Mind Your Business: Recent Episodes
Matt Williams and Alan Clark
The Mind Your Business Podcast is THE podcast for Entrepreneurs. It's focussed on business, entrepreneurship, legacy and mindset.
What is one of the most productive ways you can strengthen and grow your business?
Personal referral.
In this episode Alan and Matt discuss how to make optimum use of this simple and yet highly effective business strengthening strategy and establish a discerning referral system.
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Matt Williams is the founder and owner of Cypher, the fastest growing accountancy firm in Oxford. As an accountant Matt combines his extensive expertise in the financial world with boundless business insights gained through many years of supporting clients across a range of industries. Matt lives with his family in Oxfordshire and is known for his humour and optimism, both of which are necessary traits as he supports Oxford City Football Club.
Find Matt at www.cypherhq.co.uk
Alan Clark is the founder and Managing Director of Exponential Coaching, his business and leadership coaching focuses on creating growth experiences to help entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders and their businesses to thrive. A Pharmacist by background, Alan spent many years in Senior Leadership roles within a global health care company and draws on these experiences alongside wisdom gained from coaching a myriad of clients; from start-up's, established SME's to multinational conglomerates. Originally from Glasgow, Alan now lives in Worcestershire with his wife, teenage children and a growing number of pets.
Find Alan at www.exponentialcoaching.co.uk
In this episode Alan and Matt discuss the importance of ensuring a steady cashflow, giving their top 5 methods for ensuring financial success.
As usual the boys are drawing from their own experience, and that of supporting their clients in business to give you the foundations of this vital, and often over looked business skill.
Your Hosts:
Matt Williams is the founder and owner of Cypher, the fastest growing accountancy firm in Oxford. As an accountant Matt combines his extensive expertise in the financial world with boundless business insights gained through many years of supporting clients across a range of industries. Matt lives with his family in Oxfordshire and is known for his humour and optimism, both of which are necessary traits as he supports Oxford City Football Club.
Find Matt at www.cypherhq.co.uk
Alan Clark is the founder and Managing Director of Exponential Coaching, his business and leadership coaching focuses on creating growth experiences to help entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders and their businesses to thrive. A Pharmacist by background, Alan spent many years in Senior Leadership roles within a global health care company and draws on these experiences alongside wisdom gained from coaching a myriad of clients; from start-up's, established SME's to multinational conglomerates. Originally from Glasgow, Alan now lives in Worcestershire with his wife, teenage children and a growing number of pets.
Find Alan at www.exponentialcoaching.co.uk
As we celebrate the milestone of 70 episodes Alan and Matt offer their usual blend of practical, solution based insights to the world of business. In this episode the boys focus on taking a critical eye to your business via KPI's (Key Performance Indicators). In particular they focus on four main themes, Customer - People - Finance - Operations. Discussing the rationale for tracking these areas, they distil the key advantages and practicalities of tracking these business areas to ensure the KPI's do not become VPI's (Vague Performance Indicators).
Your Hosts:
Matt Williams is the founder and owner of Cypher, the fastest growing accountancy firm in Oxford. As an accountant Matt combines his extensive expertise in the financial world with boundless business insights gained through many years of supporting clients across a range of industries. Matt lives with his family in Oxfordshire and is known for his humour and optimism, both of which are necessary traits as he supports Oxford City Football Club.
Find Matt at www.cypherhq.co.uk
Alan Clark is the founder and Managing Director of Exponential Coaching, his business and leadership coaching focuses on creating growth experiences to help entrepreneurs, business owners, leaders and their businesses to thrive. A Pharmacist by background, Alan spent many years in Senior Leadership roles within a global health care company and draws on these experiences alongside wisdom gained from coaching a myriad of clients; from start-up's, established SME's to multinational conglomerates. Originally from Glasgow, Alan now lives in Worcestershire with his wife, teenage children and a growing number of pets.
Find Alan at www.exponentialcoaching.co.uk
Alan and Matt are back with another juicy podcast where they share insights, experiences and wisdom to business owners and entrepreneurs.
This episode was recorded on their return from their summer break and initially draws on a news story that got the boys thinking about valuing the services we provide as businesses and being aware of the transformation they can offer. As well as addressing some of the money-mindset issues that can hold us back, they also discuss the notion of "value added" services, the need to reflect regularly on pricing structure and getting comfortable with your offering and pricing.
Drawing on some examples from current affairs and sharing candidly on their own business expertise with a good dose of their usual wit this is sure to bring clarity and an opportunity to reflect on where we are on our own business journey.
