Business Behind Sport Mini Series - Session 2.

In this session I speak to James Craigen. We look at professional football and how to think of life off the park. James has had a fantastic experience playing in the Scottish Premiership with Partick Thistle, as well as spells at numerous clubs including Dunfermline Athletic, Raith Rovers and Falkirk. James also represented Great Britain in the World Student Games in China playing in front of 35,000 fans in the semi final against Japan. We discuss:

- Data: How player aware should you be of your numbers in the modern world

- Contracts: Managing contracts correctly in line with the stage of your career

- Time: Football careers are not long, managing the career risks and opportunities

- Network: The value of a compounding network

And much more! This episode ended up being slightly longer than usual as there were so many questions to dig into as James opened up his experience. James also has considerable experience in coaching and has moved into property management with his business partner Callum Booth - running Astro Property.

Thanks to James and for listening, I hope you enjoy this one.

Business Behind Sport Mini Series!

Chris Smith talks through his experience within the international sporting environment and his current role as Executive Director at Toronto High Park FC. Toronto High Park are a not for profit entity that look to deliver value to the members and create opportunities in football. We discussed:

- Setting objectives

- Creating values

- Pricing and the competition

- Stakeholder management and member feedback

And much, much more. Chris also gave me some of my favourite quotes, 'develop physical activity habits for life' being a personal favourite.

Thanks a lot to Chris for this episode. Happy listening.

In this episode I speak to the fantastic Lynzi Leroy. Her outlook on life and experience is fascinating - and since 2017 she has been helping Scotland's artists turn hobbies into livelihoods and compete with the high street. Since starting the Scottish Design Exchange she has helped bring in over £20m for hundreds of artists. I hope you enjoy listening to her and learning from her.

https://www.scottishdesignexchange.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynzi-leroy-55a27912/

Steve Weston has held multiple senior management positions in retail banks and financial services spanning European and Australian businesses. In this episode, Steve takes us behind the scenes on founding and introducing Volt Bank as a challenger bank in Australia. A highly personal rendition, with lots of takeaways. Thanks a lot to Steve and please enjoy.

In this episode Kerry, Stuart and I break down the key global factors (primarily UK and US) across 2024 and how we have interpreted these.

We managed to avoid any subjective debates and remained as objective as possible to decipher the UK election and post budget narrative as well as the key talking points in America.

All views expressed in this episode are each persons own and do not belong to any organisation.

I hope you enjoy this episode. This will be the last under the 'small business and startups' ribbon before a rebrand in January 2025.

This is the inaugural episode of the virtual board bringing together the varied and vast experiences of Sorcha Lorimer, Kerry Anderson and Stuart George.

This episode focuses on wellbeing, how we think of this as leaders and how we think of it personally. This is a deep and complex topic and I thank all three participants for their honesty and input.

This episode is dedicated to my friend Grant Williamson. I hope you enjoy and learn from this.

Have you ever wondered what being a social enterprise actually means? How the aims and values may differ to traditionally run business? What in their fabric and tracking of KPI's is unique?

Josh Turner founded stand4socks in 2015 with the mission that socks can save the world, and eight years later the business is provided incredible support to the homeless and has given away more pair of socks than it has sold. They have recently attained BCorp Certification to validate their impact. Josh's passion and insights are shared in this session. Josh is also dyslexic and embraces this as a power to think and act creatively and be a positive diverse strength within the business.

stand4socks.co.uk

https://www.stand4socks.com/en-us

Josh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?fetchDeterministicClustersOnly=true&heroEntityKey=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAABt5KYBhrFv9xJYTpGGY-7YsU6OOIYC0vk&keywords=josh%20turner&origin=RICH_QUERY_SUGGESTION&position=0&searchId=f4238682-d097-40c5-b46e-cba877661a0c&sid=3ar

In this episode Jonathan and I discuss using values developed through experiences to harvest an effective company culture, as well as the components required to deliver against company mission and ambition.

