Money Talks: Financial Independence chats with Tracy Irwin - Episode Eighteen John Attridge

Real talk about money, decision-making, and what financial independence actually looks like with BBX UK CEO and serial entrepreneur John Attridge.

This isn’t a polished “here’s my perfect success story” chat. John gets honest about freedom being less about flashy stuff and more about living life on your terms, plus the practical thinking that helps business owners stop panicking, start problem solving, and build something that can actually run without them.

In this episode, you’ll discover: 
💚 What financial independence means when you strip away the hype
💚 Why SMEs can beat big businesses on customer experience and speed
💚 The mindset shift that stops you spiralling when something goes wrong
💚 How the 80 20 rule can simplify decision making and focus
💚 Why “above my pay grade” kills customer service and how to fix it
💚 The truth about outsourcing, and why doing more of what you’re great at makes you more money

Perfect for you if: 
💚 You’re working hard but still feel stuck and stretched
💚 You want more freedom without needing a “ten million” finish line
💚 You’re tired of overthinking decisions and want a simpler way forward
💚 You know you should outsource but the cash flow fear keeps stopping you
💚 You want your business to be nimble, profitable, and actually enjoyable again

Resources: 
• BBX UK: https://bbxuk.com/
• John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-attridge/ 
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🎬 Suggested videos: 
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What does financial independence mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 0:02

That I can do essentially what I want to do when I want to do it. It was why 52% of people in business survive despite their best efforts not to, and the rest fail. Whether you think it it doesn't matter what you're doing, you know, I say about driving on the road. What's your book about, John? Business blunders and bloody great ideas.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome. I'm Tracy Irwin and I'm passionate about financial independence and wanted to share stories of inspiring entrepreneurs to prove it's possible for everyone to strive towards financial freedom. Today I'm talking to John Attridge. John has spent three decades in the digital trade credit space. He has experience with household brands like Coca-Cola, MLC, and Microsoft, but feels most at home in the SME business sector. He has built and sold two eight-figure businesses. He's recently been awarded a legend status, we all know he's a legend, for services in his industry. And currently, John is CEO and founder of BBX UK, which is a recognized globally as the largest player in the sector with operations in 13 countries. And he's also somehow found time to be a best-selling author. So welcome, John. Thank you so much for joining me.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

It's my pleasure. And uh it's uh it's always uh always good to be uh good to be uh having this sort of conversation.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

About money. Not enough people talk about money. So so on that on that note, um, what does financial independence mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Yeah, so uh I guess it means different things to different people, but independence uh to me means that I can do essentially what I want to do when I want to do it. Uh and you don't need now a lot of people get tied up that I have to be, you know, have 10 million, 100 million or whatnot in order to do that. But when you think the process through of living a life, you know, as long as uh uh I've I have got it to the point where you know the house I'm living in, I I don't own the owe any money to those really nasty people called banks. Um I can come and go when I please. I've got two passports so I can live here in the UK or that is freedom in itself, isn't it? As you can probably tell from my accent, I I live in Bournemouth, but um um that's uh I also spend a fair bit of time uh overseas. And you know, at the end of the day, you've uh you know you can eat two or three meals a day. You can have I like a beer on a Friday, and as this is a Friday, I'll be having three or four beers later on today. Awesome. And and it's always a a religious uh a religious action that I take every Friday where possible. Um but after that, what do you do with money? You get to the point where you simply can't spend more than a certain type of money without being grossly exaggerated in your lifestyle. You know, you could buy 12 Lamborghinis, you could live in a 20 million pound house. But for me, as long as the house doesn't leak, I don't owe anybody any money. Um, I can have my beers on a Friday, uh, I can eat my two, three meals a day, I can go out, I can treat my kids to a cruise uh w when I feel like it. We're going down to the Caribbean this year, two weeks down there. So um you know, it's the small things in life that you've got to enjoy because a lot of people say, you know, you only live once, but that's that's a lie. Uh that's that's bordering on what Keir Starmer would say. Um he's into these lies and U-turns, but anyway, that's another story. So people say you only live once, but that's not true. You only die once, you should live every day.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Nice, I like it. There's a definite yes, I get that. So for you, it's more about people and experiences, which I think is really important. I was talking to somebody yesterday about having big houses, and actually, if there's nobody in that house to share it with, it means absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

