THE FEMALE FOCUS SERIES LAUNCH

It’s feverish here at CLO PR. And it’s not due to colds and flu. We’ve been gearing up for International Women’s Day on Thursday with a host of activities, to make not only the day but the whole week count. This is a day (and week) to celebrate what it means to be a woman in 2018 and open up conversation to address the issues that many of us are facing in the workplace and day-to-day.

The focus of this year’s International Women’s Day is #PressforProgress: to pledge to take action in some way, however big or small. What the circling and bubbling of #Vote100, #MeToo and #TimesUp has highlighted is the need to act, now. We cannot stay still or silent. If the Suffragettes could see where we were today in female empowerment they’d probably be very disappointed at the little progress made. They put their lives on the line, we just have to be a bit more shouty and productive.  

When I started up the business a year ago it was to feel empowered personally and free to do things a little different in PR (and business). During the transition I was filled with so much doubt about whether I could do it and be successful independently. I am definitely not the only one. Imposter syndrome has appeared in front of so many women similarly. I have come through the other side and the freedom I get from doing what I do on my own terms has given me so much confidence. I want to help other women push through and get what they want.

At CLO PR, we believe in generating #positiveimpact in everything we do - from servicing our clients, to supporting others to grow in skills and confidence without rules. Creating positive impact for girls and women is at the top of the agenda. We’ve partnered with the glorious #girlboss duo Mac & Moore to entertain and inspire. Throughout the week we’ll be speaking to some ridiculously talented women in the freelance, start-up and business world to discover exactly what the current momentum on female-focused issues means to them, and what they’ll be doing in the coming year to #PressForProgress. It genuinely feels so great to take a unified stance with a collective of strong female characters. Because women get sh*t done. There's a shared determination to do something tangible and celebrate in helping each other move forward.

We’re kicking off with wisdom from marvellous female folk each day on our Instagram and Twitter pages (both @weareCLOPR and @macandmoore) and will keep you up to date with the initiatives we take part in during the week. We’re interviewing women for our #chowdown series on what makes business sense for our gender so please get in touch if you’d like to be involved. We need you! It’s time to come together and support the matriarchy. Progress is in our sights. Are you with us, or are you with us?!

5 MINUTES WITH... RIKKE ROSENLUND, FOUNDER OF BORROWMYDOGGY

Ever wanted to have a dog but know you can't because you don't have enough space or you have a busy job that means it's kept home alone a lot. Meet Rikke, the young passionate Dane connecting people in the UK and Ireland to 4 legged friends through BorrowMyDoggy. She talks about her drive to create positive impact through the platform and build a friendly community that's keeping people and canines happy and healthy along the way. Read on, this woman has got packs of passion....

1. What drove you to create BorrowMyDoggy?

It all started five years ago when I borrowed Aston, my neighbour’s beautiful Labrador, for the day. As a young girl I had always wanted a dog, but my parents never acquiesced since my mother is allergic. Now as an adult, I’m not in a position to own a dog either. I absolutely adored my day with Aston, who instead of spending the day stuck indoors, enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the park, attended a garden party, and met some new friends. I soon realised that lots of dog owners could use a helping paw looking after their dog, and that there are thousands of people, like me, who would love to take care of a dog for free, simply because they love them.

When I began talking with potential members, what I found was incredible. Story after story of dog lovers and dog owners who felt that they'd benefit emotionally and physically by connecting with like-minded people in their area. There was the the man who had an operation and needed help walking his dog, the family whose dog would always welcome more games of fetch and countless people who felt lonely. The stories kept coming in and it was clear there was a need. When a little girl told me her story of how much she wanted a dog, I cried. It was like hearing me as a young girl desperate for the loving companionship of a fluffy creature.

What started with me manually matching people and dogs has now turned into an online platform with more than 600,000 members across the UK and Ireland and an ever-growing social media community.

2. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt from starting up BorrowMyDoggy?

For anyone considering starting a business, make sure there’s a demand and that the business idea is solving a problem. With over 60% of startups destined to fail in the first 3-4 years, make sure you do something you love. There will be many failures and when the going gets tough, the tough needs to get going.

3. What's the one piece of business advice you wish you'd been given when you started?

Knowing that setting up a business takes a lot longer that you would expect, especially when it comes to funding. This would have been useful for my peace of mind!

