In this episode, Graham talks with Sahar Hashemi, founder of Coffee Republic and confectionery brand Skinny Candy. 
Sahar opted out of her career as a lawyer to grow Coffee Republic which she later helped float on the stock market. Sahar Hashemi was named in Management Today in “Top 35 Women in British business under 35” and Independent on Sunday in  “The 20 most powerful women in Britain”.

XL13: Sahar Hashemi - Coffee Outside the Comfort Zone

Produced by  Pikkal & Co - Award-Winning Podcast Agency.


The XL Podcast by Graham Brown showcases conversations with Authentic Leaders in business and society. By creating conversations not interviews, XL highlights Leaders in their own words, without PR spin or handlers. XL brings regular hard-hitting insights and transformative journeys outside the comfort zone of regular business.

Previous XL guests include Tony Fernandes (CEO AirAsia), Howard Yu (Author & Professor of IMD), Rod Drury (CEO Founder Xero), Hal Bosher (CEO Yoma Bank), Jiawen Ngeow (Successful entrepreneur with $25m exits), Mun Ching Yap (Head of The Air Asia Foundation), Sahar Hashemi (Founder of Costa Coffee and named in The Independent on Sunday as one of The "20 most powerful women in Britain”), Lewis Pugh ("The Human Polar Bear”, UN Patron of The Oceans and World Record holding Swimmer) and Rob Nail (CEO of Singularity University)

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Sarah joins us on the XL Podcast today from her beautiful farm in Australia. She sold her financial services a few years back when she realized she needed to make some serious lifestyle choices when starting a family. 2 kids and a farm later, she’s helping skilled Mums in making these choices. We’re talking skilled professionals from the worlds of accountancy, legal and medicine who have a lot to give but cannot see themselves returning to corporate life to realize that purpose.

Through her podcast and business community, Sarah has identified 2 key limitations that hold would-be Mumpreneurs back. First is the guilt associated with starting a business while being a Mum. “Most have only 2 hours a day not the 10-12 hours that mainstream ‘hustle’ culture requires”. So, business success for this community has to start with the lifestyle goal and design the business around this outcome. The second is knowledge or confidence. Many lack the framework or tools to work through the process of launching a business. In this episode, Sarah shares her how her 10 week launch programme works and how it provides a track for would be entrepreneurs to run on.

For more information on Sarah, check out these links:

Launch Your Biz Now podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/launchyourbiznow

Free New Biz Tool Kit: https://businessbrains.co/toolkit

Instagram (Business brains): https://instagram.com/businessbrains.au
 
Instagram (Oakley Farm): https://instagram.com/oakleyfarm_

XL34: Sarah Stow - Launching Businesses of the Underserved Mumpreneur

We’re joined today by Author of “The Entrpreneurial ScaleUp System” and Podcast Host of “ScaleUp Radio” Kevin Brent to discuss business systems and rhythm. Did you know only 4% of businesses grow beyond 10 employees? While some happily stay small, many experience common symptoms faced by business owners who don’t have the right systems or rhythm in place to help them grow beyond a small business that may be living month to month. Those symptoms include the “plate spinning” of dealing with urgent client requests, growing revenues not manifesting as cash in the bank or even people issues. In this conversation we discuss what kind of checks and systems a business owner needs to put in place on a weekly, monthly and 90 day timeline, as well as the playbooks they need for each stage of growth.

For more information on Kevin’s book, podcast and work, check out these links:

The Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System
https://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurial-ScaleUp-System-challenges-achieving-ebook/dp/B09Y91V4P2

Scale Up Radio
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/scaleup-radio/id1446574864

Biz Smart
esusgroup.co.uk

XL33: Kevin Brent - The Systems Business Owners Need to Scale Up

I’m joined on today’s XL Podcast by Atul Temurnikar, Chairman of the Global Schools Foundations. In a previous life, Atul was country leader for IBM in Singapore. After leaving corporate he set up a private school, originally for Indian expat families in the region. With demand and word of mouth growing, one school became two, eventually becoming 35 schools managed in the GSF family globally.

School and education is changing. Not only has the pandemic challenged educators to rethink how and why they deliver schooling, but the whole education system requires transformation. As a business leader, Atul is able to bring new skill sets and ways of thinkings to the challenges of education. Not only applying concepts like quality management and data analytics to schooling but also in understanding the drivers that compel a family or an entrepreneur themselves to set up and run a school.

In this conversation we look at how GSF schools didn’t just survive but thrive in the pandemic, how they are leading digital transformation and also how they work with family owned schools globally that may be facing transition or legacy challenges.

XL32: Atul Temurnikar - Building the School of the Future

When it comes to selling to new customers or existing ones, the data is firmly on the side of the customers you have already. Research by Bain & Company found that a 5% increase in retention rate can lead to a rise in profit between 25% to 95%. Similarly, Invesp found that investing in new customers is between 5 and 25 times more expensive than retaining existing ones.

Key to success is a world class post-sale customer experience. According to HubSpot Research, 55% of growing companies think it’s “very important” to invest in customer service programs. My next guest on the XL Podcast, Ed Frame from Exemplify, wants to help companies unlock the value of their existing customers. The challenge, Ed shares, is that companies may be stuck in the comfort zone of acquiring new customers, in paid advertising for example, and lack the processes and workflows to create a seamless experience once the sales gets the deal over the line.

And there’s good reason to invest in the post-sale experience. “Buyer’s Remorse” is real. We’ve all experienced doubt after a purchase, especially with higher ticket price services or products. Did I buy this on impulse? Did I make the wrong decision? When buyers experience this emotion, the experience can degrade rapidly, leading to higher servicing, recall and attrition costs. The good news is that small touches can have a big impact - a welcome onboarding call or video for example can allay initial buyer fears and set you up for a long term, profitable relationship with your customers. That means customers who buy again, and refer you to their friends.
All this requires good process, of course, and good process requires planning. In this podcast, Ed discusses what you need to map out a customer journey and the processes you need to create a world class post-sale customer experience.

XL31: Ed Frame - Retention is The New Acquisition

We record this episode of The XL Podcast 95 years ago to the day that US based Bell Labs revealed a system for transmitting television pictures. And while this took place almost a century ago, this image of innovation, one of “labs”, “reveals” and, let’s face it, men, driving the process is still persistent today.

Natalie Turner, co-founder of The Entheo Network, author of “Yes You Can Innovate”, joins us on the podcast today to help draw a map of modern innovation for enterprise. While disruptive technologies like a new form of television may be a form of innovation, it’s just one. There are not only many different forms of innovation (such as product, service or society) but also different types of innovators. In this conversation, Natalie discusses the different types of innovation mindsets and personalities. The “Igniters” (the first i of the 6) are the best known and most celebrated in media, but there are many other types of innovators who are both critical to making innovation a success and often overlooked leadership. Innovation is a lot more complex and diverse than those simpler days of Bell Labs.

Leaders today need to unlock innovation at all levels of the organization, and that starts with creating a framework for innovation. Igniters may be the spark to create change, but how leaders empower and support the “Identifiers”, “Investors” and the other innovation personalities is key to long term success. For the modern team, more inclusive conversations about innovation are fundamental to success. A recent Boston Consulting report noted that diverse teams are 2.2x more likely to be “innovation leaders” rather than laggards. These outcomes lie in smart process and smart cultures, rather than simply relying on smart people.

If innovation’s in your job title, you’re curious about what kind of innovator you are, or you’re leading transformation in your organization, this episode with Natalie Turner is a must listen.

XL13: Sahar Hashemi - Coffee Outside the Comfort Zone

Download our free app to listen on your phone