It's not as I say, I I live in my house, it's not a multi-million pound house, but I can walk to the beach in a couple of minutes, I can walk to work in a couple of minutes, I can be in the high street in a couple of minutes, and if if I lock it up, it's a penthouse uh of part of a building, so I can lock it up and leave it, and no one's gonna break in and well, touch wood the last 10 years anyway. Um so uh it's it's it's somewhere to put your head that's comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yeah. So when you go I between living between Spain and England, I feel like I'm forever going home. Do you have that same kind of feeling? It's like when you go home to Australia, like I'm going home to England, but then actually when I'm going home to Spain too. So do you do you have that same kind of feeling when you go to Australia?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah, I guess uh you know, home's home where you where you're putting your head down. But you know, if uh if I'm here in the UK, uh I'm home and I enjoy the things in the UK. If I'm in Australia, I enjoy them as well. So uh it's only if England's a playing Australia in any kind of sport, and you're not got a little bit of bit of sporting background, then it's always going to be Australia is the home for it for me.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Right. I I I watched England play um Spain in the last World Cup, by the way, in a pub, and it was like, who, you know, it's like people questioning, like, who you actually supporting? I'm like, uh England, obviously, obviously Spain won. And the experience, by the way, being in the streets afterwards, Spain when Spain won, was phenomenal. Like I'd suddenly, I soon walked out of that pub, I've like totally forgot that England had lost and just enjoyed the atmosphere of the fact that I was in Spain when Spain won. So uh yeah, it is a strange one. I think when we get to to sports and things, it's always going to be our original home, isn't it? That's like that's home.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

It's where you're born.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

It is, yes. So when when you I just mentioned in the blurb about you've had like connections with really big companies, but you actually feel more at home with SMEs. Why is that?

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, I think uh my experience with big companies uh on you know, silly money, um but all the backstabbing, the the uh covering of your bum, the CCing on emails, uh just uh the scramble to get ahead in that jungle is just not exciting for me. Okay, it's it's uh uh you know, a lot of people it's uh it really is a dog-eat dog environment most of the time. And um as I say, I've spent some time with some pretty big companies, as you mentioned before. Um but the other thing is within most big companies, not not only is there scramble for uh some type of responsibility and and barn covering, you don't have any decision-making ability. Okay, so uh you know, I always talk about in my book and other things, uh books, about uh management style. If you're gonna pay someone a salary, empower them. Because you know, and another uh saying I have is pay someone one penny an hour extra and include thinking in their job description. Because you know, I and I use this, I've got an example. I was on a cruise once with my wife, and we do a lot of cruises around the world as you as you probably wear. I think we've done more than 500 days at sea over the years.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

And I was at I had some issue with my cabin, and um, and I pokemat out the door and saw the cabin boy, and I said, Oh, look, I've got an issue, and and as soon as I got to that, he went, Stop, don't tell me, you'll make it my problem. And and uh, so you know, there's an example of someone in a mid-level, and his case is probably a low-level uh position within the company that hasn't been out empowered to take action. And there's a very good friend of mine called John Scholl, he's a leading expert globally on customer service and empowering employees to give the customer some great service. Yes, because and we've all been in the situation where you're talking to someone, you're sitting at an airline desk, and you say, Oh, I want the door to open left to right, and it's opening right to left at the moment, and they say, Yeah, above my pay grade.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Oh, yeah, I've heard that before. Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

