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What One Thing?
One business. One lesson. Every week.
Real businesses. Real stories. Real-time.
What One Thing? is the straight-talking weekly podcast for growing UK businesses with a team who are on the move — building, scaling, and figuring it out as they go.
Join co-hosts Hayley Baxter (Corbar Accounting) and Phil Davenport (Affirm IT) as they chat with fellow business owners and share their own lessons from the journey — the things they wish they'd known, the wins, the wobbles, and the one thing that made the biggest difference.
Each episode is 15–25 minutes of real-world insight, a few laughs, and practical takeaways to help you grow a better business — without the fluff.
🎙️ Expect:
- Honest interviews with business owners on the grow
- Topic episodes on key business challenges
- Straight answers, no jargon
- One clear lesson, every week
👀 Also on YouTube — because yes, it’s filmed too.
📍 Based in Derbyshire, speaking to businesses across the UK.
New episodes every week — follow to catch the next one.
What One Thing?
13 Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business — yet too many SMEs are still making it unnecessarily hard to get paid. | Ian Phillips Xero
In this episode of What One Thing AI, hosts Hayley Baxter and Phil Davenport sit down with Ian Phillips, Head of Sales UK at Xero, to explore the most underutilised feature in Xero: payments integrated directly into invoices.
Ian shares why enabling simple payment options (Stripe, GoCardless and others) can dramatically reduce debtor days, improve cashflow, and enhance professionalism in client relationships. He also highlights the surprising number of UK businesses still not using bank feeds and data capture tools, and explains the difference between digitalisation and digital transformation.
Looking ahead, Ian provides an insider’s view on Xero’s AI roadmap (Jax), the company’s OpenAI partnership, and how automation will allow bookkeepers and accountants to step up from transactional tasks to trusted advisory roles — giving directors real-time financial insights to drive growth.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
· Why invoice payments are still underused — and the impact on cashflow
· Practical onboarding tactics to get clients using automated payments
· How bookkeepers can move from admin to advisory conversations
· What’s next for Xero with AI, Jax, OpenAI, and e-invoicing (PEPPOL/Tickstar)
· Why valuing bookkeeping as the “foundation” of business finance is essential
💡 If you’re a business owner not yet using Xero’s payment and bank feed functionality, this conversation could save you time, money, and stress.
🔗 🔗 Connect with Us
Phil Davenport Affirm IT Services
Hayley Baxter Corbar Accounting
Link to Xero's report referenced in the podcast get it here
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