's in the box even if you put fragile stickers on it so it's like I'm like how do I scale this like I'm on 17:44
a mission but I can't scale it so realizations very early on about how we're going to scale this brand and and 17:49
and and and become this this exciting dessert brand um so we soon identified other products 17:55
that we could focus on so mini cheesecakes were a bit more robust but still required temperature control just 18:00
distribution we focused on um Innovation and development so things like freeze cakes was an early idea but 18:06
got shelved because of the other cakes getting um becoming very busy and events and festivals and stuff like that and I 18:14
I I knew there was two avenues that I could have gone down with the business so I could have gone down manufacturing 18:20
and scale up manufacturing um which is highly risky which I found out today like that you see there's an 18:27
highly costly so I could set up a massive factory with 150 staff huge 18:32
Investments to set up the production lines um which covered Could Happen something 18:37
could happen anything could happen and we're in a very sort of costly position um or go down the brand route where we 18:44
focus on the brand we focus on social media we focus on MPD or new product development 18:50
um and and that's the that's the route that I've been trying to go down for the last three years so I've been trying to Outsource production you've called me at 18:56
quite a good time in terms of like where I'm in this transitional period so we've got our kitchen downstairs which has got us to the point today so 19:02
it's fairly big it's not big for production to service retailers or to scale the brand um and I've been working to try and find 19:08
a part for the partner for the last three years which is half the time we've been going basically and luckily we found it you know and I think a lot of 19:15
food bro this this will relate to this will probably relate to a lot of people who listen to who've got a food brand you know how to scale like there's that 19:22
Avenue there's brand and there's there's MPD and there's manufacturing and it's really hard to do both which I I've 19:30
figured out I think so and we've we've found manufacturing and that's really going to allow us to focus on the social 19:36
media and what we're good at because I think this is we're slightly different in terms of the type of company we are 19:41
we are we are product LED we produce products but we're also content creators 19:46
we create valuable free content with recipes and tutorials and advice and business tips and motivation and 19:52
inspiration and things like that so I think there's two two pillars to our business that we're very passionate about and they all kind of tie in with 19:58
each other and and and um it's it's a case of execution now for 20:03
me is it's executing these next launches over the next year and and and and and and I've made some incredibly bold moves 20:10
over the last year as well so we've gone from a team of 30 down to four people which has been um there's some drastic 20:15
changes that we've shut down production downstairs with we don't make products anymore we don't sell product we're 20:20
currently a non-operational company where we don't make any money at the moment but we have got these incredibly 20:26
exciting launches coming up this year as well so but that wouldn't have happened unless 20:33
big decisions were made yeah no it makes them please I guess it's almost like a catapult isn't it sometimes you sort of 20:39
need to learn right now is the time where I'm pulling back pulling back waiting cutting down waiting for that 20:44
one opportunity and then you can let go um yeah so that's I think self-awareness is a key attributes have for a lot of 20:50
entrepreneurs you know like being understand your the company's position or the position you're in like don't don't do not hide away from a situation 20:57
that actually you need to just like face and and be like this is the situation I 21:03
need to make some big moves now or changes or decisions to enable the longevity of this company and similarly 21:09
with with um being self-aware with my own skill set like I know what I'm good at I know 21:15
what I'm not good at if it's finances I've got FD who's who's involved heavily in the finances I'm still on it and over 21:21
it and stuff like that but I'm I'm quite self-aware on what I'm good at and what I'm not and I think that's really key for any entrepreneur to have no I agree 21:28
before we sort of uh continue on that self-awareness piece um I just wanted to put something in quick ugly because one 21:35
one of the one of the things I saw and I was like that's just crazy and it relates to what you just said there 21:40
about being product LED um and sort of focusing on the quality of the product because you've made a 21:46
cake for a very important person um who's no longer with us but yeah do you want to tell us about that I'm guessing 21:52
you know who I'm on about right the queen yeah the queen yeah I was thinking about this other day actually because because so I'll tell you the process and 21:59
I think there's there's actually a bit of content that I could or like a series or something I could get out of this basically so we were in the kitchen this 22:06
was six months into the company so in June of 2017 we get a call or Sam gets 22:11
cool he's been with me from the start of the the companies she's our director of operations now um and we get a call and it's it's 22:18
mcvitty's the brand the biscuit Brands and they say we've got this VIP we want you to make a cake for 22:24
