How To Start Up by FF&M – Details, episodes & analysis

With Zippia reporting that happy workers are 13% more productive than unhappy workers, clearly it’s crucial to maintain a supportive and welcoming company culture as you grow your business. Not only will this keep your employees motivated, but you’ll also reap the benefits of higher productivity. 

So, I wanted to find out how to grow a productive and happy team. That’s why I spoke with Katharine Pooley, Founder & Executive President of her eponymous luxury interior design studio. As one of the UK’s foremost interior designers, Katharine has grown her team to fifty people and adeptly balanced maintaining a creative environment with ensuring her team gets stuff done. 

Keep listening to hear Katharine’s advice on how to keep your team happy as well as productive as you scale and why thinking about the octopus effect can really help imbue each and every employee on a daily basis. 

Katherine's advice:
Know your limit in terms of number of employees
The happiness of your team is critical and will spring from:

• Enjoyment of the work
• Good collaboration
• Bonuses, salary raises and perks
• Knowing each other well
• Being allowed autonomy and being trusted
• Having a safe work environment
• A pleasant office with a reasonable commute
• Being trained and having the opportunity for meetings and discussions
• Examining a project after it has been delivered and discussing its good and bad points
• If a team is a happy one, productivity will be the result
• A happy team will be a loyal one and the longstanding employees will be so valuable
• Longstanding members can perhaps each manage their own team
• It’s a symbiotic relationship between employer and employed
• You need each other and ideally will stimulate each other

From the employer’s point of view, when interviewing:

• Try to assess the candidate quickly
• Trust the ones who speak with genuine warmth rather than the well-rehearsed speeches
• It’s important to like your employees
• Avoid ones who chatter rather than answering the question
• Those who can communicate and engage with you face to face will be strongest
• As the boss make sure you tackle your emails every single night
• If you have children be up front with them about what you need to do (and then make the most of your time with them)
• Give yourself goals at the start of the year and check up on them in August
• Remember, your enthusiasm will be infectious to your employees
• Be consistent 
• Always be approachable; make yourself available at all times and respond to requests
• Try to deal with problems yourself rather than handing them down
• Be prepared to forgive mistakes

FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link &  Licence

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The Department for Education found in 2022 that 63% of UK adults hold multiple roles, demonstrating the extensiveness of the portfolio career. However, how do you create multiple roles for yourself and, importantly, ensure you deliver across them all? 

To answer this, I wanted to hear from an experienced portfolio career holder who manages several roles at once - as an M&A growth expert, angel investor and advocate for inclusive leaders Nnenna Onuba founded her first business, LBB Skin, in 2018, & has since built a mergers & acquisitions consultancy and the leadership & inclusion advocacy organisation 100 Allies. Nnenna also holds directorships with organisations including the British Beauty Council and the Royal Veterinary College. 

Keep listening to hear Nnenna’s advice on separating your different roles and effectively balancing competing demands on your time.

Nnenna’s advice:

• You need plenty of life experience first
• You must know yourself and what you’re good at, so you can hone in on your strengths
• You need to be the sort of person who enjoys continual learning
• Tackle the tough creative tasks at the beginning of the day when your energy is highest
• When you are relaxed you will be more creative
• Accept that as you age your energy levels may alter, and different times of day will suit you better
• Stay innovative
• If you mentor others you will learn from this
• Attract people with different skills to your own
• Don’t be afraid to delegate important things and trust others
• Additionally, surround yourself with people who inspire you
• If you tackle uncomfortable jobs you will get better at them
• If you are properly self-aware you will be more observant of others
• Try to do even one small thing that makes a difference

FF&M recommends: 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.

FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 

Let us know how your start up journey is going or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss in future episodes. 

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link &  Licence

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

Keep listening to hear why Millie thinks a brand voice is critical for any new brand and how to begin defining yours. 

Millie’s advice:

• When branding your product, it is not just a question of logo
• Vitally important is that the branding should show the ethics of the company
• The brand identity will always represent the values of the founder (if a product is taken over, the brand identity is precious)
• When establishing a brand identity, try putting in a box the ten things in your home you value most - and then identifying what they have in common.  Your brand should reflect who you are, your DNA
• Imagine your customer is yourself
• Do your research, and be sure you know your audience (as well as your competitors)
• Then the tone of voice will come naturally, followed by the name, the packaging, the style
• These things will generate trust and loyalty in your customers
• Your brand voice will evolve over time, and rebranding can occur spontaneously
• It is important to be clear and authoritative
• If you believe in the efficacy of your product your brand voice will be strong

FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.  Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason. 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode we hear from Nick Bridle, who having retired from the military, founded Belstone Dart International, a risk management consultancy in 2017.  Nick explains the importance of getting a client to pay for your product or service as soon as possible, as you need to qualify the concept commercially... because until that happens, it doesn’t really matter how pretty your logo is.  He also talks about how being new to the playing field can mean you’re a target for bullying tactics from the more established players, but that is ok as it means you’re a genuine threat. 