4. Was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?

No. Just knowing people’s first-hand stories of how much BorrowMyDoggy is creating positive impact on local communities has kept me going. From neighbours forming new friendships to dogs being ring bearers at borrowers’ weddings, it is not an option to give up. I want to create more and more of these amazing stories. It’s my mission to make as much of a positive impact we can via our lovely community.

5. What's been the biggest milestone for the business so far?

I would say the journey has been full of small ones so far. With every small milestone you realise how much further you’ve got to go. For me, the milestones need to do one thing: leave ‘Pawprints of Happiness’ on the lives of dogs and people. This is our goal as a company. Through the platform people are being more active, overcoming loneliness and making friends, whilst dogs are gaining more exercise, love and attention.

6. Who is your inspiration?

My parents. They set me up with the values of trying to make a difference. They’ve always been very active and engaged in supporting the local community and making time to help people. I hope I can bring some of my values into what I’m doing, both inside and outside of work.

7. What keeps you motivated?

The knowledge that the more we do, the more we can help and see the positive impact we want to see.

8. What business or brand do you look up to?

Being Danish, I am going to be impartial and say that I love everything that Joe the Juice is doing. From the hiring of talent, to matching the brand to the interior design and delicious juices and sandwiches, they’re getting it right. And of course Lego. They may have gone through some tough times, but they’ve stayed ahead of the curve and their product lines have always fed my imagination ever since I was a young girl.

9.  If you weren't doing this, you would be....

My answer is different today than it would have been 5 years ago. I think right now I’d be helping more people become entrepreneurs, including encouraging more women take the jump. Otherwise, I would definitely be doing something in the charity sector. Anything I do now or in the future needs to make me feel like it has a positive impact.

http://borrowmydoggy.com

Bertie, the chocolate labrador

5 MINUTES WITH....LAVINIA DAVOLIO, FOUNDER OF LAVOLIO

At CLO PR we love sweet things. Sugary sweetness can make the world go round, right? We were delighted when Lavinia Davolio, founder of Lavolio, agreed to be interviewed as we've been watching her ascension into the confectionary hemispheres with a greedy eye. Have a read of what pumps Lavinia full of energy and passion to build a highly successful boutique confectionary, miles apart from her former career in finance.

1. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt from starting up Lavolio?

It’s something I didn’t know at the start but you need to put the customer at the centre. This sounds like marketing spiel but it’s not. You need to create a product that people love when they try it. Your product needs to be good enough to convince them to become ambassadors so that they can help tell your story.

2. What's the one piece of business advice you wish you'd been given when you started?

A mentor down the line once told me to choose what you’re going to be - as a brand - and stick to it. It’s been the best advice – you need to be the brand - live and breathe it everywhere. It’s all about consistency and brand awareness isn’t easy. Even the clothes I wear reflect Lavolio. People coming into my shop will notice that my scarf matches the wallpaper. You should see my car!

3. Was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?

No. It’s a rollercoaster ride and you feel the times when things go badly. You need to be an optimist. Resilience and persistence are key. There are moments when things aren’t going well, when I’ve made mistakes and changed direction. What helps me is to have a long term goal (rather than shorter monthly goals) where it’s not clear where the road will lead but I have the understanding that things will go wrong. I get a lot of clarity from listening to the customer experience.

4. What's been the biggest milestone for the business so far?

Six months in the making I was stocking in Fortnum & Mason. This created a lot of credibility and reach. A lot of other things have happened. It’s not magic and it’s hard work. We care about every single customer and we try our best to be better than the big guys. Opening our brick and mortar store in Parsons Green was momentous because it’s centred on listening to customers and wanting to give them that first hand experience. The store gives us a base to add on new services, such as  personalisation where people can build their own box of treats.

5. Who is your inspiration?

Many different people inspire me in different ways. I reach out to people who I admire. You’d be surprised at who will become a mentor or sounding board if you ask. Everyone I admire have a lot more experience and have been successful and as an entrepreneur the one thing you don’t have is experience. In my case I wasn’t always in food and I’ve had to learn new skills such as digital marketing and brand building. It never gets easier as I’m always learning to do new things.

6. What keeps you motivated?

I’m driven by the desire to create and see something that was an idea becoming real. The shop existed in my mind - I could visualise it - while customers have helped it become a reality in various shapes. For me, a goal is a dream with a deadline.

