Business Growth Talks

Most founders think growth means hiring, borrowing and spending more. Chad T. Jenkins has launched over 50 businesses and says that's the slow way.

Chad is the founder of SeedSpark and The Co:Lab, a global community that has created over 1,000 entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur collaborations. He started at eight years old, getting paid to ride other people's horses through the sale barn, and went on to open what he says was the world's first BlackBerry store.

In this episode you'll learn:
→ The VCR formula (Vision, Capability, Reach) and how to sort every asset in your business into it
→ "Remove the Film": how spotting friction leads to your next big idea
→ Why your fastest route to new clients is someone who already has their card on file
→ How to structure collaborations so nobody gets treated unfairly (and why he'd never do 50/50)
→ Why culture clashes in acquisitions come down to vision alignment
→ Who you should never partner with
→ The advice from Zig Ziglar, heard at 19, that shaped his whole career

If you're stuck on the hamster wheel of hiring and spending to grow, this one will change how you see what you already have.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Why hiring is the slow way to grow
00:00 How an 8-year-old made money from horses
00:00 Friction awareness: where big ideas come from
00:00 Remove the Film methodology
00:00 BlackBerry University and the iPhone pivot
00:00 Mergers, acquisitions and culture clashes
00:00 The VCR formula: Vision, Capability, Reach
00:00 How small businesses build reach fast
00:00 Go-giver vs go-getter: business relationships
00:00 Is networking a waste of time?
00:00 How to structure partnerships fairly
00:00 Risk appetite and investing in yourself
00:00 Rapid-fire questions

CONNECT WITH CHAD
Website: https://seedspark.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadtjenkins
Books: Friction Fuel, Just Add a Zero, The Code to Collaboration

If you took something from this, hit subscribe. It helps more founders find the show. Drop a comment with your biggest takeaway.

On to the next one.

#BusinessGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Collaboration

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If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
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Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
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One AI company made $17 billion in three months and still lost money. Here’s what that, the US midterms, oil’s biggest fall in months, Poundland’s crisis and the Bank of England’s rate rise mean for your business.

This week on Business Growth Talks:
 0:00 This week in 60 seconds
 1:05 The AI company making $185 million a day
 4:00 US midterms and Wall Street’s best day since 2025
 6:30 Oil’s biggest fall in months: fuel costs
 8:45 Poundland on the brink: supplier risk
 11:00 Bank of England interest rate rise
 13:30 Dog news: Anchovy Jack
 14:30 Wrap-up

Which story affects your business most? Tell me in the comments.
 Subscribe for a new business news roundup every Friday.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
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In corporate, I spent months making multi-million pound deals perfect, and it was the right call. In a small business, perfect is the thing holding you back.

In this episode I share why “start now, get perfect later” is one of my favourite quotes, and three lessons for small business owners who keep polishing instead of launching:

1. Corporate wins with precision. You win with speed.
2. Indecision is a decision, and it’s the worst one. How to decide at 70%, time-box your decisions and set a launch date, not a finish date.
3. Start, learn, get 1% better. What Facebook’s “move fast and break things” got wrong, Sir Dave Brailsford’s marginal gains at British Cycling, and what 600+ episodes of Business Growth Talks taught me.

Your challenge: pick the one thing you’ve been polishing and put it out this week. Tell me in the comments what you’re starting.

Chapters
 0:00 Why perfectionism is killing your business
 0:27 Corporate vs small business: one pitch vs a hundred
 3:29 Indecision: the real reason you haven’t started
 5:45 Three habits to decide faster
 7:02 Move fast, but don’t break things
 8:10 Marginal gains: the British Cycling lesson
 9:30 From episode 1 to 600+
 10:50 Your challenge this week

Every Friday: the weekly business catch-up, with five stories that matter to your business.

Subscribe to Business Growth Talks for more on growing your business.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
YouTube Shorts - https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks/shorts

When you sound like everybody else, you get treated like everybody else. You get compared, haggled with and forgotten.

Jason Hewlett knows this better than anyone, because for years his job was to sound like somebody else. He was a full-time impersonator in Las Vegas and played every major casino as Elton John and more. He then turned down a lifetime casino headline deal that would have broken his promise to himself. It got him blacklisted from the city. He went on to build a keynote business delivering 2,000+ corporate events for some of the world’s biggest companies, and he’s one of the youngest people ever inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame.

In this episode Jason shows how one small tweak (a bit of country twang) turned a failed Elton John audition into a job. He also explains how every founder and leader can find their own “moonwalk.”

