The Framework That Built £20M+ From Zero (Don't Miss The Critical Step)

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]So the framework that I developed way way way back now was this concept of purpose plan execute and it's really simple um and and you know I've built uh hundreds of millions um of revenue on the back uh of of this really simple uh purpose plan execute model.

[00:00:22]So it's obvious until you write it down and actually follow it. The first one is purpose. And it's really interesting.

[00:00:30]Whenever I hear entrepreneurs speak, I I him said, "Right, we're we're 5 million turnover, we want to get to 8 million."

[00:00:37]Why?

[00:00:39]Just sounds like a good figure. Um, and you understand when you do when you acquire or when you scale, when you build a company, be absolutely clear on what it is you're trying to now this sounds obvious, but actually very few people do it. What actually is the purpose? What are you trying to achieve?

[00:00:56]what specifically what are the numbers what are the customers look like you know um we just heard a minute ago about not having uh customers 10% of your revenue I'm a massive believer in that 5% is my cutoff limit in in my business so um what does it look like when you're done that's the big question 3 years and 5 years time what does it look like what does the brand look like who are your customers what markets are you in what sectors are you in the big on is why why those numbers? Why that brand? Why does it look like that? Um to be very very clear in what your purpose is. And I promise you if your purpose is strong enough, all those challenges that you have back there, all of those challenges um uh you can overcome. And I I truly believe that more companies fail because the owners gave up rather than cash flow. People say it's cash flow that kills businesses, and it's true. But I would say giving up too early is a is a major factor uh as well. So um and understand one thing by the way we all operate in a comfort zone and it's like a thermometer and if it gets too cold gets a little bit uncomfortable you work a little bit harder you turn the heating up starts to overheat I'll take my foot off the gas now. So we end up living and that comfort zone for you might be a million a year, might be 5 million a year, might be a hundred million a year, but you will live within a comfort zone based on your frame of reference. And what I find fascinating is people say, you know, I want to go from from uh 2 million to 3 million and the question is why not go from 2 to 20? And the answer is I can't visualize myself running a 20 million pound company. Well, you know that is your comfort zone. That is your frame frame of reference. So when you understand that and you remove those limits, you realize that anything is possible. So the first one is define clearly your purpose and the why and what are the numbers look like, who are the customers, uh what's the brand look like, uh what markets, the sectors are you in. Second one is develop the plan.

[00:02:58]This sounds obvious, but again most people wing it and they don't really have a plan and that is what, where, how, and uh when uh what is the resources you need? So, you're going to need some working capital. Um, you're going to need people. You're going to need uh operational resources, whatever they might be, technology, distribution, whatever those uh resources are, but you're going to need them. And you need to figure out what they are and make sure you got access to them. Um, next next one is where, what markets are you operating in or the acquisition that you've that you've acquired, what markets is it operating in? Is it is it um distribution channel? Is it supply chain? Is it direct to consumer? Is it online? Is it in retail? Uh is it wholesale? So really understand the the market and and take a step back and say with my product and my services, what other markets can I uh serve uh from this? One of the things I do when I acquire businesses, I always look for ecosystems as well. So I want to look at either I can share customers or I can share market. So either go horizontally or uh or vertically.

[00:04:06]Next one is the road map. how specifically are you going to get there?

[00:04:10]Um, and to to understand that you also need to understand the TAM, total addressable market. So, what is your business in relation to the whole marketplace? Because if you own 90% of the market, if you're in a niche and you own 90% of the market, you can't grow your business 30 or 40% because the market's not there. Um so the how and then the when is along that way over the next three years, five years, you need to have milestones and what are those milestones and they might be numbers um uh or they might be um uh more around your brand and how your brand's perceived.

[00:04:46]Okay, good, good, good. And then the third part is uh execute. And this is really important in my experience working with hundreds of entrepreneurs is their weakness is execution.

[00:05:00]Entrepreneurs by our very nature are very good at coming up with ideas and opportunities and white rabbits they're everywhere. Here they are. There look there's an opportunity there's an opportunity there's no we could add that bolt that on expand that create that and it fails on the execution. And you know what? This whole idea about ideas, park it up. Just do what you do and do it really, really well. Boring as it sounds, do what you do and do it really well. Um, the graveyard is full of people with great ideas that never turn them into anything. So ideas are great, but it's all about action. It's about what you do. Um, and like I said a minute ago, speed wins every time. Um, whatever I do, whenever we make a decision, we move quickly and we just say, "What's in the way? Let's get rid of it." We move, we move at speed. The other thing I find quite bizarre is uh how different teams can move in different directions. Have you seen that in your own business? You think you're going in this direction. Your team were over there somewhere thinking that's where they should be spending their time or they're over there doing something else altogether. And we thought that's where we should be. So one of the key things um is are you actually going in the right are you actually going in the right direction? You're busy busy busy but are you busy doing the right things in the right way in the right direction?