We've all come across those, and you think, why should it be above your pay grade? You know, if it is if it makes your customer journey more pleasant and more pleasurable, then why don't large corporations empower their people up to a certain point to make decisions that interact with customers? So that's the major difference I see with massive companies. And and then when I saw see small companies, that they should be nimble, they should be agile, they should be able to make a decision because the power in within the decision lies within the owner or the in the medium-sized businesses, the management structure, who definitely should be empowered to make decisions.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah. I stayed at the Radisson at Twickenham last year, and I watched them with interact with everybody around me and stuff. I'm I'm a people watcher, I'm so curious. And my experience of them was everything anybody asked, they just said yes. Like nothing was too much trouble. And when I went to check out, I actually said to the lady, I said, I'm interested. She said, I've had a fantastic experience here. I said, because I can see everyone, every single one of you as a member of staff, from the people in the breakfast room to the people behind reception, absolutely everybody was empowered to just help people. And I said, How does Radisson do that? She said, We get sacked if we said no. I was like, Pardon. She said, We are told, like, we have to say yes. That is our job to fulfill the customer service. And it's not nobody is below that or above that. She said, it's everybody. And she said, when we get inducted, that's how powerful it is. And I said, I can see it. I just watched it. It was like, and I was like, why don't more hotel chains even have something similar? I think it's a bit it's very strong to say you get sacked if you don't say yes, but you know, it it worked. Everyone in there was so nice of customer service, so nice. So I was like, interesting.

unknown 10:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

So so it's my dream that you know, because small business employs about 50% of the global population. Um, and so they're they're trying to compete against these big guys, and they can compete against them currently because the big guys are too uh Titanicish. You know, they turn the turn the wheel, but it takes you know a couple of days for the ship to start moving after the action is taken. Um whereas in a small business, you've got the advantage of being agile, you've got the advantage of being nimble, and you can make decisions that empower the customer, which is what you should be doing, a lot easier. So I started off uh with the business community, and that's one of the reasons I wrote uh my first best-selling book, was which was business blunders and bloody great ideas, but the paraphrase for that it was why 52% of people in business survive despite their best efforts not to, and the rest and the rest fail. I I wrote a LinkedIn article this morning, and I was at a at a business design center two-day show last couple of days, and I walked past, and there was uh uh a company, and I think I can tell them the name, you know, it's a bit of a bit of tongue in cheek, was called Female Techrapon Techrapreneur.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

So I'm thinking, there you go. So they had the name of the stand up, but there was nothing in the stand, they hadn't turned up. Really? So I put a little cheeky post out and I said, I I could have almost bet that it would take a woman to be able to man a stand remotely at a trade show and get results. And it was tongue-in-cheek, obviously. But um I wrote a little article on you know what happened, you know, that the show was a good show, uh, it had good footfall, good place, great uh location at uh uh London uh Angel, easy to get to. There was a tube strike, so there was plenty of people saying, Oh, there was a tube strike. But I talked to all the exhibitors there, and there was like 80 of them, and they all said, Yeah, we saw there was a tube strike, so we set off yesterday, or because there wasn't a tube strike yesterday, or we we got there at seven o'clock this morning, or you know, we we went took the bus that was on the you know, it was all these other plans because they knew there was going to be an issue and then then they just adjusted. Whereas the lazy people and the people that survived despite their best efforts don't turn uh not to turn up uh late. Yes or they or they're they're not there at all and say, Oh, there was a tube strike, and you think, you know, uh so my job is to try and get their heads to the point where that they understand as an issue using this example, and how do you uh surf around that? How do how do you prepare to you know what's what's your strategy in order to make sure you still get there despite any adversity that hits you there? And that's getting back to that's a silly example today. And but you know, I started my whole community 37 years ago when we had a an Australia-wide pilot strike. Okay so so I had a car rental business at the time, and we relied on people jumping off a plane um and giving superior service because we were more nimble than budget avis thrifty and hertz, and people saw that and thought, yep, we'll go with you guys. So we more made more money than you can poke a stick at the year before because we had World Expo in Brisbane. So we had six months of 100% plus occupancy in the two months either side. So we made more m money faster than you can spend it, and I and I truly mean that. I'm not being flippant. And but then uh fast forward the year after, this this strike went on for five months. So we went from hero to zero in the space of a you know week or two because as soon as people had found their way to get back to where they came from, uh they didn't need to hire a car from me uh uh again. So we still had all our fixed overhead, our lease payments to Mazda, the staff wages, the the um the uh rental space that we had. We had three depots at the time, and uh but no revenue. And so we started this business community, which was I scratch my back, you scratch yours, which was small businesses in the same boat.

unknown 15:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

So um and then we we thought, how can we uh change uh and do something different because there was no Aussie dollars running around, and that's why we invented our own business currency back in the day, pre-digital, um, and then bought and sold to one another. And and I was the center hub that did the transactions like a bank should. So not only do we keep track of the transactions and send everyone a statement every month, we also promoted one another's business to each other on a buy-sell bit basis, a little bit like today, LinkedIn, if it got married to PayPal.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Are you working harder than ever, but feeling like you're getting nowhere? You're not alone. Most business owners I speak to feel trapped in their own success, working 60 hours plus a week, missing family time, and honestly, they're not even sure why they feel so stuck. They just know something needs to change. If this sounds familiar, I've created a quick quiz to help you find out why you feel stuck in your business. It takes only two minutes, and I give you clarity on exactly what's keeping you tracked, and more importantly, how to break free. The link's in the description. So why not take it now? Right, okay. It's really interesting because I didn't actually know how you founded the business and the reason why. I know what it does, and it's a brilliant community, but I've never actually heard that story before of like how what and it is adaptability, isn't it? It's like knowing, like as business owners, we find a solution to every problem rather than just moaning about the problem and just not doing anything. And I think that's what makes a good business owner is the adaptability of finding a solution. Like, you know, I I I have a friend that sometimes she'll moan at me and I'll say, Do you want me to just listen or do you want the actual solution? Because sometimes you don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Well, you know, and as I say, that's my favorite saying is I'll pay you a penny an hour extra, include thinking in your job description if I'm talking to someone that I'm not getting getting traction with. So that should never happen in a in a owner-operated business, you know, because here in the UK nowadays there's about 5.5 million business uh businesses, depending on who you talk to.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Um, but it um there's over 90% of them are one-man bands or one-person operations, so uh solopreneurs, whatever you want to call them these days. But um so that means that the buck stops with the person looking back at you in the mirror. And and uh, if you can't empower yourself to make a decision in favor of your customer, then yeah, then that's uh that's uh an issue that you have. I used to play a lot of sports, you know, and yeah, and uh Aussie rules football was one of them. And my favorite sign in the dressing room was the man in white is always right, even when he's wrong. So no point talking to Raven onto the umpire, and I laugh at see Premier League footballers today, and here they are moaning about the ref and getting around and crowding and what and think, oh, it's maybe it's gonna change his or she's gonna change her decision one day. And you think, I keep watching the games, but I never see it. And you think, man, the definition of impossible or or ridiculous is continuing to do the same things over and over and over, and yet they respect the outcome to be different.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Yeah, that's so true.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

So um, yeah, take responsibility for your own actions. Uh, if you see an issue, do something to change it. Don't moan about it. And if you can't fix it, don't worry about it. Ignore it. You know, that's that's the key as well. Otherwise, you get stressed out.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

So the fact that we have got so many sole operators, like it can be a really lonely place, especially if you're not sure what decisions to make. What advice could you give somebody to actually, if they're in that position, they've they're doing really well in their business, but they're kind of like stuck at making small decisions, big decisions, they're just not quite sure what's right either for themselves or for the customer, and finding that balance as well. Like, what what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_02 19:22

So I talk about this in my book again. I know I sound like a brazen promotion. That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

We'll talk about your books later, John.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

I adopt the 80-20 rule. So the Pareto principle.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

So I I focus 80% of my energy on the 20% of things that give me 80% of my outcome. And and so if you read that book and understand it, that that can help. Um, but join a community. You know, I run a business community, it's by by world standards, it's not massive. You know, there's about 9,000 businesses here in the UK, and there's about 480,000 in the other parts of my world.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

But but they're all they they do a few things. Not only do they transact with one another, but we run events and seminars and webinars and and teaching things and learn lunch and learns and all sorts of things, where you get the same sort of people in the room together and you share ideas in a 12 you know in a in an hour's online uh thing or an or an in-person meeting, and you share each other's sounds like a little bit like an AA meeting, although I've never been to one. Um, but you know, you hold hands and you don't do the seance, you know. You you you share, you know, this is my issue, and you'd be surprised. You know, I do a lot of speaking at international conventions that are industry specific.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

