Ambitious Lifestyle Business podcast

Evergreen Assets is OUT NOW! Get a FREE sample chapter at https://bigidea.co.uk/evergreen-assets In this bonus episode of the ALB podcast, John reads the opening chapter of the book LIVE (including a rather "interesting" attempt at singing a Christmas song), as well as a bonus chapter that isn't in the print version of the book.

ALB83 – The man with the BEST podcast voice This month's guest is fellow One Percenter Jonathan Rees. Jonathan delivers soft-skills workshops, strategic facilitation, keynote talks and 1:1 coaching, building on experience from corporate life including 14 years at Hewlett Packard, where he led a virtual team spread across the globe. Jonathan helps build and improve the performance and resilience of teams and their leaders, facilitating learning through interactive & engaging workshops. His first (serious) book: "The Resilience Toolkit: Powerful ways to thrive in blue-light services" was published in February 2019. Here is a review from 'Dr. Larry Mallak, Western Michigan University, Author of 'The Workplace Resilience Instrument (WRI)' "Jonathan Rees shows us through bright examples and actionable exercises that we, too, can thrive under pressure. Our own resilient behaviours can be modelled to match the situations we face. Although reading about what makes people resilient can be insightful, Jonathan's battery of self-assessment tools provides the reader with specific feedback to be more effective and view adverse situations as opportunities more so than danger." Let's have a coffee Also known as free coaching as John calls it, Jonathan doesn't begrudge spending his time with anyone as he is more than happy to help people. In fact he gets more happiness in helping others. Ambition is a dirty word. Jonathan explains how ambition was always a dirty word to him and that everyone's ambition is their own and simply cannot be measured against others. Lifestyle He has crafted a life for himself that works perfectly for him and his family. Celebrating the wins Jonathan had a tendency to only focus on the things he hadn't done but joining the OPCC has changed that mainly thanks to the World Domination Planner, or he is now forced to reflect as he puts it. Stop forever climbing the mountain and stop to admire the view. Resilience The advice Jonathan gives is in depth and definitely a must listen for business owners. Leaving the corporate world behind So, what has Jonathan been doing since, click play to find out. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB82 – John Warrillow This month's episode is slightly different, as you know we normally chat with a client, but today we are taking to bestselling author John Warrillow, who is the author of best-selling book Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You was recognized by both Fortune and Inc. as one of the best business books of 2011 and just so happens to be John Lamerton's favourite book. John is also the host of Built to Sell Radio, ranked by Forbes as one of the world's 10 best podcasts for business owners. In 2015, John wrote another best-selling book, The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry. John completes the trilogy with his latest book, The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top. Let's get the house valued Just because you book a valuation, doesn't necessarily mean you are going to sell your house that month, the same applies for your retirement pot, you check it as you want it to be ready when you are ready to move house or retire. Well, the same applies for your business. Scaling back The pandemic has been a struggle for most business owners, but what many have realised is that actually they are able to operate a much leaner business model, that perhaps you do not need offices and multiple overheads. And this in turn has seen a trend in more lifestyle businesses being created. Subscription models are the way forward John and Jason are HUGE fans of a subscription model, in fact most of their businesses run on this model. But why do they like them so much? Yes or No How much time would you free up by being able to answer employees' questions with a simple Yes or No answer? Learn the art of a "Yesable question" So, do you want to sell your business? You probably don't, but how many of you would like to know you "COULD" sell your business if you wanted too? For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB81 – Alun missed the memo regards 1% weekly gains Alun is a registered psychotherapist who works on a 1-2-1 basis with his clients but also teaches and shares his expertise with other psychotherapists through his website fresh therapists. He uses this platform to educate therapists and counsellors on how to achieve transformational change with their clients. Alun translates the breakthroughs of neuroscience to the therapy room so that other psychotherapists are able to apply it to their own client work. March seems like only yesterday Alun began his journey with the One Percent Club in March, and it would be fair to say he has fully utilised everything that it had to offer, and the benefits are really speaking for themselves but he's nowhere near done yet. In his words "all that has happened so far is that it has lifted the bar of what is possible to me". Alun used to be fragile As a lot of us already know being self-employed can sometimes leave you in a very fragile state economically, but Alun has rectified this by adding more revenue streams to his business that will continue to make money if he is unable to in the short term Hunting Instinct After reading John's book Big Ideas for Small Businesses, Alun decided to hunt John down. He liked the ethos, and although he found some of the questions uncomfortable, he could relate to a lot of what was said. Alun like John and Jason enjoys life and knows that it is very important. All by himself Alun was surrounded by lots of friends and family, but he found himself looking for like-minded business people to ask advice, share ideas, vent and so on. Virtual board members so to speak. He knew he liked what he had read in Johns books and had also asked John to appear on his own podcast. He had pondered joining the One Percent Club, in his mind it was a relatively easy gamble to make. Miss Whiplash If you had asked Alun 6 months ago whether he was looking for accountability he would have proudly told you no, but Alun soon realised that the 1-2-1 weekly calls with Jason who will now be known as Miss Whiplash offered far more than just accountability. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

