Here's What No One Tells You About Starting Your Own Business In 2024

0:28Watch it early on the High Performance app. percent of new businesses make it to five years or more. The truth is that running a business is hard. And as an entrepreneur and a founder myself, I was desperate to have conversations with other founders about like, what's it actually like? What lessons have they learned so they can provide you and me with some real value to make it through those tough early years. And on this episode, I'm off to North London to meet a guy called Maz. Now, five years ago, Maz founded a business called Translate Culture, a marketing business that uses data to create really engaging stories so they can inspire wide audiences and drive businesses forwards.

1:05And Translate Culture are backed by Lloyds Bank, who, as well as providing holistic business support, are so helpful when it comes to starting, growing and managing a business. Right, I'll tell you what, let's gatecrush Translate Culture's HQ and get to know a bit more about their founder. Hello. Hey, Maz. Hey, Jake. I'm Jake. Nice to meet you. Really nice to meet you. What a lovely, colourful office you've got here. Yeah, no, thank you. And everyone's working hard as well. Yes. Morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning. I won't disturb you. I know you've got a lot to do. And the founder might get annoyed with me.

1:35So, look, let me put my bag down and ask you, really. I'm just, look, I'm interested as a fellow founder in the journey, really. How did this all begin for you? Well, yeah, so I started Translate Culture in 2019. But prior to that, I used to run ads for my wife's business. So she had an Etsy store selling homeware products. I just decided to blog about it. And then a few years later, the Evening Standard picked it up and featured me on somebody who's used their skills from work to grow their business. And then loads of people just started, you know, hitting me up. I created a WhatsApp group. And yeah, from there, just started running ads for a few other people in the group and TransAid Culture was created.

2:13Amazing. Tell me how different it feels to just working for someone else. Because I feel that this is the magic. If you can do this, if you can find the thing that you love and turn it into your passion, I think it's special. Yeah, I agree with you. I think the main thing is obviously having a lot more control of my time and also defining the mission of where I want to sort of take and spend my time. Yeah, and what was that? I think the mission for me was just seeing the amazing entrepreneurs that were in the group that had this big vision of growing their business and knowing that I had the skill set to be able to catapult them.

2:44So I love working with founder-led brands with real stories. So yeah, that was the mission of just basically helping those brands grow globally. Amazing. And for people that are watching this, they can see this. for people listening, there's something on the wall here that talks about one of the brands that you work with. Would you just explain to us what it is that you do for a brand? Yes, so we do performance marketing, which essentially is paid ads or digital marketing where you can actually measure where the return on investment is coming from. Love it, man. There'll be people that are listening to this right now thinking, he must know something I don't know because I'd love to be a founder.

3:20I'd love to be brave enough to go and do this. Did you know something that no one else knew? What was the reason that you did this? I think for me, I've had other attempts of entrepreneurship on the side and some of them did well, some of them didn't. I think I kind of looked at my experience and looked at other people who have done it and it sort of defined almost a statement for me. I think it's like, you know, identify a problem that you're uniquely qualified to solve in a growing market. Because I do find that some people might identify a problem that they can solve, but then it's a dying market.

3:50So the growing market for me was super important. and I could see that e-commerce was picking up market share in terms of retail. And yeah, so that's why I kind of focused on it. I had the skills, had the track record with my wife, obviously had the publication with the Ewing Standard and it just felt like the timing was perfect. And then you just have to go for it. And look, we were in a factory. It's a lovely Sunday day outside. We're in North London. How far do you live from here? 15 minutes down the road. Oh, man. So that's also a nice lifestyle choice as well. Definitely, yeah. So I grew up here, primary school all the way to secondary school.

4:22actually even represented the borough football so yeah where did you play i played up front as a striker no time for football when you're a founder no no no and is it important for you to keep the business in the borough 100 yeah i think you know um also we provide like job opportunities for the guys locally as well so um yeah for me it's super important um just seeing even friends or people that sort of know me to know that i run a business here it sort of inspires them as well so yeah massively important for me let's talk about um the truth of being a founder i mean even now i've got one business that's four or five years old another business that is 13 years old but i lie awake at night sometimes my eyes open and i'm just like full of worry fear payroll staff people future direction could it all end tomorrow you know it's like i feel that as the founder you're the last one to get paid you're the last one to eat you're the first one to panic you're the first one in the morning the last one out of the door yeah how how is that for you it's got better yeah but at the beginning definitely it was you know turbulent i think what i've learned to really hang on to is the mission and actually seeing the impact that we're having sort of you know that sort of balances the anxiety um but yeah the worry is always there you know you you may have situations where there's you know late invoice payments because maybe some of the businesses are going through some challenges i don't think i often don't think they know your challenge i've had situations where are we going to make payroll this month if we don't get paid yeah and that's a regular thing and people think if you get if your business grows that ends but It doesn't because the numbers that you owe from other people are bigger.

