.png)
Business Builders
I created Business Builders as a weekly interview series to have honest conversations with business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors about their journeys; their successes, setbacks, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. As a growing business builder myself, I want to learn directly from my guests and share those insights with you. My goal is to provide listeners with practical takeaways, fresh perspectives, and real inspiration to help you on your own path to building and growing a business.
Business Builders
How to Build a Business That Survives Every Crisis | Charlie Hamilton, Canadia Flooring
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
🔔🔔 Charlie Hamilton explains how he led a business through the financial crash and Covid; and why the best leaders never stop dealing with reality 🔔🔔
Charlie Hamilton joins Business Builders to share the story of Canadia Flooring, one of Ireland’s leading flooring suppliers, and the leadership lessons he’s learned from three decades of building the business.
Starting as an accountant before joining the company in its earliest days, Charlie worked his way from sales to Managing Director before eventually completing a management buyout and becoming owner. Along the way, he led the business through the global financial crisis, expanded into the UK when the Irish market collapsed, and later navigated the uncertainty of Covid.
Charlie explains why he believes the most dangerous thing a leader can do is ignore reality, why surrounding yourself with experienced people matters, and how building the right team has been the foundation of Canadia Flooring’s success.
He also reflects on the management buyout process, the importance of independent boards for SMEs, finding work you genuinely enjoy, and why entrepreneurship is often about spotting opportunities that others don’t see.
This is a conversation about leadership, resilience, long-term thinking, business growth, and building a company that lasts.
“The real danger is that you don’t deal in reality, and you don’t deal with the facts that are in front of you.”
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
• How Charlie grew from accountant to owner of Canadia Flooring
• The lessons from leading through the financial crisis and Covid
• Why expanding into the UK transformed the business
• The reality of completing a management buyout (MBO)
• Why good advice is worth paying for
• How an independent board helped grow the company
• Why entrepreneurs see opportunities differently
• How to build a resilient leadership team
• Why listening to customers is a competitive advantage
• The importance of planning years ahead, not just months
• Why doing work you genuinely enjoy changes everything
• What the next decade looks like for Canadia Flooring
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open
01:03 - Introducing Charlie Hamilton and Canadia Flooring
02:41 - The story behind Canadia Flooring
09:25 - Building a nationwide business
11:22 - From accountant to flooring
13:16 - Becoming Managing Director before the financial crash
14:35 - Surviving the recession by expanding into the UK
16:09 - Finding work you genuinely love
18:12 - The confidence to lead
22:24 - Leading through crisis
25:06 - Why EO and great advisors matter
27:25 - Why every SME should consider a board
29:39 - Listening to customers
35:30 - Completing the management buyout
42:39 - Becoming an entrepreneur
44:40 - The future of Canadia Flooring
48:46 - 30 years in business
49:41 - Where to learn more
Topics covered:
Entrepreneurship, leadership, management buyouts, MBO, business growth, SMEs, Irish business, family business, recession, financial crisis, Covid, resilience, leadership mindset, boards, governance, strategy, customer experience, sales, scaling a business, construction, flooring, importing, entrepreneurship in Ireland, Canadia Flooring, business ownership, founder mindset