For the 5th year running, we have the ALB Summer Special edition with John and Jason. So, what have they been up to this year? Well, there is another book for John on its way "Evergreen Assets" which is currently at the editing stage. 106,000 words was then down to 94,000 then back up to 104,000 he was then totally ruthless and was sitting at 102,000 words and at the time of recording lost another 3000 words and all of that was with just the 1 edit. This book will be available November 2021 and is your one stop ecosystem of doing the work once and then be able to reap the rewards over and over again. BUT you have to do the work. Lockdown It has been a year like no other, and all plans were thrown up into the air but that said it certainly didn't stop John or Jason with moving the businesses forward. It has given them time to look at everything within their businesses and fix any holes that may have appeared in those buckets. Concentrating on the assets, the businesses in turn run better. Investment strategies and assets Find out John's advice on what he classes as assets, is word of mouth an asset? Not according to John, it isn't. How do you turn 1 customer into 1:1 and so on. Leaky Buckets Do you have any of these? Have you taken the time to identify them? That's not my burger? Ordering what you want should be the simplest thing shouldn't it? But it must look like the burger in the picture. How to turn Dave into Oliver? Identifying your customers is crucial, listen to find out ways to turn them from a confused newbie to a seasoned pro. Making sure that handovers happen smoothly. If things start well, they end well. Knock Knock On the 1st September the doors to The One Percent Club will be open again. Find out what some of our last intake have been up to and what you can expect when you join. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB79 – Why Sarah Lamerton closed the doors after just 18 months 18 months ago Sarah quit her job and started her new business. In that time using the techniques she shares in this podcast she has gained a decade of experience, is currently completely full and has closed her books in order to embrace the lifestyle business she wanted to achieve. School Days Sarah had worked as a teacher for almost 20 years working her way up the ladder to a senior lead in education within the primary years setting. Sarah has always liked to challenge herself but found that the more and more changes schools were expected to go through she was losing her "why". Square pegs are good Sarah knows how to teach and is a master in not only accepting but also implementing that children are all different and therefore will all learn in different ways. She wanted to take the time to be able to celebrate children's individuality. Nurture their love for maths and celebrate their results but that is not so easy to deliver within the classroom setting. Words of advice from her spouse Being married to John, Sarah is not a stranger to the Ambitious Lifestyle Business he has strived to achieve, and she was very aware that the pressure she was under from her employed job was far from fitting in that box. But it is not in Sarah's nature to give up on anything, so she persevered for the time being. Sarah did offload onto John about the pressure the job was bringing, how she felt the longing for an ambitious lifestyle business but still be able to do what she loves and teach. John offered sound words of advice "leave then" The nagging "Who am I doing this for?" and not necessarily agreeing with certain ways of doing things continued to play on Sarah's mind however. This was then emphasised by her own two children's experience of school and she realised that school isn't right for all children and there are most certainly different ways of doing things. 18 months of planning her business It was definitely not a kneejerk decision, Sarah thought long and hard about this decision to start her own business but she knew it was something she had to do. The original plan was to start the business and continue to teach part time, but soon realised that this was just not going to work. Even part time hours equated to full time when she considered lesson planning, marking and everything else involved. No, all Sarah's focus would be on her new business. Who leaves a paid role to start brand new business just before a pandemic? Nobody knew what was around the corner for us back in early 2020 but a global pandemic probably wasn't high on our lists of things that could go wrong. But Sarah had made her decision she was starting her lifestyle business and as mentioned earlier it is simply not in Sarah's nature to give up on anything. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB78 – A ticket to Italy please School Days Today's guest is Andy Keveren, Andy attended 11 different schools and left with no GCSE'S due to his family's service upbringing. He then went back to college to obtain his GCSE English and Maths, he also studied Business Studies but by his own admission doesn't remember a thing about that but it is clear that this didn't stop him creating a successful business. Time to travel He then fell into a job in reinsurance for 5 years but always had a desire to run his own business, but this job kept him for another 2 years before Andy made the decision to pack his bag and do some travelling. The family business In his absence, Andy's parents bought a hotel in Scotland so when he returned from his travels, he started managing the hotel bar where he was initially offered an hourly rate, in his first week he put in 105 hours, the following week he was put on a salary! Caravan Life Andy still had the itch to run his own business, he had always played football and had thought how cool it would be to sell football kits, his uncle had dabbled in printing a few years ago so Andy knew a little about it. In 2007 Andy's grandparents were affected by the Gloucester floods and were temporarily housed in a static caravan, they decided to purchase this off the insurance company and Andy decided that he would sell his car, and this would become his first office alongside a garage he converted to be his first stock room. A ticket to Italy please Soon after Andy was introduced to Macron and was given the opportunity to fly to Italy to learn more about them as a company. It was on this trip that Macron offered a business opportunity to own a Macron store with only one condition, he could only sell Macron. Andy put his hand up and from here his journey began. The business started with a bang (literally) Andy had secured a unit which was rent free for the first year and Macron had helped set up the shop, all was good to go however on Andy's first day he went to get some milk and was hit at a junction by another car traveling at 50mph and ended up in hospital. That did not stop Andy though and the business continued to grow, in 2010 Andy met his wife who had retrained as a photographer and had pulled in some help from his cousin to do some printing, in 3-4 years Andy had around 4 staff and all was well. Macron had a big budget for advertising, but Andy had the flexibility to run the business his way, so it really was a win win situation. Time to scale up or is it? Andy wanted to grow and grow his business or at least he thought he did. Andy purchased Johns first book and really invested into it, so much so he decided to join the Ambitious Lifestyle Business page, shortly followed by the One Percent Club. Andy is not afraid to say that his personality does not lend itself well to network groups, but the One Percent Club is different it is a smaller group full of likeminded people. Through his journey with the One Percent Club he has established some great connections from an accountant who does things differently and his graphic designer. Life is all about balance Andy has a family and wanted to ensure he doesn't miss them growing up, he has worked hard on his growth through robust processes which has enabled him to get the perfect balance. To find out more about what Andy's business can offer, check out his website. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

This month's guest is Dan Harrison who is the Director and lead developer at WPdoctors Dans whirlwind romance with WordPress Dan accidentally slipped into the world of WordPress back in 2005, when it was only a couple of years old. It has since become a very significant platform for websites. Over time his aspirations started to grow, and he wanted more and more, but this resulted in him working himself to the bone and becoming quite low. He found himself surrounded by people, sucking up their environment and invaluably seduced by it, which he says is easy to do when you don't know what you want, the less focused you are the more attractive it seems. The more focused you are is when you realise it is an alien environment and actually you don't want it at all. Dan loves a problem Dan wanted to focus on one thing, and do that one thing really, really well, he had realised that there was a significant demand for WordPress-specific help, and he realised this was something and from there he created the brand WP Doctors (or WordPress Doctors) to specifically look after businesses that need technical help, creating themes, plugins or solving problems with their WordPress websites. Look out Christopher Dean Dan loves a good shopping list and has created one for the things he wants to achieve which includes a trip to Machu Picchu and learning how to ice skate! Find out how Dan spent £350 and saved himself £75k He realised that you don't have to own something to experience it, and actually sometimes just trying it is enough to realise it isn't important to you at all. When children talk, listen Dan has a son and asked him what he thinks is fun and if he had £1 million pond what would he spend it on? Focus on what you ACTUALLY want and stick to a plan especially if it involves luxury marshmallows For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

Lee Penton spent years building a small graphic design agency, only to find that his business was running him, not the other way around. He was burning out, and needed to find another way. One "lightbulb moment" later, Lee now pays as much attention to designing his business and lifestyle, as he does to designing websites and logos - and he's now teaching others how to build a freelance business that serves them.

The One Percent Club March intake closes at 9pm on Wednesday March 31st. Click here to join, or find out more. In this episode, John answers some of the questions you asked in a recent "Ask Me ANYTHING..."

