The Small Business Sessions

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast, is back!

This sixth season is powered by the business.connected online training programme and our partners Vodafone Business, Builder.ai and JP Morgan.

Joining freelance journalist Dan Martin for the first episode is Ailis Topley, founder of sustainable and refillable candles company Pott Candles.

Ailis’ business started as a lockdown hobby in 2020, but it now has sales of over £1m, its products are stocked in Selfridges and John Lewis and Ailis was named by Forbes as one of Europe's top young entrepreneurs. 

Tune into the episode to hear the inspiring Pott Candles story and its founder’s tips for business success.

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The business.connected hub is a free online training programme of workshops, webinars and e-learning modules designed to help businesses go digital, adopt new technology, and stay safe online.  

To find out more, go to www.enterprisenation.com/businessconnected

To listen to previous episodes of the podcast, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

We've reached the end of series five of the Small Business Sessions. Joining us for the final episode is the brilliant serial entrepreneur, Simon Squibb, who has made it his mission to help 10 million people start and grow a business through The Purposeful Project.

Simon's vision for supporting so many new entrepreneurs is driven by his own personal experiences. He left school at 15 and was kicked out of home by his mum but went on to start 19 companies and invest in over 60 start-ups. He also sold his branding and digital agency, Fluid, to PwC.

Simon joins journalist Dan Martin to share insights from his incredible entrepreneurial adventures.

For more information about Enterprise Nation and to listen to more episodes, visit www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

Big thanks to all our brilliant guests and to everyone who has tuned in to this series of the podcast. 

We love accountants at Enterprise Nation and this week we're joined by a great one! Joanna Drinkwater, Enterprise Nation adviser and managing director of Grant McKnight, speaks to journalist Dan Martin about an absolutely essential skill for successful entrepreneurs; understanding your finances.

Tune in for must listen tips on assessing the financial health of your business, creating a cashflow forecast, identifying cashflow gaps, financial mistakes to avoid, choosing an accountant, chasing late payment and lots more!

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

Running a business that’s 100% focused on travel during a pandemic is quite the challenge.

In January 2020, Anthony Collias and Jacob Webberburn-Day, co-founders of Stasher, a platform that connects travellers with places to store their bags, raised $2.5m funding and they moved into their first private office. Then March happened.

In a must-listen episode, the entrepreneurs talk to Dan Martin about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, building a minimum viable product, how a cold email led to a £100,000 investment, tips for working with a co-founder, partnering with major chains and loads more!

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

This week we're looking at how digital technology can transform small businesses of all types. Whether you're selling products or services online or you're looking to reach customers from a physical store, by embracing the latest technology you can drive the sales and growth of your business. 

Joining journalist Dan Martin to discuss how to digitally transform your business are Sajni Shah, co-head of product at Starling Bank and John Hoyle, founder of Sook, a company providing adaptive and fully personalised retail spaces which business owners can rent by the hour.

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

Research shows that those business owners who take on advice grow their companies faster than those who don't, but with so much advice out there it can be hard to work out which advice to take on.

As you'll know if you're an entrepreneur, you have a lot of plates to spin, so when should you seek advice and ask for help from others? And how do you go about picking the advisers to use?

Joining journalist Dan Martin to discuss all that are two brilliant Enterprise Nation adviser members: 

• Emma Mills-Sheffield from Mindsetup, who advises business owners on how to become more efficient, productive and efficient.
  
  
  
• Toby McCartney, the founder of MacCrebur, a hugely successful brand that turns non-recyclable waste plastics into materials to use as roads and car parks. He is also the author of Business ReLOVEution: A Mindset Paradigm for the Modern Entrepreneur. Throughout his business journey, Toby has taken on lots of advice, including from Sir Richard Branson. Listen to hear what Sir Richard told him!

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

This week we're talking business funding. In an advice-packed episode, Oliver Krishnan from Starling Bank and Ryan Hyde-Smith from Funding Options join journalist Dan Martin to demystify the world of finance and explain how to decide on the best option for your business, how to manage debt and common mistakes to avoid.

Since this episode was recorded, Starling Bank has been accredited for the Recovery Loan Scheme, a government initiative set up to help small business owners deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

The statistics are shocking: One million birds and 100,000 marine animals a year die from plastic pollution, eight million pieces of plastic end up in the oceans every day and for every mile of UK beaches, there are 5,000 pieces of plastic.

It was figures like that which drove Beth Noy to launch Plastic Freedom. What started as a £300 investment to sell some of her favourite plastic free products is now a booming online store with over 3,000 brands. She has also built an Instagram community of 200,000 followers.

Beth joins journalist Dan Martin to share her hugely inspiring story of turning a side hobby into a successful full-time business that tackles one of the great problems of our age.

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

The transition period for Britain's exit from the European Union ended on 31 December 2020 so how has Brexit affected the UK's small businesses?  Freelance journalist Dan Martin is joined by Mike Wilson, founder of Go Exporting, and Philip Salter, founder of The Entrepreneurs Network, to discuss it.

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

This week journalist Dan Martin is joined by Symmie Swil, head of SME Banking at Starling Bank, and David Beardmore, ecosystem development director at Open Banking Implementation Entity to discuss how small businesses can embrace modern banking services.

Symmie shares the vision of Starling Bank's founder Anne Boden for launching the digital bank, her views on the future of physical bank branches and how the company is supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Another exciting development for small businesses is open banking, which helps you move, manage and make more of your money.

David Beardmore joins the podcast to explain how open banking can benefit small businesses and how it has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

To find out more about Enterprise Nation and to listen to previous podcasts, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast