The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast sponsored by Starling Bank, is back! Every week for 12 weeks, freelance journalist Dan Martin speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about their tips, insights and inspiration for how to start and grow a brilliant business. First up is Ben Keene, co-founder of Rebel Book Club. 

How many books do you have that you've never read? It's probably loads. The Japanese describe it as 'tsundoku', the constant act of buying books but not reading them. Ben was a big sufferer! With his friend Ben Saul-Garner, he looked for a way to be motivated to read all those untouched ideas. Rebel Book Club was the solution. It's now a successful subscription company that brings people together around a love for non-fiction and a desire to turn book insights into action.

In an advice-packed podcast, Ben discusses how to grow a subscription model, raising £148,000 and the realities of crowdfunding, switching online during the coronavirus pandemic and how to find your minimum viable audience.

S5 E1: How to build a rebel business

The coronavirus pandemic has been tough for many people but for some entrepreneurial individuals, it has been the time to start their own company. One of those new business owners is Katrina Borissova, founder of vegan soap brand Little Danube, who incorporated her new venture on 23 March 2020, the day the prime minister announced Britain was going into lockdown.

In this week's episode, Katrina tells freelance journalist Dan Martin her inspiring story and explains how she launched her business during lockdown.

Also on the show is Jade Evans from Starling Bank. She discusses how entrepreneurs have pivoted their business models to cope with the pandemic, the financial support the bank has provided to small companies and how founders have used the funding.

S5 E2: Starting a lockdown business and the power of pivots

Entrepreneurs start businesses for many reasons. For Julie Deane CBE, it was to pay for her children to go to private school because her daughter was being bullied. She invested £600 to get her idea off the ground and just five years later, the Cambridge Satchel Company was valued at £40m. Julie joins journalist Dan Martin to share her super inspiring story. This one is a must listen!

S5 E3: Growing the Cambridge Satchel Company from a £600 start-up into a £40m business

This week journalist Dan Martin is joined by Symmie Swil, head of SME Banking at Starling Bank, and David Beardmore, ecosystem development director at Open Banking Implementation Entity to discuss how small businesses can embrace modern banking services.

Symmie shares the vision of Starling Bank's founder Anne Boden for launching the digital bank, her views on the future of physical bank branches and how the company is supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Another exciting development for small businesses is open banking, which helps you move, manage and make more of your money.

David Beardmore joins the podcast to explain how open banking can benefit small businesses and how it has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

S5 E4: The future of banking for small businesses

Freelance journalist Dan Martin is joined by Mike Wilson, founder of Go Exporting, and Philip Salter, founder of The Entrepreneurs Network, to discuss how Britain's full exit from the European Union has affected small businesses.

S5 E5: How Brexit is impacting on small businesses

The statistics are shocking: one million birds and 100,000 marine animals a year die from plastic pollution, eight million pieces of plastic end up in the oceans every day and for every mile of UK beaches, there are 5,000 pieces of plastic.

It was figures like that which drove Beth Noy to launch Plastic Freedom. What started as a £300 investment to sell some of her favourite plastic free products is now a booming online store with over 3,000 brands. She has also built an Instagram community of 200,000 followers. 

Beth joins journalist Dan Martin to share her hugely inspiring story of turning a side hobby into a successful full-time business that tackles one of the great problems of our age.

S5 E6: The eco-founder behind a thriving plastic free marketplace and Instagram community of 200,000

This week we're talking business funding. In an advice-packed episode, Oliver Krishnan from Starling Bank and Ryan Hyde-Smith from Funding Options join journalist Dan Martin to demystify the world of finance and explain how to track down the best option for your company.

S5 E7: How to find the right funding for your business

On this week's podcast, we're talking about the power of business advice.

Research shows that those business owners who take on advice grow their companies faster than those who don't, but with so much advice out there it can be hard to work out which advice to take on.

As you'll know if you're an entrepreneur, you have a lot of plates to spin, so when should you seek advice and ask for help from others? And how do you go about picking the advisers to use?

S5 E8: How great advice can power your business success

This week’s Small Business Sessions podcast welcomes Henry Deakin, who’s taken the helm of seventh generation family business Deakin & Francis. 

Gemologist and designer Deakin discusses his gamble to open a flagship store in Piccadilly Arcade, influencer marketing and what it’s like to join the family firm with host Dan Martin.

Small Business Sessions is powered by Xero and we’ve got an exclusive offer of 50% off the cloud accounting software for 12 months! Find out more at the below link.

https://www.enterprisenation.com/xero-beautiful-accounting-software/

S4 E11: Marketing a 233-year-old family business

Niamh Barker started luxury cashmere brand The Travelwrap Company in her spare room. The proudly Scottish brand is now exporting to 22 countries.

Host Dan Martin spoke to Barker about:

- Building up an online presence
- Solving the problem of copycats
- The importance of targeting the right market

Small Business Sessions is powered by Xero and we’ve got an exclusive offer of 50% off the cloud accounting software for 12 months! Find out more at the below link.

https://www.enterprisenation.com/xero-beautiful-accounting-software/

S4 EP12: Building a luxury brand from a spare room

The Small Business Sessions, by Enterprise Nation and sponsored by Starling Bank, is a weekly podcast that shares tips and stories from some of Britain's best entrepreneurs and business experts. Enterprise Nation helps people turn their good ideas into great businesses through inspirational events, a supportive community, expert content and a campaigning voice.  Find out more at www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

Huge thanks to audio and podcast production service, Podraffi, for recording and editing these podcasts.