And you get different people in the room from different companies, and yet most of the time, and they can be in different countries, it makes no difference, they have the same issues. Yes, you know, and the light bulb comes on. Uh, you know, I'm in Greece and I have that same issue with customers not turning up on time or booking an appointment and not showing. I was reading a thing about the NHS uh this morning where they've got some ridiculous number, and I'm thinking, I can't remember what it was, but I I I recall somewhere north of 30% of all appointments made, no one turns up.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

That's ridiculous considering how many people can't get appointments.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

And you think you can't get appointments, and you can't see the doctor, and um so you know, there's a system that needs changing in some some things. So I'd look to a solution, and my solution in that example would be if that was my business and there was a lot of people not turning up, I'd charge a deposit for making a booking.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Now this is applicable. You know, hospitality is a really, you know, moony sector at the moment, and I really do empathize with them. They did have a genuine issue. But you know, you get you book a table at a restaurant, you phone up, and you make the booking, and there's no commitment, there's no deposit. Uh, John, I'll see you at seven thirty. If I don't turn up, what do they do? Yeah, they've lost money. And they've probably turned away people from that table because they've got a booking for 730. You know? And I know I could go on for hours like this, but I I do articles on this, and this is what I try and look for. And I I did a video on it a a year or so ago when I was sitting in a uh going to a restaurant with my wife and two adult children, and we went to go into a restaurant, and uh they said, Oh, have you made a booking? And I said, uh, nope. Um, oh, we've got one table over there, but it's only for three. Uh, but it but it's got a booking coming up, and we've got another booking over there for four that's inside, and that's got a booking. I said, What times are these bookings? And they were like an hour and a half ahead of what I was doing. I said, Oh, we're only here for lunch. Why don't you take take a chair off the table for four, put it next to the table for three so I can look out the window and you can have me as a customer for an hour, hour and a half, and I promise I'll leave, you know. And they went, Oh, okay. I almost had to run the business for them, and I'm the customer, you know, and I think so. Getting back to your question, you know, a lot of uh people in business do survive despite their best efforts not to. And and the reason is they don't think through the issue, they panic. So to stay calm, think through the issue. If I change this, can it change the outcome? Yes. If I do that, will it please the customer? Then do it. And despite my best efforts, if I can't think of a solution, then I just hold my hands up and say, I'm sorry, I can't change it.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Your business is successful, so why do you feel so miserable? Here's the thing success doesn't always automatically equal freedom. I see profitable business owners every day who can't take a holiday, who can't switch off, and they feel completely overwhelmed by their own achievements. Sound familiar? Well, I've created a simple quiz that pinpoints exactly why you feel stuck in your business. It will give you the clarity you need to move from being trapped to being free. Why don't you take the quiz now? The link's in the description below. Yeah, definitely. I when I ran the accountancy, I didn't actually realise how good my customer service was until I sold the business. And that switch between coming from my company into somebody else's and the feedback I got afterwards was like really hard to hear because I expected somebody else to look after them as well as I did and they didn't. Um, but also in a little way, it was quite reassuring to think actually I really am good, really, really good at customer service. But why should most business owners kind of just do what they feel is right? And I I think I was in that bracket. I just was doing everything that I thought was right. Like the whole mission statement of TI currency was treating your business as if it was our own. So like literally that's what we did. And I think that, yeah, and it was it was a bittersweet moment when I realized that actually not every accountancy was as good customer service as mine. But hey ho. Um but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

What do you think? It doesn't matter what you're doing, you know. I say about driving on the road, people get frustrated and road rage and whatnot. Yeah, but it's the only sport in the world where the A graders and the Z graders are all mixed up in the same event and you don't know who's who. So there must be, you know, you jump on a plane, you think, I hope this plane, uh uh the pilot knows what he's doing to get me there safety, it's out of my control. And there must be the best pilot in the world, and you know, old Sully Sulberger, the guy that landed on the Hudson, you think he'd have to be up there as pretty decent. He had to make a snap decision after he's after the bird strike and the all the prep all the engines stopped working, and he had a decision to make within I think 14 seconds. And if he didn't make that decision, everybody on that plane, including him, would have died.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

You can imagine if there was another pilot in that seat that wasn't as good as him, and we would be reading a different result, and we wouldn't be watching the movie Sally on the Hudson or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

No, 100%. Like I know that when you go to say the Netherlands from England, if you're getting an easy jet flight, I know that quite often they're actually trainee pilots on those flights with somebody obviously who's training them alongside. They're not just on their own, but but you could actually be in a plane with somebody who's landing a plane for the first time in their life. You just don't know it.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Well, you've got to do it, you've got to do it once, don't you? To be the first time, you've got to do it once, haven't they?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

So, yeah, it's really interesting. And I know that EasyJet have a really big training like facility, so it's kind of like every time I got on a flight to the Netherlands with EasyJet, I'm thinking, I wonder how many times this guy's actually landed a plane before. Because you had no idea. I mean, you could have landed it thousands of times, it could be just a normal flight, you just never know.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Yeah, so the put the point of all this is that you know, you're dealing with uh as a business owner, you're juggling a lot of plates, yeah. And you know, you're dealing with your accountant and you're dealing with your marketing people and whatever it else, a lot of the time you're doing the stuff yourself, which is another thing I write about. Stop doing that. You know, focus on the things that you're great at and love love doing, and then outsource the things that you're not so great. You know, I see a lot of small businesses spending a day a week on accounting. I ask them, Oh, are you an accountant? No, no, no. Do you like doing that? No, I hate it. So you know, why do you do it? Why don't you outsource? Oh, it's gonna cost money.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Is that the first thing you think that they should outsource, or do you think they should outsource something else first? What's the what's the list of what they should outsource first?

SPEAKER_02 27:58

I I have a broader brush. Okay. You should you should outsource everything. I mean a hundred percent of activity that you don't like and that you're not good at.

unknown 28:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Now the the the barrier says, Oh, but I've got to pay for that. Now I've got a solution for that, because you've already got the revenue sitting in spare capacity in your business, but that's another that's another conversation. But even if you weren't part of my community, just think of the of the math on this. You're a great dentist. So if you focus on and and stop and you're getting, you know, I don't know what dentists get nowadays, they must get a thousand thousand quid a day, whatever it is. So instead of taking Friday off to do your accounts because you can't afford to pay the uh uh for an accountant, do an extra day's dentist. You dentistry, you're good at it, you make another thousand quid, you pay the bookkeeper 200 quid, you're 800 in front. Yeah, so adopt that mentality, keep doing the things that you're great at and love doing, and you'll end up having more money by outsourcing than you will by trying to be a jack of all trades.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Yeah, I I say that same to the to my clients as well. I say, like, you know, when you outsource say a to a VA or a bookkeeper, the main thing they've got to remember, because quite often it isn't to give you back time to go and go fishing or golfing or whatever, it is you've got to take that time to be generating income. Like you can't just outsource things and think, oh, I've got more time now, I'm gonna walk the dog. You know, it's kind of you've got to be aware that in process you've got to make that money back and or your cash flow is gonna get hit, which is what they're scared of in the first place. But they don't sometimes don't see the link between actually having to generate the income with that extra time, but that's that's a win-win for everybody because the economy just gets better.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

So it's decision making by starting with the end in mind, Stephen R. Kovas Covey's second habit of highly effective people.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

And so in that case, you'd think, well, okay, hang on. In two days' time, if I do this and I go fishing, what will happen? Work your way backwards, or in two days' time, if I spend more time in my business, what happens? Work out the math and come backwards, you'll arrive at the correct conclusion. Rather rather than just burying your head in the sand and going doing the work yourself when you should be pulling people's teeth out, or whatever it happens to be.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Love it. So tell me. Oh, I already know, but let's tell everybody what what's your book's about, John?

