Business Mastermind Podcast

ABOUT THE HOST

Gavin Preston

Gavin is an inspirational Speaker, Business Strategist, Business Growth Mentor, Trainer and high-performance Coach.  He works with Business Owners and Entrepreneurs and has a strong track record in creating creative strategies to accelerate the growth of their business. He has helped hundreds of SME business owners and leaders improve their performance and that of their business and a comparable number of executives and employees in blue-chip corporates over the last 20 years.

Gavin's energetic, insightful and yet down to earth and practical talks, workshops and coaching is in demand with high growth business between £250,000 and £30 million revenue and with multi-national organisations at all levels from Board to frontline Managers. He is an expert in Business Growth Strategies, Peak Performance Mindset, Persuasion & Engagement, Marketing, Productivity, Leadership Development, Team Development & Motivation, Leading Change, Stakeholder Management, Personal Effectiveness and Behavioural Change.

CONTACT METHOD

Gavin Preston Website
Gavin Preston LinkedIn
Gavin Preston YouTube
Gavin Preston Facebook
Gavin Preston Twitter

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey Presto! How Amazon Made 11.6 Times The Profit From 86% Less Revenue Sep 05, 2019

Show notes

How you can use the E2P (Expenses to Profits) strategy to turn cost centres into profit centres. Hear how Amazon did it and also how you can apply it in your business

LEGS (Leverage Exit Grow Scale) intensive extra dates released on 22-23 September in London.

For more information of content and to secure one of the remaining places go to

Bit.ly/LEGS-GAVIN

ABOUT THE HOST
Gavin Preston

CONTACT METHOD

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Serial Entrepreneur Dan Murray-Serter on his new venture "heights" bringing you nutrition for the brain Sep 01, 2019

Show notes

‘Looking after yourself is surprisingly difficult'

Gavin is in conversation with Dan Murray Serter, Creator of ‘Dawn', podcaster and cat lover.

He is an entrepreneur who has always pushed the boundaries and in this engaging episode he shares candidly the experiences and challenges that resulted in the creation of ‘Your Heights' and their mission to ‘elevate their tribe to achieve 1 million meaningful goals'

Dan's journey is full of very different experiences but the community is at its heart, listen in and find out why how you should be part of this tribe.

Sign Up Here: https://bit.ly/biz-pod

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Beginning

My early experiences taught me that I needed a business partner to balance my creativity

I had a big student database and we used that to launch a daily deal for students.

As 2 guys we set up a company that was a success from day one with the first deal but we learnt that in the industry the expectations and reality are very different.

We learnt that we worked well together and that we wanted to work together and we had money in the bank.

It was a success because we were able to call it quits rather than be run into the ground.

Grabble

My business partner is very good at spotting trends and out next venture was ‘Grabble' a social fashion platform. We curated the best of fashion in the UK and put it in an APP as personalised feed updated every day.

It was the intersection of social, digital, mobile and personalisation. We quickly accrued a huge amount of credibility but monetisation was impossible, ultimately it imploded.

I ended my twenties having been on an amazing journey, meeting great people but unable to make the business work.

Dawn & Your Heights

The idea that you could eat for your brain first fascinated me, there is no logical negative to prioritizing your brain health.

It's so logical, your mind is part of your brain, you are looking after your mental health.

It makes sense that if you nourish your brain properly you will be able to alleviate symptoms

We want to build a holistic brand for the brain providing good health for the brain everyday

Taking high quality supplements is an option if you are unable to meet the nutritional needs of your brain through your main diet and our first product is a multi-vitamin for the brain currently only available to our subscribers.

We will be exclusively direct to the customer. Our plan is to help the individual to achieve want they want, achieve their goals through a continued relationship, this defines and is our crucial point of differentiation.

We want people to start the day right and think about themselves on a daily basis.

Our mission is to elevate our tribe to achieve 1 million meaningful goals.

BEST MOMENTS

‘You are applying your creativity to providing things that can help people right now'

‘Science is massively underrated'

‘The ability to put something creative into the world every day fulfils the need I have'

‘Compound improvements are what create change for people and I would love for Your Heights to be a part of that for people'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Dan Murray Serter, Growth Mindset Podcast

Dawn website

ABOUT THE HOST
Gavin Preston

CONTACT METHOD

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey Presto! Hire The Best People You Can Afford Aug 29, 2019

Show notes

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Gavin talks about why you should hire the best people you can afford and then captivate and nurture them so that they stay with you and continue to add value to your business. Building on the conversation in Episode 23 where we spoke about replacing D Grade Customers with A Grade customers, Gavin explains the impact he has observed in teams where D Grade Players are replaced with A Grade Players.
Gavin then shares why you should create a culture that cultivates learning, curiosity and ambition and Build a vision of a compelling future for your business and put the rising stars in your business at the centre of it.