In this episode you’ll learn:
 🎤 The one tweak that got him the job, and why your next level might be just one dial away
 🎰 Why he walked away from Vegas, and the difference between a goal and a promise
 🕺 What “signature moves” are and why most leaders keep theirs in a drawer
 📝 Identify, Clarify, Magnify: his 3-step process to find your signature moves (and your team’s)
 🎩 How to use your signature moves at work vs at home
 🤝 How an entertainer earned the confidence to have hard conversations in the boardroom
 ❤️ His biggest regret as a business-owning dad, and what he changed

About Jason Hewlett:
 Keynote speaker, emcee, consultant and board member. Author of The Promise to the One.
🌐 https://jasonhewlett.com
💼 Find Jason on LinkedIn

CHAPTERS
 0:00 Paid to be somebody else
 2:10 What impersonation taught him about standing out
 3:55 The Elton John audition, and the one tweak that got him hired
 6:35 How a kid doing Pee-wee Herman voices became an impersonator
 8:30 Vegas casinos fight over his one-man show
 10:05 Why he walked away from Vegas
 12:25 Blacklisted from the city
 12:50 Goals vs promises: why a promise beats a goal
 15:15 The corporate gig that turned an entertainer into a keynote speaker
 17:45 What are signature moves? (The Michael Jackson moonwalk)
 20:50 Jason’s signature move (you have to see this)
 23:15 The speaker who bakes cookies for every attendee
 24:40 Spreading joy, even in a tough room
 27:45 Identify, Clarify, Magnify: how to find your signature moves
 34:10 How to make it not feel like another HR workshop
 37:55 Signature moves at work vs at home
 41:50 From entertainer to emcee, agency owner and consultant
 44:30 What he brings to boards and big companies
 48:25 Where the confidence for hard conversations came from (Vegas and Utah)
 51:40 Reading the room
 52:50 How his leadership evolved: from transactional to empathy
 57:10 Risk appetite and four kids in five years
 58:45 Quickfire: best decision
 1:00:20 Best advice: “The light you shine is the light you receive”
 1:01:05 Who helped him most
 1:02:15 Biggest regret
 1:04:45 Nearly quitting for a job at Wendy’s
 1:06:50 Something most people don’t know
 1:07:45 What legacy means
 1:09:00 Where to find Jason

If you got something from this conversation, hit subscribe, drop your biggest takeaway in the comments, and leave five stars on Apple or Spotify. If you know someone who needs to hear this about joy and signature moves, share it with them today.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
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70,000 UK small businesses just stopped paying business rates. Meanwhile, America's central bank refused to cut interest rates, and Microsoft is spending $500 million a day on AI while paying staff to leave.

This is the week in business: the five stories you need to know if you run a business, whether you're in London, Leeds, Los Angeles or anywhere in between. Plain English, no jargon, and you won't need an economics degree to understand why they matter.

This week:
1. UK Budget 2026 – what John Healey's first Budget means for small businesses, from business rates to the minimum wage
2. AI job cuts – Meta and Microsoft cut thousands of jobs while spending record amounts on AI
3. Oil hits $115 a barrel – why it's coming for your costs, even if you never buy oil
4. The Fed holds rates – why cheaper borrowing isn't coming any time soon
5. Trump's Canada tariff shuffle – tariffs off plywood, on canoes and coffins, days before the midterms
And finally… dog news: Americans spend $1 billion dressing up their pets for Halloween.

After every story, I break down what it means for you and what to do next.

Which one is hitting your business hardest right now: energy costs, borrowing costs or tariffs? Tell me in the comments.

CHAPTERS
00:00 This week in business
00:36 UK Budget 2026 explained for small businesses
03:02 Meta & Microsoft AI job cuts
05:02 Oil price hits $115: what it means for your costs
06:06 Fed holds interest rates
07:37 Trump's Canada tariff changes before the midterms
09:37 Dog news: $1bn on pet Halloween costumes
10:28 Weekly recap & what you can control

If you found this useful, hit like and subscribe for a new business news roundup every Friday. You can also listen to Business Growth Talks on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and a rating out of five really helps.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
YouTube Shorts - https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks/shorts

Wall Street is buying insurance against AI companies going bust, the same move that made billions in The Big Short in 2008. In this episode I break down why the AI boom looks like the credit crunch, who really pays when it pops, and five things business owners can do this week to come out stronger.