Emma Walton was a teacher, with two (very!) young children at home when she started her Tuition business - and through a process of constant, never-ending improvement, Emma's business has grown alongside her kids. She now employs 45 tutors, and helps 350 children a week, as she's designed her business as an ambitious, lifestyle business - to deliver the lifestyle that she TRULY wants. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

Whether you call them 1% gains, Winner Stays On, Marginal Gains, optimisation, or Constant And Never-ending Improvement - doesn't matter. What matters is that you strive to be better tomorrow than you were today. The One Percent Club is NOT about growing your business. A bigger business often means more stress, more problems and more responsibilities. More isn't better. Better is better. The One Percent Club won't help you GROW your business. It'll help you IMPROVE your business, so that it delivers the lifestyle you TRULY want The One Percent Club doors are open until March 31st at 9pm - https://bigidea.co.uk/opcc

Nine years ago, James Marks sat, head in hands at his kitchen table, wondering how he was going to pay the bills. Today, James owns a number of businesses, employs 34 people, and has systemised his entire operation - leaving him free to write romance novels. Yes, really. In this episode, James tells us exactly how he became an "overnight success" in those nine years. In this episode, you'll discover: How James started his very first business by searching Google for "how to run a window cleaning round" after his interest-free credit cards ran out. James's constant devotion to personal development and self improvement. How a One Percent Club coaching call helped James realise that he needed to systemise his business. How, as a result of that systemisation work, James removed himself from the day-to-day work. The rule of 3 and 10 - that predicts exactly when your business systems will break. The time that James devotes to creating evergreen assets - including ghostwriting romance novels under a pen name! How wrong we all were about 2020 - hoping for "a year of plain sailing", and declaring it would be "the year of travel" - oops!

#ALB73 – The man who keeps people connected….. Tony Smith This month's guest is Tony Smith, Tony served 30 years with Lincolnshire police before enjoying some well-deserved rest in retirement. But it wasn't long before he started getting restless, and when his son took redundancy and started up his own business a discussion took place. Tony joined his son and together they grew the business that is Genius Technology Solutions which is now over 10 years old. Working with family members can be tricky, as some of you may know! But after a realisation that texting or calling at 9pm would not be acceptable in any other job. Tony and his son put in place some ground rules, to ensure thy both got the downtime they both needed. The business has consistently grown and where his son finds himself looking after the enterprise side of things Tony looks after the SME's. Genius Technology Solutions provides all types of phones, from VOIP, mobiles and landlines plus broadband connectivity and Wi-Fi. Last year we relied heavily on keeping connected virtually, and truly appreciated how important it is whether that has been for business or to speak to friends and family. This is something Tony has known for years. Thank you to Tony for being our first guest of 2021. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

So, the end of 2020 is in sight and I am sure that it will be a welcomed goodbye for a lot of us. But firstly we have the upbeat and uplifting #ALB Christmas Special podcast with John and Jason, which has become a bit of a Christmas tradition, so grab yourself a festive beverage to sip on, sit back and enjoy an hour of John and Jason as they reflect upon 2020, the ups and downs, and their plans for 2021. They discuss their book of the year, word of the year, what they have learnt and how they have helped others overcome what has been a particularly tricky year for all business owners. For all of the John's book fans out there, you will be pleased to hear some news he has for you all too. And finally, we would like to wish all of you a very happy and healthy Christmas. Stay safe and here's to 2021. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this months episode, we have our One Percent Club resident Facebook ads expert Danny Harris. If Facebook ads are what you need advice on Danny is the man to go to, when he started working in this industry, he was purely managing Facebook pages for people. There was no advertising involved, times have moved on and now he works much more on the advertising side of things because Facebook pages have changed and Facebook as we all know has evolved. The next stage for Danny, will be to teach other people how to do run their own pages effectively. When an advert comes on the TV, that's when you pick your phone up and watch your phone rather than watching the advert on the TV. So previously what was the audience on the TV is now much more on Facebook, on social media, online generally, and with Facebook being by far the most used website on the planet and people spend more time on it and any other, they basically, can't not work. Danny also has a whole concept of starting a charity at some point. And the point of the charity will be to help underprivileged kids. It will be focusing on teaching them about things like online marketing, so that they can learn a different route to perhaps the unpleasant routes that a lot of disadvantaged kids end up going down sadly. Danny's business is called DH2026 Ltd, now the first part of that company name is probably quite self-explanatory, but what does the 2026 mean? Well Danny has a plan and that will be revealed in the podcast. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

This months guest is Steve West owner of The Pudding Compartment, (John's perfect client). Steve makes delicious handcrafted cakes, biscuits, flapjacks, Brownies, sticky, toffee, puddings cookies, scones, you name it, all white labelled for businesses such as Virgin trains and 2016 apprentice winner Alana Spencer. Steve joined the One Percent Club 6 months ago with 3 clear goals, there have been many obstacles that many business owners have faced over the last few months, Steve included but despite this, those goals are still in place and Steve is well on track to achieving them all!! For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB69 – Meet The One Percenters It is September, which means the doors to the One Percent Club are officially open! The One Percent Club is a community of like-minded business owners, looking to grow their business, get more free time, and make more money – without just working harder. One Percenters want to be held accountable, they want focus, and they want structure. They understand that running a business can be lonely at times, and that hanging around with the right people is key. In this episode John and Jason will give you a full insight into what happens within the One Percent Club, not only that, you will also have the opportunity to listen to existing members experiences and find out, the most beneficial things they have found to be in their time being a One Percenter. To sign up or for more information visit bigidea.co.co.uk For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB68 – The Ghost of Business Past This summer special episode is going to take you all on a little trip down memory lane and look at not only what John has done over the last 20 years, but also and maybe most importantly what he has learned. Some of the mistakes that have been made and some of the key takeaways that you can benefit from. 20 Years ago, John was working as a civil servant, he had just bought his first house, he was getting married the following year, life was all good. And then something happened. He was moved to a different department in the service and he absolutely hated his new job, he also suddenly found himself in a job where the average lifespan of an employee was two years. His previous role was within a section where literally nobody ever left. John decided within the first two weeks of being there that this was not the job for him. So he started applying for other jobs, looking at leaving the civil service completely, whether he could work within the private sector, perhaps get another role within the civil service. And one other thing he looked at was, well, could he start his own business? Skip forward 3 years and Jason come along to form the dynamic but incredibly modest duo that is John and Jason. Sit back, click play and enjoy listening to their business journey. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

This episode's guest is Rupert Bassadone, Rupert spent his early years in the circus, living in trucks and caravans, he missed a lot of school but the circus lifestyle came to an end when it went off to America and never came back, Rupert then moved into the city lifestyle, joined school and settled into a different lifestyle. He is grateful for his early years upbringing as with this backround it was inevitable really that he would go on to work in the events industry. Over the last decade-and-a-half. He's led many high-profile events across the world including leading equestrian events and music festivals as well as major events in the Emirates, Russia, Spain, Canary Islands and France is the founder of Event Site Design. Rupert always wanted a business that supported his ambitious lifestyle plans, he finds himself always looking to the future. Lifestyle comes first for him and he focuses on what the businesses needs to be doing to be able to provide that lifestyle, he visualises it with skills that he has picked up through the OPCC as well as other channels and breaks these all down "One thing at a time". May 2020 was Rupert's busiest month EVER on his calendar he actually pondered at one stage how on earth he was actually going to do it all but then Covid hit. Suddenly Rupert found himself with more time on his hands But for Rupert more time created more goals find out more by clicking play. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

