Owner and founder of Inception Support, expert mac support for business and home, Paul Richardson joins Tracy this week on Sweat Grit & Hustle. Today Paul shares not just how he got to being his own boss, but also shares snippets of his knowledge in computing for those looking to create or grow a business for themselves.

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• When Paul left his old job to start his own business he didn’t want to poach any clients from his former company, so much so that he didn’t even tell his clients that he was leaving. When he did start up his business, some former clients seeked him out to hire him again. Paul found word of mouth so important at this stage. 
• After Paul helped one client with a security problem in her IT system, she said to him “thank you, I can sleep tonight now”. That’s why he loves doing what he does. 
• When using cloud based storage, you can end up with synchronisation errors. When you store it all over one or more computers in your network, then you don’t get these errors and you can replace the computers when needed. 
• NAS - Network Attached Storage. 
• Make your passwords unique because if one password is compromised then the hacker doesn’t have the keys to the kingdom. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I love running my own business, I’m unemployable now’ 

‘I’m doing my dream job, I fix computers for a living and people pay me to do it’ 

‘The biggest security problem out there is not the computer, it’s the user’ 

‘Do not follow links unless you’re absolutely sure you know where it takes you’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.inceptionsupport.com

[email protected]

ABOUT THE GUEST

Paul went straight from education into life as a printer engineer almost 20 years ago. 

Having arrived at a job doing what he loved, helping people with IT, Paul made the decision five years ago to move from being employed into working for himself. Now he's still doing what he loves, but doing so as his own boss. 

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

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PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success. 

It’s the final part of Becoming Your Best You this week on Sweat, Grit, and Hustle as Tracy concludes the series by covering part 4 of an e-book she wrote to help you Unleash the Gift Within. In this part, Tracy tells you about how you can unlock that gift and potential within you. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• It’s not just about reaching that outcome and completing the journey, it’s the journey itself because we learn every step of the way. 
• Every big outcome needs a series of smaller short term stepping stones that you can take every day to work you towards living the life you want to every day. 
• Successful people are the ones who do the task anyway even when they don’t want to or could put it off. 
• Nothing is perfect, be prepared to be flexible to achieve. 
• Society sees busyness as a virtue, but a lot of the time we’re not doing things that are actually helpful and productive. 
• The 3D model for being productive is do, delegate, or dump. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Overwhelm is your enemy’ 

‘The biggest mistake you can make is not taking action’ 

‘A plan is not fixed in stone’ 

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success. 

What happens if we need to step away from our businesses for a week? A month? Two months? Longer? What happens to our business while we’re away? This week on Sweat, Grit & Hustle, Tracy brings you another caffeine cast on how you can make your business resistant to those curveballs that life throws at you.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Start looking at how you work on your business instead of in your business. If you can delegate and outsource early on, then you have time to work on developing the business and grow your income. If you have people to do the day to day work then the business can also survive you not being there for a length of time.
• The second thing you should look at is automating. If you can get the back end and admin tasks to be automated, then that saves you time on your day to day tasks. Automate online sales, booking with you, email lists etc.
• Create an operations manual so others will know how to do the day to day things you do for the business.
• If your business can’t survive 3, 4, 5, 6 months without you, then you’ve not got a business, you’ve got a job.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Don’t be a do it all’

‘The more you automate the less you have to do day to day’

‘There will come a time when life throws a curveball’

EPISODE RESOURCES

The eMyth

Tim Ferris's 4 Hour Work Week

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with.

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge on the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success.

In this week's episode of Sweat Grit & Hustle, Tracy continues the series on becoming your best you by covering part 3 of an e-book she wrote to help you Unleash the Gift Within. In this part, Tracy covers developing strengths and managing weaknesses. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• No matter what you want your outcome to be, you can get there through dedication to self improvement. We either learn from our mistakes and grow or become stagnant. 
• A lot of people view self improvement as focusing on our weaknesses, but Tracy proposes self improvement can be getting even better at what you’re good at already. Work around your weaknesses and make your strengths even greater. 
• Building on your strengths improves your self confidence instead of tearing it down. You get to focus on the positives in life. 
• How do we build on our strengths?: 1. Invest in learning more about what you’re already good at. 2. Spend time with others who have your desire to build upon your strengths. 3. Step out of your comfort zone. 4. Teach others your strengths. 
• Accept your flaws for what you are, they are part of you but not the biggest part. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Self improvement is key to living a successful life’

‘There is always new things to learn and strategies to improve on’ 

‘Put yourself into places where you need to step up to get the job done’

‘Don’t compare yourself to others who have already realised their ideal outcomes’ 

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge on the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success. 

