The Small Business Sessions

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by Xero, is back for another episode. Series four, hosted by Enterprise Nation head of content Dan Martin, features a brilliant line-up of entrepreneurs and experts sharing insights and inspiration on how to start and grow a brilliant business. You might recognise this week's guests from TV. ​In 2017 Ed Hollands won £30,000 investment on Dragons' Den from entrepreneur Jenny Campbell. Ed's business is DrivenMedia which allows brands to advertise on the back of trucks. Before the Den, Jenny Campbell spent 32 years in banking after joining Natwest aged 16. She went on to buy YourCash, an independent cash machine provider, from RBS which she ran for 10 years before selling it in 2016. It's rare to hear an investor and their investee together so this is a fascinating chat. Tune in for to hear issues covered including what it's really like to pitch on Dragons' Den, how Jenny Campbell decides to invest in a business, how to value your business, the state of entrepreneurship in the UK and Jenny's thoughts on why young people should get a job before starting a business.

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by Xero, is back for another episode. Series four, hosted by Enterprise Nation head of content Dan Martin, features a brilliant line-up of entrepreneurs and experts sharing insights and inspiration on how to start and grow a brilliant business. This week we're all about business growth with two entrepreneurs telling us how they've scaled their companies and what you can learn. Gary Turner is the co-founder and UK managing director of Xero. He grew the accounting software firm from a three person start-up with £50,000 revenue to a £40m+ business and hundreds of staff. Joining him is Sidonie Warren, the co-founder of independent stationery retail chain Papersmiths. What started as a studio space in Bristol became a small shop with a budget of £500 and a lot of elbow grease. That business now has five stores in Brighton, Bristol and London. While Papersmiths and Xero are very different businesses, Gary and Sidonie have similar experiences and views on business growth. In an insights-packed episode, listen out for tips and advice on finding great talent from the start, growing and maintaining a strong company culture, the importance of social media, creating an effective brand identity and why consumers want an experience as well as great products. To find out more, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by Xero, is back for another episode. Series four, hosted by Enterprise Nation head of content Dan Martin, features a brilliant line-up of entrepreneurs and experts sharing insights and inspiration on how to start and grow a brilliant business. This week we're joined by podcaster and influencer, Sarah Akwisombe. Sarah started her interior design blog on the side while working at a tech start-up. The blog grew and she decided to take it full time. She has since become an influencer in the interior design world and worked with major brands including Dulux. Sarah now also runs No Bull Business School which delivers "straight-up courses to help women build a kick-ass business and brand" and the No Bull Business Women podcast. In a podcast packed full of insights, the entrepreneur discusses how to grow a readership for your blog, the importance of video, podcasting and Instagram, why women in business face different challenges to men, female entrepreneurs' confidence and appetite for risk and running a business with your partner. To find out more, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by Xero, is back for another episode. Series four, hosted by Enterprise Nation head of content Dan Martin, features a brilliant line-up of entrepreneurs and experts sharing insights and inspiration on how to start and grow a brilliant business.Only two years after launching her healthy healthy bakery company Fit Bakes, Enterprise Nation member Ellen Rauen-Prestes has managed to get her cakes stocked in major retailers including Sainsbury's and Selfridges. The Brazilian-born entrepreneur came up with her business idea when she noticed that Brits have an awkward relationship with cakes. Although we have entire supermarket aisles dedicated to the sweet treat, it was hard to find low sugar, low calorie or high protein varieties.  It was a culture shock to Ella as back in Brazil, healthy substitutes are the norm. For example, you'll find stevia in the sugar pot or have a glass of coconut water instead of squash. With that realisation, Fit Bakes was born.  In a podcast packed full of insights, the entrepreneur discusses how she has used social media influencers to grow sales, the importance of Facebook advertising and retargeting, how to get retail buyers on side, why email marketing is still vital to business growth and how to use awards to grow trust around your brand.To find out more, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by Xero, is back for another episode. Series four, hosted by Enterprise Nation head of content Dan Martin, features a brilliant line-up of entrepreneurs and experts sharing insights and inspiration on how to start and grow a brilliant business. In episode two, Sylwia Kotarba from Accounts and Legal discusses Making Tax Digital (MTD), the government initiative which aims to see the end of the tax return and transform the tax system. Since April, businesses with turnover above the £85,000 VAT threshold have been required to submit tax information digitally in an effort to make systems and businesses more efficient and deal with the £9.4bn tax revenues lost each year due to errors.In the podcast, Kotarba explains what MTD is, what you need to do to comply and what happens if you don't. She also provides great advice on how to select the perfect accountant for your business. To find out more, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcastUseful resources relevant to this podcast:Making Tax Digital government advice: https://buff.ly/2p98ACXEnterprise Nation Making Tax Digital hub: https://buff.ly/2oi6ZKu