um that's all they say during the day and then we we carry on with our day they call back about five o'clock six o'clock when we're walking out the 22:30
kitchen and they tell us who it is if they say it's the queen you know we're like what so we go back into the kitchen 22:35
we're only allowed to use mcvitty's products there's a process of getting clearance into Clarence House with the 22:41
products we made two cakes using Bitties only it was in celebration of the Jubilee or something like that I can't remember 22:46
what it was her birthday obviously um and we delivered them whether this 22:52
the thing this is the bit of content that I think like potentially did she ever eat the cake 22:57
there was no picture there's no they're not going to take a picture of her eating eating a please cake but it got 23:03
delivered to Clarence House we had to clear security whether she ate it or not there's there's potential for a bit of content 23:09
creation around a bit of detective work and to see if she actually had the product or not I don't know yeah that's 23:15
a pretty good idea yeah yeah you should do like you could definitely try and do that yeah it'd be good to know I don't actually hate it but do you know what it 23:21
looks it's it's been a talking point about the company for the last six years you know it's been a it's been it's an 23:27
incredible experience whether she had it or not I'm not sure but just to have that on our CV essentially is is pretty 23:33
incredible so just yeah just return it back to your point on self-awareness before we sort of spoke about obviously the queen which is just huge 23:39
um the reason I wanted to sort of pause on that point was you was asked a question relating to self-awareness 23:46
um on Dragon's Den when Deborah Mead and asked you she essentially asked you like what your weakness was 23:52
um so yeah I just wanted to sort of dive in I didn't think it would have had a feeling you wouldn't remember 23:57
um but yeah I just wanted to dive into into that experience as well because not only was I believe all in your first 24:03
year using selfridges you had all these products you obviously made a cake for the queen like you did so much all 24:09
starting off on such a a mad Journey because like you just didn't do it in 24:14
the conventional way so then to have Dragon's Den is sort of like the in some 24:19
people's eyes perhaps like the cherry on the cake after a mad year what was that experience like going on that show I 24:26
think oh yeah I think previously like we in that first year we probably grew too quickly we were we we were just because 24:31
the social media was great and the demand was growing but we couldn't facilitate the the demand basically and looking back like that's not that's not 24:37
a good business model we need to be able to keep up with demand you know we had a book deal in that first year we like we did a ton of stuff and it was really 24:43
exciting and it was like oh my God it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna be really successful really quickly and and actually like 24:48
we weren't prepared for it we totally weren't prepared for it early 2018 I got 24:54
approached by Ben Davies who's one of The Producers on BBC Two Dragon Dragons Den and said would you like to come on I 24:59
was actively looking for investment to help scale the business at that point I was still thinking I was going to continue manufacturing in-house 25:05
basically and so I was looking to expand the kitchen which got us us here today and actually just just on the point of 25:12
building on direct to Consumer was that's what built community and I think that was really important that we launched with direct to Consumer built 25:18
community and then we're doing this transition but anyway back to Dragon's Den got yeah I had to go through this due 25:25
diligence process about if we were legit and we're actually looking for investment um and we filmed it in the June of that 25:31
2018 so a year and a half in again not I couldn't really keep up with with the demand or the brand and the product 25:37
we're a new brand socials back then you could grow much quicker much more organically so we were growing at like 25:43
10 000 followers a day on Instagram that's unheard of unless you're like a superstar on TV all the time okay sorry 25:49
just quickly on that point why why why was it that that was because of the algorithm back then plus everything else 25:55
going on right yeah absolutely there wasn't a tick tock around back then like Instagram was the main Channel there were the out the Instagram was 26:02
customer-led you know it was user-led rather than when the Takeover happened with meta or Facebook 26:08
they're Revenue driven you know they don't care about the the users basically so if you're not spending on the ads if 26:14
not if you're not spending money on the platform and you're generating business and earning money through your business 26:19
organically they they're pushing down the algorithm so it became very challenging over the last few years to 26:24
to go on on Instagram and luckily I set up a tick tock with a tick tock account um which I suppose we'll get into the 26:30
social media side of things in a bit but if you want to cover Dragon stem first just that just experience so going back 26:36
to that so filmed in June aired in the September of that second year so the 26:41
second year was um sorry the second year was again quite mad like there was loads going on it was 26:47
the release of the book we were on this morning we're filming Holly again they were making a cake all that sort of stuff did Dragon's Den in September so 26:52
there was a ton of it like quite quite big exposure for the brand but it all 26:58
