The Business Distillery

Carl Readeris a serial entrepreneur, speaker and business commentator, and the chairman of business advisory firm d&t.

During his long and varied career, he has bought and sold, founded and co-founded and invested in and sought investment for businesses.

He has helped countless business owners either start or grow their business through his columns, keynote talks and advice. Recognized as one of City AM's Top 100 Entrepreneurs in 2016 he is Chair of the Practitioners Panel at ACCA, a former board director of the British Franchise Association and an Ambassador for the Association of Independent Professionals and Self-Employed.

Michael is a Serial Entrepreneur in Entertainment, Education and Property. He is considered one of the world’s leading High-Performance coaches for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Corporate Executives.

He also acts as an Advisor and Board Member to companies, governments and academic institutions.

Joel is a multi-award-winning businessman and speaker.

Passionate about accelerating inclusive business support, he is the Founder of award-winning fintech data analytics firm www.gfaexchange.com

Joel also consults with professional services firms and public sector bodies on developing inclusive business support models and ecosystems. He has advised business policy advisers at No 10 Downing Street and has also lectured at several globally recognised business schools.

Outside of his own business, he is President of the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce, Board Director of two organisations, and a Fellow of the National Centre for Entrepreneurs.

He was awarded an OBE for Services to Business and Enterprise in 2016.

International bestselling author Jay Samit, is a dynamic entrepreneur and intrepreneur who is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on disruption and innovation. Described by Wired magazine as “having the coolest job in the industry,” he raises hundreds of millions of dollars for startups, advises Fortune 500 firms, transforms entire industries, revamps government institutions, and for three decades continues to be at the forefront of global trends.

The former Independent Vice Chairman of Deloitte Consulting, Samit helped grow pre-IPO companies such as LinkedIn, been a Nasdaq company CEO, held senior management roles at EMI, Sony and Universal Studios, pioneered breakthrough advancements in mobile, ecommerce, digital distribution, and spatial reality that are used by billions of consumers every day. Called the “guru for the entire industry” by Variety, his list of partners and associates reads like a who’s who list of innovators, including: Bill Gates, President Bill Clinton, Pope John Paul II, Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs, Reid Hoffman, David Geffen, Sir Richard Branson, and Paul Allen.

Samit’s previous book, Disrupt You! Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation (MacMillan 2015), is currently published in twelve languages. He has also written for such publications as Fortune, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal.

A sought-after conference speaker and consultant, Samit provides disruptive solutions for such corporate clients as Adobe, American Express, AT&T, Best Buy, Coca Cola, Disney, Ford, Google, GE, IBM, Intel, McDonalds, Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, and Visa and dozens more.

What does it take to stand out from the crowd?

How do startups and small businesses get the visibility they need in just crowded and noisy markets?

These are just some of things we cover during my conversation with Andrew Bloch

Andrew is the founder of Andrew Bloch & Associates, a boutique consultancy specialising mainly in the communications and marketing industry.

His portfolio includes non-executive director, board advisory, consultancy and project roles for a range of high growth businesses and agencies.

Andrew co-founded Frank, one of the UK’s most respected PR agencies. Frank has represented some of the nation’s best-known brands and is one of the industry’s most decorated agencies, responsible for some its most famous campaigns.

Last year, he stepped down from his day-to-day role as managing partner to become a non-executive director.

Andrew has acted as official spokesperson and PR advisor to Lord Sugar for over 20 years and has handled the PR for all The Apprentice winners and their companies since the show started in 2005.

Andrew sits on the Business Launch Group panel for The Prince’s Trust, is a founding mentor of the School of Communications Arts, a Generation Z mentor at the School of Marketing, a council member of Superbrands and a group advisor to Big Community Records.

Andrew is listed in the ‘PR Week Power Book'​ – 'The Definitive Guide To The Most Influential People in PR’ and is ranked as the most influential PR person on Twitter. In 2021, Andrew was named as one of the Top Ten most Influential PR people in the world by Buzz Sumo.

He is named in the Evening Standard Progress 1000 list of London’s Most Influential People.  Andrew Bloch & Associates has been recognised as ‘Most Adaptive Business of 2020’ by Intuit Quickbooks

Penny was pivoted into entrepreneurial acclaim upon founding the first social network for businesses, alongside her husband, Thomas, in 1998.

‘Ecademy’ grew across 52 countries, and gained over 650,000 members.

In 2014, her ‘contribution to entrepreneurs in the digital economy’ was recognised by the Queen with an OBE. Penny has always believed in creating conversations and deep networking.

Penny’s experience as a business owner now spans over twenty 23 years and is the backbone to her pioneering approach as a torch bearer having more personal awareness and making decisions in business that are right for you personally.

Penny continues to work with business owners, entrepreneurs and leaders to prioritise their wellbeing so as to have a more success life both professionally, and personally.

This episode is all about how personal business really is and what challenges you really face that are rarely talked about.

Get Penny's book: Business is Personal

What are the key principles to inlfuence - it's not what we really think!

When you hear the word sales or selling often you are transported to a pressure situation where something is impressed upon you by someone - but there is more to sales its not an activity but a process... a process of inspiring and influencing.

In this episode we catch up with Justin Leigh.. Justin is a highly experienced business leader with over twenty-five years’ experience in sales and leadership. An accredited executive coach and practitioner of NLP, Justin is also an accomplished author, trainer, facilitator adviser and consultant to board-level executives and teams.

GET HIS BOOK << CLICK HERE

In the epic book Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill there is a quote

"you are the master of your destiny... you can influence, direct and control your own environment…you can make your like what you want it to be!"

Albert Einsten said "Everything is energy and that is all there is to it… Match the frequency of the reality you want and you can not help but get that reality. It can be no other way… This is not philosophy… this is physics."

My guest on this episode is Simon Alexander Ong.

Everything that Simon does is built to inspire people to see their world differently and ignite their imagination of what is truly possible so they can live a better story…

As an award winning coach and keynote speaker, Simon has been interviewed on Sky News, BBC and Forbes.

He has spoken at some of the planet’s most successful organisations these have included the likes of Virgin, Salesforce and Microsoft!

What is ethical purpose and why do businesses today need to adopt a purpose driven solution?

Let me introduce you to John O'Brien MBE

John is EMEA managing partner at Omnicom’s ‘ONE HUNDRED’, a global consortium of nine marketing, public relations, digital and communications agencies creating purpose-based solutions for corporates and causes around the world.

After early years in banking and a decade as an Army Officer,

John has spent almost thirty years at the interface of business and society.

He has led organisations over twenty countries and in addition to his corporate work spent seventeen years in various roles for HRH the Prince of Wales.

He has also advised two overseas royal families, various ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and non-profits.

As a changemaker and philanthropist, he has founded several renowned initiatives, particularly around enterprise and young people for which he was appointed an MBE

John is a pioneer of what is now an accepted alignment between business success and ethical purpose based on creating value for all stakeholders not just shareholders.

He will share his experience of advising global and other businesses on grasping and then maximising the power of purpose to achieve long term sustainable success..

John's latest book is also now available: TRUTH BE TOLD - Get the book 

One of the most impactful people I have ever met... is Brad Burton.

I have known Brad for over a decade and even to this day his message is so relevant and energy is electric; I took the chance to get Brad onto the podcast to really break down aspects of his life and business.

Never have I met a person with so much belief and disruptive energy that is determined to do what he says he is going to do and prove his critics and naysayers wrong!

This is an immense episode and I allowed Brad to express himself naturally and for that here is the working of explicit language and profanity... but look beyond the disruptive exterior and you will find a man who is determined and destined for great things.