Different Hats Podcast

My guest from the 24 hour podcast this week is our very own podcast producer, founder of H2 Productions, the one and only Martin Leppard. When Martin was at school his teacher said to him.

Now after over two decades of working in events and "playing with speakers and light", after founding H2 Productions, Martin and his team have produced everything from a one man band at the Prince of Wales Pub to 30,000 people on Brighton Seafront with Fat Boy Slim, from festivals to GQ fashion week at Elton Johns house as well as producing some amazing podcasts, including this one. We recorded this episode while Martin was thousands of miles away yet still instructing his team on the production of the 24 hour podcast. We talked about his mindset around March 2020 when he saw his pipeline of work just fall off a cliff, but how he not only survived but has thrived coming out of the pandemic and continued to grow the business. We delve deep into what is really behind the glitz and glamour of events and get a real life behind the scenes insight into what really goes on.

Not only is this a great episode and insight into the events industry but on a personal note, getting to know Martin and work with him over the past year, I can say first hand what a complete professional he is and a joy to work with. He has not only become a business associate but a good friend as well and I look forward to working with him and the team more in the years ahead as we continue to grow the podcast.

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/x81jF7fnyjI

Find out more about Martin Leppard click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-leppard-9b07795b/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest from the 24 hour podcast this week is Tom Freyberg, Founder & Creative Content Director specialising in water, circular economy & climate-tech. He is a Video storyteller, Podcaster, Speaker & Moderator that founded Atlantean Media in 2018.

This was a brilliant episode that we recorded during the 24 hour podcast while Tom was in Sydney airport waiting to catch a flight. Tom shared his story about his career as a B2B journalist to when in 2018 the company he was working for got taken over and there were talks of redundancy. This was the catalyst for Tom to take the leap and from his kitchen table launch his own business Atlantean Media, which is a global digital content creation company for the environmental engineering industries, specialising in water. He talked about the early stages of growing the business, the impact that the pandemic had just two years after launching and how the business did not just survive but thrive. As a fellow podcast host we talk podcasting and our love for the medium. This episode is a strong reminder that if you are thinking of starting a business or going out on your own that there will be many people that doubt you and often air on the side of caution, but if you believe in yourself and as Tom quotes:

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/ud9BbKhwKp8

Find out more about Tom Freyberg click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-freyberg-41160b41/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest from the 24 hour podcast this week is Sonny Cutting an entrepreneur and founder of Network Xpress Ltd, the brand which powers the Sussex Business Show, The Tiger's Pen, The Directors' Hub and the Entrepreneurs Blog UK, and founded in Sussex. Sonny has grown into a well-known innovator and disruptor for businesses in the local region, bringing new ideas and concepts to tradeshows and events alike. The tradeshow service offers game focused business expos with a range of themes which have captured people’s imagination with golf, tennis, ten pin and football themes.

In this great episode Sonny talks about his transformation from BT into an Entrepreneur, but learning the hard way. He talks about the failure of his first business and the lessons he learnt from that experience. He delves into the challenges he faced during the pandemic losing 97% of his income overnight. but bouncing back and now flourishing, as he continues to grow the Network Express ltd offering. With the multiple businesses Sonny wears many different hats but also finds the time to look after his wife who suffers with MS and be a father to his twins. This is a real honest insight into the life of an entrepreneur and one you will not want to miss.

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/PW5QXRAw4Jc

Find out more about Sonny Cutting click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnycutting/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on the podcast this week is Managing Director of 365 Employment Law Solicitors, Alex Jones. Specialising in all aspects of Employment Law, Alex is a specialist Employment Solicitor, who advises both employers and employees on the complex issues in Employment Law. With his extensive experience he has specialised in Employment Law for nearly 20 years.

In this episode Alex talks us through his journey and how employment law has changed over the years. We discuss the impact Covid 19 had on the workplace and how starting his business in late 2019 enabled him to be able to help businesses navigate through the tricky waters of the pandemic with furlough and the constant changes during that period. Alex highlights the importance in good communication when it comes to employment law on both sides from employer and employee. He also shares the importance in business of having a strong network around you and how growing your connections is the perfect catalyst to further your career and build your business.

"Build your network, get your connections, academics will get you so far but one you start in any professional area your career develops through contacts"

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/vzXSVZmKbr8

Find out more about Alex Jones click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-jones-63612a8/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have a bonus episode from the 24 hour podcast with James Greenfield, the CEO and Co-Founder of branding agency Koto. With 100 designers and strategists across five studios in Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney. The team work with industries impacting the present and startups changing our future including Airbnb, Netflix and Uber.