7. What business or brand do you look up to?

When it comes to understanding brands I do a lot of research into trends. My previous career was in finance, which required me to know a lot of things. I used to read The Economist, now I read The Grocer! My friends make fun of me – they say I am an encyclopedia (my previous career in finance demanded me to know a lot of things). I take different levels of inspiration from different brands. For example, fashion and luxury for Lavolio’s communications. We are an alternative to chocolate but people like chocolate so we take inspiration from chocolate brands. The inspiration comes down to what the goal is.

8. If you weren't doing this, you would be....

This isn’t a job I got, I invented this job to reflect who I am. If it wasn’t creating chocolates I’d still probably be cooking because it inspired Lavolio. I’d be doing more writing and cooking.

http://lavolio.com

5 MINUTES WITH...CASEY BIRD, FOUNDER OF THE FREELANCE CIRCLE

Meet Casey Bird, who is trailblazing the advertising, marketing and design world to give freelancers the chance to anonymously share their experiences and get a heads up on agencies others love, or loath. The Freelance Circle is helping to change the way businesses think about and work with freelancers. We take our hat off to this lady....

1. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt from starting up The Freelance Circle?

I’d say one of the biggest lessons from launching my review site, The Freelance Circle, would be to ‘trust your decisions’. As a founder you need to really trust your own opinion and thinking – you know the answer, so why ask others? Don’t get me wrong, opinions matter, but only from the right people. Otherwise, you end up with an overload of different opinions and confuse yourself, when the only one that matters at the end of the day, is yours.

2. What's the one piece of business advice you wish you'd been given when you started?

Be patient. Don’t expect miracles overnight. When I first launched The Freelance Circle, I wanted to wake up the next day with millions of freelance reviews from all over the world and Beyoncé tweeting how badass my idea was. You have to work hard and dedicate thinking time to build a credible brand. These things don’t happen overnight.

3. Was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?

It’s been one year since ideation and 6 months since the official launch – so I’d hope I don’t want to give up yet! Over the last few years I’ve had many business ideas, however with this idea, I knew there was a real insight into it and a real need, and thankfully that ‘spark’ hasn’t died and instead fueled me to keep going.

4. What's been the biggest milestone for the organization so far?

In just 6 months we have now reached 200 organic reviews – no paid advertising, no paid search – just freelancers genuinely wanting to share reviews on their experiences and agencies ready to listen. That has to be one amazing milestone so far. The second would be 2 London based advertising agencies contacting us already to ask for more information on the reviews and asking to collaborate to use our insights to make their workplace better, not just for freelancers but permanent staff too.

5. Who is your inspiration?

Generally speaking, anyone who is pursuing their dream and saying no to the status quo inspires me – people who put themselves out there and maybe fail or succeed, are inspiring. I am also constantly inspired by people who stand up for what they believe in, and stand up on behalf of those who can’t – or whose voices aren’t heard. But if I was answering the question in terms of just business I would say a mainstream inspiration is Richard Branson and an industry inspiration is Cindy Gallop.

6. What keeps you motivated?

There are 2 things, firstly the goal to make a difference to freelance and work culture and experiences both for the freelancers and agencies. And there’s the fact I love being my own boss.

7. What business or brand do you look up to?

Facebook and Virgin, both as businesses and brands. As brands they treat their employees fair and equal, offer brilliant maternity /paternity pay, work-life balance, unlimited holiday, flexible working. This is the future of work and how you retain great staff.

8. If you weren't doing this, you would be....

A travel writer.

https://thefreelancecircle.com

5 MINUTES WITH...SHEEZA SHAH, CEO OF UPEFFECT

Sheeza set up the crowdfunding platform, UpEffect, after she saw a great need to empower businesses doing good and give them the means to make a tangible impact on the ground. This young woman has big ambitions for social good in business. We're really excited about what's going to come next for the platform.

1. What motivated you to set up UpEffect?

While completing my Masters in Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, I volunteered for various nonprofits and continued to do so post graduation but soon learnt how inefficient the world’s most “reputable” nonprofit organisations were. Many aid projects required long-term solutions and most aid was dependent on donations which meant impact was always limited. I realised that we were going about it wrong - if we were to tackle today’s greatest problems, it could only be achieved and scaled through business.