ABOUT THE HOST

Gavin Preston

CONTACT METHOD

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Law-Lyons: A Business Owners Advice on How to Reduce Inactivity And Increase Physical & Mental Resilience Aug 25, 2019

Show notes

Gavin is talking with Stephen Law Lyons from APC cardiovascular about his involvement as health and wellness ambassador for Cheshire IOD and the work he is undertaking to support leaders in reducing inactivity in the workforce and create solutions that will drive better health and wellness and as a result impact on the number of working days lost.

This fascinating podcast provides an insight into the vital work the IOD carries out and the importance of connectivity between businesses.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Institute of Directors (IOD) is about the connectivity of directors and offers both education and support. There is a level of integrity associated with the IOD.
It is very much branch and region led through a network of like-minded individuals.
As Health and Wellness ambassador for Cheshire IOD my goals are to help support business leaders look after their most vital asset by researching, sharing and supporting best practice on how to create work environments that reduce inactivity and as a result increase both physical and mental resilience.
Decreasing inactivity is vital and just getting people to move has a huge impact on health and well-being.
You can look at those small steps that make the difference, You don't have to be running you just have to be standing to make a difference.
The biggest area of impact is getting people to move, getting an individual's number of steps up from 400 to 4,000 has a massive impact on their health and wellbeing.
Research indicates the stress levels are lower in companies with a workplace wellness program in place.
There is the element of looking after your team and the element of looking after yourself.
If you are not able to carry out your function as a leader in the long term there would be an impact on the company.
There are transferable skills between business and personal health, setting goals and objectives are a part of this.
Little things all the time can make the difference, you don't have to be in training for something extreme.
There are many things going on at all levels to get people moving.
There is much that can be achieved from connectivity between businesses.

BEST MOMENTS

‘As business leaders the only asset we have are our people'

‘There are simple ways to encourage movement, the bin and printer can be moved away from desks to encourage walking'

‘Sitting is now being referred to as the new smoking'

‘Peer support is a vital part of the IOD'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Institute of Directors

APC Cardiovascular

Active Cheshire

ABOUT THE HOST

Gavin Preston

Gavin is an inspirational Speaker, Business Strategist, Business Growth Mentor, Trainer and

high-performance Coach. He works with Business Owners and Entrepreneurs and has a strong track record in creating creative strategies to accelerate the growth of their business. He has helped hundreds of SME business owners and leaders improve their performance and that of their business and a comparable number of executives and employees in blue-chip corporates over the last 20 years.

Managers. He is an expert in Business Growth Strategies, Peak Performance

Mindset, Persuasion & Engagement, Marketing, Productivity, Leadership

Development, Team Development & Motivation, Leading Change, Stakeholder

Management, Personal Effectiveness and Behavioural Change.

CONTACT METHOD

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey Presto! Growing Bigger Than The Problem Aug 22, 2019

Show notes

When you are hit with a number of problems at once, how do you respond? Overwhelm?

In this episode of The Business Mastermind Podcast, your host Gavin was interviewed about this very topic and he shared a story in his life when he was overwhelmed; A break up in a personal marriage & a business marriage and was then given another apparently devastating piece of news.

Gavin shares how he grew bigger than the problem.

VALUABLE RESOURCES

ABOUT THE HOST

Gavin Preston

CONTACT METHOD

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Marshall: How to Raise Finance in an Uncertain Economic & Political Environment Aug 18, 2019

Show notes

‘I saw a real opportunity to back good people on good projects'

In this episode, Gavin is talking to Scott Marshall founder of Roma Finance, a specialist bridging lender.

Scott discusses his own business journey and the ways in which his company is involved in the journeys of other entrepreneurs.

In this powerful conversation about finance, cash, availability of credit and how to be successful in raising finance they share practical advice on how to approach the lender and what you can do to ensure you secure the right deal for your business to expand.

Sign Up Here: https://bit.ly/biz-pod

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The journey of Roma finance

I saw a real opportunity to back good people on good projects, I took equity out of my own home to do the first loan.
Today we have 30 members of staff and are just shy of being a 50 million pound business.
We lend people money who are using our money to make money.
The vast majority of people are using our money to make money out of property.
Whether its land for development, a terraced house conversion to HMO or a dilapidated house for renovation, the projects we get involved in are the ones where our customers are on a journey themselves.
When you are lending money you are backing an individual to do something properly.
We are backing an individual to make it a success.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to raise finance to expand?