5:51Exactly. And I think, I'll speak to my wife about this, and she's like, you know, sometimes she feels we're the last paid because everybody's seeing how successful we are. They reckon, oh, they'll be fine. But actually, we're taking on a lot of resource to be able to deliver this value. So, yeah. So those anxieties are still there. But we're fortunate that, you know, with the work we've done, we're getting a lot of pipeline of clients coming in. So there's always that balance of, like, sometimes letting go of a client because you just, you know, it's taking away valuable resource, which is time.

6:15And the opportunity cost of actually working with another client that can you know pay the bills on time and grow with you so what about support then i mean you mentioned the whatsapp group one of my big problems is i don't lean on other people often enough i know lloyd's obviously are super helpful for you i'm wondering who you've got though that you could just go and say i'm just stressed or i'm not happy or whatever yeah i'm quite fortunate actually so i have a few friends who also run agencies um so we build those relationships along the journey so i've been super transparent um and actually early on when i started the company and I decided to create a board which people thought was a bit weird you're not making any revenue while you've created a board I just felt like a few of my friends who were a little bit more experienced just so I can ask them questions around like you know how did you solve this problem and it's been super helpful but yeah that community is super helpful now obviously the founders that I work with you know they're very transparent and stuff like this it's always good to have people that can kind of understand what are some of the challenges you're going through.

7:12Yeah and I just think as a founder you're in a kind of a special select club and you do need to talk to other founders you do because people who are just getting paid every month and are on the payroll and they're okay like they it's a different mindset you know 100 yeah and and there's the risk the risk of you know managing a business managing people um yeah very few people can really understand that unless you actually run your own business you know i really like maz i think you could tell he's smart he's really dedicated to making his company a success but i also get that he knows he can't do it alone he's clearly put loads of effort into making sure he's surrounded by good people and the right people so that they can succeed and i think from his clients to his board members to me it feels like mas has found people who really share his vision so i thought maybe i should meet a few of them to learn more about how these relationships develop first up mercurius who's one of the earliest hires at translate culture let's meet him take a seat man thank you i feel bad taking you away from your work i know that when there's a small team that's suddenly a big person down um let's talk about your role here at translate culture first of all what do you do mercurius it transitioned oh should i say it translated um so at the very beginning i would say i was like head of operations yeah which is basically everything just do everything just do everything um everything from you know processes and systems hiring um actually just running the accounts at some point and just also just taking my background from Agency World and how we structured things and applying it here, but just making sure it's relevant.

8:44And then I would say more recently, it became more of a strategic role, helping with our bigger clients to execute on bigger projects, bigger campaigns, bigger partnerships. Let's talk about how it all started then. Maz and I have a really lovely mutual friend that we both admire and respect so greatly. And he connected us because of my background working in advertising in a similar environment. I was there for three years and I was lucky enough to be the first employee of that agency. So it was a very similar environment. And we just went to Dishoom and we hung out and we hit off immediately.

9:19And we actually just realized from the very beginning that trust was going to be so important to this relationship. Because you're starting something new. Why would you trust just random people, I guess? It was a mutual friend, but we really got straight into talking about values. and that really helped us accelerate that process of trust. And so one of Maz's values and then actually became one of TC's values is like take care, which means we can't do the best work if we're not taking care of ourselves. And that really resonated with me. And so with that in mind, we're actually both Christians.

9:54And so there was just so many synergies at the very beginning that really helped us get off to a really solid start. What about risk then? because I always think that people talk often about risk and entrepreneurship. And it frustrates me because I think that it's an entry, it's a barrier to entry for some people. I think some people think, well, I'm not risk taker, so I better not be an entrepreneur. And I think actually life is about taking risks, but calculated risks, which is what you did. I guess, yeah. I think sacrifice is the biggest thing here, right? Because it's like, well, I could go over here and get paid X salary and have a normal nine to five job.

10:34But does that fulfill me? Probably not. Is that exciting? Probably not. What Maz was trying to do sounded just incredible to me and I felt like I could really help. And so taking that risk actually wasn't too difficult for me. But I do understand how it can be for a lot of people if you just don't have the infrastructure in place. And so having X number of months of savings, letting family and friends know this is something that you're about to embark on so you can lean on their support. And all of these things are really important to that process. I love that you've used the word sacrifice because when we speak to people on high performance about the sacrifices they've made, the answer often is, well, nothing comes for free.

11:12You know, there's a cost to everything. Yeah. So what's been the cost to you of going on this journey? It's a great question. Not building my own thing. Yeah. Right? So you have to put your ego to one side? 100%. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And just realized there's a time for everything. And it doesn't mean that if you're not going to do it now, it doesn't mean you're not going to do it later. And I was just in a really unique position to actually help him. And so it just made total sense. I love that. I have every confidence your time will come as well. And actually, the truth is that just because you're doing this, you're not learning.

