Path for Potential

From an upcoming episode with the creator of deliciouslyella Ella Mills, Mark and Johanna ask Ella for her advice to others just starting out on their journey. From the clip, we learn why it’s important to fail and how to fail fast; not to be intimated by the success of others; and, how to celebrate the small increments of your success. A healthy food empire isn’t built in just one day!

From an upcoming episode with cookbook author Lucy Lord, the pod discusses how to appear to be the most confident person in the room even when you’re secretly sweating and panicking. A self-described introvert, Lucy reflects on how she became successful in sales before pivoting to pursue a career in recipe-writing.

In both careers, Lucy had to back herself, pitch to an audience, and communicate her ideas even though she felt like it wasn’t her strong suit.

In many early careers, we feel like we might have some imposter syndrome. Hopefully, this clip gives a bit of advice to boost your, ‘fake’, confidence.

Darina Garland is one-half of the co-founding couple responsible for Ooni Pizza Ovens. Her and Kristian Tapaninaho’s success proves the mouth-watering potential of a good business idea. Darina and her husband weren’t inventors, engineers, or product designers but their good idea made them a global brand. Only once they put their idea to the world, did they realise there was an appetite for their product.

Darina reveals how community funding made their idea a success, the reality of being a true market leader and why you should have the confidence to go for it with your own business idea.

‘Topping’ their conversation… Mark and Johanna discover Darina’s key advice for success in any early career path: the value of work experience, the art of ‘the ask’ – how to connect with successful people, and why embodying your values in the workplace can make you f@*#ng awesome! This is Darina’s Path for Potential.

From an upcoming episode with This is Unfolded founder and Scottish entrepreneur Cally Russell, we hear about another unlikely path into business and how Cally views his social science degree without necessarily ‘using’ it in his career. Often, graduates find themselves taking a different direction from what they have studied, but Cally shows how the topics he learned about and the soft skills he developed have shaped his businesses and helped him find a way to fulfil his potential.

Oli Norman was training to be a lawyer without ever wanting to be a lawyer. Through some very interesting experiences, he's now a live event creator, restaurant and bar owner, and successful entrepreneur. However, the path he took to realise his potential was… unconventional to say the least. Whilst travelling in Asia, Oli uncovered a staged documentary created by a production company funded by a member of the royal family. After selling the scoop to Piers Morgan and the Mirror, Oli had the startup funds to start his business idea that would eventually evolve into itison, Scotland’s biggest deals and events website, although he wasn’t sure what it was going to be yet. Oli explains the importance of knowing your self-worth, following your passion and the happiness that can come from taking risks. In typical Oli Norman fashion, these pearls of wisdom are found through other fantastic stories like firing all his clients to pivot the business only for them to join the new company or buying bars and restaurants in Glasgow so long as they are on the cycle from home to the office! This is Oli’s Path for Potential.

An unheard clip from an upcoming episode with the founder of Scottish live events company, It Is On, Oli Norman. Mark mentions Oli’s business portfolio of restaurants and bars in Glasgow which are all, conveniently, on the route from Oli’s office to his home. Instead of being just an eccentricity, Oli finds that this brings focus to his business which he used to struggle to do. Mark and Johanna show, in a wider sense, how chasing happiness in your career can help you avoid burnout, improve your well-being and keep you motivated to reach your potential.

How do you get the head of Netflix to return your call? How do you get your design on a Starbucks cup? Mark and Johanna discuss the ‘ask’ with Ooni co-founder Darina Garland. A top bit of advice applicable to anyone trying to get hired or to pitch an idea to someone you have never met.

From the perspective of the person asking the question and the person being asked, Path for Potential have the secretsto help you get in touch with the person in your field that you really admire, how to nail a cover letter and get the job you want, and that it’s easier to reach out than you may think.

Johanna also mentions her campaign to get one of her illustrations on the Starbucks Christmas cups and how that ended with Starbucks on her client list.


This clip is taken from an upcoming episode of Path for Potential w/ Darina Garland.
Step to success is our series of key advice to help you in your career.

Fearne Cotton found fame at the very start of her career path but still finds herself jumping into new opportunities to find her potential. Mark and Johanna take a behind-the-scenes look into one of the most famous faces in the UK. Alongside Fearne’s own journey, the team discuss the true side of social media and the effect of comparing each other, following your passion even when you’re at the top of your game, and what is Happy Place?

Fearne is one of the most popular broadcasters in the UK and was a mainstay on Radio 1 and TV programmes like Celebrity Juice. Most recently, she founded the wellbeing brand Happy Place off the back of her first book Happy. The brand now includes the Happy Place podcast which has over 58 million downloads!

A great episode for looking inwards and feeling authentic, staying curious, and how to feel comfortable with feedback.

This is Fearne’s Path for Potential

From an unheard segment of an upcoming episode with Holly Tucker, the founder of Not On The High Street, the podcast explores the different ways you can define success and how fulfilling your potential isn't all the stereotypical idea of making the most money. For Johanna, the key is to have a fulfilling career that also allows her to spend time with the kids and Holly mentions her work with ‘good-life’ businesses that look to achieve the same result. Mark points out the value of finding the success that’s going to fulfil you and how to chase after it early in your career.

'Word of Advice' takes often unheard segments of Path for Potential and stands them on their own so you can get straight to the professional advice that is going to help you.

Welcome to Path for Potential!

Ep. 1 kicks off with Mark and Johanna introducing the mission behind the podcast and how it can help you plan out the path ahead of you. The path for your potential is not something you can generally envisage when you’re still young and have yet to start your journey, So, instead, Mark and Johanna share their perspective on the early stage of their careers, how to define who you are and why an entrepreneurial mindset is more a career mindset and not just for Dragon’s Den, suit-wearing, nonsense-talking business-types.

Co-host Mark Beaumont holds the world record for travelling around the world in 79 days by bike and now heads up an investment firm in St. Andrews. Our other host, Johanna Basford, is a New York Times bestselling illustrator who has sold over 30 million colouring books aimed towards adults. Popular titles include The Secret Garden and 30 Days of Creativity. Both have had unique careers and forged their own path along the way. They now want to share insights and interesting conversations that will allow you to fulfil your own potential.