In this fascinating conversation James takes us through his journey from working at some of London’s leading studios, for the world’s biggest brands to starting Koto 8 years ago and growing it into a global agency. He talks about some of the challenges early on to winning Coca-Cola as a client as well as giving some great insights into what it takes to create an amazing brand. A real key takeaway for me was around the incredible culture James and the team have created at Koto, coming up with their core values early on and taking that into the five studios as they have grown. One of James's key messages really resonated with me about growing your network:

"Don't think about your network as something your growing with an outcome in mind, just keep on making connections cause they will drive things"

Finally James's incredible growth mindset:

"I always live with one foot in presence and one foot in tomorrow, cause the foot in tomorrow drives me not to be overly comfortable in the present"

This is an incredible episode about the world of branding and growing an agency, as well as so many key insights into business.

"Humans are about being together and ultimately our work is about connecting people to ideas, making them believe in those ideas and then using those ideas to drive change"

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/7i5uAp2ZsRg

Find out more about James Greenfield click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-greenfield-74416921/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have a special bonus episode with the County Business TALKS Live Podcast Show from the amazing Soho House, with very special guest Omar Lyefook MBE.

In April 2023 I had the honour of chatting with a music icon with a career spanning 4 decades, a ‘signature’ hit tune that led on to eight solo albums

; collaborations with some of the biggest names in pop music history Stevie Wonder, Leon Ware, Erykah Badu; to name a few]; a catalogue of side-projects more extensive than many artists’ entire working lifetimes; a one-man stage show; and an MBE pinned to his chest by King Charles.

In this fascinating conversation Omar shares his story from life growing up and where his love of music first started to releasing his first album. He shares his incredible friendship and collaboration with music royalty Stevie Wonder and takes us through the many highlights of his career as well as the inspiration behind his music and the classic tune 'There's nothing like this'. We talk about some of the challenges he faced in his career along with the prejudice he faced within the industry. What was clear from the entire conversation was Omar's pure love of music and how thankful he is everyday for the career he has and leaves us with some great advice:

Everyone has a story to tell and 'there's nothing like this' one

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/JFx12EhO-Ac

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And that as they say is a wrap… Series 4 has come to an end and what a series it has been.. 

I recorded my 50th episode to kick off the series with the Olympic champion Sally Gunnell, which was pretty epic.. As she touched on how we need to believe in the process, but that you’ve got to know what that process is… 

I also had diving silver medallist Leon Taylor on the podcast.. Absolutely fascinating discussing his mindset and visualisation that got him on the podium in 2004.. I am also this Wednesday talking with him at the business leaders breakfast for the Baton of Hope UK suicide prevention and suicide awareness initiative.  

There is such a need for this as my conversation with Dad La Souls Dan Flannagan highlighted, with suicide being the biggest killer in men under 45 in the UK.. That is a staggering statistic that needs to change and will only change if … MEN START TALKING more… 

Rob Goddard’s episode is a perfect example of this as we went deep as Rob shared with me and my co-host for this episode Jo Baldwin, how he went from nearly throwing himself off the Burge Khalifa to asking for help.. For me it's so important to change the narrative that asking for help isn’t giving up, it’s refusing to give up .. It is not a sign of weakness but of strength and bravery.. Hopefully initiatives like the Baton of Hope will help to change this.. 

I have had the privilege of having so many incredible conversations in this series and below are some key messages I have taken away:

↗️ Believe in the process, but know what that process is

↗️ A person's success should not be measured by their bank balance 

↗️ Go Big or Go Home

↗️ It’s the mindset you need to equip yourself in order to make it in this life

↗️ Give more than you take

↗️ Never take anything for granted

What has been so magical about this series, as my guests have shared their incredible life stories with me, is that the podcast has developed into more than just a business podcast and what we can learn from people's life stories is amazing.. 

I have some really exciting plans for Series 5 and can not wait to share them with you. 

Just wanted to say a huge thanks to our sponsors for series 4 – Plus X, Preston Insurance Brokers, Creative Pod and EMC Corporate Finance as well as our brilliant producers my good friend Martin Leppard, H2 Productions and of course all of you for continuing to listen and support the podcast, it really does mean the world to me..