Reinvention.
A word we may associate more with the likes of Madonna or global business players such as Microsoft or Netflix.
But does it deserve a place at the table within SME and Owner-Managed businesses?
In this episode Alan and Matt get into the nitty gritty of Reinvention in a business setting. Some of the gems included in this episode include:
- What it means to Reinvent your business
- The merits and challenges of Reinvention
- Re-invention as a form or re-evaluating the business offering and changing needs of the business owner
- How to plan for and harness reinvention for optimal business and personal success
As always, Matt and Alan draw on business case-studies and powerful examples from their everyday work.
In this episode Alan and Matt share their insights on Breakthrough Conversations.
They explore the merits and potential positive outcomes of breakthrough conversations, the barriers to getting started on these important conversations as well as some top tips for success.
Matt and Alan draw on their own experiences and discuss the merits of creating a Breakthrough Culture within organisations.
Enjoy!
Matt and Alan return with a full on plea for every leader and business owner to learn the art of prioritisation!
Prioritisation has never been as valuable to personal effectiveness and business performance than it is right now and Matt and Alan get into the reasons why this is, how to actually develop prioritisation and the huge benefits of doing so.
As always their 30 minute conversation is packed full of real examples.
Enjoy!
Matt and Alan return after a prolonged absence (big apologies for their absence are made in this podcast!) and get into another conversation about all things business, self and leadership development.
In this conversation they discuss "when things go wrong" and in particular discussing mindset, people performance and cashflow as example of "when things go wrong" and as always offer some helpful advice!
Courage and Clarity are your friends when dealing with any situation called "when things go wrong" !
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about busyness - with more and more business owners saying they have never been busier, it seems like there is a pandemic of busyness right now.
Taking a closer look at this busyness, Matt and Alan discover there are definite ways for senior leaders and business owners to decrease their busyness and increase their performance and productivity.
A fast paced episode!
Alan and especially Matt impart some super valuable wisdom around the threat of insolvency, three test areas to be aware of and ultimately what a business owner should focus on to strengthen their business and power away from the threat of insolvency.
An insight rich episode!
Matt and Alan reference a recently published McKinsey article that has studied performance and results in a wide range of businesses over a period of years across the globe.
The great news is that there seems to be a clear path to consistently high business performance, the downside is that the path is relatively rarely taken.
30 minutes of insight rich conversation awaits with a definite conclusion!
Matt and Alan return to 2023 with a " focused" podcast on four areas of focus that could make a hugely positive difference to your business in 2023.
Customers and People feature prominently in this episode!!
In an unashamedly World Cup themed episode, Matt and Alan get into a conversation about performance and the impact of your team on business performance.
People development, people structures, organisation, leadership styles, confidence levels, wellbeing fitness levels are all discussed taking inspiration from different team and individual performances during World Cup 22.
If you have a desire to get more out of your team in 2023 this episode is for you!
There is a lot of negative rhetoric, fear and worry in the world right now - many business leaders and owners are feeling heightened levels of pressure and stress and this pressure and stress can flow throughout an entire business and organisation.
Matt and Alan get into a conversation that recognises this reality and discuss how entrepreneurs and leaders can positively change this heightened pressure and stress for themselves and their business.
In their latest podcast Matt and Alan explore and respond to a profound quote :
" Your results in life and business are directly related to the systems that you have in place, if you want to change your results, change your system!"
As always they bring to life their experiences from the world of business and most definitely support the quote!
Matt and Alan return with a podcast packed with possibilities!
Literally, episode 57 is all about the magic of creating possibilities from nothing, acting on these possibilities and seeing the powerful change that these possibilities and actions can have on your business.
Be open to possibility!!
Is it possible to run your business entirely from a smart phone ? What about different roles, CEO or middle management ? What are the benefits ? What are the downsides ?
Even if it was possible, should you even try ?
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about the ever increasing power and possibility of a smart phone within business- A brave new world fuelled with upside or an overwhelming nightmare riddled with downside ?
You decide !
In this episode Matt and Alan declare a war on habitual, underproductive meetings and make a heartfelt plea to listeners - Do you actually need this meeting ?
From this point the conversation goes into to poor meeting practice, best meeting practice and insightful and helpful meeting stories - all in 35 minutes!!
Reclaim your time !
Political chaos, rising cost of living, inflation and interest rate uncertainty, rising Covid infections, record temperatures, war - there is definitely a feeling of unhelpful anxiety and uncertainty this summer amongst entrepreneurs and their businesses.