came too soon we went prepared if it were too young too naive too inexperienced didn't didn't I wish all 27:05
that happens now that would be a really good time to happen now it doesn't matter like it was incredible 27:11
and it really did grow the brand but the experience itself is is filmed up in Manchester I'm not sure if it is 27:16
still now but you go in there's three three or four of you per day and 27:21
um I'd set up in the in the studio as a studio it's not a warehouse um from that point the lift is fake right 27:28
I've heard this the lift is fake I don't know if I should say that but yes it's not a real life but you do that 27:36
you do it a few times you go backwards and forwards and you pretend to press the button and then on the final like 27:41
the final take the doors open and and the dragons are sat there in front of you walk up to a mark on the floor and nothing nothing it's a weird experience 27:48
because nothing really happens no one says anything no one's like and action it's kind of like you just walk in and 27:54
start pitching and and then and then you do your pitch and then they interact 27:59
with you and they they come up to the cheesecake bar and they try the product and they see the products and stuff like that they sit back down and then they start 28:06
they're questioning and and Grilling basically and obviously it's cut down from I was in there for two hours almost two hours down to like a 10 minute 10 28:13
minute slot on on the on the TV so um they couldn't include things like selfishes because The Branding for 28:19
advertisement and copyright reasons or whatever um but like it was it was a great experience I messed up my numbers a 28:24
little bit and and again like just my naivety with the business it was a very early days in the business but we still 28:30
got enough I still got nothing from Tuka Silliman who who offered 50 grand for 35 of the business which is 28:37
even back then even knowing what I did back then I knew it wasn't a good deal you know even though I could potentially 28:43
tap into his um Network which I I knew a few Brands food brands that he'd invested in and I'd never seen them 28:49
really take off so I was quite aware of that and uh declined politely decline 28:55
the offer and um and and walked out and I never saw them again that was it like you don't speak to them after or or prior got in my van and I headed back 29:02
down and I think straight back to the kitchen and carried on with production you know it was a it was a great experience and and when it aired 29:10
it it really exposed the brand again to the next level you know and I think um it grew our social media massively it 29:16
exposed it was again another talking point another incredible talking point that we can we can talk about for for years to come 29:22
um so all in all great experience but but scary and and and daunting at the time 29:28
you sort of touched on it there like in terms of um being perhaps too early like do you 29:35
do you are you somebody that sort of has regrets or like do things sort of way on 29:41
your mind like that or are you sort of similar to me I guess where it's just sort of like if it's meant to be it's 29:46
meant to be yeah I I believe that look there's there's always hindsight you'd always do something differently surely but 29:51
um I think the approach is a positive mindset I think for me I've learned I've learned a lot in the last six years it's 29:57
gonna it's armed me with some key skills some key attributes and and and and things I can use going forward now 30:05
and um I don't know I don't have any regrets there's things I would have done differently but I don't regret them 30:10
because you can't can you no and it sort of leads on quite nicely um obviously my 30:16
podcast is called If Only They Knew is there anything that you wish you knew at 30:22
a earlier stage when you were starting you mentioned their sort of the naivety the numbers and I guess there's there's 30:27
loads loads of things to answer that question right yeah I could have I could have been completely I couldn't be 30:33
completely knowledgeable about the industry and social media and courses and on cake decorating classes and all 30:39
that sort of stuff but actually the naivety led me to become quite fearless and I think if I'd had the knowledge and 30:45
understanding about how challenging manufacturing or starting a food 30:51
business was I probably wouldn't have done it yeah no I think 30:56
I think sometimes the less the less you know is is is a good thing I think being 31:01
being naive naivety can can support that fearlessness and actually allow you to take the action that requires you to get 31:08
started so um if there was something else I'd knew maybe yeah there's probably there's yeah there's so many things I'd like to have 31:14
known previously but I think I think it's just hindsight and and talking sort of more uh now what's going on in the in 31:20
the present you mentioned just before we spoke about dragons then um the social media platforms and how 31:26
how not perhaps not easy but how simple it was to grow back then um what's your 31:32
view on this like the social media landscape now what platforms do you use what's working for you and do you is 31:38
there anything sort of you're doing that you're like like this is this is key this is something we wasn't doing before but it's working now yeah I think it's 31:44
the lands the social media landscape changes very very frequently like it's 31:50
it's constantly evolving it's constantly changing um I started on Instagram that was my 31:55
main platform there was Twitter floating around like in the background for us but nothing we'd never really focused on 32:00