Join us with our guest, John Risby, this Thursday for the latest episode of the ALB Podcast. John has worked for himself most of his life, originally a programmer, and later a web developer. He eventually discovered affiliate marketing. Where, like many of us, he made hay whilst the sun, shone, in the early days of ad-words, including a very nice profit from the incredibly annoying, crazy frog ring tone. But behind this lurked a developing problem. And in 2004 John finally accepted, he was an alcoholic and stopped drinking. He started the alcohol-free shop many years before alcohol free drinks were fashionable. It's been a rewarding journey for John, but not without its ups and downs. John takes us back to those early days of affiliate marketing, which he describes as very London centric. There were lots of free bars. There were lots of champagne breakfasts, liquid lunches, and boozy nights. There was a lot of money being made and a lot of money being spent too. But that boozy lifestyle was not sustainable for John and he realized things had to change, so that is exactly what he did, he took action, click play to find out more about John's journey. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this episode we welcome Karlie Somerville aka the queen of green, at the moment she is helping more than 4000 business owners deal with the crisis that coronavirus has brought. Karlie is a two-time former One Percenter and made a guest appearance in John's last book, "Routine Machine." 3 years ago, Karlie said she was going to get a commercial business premises, a few people told her she wouldn't be able to do that, but guess what, she did, and the rest as they say is history. Karlie's first business was EcoBlitz an environmentally conscious cleaning company, but with the premises now secured, she went on to launch EcoBliz Laundry Limited. By Karlie's own admissions she is a workaholic, she is completely inspired by learning and achieving new things. Karlie even says that it has become her lifestyle therefore she doesn't look at it like work. In this podcast we are going to go back to the early days sitting in the pub where Karlie had plenty of discussions with John and Jason, as a former one percenter, Karlie learnt the benefits of having efficient systems and processes in place, it was partly why she felt ready to launch EcoBlitz Laundry Ltd that alongside a bucket full of ambition. This ambition is still as fierce now as it was then and has led to Karlie now having 5 successful businesses. So how has lockdown been for Karlie, well it looks a little like supporting 4000 and growing business owners, click play to find out more. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

Get them for FREE instead! Today (and EVERY Friday throughout the Coronavirus lockdown) is FREE BOOK FRIDAY - where you can download the Kindle version of BOTH "Big Ideas.. for Small Businesses" AND "Routine Machine" completely FREE. No gimmicks. You'll get the FULL version of BOTH Kindle books for FREE - this Free Book Friday! Tell anyone you know who might want to read either book - THIS FRIDAY (and every Friday for as long as Amazon will let me do it!) will be... FREE BOOK FRIDAY!

Paul Burton, was the youngest ever editor of the Plymouth Herald. In this episode, you're going to hear Paul talk about how some cardboard sunglasses persuaded the people of Plymouth to queue around the block to buy a printed newspaper. Paul is also going to talk about the future of printed media, the rise of influencer marketing, and how businesses can write better copy and more effective headlines. Paul started his career in Bristol around the turn of the century. In his own words he "kind of worked as a reporter for about seven or eight years". The industry went through an enormous amount of change about 10 years ago, and then every year seemed to get even more enormous, and every year new challenges would present themselves, things like Google, Facebook etc, and continue to disrupt the industry just like they disrupted most other industries. Paul's opportunity to become editor in Exeter presented itself about eight years ago, it was the company that owned The Herald in Plymouth and many other papers around the country, it was all the talent reinvented, and there were lots of opportunities available. Paul was asked if he would like to come down and help in Plymouth, and at the time The Herald was in a sort of state of flux, the paper's sales were in decline, in quite steep decline, but that said it did have a loyal audience, and there was certainly a big opportunity digitally, it was just defining how to seize that opportunity. Do you remember the eclipse? Paul certainly does, he decided to have a load of branded cardboard sunglasses made, in order to receive them you had to buy a herald of course from certain retail outlets , this resulted in people travelling from all areas of the country to Plymouth to buy a paper so that they could get a pair. Paul learnt a lot from that, strategy marketing is always trumpeted as one of the best illusions that you can construct, and that was certainly what was at play that day, he doesn't think for one minute that everyone who bought a Herald that day actually wanted a pair of cardboard sunglasses, they just thought they did because everybody else wanted one too. Paul initially took 4 weeks off for a break which turned into 6 weeks, and within that time he thought hard about what he wanted to do. Paul knew that he was good at helping creating content, he knew that he was good at planning content, and he knew that he had helped lots of businesses in the past, he had spoken to lots of advertisers about the future of their business and how they weren't going to be able to take a quarter page ad on page three anymore, they were going to need to think more broadly about how they market themselves. And so that sort of germinated really into the business that he runs today…… For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

Earlier this week, I recorded a video for my One Percent Club members, showing them exactly HOW I'm going to 5x one of my businesses in 2020 - and how they could copy me, and do the same. I've shared that video with you in this bonus podcast episode. By the end of this episode, you'll be able to: Understand the power of "marginal gains" See how just 162 "1% gains" are needed to 5x your business Create your own folder of "1% gains" - easy-to-implement tactics and strategies that grow your business Make implementing these "1% gains" a daily, weekly or monthly habit - that pay lifetime dividends every time you do! See how not all "1% gains" are created equal - and how I've already grown my business by 80% with just TWO "1% gains" Doors are currently open for the March intake of my One Percent Club, where I share more than 250 "1% gains" with you, and coach you through implementing them in YOUR business - you can find out more, and apply to join at http://www.bigidea.co.uk/opcc

