The 'Brand U' Podcast

Today, we have an awesome guest, someone who whose been working very closely with us on the podcast since we launched. 

He is the lead drummer of the UK’s No.1 album band right now, You Me at Six, Dan Flint. 

Dan explains how we first began playing the drums after hearing his neighbour play them, so he started playing in his Mum’s kitchen!! He went on to college and met the rest of the guys in the band. 

They began gaining fans from myspace when social media was just starting and asking small time promoters to let them play at any show in the country. They would play to anyone, anywhere just to get themselves out there. 

It allowed them to gain a 3 album deal with EMI, but Dan realises none of that would have been possible without the fans from the very start. 

“Even after 15 years in, with the successes we’ve had, there’s still no guarantees for us here. You’re making music you like, but who knows if anyone else is going to like it.” 

“It’s adapting to that social media lifestyle, which we’ve had to do, to promote this record.”

“People are streaming music more, people are far more active on social media. It’s just about us trying to put together enough pieces of content.”

(Social media) “Now you see the reaction of the fans and you get to talk to them and it’s actually been a hell of a lot of fun. It gives people something to look forward to.”

“10 million streams only equated to 1,500 sales. That correlation doesn’t work so much if you’re trying to get into the charts. So that’s where the vinyls, CD’s and cassettes that we did, we’re trying to create a product that people want to buy into.”

“It’s about creating something that’s an extension of your art.”

“Streaming services are amazing for getting you out there and getting on these playlists really promote you worldwide, but the problem is it doesn’t pay you enough to actually live and sustain a business.”

“Gone are the days where you sold CD’s and musicians were all millionaires.”

“It’s good that the publics eyes have been opened a little bit to what revenue it brings in and how unsustainable it will be if it carries on that way.”

Dan Flint is the lead singer of the UK’s No.1 album band right now, You Me at Six.

He has been with the band since 2007 and the band have toured with the likes of Paramore, Parkway Drive and We the Kings. 

Twitter: @DanMEATSIX

Instagram: @welcometoflinttown

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

In this episode Chris and Jack discuss their opinions on a new up and coming app:  Clubhouse. 

“Clubhouse is essentially a live podcast. If people enjoy the content, they can then subscribe to the podcast and listen to them as and when they want.”

“It’s ultimately understanding what you want to get out of it. If you have a product or service to sell, it’s a great place to impart your knowledge to people for completely free and give 1-1 questions. It’s great for the listener to get advice from.”

“You go into a room, put your hand up and speak. If not, you sit there and listen. You don’t get bombarded with people. You don’t get sold to by people.”

“It’s really powerful if you’ve got a product or service that’s readily available to buy. The organic traffic in which you can grow is insane.”

“When you have created, none of the content is saved so you’re literally talking into a black hole.”

“Yes, there is highly valuable information on there, but listening to one hundred different people who do things differently, you can end up listening to loads of peoples opinions and not making a conscious decision on something.” 

“It’s got massive potential as a platform.”

“Try and treat it as an opportunity to create, not consume.”

“If you’re on there to consume information, then listen away because it’s a free education platform then. But at least take notes if you can’t record it.”

@jackwicksuk 

@christraylor.ig

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. 

Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

In this episode Chris and Jack discuss how to get the content right that you are producing in order to grow your business on social media. 

“You’ve got to understand what you’re posting.”

“Tell people what they need to do next. For example, Link in my bio if you want to find out more, or link in my bio if you want free training. Whatever it is, tell them what to do because people need to be told things.”

“If someone goes on your profile, there is no misunderstanding about what you do and how you can help them.”

“Everything I do is about people getting to my email list. It’s where they get the most, free in-depth training. That’s where I’ll also have the stronger call to actions to join my email list. All my social media is there for is to drive people to my email list.”

“You need to be talking from a place of experience, not making stuff up.”

“Don’t be afraid to piss people off. People are scared of putting their own personality out there.”

“Get the right combination of content. Educate the audience, but the people who are doing the best online are the people who provide opinion.”

“Providing your opinion and then providing value at the same time, that’s the formula to a viral post.”