Twitter um and I I stuck at Instagram for for the first how long would it been three years so 32:08
yeah um when Tick Tock I I started Tick Tock basically in 2020. 32:14
and that's my team were like what you're doing like I said use a Young Person's 32:19
platform there's dancing on there like what there's there's going to be no there's going to be no value about going 32:25
on this platform and I stuck at it you know I stuck at it I was posting random content I was posting uh completely off 32:32
brand off product related content but I was being consistent I think that's a key key thing with social media's 32:37
consistency um and it started growing you know the numbers were coming in big and we grew to a million followers in in that first 32:43
year um and again like it it it it it it seems to happen and repeat itself from 32:50
platform to platform everything's slowed down on Tick Tock now it's a bit harder to grow there's ads now there's 32:55
algorithms there's there's it's a different platform I think it's easier to grow if you've got good content and I think there's there's some content that 33:02
we're releasing about how to make a video go viral you know and I think there's some key points I.E um being relevant so you're not you're 33:08
not posting something that's uh completely uh out of touch with what's going on in the worst if something's 33:13
tragic's happening in in the world you're not posting something that's really cheerful and happy I think there's things like timing so you've got 33:19
to get your timing right and that and that varies platform to platform as well um hooks so that a hook needs to be 33:25
happen in the first two to three seconds and then every two seconds something is changing in the video whether it's 33:31
subtitles or b-roll or zoom in or zoom out whatever it is there's also things 33:36
like keeping up with Trends and new features so there's some key points that are going to help and support your your content going going viral and that 33:43
doesn't that all differ again platform to platform but my main platforms are Instagram which we still use which is 33:49
our probably most engaged audience most relevant audience Tick Tock which is I 33:55
think is is going to continue to grow it's going to be a platform where we're going to see numbers just just explode 34:01
like there is still opportunity to grow from a small like to have no following and have your content go viral you don't 34:07
need a big following to have content over that's how the algorithm Works um and Linkedin which is we've been 34:13
plugging away at but I think and it gets slated quite a lot I think recently but I think for me it's been 34:19
it's been I can work on personal branding and I can also work on my business on the same platform you know I 34:25
think I've I've gained a lot of buyers and stockists and investors and like really really relevant contacts on that 34:32
platform and also I'm starting to create a bit of a personal brand on there and share my story and share things that 34:37
relate to that audience you know and I can I've got I'll have a bit of content that is has the same message and the 34:43
same and the same copy but in different formats so for tick tock that copy will 34:49
be video format obviously with subtitles for LinkedIn it's going to be a written post with a picture potentially you know 34:55
so it's just understanding platforms platform but then my three LinkedIn Instagram and Tick Tock so yeah just carrying on from what you said there 35:01
you're talking about obviously the social media platforms you leverage the tools you leverage and one of those tools was personal brand and if 35:06
something I wanted to to ask you a little bit earlier as well in the conversation um because how much has your personal 35:13
brand been at the the Forefront of of the company itself 35:19
or has it not been like what's been your play with that and how much has that helped you in terms of opportunities in 35:26
terms of people coming to you helping you out at Joe Wicks the the the man from Greg's all these people sort of 35:32
come in and and buying into the brand how much of that is to do with yourself 35:38
oh at the start I didn't want to show my face you know I just wanted to be product LED so it took me a while even to go on Instagram and and naturally I'm 35:44
not very good in front of a camera like historically I'd be I I look back at some of the videos now and I'm very 35:50
monotone I'm like this like can you follow us we're launching here a lot and it's and I I cringe it you know I think 35:56
it's real like it's good to look back it's like your progress but it's something that was quite uncomfortable 36:01
with and being on camera and doing live TV and social media is like it's not my comfort zone you know I don't it wasn't natural to me so it was something I had 36:09
to force myself to do and I think I'm still learning how to do it and how how to articulate myself and not come across 36:14
boring and or monotone and I personal branding has been 36:21
um quite a new thing for me I think like it very recently like or or how popular 36:26
it's becoming or how talked about is is it it's it's something that I've I've 36:32
noticed about the importance or how important it can be um to support my band so I'm not what 36:38
I'm not looking for is to be like the face of the brand in terms of like like Levi roots or KFC you've got the car no 36:46
that's not what I'm looking for I'm looking to support it in a different way in terms of like 36:51
my personal brand is my experiences but here's my company here's my products kind of thing you know so 36:57