The cost of insuring CoreWeave’s debt has more than doubled in a year. Oracle is sitting on around $160bn of debt. And the five biggest tech companies are spending more on AI than they bring in, with the gap borrowed. If this goes bang, it won’t be the tech giants left holding the bill. It’ll be small businesses, through higher rates, tighter credit and squeezed customers.

But a crash is also a reset. Airbnb, Uber and WhatsApp were all born in the last one. Here’s how to make sure you’re ready to build when it clears.

In this episode:

• Why Wall Street is betting against AI, and what a credit default swap actually is
• Who paid in 2008, and why it’ll be the same this time
• The three ways the AI bubble lands on your desk
• Five things to do this week: stress-test your debt, build a cash buffer, don’t rely on one AI tool, get closer to your customers, and get ready to go shopping

Chapters
0:00 Is AI the next 2008?
0:45 The Big Short is happening again
3:39 Who pays when the AI bubble bursts
6:20 How to protect your business from rising interest rates
9:01 Why a crash creates opportunity
9:32 Recap

Every Friday I break down the five biggest business stories of the week in plain English. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

Do you think AI is a bubble? Tell me in the comments. I read every one.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
YouTube Shorts - https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks/shorts

Your business is short on cash, so you chase sales and cut costs. But what if cash was never the real problem?

Ollie Austen ran Grosvenor Contracts London for 18 years, growing it from two people to around 60 before exiting in 2018. Today he's co-founder of Startup to Stand Up, a peer community for founders.

Ollie explains why tight cash is usually a client relationship problem, and how visiting his top clients cut payment times from 60 days to 30. We also cover founder loneliness, bootstrapping vs raising money in 2026, what buyers look for when you sell, and how to tell real advisers from grifters.

Connect with Ollie on LinkedIn (Ollie Austen) or at [email protected].

Get behind-the-scenes content at patreon.com/businessgrowthtalks.

Enjoyed it? Follow the show and leave a five-star rating. It really helps.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
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Barclays just made £2.3 billion in three months – and it's cutting 5,000 jobs anyway, because of AI. Here's what that means for your business, plus four more stories every founder needs this week.

I'm Mark Hayward, and every week on Business Growth Talks I break down the 5 business stories that matter if you run a business – in plain English, no jargon.

This week:
• Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs while profits rise 12% – and what smart founders are doing with AI instead
• An urgent hacking alert for the code behind 7 in 10 websites – the one question to ask your web developer today
• Elon Musk wants to merge Tesla and SpaceX – is combining your businesses ever a good idea?
• Salesforce buys Braze for $5.7bn – the AI follow-up trick you can copy this afternoon
• UK inflation jumps to 3.5% – how to raise your prices without losing customers
• And finally… the dog news 🐾

Chapters
00:00 This week's biggest business stories
00:50 Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs because of AI
04:00 Website hacking alert: is your site at risk?
06:39 Elon Musk's Tesla–SpaceX merger
08:45 Salesforce buys Braze for $5.7bn: AI marketing
11:04 UK inflation hits 3.5%: will interest rates rise?
13:22 Dog news
14:13 Recap

💬 Would you use AI to replace a role in your business, or only to make your team better? Tell me in the comments.

🔔 Subscribe for the week in business, every Friday.
🎧 Listen to Business Growth Talks on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
YouTube Shorts - https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks/shorts

The most expensive habit in business isn’t overspending. It’s waiting.

When I left corporate, I finally had no boss, no sign-off, total freedom… and for weeks I did absolutely nothing. In this episode I share the three things I wish someone had told me back then, plus the five words that finally snapped me out of it.

If you’ve been sitting on an idea, waiting for the right time, more money or to “feel ready”, this one’s for you.

⏱ Chapters
 0:00 The most expensive habit in business
 0:25 You’ve been trained to wait
 2:28 The right time isn’t coming
 4:17 Doing it badly beats not doing it
 6:27 Three things to remember

💬 Tell me in the comments: what’s the one thing you’ve been waiting on the “right time” for?

📺 Every Friday I cover the five biggest business stories of the week. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

🎙 Business Growth Talks: conversations and lessons for founders, CEOs and business owners.

Support the show

If you want to watch the full video of this episode go to:
https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks

Do you want to be a guest on multiple podcasts as a service go to:
www.podcastintroduction.com

Find more details about the podcast and my coaching business on:
www.businessgrowthtalks.com

Find me on
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-hayw...
Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mjh169183
YouTube Shorts - https://www.youtube.com/@markhayward-BizGrowthTalks/shorts