“The content I’m sharing now, I really believe in the information that’s in there. It’s giving huge amounts of value, but it’s also giving my opinion on that subject.”

“If you’re not seeing any progress with your content and you’re feeling disheartened, quite simply, it’s probably because your content is boring. It needs to be spiced up a bit. “

@jackwicksuk 

@christraylor.ig

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

In this episode the boys discuss how you can actually grow your business through TikTok; how to speak to the younger audience out there and how to grab their attention. 

“You have to commit to it. Once you get the momentum, it really ramps up. You have to do everything within the platform. 2-3 days posts per day, a live per day. It’s blatantly obviously now how important it is in terms of business and bringing actual money in.”

“Comparing a video put on Instagram Reels to a video put on TikTok that goes viral, the views are so different. You can reach 10,000 views on a TikTok video, where it reaches just 1,500 on Instagram Reels.”

How did you get your first 1,000 followers on TikTok? “Just consistency. Just respond to comments with a video. You’re interacting with your audience, they’re seeing that you actually read their comments and you’re taking time to do a video on it, specifically what they want to hear.”

“Just a video, no hash tags, record it and post it. Make sure the content you put out there is relevant to your business.”

“TikTok is probably going to be the next biggest online paid advertising platform. It’s too big an opportunity to miss.”

“The growth that you’ll get from TikTok is ten-fold compared to any other platform right now.” 

“The people who say this isn’t for me and not using it, my advice would be to remove that barrier and try it because it doesn’t matter what platform you use as long as you’re getting attention on your brand and actually trying to build relationships up with people.”

“Word of mouth has become online word of mouth.”

“It’s around to stay. TikTok is way easier to use than Instagram.”

“It’s just leveraging the time in creating content and putting it in places where you’re going to get the best result.” 

@jackwicksuk 

@christraylor.ig

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

What is the laptop lifestyle and how do you get there?

This week we join Chris and Jack at their villa in Tenerife as they discuss the benefits and gains of the ‘laptop lifestyle’.

This podcast finds the boys giving their views on what this lifestyle means to them, what it entails and how they have got there within their businesses. 

What is the Laptop Lifestyle? “Whatever your business is and looking at it and how can I step away and be able to work remotely anywhere.”

“Doesn’t matter what stage you’re at, it won’t have any value, it won’t enable you to have the freedom you’re looking for unless you start doing these things from the beginning.”

“You can only sell a company, and there is so much value, it will genuinely add actual monetary value to your company if it’s systemised, processed, has bookkeeping from day one and it’s clean and tidy. That company will be worth way more because they’re buying into that lifestyle you’ve created.”

“Whatever business, you’ve got 4 key elements. Finance, operations, sales and marketing. Behind those elements you need to have systems and processes that lie beneath them.”

“Whatever gets you paid should be your sole focus and get rid of everything else.”

“If you can get yourself to the position where you can walk away and work just 1-2 hours reviewing what your company’s doing, you’re building a business of true value.”

“You can’t have this lifestyle unless you’ve got the day to day operations covered.”

“Set your business up so you can be free from it.”

“A company that is reliant on you is worthless.”

“It doesn’t matter what position you’re in, at some point, depending on why you’re starting your business, you’re going to want to go on holiday for 2 weeks and forget about your job, otherwise you just become more trapped than what you were if you had the 9-5, having 25 days worth of annual leave.”

“With the laptop lifestyle and the freedom that we’ve got right now, social media is a massive point, but don’t go wasting hours and hours and hours creating content that is completely not talking about the business that you’re building.” 

@jackwicksuk 

@christraylor.ig

This week we speak to Love Island star, Josh Ritchie. 

Since his appearance on the show Josh has gained nearly 1 million followers on Instagram and joined the world of property investment.

In a no holds barred conversation we hear about the high and lows of being in the limelight, how getting rich quick isn't all it's cracked up to be, his plans for the future and of course what personal brands means to him.

“Everyone takes a loss in their lives. Especially as an entrepreneur. You don’t just take one, you take thousands before you even get one win.”