11:47You will be a far better founder, a far better entrepreneur when you go and do your own thing than you would have been five years ago because you've learned everything Maz has learned. Yep. So just set up another business, take him on and blow him out of the water. Oh, it's already... Jokes, he's looking panicked over in the corner. Yeah, already plotting. Good man. That's the entrepreneur's mindset. I love it. Shaq, I'm Jake. Nice to meet you. How's it going, Jake? You all right? I'm good, yeah. I thought I would just mute you over to the kitchen and see how you're doing. I see you make your own tea because you're the newest member of staff.

12:19That's how it goes. So how long have you been at Translate Culture? I've been here since the start of the year, since January, so about six months now. Okay, tell me about it. It's been great to be fair. Coming into like a small intimate team, I've kind of hit the ground running. And what I like about that is we get to kind of do loads of different roles. So that's a lot of learning, lots of new things really. I see a picture on the wall there saying, shaping up culture. And I was just having a conversation with them, they're curious about values and how important they are. So how would you describe the kind of values or the cultures in this place?

12:52I'd like to see that we're like a family, really. Everyone here, and everyone here's got like an entrepreneurial spirit. So we're all kind of coming from different backgrounds, but we can kind of relate to the same kind of things. And it also helps us in our work, where we can kind of get into the mind of the founder. Nice. So have you got an entrepreneurial background? Yeah, so I've used to run a drinks brand previously, the last like three, four years before this. And what happened to that? I kind of faced some challenges, and I think I was a bit maybe naive at first. But yeah, I've kind of put it on pause and then learned a bit more coming here about marketing.

13:26And then now I can probably approach it a bit better. So this is really interesting for me. So compare the shack today, compare to the shack that walked in here six months ago, right? Yeah. How much more do you know about the world of business that would have maybe made a difference to you previously? Probably loads more. I overheard you speaking to Mercurius as well about risk. And that's one interesting thing that I found. because previously I would have thought, oh, it's all about taking big risks and that's probably where I probably fell short in the past. But now I've learned that actually there's better ways to approach it and better ways that I could maybe do business.

13:59Yeah. See, I think you're so right. I think often people think, well, I'm an entrepreneur, therefore risk has to be the number one thing that I focus on. And it isn't, it's about focusing on the process. Like if you just think, oh, great, I can take this massive risk because I'm an entrepreneur, that's what we do. You're basically putting your startup under strain, which you don't need to do. so I think it's great that you're here and I feel the same when I spoke to Mercurius you know he has his own ambitions you have your own ambitions I just love the fact that Maz has created a culture here where people can come in they can give this business their everything but as much as they're giving they can take as well and he's cool with that you take the learning take the lessons yeah take take the growth take the understanding and then one day you can do your own thing and it's like just feels to me like there's a sense here that everyone can lift each other up yeah Yeah, definitely.

14:43And the key thing that I've learned also working here is that there's a few key drivers to success as well, working with a lot of brands. So one is like creating products that actually solve a problem, also in a growing market. And actually the founders that focus on their own business, because you know how it goes. You go on Instagram, you see someone's got like 100 million pound sales and then you kind of take your eye off the board. And that's like a key thing. But working here in Translate Culture, I kind of have like a holistic experience of the market. working with a lot of different brands so we can kind of see what works, what doesn't work.

15:17And the main thing is the great success stories that we have are women founders just focus on their own thing and just focus on the products and the customers. Love it. Well, I won't disturb your tea break any longer, mate. It's really nice to meet you and good luck here. But good luck with your own venture as well. I love the spirit you've got. I appreciate it. I feel like Maz has really pulled together an awesome group of entrepreneurial avengers, shall we call them, and achieved something pretty special in his business. I feel he's created a culture where individuals who have their own personal business aspirations feel at home and they could openly talk about it under his roof, working for his company towards his goals without getting stifled or frustrated.

15:56But I want to get Maz away from the Open Plan office for a minute so we can talk about some of the harsh realities of running a business. Look Maz, I thought it'd be quite nice for us to come and just sit quietly somewhere and have a real honest, candid chat about what life is really like as an entrepreneur. I am really interested in the struggles and the challenges. If I was to ask you the lowest low point of the last five years, what would you say? Yeah, very good question. I'll say probably 2020. So March, it was literally March 24th, the day after lockdown, we lost half our clients. And it was understandable because at the time, no one knew what was to come.