Guests this week are Todd Smith and Emma Baylis, who have been in "takeover” mode with their business venture. Todd's father had built up a strong local business manufacturing Fibreglass parts as a solo venture but had let the business slow down in his old age. Now Todd and Emma are in charge, they are on a mission to become the West Midlands Number 1 provider of high quality composite parts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Having built up a thriving solo run local business, when it came time to retire, Todd's father slowly reduced the contracts and let the business run down going from a staff of 7 to just him. 
• When Todd and Emma decided to take the business on, his first course of action was to rebuild and regain the contracts. Today TPS Fibreglass employs a team of 5, working locally in the West Midlands.
• You will always have to pay top of the market wage wise for the best people. If you want to be the best at what you do then you have to have the best people for the job. 
• The biggest struggles for the business are fine tuning the way the business wants to work and cash flow issues over the Christmas period. Balancing the holidays of employees was a new challenge for the pair. 
• Todd and Emma initially tried to branch out into too many different areas when they took over. They’ve not learned to stick to doing what they do best. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘You need to have the right sets of skills’ 

‘You’ll make more making lower quantity but higher quality products’ 

‘You can do anything but you can’t do everything’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES 

https://www.tpsfibreglass.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/tpsfibreglass/

https://www.facebook.com/tpsfibreglass

Email:  tpsfibreglass@gmail.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/tps-fibreglass/

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success. 

This week's episode of Sweat Grit & Hustle, Tracy is covering part 2 of an e-book she wrote to help you Unleash the Gift Within and Become Your Best You. In this part, Tracy covers recognising your strengths and weaknesses. This is perfect for anyone wanting to start or set up their own business. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Break your desired outcomes into daily, weekly, and monthly steps you can take to work towards that outcome. 
• Shut out the negative thoughts and write down all the things you are good at. Make it honest. 
• Some questions to get you started on writing your list are 1. What have you always been good at? 2. What do you do better than anyone else you know? 3. What do other people think of your strengths? 4. What skills have you developed that could be added to that list. 
• We can’t all be good at everything, so before you start kicking yourself just remember that we grow as people and learn from our mistakes. It’s not failing, it’s simply a skill you weren’t born with or haven't learned yet. 
• To find out your weaknesses ask yourself the following questions. 1. What skills or tasks do you struggle with? 2. What tasks do you procrastinate because you don’t feel like you can perform them? 3. What do others see as your weak areas? 4. What negative work habits do you have? 5. What personality traits do you have that you experience as weaknesses or negatives?
• The next step is mapping out your strength to potential. There is more than one path to reach our full potential.
   

BEST MOMENTS

‘It’s always good to get 360 degree feedback’ 

‘You can do anything, but you can’t do everything’ 

‘We all have weaknesses, and acknowledging them shouldn’t be a big deal holding us back’ 

‘Sometimes the best way forward is to let go’ 

‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ 

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success. 

Sam Perry is the owner/founder of So Social Media. Having worked in Radio and Marketing for several years, Sam took a decision 5 years ago to leave the day job and become his own boss. He joins Tracy on Sweat, Grit & Hustle to talk about starting SO Social Media, how networking has helped his business grow, and his thoughts on social media marketing. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• At the beginning of everyone’s journey into starting your own business we all suffer from a bit of imposter syndrome. We all have visions of where we want our business to be but don’t feel we have the skills or experience to get there. Remember that everyone feels that. 
• In the early stage a lot of the business SO Social Media were getting was through referrals from existing clients. 
• Sam attended a BNI (Business Network International) group by chance and found that after 3 meetings it was worth the membership for the business he brought in and the advice he got from there. 
• If it’s not referral based networking, give it a miss. There’s a structure in place that encourages you to network in the way you should be networking. 
• The BNI group Tracy is in has 17 or 18 members and last year they passed over a million in business between them. Sam's 29 member strong group did over 2 million. 
• Getting into networking can be seen as a cost, but in fact, it’s an investment. 
• Hire now for where you’re going to be in 2 months time.
   

BEST MOMENTS

‘The job gave you security, the business gave you passion’ 

‘I need to look where I’m going, and work backwards from that point’ 

‘Joining Networking and being able to talk to other business people’s challenges was a real turning point’ 

EPISODE RESOURCES 

Website: www.sosocialmediauk.com

Facebook Business: https://www.facebook.com/So.SocialMediaGB

Contact Sam on Tel: 07969 136218

ABOUT THE GUEST

Sam Perry is the owner/founder of So Social Media. Having worked in Radio and Marketing for several years, Sam took a decision 5 years ago to leave the day job and become his own boss. In that time his business has grown from the one and band start to a grown up business with 17 employees and a global client base.

