Average Jo Meets The UK's Everyday Entrepreneurs

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a great Summer and we’re back with a fun and advice-packed episode with the Event-trepreneur Toby Burns. Toby has not one but 4 business arms – The Silent Disco Company, The Cinema Hire Company, The Karaoke Hire Company and Flashbands – all brands where you can hire fun stuff for events. Toby started his entrepreneurial life at the young age of 15 (actually probably younger!) and talks about how he went about making money hosting children’s birthday parties at the weekends whilst at still at school. He then moved into DJing before coming across the Silent Disco phenomena. We talk about his journey and how he managed to follow the money and the snowball effect that came from that. It's another account of setting up and running a business that’s really detailed and honest. Toby covers so many aspects from tips for sourcing from China, managing tax challenges, his approach to competition, the importance of surrounding yourself with other likeminded people, managing a business with a family and so much more. It was a real privilege to interview Toby in person and get all of his insights and anecdotes of his unique story – I hope you enjoy. 

This is the story of ex-GB and England Volleyball athelete Jake Sheaf and his company Deep Dish.Deep Dish aims to bring beach volleyball and indeed beach life to all. It has 3 centres in the UK in Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and St Albans and also organises beach volleyball centred vacations to Gran Canaria, Portugal and Valencia in Spain.This includes the popular Beach Tour which last year hosted over 2000 university students at the ultimate sporting escape to train and play and party.Get the feel for Deep Dish immediately if you head to deepdishbeach.com. It looks so much fun! And importantly it welcomes and has something for all ages and all abilities from complete beginners to Olympians.Jake takes us through the challenges of managing and funding life as a professional athlete which included building up an informal version of Deep Dish alongside his pro-volleyball journey for quite some years.He talks about how that period helped him to prepare for life as a business owner and then when he retired from the professional side of his sport, he turned to develop Deep Dish full time.This was not long followed with some tough times like, anything centred around socialising and being together, during the pandemic, but then swiftly followed by a surge in success in recent years and the company has been growing rapidly ever since.Now Jake is entering a new challenge, as by the time this podcast goes out, he’s going to be a Dad so congrats and good luck to becoming a father Jake and great to learn about your story up until this next chapter.Another business set-up story to learn from and be inspired by folks.

From the high wire last month to high finance this month we bring you the story of Grant Georgiades and of his family, especially his father Peter, and the business they own and run, The Plan Group.The Plan Group is an independent insurance broker with over 80 employees, across 3 offices in Redhill, Kent and just outside Bridgend in Wales. The company provides insurance cover for all sorts of things. operating under several brands including Plan Insurance which offers things like business and motor insurance, Yellow Jersey and Pedal Cover which are specialist bike insurance brands and more recently Eavi the UK’s first policy for e-scooters.In this interview, Grant recounts the various entrepreneurial ventures of his father prior to Plan, how his Dad and his older brother were able to take on this small high street insurance shop in Catford back in the late 80’s, his own memories of working in the family business in his childhood and in the holidays as a student, and the more recent journeys he’s been to make the decision to leave a TV career and join the family business and how he was able to scale up the Plan Group to where it is today.This is as much a podcast on understanding the insurance sector as it as about setting up and running a business so good for anyone who wants to learn about that too whether as a consumer or someone looking to get into working in Insurance world.Thank you so much Grant for being so honest and sharing your story and that of your families and I wish The Plan Group continued success especially with your new insurance products that you continue to pioneer. It’s another good one listeners!

Throughout their twenties and early thirties, cousins Victoria and Rachel were pursuing their careers coincidently both in sports marketing but whenever they got together at Christmas and family gatherings they were always talking about how one day they wanted to work together and run their own thing. And that one day came and an opportunity presented itself. They now run Teakunique, a UK supplier of the finest grade Teak outdoor furniture that they sustainably source from Indonesia. You can view their range and buy online at teakunique.co.uk and they have a showroom by appointment near Midhurst in West Sussex. This is the story about how that opportunity came about, the steps the cousins took to act upon it and then what running a premium furniture business is all about… from the supply, import and storage challenges to the marketing and selling aspects… as well as the realities of running a family business with your own family commitments. It’s really informative and practical and it was lovely to find out all about Rachel and Victoria’s journey. So all the best for the Summer season to the team at Teakunique – hope it’s a good one and happy listening all.