After spending many months engaging with social enterprises and understanding best practices, in 2016, I launched UpEffectwith my cofounder, a crowdfunding and support platform for sustainable businesses doing good in the world. We're unlike any other crowdfunding website. Instead of simply providing another platform for campaigns to raise money without any help, UpEffect employs industry best practices to make sure founders are creating exceptional campaign pages and building a “crowd” to back their projects. In essence, UpEffect allows smaller fish that get neglected on larger platforms to convert their powerful ideas into successful campaigns, not only to meet a funding target but also to successfully launch a product to a loyal customer base.

Campaigns on most crowdfunding platforms suffer from limited curation, lack of personalised support, and mass-market focus.  In stark contrast, UpEffect’s enterprise solution approach and campaign consultant model drives their 100% success rate. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are not well positioned to support impact businesses as they rely on sensational stories and one-offs for their success. Hence, 56% of Kickstarter and 90% of Indiegogo campaigns fail, while 9% of Kickstarter campaigns have failed to deliver a single reward to supporters, essentially pocketing the crowdfunded money.  UpEffect is completely revolutionizing this model.

2. What’s the once piece of business advice you wish you’d been given?

I’ve made countless mistakes during the course of my journey. No one ever tells you how hard running a business is. The media has continuously glamorised entrepreneurship and painted many startups as “overnight successes”. There is no such thing. It takes a lot of resilience, tenacity and strength to run a business. 

3. What do you think are the qualities of a good entrepreneur?

Persistence. Most startups fail purely because the founder gave up trying. It takes many years of hard work, learnings and improvements before you start seeing results. 

I also think discipline and embedding healthy habits are vital in building a successful business. Looking after your personal health is the most important thing you can do for yourself, your customers and your team. 

4. You talk about embedding healthy habits into your schedule. What are your healthy habits?

When I made the decision to run a 100% remote business, I taught myself the importance of self-discipline. There are so many advantages to having the freedom and independence to work from anywhere in the world but staying motivated can be a real challenge if you don’t have structure. 

Every day, I plan my to do list for the next morning; a list typically made of 3 - 4 large tasks. This ensures that my brain is not scrambling for information in the morning or trying to remember all the things that I need to get done. It also means that I’m able to focus on personal development before I get started on work. I typically start my morning with prayer, a 20-minute run, getting ready and breakfast. Owning my morning and ensuring I make time for myself has been monumental in building a positive mindset. Also compartmentalising my days so that I focus on specific areas of the business in large blocks has really helped with task management. 

I try to wrap up the day between 6 and 7pm so that I have an evening to look forward to. Founder burntout is very real and incredibly tough to recover from. After having experienced it, I now take many measure to actively avoid repeating past mistakes of overworking myself. It’s just not worth it. Health is the most important thing. You can run a thriving business by managing your tasks and days well. It all comes down to discipline and organisation. 

5. What’s your greatest achievement so far?

Maintaining a 100% success rate in helping our companies get funded. It brings us so much joy to see the transformational journey of the entrepreneurs that we work with everyday. Witnessing an idea convert into a successful business and make a real impact in a community is incredibly satisfying. 

Sheeza at the MC Awards.

6. What do you think defines success?

It’s very difficult to define success. I don’t perceive success to be a destination. but rather a journey. You achieve one goal, then you move on to the next. We keep pushing the parameters of success in our lives, whether it’s at work with regards to a promotion or landing a particular client at your business, or it’s with finding the right partner and having children. The list grows as we progress in life, therefore, I personally don't attach a definition to success.

7. What keeps you awake at night?

The ultimate goal of UpEffect is to help every business go ethical and aid the fight against all forms of poverty. I love that we’re a driving force behind many businesses that are actively working on building a healthier planet and raising the standard of living for many local and global communities.

8. What social enterprises would you love to work with?

Brands like Warby Parker, Lxmi, The Krotchet Kids and The Soular Backpack are doing incredible work in the field of social entrepreneurship. We would also love to work with more local businesses and artisans to raise awareness on their work and connect them to a global marketplace.