SPEAKER_02 30:36

So I I'll do an unashamed plug. This was the first one, the best the best seller. So business blunders and bloody great ideas. And who does that help? It helps small business owners who keep making stupid mistakes.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

We all do that, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 30:53

H how do I know about this? As I say, working with the business community the last 37 years, I I've seen every possible mistake, blunder, stupid act known to man, woman, and beast. And it's it's some dumb things. And you know, I list in those uh uh that people will resonate when they read them. Oh, yep, okay, I've done that. Oh, I know a friend that does that, and and even if you haven't done them yourself, you you know you you will recognize those blunders. And it they're the sort of things not only just in small business but larger business. They're they're the they're the conversation starters in a pub where everybody's putting the world to right, and everybody's got an opinion. It's like having a bum. Everybody's got one.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Yep, that's very true.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

So you sit there over a pint or over a wine, and there you go pontificating about the world and putting it to right. But when you think about it, it's probably you that's involved in this uh scenario, and yet you either don't admit it or you haven't come to the conclusion that you're guilty is as well as anybody, because we're none of us are perfect. And so it talks about a lot of things that people do, particularly small to medium sized business. And and my definition of a small to medium sized business, by the way, is someone employing up to about 50 people and with about up to 50 million a turnover. Okay, okay. So some people call them medium sized, but the definition that's what I go about is I'm not talking about the massive companies because again, you get back to what I was talking about before, then trying to find the a person within that organization that can make a decision to change something is near on impossible. Yeah, it's true. It's true. I like dealing with the people that I can help by attending one of my seminars or or whatever it happens to be. I can do a Q ⁇ A, give them the set of things and say come back and talk to me in a month or 12 months and tell me that didn't work. And rarely do I ever get that. So the book the book talks about you know how to put to right a lot of the things and how to grow, scale, and exit your business for more if that's what you're about. I can't help, and and this might sound harsh, and and I have a term for people in this thing, and it and and please forgive me, but I call them starving seagull business owners.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

And they're out there squark, squark, squawk, help me, help me, help me. Uh, you know, lend me your brain for half an hour. You can tell the sort of people that want to come and talk to you, yeah, and all they want is me, me, me, me, me. And when you turn around and ask them, they're work-life balance businesses, they're hobbies. Right, okay. They're I always want to work from home type people. I know I'm stereotyping some people here, but the vast majority in those three groups do not want to grow, they don't want to scale, they don't want to exit, they've got no exit plan in mind, they just want to keep working until something happens. Yeah, and and I can't help them. So this books more towards the people that want to start a business, they want to grow it. Two, you know, they don't have to grow it to a hundred million exit or whatnot, but they have to grow it with a plan in mind to exit it at some point. Yes. And so they're the sorts of people that I want to try and help if I can, using the experience I've had from the last 37 years of dealing with people from all walks of life, uh, from business owners, from dentists and doctors and professionals to tradespeople and marketeers, restaurant owners, hoteliers, mechanics. It runs across the whole board of spectrum of of the different types. They've all got a few things in common.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Right, okay. So, how do people get in touch with BBX?

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Uh it's all on the website, uh, which is all the W's.bbxuk.com, which is our UK branch. Um, if they want to connect with me on LinkedIn, feel free. Uh, my LinkedIn promo says get an 85% reduction on costs in running your business. Not that that attracts many people because nobody's interested in getting an 85% discount. They think it's too good to be true. Uh yeah. Um so um, so LinkedIn is also a good tool that I use.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Yeah, go check out John and see what the actual BBX offers. It's a really good, it is a really good community. So, but thank you so much for joining me, John. I've really enjoyed our chat. I could speak to you all day. Um, so but uh yeah, so I'll I've all the details will be in the chat in the description. Um if you want to get a hot call to John. But yeah, thank you very much for joining me.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Been my pleasure, and uh have a have a good day.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Thank you. Right, I'm just going to write. Thank you for watching to the end. I really appreciate it. And it shows that you are serious about moving your business forward. I want to share something with you. When I was little, I watched my mum skip meals so my brother and I could eat because she didn't have enough money to feed us all. That pain changed everything. I promised myself I would never need to rely on anyone else financially. I worked relentlessly towards financial independence. Even as a young parent of 19, I still worked. And once I achieved financial independence, I became passionate that everyone deserves the same. But here's what I discovered. Successful business owners can feel financially trapped just in a different way. And that's why I created the Money Metrics Academy to help you understand your essential business numbers in under an hour a week. No jargon, no overwhelm, just the clarity you need for true financial independence. Why not join the free entry level membership and see how the community can help you? Let's get unstuck together.