Matt and Alan prescribe three "antidotes" that if administered fully will make a huge positive difference to the performance and results created by entrepreneurs and businesses this summer !
A classically pacey and punchy 35 minutes await !!
In a recent poll a group of global CEO's listed decision making and the ability to make optimal decisions, at pace and to stick with them as the number one desirable skillset for a CEO right now in 2022.
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about decision making, how to access our decision making and the different techniques to arrive at pacey, well considered decisions.
As always this episode is filled with useful insight and a closing plea to really get behind developing your decision making ability as a proven and potent way to strengthen and grow your business.
Matt and Alan get into a conversation with the intent of helping leaders and entrepreneurs to get under the skin of what is really holding themselves and/or their business back,
It is not always what you think it is !
A lively, energetic conversation that is determined to help people remove the blockage and move forward optimally again....
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about two common but opposing mindsets, abundance and scarcity, and the cause and effect impact that they each have on business and outcomes.
Diamonds vs Rocks, Yes vs No, marbles and angels are all discussed in this insight packed episode!
In their extended 50th episode podcast, Matt and Alan are joined by a very special guest!
Marcus Taylor, CEO of Venture Harbour and True North discusses a proactive philosophy to marketing forecasting, the genius of automation and a personal value of getting beyond your comfort zone.
As always there are insights a plenty to discover and take away !
The concluding part to the mini series dedicated to growth.
In this episode Matt and Alan discuss the "what next" after a period of levelling up and dealing with the associated pressures of growth.
And the great news ? Rewards and dreams await you !!
Part 2 of the Growth Trilogy ....
In this episode Matt and Alan discuss some of the most debilitating pressures and resulting consequences to impact on businesses and people during a phase of intense growth.
Good news, there is always a solution!
The first of a three part "mini series" dedicated to all things GROWTH !!
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about "levelling up" - their usual fast paced conversation rich with analogies and real life examples - all in 31 minutes!
What's your purpose ? What is the purpose of your business ?
How many times have you heard these questions ? Can you answer it ? Is it worth having a purpose ?
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about purpose, what it is and why it can really help a business to strengthen and grow.
Real life examples are definitely discussed !
Matt and Alan get into a conversation about "Task Creep", "Scope Creep" and other members of the Creep family that are slowing entrepreneurs and their businesses down, getting in the way and causing quite a lot of stress and overwhelm. This episode even incudes Alan being coached by Matt !
The great news is there are always ways of showing the Creep family the door!
Matt and Alan get into a soul searching conversation about the challenges of managing people. Somewhere in the conversation three principles appear that can lead to a more effective management style, engaged people and more optimal results...….
A deep episode !
Matt and Alan discuss an ancient human question - Is it really possible to change ?
This episode discusses personal change and in particular the value of personal change to the entrepreneur.
Theory, experience and story telling is brought in abundance to this conversation and we arrive at a clear conclusion!
So many people lead there business without giving themselves the space and time to really connect and live the CEO role.
It's really easy for business owners to look on social media and see everyone else living the CEO role (working on their business, not in their business) and end up with a feeling of failure that they are not there yet.
The reality is that this is something that a huge amount of business owners struggle with, and even those that will tell you they've cracked it are not 100% there yet.
This week the boys discuss everything relating to the mindset of living the CEO role.
Matt and Alan discuss human energy and energy management as an absolute equal to time and to time management. As always this episode is full of real life examples and ideas on how to maximise your energy levels, create momentum and have a fabulous 2022!
Leaving paid employment to set up a business is one of the bravest things a human being can do.
Giving up the security of PAYE employment is a massive step and often, the amount of courage it takes is overlooked (particularly by those that have never experienced it).
This week, Matt and Alan discuss courage and business and how important it is to being successful.
Does your 2022 New Year's Resolution involve getting more things done?
In our first podcast of the new year, we discuss two Italian time management techniques that can make a massive difference to productivity.
This week the boys are back talking about strategy.
We explore 3 distinct, proven strategies:
Operational Excellence
Product Leadership
Customer Intimacy
For each strategy they discuss which household names are using it, what the key information is and how that could be implemented into a smaller business.
This week, we dive into the 14 leadership lessons advocated by Steve Jobs.
Alan has a really interesting article, written by Walter Isaacson in 2012 (just after Steve died) and we pick a random selection of the lessons and discuss them and their impact on entrepreneurs.
We cover everything from why face-to-face meetings are still important to why you should always push for perfection.