um it's helped massively for by me putting a face to the brand on social medias because it becomes personal and 37:04
relatable when people like people people run into people if I just stuck a tub of 37:09
freeze cakes up on social media there's there's not much engagement there there's going to be there's going to be a lack of relatability and I think for 37:17
me it's it's very key for anyone to to to especially if they've got a brand or 37:23
even if they're just just personal branding it creates opportunity you know people like people like I say and and people buy into into your story and 37:30
storytelling's becoming very very popular and if you've got you need a story you can't just be like we make 37:36
cheesecakes it's like I was a painter and decorator with no experience and I didn't know what I was doing and I 37:41
launched this cheesecake company we made a cheesecake for the queen and there's a story there people like why how'd you do that like oh I can do that as well and 37:48
then there's the there's there's things behind that story that will help people I it's inspirational motivate someone to 37:54
get up and take action and I think that's where I want to take my personal brand you know it's not I'm not trying 38:00
to monetize my personal brand at all it's how I can help and bring value to the audiences on our social media 38:05
platforms and my social my social my personal social pages are non-existent 38:10
I've got a personal Instagram account I've just set up a personal Tick Tock account which I want to start building as well but 38:17
um obviously I do social media LinkedIn uh my from my personal account but um I think it's really important 38:22
personal branding um and I think it could be very it opens up opportunities if someone wants to just focus on personal brand and you see 38:29
all these people on LinkedIn now like they can create opportunities and create you can create an income for you well I 38:34
think I think there's a theme Here of like using what you can isn't it it seems like that's what you've done from the very beginning but I just wanted to 38:40
quickly dive into a few quick fire questions before the final question if you don't mind so yeah advice for young 38:47
entrepreneurs if you had to pick one today take action and your favorite creators at the moment you said you're 38:52
on all the platforms is there anyone that stands out for you creators creators or entrepreneurs anyone that 38:58
you see out there doing good things love what Stephen barl is doing obviously these are probably a bit more cliche but like Stephen Bartlett is killing it I 39:03
think I think he's just he's just he's just consistent like you can see the progress and 39:10
quality and his his the way he applies himself to to his brand and and his um 39:18
content is just it's it's nice to watch um other entrepreneurs Ben Francis doing 39:24
we're doing great with Jim I think there's some really like some um revolutionary 39:31
tactics about how they approach certain things um 39:40
I love supporting smaller Brands and I think you've had Keelan on here from from brownies yeah yeah I've got him on 39:47
that yeah yeah yeah so like I think I love these like these micro influences or micro creators as well and I think 39:53
there's there you'll see a higher engagement with these with these smaller accounts as well I think influencer marketing has is is kind of not dead but 40:02
I think there's a different audience I think originally you could are we that's how we grew you know we utilizing influencer marketing to help grow our 40:08
brand we can send out products and then promote it and our following would grow but actually he's become so saturated 40:13
where where influencers are just receiving free free stuff and it's it's disingenuous it's it's inauthentic and 40:21
people see through that now you know I think there needs to be a level of authenticity um another creator that Keelan actually 40:27
put me in touch or showed me was a page cutting in in America called mid mid Square 40:34
what they're called mid-square moment something like that if they're like a like a product like a 40:40
brownie or whatever it is but they're on a mission as well and they're really good at storytelling like I looked at this page and did greater storytelling 40:46
so there's there's a ton of content creators out there but I think it all goes back to someone who's doing something really relatable that is 40:53
really good at storytelling um and that is really passionate about what they're doing last couple on a 40:58
quick fight and what is the meaning of life to you it seems it seems like you're you're like that's about fun 41:03
enjoying it you seem like you're quite light-hearted if that makes sense am I right in saying that what's what's your 41:09
meaning to life I don't know who knows that's a million pound question I don't 41:14
know I honestly look it's a quite a deep question I suppose but I don't honestly no I don't know I'm not religious I 41:21
think um I don't know why are we here if you I always do it's quite what what are we doing like the vastness 41:28
of the of space and the universe is just mind-boggling it's incompendable but I honestly don't know like I think I just 41:34
I mean I think for me it's just trying to enjoy a journey a process um there's no like end goal it's not 41:41
like I need to get to a 100 million pound revenue and I'll be happy it's like oh I'm enjoying the journey I'm 41:48
enjoying the failures I'm enjoying we're on this Earth for like a tiny blip you know we're here for like and and 41:54
actually like that's a privilege I get to experience all these different emotions like 42:00
stress and pain and happiness and all these I get to I get to experience those 42:05
through this through this journey so I think that's just the journey process for me is really key no I love that I'm 42:10
100 on board with that one as well last quickfire one in relation to that large answer your legacy do you have a legacy at all 42:18
do you want to leave a legacy behind or is it is it something that doesn't interest you uh it's not something that 42:23
doesn't interest me I suppose I haven't thought about it in depth but I think if I can leave a positive message or have 42:30
impact on the Next Generation I think I would die happy I think if I 42:35
could I've always I've I've always wanted to support the younger generation especially in business I think there's 42:42
a ton of conversation happening around education and about how 42:49
that's not necessarily the right route for everyone you know I think starting a business or apprenticeships 42:55
um can be the best route for a lot of people and there's not enough funding or support in those areas you know I think 43:01
that's where I want to try and utilize my personal brand where I can Inspire or 43:07
motivate or support the younger generation in their journey to start 43:12
their very own business and hopefully make a life for themselves I love it and the final thing then it's been an 43:17
absolute pleasure having you on a really mean that it's been really good and what's what's next for yourself and I 43:23
apologize I kept saying please cakes is now please isn't it so yeah yeah tell us 43:28
about what's next for you and please and yeah wrapped into that if you have a final message for everyone listening as 43:34
well yeah so we've transitioned from Place cakes to please which please cakes hasn't gone anywhere we've just we've 43:40
just utilized our umbrella brand please which is going to be like the Heinz the Apple the Virgin and have all our sub 43:45
Brands underneath it like please cakes and freeze cakes and all the additional Concepts and the strategy is to 43:53
our mission is to become the world's most exciting dessert brand but how we do that is make our products more accessible at a better price but Remain 44:01
the best quality and like the most Innovative products out there and I think the only way we could do that is 44:06
scale up through other sectors so we've we've knocked direct to Consumer on the head for now um and we're looking to expand into 44:12
retail into the big retailers this year which um is going to be the biggest challenge you know it's going to be it's going to 44:18
be one of the hardest things we do because these are these are Big accounts these are 44:23
big numbers there's there's potential to get de-listed there's potential to lose a lot of money 44:30
um it's going to require more investment it's going to require building the team again um there's there's it's high risk like 44:37
it's high risk but that's the only way we scale so retail um is our next Port of Call and it's 44:43
going to happen in the next I'm hoping in the next few weeks we'll see so on a mission and uh I can't wait to share our 44:50
new brand and our new products

Ted Lawlor appeared on ITV News representing If Only They Knew and talking about young entrepreneurs. After almost half a decade of helping young entrepreneurs enter and grow in the business world, If Only They Knew has been a well-received platform in the UK's business world.
Created by best-selling author and award-winning young entrepreneur Ted Lawlor whilst studying at University, IOTK has evolved from just an Instagram page to an award-winning platform as well as an iTunes Top 5 podcast. From entrepreneurs on BBC's Dragons Den to candidates from The Apprentice, IOTK has featured so many great entrepreneurs on the platform. So it was a great honour to have ITV News get in touch to allow Ted to share his perspective of the ever-changing world of young entrepreneurship.
You can watch part of the feature here:

Books That Matter is an award-winning company from Bristol that delivers unique experiences to your door filled with empowering stories, sustainable gifts, and delicious treats, all with a focus on uplifting female writers. The brains behind the book business is Molly Masters, University of Sussex student that created the brand in her dorm. After years of obligatory study of a male curriculum, she was finally introduced to a myriad of diverse female writers. There was a demand to hear their stories, but very few platforms gave them a voice to do so. For this very reason, Molly decided to create Books That Matter. Molly will appear on BBC's Dragon's Den on March 10th. I n the leadup to the show, Molly says " The past two years have been crucial to Books That Matter’s growth, having quadrupled in size. I spent the lockdown period rewatching old episodes in the Den for inspiration, and I couldn’t have ever imagined facing the Dragons, but of course, we leapt at the chance and it offered the ideal opportunity to catapult our business. We’re ecstatic to now have the opportunity to tell more people about what we do and promote diverse feminist literature to the masses.” Books That Matter has more than quadrupled in size since 2020 and now boasts over 66 thousand in their online community, and brings empowering, feminist literature to three to four thousand monthly subscribers. "Throughout the pandemic, we have stayed true to our mission whilst diversifying our offering, the growth we’ve experienced has been unsurmountable and with our Den appearance, we are looking towards 2022 with even wider eyes. As a business run by, led by, and serving women, we are honoured to have experienced such success and continued growth." You can watch Molly face the Dragons on March 10th.