Belstone Dart is a consultancy specialising in providing advice and support for those entering or operating in challenging markets. info@belstonedart.com 

Nick's advice:

• Be aware of your communication and leadership skills when it comes to stakeholders 
• Know which strengths you can take from your previous roles and where you may need to improve certain skills
• Always do what you say you’re going to do
• Always be reliable and responsive when you’re a start up; get back to your clients straight away and make it easy for them to hire you 
• In the beginning, ask people for advice and garner opinions on your business idea 
• Write a business plan to get you in the right mindset
• Look at your financial projections and costs, know that you’ll reduce the former and increase the latter
• You just need to start doing it and the rest will follow
• At the start, get a paying client to see if your idea is viable. Someone paying you is essential to prove your concept works in reality - it almost doesn’t matter how much, you just need an actual transaction to start with
• Accept that things take longer than you might expect and map that into your plan; it can take months to win business 
• You’ll work a lot harder when self-employed but you’ll have flexibility as well
• With pricing, work out what your costs actually are and what margin is fair.  By pricing yourself fairly within the market and being able to justify your pricing clearly, you’ll win more business in the long run
• If you don’t have to take on a business partner, don’t.  If you do, be really sure you trust that person absolutely.  Question the ratio of ownership as 50/50 can lead to a stalemate if things go wrong 
• Accept even small clients as you never know where they might lead
• Growth through word of mouth is the most effective way to grow your business quickly 

Links

• LastPass the password keeping site that syncs between devices.  Affiliate link here .
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory 
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets.

Thank you for listening.  I’d love to hear your own startup stories and please do let me know if you have any questions for future guests as well: hello@fallowfieldmason.com

I would also be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020.  Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory Fallow, Field & Mason, How To Start Up hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track. 

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode we hear from Georgina Coke who founded By Georgie in 2015.  George explains how, having been made redundant, she took a step she would never have anticipated.  Prompted by friends she took the plunge to set up on her own and six years later she has no regrets, saying redundancy was the best thing that could have happened to her.  She is the 100% owner of a company which connects luxury travel companies to a select group of destination management companies.

By Georgie represents a select few destination management companies and boutique lodges in the UK and European market.  You can contact George on georgina@bygeorgie.comr

Georgina is also a founding member of The Conscious Travel Foundation, a social enterprise established to unite and educate owner-operated travel businesses and promote travel as a force for good, raising funds for grass-roots charity projects around the world.

George’s advice includes: 

• Redundancy is an opportunity; once you’re over the shock that is
• Practical first steps include registering your company, set up the business bank account and find an accountant
• Speak to a range of people you trust, both for practical advice and for emotional support
• Delegate to experts: don’t try to do it all yourself, but allow those more experienced to do the jobs you dislike as you’ll get a better return
• Make sure you take time off, break up the day and ensure you take holiday
• Plan your day so nothing gets forgotten; two meetings a day is enough
• Observe your work/life balance consistently in order to get it right
• Relish your autonomy and the flexibility it gives you 

Links

• Amanda McKenna's Ted Talk
• The Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship
• LastPass offer a free of charge service which I've been using. This post is unpaid however there is an affiliate link you can use here should you want to support the podcast. 
• I use Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory to create this podcast series as well as their super simple hosting platform . Their support team is second to none.
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets.

Thank you for listening.  I’d love to hear your own startup stories too and please do let me know if you have any questions for future guests as well: hello@fallowfieldmason.com

I would also be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020. Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory Fallow, Field & Mason, How To Start Up hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track. 

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield in September 2020.

MUSIC CREDIT  Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link & Licence

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode we hear from Uwern Jong, Experientialist in Chief and co-founder of OutThere magazine.  He talks about why being on your own clock enables a whole new autonomy in how you work, why adopting the slow road may be more rewarding in the end, and why taking time away from work can have a big impact. 
Uwern can be contacted at: uwern@outtheremagazine.com

For those who have not yet discovered it, OutThere is an award-winning luxury and experiential travel inspiration journal rooted in diversity, discovery and discernment.  OutThere specialises in curating opinion-leading content, from in-depth, first person essays on the world’s most amazing experiences – taking our readers on journeys that extend beyond the mainstream – to celebrating global cultural expressions and the people responsible for making the OutThere world so unique.

