It's great to have goals in place for 2021 and let's make them SMART goals.

However, let's make sure that they are achievable.

With everything that is going on in the world at the moment with lockdown, homeschooling and the economy let's make sure that they are realistic and achievable (but still a good challenge!)

Our own wellbeing as founders is critical to grow a successful and profitable business and to be able to function at our best.

As founders, we're not only running businesses but we need to look after our team, find the right suppliers and partners and deliver a return for investors.

We need to be kind to ourselves and take time for our own wellbeing. Something that can be neglected when there are so many demands on our time.

Our wellbeing is something that we definitely need to prioritise.

As entrepreneurs, we often struggle with overwhelm from all the things that we could be doing.

I know when I work with ambitious and talented founders there is so much that they want to do that sometimes it can be a lot trying to work out what to focus on first.

Today's episode is about organising those ideas a little bit - doing a brain dump and getting it out of your head and on to a piece of A4 paper.

Perfectionism takes away the fun and joy.

It stops us from doing the things that we want to do.

It prevents us from showing up and doing what we want to do!

For many years I didn't want to put something out there until it was perfect and I resisted and struggled. The thing is that when we do that we stop ourselves from creating and getting valuable feedback.

I love the way that perfectionism is now being talked about much more, as I believe it can really hamper growth.

Let's start off with Happy New Year!

It's been a while. My podcasting has been MIA whilst myself and my family have been dealing with everything that 2020 has thrown our way!

But I'm back and my goal for 2020 is to podcast daily all about growth, well actually let's be slightly more realistic and change that to regularly rather than daily.

I'm going to keep the episodes short and just share one mini-insight or topic. We're all short of time, aren't we?

Thank you to my long-standing friend and podcasting supporter David N for always encouraging me and showing me the way!

Knowing your numbers, understanding what they mean, being clear on how to read your management accounts, and how to use that information to shape your decisions - these are essential, but challenging skills that founders of any business need to master if they want to be successful.

TripAbrood is the world's first AI-powered family travel booking experience, matching families to their ideal holiday accommodation in a matter of minutes.

This brand new travel company caught my eye because it tackles an issue I am all too familiar with! As a family of six, finding suitable accommodation when we travel is an enormous challenge.

I interviewed founder Alexa-Maria Rathbone Barker to find out how she secured investment from some of the biggest names in FinTech and Travel, and how she’s developing customer relationships ahead of launch, in the middle of the worst crisis to hit the travel industry in decades.

In this week’s episode, I’ve invited my friend (and Angel Investor) Phil Fraser to share his simple business strategy setting approach that results in a useful, insightful, and flexible plan to base your business decisions around.

When we met 17 years ago, Phil and I both worked in the gambling industry.

He went on to sell his business, and is now an Angel Investor, and also provides business mentorship to other founders, using his simple, but effective, five-step Business Strategy Blueprint.

I love LinkedIn. I love how you can connect with new people that you’d struggle to get in front of in real-life. I love having the opportunity for meaningful conversations that build relationships. I love how you never know where an interaction might take you. What starts as a friendly chat can escalate to a business-changing referral or strategic partnership.

Jamie Capaldi runs a lead generation agency, along with his wife Janine, and I invited him (via LinkedIn obviously) to join me on the podcast to talk about the platform, and how they use it to help B2B brands build awareness of their products and services, and generate leads.

Sometimes being turned down for investment is a blessing in disguise.

Cucumber Clothing is an amazing new brand, carving out their space in a crowded market. Recently founders Nancy Zeffman and Eileen Willett made it through to the TV show recording stage of Dragon’s Den. But despite their detailed preparations and encouraging launch sales, they were turned down. Now they feel this was a blessing in disguise, enabling them to retain control of the business, and stick faithfully to their brand values.