Finally I’ll leave you with this quote from our final episode of Series 4 and one of my all time favourite episodes with my good friend Gary Peters ~

Everyone has a story to tell... Thanks for listening

Watch the episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/zOFYR0kts9c

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We round off series 4 this week in style as I catch up with a very good friend of mine and the founder of Authentic Resilience Gary Peters. He is an award winning entrepreneur, winning numerous awards including  Entrepreneur of the year, businessman of the year and greatest contribution to the community, plus the founder of several award winning talent driven organisations including love local jobs.com, love local jobs foundation and ICP Search.  

I met Gary many years ago when I first came to Brighton with the salon. He did a talk at the Amex at a networking event and spoke about his journey and how in life we often need a helping hand, someone to give us a leg up, believe in us and create opportunities as someone had done for him. Well over the past decade he has without a doubt been one of those people for me, who has had a profound impact and influence on my life.

I have been fortunate enough to learn so much from Gary over the past 10 years and this episode is packed with so many great insights not just into business but life as well. Gary's talks about life growing up surrounded by unconditional love which gave him the confidence and self belief to grab life's opportunities, knowing that everything will be alright. This is a truly raw and honest conversation as Gary shares about the tough times, the punches, the falls, the failures, including a failed MBO that had a huge impact on him and the company, but has helped to build resilience and get him where he is today, .. We delve into the culture he has created and how he is now ready to take on the second part of his life.

I am so grateful to my good friend for being so honest and open with me.. To quote a movie - "You are my ambassador of Quan mate"

It only took me 4 series, 66 episodes and a 24 hour podcast to get him on, but it was well worth the wait. If you listen to any podcast this week, make sure it's this one.

"The grass is always greenest where you water it the most"

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/630vEen2kT4

To find out more about Gary Peters click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/garypeters/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on the podcast this week is Kyriakos Baxevanis. He is an entrepreneur that spins more plates than me. He is the Co-founder & Managing Director at Little Jasmine Therapies Ltd, Axiom Brighton Limited, The Right People Ltd and the founder of the fabulous Greek Restaurant in Hove, Nostos. 

This is a story of what can truly be achieved with self belief, drive and developing a growth mindset. Kyriakos shares his story about life growing up in Greece, the impact of his parents separation at age 9 as well as his decision to go to Canada with his father at age 12 for two and half years. Leaving family and everything he knew to move to a country where he couldn't speak the language, was bullied, faced racism and yet at a young age began to develop skills of resilience and develop a growth mindset that would help to shape his life. He had a dark time in his life when back in Greece he separated from his partner, lost his best friend, lost his job, lost his house and hit rock bottom. Then after making a choice to change his life and create a different path, he came to the UK, slept on his friends floor in Brighton and began to rebuild his life. From working on a chicken counter, whilst doing an MBA, Kyriakos finally got a dream job at American Express and had begun to turn his life around. But this was just the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.. Some huge takeaways and highlight for me from this inspirational episode:

✅ Lifelong Learning

✅ Develop a growth mindset Be resilient

✅ Be consistent

✅ Enhance your community

✅ Be Kind

"Be Kind, kindness carries the day, kindness will make you happy"

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/tyY9VvwqXh0

To find out more about Kyriakos Baxevanis click here ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyriakosbaxevanis/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on the podcast this week is Managing Director of Rubix VT, Nick Poyner. Nick is a highly experienced professional within the telecoms industry and someone that has been helping people and businesses connect for over 20 years. But this is not an episode about a telecoms company.

This is a story of resilience, self belief, following your dreams and never giving up. Nick talks about a difficult childhood and as a family how they sometimes struggled to put food on the table, after his Mum and Dad separated when he was just 15, Nick had to step up as the eldest of four and be the father figure to his siblings. Nick shares his journey through two businesses that didn't work out due to partnering with the wrong people, but the lessons he learned from these experiences that he took into setting up Rubix VT. After launching on 1st September 2020 during a pandemic from his home office, Nick shares how he grew rapidly to 23 staff, acquired another business within a few months and in his words... "Go Big or go home". The rapid growth of Rubix VT is a testament to Nick's incredible work ethic, self belief and culture he has created within the Rubix family. This is an inspirational episode and one not to miss.

Everyone has a story to tell...

Watch the episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/ORhrOb2O5Bs

To find out more about Rubix VT click here ➡️ https://www.rubixvt.com/about/

OUR SPONSORS

Creative Pod ➡️ https://www.creativepod.uk.com/

EMC Corporate Finance ➡️ https://www.emcltd.co.uk/

Preston Insurance Brokers ➡️ https://prestoninsurancebrokers.co.uk/

Plus X ➡️ https://plusx.space/

Produced by H2 Productions ➡️ https://h2productions.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.