Very Impressive People

Jimmy Carpenter chats to Holly Tucker MBE, who founded 'Not On The High Street' in 2006.

Since then, she's created 'Holly & Co.' which supports small businesses through the highs and lows of their business journey.

She also interviewed over 100 people on her own podcast series 'Conversations of Inspiration'

AND... she's written a new book called 'Do What You Love, Love What You Do: The Empowering Secrets to Turn Your Passion into Profit'.

You can follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram or find out about him and the podcast series, go to Very Impressive People.

Jimmy Carpenter chats to 23 year olds Max and Simon, who met on the Roblox gaming platform and created an immensely popular game, Sharkbite that has had over 850 million plays, all while living in separate cities. 

They started playing Roblox when they were 13, and met while playing games on the platform. Their parents weren’t very sure about Roblox as a full-time job – they didn’t create Sharkbite until they were 18 and throughout their teenage years their parents thought it was a waste of time, but they are now completely self-sufficient. 

They went to university, but found it an obstacle. Here they talk about the ways they have been able to monetise Sharkbite via in-game currency and purchases. Sharkbite is now a multi-million dollar game, and they have been able to buy cars, invest money outside of Roblox, and move-in with their respective partner’s.

Find out more about Roblox and Sharkbite https://web.roblox.com/badges/911298173/SharkBite

You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JCarpenter82 or visit www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk

Jimmy chats to Iza Login, a co-creator of the world renowned app Talking Tom.

Iza tells how she and her husband Simo created several apps that failed before they found success with Talking Tom. They're also the subject of a new book called ‘7 Unicorn Drive: From Startup to a Billion Dollar Sale in 7 Years’.

As Bloomberg news put it "Samo and Iza Login were Slovenian high school sweethearts who studied computer science in college and then decided, in 2009, to get into the business of apps. Steve Jobs had introduced the Apple App Store the year before, and it was easy to believe that an overnight fortune was just an eccentric idea away. With $250,000 they’d saved while working for local IT companies, the Logins—who legally changed their surname to sound techy—started a company called Outfit7."

The Logins are the first married couple in the world to reach this level of accomplishment in business. In 2013 they created a foundation to support sustainable organic large-scale farming to brain neural research centers for tastier plant-based food, all in an effort to battle climate change.

You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JCarpenter82 or visit www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk

Jimmy Carpenter chats to British entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor, Jamie Waller.

Jamie is probably best known for founding his self-confessed “unsexy business”, where he set up a debt collection agency called the JBW Group which led to him starring in the BBC TV series ‘The Enforcers’.

He grew up in Bethnal Green, leaving school at 16 with no qualifications but by the age of 22 he’d made his first million. Along the way of trying to tidy up the debt collection business, he’s been held hostage at gun point too!

In 2016 and 2017, Jamie sold businesses that were valued at over £40m. He now holds a mixture of controlling and non-controlling equity stakes in many UK-based businesses and a large UK residential and commercial property portfolio.

Find out more at www.jamiewaller.co.uk

Buy Unsexy Business here: https://amzn.to/3caWfCW

You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JCarpenter or check out the website www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk

Jimmy Carpenter chats to Wendy Tarplee-Morris, the founder of the Little Princess Trust, a charity she founded in 2006 after losing her daughter to cancer.

The charity provides real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment. Not only that, but they offer hope by funding research projects to try and put an end to the need.

Wendy shares the amazing milestones they've reached and the heart-breaking story of how it began, plus the incredible support including from well known names to the cause. She gives advice for anyone wanting to grow their own idea in any walk of life.

To find out more about the Little Princess Trust, how to donate hair or fundraise, please visit here https://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/

To find out more about the podcast series, please visit www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk

Jimmy Carpenter chats to Thomasina Miers OBE, a cook, writer and the co-founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican street food restaurants. She is also the first ever winner of Masterchef!

After trying to find a career in advertising, VAT consultancy, journalism and digital consultancy, "Tommi" finally met Clarissa Dickson Wright who told her to follow her passion.

Following trips overseas to Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland and to Mexico, she came back to the UK and ended up winning Masterchef before setting up her restaurants. However, it's not all been plain sailing, in 2016 people fell ill following an outbreak of norovirus, losing the company millions of pounds. Thomasina and her business partner Mark, have turned things around, giving them resilience for tackling the current global pandemic in 2020/21.

In this episode, you'll learn how the dots of your life join up, how to overcome failure, find your passion and about taking measured risks.

Find out more about Thomasina, here https://www.thomasinamiers.com/

Find out more about the podcast series, here

https://www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk/

Message Jimmy on Twitter: @JCarpenter82

Jimmy Carpenter is joined by John Lloyd CBE, a TV comedy producer and writer behind the likes of 'Not The Nine O'Clock News', 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Spitting Image, Blackadder and Q.I. He is currently the presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'The Museum of Curiosity'.

During their conversation, John discusses how ideas come to us, how 10 years with depression led to his greatest idea, Q.I which has now been on the BBC for 18 years. He talks about how he eventually won his pitch for the show and about the process of great work.

You can find out more about John at https://qi.com/ 

The VIP Podcast - https://www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk/

Jimmy Carpenter on Twitter: @jcarpenter82

Triumph Motorcycles Chief Product Officer, Steve Sargent tells Jimmy Carpenter about how his obsessive love of motorcycles as a young man led to career with the British iconic brand.

From film stars like James Dean, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen riding their bikes in the sixties, to Pamela Anderson riding one in Barb and Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button in later years. Former England footballer David Beckham and Fitness star Joe Wicks are also big fans!

Originally started in 1885, Triumph is based in Hinckley, Leicestershire but a global business, selling in 52 countries with over 60,000 bikes expected to be sold this year!

Matthew Stirling chats to Jimmy Carpenter about the sliding doors moment that led him to become one of the best stuntmen in film.

From starring with Daniel Craig in the James Bond movie Spectre to a fight scene with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in Fast and Furious 6, Matthew gives us an insight into the inner workings of his job.

Matthew talks about the tough training requirements from a minimum of 200 skydives, to learning two martial arts, to gold standard trampolining. 

Despite his professionalism, broken body parts can go with the job; he once snapped his bicep! Matthew says how a well reported tragedy on the set of a Harry Potter film led him to starring on ITV's Britain's Got Talent.  

Matthew is currently working on the new Batman and Jurassic Park films, plus he's advising magic on the set of Doctor Strange.

Finally, Matthew shares the life advice Sir Michael Caine once gave him.

TWITTER: @BGTMagicMatt / @JCarpenter82

WEBSITE: http://www.stirlingstunts.co.uk / www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk

Richard Koch is an entrepreneur, investor, former strategy consultant, and the author of the 80/20 principle - the secret of achieving more with less.

His investments include Filofax, Plymouth Gin, Belgo and Betfair (the world’s largest betting exchange).

His new book is called Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve it. In it, he asks how do people of seemingly ordinary talent go on to achieve unexpected results and the nine key traits that successful people hold to reach great heights.

You call follow him on Twitter @RichardKoch8020 and me @JCarpenter82

To find out more about the podcast series, head to www.veryimpressivepeople.co.uk