Community is the ONLY Barrier to Entry

0:00Okay, ready? So this is a live version of Simon Says where you can ring in and I will try to help you. and the community listening also tries to help the founders with their dreams. So the format is people will come up and spend one minute sharing their dream and the problem that they're facing that we can potentially help them with. And then we spend three minutes just discovering a little bit more about them and digging in. And if anyone in the audience has a way to help these entrepreneurs, feel free to put your hand up, by the way, but also afterwards, let us know by contacting one of my team that you can help.

0:37because no one is successful on their own. Impossible. One plus one equals 11. We need help to be successful. The strongest people ask for help and that's what everyone in this queue is doing. They're being strong, standing in the rain, asking for help. And I want you to please, if you don't mind, when they come up on stage, to give them a big round of applause. Are you too cold? Are you all right? You all right? Do you need a coat or anything? You okay? Don't get cold. If you don't mind, Big round of applause every time a dreamer comes up. It's not easy doing this. You guys know, I'm sure. So make them feel welcome.

1:12Our first dreamer, come up. What's your dream and what's your problem? How can we help you? Nice to see you. Thank you. Okay. Oh, here's my, that's one of my products. Okay, good start. My dream is I'm building a sunscreen brand that is appealing to a younger market. And I really want to build on that then with educating the younger audience about how important sun protection is. You know, you should be wearing it every day. You should be starting from a young age. and I feel like a lot of the younger generations like Gen Z will go into boot Superdrug and all the sunscreens are very clinical. So that kind of consumer, I feel like, will only buy something if it looks nice.

2:13But also, obviously, you want it to do good at the same time. so yeah I wanted to really create a brand that's going to stand out on the shelves and appeal to that younger audience what made you want to do this? what's the motivation? I was just saying then in the queue actually I don't have like a huge sort of story behind it it's just always been a passion of mine skincare in general has always been a passion of mine and I'm terrified of getting wrinkles they're not so bad I quite like them there's always botox but i hear you joking aside you can avoid botox by using sunscreen every day um but yeah i really just feel like if we can bring down the rate of skin cancer it's going to do a whole lot of good in the world so have you spoken to the skin cancer charities that's i haven't yet no it's fair i'm fairly new so okay uh what what matters more to you selling millions of this or making sure young people wear sunscreen and don't get skin cancer i'd like to do both simultaneously okay the reason i ask you that is like if i said to you don't do this but i can introduce you to a sunscreen company that's presently selling in boots and if you help them with their marketing they're already like mass production mass distribution what do you think when i say that i feel like i've got a passion for building a brand at the same time so i feel like i i will be able to do to do both right um i'm a millennial not a gen z but i know what gen z like and i don't feel like the big hitters out there are do do a quick do a quick like sell this to me in 20 seconds as if i'm 20.

4:13Don't put me on the spot. Try it i want to hear what what what do you think is it that's going to make young people wear this? Well i i would like to get it in the hands of more influencers obviously because young people are influenced so easily. Okay so i'm an influencer has a lot of young people that watch my content. Pitch it to me then why should i tell me what the pitch is. how would I sell it to my audience I guess is what I'm saying um well like I say it's I feel like the branding is going to be what initially sells it um and then because it looks nice right and it doesn't look clinical right um you know it's not like the sunscreen that your mum used to put on you when you were five and you had big white marks all over your base and up your arms right i said i find branding have you have you ever had any training in brand strategy and because you know like nike is just a tick yeah i don't look at the night tick and go that's cool yeah right so how do they make it cool like things have changed since social media though yes and no you're trying to sell something through a screen now yeah but like i think association with cool is what's cool branding itself isn't cool so what made nike work and they're almost bankrupt is they teamed up with a celebrity who was cool yeah right so michael johnson right i get his name wrong michael thank you see what i mean bad michael jordan my dyslexia really hurts my brain michael jordan and that's when they took off so your influencer strategy is pretty interesting but yeah cool isn't something you can tell people to be cool is something people are or they're not yeah i don't think branding is cool i think association with cool things makes branding cool you see what i mean like red bull when i say it you think sport right and that's because they they sponsor all these extreme sports related things i think you need a strategy linked to who not what you are the other thing you need to do is sell the sizzle not the steak you know this is a product you're selling as a brand but what's the sizzle of this product in what way so what is the benefit to the consumer well the other products don't offer The benefit to the consumer is that I've formulated something that's...