“Don’t think it’s going to last forever because I, one time I thought it was going to last forever and it just doesn’t. Someone new, someone fresher, someone younger than you is coming up and it’s not you unfortunately.”

“If I didn’t do TV, I would have always done property because I’m a joiner by trade, I’m a window fitter, I do conservatories, I can do more or less everything.”

“Personal brand in property it would mean everything because I want to be that guy when I’m 50/60 years old that young lads look up to me and they’re like wow, look at him, he’s got 250 properties underneath his finger, let’s go and speak to him and see how he started off as a young kid. I’d love to do that. But for social media, it means fuck all.” 

“As much as we banter about me having close to a million followers, if all that went, I wouldn’t be bothered. I’ve got other stuff going on.”

“In the industry I’m in, most people are fake. They don’t want to see you do well, they won’t give you the contacts to better yourself.”

“I wouldn’t say go and get on television, you go and get a job or be an entrepreneur and make a business, save up money, invest it in something. I wouldn’t say go on television and make easy money quick.”

“I think people in the public eye should stop posting all the positives and actually start posting the negatives.” 

Before being approached by Love Island, Josh trained and qualified as a joiner in his home town of Bolton whilst being registered with a modelling agency 

Following on from Love Island, he has also appeared in a number of other celebrity shows including Ex on the Beach, Celebs go Dating and Celebrity Coach Trip. 

Josh's forward- thinking plan is to continue to invest in properties and build a large property portfolio.  

Instagram: @joshuaritchie1

Twitter: @ritchie_joshua

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

This week we speak to serial business coach and entrepreneur, Paul Avins. 

Paul’s main aim is to help driven, passionate entrepreneurs to scale up their business to seven figures and beyond. Ultimately, Paul’s unique knowledge allows his clients to build a grown-up business that can scale consistently without them, giving the clients the freedom, flexibility and financial returns that they had when they first started out. 

Paul became an entrepreneur at the age of 19, developing a number of businesses, losing it all by the age of 31, resorting to living back with his parents and starting all over again. This is information that he openly divulges, drawing on his past experiences to help guide and encourage clients. He has now spent the last 17 years helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses as well as growing 3 companies of his own.  

“If you’re going to play the game called entrepreneurship, you better get used to the fact not everything you start is going to go great.”

“3 things entrepreneurs need to do if they want to scale and succeed: 

1-       You have to harness the digital platforms that are out there right now. You have to learn and master those platforms.

2-       You need to learn how to attract top talent and build a high performing team. Because none of us succeed on our own.

3-       Make sure you don’t run out of cash.” 

“Market selection is everything.”

“Personal branding is critical. You’ve got to build your personal brand, product brand and company brand.”

“This is about how many people can we help, how many people can we serve, how big a difference can we make?”

Personal brand- “It’s about integrity and authenticity. It’s about doing what you said you were going to do when no-one was looking. It’s being absolutely authentic with who you are regardless of whether people like it or not, that you’re happy with who you see in the mirror.” 

“You’re not an entrepreneur if you haven’t lost money.” 

“The single biggest currency in the world right now is trust.”

“The universe will not give people money if they do not have a plan of what they’re going to do with it.”

“Success is about the opportunity to show up and be in the game for another day.” 

“I want to be the best version of me by the end of this ride.”

 ABOUT THE GUEST

Paul Avins is known as one of the most popular business growth coaches and mastermind mentor in the world today. During his 17- year career he has become best known for creating Dynamic Business Growth Programs that increase his client’s sales, profits and success. 

Paul is the author of 5 business books. These include Business SOS and Secrets of the Wealth Accelerators. His latest book is entitled 67 Fast Acting Business Growth Tips. He is also a highly in demand keynote speaker. 

He is the CEO of Team Dynamics Global, working with over 4,500 high performing leaders and teams. 

Free resources available at paulavins.com

Linked In – Paul Avins 

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

 

This week we speak to You Tube star Rob Lipsett, who had just cycled across London in the pouring rain to chat to us! He is a content creator, fitness coach and all-round serial entrepreneur. 

His Lipsett Fitness brand, an online personal training platform, has been hugely successful through his YouTube and Instagram stardom. He has over 500,000 Instagram followers and 460,000 YouTube subscribers. 