In this podcast we speak with longstanding One Percent Club member Chris Harris. Chris is a former Royal Marine, unfortunately an injury shortened his time within the Royal Marines. Chris then started his business, working from home with just £300 pounds and threw himself into the world of home fragrance with a well-known American brand. Chris successfully brought this brand to the high streets of Plymouth and Exeter and embarked on a retail whirlwind. But that whirlwind came with a lot of stress and less and less time was being spent with his family, so something needed to change. Chris decided to walk away from that £5 million pound a year business, to create an ambitious lifestyle business, that truly delivers the lifestyle he wants for himself and for his family. In today's episode, you're going to hear why he walked away from it all, and he hasn't stopped walking since. Chris, has now with his wife Charlotte set up a highly successful dog walking, grooming and boarding business Harris Hounds. Harris Hounds are a husband and wife team (Chris and Charlotte) and are there to take care of your dogs every need; exercise, socialising, fun and grooming. Chris is the professional dog walker and Charlotte is a professional groomer. They offer their services separately and/or combined to give your dog the full works. Chris provides a complete Dog Walking Experience, as well as Day Visits and a Pet Taxi Service. The walks are tailored to your dog; if they need to be kept on the lead, short walks, or if they need plenty of exercise, perhaps with a little discipline too, Harris Hounds can help. As a former Royal Marine Chris is organised, strategic - and energetic! He will ensure that your dog has the best possible time on their walks, the utmost care and attention on their home visits and as comfortable car journeys as possible. The business is going from strength to strength, so much so that they have now had to take on a new member of staff to keep up with the demand. To find out more about Chris's journey click play, don't forget the doors to the One Percent Club are now open until the end of March, to find out more visit bigidea.co.uk For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this podcast, we will be chatting with our guest Natasha Conway, the lady who creates ads that make people buy stuff. Over 5 years Natasha has worked on hundreds of google ad words, Facebook ad accounts and successfully helped business owners and entrepreneurs generate more leads and more sales. Tash runs her own company www.trafficsnap.co.uk and specialises in pay per click which has just celebrated it's 4 year anniversary. On her 'About us' section Tash states "It's true. I love Google Ads, and that's why, after several years working for a marketing agency, I made the decision to go it alone and set up TrafficSnap and I've never looked back. Why? You've probably guessed it by now: because I love Google Ads. I love the way that I can turn on a new campaign and start getting new leads for my clients within days. I love the difference I can see in my clients' businesses when they have a steady stream of enquiries to convert. I love the power Google Ads has to allow an SME to compete with the big players in any industry. And to be honest, I love helping my clients sell more stuff and forge a better existence for themselves and the people they love. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

You've heard our daily minipods over the last week or so. You've decided what you're going to change. All you need to do now is START - and KEEP at it. These next 30 days are CRUCIAL if you're going to stick at your new routine(s) like Sticky the Stick Insect, stuck on a sticky bun... Find out how to do that in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

Nothing changes until you CHANGE something. Nothing happens until you DO something. Find out what you need to change in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

In this episode we are joined by Colette Mason, book coach and publisher who has helped create over 3000 titles and worked with 13 bestselling authors. Colette has a set of simple effective systems to help you plan, write, edit, format, publish and promote your book. She can help you turn a simple idea into the finished article. Colette helps in her words "Badass business owners rapidly publish a top-notch book without cutting corners". For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

Want to know why January 2nd is the BEST day of Christmas? Find out in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

Can a book brainwash you? That's exactly what happened to John in November 2013 - or did it? Find out in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

In today's bonus episode, we travel back in time for a lesson from "Fat John" - a beer-swilling, cigarette-smoking, junk-food-devotee who was massively overweight, and killing himself on a daily basis. This bonus minipod episode is to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

What happens when someone who ISN'T a morning person gets up at 5am? You won't believe what happens... Find out in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

Are you STILL eating mince pies for breakfast? Had enough of turkey curry, turkey stew, and turkey sandwiches? What does the "King of Routine" do over the holiday period? Find out in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

Why on earth would you want to take lifestyle advice from a "normal bloke from Plymouth"? Someone who used to be massively overweight, and nearly bankrupted himself? Someone who's failed time and time again? Find out in this bonus minipod episode to celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine, which is OUT NOW! Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

To celebrate the release of John's brand new audiobook Routine Machine (which is OUT NOW!), we're going to bring you a free bonus episode of the ALB podcast every day for the next week. Each episode will give you a free sample from the actual audiobook, many of which have a "festive" flavour, so should be REALLY actionable this time of year! In today's minipod, you'll discover why you'll NEVER change your life until you change something you do daily - and John attempts major brain surgery. Plus, discover how you could get the audiobook for FREE...

Here is the Christmas Special 2019 with John Lamerton and Jason Brockman. This podcast takes a look at both John and Jason's 2019, what their targets and goals were and whether they achieved them. Holidays, books, John stepping into the boxing ring, Jason's charity work and much more!! Plus find out what they have in store for 2020. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this episode we are going to be talking with a couple who chose sanity over their salary. Paul and Emily Hughes from Parent Guides to GCSE. Paul and Emily met in 2003 as trainee teachers assigned to the same school and have been happily married for 11 years. Now that they've both escaped teaching, they run Parents Guide to GCSE, supporting parents whose children are in year 11. They offer free tips via email, or to get the most from their expertise you can sign up for one of three membership plans. They made £11,000 pounds in their launch week so they must be doing something right. Emily has a Master's from Cambridge in Maths with Education, while Paul has a Master's in Information Management and Computing from the University of Sheffield and they both taught successfully for 15 years before taking the leap. Emily also runs a pop choir in her spare time, as she says she needs to be able to boss people around having left teaching. Making the break….. Paul and Emily are fairly new to business, it was a relatively slow process for them they say, Emily started the process by going part time, and started various different streams of revenue, in theory at least, in order to try and be able to get out of the teaching job, that was at the time making her thoroughly miserable. Paul took slightly longer to take the leap, but he has and the last 3 weeks for him in his words "the best 3 weeks ever". They have realised that whatever they have been doing is working. The bills are paid, the children are fed, and they are still living their lives except how they want too now. They have the freedom to do what they want, when they want, how they want and if they want! For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