6:22So there's not many sunscreens on the market that suit all skin colours because they're white. Right. So I've created an invisible one. So any age, any skin colour, everyone can use it. Right. Whereas if someone with darker skin used a white sunscreen, you get a white cast and you can't use it with makeup. So I'm creating, the aim in the future is to create a whole sort of makeup range with SPF. Got it. So you can use your full face. It's a little bit of a weak pitch, if I'm being honest. But I think it's fixable by making it clear, if you wear this, you won't get skin cancer. Yeah. You know, like guaranteed.

7:10Yeah. And you won't need Botox. You can almost make Botox your enemy and everyone rallies behind it. anyway what do you need from me now what can i do to help um i am just because i'm fairly new i just need some advice really about exposure you know how to yeah i think you're going the right way with influencers yeah i would get an influencer owner in this i mean let's face it if kim kardashian wears this and post it on social media once that'll be it you won't be able to keep up with orders do you know kim kardashian i do not i do not um i am a fan in case she's listening but I don't um I found a weird thing on social media just something funny if I've got more followers than the person I dm they always reply okay if I've got less followers that it's harder to get hold I'm like everyone's chasing someone yeah right so um yeah I think um so I'm not more followers than her yet but uh I've got more followers than Stephen Bartley so he replies to me now so so joking Stephen I love you but point is um I would get the influence that aligns with you so is there anyone that springs to mind that aligns with you on this like someone like molly may molly may i'll try and get reached her for you but you're going to need a proper proposal these people are so in demand yeah you're gonna need a proper proposal as to why this product and not say an existing one on the shelves yeah write up a proposal and i'll try and maybe you guys listening can tag molly may down below does anyone know molly may in the audience anyone have a connection you do okay okay please help us reach her i'll make sure the pitch is prepared before we bother her and then we'll try okay yeah it's amazing isn't it the one degree of separation but molly will i don't know molly i'm saying it like i know her now i don't know her i do know all the profile she'll be exceedingly busy there'll be huge offers every single day on the table but let's try shall we try all right i'm going to try and help you as well to do it maybe one day I'd like to get it on the airlines.

9:05Well, funny you mention that. Of course. Awesome. Thank you so much for coming up and pitching your dream. Well done. Thank you. Well done. Leave it. Leave it. I'd like to have a look at it if that's okay.

9:22So a quick shout out to High Level, my sponsor, that helped me fund dreams. They sponsor this podcast. Plus they're a great product. So if any of you want to do email marketing or you'll manage your CRM program better, please check them out. And if you use them, they'll keep sponsoring me and I can keep giving money to people to fund their dreams, okay? So if you need email marketing, use High Level. It will really help me out. Next, Dreamer. What's your dream and how can we help you? Good to see you. Hello. I am Sarah. I'm from the allergy team. My dream is that every school in the country should have a designated allergy lead.

9:58Your child's got allergies. My child's got allergies. it's really difficult condition to live with and it's the most common chronic condition in childhood so by having a designated allergy lead in school we make the school safer and more accessible for our children my problem is i need schools to know that we exist we offer training to train designated allergy leads and i'm also seeking investment of 65 000 pounds we've got all of it committed apart from 22 and a half thousand pounds okay first of all uh who in the audience has allergies or children with allergies yeah it's a serious problem um so thank you for what you do you know this really instantly like gets me because i've got a kid with allergies what's he allergic to a lot of things nuts which is very common of course coconut weirdly lentils all sorts of strange things and if he eats them he can have anaphylactic shock it's very serious So there's a couple of things that go through my mind on this.

10:55Just checking with you first. What will you spend the 65 on or the 22 on? So we've been running for four years, so we're reasonably established. But we are not quite sustainable. And so this will help us get to Christmas, by which point our numbers are looking really good. We launched this new product, Designated Allergy Lead Training, in July. We've got 150 bookings from schools so far. And we've got other clients from the school's allergy register. This will help us to get in front of schools. It will also help to supplement the founders' salaries, which we are clinging on after four years, as you can imagine, and also enable us to bring in some help so we can focus on sales and getting out to schools.

