Nick Bradley is a world-renowned author, speaker and business growth expert, who works with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors, building high-value companies. Over the last decade, he has built, bought and sold 26 businesses with a combined valuation of $5.2 billion dollars.He also works with Private Equity and Venture Capital firms across the UK and the US leading business turnarounds, mergers, acquisitions, and scale-ups.His “Scale Up With Nick Bradley” podcast, is ranked #1 in the UK on iTunes’ business chartsNick  joins Neale to discuss the journey from transitioning from a Start Up to a Scale Up and the importance of planning for a successful exit. How he helps founders, entrepreneurs and realise the value that they have created in their organisations. KEY TAKEAWAYSA person who is great at starting a business has a whole let of different skills to a person scaling a businessYou can only Scale a business to the level of your identityLeadership: Being able to scale through people and processesFive reasons why your businesses will not scale to 8 figures:You are flying your plane but with no idea of the destination - You must be clear on where you want to get to ( Your destination ) and then dial back to where you are today and then use that delta to drive the Strategy for growth. Your are trying to grow your business one customer at a time.  If you are not running a predictable machine that brings in a consistent flow of your ideal customers, then you have no way of scaling your business.You believe that the way for making serious money is to run your business. Simplifying things is the ultimatesophistication (and it’s the often missed, little secret behind fast business growth). Put the right systems and processes in place, hire an amazing team of A players so that your business runs like a machineYou don't know how to leverage other people's money to drive growth. Opportunities can be in the form of partnerships, joint ventures, sourcing investment capital, finding good profitable businesses to buy so you can scale your business rapidly. Bigger picture thinking vs. the granular stuff that will only deliver small, incremental gains.Your beliefs, your environment , the people that you are surrounding yourself with are holding you back. Proximity is power. Who you spend your time with directly influences your thinking on a daily basis.What is  belief ? It’s simply an attitude that filters the experience of your reality and dictates your actions.Key considerations for achieving a successful exit:You must get mentally prepared for the exit journeyThe earlier that you begin to plan for your exit the betterSurround yourself with the right advisors - Don't try and do this aloneBe inspired and enjoy the processPlan the next act.. Many exits fail at the last moment due to sellers remorse Nick's  books that he is reading / writing at the moment:                   - Wim Hof Method  by Wim Hof                   - The Private Equity handbook - Adam Coffey                   - Buy then Build by Walker Diebel                    - High Value Exit by Nick Bradley ( Due to be published later in 2023 )  Contact for Nick       https://highvalueexit.com/BEST MOMENTSBe grateful, Be Brave, Have faith, Show Up - Take Action ever single day.All growth comes from friction.Get clear on your life changing number.You are the sum of the five people that you hang out with. VALUABLE RESOURCESEntrepreneurs at Scale Podcast - https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/scalingupScale Up Your Business, coaching/consulting: https://www.scalingup.co.uk/work-with-a-scale-up-coachHow Scaleable is your business? Discover your Scaleability Score:  https://scaleable.scoreapp.com/Are(continued)