[00:06:22]Um and one of again one of the uh observations with entrepreneurs is uh I don't think it's anybody in this room is around consistency because entrepreneurs by our nature jump in jump out. We look at the next thing we're seeing an opportunity over there. this has happened over there. Look, there's an opportunity. Look, there is a great idea over there, which is great except you've got this team around you and they're going, "What the hell? Sorry, I thought we I thought we were going in that direction." Um, so consistency and predictability is really important for businesses and also your team that they have that level of consistency. So they so they teams don't like inconsistency because they don't know where they stand and and they worry. And then that leads into alignment. And one of the key things is when you build your purpose and you got your um plan, make sure your entire team are aware of it and they're aligned. The bits that are relevant to them, they're completely aligned. And then don't mess with it. Don't keep changing. Um so that's the um that's the key. Purpose plan uh execute. I'm going to share with you uh my growth model. So purpose plan executed is an operational level. That's how uh that's uh what underpins everything you're doing. Um and now we'll move on to growth. So this is what I call my business growth engine. And write this down because it's really really important.

[00:07:52]If your business is not growing at the rate that you want it to and it's not hitting its numbers, it's because you're not doing one of these three consistent consistently. So attract is your uh lead generation, your inquiries, the quotes that you're doing, the estimates that you're doing, um the appointments that you're generating. So the first thing is attract. So that that's kind of loosely marketing but it's really you know it's uh about lead generation. It's about generating quotes, inquiries, uh appointments. So first one uh is attract. The second one is convert. And in your conversion you're looking at from point of inquiry or quote to getting to the stage of a pitch, a presentation, a demo, uh a quotation, a proposal, whatever that looks like in your business. that is uh um that pitch if you like and then that conversion into a customer into an order into an order. So step one is attract step two is conversion. How how does the attract then lead into converting into customers and inquiries and then the last one which everybody overlooks is customer retention. One thing that you can do to transform your business is obsess over customer retention. And because your customers retention leads to referrals, it leads to testimonials.

[00:09:22]It leads to reviews. Uh it leads to add-ons. It leads to them spending more money on other products and services provided you communicate with them properly. And still amazes me how many companies uh have got a customer base that don't know all the products or services that your business provides and they may be taking one or two products from you and one or two products from somewhere else and they don't even know that you offer this because you're obsessed at the front end of the attract and convert and you forget probably one of the most important elements which is customer retention. So you obsess over customer retention uh that then drives that attract and convert. So if your business isn't growing, if it's not hitting the numbers, you're not doing one of those three things or possibly more more than one. Um and you and I obsess with these numbers. In the middle of that, uh the magic dust if you like and this is the amplifier is your brand.

[00:10:22]So the stronger your brand, the the the greater the amplification of everything else that you do. So who who recognizes this character? Who who is that? Give me Mickey Mouse. Do you know this is 100 years ago? 100 years ago Mickey Mouse was uh was invented. And there he is.

[00:10:45]But what is it? It's three circles. And 80% of the room immediately identified what that is. So when you got brand recognition, you have got power beyond belief. And there's Disney's a multi-billion pound business all spawned from three little circles that you all recognize from 100 years ago. Is that not crazy? So yeah, so when you understand the power of brand, you understand what is possible and how brand can leverage and amplify everything that you're doing. You've seen in the news recently, Ivy Restaurant, nice restaurant, okay food, not too bad, just sold for 1.4 billion at a time when hospitality is on his backside. Nobody can make money in restaurants and bars and hotels and hospitality is on his backside, rising costs, lower customer spend, and yet the Ivy sells for 1.4 billion. Now, are they buying the buyers buying the food? No, absolutely not. They're buying an experience. They're buying a platform because what the IV stands for and it's associated companies like um like Annabels, it's the experience. So again, so when you understand what I stands for, it's not about food. It's it's about a premium experience.

[00:12:05]Hu recently sold uh as well a a you know a um a food supplement and a drink. Um, they make 19 million profit a year. Not too bad, just recently. And they just had a 1 billion valuation. How do you get 1 billion valuation from a business making 19 million a year? It's it's, you know, it's it's ridiculous. But again, it's the brand. So, the buyer Don loved the brand and loved what they could do with the brand and how they could position it across different sectors and markets and product lines.

[00:12:40]Great example of positioning here. You recognize these two cars, Volkswagen on the left. Volkswagen make 9 million cars a year and they've got a market capitalization of about4 billion pounds.