On this week's podcast, Matt and Alan have a conversation about leadership styles.
Is it important to understand your own natural style and the character traits that make up your personality?
Do you know where you stand on a DISC profile?
Is it essential to be able to adapt your natural style when dealing with colleagues that have the opposite style?
How close should your 'work' persona be to your 'home' persona?
The boys answer all these questions (and more!) on this week's pod.
How often do you consider the language you use in your business?
Probably a lot when you're writing to someone and a little bit less when you're talking on the phone?
On this week's podcast Alan and Matt spend 30 minutes discussing an array of different business situations where changing our language can have massive impacts on outcomes.
This week, in our Halloween special, we talk about Vampire Customers!
Accepted business wisdom tells us that you make 80% of your profit from 20% of your customers.
Matt thinks it's also true that you get 80% of stress from 20% of your customers.
So what do you do if you have a Vampire on your customer list? How to you fix them? Do you have to manage them away from the business or can you set out the rules of the game and turn them into good customers?
We discuss all this, and more in 32 minutes of podcast gold!
On this week's podcast Matt and Alan have a great conversation about whether to continually push for business growth or to take some time to strengthen what you already have.
Is there any point to growing revenue if it's not adding to your bottom line (net profit)?
Should we be measuring growth in another way, rather than focussing on increasing turnover?
If a business is not growing, is it dieing?
All these questions and more are answered on the podcast.
This week we are talking all about innovation in business.
The modern business world is full of obvious innovation - cloud computing, automated software, machine learning etc, but there is also a lot of off-line innovation happening that is driving some amazing results for more 'old-fashioned' businesses (we use Marks and Spencer as an example).
This week we discuss all things Strategy.
Do you have one for your business, do you need one?
Recently a hitherto unseen memo from Steve Jobs to his board was released into the public domain. In it, Steve Jobs distills the overall strategy of the biggest company in the world into 5 topics and about 8 lines of text).
We discuss that, plus a host of other strategy-related topics in 32 minutes of podcast gold.
This week Alan and Matt discuss how the pace of change in technology has fundamentally changed how businesses operate.
Covering everything from Estate Agents to Marketing companies, via Victorian Meat Markets, the boys talk about how business has moved forward over the last decade and speculate on where it will be in 2031.
The boys are back for Season 2!
This week Matt and Alan breakdown the destructive power of apathy within a business.
Whether that's a business owner's anxiety manifesting as apathy, or self-sabotage or a team member that's having 'one of those days' we discuss all things Apathy and provide some tips on how to deal with it.
This week the boys discuss how relevant a proper business plan is in the modern world.
We talk about the important elements that all plans should include, what is just 'fluff' and why it's important to revisit your plan regularly.
This week Matt and Alan discuss the differences between Entrepreneur and Employee Mindsets, and how pivoting between the two is a massively important skill for new business owners in particular.
There's also an improptu TV Review of Clarkson's Farm (which is actually relevant to the topic!)
This week Alan and Matt are talking all things toxic culture.
Following the open letter from Brewdog's staff to it's CEO (which you can read here: https://www.punkswithpurpose.org/dearbrewdog/ ) the boys discuss the damage a toxic culture can do to a business.
Covering everything from different theories of management to one rogue member of the management team, if you lead a team of people this is a must-listen episode.
This week, following Cristiano Ronaldo single-handedly knocking $4b from Coca-Cola's stock market value by moving two bottles half a metre, Alan and Matt talk about branding, and how powerful (but tenuous) a good brand is.
On this week's pod, Matt and Alan discuss the nagging voice of self-doubt (the inner critic) and how business owners can sift the positive points out of all the negative thoughts they throw at you.
This week we talk all about the fundamental changes in the employee / employer relationships driven by the pandemic.
Hybrid working, a fast-moving, candidate-led, market and challenges with building a culture remotely have all had major impacts on how business owners retain and recruit the best people.
Have you ever had a spare ten minutes between meetings when, rather than getting something done, your brain enters a form of standby mode - not letting you start something new because you have that other meeting coming up?
This week Alan and Matt discuss the phenomenon of 'waiting brain' and what you can do to reclaim those lost minutes.
In a world where all the information you could ever need is just a click away, why isn't it the case that all business owners are smashing it?
Is it a mindset issue, a time problem or do business owners just not know the right questions to be asking?
It used to be all about work-life balance.
Successive lockdowns and continued working at home has put paid to that and now it's all about work-life integration.