Jonathan is CEO and Founder of Atom Resources which he incepted in January 2016. Jonathan has extensive experience in the recruitment industry and is an avid learner, reader and football enthusiast.

Hailing from rural Northumberland, Jonathan moved to Australia over a decade ago where he now runs Atom from.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanhopes/

Atom resources: https://www.atomresources.com.au

In this episode Thomas and I draw on his experiences to discuss the critical aspects of culture and investment as an SME grows.

Thomas is CEO at BR-DGE, a leading Scottish Fintech scale up. Prior to BR-DGE, Thomas held leadership positions in B2B SaaS technology businesses; working across corporate strategy, go to market planning, finance, and international expansion. He also founded SIS Ventures, Scotland’s first impact-focussed VC fund.

He is passionate about purpose-driven entrepreneurship and connecting enterprises with mission-aligned investors and support, in the pursuit of greater positive social and environmental impact.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-gillan-99814547/

In this episode Sorcha Lorimer and I have a discussion about what risk means to us, and why her attitude to risk is what it is. Sorcha is currently founder and CEO of Trace Data, and has vast and varied experience. The opportunity to tap into that experience and understand risk drivers and attitudes from a personal and professional perspective led to this conversation. I hope you enjoy this episode.

https://tracedata.co.uk/

PS you may hear my daughter making a background appearance in this one!

Dee Ludlow talks through his experience of adopting macroeconomics into the threats and opportunities for his businesses. Dee has been active in business across multiple industries for many years and has an extremely deep understanding of many topics required to be successful.

@dee_ludlow

Darren is the CEO and Founder of SpecifiedBy, and sold the business to a larger competitor late last year. He talks us through their use of cold calling, sometimes perceived as a non glamorous method. As Darren describes, getting it right can actually bring a competitive edge and differentiate from your peers. His evolution from non targeted email campaigns to running a successful cold calling team to generate new business is insightful and valuable.

LinkedIn: Darren Lester

Ken has done over $100m in acquisitions over a 16+ year career, and now spends his time mainly in Dubai continuing to buy businesses and coach students in M&A. He recounts his journey, dispels some business buying myths and why he believes owning businesses is a key part of your personal strategy and such an opportunity in the current market.

Instagram - @kenmack

YouTube - kenmackshow

Facebook - @kenmack

Nathan and I discuss his career in the brand, marketing and strategy fields of the digital world - and all the aspects of keeping a consulting business growing and on course.

createfuture.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanfulwood/

Stuart tells us about his career progression from the corporate world to a small family office, the motivation and all ups and downs in between. He also talks about the personal side of things, and how he lives his life away from the office to achieve his goals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-george-91111b28/

https://bute.energy

In this Episode I interviewed Tamsin Thomson who has her own art business that she runs from her family home in the Scottish borders. She had a fantastic drive to find a business that would fit the lifestyle she wanted and allow her to balance her family and professional ambition. She shares some fantastic experiences and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

https://tamsinthomson.co.uk/

Instagram: @tamsinthomsonart

Michelle and Gary discuss their motivation for wanting to be in control of their own time and outcomes, their purpose - and the ins and outs of their multiple property business. The husband and wife team take us behind the scenes in an insightful discussion.

https://www.instagram.com/hame_property/?hl=en

Start up summit 2021 winner and one of Insider magazine’s top 20 women to watch, Lynne Darcey Quigley takes us through a fascinating road of starting her two businesses, Darcey Quigley & Co and Know-it - and all the experiences in between.

https://www.darceyquigley.co.uk

https://know-it.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/know-it-global/

Ian Cameron discusses the nuances of being a specialist independent optometry practice in a competitive environment. We also discuss his personal and business philosophies which have helped Cameron Optom to become the premium independent service in the city of Edinburgh.

https://cameronoptom.com/

Scott talks about the path from starting the business as a summer adventure all the way through to the international group it is today. 

Website: https://twedex.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-macfarlane-63221627/