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast powered by Xero, is back!  For series four, a brilliant line-up of entrepreneurs and experts share insights and inspiration on how to start and grow a brilliant business. Hosted by Enterprise Nation head of content Dan Martin, we'll be covering issues including business growth, retail, late payment, mental health and alternative finance over 12 episodes. For episode one, we're joined by Emma Jones, who launched Enterprise Nation after starting and selling a business from home after just 15 months and Anne Timpany, who built a one man band domestic plumbing business into a multi-million pound building services group. As an introduction to the subjects covered in the series, Emma and Anne discuss having a growth mindset, chasing late payments, female entrepreneurs' attitude to risk and small business owners' mental health and wellbeing. To find out more, go to https://www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

The Small Business Sessions podcast from Enterprise Nation and powered by Xero is back for another inspiring episode. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about starting and growing a successful business. In the last episode of the current series of the Small Business Sessions podcast with Xero we meet Jas Bagnieowski, co-founder of mattress company Eve. Eve is a company which saw massive growth very quickly. In its first year, the business sold 11,000 mattresses and made a turnover of £3.5m. It also raised £57m, much of which came from the company going public in 2017. But the losses were high too and in July 2018, Bagnieowski quit following a profit warning after a 61% sales growth, short of the 100% growth expected. We recorded this podcast before the entrepreneur stepped down but have chosen to still release it to give insights into the early growth of the business. To find out more about the Small Business Sessions, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcastThis podcast was recorded and edited by audio and podcast production service, Podraffi.

The Small Business Sessions podcast from Enterprise Nation and powered by Xero is back for another inspiring episode. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about starting and growing a successful business. This week, Damon Anderson from Xero and Jonathan Bareham from accountancy firm Raedan discuss the government initiative which aims to see the end of the tax return and transform the tax system by 2020. Businesses, starting with those above the VAT Threshold, are required to submit tax information digitally in an effort to make systems and businesses more efficient and deal with the £9.4bn tax revenues lost each year due to errors. An estimated 1.2m small businesses will be impacted by the initial rollout of Making Tax Digital changes next April. Around 500,000 of them are currently using spreadsheets, paper or nothing to manage their tax! If you're one of them or even if you're not tune in and start planning early! To find out more about the Small Business Sessions, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcastThis podcast was recorded and edited by audio and podcast production service, Podraffi.

The Small Business Sessions podcast from Enterprise Nation and powered by Xero is back for another inspiring episode. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about starting and growing a successful business. This week, Xero co-founder Gary Turner discusses the company's groundbreaking new Small Business Insights service which highlights from a sample of 300,000 small businesses issues such as cashflow, late payment and exports. In a fascinating conversation, he discusses issues including the average late payment period suffered by small businesses and how FTSE 350 companies are the worst offenders. The entrepreneur also explains how this valuable and groundbreaking data is being presented to government to better inform ministers on exactly how the UK's smallest businesses are operating. To find out more about the Small Business Sessions, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcastThis podcast was recorded and edited by audio and podcast production service, Podraffi.

The Small Business Sessions podcast from Enterprise Nation and powered by Xero is back for another inspiring episode. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about starting and growing a successful business. This week we meet Lacey Hunter Felton and Nico Bonfiglioli, co-founders of The Hunter Collective, a unique co-working salon studio and event space in London for freelance beauty and fashion experts. We're also joined by Helen Prowse from Square, the company set up by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey that takes the drama out of taking payments.  Together with Emma Jones they discuss taking payments, making sales and how technology can help you do it. Lacey and Nico also discuss the impact of massive increases in business rates and the benefits of two founders with different skills and personalities. To find out more about the Small Business Sessions, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcastThis podcast was recorded and edited by audio and podcast production service, Podraffi.