Flexible working, ditching the 9-5 and integrating your working hours into your day hear and there rather than in a block is now where it's at.
This week Alan and Matt talk all about the flexible working revolution and why, if you are not pursuing a flexible, work-life integration model, you are going to have serious problems in 2 or 3 years time.
How many times have you heard the cliche 'work smarter not harder'?
What does it mean for you?
This week Matt and Alan dig into what it means to them and how they implement a 'think smart, work hard' mentality in their businesses.
If you do it right you could reclaim 10 hours a week - imagine what you could do with that.
This week we discuss an interesting article Matt read on entrepreneur.com which detailed mistakes that early-stage businesses make.
Matt and Alan discuss each mistake and decide whether or not it's worthy of a place in the list.
- Niching
- Taking Advice
- Competition
- Busyness
You can read the whole article here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/359583
How important is belief to being successful in business?
This week we talk about how belief in your product or service is key to how you sell it, how belief in yourself allows you to better compare yourself with your competition and how an unshakeable belief in success has a phenomenal impact on business growth.
In this weeks episode, we answer two listener's questions (yay we have listeners!)
1 - how do you deal with being so busy you're overwhelmed?
2 - what do you know now, that you wish you knew when you set up your business?
Both questions lead to some really interesting conversations, including how you can turn being 'busy' into being productive and how busyness can actually be a sign of laziness.
On this week's episode, Matt and Alan discuss what business owners need to do to boost their chance of success coming out of lockdown.
It centre's on the concept of un-learning what we've always done and re-learning what the new normal is for our business.
There's a potential tidal wave of demand about to hit independent businesses, are you ready to surf it or will you be swept away?
Setting your price at the correct level is a fundamental building block of any business, but too many business owners struggle with this - particularly around raising prices once they realise they've set them too low.
This week Alan and Matt discuss the psychology around pricing, how dangerous it can be if you're too cheap and what you can do to raise your prices (even during a pandemic!)
Whether it's a direct result of lockdown 3.0, or due to a transition from working 'in' their business to working 'on' their business it's entirely normal for business owner's self-motivation levels to drop from time to time.
In this week's podcast Matt and Alan discuss the steps anyone can take to re-discover their business mojo and get back to previous levels of self-motivation.
Stop being de-motivated and be Awesome instead!
What is it that you do? and why should anyone care?
This week Matt and Alan share their views on mission statements and why business owners should revisit theirs as we move out of lockdown.
Cashflow is the number one pain point and cause of anxiety for business owners.
The problem is almost always due to too much of your money sitting in your customer's bank accounts rather than yours.
This week Matt and Alan discuss 5 simple, practical, tips that you can implement today and that will revolutionise your cashflow.
This week Matt and Alan discuss how business conversations have fundamentally changed over the last 12 months now that Zooms have become an integral way of life.
Alan has surprising (at least to Matt!) views on whether meetings are better or worse now they are virtual.
In this week's episode, Alan and Matt talk all things time.
Do you know how many weeks the average human lives for?
Do you have a system for managing your time or do you feel buried under conflicting pressures?
We spend 30 minutes talking you through practical steps you can take to revolutionise your relationship with time to help you focus and achieve more with the time you have.
What do you see when you look at your direct competition?
Could you ever see your self working alongside them?
In this episode Alan and Matt discuss the concept of viewing competition as a positive force, completing the customer choice and growing an industry as a whole.
They also spend some time discussing co-ompetition - where two competitors work together for the good of the consumer.
Resilience is key for brusiness owners and entrepreneurs in this new world we live in. In this episode Alan and Matt discuss methods we can use to improve our personal resilience.
Given that everyone is using the new lockdown to review and refresh their Social Media strategies, Matt and Alan spend some time going through some top social media tips (based on the top social media tips article on a Google search!).
In this weeks episode Matt and Alan discuss the opposing philosophies of 'Best of Breed' vs 'Integrated Bundles.'
Which method of thinking best suits small business? Can you build a 'unicorn' hybrid of the two?
Is this why Salesforce recently paid $27.5b for Slack?
Alan and Matt explain discuss why too many business owners are bogged down trying to find certainty over the future, when it is clarity that they should be searching for.
In episode 1 Matt and Alan talk about getting started, why version one is always better than version none and why 2021 will be the year of the entrepreneur.
Alan and Matt spend half an hour discussing why every business, from accountants to plumbers, are competing with Amazon and what lessons you can learn from that.
Matt and Alan discuss how to avoid writing, director, acting (and watching!) you're very own business horror story