He created his YouTube channel in 2014 posting workout videos, with his first video gaining over 40,000 views!!!!

After receiving a huge number of requests for personal training, he created his Lipsett Fitness brand. The service provides personalised training programmes, as well as nutritional advice. 

He now executes his services via an app that is customised to the client and their needs. 

“Everyone starts from zero subscribers. Pick up the camera, speak into the camera and send content out regularly.”

“In person events are still so important. Nothing can really beat that one on one connection.” 

“Meeting people in person is huge.”

“I would look up to these guys and they were just really rude and arrogant and they’d never ask you a question and they didn’t want to talk to you and I was like I never want to be like that. No matter how big my audience gets, I would hate to leave someone with the experience that I have been left with before.” 

“Obviously do the work, put in the grind, but again don’t piss away your youth, because that’s one thing money can’t buy is time.”

“The trend is long form communication about a topic that you know the back end of.”

“Everyone should just double down on their strengths because that’s what they’re good at.”

“I don’t care if no one watches my videos, I don’t care if no one tunes in anymore. I just love fitness. So that’s what you should be doing.” 

“I’ve worked jobs I’ve hated and I just don’t want to go back to that, to be perfectly blunt.”

Rob is from Dublin, Ireland. He is one of Ireland’s leading lifestyle and fitness bloggers with just under one million followers across his social media platforms.  He is the owner of his online personal training business Lipsett Fitness, founder of The Creator Agency and co-owner of Dublin’s Raw Gym chain.  

@RobLipsett 

YouTube.com/RobLipsett

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

 

This week Jack and Chris review of the first 9 guests of Brand U podcast. They discuss the core highlights from each individual with the stand-alone value of each and everyone. 

Guests:

·         Paul Mork

·         Alex Crockford

·         Jordan Platten

·         Kieran Nicholls

·         Ted Singh

·         Matt Haycox

·         Ryan Pinnick

·         Aaron Branch

·         Lauren Tickner

“Be you always. Unapologetically. Whatever your thing is, do more of it, whatever puts a smile on your face, whatever makes you happy, you will bring in more people that you enjoy and want to hang around with and will actually add to your life and not take away.”

 

“If you’re not building your list right now and you’re not being you, then they’re the two things you really need to focus on to be able to take your brand to the next level.”

Don’t forget to join our Facebook group – BrandU Community

Handles - @christaylor.ig @jackwicksuk

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.

Throughout this series of shorter episodes, our hosts will be sharing insights, hints and tips using the knowledge and experience they have gained and mistakes they have made, through developing their own personal brands.

In today’s episode, Jack and Chris draw on their own experiences of how they came to realise you don’t have to hustle 24/7 to build a successful, profitable business. 

They discuss how many people believe they have to work weekends and late into an evening to establish themselves as hardworking and successful, whereas Jack and Chris believe the opposite and that you should be doing what you want to do. 

“Identifying what you want. If you are an out and out empire builder and you hustle 24/7, that’s fine. But don’t try and convince everybody that is the only way of doing things.”

“Ultimately it’s understanding what it is that you want.”

“Work hard with patience and a plan. Without a plan, you’re just a hardworking fool.”

“Enjoy the personal branding. Be yourself, be honest, transparent and open.”

Don’t forget to join our Facebook group – BrandU Community

Handles - @christaylor.ig @jackwicksuk

Chris Taylor is a Social Media Expert, Trainer & Consultant with a history of building 2 x multi six figures businesses in just 18 months before he turned 24. Chris has over 33k followers on Instagram and has been able to leverage the platform to help generate over 1.3m leads & £850k in sales for himself and his customers. Jack Wicks is a Property Entrepreneur who has made a name for himself for being open and honest. He openly documents the good, the bad and the ugly of his entrepreneurial journey so far and understood really quickly the importance of getting his face out there to the world. Jack now runs multiple businesses in a number of different industries and leverages his personal brand to drive hundreds of leads a month into his businesses. “Be Visible, Being Consistent & Most Importantly Being YOU”.