[00:12:55]That's what they're worth. Tesla makes a fraction of that. Tesla makes 1.5 1.6 million cars a year. So, it's a fraction of Volkswagen, but if you if you Google Tesla shares today, market cap today, it'll be about 1.2 2 trillion.

[00:13:13]Okay. So, how is that possible? They're both cars. Volkswagen make 9 million a year. Tesla only 1.5, 1.6 million. And yet, one's valued at 45 billion and one's valued at 1.2 trillion. And the difference here is positioning.

[00:13:29]Volkswagen is an automotive company.

[00:13:32]Tesla is a technology business that makes automobiles.

[00:13:36]And the positioning difference transforms the valuation of the business. And nobody looks at this stuff. It's the single biggest thing that will increase the value of your business exponentially, amplify it, and nobody looks at it. Okay, I'm going to throw out a few last minute um uh pointers that I I take I would ask you to take away.

[00:14:03]There will always be a reason not to do something. There will always be an economic crisis. There will always be a war somewhere in the world. There'll always be interest rates that are going up. There will always be um a pandemic or a 9/11 or a or a disaster somewhere around the world. There will always be situations in your personal life. There will always be all of these reasons why you shouldn't do anything. And one of the things I love about this community and what Jonathan's built here is that this is a community of doers, people that are actually doing it, making it happen. Um, so, you know, I I feel very honored to be here amongst that energy because I I speak to some groups sometimes, you know, and uh and I just think, well, you know, why even sit here because you're not going to do anything.

[00:14:54]So, um, there'll always be a reason not to. So, park park that up, get your environment right. Um uh and there there's a saying I use which is wits and wings. I have discovered that there are people and environments that weigh me down and the pro everything's a problem.

[00:15:12]Everything's a reason not to.

[00:15:13]Everything's uh and then there's people that give you wings and there's communities that give you wings and help you fly and help you scale and help you fly. So you're in that community. You're in a community where the people around you are giving you wings. So I've got a philosophy in life which is be highly conscious of the environment that I'm in. Be very conscious of the media that I consume, the uh the people that I listen to, the friends group that I have and in the wider community. And I only want to position myself with people and environments that give me wings and not hold me back. Um and this is this is really important. uh you can't be what you can't see. So if you if you can't visualize back to that purpose thing, if you can't visualize what it looks like when it's done in 3 years or 5 years time, just say right, you know, this is point that this it's done. I've finished my cake a finish that I've baked it maybe 3 years time, maybe 5 years time. Um if you can't see it, it'll it'll never happen. So, you've got to absolutely not just write it down as a business plan and then chuck it in a drawer and forget about it. You got to live and breathe it every day. You got to think, you know, there's my purpose.

[00:16:29]There there's where I'm there's where I'm going. So, you got to see it to to make it uh possible. And and that comes back to purpose, plan, and execute. Just three simple um steps. Um build a brand, not a company. Um I love accountants. I've got to be careful because I know there's sever several in in the in the rooms. Um, accountants are brilliant with numbers. I love number. I own a data software company. Um, and uh, so I understand data, understand numbers. I I love numbers. Nothing against numbers. But understand that numbers don't build a business, right? A brand builds a business. And you don't need a brand to grow a company. But if you want to create something of scale and if you want to short circuit by several years, if you want to create scale faster and have it amplified, obsess over your brand. What does it look like to the customer and what does this mean to the customer? Um, so obsess over. So I'm a big believer in build a brand rather than a company. So Richard Harbin didn't pay 32 times profit for the numbers of business leader. He bought it for the brand. So under understand that you know the IV wasn't sold for 1.4 billion because of the numbers the revenue revenue is is the revenue. It's like any other chain of restaurants. Um so build a brand not a company.

[00:17:59]Um and then obsess over those three metrics which is attract, convert and retain. There are the three metrics that I look at every so I get two reports um every day. Uh one is a financial report.

[00:18:13]So every day I get a report which shows um uh it's a I run a 3 month 13we cash flow um uh cycle. Uh and every day I want to know uh our bank position. We've got 29 different banks 29 different bank accounts across all our companies. So, but every day I get consolidated in individual bank balances. Um, I get my debtors every day. Um, and uh, and I get a 13week rolling cash flow every day.

[00:18:41]So, 9:15 every morning, my accountant emails me uh, that. So, that's the financial report. And then every day, how many leads, how many quotes, how many inquiries, what's our conversion rate yesterday, how many did we sell yesterday? Um, and what's our customer retention? Um, and customer feedback.

[00:19:00]our customers happy. Um, so we do that every every single day. Every day you wait is a day that a deal that you could have done is being done by someone else.

[00:19:11]So don't wait any longer. Join the FastTrack program. Go to my profile. The link is in the bio.