Cash is everything in a business and you should always overestimate the amount of cash you need for running a business.
Forward forecasting cash is vital to identify potential pinch points, you can guarantee the cash forecast will be wrong, but you will be better prepared than if you have not produced the forecast at all.
An applicant applying for finance should carry out due diligence on the lender they want to use.
We underwrite a deal based on the; borrower, story, asset and exit.
If the borrower and the story stack up it may be the asset is the challenge and our loan will help them resolve this and exit.
A bad borrower can destroy value in a good asset, a good borrower can create value in a bad asset.
Look at your business from a helicopter view and ask where am I going to take it?
Delegate, but understand this is not abdication, identify those jobs you do that don't add value and bring in someone else to do them.
Don't allow the people in your business to delegate up, just because you know all the answers doesn't mean you have to give all the answers. You must empower the people in your business to grow and develop.
Enjoyment, passion, integrity, professionalism and teamwork are vital attributes for any employee and form the basis for an effective approach to recruitment.
Work has to be an environment where your employees thrive.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Plan for disaster and aim for growth'

‘You've got to do due diligence on them in the same way they do due diligence on you'

‘We meet every one of our customers face to face'

‘If you get the lend right it's the individual who performs'

‘They are making money for themselves and we back them on their journey'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Drive book by Daniel Pink

Roma Finance website

enquiries@romafinance.co.uk

Tel: 0161 817 7480

ABOUT THE HOST

Gavin Preston

CONTACT METHOD

Gavin Preston Website
Gavin Preston LinkedIn
Gavin Preston YouTube
Gavin Preston Facebook
Gavin Preston Twitter

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey Presto! More Sales, More Margin Aug 15, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to the Business Mastermind Podcast! In this Hey Presto! Episode, Gavin discusses the A to D grading of customers and the incredible power of Product Staircases!

"So I want you to think about what you can do to build your own product staircase; What that might look like?"
-Gavin Preston

ABOUT THE HOST
Gavin Preston

Management, Personal Effectiveness and Behavioural Change.

CONTACT METHOD

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creating Great Places To Work – with Jacqui Mann Aug 11, 2019

Show notes

Gavin talks to HR expert, graduate Of The Institute Of Master Coaches, member of the British Psychological Society and best-selling author, Jacqui Mann.

Listen as Jacqui discusses her “Six Step People Model”, the recurring challenges she faces in businesses, and the fundamental necessity of creating and instilling values in your company, all of which are designed to create great places to work.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Sometimes issues can arise from things as simple as staff not feeling as though they have been properly informed about their tasks and responsibilities. Processes are necessary to create a framework for any staff member, regardless of their status or experience.
Jacqui is a vocal proponent of multi-stage interviews and proper recruiting methods. It's not enough to have a thirty minute conversation with someone before you take them on. It's vital to know your prospects better before they become your employees, or it can lead to problems down the line.
“People Disease” or the growth of unmotivated, uninspiring staff members, can be quelled by making sure you have an effective HR foundation in place.
The basic requirements that every company should have when starting, are employment contracts, grievance and disciplinary procedures and policies.
Jacqui's Six Step People Model is:
- Purpose - What is the business here, for and what is it trying to achieve?
- Environment - Often missed by companies, but vital. How does the workplace feel through new eyes? Through other senses?
- Ownership - Let people be accountable and make decisions. Boundaries are wise, but we need to trust staff.
- Progression - We need to make sure that your staff have room to develop and advance.
- Leadership - The owner of the company needs to live the values they expect of their workforce.
- Engagement - Having all of these things will create a huge difference in terms of the engagement of your staff.
Most people leave their job because of their boss. What kind of boss are you? Do you inspire? Do you make staff feel comfortable?
Repairing disengagement should begin with analysing what the company's purpose is. Talking to individual staff is important. Ensure transparency. Put a plan together based on the staff's feedback and stick to it.
Make performance reviews a two way process. Don't just tell your staff what they're doing right or wrong. Ask them for feedback on how you can improve. And make sure feedback between you is an ongoing thing. Don't save up your criticisms for their six-month review.
.

BEST MOMENTS

'The problem I see with business owners is that they're lazy when it comes to recruiting'

‘You need to hire people who are going to fit in with the values of the business'

‘I compare it when you're building a house'

‘If employees aren't rolling your eyes when you're talking about values, then you're not talking about them enough'

‘What if you train them and they leave? Well, what about if you don't train them and they stay?'

'The people who don't want to buy into this, leave. And to me that's a great result'

‘You can't do it to them, you have to do it with them'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquimann/

Get Jacqui's book ‘Recruit - Inspire - Retain', for free at this link: - https://ov101.infusionsoft.com/app/orderForms/Book---Recruit-Inspire--Retain-GP

https://www.facebook.com/JMAHRExperts/

https://www.instagram.com/jacquimann_/

https://twitter.com/jacqui_mann

www.jmassociates.org

www.the-evolve-mastermind.co.uk

LEGS – bit.ly/LEGS-Gavin

ABOUT THE HOST
Gavin Preston

Gavin is an inspirational Speaker, Business Strategist, Business Growth Mentor, Trainer and

Managers. He is an expert in Business Growth Strategies, Peak Performance

Mindset, Persuasion & Engagement, Marketing, Productivity, Leadership

Development, Team Development & Motivation, Leading Change, Stakeholder

Management, Personal Effectiveness and Behavioural Change.

CONTACT METHOD