#ALB 58 – The PE teacher who climbed a mountain (or six...) Who is Ben Knight?.... Ben Knight is the founder of High 5 Sports and Activity Camps. There's a saying: all who wander are not lost. This would probably be a good way to describe Ben's life so far. Wanderlust means a strong desire to travel. And this is certainly something that Ben can relate to. The planning, challenges, new experiences, that feeling of stepping out of the comfort zone is and has always been something which both excites and scares him in equal measure. Be it through travel, extreme sports or more recently, endurance sports challenges. Ben is one of our One percenters and has several businesses, including sports camps, bubble football and tennis coaching. He's also a qualified Bodyboarding instructor, Ultimate Frisbee leader, Beach Lifeguard and is mountain medicine trained. He has run two half-marathons and a full one too, in aid of charity, an alternative triathlon, doing stand-up paddleboard, bike and run. Ben has won several tennis double tournaments and represented his county, Devon as a Junior and a Veteran. He's been bodyboarding and snowboarding all over the planet for the last 25 years. And most recently climbed the six highest peaks in six different countries, raising money for a local charity. One Life, Live it….. Ben has always had a real lust for life. A passion to sort of see and do many things, there's so much he wants to see and visit and places he wants to go. There are also many things that Ben wants to accomplish. And he sometimes feels there's not enough time to a certain extent. And every year that ticks by and every time he has to waste time on things that he doesn't want to be doing, he thinks to himself there is so much other stuff that he wants to be doing. So, Ben makes changes in his work to try to help to facilitate that and tick off as many things on his bucket list as possible. Ultimate Frisbee Ben has launched Ultimate Frisbee in his holiday camps which is proving to be a big hit. It is a game aimed at older kids as you need to be slightly more competent in throwing the frisbee. Ben tells us the secrets and tactics to throwing the ultimate frisbee, he says getting the frisbee to go where you want it to go, get it to go straight. If you don't hold the disc flat, it curves, good players use that angle to make it curve around people, to teammates. But if you can't get it flat and get it to go straight then that tends to be where people come unstuck. Ben the traveller Travel is a BIG thing for Ben, which stemmed from his childhood, his father was a PE teacher and every year would organise the school skiing trip, as soon as Ben could pretty much walk he was on a ski slope two to three months of the year. Ben would then spend the week skiing in the Alps. Ben grew up to be a confident skier, and by his own admission took it for granted that not everybody skied for three months of the year, on the dry slope and then went somewhere snowy. It was only when Ben got older and met people who couldn't ski that he suddenly realised that actually his dad's job and the free places he got on the ski trip was really a kind of lucky thing to be able to do. Ben fell in love with the mountains from those experiences. The travel probably was linked to his love of the beach and the sea. And the fact that the best waves, in this country, are in the coldest conditions. The colder and stormier it is, the better the surf is, but he think's of the West Sea. Ben also has a love for surfing and has surfed the waves in Belize. Ben has developed a tolerance of the cold, more than a love, and tells us that some of the products out now are amazing for example, dry rayon towels, they're really thick, they're not cheap, but it makes a huge difference getting changed, because a lot of it's wind chill. Given the choice even with his towel, cold or Belize, Ben say's it would be Belize, any day. What's Ben's main business normally about? Ben is slowly moving away from tennis coaching, which has always been his profession. Ben runs multi-sport holiday camps for children, called High 5 Sports Camps. And they run out of three sites now, in Devon. Ben would like to see that grow and really develop. It's the key thing he spends a lot of his time on. Ben also acquired, Bubble Football, which if anybody doesn't know what Bubble Football is, they're giant inflatable balls that you get inside, your legs poke out the bottom, you have a harness and some hand straps. Then you run into other people and bash each other with a high chance of landing upside down! A real laugh out loud game. Ben has moved away from being the face of the business or being the business certainly with the tennis coaching side of things, he's done it for twenty years, so it has been a big part of his life. But as the business grew, it become all about him and his business partner.They were the faces and the ones that everybody wanted, but there are so many hours in one day, so t

ALB57 – The Man who stood on an IED Who is Mark Ormrod? On Christmas Eve, 2007 Royal Marines Commando, Mark Ormrod was out on a routine foot patrol in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan when he stepped on and triggered an Improvised Explosive Device. He was airlifted via helicopter to an emergency field hospital when an innovative and dangerous procedure saved his life. He woke up three days later back in the UK with both legs amputated above the knee and his right arm amputated above the elbow. He was the UK's first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan conflict. Doctors told Mark that he'd never walk again and that he should prepare himself for the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Mark thought otherwise, though. And he hasn't used a wheelchair since 2009. Today, Mark Ormrod is a motivational speaker, performance coach, mentor and role model to other amputees, and an ambassador for the Royal Marines Association. He's also the star of a documentary called "No Limits," gold medal winning athlete at the Invictus Games, and is currently writing the follow up to his 2010 autobiography, "Man Down." Mark the Royal Marine…. Mark joined the Marines heated and focused and just wanted to grow as an individual and squeeze the most out of this short time that we get on the planet. Mark finished his training when he was 18. Just a young lad, who by his own admission put a green beret on his head, and thought he was Rambo. Mark spent a couple of years just enjoying it. He was born and bred here in Plymouth. He say's "once you earn that beret you walk around your chest out a little bit", he got in a little bit in trouble, the first couple years, but then he knuckled down, and got focused. Mark has always been that kind of forward driven kind of way. Mark the Marine, in the beginning, young, loving life, full of energy. Just out there being a lad. As we all do as we get older and we progress in our careers and our lives, we mature a little bit. Mark made a lot more mistakes back then, but he learnt from them, and moved on, some of the quote-unquote failures that he experienced, and the mistakes that he made, made Mark feel a bit down about them, but as he's got older he's realised, they weren't really failures, as he's learnt from them, they were mistakes, but again, he's learnt from them. People always ask Mark has he always been this way, has he always been motivated, driven, and the short answer is yes. But from his perspective, it took him losing both his legs and right arm for him to see it. Mark's first taste of combat….. Mark was 19 when he had his first taste of combat. He had started his training in February 2001. 62 young lads started, only 12 of them made it through the training. Four weeks before Mark finished his training, and was halfway through the live fire exercises, he was in the NAAFI and witnessed 9-11. So Mark passed out and become a Royal Marine, it was looking likely that Mark would be deploying to Afghanistan early 2002 for 'Operation Jacana'. Now, for whatever reason, that didn't happen to the scale it was meant to be. It became quite a SS, Special Forces kind of thing. So Mark didn't go after all, but then Iraq came around 2003. That then became his focus, Mark was one of the first guys on the ground, working out of what's called now 30 Commando. Mark spent a couple weeks in Kuwait, just waiting, sat in trenches, just on that border of Kuwait, Iraq, ready to go over, he got given the signal and went. Mark came away from that tour feeling a little bit disappointed. He was all geared up, ready to put to test everything he had been training for but that didn't happen, he thought he was going to be down on his belt buckle with a bayonet in his teeth crawling through the sand and doing this for three months solid, because he was a young lad and thought that's what going to war was. What happened next? So, Mark came home, despite the lack of activity in Iraq he still felt like he had evolved a lot. He went to Norway a couple of times, endured some survival training out in the snow. Mark then boxed for the Marines a spot had come up for the boxing team, and he thought that would be all right, he would do a little bit of training in the morning and go home in the afternoon. He underestimated that, four hours every morning, four hours every afternoon for eight weeks solid. But Mark began to think about the fact, he hadn't really done what it was that he wanted to do. His first daughter Kezia came along early 2005 and the combination led to Mark making the decision to leave the Royal Marines in early in 2006. Mark ended up working as a night doorman for a little bit. Mark was entitled to some money through the re-education system in the military, and flew out to South Africa, to retrain as a bodyguard, he was now 22 years old at that point, and thought he'd be walking around in an Armani suit, talking into his cuff, diving around protecting celebrities and that isn't what the job entails. In fact he s