SO Social Media is a team of passionate professionals dedicated to helping you to achieve your online potential. Their friendly and creative team want to understand you and your company, where you have come from and where you want to go, thinking of themselves as social creatures. They understand what it is that will make consumers engage with you. Managing your social media accounts by the hour with no boring long term content scheduling. Everything is done minute by minute so you know that your accounts will never be left feeling stale and unloved.

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success.

This week's episode of Sweat Grit & Hustle is the first module in a training course Tracy wrote a while ago to help you Unleash the Gift Within and Become Your Best You. This episode is Module 1 of that training and over the next few weeks Tracy will be covering all the modules in this training to help you gain a greater understanding of yourself and discover what you really want in life

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If you’ve been struggling to find your purpose in life, you’ve arrived at a great place, you’re ready to embrace your whole self and own the reason you’re on this planet.
• One of the biggest challenges of unlocking your true potential is the image we have in our heads of what success looks like. Forget about what everyone else is doing and telling you what you should want or do. You need to dig down and decide what is right for you.
• Our imagination is restricted by limiting factors such as finance or what other people will think. We need to remove those limiting factors to truly understand our purpose and build a plan towards achieving it.
• Your goals can lead to outcomes to improve one of three things, personal, professional, and spiritual.
• We can use the SMART system for making goals. SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebase.

BEST MOMENTS

‘There’s a lot to do, but it’s going to be an exciting ride’

‘You can discover your true potential if you have the courage and dedication to keep working until your dream is realised’

‘We don’t have to go from 0 to 100 instantly’

‘The work starts with knowing yourself deeply’

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with.

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge on the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story

It’s another Real Life Journey, stories about people starting or running a business that will be a little closer to where you are right now. This week Tracy is joined by Amanda Blyth, a marketing and management consultant for over 12 years who made the jump to going into business with another colleague. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Amanda left her Marketing and management consulting role after 12 years to move into the world of being a business owner and work for herself.
• After joining forces with another colleague and building up a thriving business over 5 year, Amanda had the opportunity to buy the partner out.
• Some years later having grown the business to a 40 person team, Amanda sold the business. The only thing was, after selling that thriving business, Amanda realised there was now a void! After all, what do you replace working for yourself with?
• The solution solves the problems of other small business owners and creates a new business helping business owners and creatives to become organised, fulfilled entrepreneurs.
• The best kind of business partner you can have is one with complimentary skills to yourself. 
• Every so often you should check if you’re going in the right direction and for the right reasons.
   

BEST MOMENTS

‘People are good about doing things they’re passionate about’

‘If you don’t have the skills to market your product, it’s not going to grow’ 

‘You need someone to be accountable to’

‘You have some foundations and you have to maintain them’

EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.blatch.9/

https://www.simplifyingsmallbusiness.co.uk/

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success. 

A short caffeine cast this week, covering the golden nuggets Tracy has picked up from the penultimate episode of this year's The Apprentice. Tracy discusses some fantastic highlights of mistakes picked up by the show's business advisors, in relation to the contestants' business plans.

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

• Watch the penultimate episode of this year's Apprentice for some really great insight into how investors will scrutinise your business. 
• Be honest and upfront about your business structure when talking to potential investors. It creates uncertainty about your honesty and how the business relationship will work if you don’t disclose who else is involved and at what capacity. 
• If you are importing your products by sea from China for example, then you will find it difficult to keep that item in stock. And if you don’t have a popular item, you will end up stockpiling it. 
• Remember to think about the scalability of your business when going for investment. There may be parts or people that don’t scale as you grow.
   

BEST MOMENTS

‘Numbers are important in your business plan, don’t leave them out’ 

‘If you’re looking at starting a business, watch the penultimate episode, it will give you a lot of mistakes you can avoid’ 

ABOUT THE HOST

With over 25 years of experience in IT Management and Business Consulting and 10 years plus helping hundreds of property investors through training, mentoring and speaking; Tracy founded Witch Property. Tracy is renowned for her knowledge on property & business and her ability to sell, market and grow the property individuals and companies she works with. 

With a wealth of experience in business and property, Tracy has a rare capability of mixing her skills in this space with her knowledge of the mind, to ensure a truly rounded experience for growth and development.

Tracy on Facebook

Follow Tracy on Instagram

Tracy's LinkedIn

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

This is a podcast for anyone starting out in business with a willingness to learn from others. Hear stories from guests that have gone from zero to hero in their business and find out what advice they have to share. Tracy will also be bringing you stories from everyday people who are just starting, or are only part way through their own story to success.