9. If you weren’t building UpEffect, what would you be doing?

Probably working as a tech product manager for a social enterprise. I couldn’t see myself working for a non impact based company, I would need to be contributing to sustainable change through my work.

https://www.theupeffect.com

5 MINUTES WITH....ED WOOLNER, FOUNDER OF POW DRINKS

Meet Ed Woolner, the man who helped to build Monster Drinks from nothing into a business worth £95 million in the UK and Ireland. But he hasn’t looked back at corporate life since setting up The Powerful Water Company and POW Natural Energy (POW). Ed got sick of justifying to friends what he was selling, which in his words was ‘on the same level as Benson & Hedges’. He set up POW to give consumers choice with a selection of healthy flavoured waters and combat the sugar overloads we see in soft drinks today. This guy is dripping in passion….

1. With strong knowledge and experience in the drinks industry, is there anything that has surprised you about building POW? Despite knowing my way around the trade comfortably, the level of tenacity needed to be an entrant is irrepressible. You’ll have the crap beaten out of you. No blue chip environment prepares you for it. You have to go through the emotion of not having money and being constantly up against knocks and embrace it all. It’s like doing an MBA – you have to go through the sh*t to understand what it’s like to work hard and succeed. There is so much luck and timing involved. Oh, and you need to be able to sell and sell hard. The founder of Clipper (Mike Brehme) once told me that “even if you can have a cure for cancer you still need to be able to sell it” – he wasn’t wrong.

2. What thing would you most like to change about the drinks industry? The bullsh*t in soft drinks. There is so much marketing flab about what’s healthy and what’s not healthy. And the big boys hold so much power over everything, which makes it hard for startups trying to break through. The big corporates need to be offering choice to consumers. Look at Coke; they’re not innovating or creating something healthy.

3. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt from starting up POW?
The whole process has been humbling. I’ve learnt that you can’t bullsh*t yourself; you’ve got to be brutally honest. If you pretend you can do everything, you’ll fail. 

4. What's the one piece of business advice you wish you'd been given when you started?
Surround yourself with people better than you and who will do the things you’re crap at. There is a science to good brand marketing and this is an area where I fall down, among others. I’ve had to fill the gaps with the right people to do these jobs.

5. Was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?
I’ve got so close to it. From finance issues to not having the right people in the business, things you're not good at can knock you off course. But I’ve never been scared of failing. If I had to say goodbye to POW I won’t see it as failure. I wouldn’t give up the slog because I am learning so much all the time. And what does “complete the task” actually mean anyway?

6. What's been the biggest milestone for the business so far?
I am proud of the distribution I’ve created for the brand (this has played to my strengths). Making it through the hardest financial issues and making it into year 3 with good people involved has been a great milestone because the buck doesn’t just stop with me anymore. 

7. Who is your inspiration?
My family have been amazing – we’ve really pulled together. Setting up a business makes or breaks couples and my wife has been a trooper. She’s given me genuine advice and support when I’ve needed it. There have been times when it was only us two running the business…that was fun!

8. What keeps you motivated?
My belief in what trying I’m trying to do. Through POW I want to offer consumers healthier choices. But there’s much more we can do and I’m up for the fight. Getting cut through to the consumer is really hard with so much white noise out there. When I started I didn’t think beyond seeing something on the shelf, but actually the hard learning has only just started. The tough bits balance out the good bits, though. This business buys me and my family choices. I go surfing when the waves are good to clear my head and if I want to go for a run in the middle of the day, I will. 

9. What business or brand do you look up to?
Patagonia. If you’re creating a business, that would be it. They’ve proven that they can win at emotional consumption over material consumption. Finisterre, a local brand to us, are another that have nailed their mission and have created a great brand with a real point of difference.

10.  If you weren't doing this, you would be....
If money was no object, I’d be working with a brand or NGO with an environmental mission – an organisation that gives back to the community. My dream job would involve surfing too. If you cut me open, water pours out. 

http://powenergywater.com

5 MINUTES WITH...JEREMY HIBBERT-GARIBALDI, FOUNDER OF COLLECTIVFOOD

Jeremy Hibbert-Garibaldi is trying to start a new food revolution. To transform the food chain for retailers and buyers in the UK food market. COLLECTIVfood is an online procurement platform where restaurants connect directly with hundreds of independent food and drink producers. French and Italian, he is passionate about food and business in equal measures. We find out more...

1. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt from starting up COLLECTIVFood?
Apart from sharing your vision and working on improving your product as a CEO, the most important is to build the right team around you and keep it together. This goes from having the right person at the right seat, to promoting the right culture for everyone to learn new things, be proactive and enthusiastic, to be able to share feedback and overall feel really part of the same journey. And this takes a lot of your time and energy, but is the most important driver of success and growth.