11:35And we've got help behind the scenes of doing some of the work, like we do allergy audits in schools and stuff. Yeah. So after four years, you should be profitable. I know. Something's wrong. And I say it with love because I want your business to work. Something's wrong. And I think, again, my low-hanging fruit on this is like sponsor. Someone should be sponsoring you. This might be the wrong sponsor, but I'm thinking about, you know, Medikit? You know the guys that put EpiPens in schools? Have you seen those guys? Yeah, Kit Medical. So we actually did their training for them right at the beginning.

12:06We started at the same time. Right. They got Deborah Meaden as an investor and Stephen as an investor. I know those guys. You should talk to them, one, about the money side, because I think, well, frankly, the investor they've got should also be investing in you. You're kind of the same thing in my mind. Because awareness is also linked to having the facilities available to save the life. You can be aware, but if you don't have an EpiPen in that moment, awareness will mean nothing. So we focus also on the risk reduction before you get to the EpiPen. Love that. Because every allergic reaction, even mild or near miss, can be so traumatic.

12:38I completely agree. But don't you see how the two go hand in hand? I thought you were being angry then. I thought it was like, stop. I'm tired of you talking, Simon. but I kind of feel like you need a I would talk to them seriously because they're in schools so you can synergise on the schools you're in and they've got investors and they're monetising just one I feel like you're ready to talk, go ahead we have a long standing relationship with Kit, I'm not sure they're the right partner for this for lots of reasons they are doing an amazing thing, absolutely amazing it would be great to think about what I want to do I want to do it really quickly because we want to really capitalise on this autumn.

13:20We did spend a lot of the first six months of this year looking at our business for exactly the reason you said. It wasn't sustainable and we were wondering what was missing. We think we've cracked it and now we just want to supercharge. What's the revenue we can supercharge right now? What is the revenue part? Can we supercharge? I mean, money, I worry. December's not that far away. Your salaries are one thing. but what revenue can we push to you? If people are listening, what revenue? Designated allergy leads on every Virgin plane and in every Virgin training gym. I'm now becoming the default for Richard.

13:55But seriously, that is one of the key points of anxiety, is flying with an allergy. Yeah, I agree with you. Also, exercise-induced anaphylaxis gyms are quite hot points. That is the way we can get this. So you want Virgin to pay you to train their staff? Yes. All right. I will introduce you afterwards to the Virgin team. We'll try and make that happen. I think that's a really important point. In fact, there's other airlines that we're also talking to that I think also need to do that. Completely agree with you. Have you spoken to Natasha's foundation? Yes, we have spoken to Natasha's foundation.

14:22Yeah, because her daughter died on a plane, right? So that is an instant connection there. You have spoken to them, right? Yes. Okay. You don't need an introduction or anything? No, I don't need an introduction. You're a bit like a poker player, a little bit. You're a little bit like holding the cards. There's a lot of history. I can't tell you anymore. They said to us they couldn't work with us. I think because we're a business and they're a charity. No, I don't think so. I think it's been pitched wrong. I can't believe that's true. I've tried. No, I'm going to help you again. We're going to go again.

14:50Okay. Sometimes a no is not the no you think it is. They do not care if you make money. They care that you have an impact. Maybe they don't think you can scale. I don't know what it is. I don't believe it. We work with Allergy UK really well. You can save people's lives on a plane. I don't believe it. I think this for-profit, for-good business is the future of business. So do I. So they just need someone. I'm convinced they'll help you. Okay. I'm convinced. And if I'm wrong, I'll give you the money. Okay, great. All right. It's a deal. Great. Nice to meet you. Good to see you.

15:27All right. Okay. Welcome, dreamers. What's your dream and how can we help? Good to see you. Nice to see you. Welcome. Take a moment.

15:41Oh, scary. My face on a cookie. I never put that on my visualization board. That was never on there, but it is now part of my life. Wonderful. We're Lisa and Saskia, and we are the co-founders of The Biscuitary. We make personalized and branded biscuits, but our real product is kindness. Our dream is to make 10 million people feel appreciated and forge human connection by spreading kindness in biscuit form. Being in the business of biscuits, we don't save lives, but we believe that small acts of kindness can change the world. We started this with£500 from our own pockets when we were new mums, and we've scaled it to a six-figure business, a profitable six-figure business.