ALB56 – The Japanese Trainspotter Who is Chris King?Chris has built a business around his greatest passions - travel, riding trains and Japanese food. Originally from the UK, Chris King now lives in Osaka, Japan, and spends a lot of his time travelling by train in Japan, Britain, Asia and Europe. Chris started the Train Hacker website when he was living in Britain to help people save money on rail travel. The project then branched out to Europe and Japan, helping train travellers find cheaper train tickets, rail passes, tours and holidays. While travelling by Shinkansen bullet train in Japan, Chris was astonished at the amazing tastes and rich diversity of Japanese food - he had to discover more, and a new project "Food Tours Japan" was born. Now, Chris is exploring the wonderful world of washoku and keen to show that there's so much more to Japan than sushi. Chris is a longstanding one percenter and has built a business around some of his greatest passions, which include travel, trains, and a love for Japanese food. Originally from the UK, Chris now lives in Osaka, Japan as a digital nomad and spends a lot of his time travelling by train in Japan, Britain, Asia, and Europe. Let's go back to how John and Chris metChris and John met over a decade ago and when they met, Chris was not a digital nomad, as he is today and was not living in Japan, writing about food and bullet trains. Chris spent eight and a half years working for BT he worked with some really bright people and managed to get involved in a lot of digital stuff. Everything from kind of online customer experience to e-commerce but the most enjoyable bit for Chris and the bit he had most involvement was affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing in the "Wild West" daysChris started off working in the affiliate team at BT. Chris had a really good boss and worked with really good people and feels they embraced it really early. Chris was in a sales team, which meant he was on quarterly sales bonuses whereas as you know today, most affiliate marketing is in the marketing department. But the sales team were heavily incentivized, and he had some really golden years with bonuses. So that was their one thing that made them really unique and Chris also feels because they were in sales, it also helped them build on the relationship side. Essentially, they were very soft in their approach really to affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing and it's reputation Chris tells us he felt affiliate marketing had a kind of a bit of a bad reputation and he thinks it probably still does within agencies. That said, the model has stood the test of time. Chris recommends anyone that has a small company to embrace affiliate marketing. There's a few networks out there and there's technologies out there that if you are a small company, Chris says it's like a virtual sales force. How did Chris become a digital nomad? The reason Chris wanted to get out of the corporate world is because he wasn't prepared to sit around and wait for my pension, Chris wanted to see the world. He didn't want to see the world when he was 60, he wanted to see the world whilst he was young. And then that kind of led from one thing to another. Chris went travelling for six months. Come back and started a business. He now feels that after travelling in India for six months, it was maybe not the best state of mind to come back and start a business. His first publishing business didn't really work that well. Then he did consultancy, but he had that itch to travel again. The birth of the 'Digital Nomad' Chris needed to go to India to just cleanse his soul really, just to restart his life. It was here he realised he could travel and run his business at the same time. Whilst out there, he was doing research for his travel clients and also starting some travel projects. So, the digital nomad thing kind of came out of a whole load of things coming together. Chris aka the train hackerChris started the Train Hacker website when he was living in Britain to help people save money on their rail travel. The project then branched out to Europe and Japan, his aim was to help train travellers find cheaper train tickets, rail passes, tours, and holidays. Why Japan? A love story... One, the train travel projects was leading him down that route because Chris started the Train Hacker when he was living in Britain to help people save money on their rail travel. The project then branched out to Europe and Japan, his aim was to help train travellers find cheaper train tickets, rail passes, tours, and holidays. He was in and out of Asia and realised, he found Asia a lot more of a mellow place to be. Also, these days it's where the growth is, Chris just loves the kind of free entrepreneurial style that things were done in those countries. Chris met his wife who's Japanese at a train station actually in Vietnam. This was a moment to Chris who thought to himself, he was working in train travel, why was he not writing about more insp

This episode is with soon to be black belt wielding, wedding singer Jamie Reeves from The Best Singing Waiters. So,who is Jamie? Jamie started out as a DJ when he was just 16 years old and travelled around Europe at the age of 20 as a singer. After establishing himself as a Robbie Williams tribute act, he set up his own entertainment agency and started managing various different tribute acts including Take That, Meatloaf and Amy Winehouse. Jamies' entertainment agency was primarily aimed at the wedding market, and that is where the idea for "'The Singing Waiters' come along. Jamie is also a keen singer songwriter and has even had his own top ten hit on itunes. He has written and worked with people whose credits include Beyonce, Take That and Sir Paul McCartney. You might also have seen Jamie in several episodes of Eastenders, riding a moped through Albert Square. But not if you blinked… What is a singing waiter? Everybody has probably been to a wedding, corporate event, birthday etc and typically you will have an idea of how the day will run. This is where The Best Singing Waiters come in, they take the ordinary and make it more extraordinary. After dessert has been served, they spring into action, suddenly breaking with their "waiter" character, and bursting out into song, getting everyone singing along and essentially break every type of rule you can think of when it comes to party etiquette. They literally get the party started! The "reveal" is something that you simply have to see to believe (They have more than 900 videos on their YouTube channel), and it's this magic moment that wedding guests talk about for years to come. What does an Ambitious Lifestyle Business look like for Jamie? Jamie is a married proud dad of three, so for him it's all about being with the family. Two of the three children are sports minded and love football, karate and dance and the two-and-a-half-year-old is just into everything!! For Jamie, working from home is a must – he has no desire to have an office (his office at home does look pretty smart though – check it out in the video!), however that doesn't mean he is a one man band – Jamie has a team of staff, and has built robust systems and processes which enable him to have the freedom to work from home. He also still does some gigs, performing between six and ten gigs per year. Clearly, Jamie's company do a LOT more gigs than that – more like 200 a year. But again, Jamie has no desire to be racing up and down the motorways of Britain on a daily basis, doing back-to-back weddings, and spending every weekend away from his family. How did Jamie design his business to deliver his ambitious lifestyle business? As with most guests on the ALB podcast, it was a bit of design, and a bit of luck! As a literal one-man-band, Jamie started to get more and more offers of gigs, that with the best will in the world he simply couldn't keep up with, so he brought on some singers to lighten the load. Before he knew it, that turned into a team of six singers. Similar to how Jon Monks told us back in ALB44 that he was "the conductor of the orchestra", Jamie directs his team, and designs the systems and processes from his home office, so that multiple weddings can all happen at the same time, at opposite ends of the country, and all whilst Jamie is sat at a football match with his family. Whilst he did reference Jon Monk's "conductor of the orchestra" comment though, Jamie explained that his version was a bit more like "waving your arms about and blagging it!" Jamie firmly believes that the key to running any business is down to the processes and systems that are in place. (If you want to go deep on systems and processes, have another listen to ALB14, where we look at the story of Ray Kroc, and McDonalds, through the lens of the movie The Founder. For Jamie, admin was the first to go – as a creative person, this was something he just did not enjoy, so he was very quick to get someone else doing the paperwork. Every single thing that he does within the business is fully documented, so that a team member can follow the exact processes to the letter. Jamie also likes to record videos of himself on zoom performing key tasks and pop it into a shared dropbox folder, so it is accessible to all of his team, and they can all see visually, exactly what Jamie wants to happen – every time. Is Jamie a Routine Machine? When Jamie started a family, all of his routines changed. He now feels extremely lucky that he works for himself, being able to pick and choose his own hours. He doesn't have to miss a sports day, he can take his son to football and his daughter to dance classes, and he believes that it is all thanks to putting those routines, systems and processes in place. As an ambitious, lifestyle business owner, Jamie can dictate life on his own terms. Routine plays a really important part of this for Jamie. If you want to become a Routine Machine, then you can now grab a free chapter of John's latest bes