2. What's the one piece of business advice you wish you'd been given when you started?
Don't get distracted. Any action you make and decision you take need to help you achieve your targets. Also, don’t bother anticipating problems that you are not even sure you will face.

3. Was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?
No. When you start your own business, you quickly realise how it works: one step backward, two steps forward. The important thing is to keep moving on. I have been through a lot of down times, with team management, account management or fundraising challenges. If you start doubting it just becomes a distraction. Learn what you need from these challenging times, be open to criticism, be flexible, then leave it behind and keep moving and looking forward. Overall, I’m an optimist and a big believer in people.

4. What's been the biggest milestone for the business so far?
We are an online procurement platform where restaurants connect directly with hundreds of independent food and drink producers. The biggest milestone so far is when a great chain of restaurants started sourcing tons of chickens through us. It was the first time we validated our "win-win-win" proposition. Great quality chickens from an amazing family ran farm, straight to the restaurants who are now saving more than 20% on the price, and which means better quality dishes for the end-customers with the guarantee of transparency and traceability.

5. Who is your inspiration?
This is a difficult question to answer to as it all depends on which topic. Current entrepreneurs and leaders such as Xavier Niel, Bernard Arnault, Oprah Winfrey, Larry Page and Jeff Bezos are all really inspiring. At some point Eric Holder also played an important role in my interest in ethics, laws and transparency. I am really into meditation so a lot of guides and spirituality are also playing an important part in my life.

6. What keeps you motivated?
The learning experience and the positive impact we can have on society. And all the difficult and successful times we share with the team.

7. What business or brand do you look up to?
I am amazed by Slack and how they built their product, including the choice of frameworks and technology. I am passionate about Elon Musk's projects and how these ideas force people to be creative, out of their comfort zone and open to change. Finally, I have a growing interest in Google for their team and resources management and their OKRs ("Objective and Key Results" strategy) implementation.

8. If you weren't doing this, you would be....
A beekeeper on Mars with the help of Elon Musk or I would probably find an innovative way to contribute to what I was doing before: fighting corruption and white-collar crime as I am still passionate about these topics.

https://collectivfood.com

5 MINUTES WITH...RICHARD SINCLAIR, FOUNDER OF SNO

Richard Sinclair is more than ambitious, he's a daredevil. A former Executive Producer of the BBC, he's constantly pushing boundaries and his latest expedition is turning over millions. He is the founder of SNO, the ski holidays provider with the goal of making travel more accessible to more people. That's no mean feat. This guy is inspiring in bucketloads.

1. What's the biggest lesson you've learnt from starting up SNO?
Always be recruiting. Truly great people are hard to find, but they change your business, and your life. Constantly seek them out, to come and join the mission. In my former life as Executive Producer at the BBC, incredibly ambitious and motivated talent was literally on tap because everyone wants to work there. If I had a new cunning plan, I could speak to HR and find a small cadre of experienced film makers and Oxbridge grads to grab it by the scruff and go make it happen. The real world is not populated with over-achievers, so the trick is to be constantly searching for SNO men and women. We’re always looking for people “like us”.

2. What's the one piece of business advice you wish you'd been given when you started?
Hire A-players, then enable them to get on with it themselves. I see why the likes of Jobs and Musk constantly looked for amazing people to join the mission. If you lead well, these great people don’t need to be managed, so you can focus instead on removing barriers and being an enabler for them… these A-players can achieve goals creatively and autonomously, and they’ll feel much more fulfilled having created their own solutions.

These people also constantly have a growth mindset and, like me, take great pleasure in constantly learning. They love figuring out how to do new things, or do the same things better… working hard on the business but working hardest on themselves. There’s nothing more powerful than striving for mastery, to make you stand out in a crowded world, filled mostly with the ordinary.

At SNO we’re always looking for people who are fun to work with, but also very ambitious and switched-on. Culture is so important so I’m always quietly trying to figure out if this person is a SNO man or woman.

3. Was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?
No. Never. I should qualify that. There have been times when I thought I should carefully consider if it was the right thing to do, when the extremes of work-volume and financial-stress were too much for loved ones around me, or risked being damaging to my most important relationships… but I never wanted to quit, I just took time to consider on a few occasions whether I ought to.