16:24Well done, that deserves a round of applause. I would say get to zero in any business, you're a success. If you can get to covering your costs, that's success. Congratulations. Thank you, thank you. and we employ five other women. And I guess our problem, well, also we do B2B and B2C. We've worked for big brands like Karl Lagerfeld, Google, Meta. But I think our problem is that it's often one-off orders. So we'd like to create more strategic partnerships. Our problem as such is that we're not as well connected as you are. We're not even from here. We're not from this country. Oh, no. Where are you from?

17:01I'm from Germany. Saskia's from the Netherlands. Oh, okay. Did you come all the way here? Just to do biscuit. Oh, just to give me a biscuit. No, no, no. We live in the UK, but originally we're not from this country. So we set the business up with that hurdle, I guess. And we are, like Lisa said, we want to make people feel that they're appreciated, that they're connected and tethered to other people. So one thing that we do personally as a biscuit, as a biscuit, as a business. You identify as a biscuit. I do. That's got to go by. Someone identifies as a biscuit. Good marketing, by the way. Is that we, every single Tuesday since COVID, we've given away free biscuits.

17:48And that's one way for us to facilitate, you know, you can send a biscuit to someone who's done something for you that week. And the responses that we get off the back of that is just such deep human emotion of appreciation. And that's something that we, you know, it fuels us. It makes us want to do more and more. You've made biscuits even more personable. Like, I love biscuits anyway. Who here likes biscuits? You know, like, you've got a natural audience and you've gone and put purpose in there, which is incredible. What do you need from me and the audience listening today?

18:28Strategic partnerships. Okay. Okay. So give me an example. One thing is, like I said, we do the thank you biscuits that we send every Tuesday. And as you were talking about brand influencer partnerships, if we could tag team it with you on a Tuesday where you were saying, I put my full weight behind this so that we can send more on a Tuesday, because we can only do so much. and yeah I mean talk to your team managers or people who are founding businesses a lot of what we do is people buy from us because they want to make their teams feel appreciated so that's one way that you can share appreciation with everything and that everyone does around you.

19:12I think your your point about like regular orders because you can get a one-off order from say Meta but then how do you have regular orders i think you should set up some sort of sponsorship engagement handout so again uh level one on business i think i always look at sponsorship okay if you can get a company each week lined up think think like a billboard imagine your billboard company right and you're going to sell the billboard space every week so you're not selling cookies you're selling a billboard space and that billboard space allows a brand to sponsor this week's giveaway and let's say this is probably the wrong one i don't know this coming came into my head but this week's giveaway is to help the homeless right and so a brand will sponsor the cookies and then they'll also match the sponsoring amount and give it to a homeless charity like shelter so then shelter who i'm a big fan of that charity because they help the homeless but then the charity would get some money and they can promote you and then the sponsor can support the charity marketing because you can give these out to the homeless, right?

20:19You can go support the homeless. It's kind of that type of thing. Now you can make that, I reckon you can do that every week but maybe initially every month and I would own the marketing method. So instead of going to a brand and saying please buy this and then they give it out once and if you beg them again to buy it again I would almost create FOMO. You only have one spot a week available let's say at five grand for argument's sake right and then if it's gone it's gone no one else can get it so you can get 20 grand a month in cookie orders just from having four brands a month as your partner now brand sponsorship is just one way to level up of course the other end is what i talked about earlier which is like get a get an influencer to be your partner you know i sold hundreds of thousands of books right so i have a fan base that want to support my mission and help people and ironically i'm linked to kindness as well a lot of what i'm suggesting to people is be kind to each other and your dream will come true right so so there's definitely a connection we can definitely talk about this i can't promise a partnership right now but that is another way to go get a shareholder in this someone that's actually an influencer that can promote it every month like again instagram has subscription 4.99 if you have an influence subscribes and they get a cookie you know i could probably do that quite if people subscribe i give the money away but right now how much does a cookie cost like this how much does a cookie cost that one is 375 3 pound 75 and postage well on well on tuesday everything's free second class is what is it would be about six pounds six pounds can we get it down to three quid because if we can do 4.99 on instagram as a subscription we send people this with a note inside and maybe an update on one of our dreamers and then the excess amount from the subscription on Instagram we can give to a charity or we can give to a dreamer together just an idea I'd be up for doing that and then we can ask people to subscribe right now people are subscribing to me and I'm not giving them anything other than saying thank you and then giving that money away in our videos but I think there's something else we could do but you've got to get the cost down below the actual payment you see what I mean?