Uwern’s advice includes:

• Learn to appreciate slow travel
• Why the full, possibly long and quite hard journey you take is worth every step in your learning
• Networking is essential especially at the start: don’t forget to tell people what you're up to, get the word out and don’t be shy
• Do ask friends for help, as they may have the experience to point you in a quicker/better direction  
• Enjoy being on your own clock 
• If you find your income is irregular, try to take the long view 
• You can do more than you think you can and you will surprise yourself
• Make sure you find a balance outside work, you need to have things to talk about that are not work related. Learn to switch off
• Trust yourself at the beginning, don’t waste time worrying about things, just solve them and have confidence in yourself   
• Remember brand development is as important as the day to day business
• Big picture thinking is key, focus on: 
  • Creativity. Innovation. Stewardship. Resilience
• Identify what people need, even if it’s only a small group of people 

Links

• LastPass offer a free of charge service which I've been using. This post is unpaid however there is an affiliate link you can use here should you want to support the podcast. 
• I use Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory to create this podcast series as well as their super simple hosting platform . Their support team is second to none.
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets.

Thank you for listening.  I’d love to hear your own startup stories too and please do let me know if you have any questions for future guests as well: hello@fallowfieldmason.com

I would also be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020. Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory Fallow, Field & Mason, How To Start Up hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track. 

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield in September 2020.
MUSIC CREDIT  Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode I speak with Will Davies, Co-founder and Director of HBD Partners. He shares invaluable advice on the importance of legally protecting your business from the start, also how to manage the pressures and responsibilities of being a new business owner and what steps you can take to look after your teams remotely.

HBD Partners is a specialist recruitment consultancy operating within the Hospitality, Leisure and Travel sectors. We focus on middle to senior management positions and work in partnership with our clients in a consultative manner and with the highest integrity. Will can be contacted here: will@hbdpartners.co.uk

Will’s advice:

• Have confidence in your brand and believe in what you do
• Map out a topline business plan and include the company ethos and culture you’d like to aim for
• Reevaluate and update it continually as your business grows
• If you are a partnership, draft a shareholders’ agreement as soon as possible, to protect the business in case of unforeseen disagreements or disasters in the future
• Partner with a good accountant who will help you run the business efficiently
• Be prepared to diversify your business offering should the market require it
• Leave a healthy percentage of cash in the business at all times
• Make sure your employees are fully engaged and feel valued at all times
• Set a clear direction and framework for your teams in order to deliver back to the business 
• Always thoroughly research suppliers before committing to any long term business
• Do not be fearful of the unknown 

Will’s recommended accountant is Vince Dalaimo Tax Assist Southwark Bridge Road and web marketing company: MBJ London.

Links

• LastPass the password keeping site that syncs between devices. They offer a free of charge service which I've been using. This post is unpaid however there is an affiliate link you can use here should you want to support the podcast. 
• I use Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory to create this podcast series as well as their super simple hosting platform . Their support team is second to none too.
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.

Thank you for listening.  I’d love to hear your own startup stories and please do let me know if you have any questions for future guests as well: hello@fallowfieldmason.com
I would also be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020. 

Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory Fallow, Field & Mason, How To Start Up hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track. 

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield in September 2020.
MUSIC CREDIT  Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link & Licence

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode we hear from Hugo Chance, founder of Chance Capital.  He shares his recommendation about asking advice from your nearest and dearest is not always the best strategy, and maintains that sticking to your pricing structure and building your support network from the start is paramount. 

Chance Capital is a corporate advisory firm that assists early stage private companies with business planning, pitch preparation, legal services and more specifically their capital raising requirements. With an experienced team of advisors, the team at Chance Capital are well positioned to connect growing private businesses with their strategic network of HNW, Family Office, institutional equity and debt financing investors. Chance Capital always seeks to co-invest on each transaction. Contact hugo@chancecapital.co.uk also hear at Talk VC

Hugo’s advice includes:

• Learn what you’re personally, not just professionally, wanting to achieve by running your own business. 
• Success isn’t just about the bottom financial line. It can be freedom and independence too. Learn what you really value in being self employed.
• Mapping out what you’re aiming for at the end will really help plan the journey in order to get there.
• Put as much preparation into your business as you can; this includes talking to as many people as possible, including other entrepreneurs, to get advice (& they don’t have to be from the same industry either). 
• When updating your records with new contacts, note a distinctive aspect of the meeting to ensure you remember where you met and what you talked about.
• Know you’ll have to be flexible when it comes to time and task management.
• Don’t be a busy fool. Ensure you’re efficiently busy, given you’ll be spinning so many plates.
• Every meeting or call should be necessary, beneficial and have a clear delineated follow up. 
• Learn from every mistake.
• Be resolute in what you charge and know why you’re worth it.
• Late payments can be frustrating. Protect yourself contractually and ensure payments are transparent. This applies to you too.  
• Continue to talk to people in your industry, as often as you can, in order to keep motivated and in touch with your market.  

Thank you for listening, I welcome your feedback at hello@fallowfieldmason.com 
I would be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020.

Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory, Fallow, Field & Mason, the How To Start Up podcast hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track.

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield in September 2020.
MUSIC CREDIT  Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & License

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode I speak with Quintin Clover about how he started up Kanallan.  Founded six years ago, Kanallan facilitates tailored independent humanitarian projects for clients to help the most impoverished and neglected people and communities around the world. Using Kanallan’s established and trusted global network, they ensure direct giving with 100% transparency.  Please do get in touch with Quintin if you’d like to find out more about the charity sector or how you could support via Just Giving. 

Quintin can be reached at: quintin@kanallan.com as well as via Instagram. 

Quintin’s advice includes:

• How to ask for money and fund-raise significantly
• Always be open to new experiences 
• You never know where communicating with everyone, at any event, may lead 
• Trusting your gut feeling about what direction to go in 
• How sometimes it comes from facing the hardest areas of life to show you your purpose 
• What it feels like to effect change 
• How to structure your day and find balance
• How to structure your business to make it simple for your stakeholders
• Why going above and beyond for clients builds trust for the long term 
• Why managing tight budgets actually delivers far more in the long run 
• Why sitting at your laptop doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily working efficiently

Thank you for listening, I welcome your feedback at hello@fallowfieldmason.com
I would be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020.

Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory, Fallow, Field & Mason, the How To Start Up podcast hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track.

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield in September 2020.
MUSIC CREDIT  Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. 
Link & License

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

In this episode we hear from Steve Johnson, founder of Forager Funds.  Having been self-employed for over twenty years Steve shares advice on how to manage working with a business partner who is first and foremost a friend, why your stakeholders aren't just your clients and that it is critical to learn about how to do recruitment really well in order to be successful. 

About Forager:  With approximately $315 million of funds under management and a focus on long-term investing, Forager Funds is a unique Australian funds management company.  Now with a ten-year track record, Forager is a sustainable business but remains nimble enough to invest in smaller listed companies not accessible to many investment managers.  The company is majority owned by staff and Forager’s external shareholders support the desire to place performance before revenue. That means capping the size of funds before too much money becomes an impediment.  We use our small size, long experience and long-term investment approach to generate our investors above market returns.

admin@foragerfunds.com 
Twitter: @ForagerSteve

Steve’s advice includes:

• You don’t need a full plan in place in order to start a company. 
• Know your core values and what makes you happy in terms of working out what your business could be.
• Be flexible and open to opportunities. 
• When starting a business with a friend you’ll need to know from the start what the balance and priority is between friendship and the business.  
• Why it’s just as important to envisage how success - as well as failure - could have a bearing on your future.
• Regularly re-evaluate the structure of your business in order to ensure that you’re all getting what you want out of it.
• It’s not just your clients who are the stakeholders - it’s your staff and your shareholders as well as yourself.
• Learn what you are good at.  Be honest at what you’re not good at.  Then work out a way to compensate for those areas as that’s more efficient than trying to change yourself. 
• Always be truthful with clients as it’ll help manage long term expectations.  Work out who is the best person to run the company at its different stages; this may not always be you.
• Take the time to learn about recruitment.  Then make good recruitment decisions.  Or bring in an expert to support you on this.  

Thank you for listening.  Please do share your feedback, as well as your own start up stories, to hello@fallowfieldmason.com   

I would be delighted if you could rate, review and share this podcast with anyone else who may be starting a company in 2020. 

Hosted by Juliet Fallowfield, founder of PR for startups advisory Fallow, Field & Mason, How To Start Up hopes to bring you confidence, encouragement and reassurance that you’re on the right track. Feedback welcome: hello@fallowfieldmason.com

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield in September 2020.
MUSIC CREDIT  Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link & License

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show