4. What's been the biggest milestone for the business so far?
Probably passing the £5m revenue mark. It’s an abstract goal, but signifies much more to us, as we’ve reached the ability to do many more exciting things.

We were in profit by year 1, but only just, and with little more than cash for very meagre growth-funding and self-sustenance. Fortunately, I was happy to live in penury for the first 3 years, to liberate those extra few per cent for growth projects. My better-half was less enthusiastic about watching our car and clothes and house slowly age and wear, but utterly supportive, first taking on the role of FD and later COO. While I’m pimping the engine, she keeps the wheels on!

Business coaching tries to help you delineate working on the business versus working in the business and it’s dead right. My first job at SNO (after initial setup) was to quickly engineer myself out of the day to day operations, which has allowed me to work almost entirely on growth. This approach is essential if you want to scale, and goes back to your first questions, because the answer is to hire A-players and then also create processes, so that the day to day functioning doesn’t rely on the founder in any way.

5. Who is your inspiration?
I think, like most people I have many, but I learned a lot about what a human is really capable of, on a month-long expedition to the Magnetic North Pole with the remarkable Dr Mike Stroud. He was partner to Sir Ranulph Fiennes on their famous unsupported expeditions to the South Pole and many other epic endeavours. I found great strength after being tested beyond a level which I’d have considered breaking point.

I was 4 weeks away from land, out on the frozen ocean, having lost over a stone in weight and struggling to lead a film crew who were also far out of their comfort zone. Taking the battery we wore in our underwear (to keep at body temperature and ready to work in an emergency) I turned on the satellite phone for a rare call home. I vividly recall in mid-conversation, beginning to weep, for no good reason other than mental and physical exhaustion. My partner later said she was quite afraid for me, having recently seen pictures come back of the polar bear who came to eat us, and the team members with frostbite. I think that was awakening for me, from which I draw strength even now. To feel so utterly spent, and then find will, we can still go on. It’s powerful. Afterwards I put those lessons to the test by completing Ironman on six months of training and a few swimming lessons. I take huge strength from those learnings, that our limits are actually much greater than we know, if only we can steel the mind to go on.

In my day to day life I have to say it’s probably my boys Jimmy (9) and Charles (7). Their amazing combination of naïve joyfulness and a constant thirst to learn and know more, is a kind of nirvana to me, and a lofty goal for adults with more complex lives. My ideal is to combine that growth mindset with the imperative to recognise and grasp those moments of joy whenever they present themselves (often with those boys).

6. What keeps you motivated?

I’m not sure how to pin it down to one thing. It’s all incredibly exciting. I think what really floats-my-boat is the knowledge that, when we have 10 times our current spare-profit (to use as growth funding), I can immerse myself almost entirely in growth projects. We still have more than 90 per cent of our ideas still in the tank, waiting to go. That will move things forward enormously. It’s exciting because it’s a compounding effect. I can feel the curve steepening, as our profits increase and we get our hands on more growth money, to fund more and more ambitious projects.

7. What business or brand do you look up to?

I like the approach of the Virgin group, in focussing on a great brand (customer experience and brand marketing), and not being industry-specific. I’m not from “travel” which means that, while we want to be successful in this industry first, I think a memorable brand like SNO can do almost anything, if it’s careful to be about a promise of a particular kind of experience. Beyond that, we’ll make SNO itself a brand to look up to, as we work on our mission to democratise travel. After universal access to healthcare and education, I think travel is the third great boon of our age. If we can make travel easy and ubiquitous for the world (not just the wealthy part) I believe that is our best chance of fixing the horrible disconnect and misunderstanding that plagues mankind. Technology, well-combined with people, is the way to genuinely disintermediate the travel industry, and we’re working on something that I think will change the world. How we’re going to do that, I’ll have to let you wait and see.

8. If you weren't doing this, you would be....

I might return to my university passions, where reading Cognitive Science gave the thrill of learning fundamentals in AI, neuroscience and psychology. This influence will feed directly into SNO in our upcoming machine-learning projects. Or possibly still making TV. The BBC was central to my formative years, where I gained my consumer-centric instincts at Watchdog, slaked my thirst for science and tech at Tomorrow’s World, and then found my passion for travel while running Holiday. These great influences and more from Auntie and its incredible people, can be found now at the heart of SNO.

http://sno.co.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=s3LAuwPNO4g