22:25yeah but you would come with volume so that would just be for one you know yeah and you'd have to handle the posting out I could handle the marketing of it yeah anyway that sort of partnership as a framework even if I don't do it I think there will be a lot of influencers that would do it yeah I want all the money to go to dreamers so I'm scared to have high cost go out the door and knock to dreamers but you are dreamers yeah so in an ironic way I could do this and still fund dreams right yeah so that's my advice I don't know if it's useful hopefully it is I think that's brilliant. No, it definitely is.

23:00Thank you. And also, I've heard you know Richard, so maybe. Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do. Put his face on there. Yeah. But I'll introduce you to the Virgin team after this. Amazing. So, yeah, we'll make some of you. Thank you so much. Anybody here want to order some cookies? Anyone got a company? Yeah, we've got a few customers here. So go find them. You go stand over by one of the stands. Which one? Go stand over by the Help Bank Starter Kit. and you guys if you want to order some cookies from these guys please do and if you want to hear orders like a discount tag me when you put it up and i'll share the story on my stories so if you buy cookies today i'll also promote you on my social channel my stories which gets a couple hundred thousand views how do we keep communicating about this i think um we're going to be connected for life now i've got a feeling but just go talk to my colleague afterwards and then um i think katie or someone's here just exchange information callum here and then we'll exchange information We'll have a talk more about this and the subscription on Instagram, see if we can do something.

23:57And then go get a couple of orders from over there. And then make me a cookie I can give to Richard, all right? Amazing. Thank you so much. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much.

24:13Okay. What's your dream and how can we help you? Welcome. Good to see you. Hi, Simon. Thank you. My name's Stacey Cann. I am a franchise strategist, so I help businesses to scale through franchising, particularly helping franchise networks grow. And my dream is to get more younger people into franchising, specifically because, like you, I believe that the education system is completely broken, and they are funneling children into jobs or university. Now, the National Student Union... Tell them, you know you're going to be in the shop when you go by like that. Just keep in mind. The National Student Union stats show that the average student leaves university in£48 ,500 worth of debt.

25:05£48 ,500 worth of debt. The first experience they have with money is debt. It's criminal. It is criminal. It's criminal. It makes me angry. It didn't used to be this way. How has this happened? We're supposed to live in the future, not the past. But go on. And for that money, they get an education. Yes, they don't get a job. trained to not work themselves. Literally walk out of university in a huge amount of debt and we're all told, aren't we, debt is bad. Debt is bad. You shouldn't have debt. And the reason that I think franchising is secret option C, which we should be telling children about and promoting more young people and by the way, the British Franchise Association say that under 30 qualifies as a young person in franchising.

25:45The reason that that's important is because, of course, they have to invest in that yes but it's an investment that will then be profitable 89 % of franchises are profitable in the first 12 months that rises to 95 % over five years why aren't we pushing more people into that

26:10so just tell me where you are with the business right now how many customers do you have what's the revenue what's happening sure so i'm only just coming up to year two of my business i work with emerging franchisors mainly at the moment um to uh to help them to to obviously grow their franchise so all of my one-to-one clients are drilled very much let's look at this as a person an opportunity that young people can get into business is making about we're on target this year to make about a hundred thousand pounds turnover um just coming up to year two and that Are we profitable? That will be about 43 % profit.

26:47Wow. That's£43 ,000. I can do the math. I did that in my head. Do you see that? That's good. That's really good. 100 ,000 turnover, 43 % profit. Profit, yeah. So there's a good market for it. That's healthy. Yeah, I'm really proud of that, actually. What is it you need today? What I'd like to do to try and get more people into young, I'm really nervous, more young people into franchising is I'd like to be able to educate those franchisors as to why they should. I think the two barriers are how franchising is positioned to young people. It's a bit of a dinosaur model that's not really talked about.