#ALB54 - Routine Machine This episode is a little different from the norm - it's a LIVE reading (complete with some stumbles) of a few chapters from John Lamerton's latest book on habits and routines - Routine Machine. Why did John write a morning routine book? Last August John was on holiday in sunny Corfu with his family, whilst there he started plotting out some notes, he did this with a view to writing a potential second book, a follow up to the successful Big Ideas... for Small Businesses. John famously said he was never writing again, he was NEVER doing a second book, but four or five pages of notes later it became apparent that he was in fact going to be writing a second book. This podcast takes a look at his new book, Routine Machine, which is available from the 11th July 2019. The power of routine, not just a morning routine but successful strategies and daily habits to make you more successful. It is written primarily for small business owners - if Big Ideas... for Small Businesses was about focus, doing the right thing, choosing the right thing to focus on, then Routine Machine is about doing the right thing consistently, every time, habitually….. ROUTINELY! How many days does it take to form a habit? John earned £13.51 in his first nine months in business. Nine months later, he quit his job. Nine months after that, he was earning over £100k a year. Warren Buffett bought his first stock in 1941, he was a millionaire by 1960 and surpassed the $1 billion mark in 1986. $19 billion of his $86 billion-dollar fortune has been made in the last 2 years. It's going to be a while before you see any feedback or results from any changes you make now. When John replaced his go-to lunch of beans on toast with a healthy green juice, he saw absolutely no effect on the first day, or the second, or the third, but 30 days later he could see a difference. A year later and he looked like a different person. There is always a delay between the routine change and the feedback, that is perfectly normal and to be expected. John and Jason discuss why expecting instant rewards just doesn't work. There is always a delay between the action and the result. That concept can also work on a negative point too - one KFC now and then isn't going to make a huge difference, but a KFC a few times a week might, and a KFC every day almost certainly will. Routine Quotes from John "Remember, you are the compound effect of every decision you have ever made and every action you have ever taken. The little habits and routines that on their own seem so small and insignificant, when rolled down the hill of time, yield massive snowballs". 'If you want new results, you need new routines, but they've got to work for you. copying someone else just isn't going to help in the slightest. The routine doesn't matter what matters is that you have a routine'. "When I replaced my go to lunch of beans on toast with a healthy green juice, I saw absolutely no effect on the first day, or the second, or third. But 30 days later, I could see.a difference, a year later I looked like a different person. There is always a delay between the routine change and the feedback, that is perfectly normal and to be expected". For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this episode John and Jason are joined by special guest Clarke Duncan. Who is Clarke Duncan? Clarke was John's very first business mentor back in the day and he also appeared heavily in John's first book 'Big Ideas for Small Businesses' "I was very lucky when I first started my business – there were a number of people, who at first glance would appear to be my competitors – those who ran similar businesses to mine. And for some reason, they were happy to share tips, tactics, and ideas with me. They'd tell me where I was going wrong, and how I could improve my business and make more money. (The reason they were happy to share so freely, was because they had a growth mindset, rather than a scarcity one. They knew that if everyone helped each other out, we'd all make fewer mistakes, and everyone's business benefited – if someone helps me out, and my business grows as a result, theirs doesn't shrink – it actually grows too, as I then share something I've found with them – it's a virtuous circle!) I didn't know it at the time, but Clarke and Jason were my very first mentors – they're the people who gave me an arm around the shoulder when I needed it, and a kick up the arse when I needed that. They told me what worked, what didn't, and they probably saved me months and months of trying stuff that wouldn't work, and brought in many thousands of pounds of additional revenue in those crucial early years." In this podcast, Clarke gives us an insight to his own successes and experiences of affiliate marketing, which he has done for the last 17 years and certainly shows no signs of slowing down either. Clarke is the founder of affiliate marketing network Paid on Results, as well as unlimited design agency Bee All Design Clarke works WITH his competitors…. He talks about how he has never looked at other affiliates as competition, but more like-minded people all working together to try and make something happen and revisits the days where he was a part of the 'Limo Club'. How Clarke spots opportunities… Clarke runs numerous succesful businesses from Spain, including a family one, and talks about the pro's and con's that some of these entail. But is he an opportunity hunter or is there more to it……. He tells us that he starts off by seeing a set of circumstances and then works out if there is any money to be made, is there something he can do that someone else isn't? He explains how if you're solving problems for people you tend to make money easier than making something up and trying to convince them that they need it. What does an Ambitious.Lifestyle.Business. look like for Clarke? His family time is plentiful but in his extra time Clarke enjoys working, watching video's that are sometimes over two hours long, but the amount he takes from them he considers these a great investment of his time https://www.bigidea.co.uk/7-ways-to-get-more-done-in-less-time/ He has two golden rules regarding his staff; 1) Be truthful 2) Be a nice person, get on with others and be onboard with each other This is very important to Clarke for many different reasons which he explains in more detail in the episode. How has Brexit affected Clarke's business? Brexit has been a HUGE discussion point for all businesses, the uncertainity of it all has had some small businesses losing sleep, but was it detrimental or another golden opportunity for Clarke? How has the One Percent Club helped Clarke? Clarke talks about being a member of the One Percent Club and how he values it, how it benefits him and how he would rather look stupid one time and know how to do it, then to not ask the question and be forever stupid! https://www.bigidea.co.uk/opcc For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this episode John and Jason are joined by Elaine Colliar. Elaine is the Five Times World Mind Mapping Champion and Grand Master Trainer for Tony Buzan International Ltd. Tony Buzan was Elaine's mentor, tragically since recording this podcast in March, Tony suffered a heart attack and sadly passed away. This episode is dedicated to Tony, a name we are sure you will still hear and talk of in many many years to come when discussing the world of Mind Mapping, a true gift that Tony has left to the world. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this episode we are joined by Carly Freemont of 'Freemont Property Solutions' based in Plymouth. Carly talks to us about her career as a professional dancer and how this took an unexpected turn, but more importantly how she overcome this with a positive attitude and threw herself into a brand new venture. Discover what Freemont Property Solutions offer, how Carly continues to focus on her self-development, plus much more. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.

In this episode we are joined by transformative coach and certified psychotherapist Jason Shiers. Join us for an in-depth discussion around mindset, designing your life around decisions, using creativity and much more. For links to everything we talk about, including the video recording of the episode and transcription of everything we talked about, head over to the show notes at bigidea.co.uk/podcast. And to watch the LIVE recording of each episode of the Ambitious. Lifestyle. Business. Podcast, join our Facebook Group for FREE - you can then watch our ugly mugs in glorious technicolour every month, as well as get BONUS in-between-isodes, and direct access to both of us to ask any questions about this, or any other episode.