"It was a big risk, you know, financially I was solely responsible for my daughter, I had a big mortgage, I had lots of commitments. The #Screwitjustdoit moment came when I was sat at a breakfast meeting with my clients after 9 months of Ed and I discussing this new business we wanted to set up and he'd just had enough of my delays and my "yes when, yes when, yes when" and he just picked up the phone and said "look, Lucy, give me a decision by Friday or otherwise let's just move on" On today's show, Lucy and I talk about life-changing events that can lead to your #Screwitjustdoit moment, following your dreams and not somebody else's and also women conforming to what's expected of them. Now, Lucy's a passionate advocate of female entrepreneurship, a respected innovator and leader with over 20 years in her industry and as a single parent to her daughter she has powerful insights into authenticity and leadership. Without further&nbsp;ado, let's StartUp!

#107 Changing Your Life & Leaving a Legacy with Lucy Chamberlain, Founder of C&C Search

"I've managed things that I didn't even dare to dream of! We played Glastonbury festival, you know, I've been on stage at Glastonbury, something that I've been to for decades as a punter. The DJs that I've worked with are just jaw-dropping. These are people that&nbsp;I've hero-worshipped for years and I'm chatting to them!" On today's show, I welcome Hannah Saunders founder of Big Fish Little Fish, an exciting music and dance party for the post-rave generation of parents and kids. Around 6 years ago Hannah launched Big Fish Little Fish, the idea behind it being family events with the same fun, quirky, and holiday vibe of summer festivals but for a few hours on a weekend afternoon. Hannah had two young children in quick succession and fell out of love with her job&nbsp;as Deputy Director of Policing at the Home Office. So, in her early 40s, she set up Big Fish Little Fish, aimed at parents keen to recreate the fun they had before having a family but with their children now in tow. The event showcased great music played by world-class DJs in proper nightclub venues but with lots to keep children interested and&nbsp;amused. So, a very interesting proposition. I'm a huge dance fan, particularly trance, I listen to&nbsp;Armin van Buuren 'state of trance' everything week without fail, at least 2 or 3 times. I also used to go to Ibiza every summer, been to closing weeks, opening weeks, had villas up in the hills, had cramped apartments down in Platja d'en Bossa for stag dos, literally anything and everything on that island, including an epiphany&nbsp;moment a few summers ago, when I took my kids, family&nbsp;holiday,&nbsp;bucket and spades, walking to the beach, something like 10am in the morning to be met by clubbers coming out of Space having just finished their clubbing at the same time. I was thinking "where did it all go wrong Alex?!" But really, no look, there's a time and a place for everything and a really interesting proposition&nbsp;that Hannah has put together&nbsp;so I was interested in speaking to her about how she put a business together around this very idea!&nbsp;

#108 Turning Your Passion into Your Full Time Job, Hannah Saunders , CEO/Founder of Big Fish Little Fish Family Raves

"It was really tough times we faced. We were in for a hundred. Run out of money. No banks were loaning. No sponsors were getting onboard. Everyone shut up shop. So, what's the last thing to do. Re-mortgage the house. Which wasn't a good idea at the time. But is a good idea now. Thank god. It ended up costing us £300k to put on. So if no-one turned up on the first day we lost the house. As simple as that." Welcome to episode #109 of Screwitjustdoit - a special bonus episode recorded at our first live event of 2019 in Bournemouth. I brought together six entrepreneurs and asked them what it took to build their knockout brands.&nbsp; Joining me and our sold out studio audience were Bournemouth 7's Roger Goodall, whom you heard in the opening, Orchard Pig's Andrew Quinlan, Statzy's Lucy Whittington, The Training Room's Jonathan Davies, The Pistachio Club's Claire Fielder &amp; Inkshed Design Studio's Becks Neale. They join me for a panel discussion on what it takes to build a brand, leaning on their experiences of building and exiting a number of 8 figure businesses and going from startup to scaleup. They tell how you can start to develop a brand that’s attractive to customers on little or no budget and then grow it to a wider audience. This is pure gold dust no matter what stage of the entrepreneurial journey you're on. Let's StartUp!

#109: #Screwitjustdoit live - Build a Knockout Brand Bournemouth

"I think influencers are a key driver in our brand building process. Today, you're talking a lot of start-ups and scale-ups, every euro we invest needs to come along with a certain return on investment and I think working with influencers, obviously targeted influencers, they can help scale your business; build that awareness level on a very rapid basis, add a considerable&nbsp;amount of investment. It's not a huge investment from going on the radio or TV campaigns but it does allow you, at an acceptable investment, to reach a larger audience." Jurgen and his two co-founders Luis and Coen were university classmates, dog-loving entrepreneurs from Belgium. They went into business together after spotting a gap in the market for healthy, nutritious food for their dogs, who happened to be called Edgard and Cooper. So, they founded the company in Belgium in 2014, launched in the UK in 2016. The brand is unique and you'll find out why if you dive into the podcast, it's also the first brand in Europe to have full range in biodegradable packaging, something their massively passionate about - sustainability - and they now retail in ten countries, this is in less than 3 years with over 6,000 distribution points and are on track to double in the next 12 months. Already&nbsp;achieved £10million in annual retail sales in less than 3 years of trading, which is pretty amazing and they've just launched into catfood in January as well. So, these guys are scaling pretty rapidly hence it's an&nbsp;interesting story to find out how they're doing that in what's perceived to be a massively saturated market, dominated by a couple of big players. but you'll find out how and why they're doing that. Welcome to episode 110.

#110 Using Influencers to Help Scale Your Business with Jürgen Degrande

"I've done a lot of pitches and it was just an experience that I don't think that you can replicate&nbsp;or ever go through again. I'm glad I did it but it was just horrific, it wasn't fun! It was very surreal. I've&nbsp;been watching since I was a kid and then you walk into that den and you see these people you've been watching for so long...it was just crazy! I wouldn't do it again!" Dan started his career by working as a chef at three Michelin star restaurants, and also later became a private chef to celebrities like Kylie Minogue after winning several cooking competitions across the UK and overseas. However one thing that stood out for him was the&nbsp;tremendous amount of food&nbsp;waste that he saw over his career. Therein lay the idea for using recycled salmon skin to make consumer-friendly snacks, just over two years ago now. So, Daniel and his business partner, Dominic Smith, decided to ask fishmongers in the UK for salmon skin as it has the perfect thickness and comes in high nutrition wise after being cooked: 63g of protein per 100g and full of omega 3's. Really interesting story, you&nbsp;may have just seen Daniel on Dragon's Den, turning down an offer of £30,000 for a 35% stake. He had already had an offer from an entrepreneur called Johnathan Brown who's now a shareholder of food startup Sea Chips, who also owns 10% of the salmon market in the US and has over&nbsp;30 years of salmon processing experience. So, a pretty amazing mentor and investor to come across! Let's StartUp!

Alex Chisnall