27:22So there's an education piece there. But also the funding is a huge problem for young people because although we encourage them into all of that university debt, we kind of go, it's risky if you take out a business loan. Yeah, we'll give kids£48 ,000 worth of debt for university, but we won't get them£48 ,000 to start a business. Now, here's the thing. We need to change that. That's ridiculous. Yeah, and this is such a passion point. You can make money from a business. The average lifestyle franchise, which is what most young people will invest in, so you've got food, lifestyle is a different category, is about£7 ,000.

27:58So what I would like to do is build the business in a way, I think agency model is what I'd like to do, that I can take some of that profit and invest it into helping young people directly into franchise. Do you need the£43 ,000 profit you're making? I need some of it to live, yeah, not all of it. What I was thinking is, well, okay, your business model right now, you make money by introducing a franchise to someone who takes it or the agency model? So at the moment, I am more of a consultant. Right, so someone comes to you and says, I want to get a franchise, what should I do? Yeah. Is that how it works right now?

28:37Flip that around a little bit. So the franchisor comes to me and says, I want to get more franchises to grow my business. So they've got a franchise, they want more franchisees. They want more franchisees. So I help them to go out and look at that ideal client piece, how to recruit the franchise, how to market to those franchises, and help them to recruit the franchisees in. What I'm about to start to do is to actually take on that recruitment piece directly for them. And that then sits more as an agency model. Okay, one second. can we make sure we capture the incredible dedication of the dreamers in this queue?

29:10These people that are waiting in the pouring rain. Like, you know their dreams are going to happen when they're willing just to stand. I would have given up. I mean, I'm not even that interesting. I would have just gone home. It's raining. I have respect for all of you in the queue. All of you are amazing. Okay, so with your business, let me just tell you what I kind of want to hear you, what I think. anybody here want to start a franchise out of interest anybody interested in that okay so afterwards go go to the starter kit go over afterwards and get some you know get some potential customers let's do that right now thank you but what would i do if i was you i would actually go to all the franchisee owners and get them to pay you to promote this whole concept because you know i i am for my sins i like five guys yeah right i like five guys and i know it's bad they don't sponsor me they probably should although my wife would not be happy if they sponsored because it is also something that is not healthy all the time maybe i can find your connection but what i was going to say is my friend lives in thailand and uh we he likes five guys as well so he's like simon give me the money to open up uh five guys in thailand and on their website they wanted five million us dollars to do it so i looked into it now what i'm getting to is like i think those brands actually have a problem that a lot of people unless you're mcdonald's maybe five guys are right but a lot of franchisees don't know how to get people to take the franchises i reckon if i was a franchisee owner if you get 50 of them together they will pay you a monthly fee to market this whole franchise point so i know like cody sanchez let me know her she's she's a personally she's a great i know her personally i love kode only since i got famous but um she owns many franchises but she's but she also is a big advocate for like people buying businesses which i'm not by the way i'm for people starting brands that matter to them and they own their own story so but i think you there's a space between kode and myself there's a space that isn't really occupied which is this you're not buying a business and you're not starting a business from scratch I think you could own that middle bit.

31:21And by the way, I don't see what you're talking about as a competition for starting a business. There is an argument, if you want to start a business, start a franchise first, because it's like riding a bike with stabilizers. The reason I don't like franchises is because I don't want to not own the brand. So if you're not careful, you can have a boss. Because head office in Seattle will be saying, you're not allowed to do this, you're not allowed to do that. And I don't like that. This is why franchising done properly is another huge passion because you're absolutely right. They don't sign up to be a boss.

31:54If you're not careful. But as stabilisers learning to ride a bike, there's something in it that I quite like. At worst, I reckon if I was pitching it to the universe, the young people, I'd say, just go and get a franchise pack and read through it. Because it's damn fascinating. Even if you start a business, one day you might want to franchise it. So why don't you read the franchise packs to at least understand how it works? Just be cautious signing up, though, until you have control. I think there's a space between what Cody's saying by existing businesses. I'm saying start a business. There is a middle ground that you're talking about, and I think you could own it.