Happy New Year folks! Let’s kick January off with some super high energy and some super people.. twins Laura and Jess Tilli who are the owners of the popular café chain Brown & Green.To those not familiar even to those who are, Brown & Green has 7 sites and counting across South London in some great locations including in Crystal Palace Park and Triangle, Mayow Park, Norwood Junction, Horniman Play Park and where it all began which is Gipsy Hill train station.The largest of these is called LIFE and is based in Crystal Palace Park and this also includes an event space for hire where Laura and Jess offer wedding catering and event planning too.And to top it all off, if you’re in the area, you can order the delicious food from Brown & Green on Deliveroo!There’s a lot of juicy stuff to come listeners…We hear about Laura and Jess’s adventures before B&G from Saturday jobs to reality TV!The hard work and steps that went into setting up their very first station coffee shop and making it work.To how they began to scale up including lots of detail around how they went about navigating tenders with councils and government organisations.And that’s only some of the highlights...!The common theme throughout? Their infectious just do it attitude. So thanks so much Laura and Jess for sharing that with us… Happy listening all.

Here’s a Christmas treat… today we’re welcome Claire Bennett who runs a coaching business with a specific target market – small businesses.After a career in the London insurance sector, she took some time out to study Positive Psychology and from there went on to establish her own business under her own name and you can check her out at clairebennett.com.Claire’s niche is offering an array of coaching and workshops focused around bringing the theory and practical aspects of positive psychology into small businesses so both owners, staff, the self-employed work towards a state of thriving and away from surviving. As part of this she heavily focuses on wellbeing especially for those who work from home as this shifts to become the new norm for many of us.This episode is a double whammy as we get her story about setting up her business with some interesting client stories, but also lots of tips and advice for everyone really around productivity, time management and how to work well. Happy listening and Happy Christmas!

Please welcome Shirley White who whilst working in banking and finance for many years had a chance conversation with a boss at the time who mentioned he thought she had the skills and drive to run her own business got her thinking about what sort of business that could be.Shirley is now the owner of OTC Beverages, which produces premium non-alcoholic beverages based on traditional Carribean flavours. Flavours include sorrel, lime juice with butterfly pea flower and of course Ginger beer.The drinks are available both online on OTC’s website otcbeverages.com and social media sites and also in over 30 independent retail outlets across London.OTC Beverages has received lots of industry recognition and awards and the includes the highest possible grading by the Great British Food Award judges.But how do you go about building a drinks business in such a competitive market place from production through to building a brand, let’s find out from Shirley and her OTC journey so far.

Today we’re talking bouncy castles and bouncy dartboards and bouncy slides, assault courses, penalty shoot outs, disco domes you name it.All available to hire from www.jumpingjacksbouncycastles.co.uk along with soft play kits, ball ponds, candy floss makers, sumo suits, a burger van and lots more.This is the business run by husband and wife team Robert and Emma. Shortly after having twins, the two seized an opportunity to buy Jumping Jacks from a contact of Roberts who was looking to sell. This was not an insignificant decision and it meant having to sell their family home and move in with Emma’s parents, with two one year olds in tow, to fund the purchase.At the time the business came with one van, 50 inflatables and 3 freelance staff. Within two years they now have 4 vans over 100 inflatables, over 10 delivery and event staff to call upon.. as well as many family members including Sam, Robert’s sister who joins Emma today.They have also started their own events too so as well as providing hire to school fetes, birthday parties and sporting events, they put on an bouncy castle extravanga where children can come and spend a few hours and try out over 15 of their inflatables. The next one is being held on the 16th December at the Kent Country cricket Ground in Beckenham and I can recommend as great entertainment for children of any age!Emma and Sam lift the lid on what it’s like running an events business.. from the hard work at weekends to the fun bits... let’s have a listen.