16:35So at that moment, I was kind of like figuring out, okay, cool, did I make the right decision? yeah um what as in did you make the right decision to set the business up yeah for a split second i sort of questioned it but then i thought you know what this is such a great opportunity to help the clients that stayed with us um so i sent out an email to all the clients and i was like look hey same retainer but we're going to give you added service so one of the things i did was like look people are going to be online they're stuck i told every single one of my clients to just go on and do almost like a scheduled session so like every tuesday you go and talk to your customers about how you can help them and that was a huge hit and those customers really appreciated that offer and and a few months later obviously the world being locked down everybody started buying an e-commerce so i was able to scale a number of brands and plus we had more eyeballs on the ads as well so um but that was really rocky because i just didn't know how we were going to come out of that yeah yeah at whisper at my production company it wasn't this similar story it was kind of different because there was no work to do but we had a big team you know we have hundreds of staff so it was leaning into them and saying that we will still protect you and look after you and i think what i love about your story is you know there's a lot of talk out there about culture and about having the values but those things only get tested when times are tough yeah and you were being tested and your values came to the fore which was look after people yeah and i think the fact that that got your business through covid probably is is is fantastic man yeah for me the big part of it is just building trust um you know with the whatsapp community i knew that i was able to build trust with those guys to allow me to even go into the ad account so just about how do i sort of continue that and um and we're here literally off the back of that um so grateful for it and thank you for sharing that because i think that too often founders and owners they want to tell everyone the great stuff but it actually leaves people that want to be in your position thinking well he's had it great everything's been perfect he's never had a challenge to face but that's not the truth.

18:32I also really want this series to help people that are sitting there dreaming of one day being an entrepreneur like you. So can we talk about some of the biggest lessons or some of the things that you think are most important to driving the success of your business? Yeah, I think what's super important, so my team have sort of mentioned it as well, is solving an actual problem. And that's what businesses are meant to do. So really find a problem that you are, like I said, uniquely qualified, you know, to solve. And most importantly, in a growing market. So that's the key thing for me that I've learned.

19:03And it rings true with even some of our clients. If they're truly solving a problem, it makes our job easier to actually storytell the authentic story of why they've started it. I think, especially in this social media age, authenticity is key. People buy into people. We're seeing that people are following brand owners more than following brands. So if you can have a true story or true origin of why you started a business, it actually gives you that leg up to get that first couple customers. and then being able to have authentic customer testimonials really helps. So it goes back to really finding a problem that you're uniquely qualified to solve and then going for it.

19:39And what about creating the culture that you have? Is there anything that you do that you think is slightly different? Yeah, I do. So what I did when I first started my business, I went for a walk and really wanted to define the culture of the business. And one of the key goals, or should I say key values in my business is a term called ambitious servant, which sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, right? because a servant is sort of like servitude, but ambitious means that actually you're partnering with people to go on a journey with them. And it's a service-based business. So what that tells my team is like, hey, look, you are part of a business that is delivering value to other people, but you can still have your own ambitions.

20:18It's actually a vehicle for you to learn and really know what it takes to grow a business because you're really working on the ground with the founders. And I think that value has kind of stood the test of time. and it's a testament with some of the stuff the guys have said. And how do you make sure the people you're hiring are the right people? So we've had a few hiccups, but more recently we've done a great job because when somebody applies for a job, the first person that speaks to them is my wife. Honestly, who doesn't even work for the business? Yeah, she doesn't. That's amazing. Yeah, so she does the culture fit.

20:50So she figures out whether that person fits the culture criteria. Can they work with me? Do they have the same vision? and I think the fact that she isn't involved directly in the day to day she doesn't have to focus on the technical stuff and yeah she hasn't missed so if you don't pass that irrespective of your technical skills then it's probably not going to work out because the values are super important for us I'm nervous to meet your wife now I feel like she's going to be judging me like what's this guy all about look before we wrap up I would just really love to ask you to give us a kind of a message really to someone that dreams of one day being an entrepreneur maybe someone who's on the journey and they're struggling a bit at the moment maybe someone who's on the journey and they're starting to doubt whether they've actually got the ability to do it what what would you like to leave people thinking about with anything in life resilience is key so it's really figuring out you know business is tough irrespective so it's going to be tough at some point i think the thing that i found is in order for you to sort of create that resilience it comes from are you actually doing something that you care about right because as we mentioned earlier there are sleepless nights what is the mission um so the money is great because it allows you to you know make investments and actually impact people's lives but you need a mission bigger than that because there will be certain challenges that will challenge you challenge your personal life you just almost need to kind of have that some people might call it delusion but like a vision for yourself that is bigger than what you're facing at the moment listen thank you so much for letting me ruin a whole day's work for you come in and see what you're up to it's an absolute pleasure of mine i love the fact that you're local you're a local guy you've stayed local you're hiring local people you're investing in local talent but as you said ambitious servitude you're serving the local community you're serving your customers you're serving your staff but your ambition is so exciting and i think you are um you're an example of what anyone from any walk of life listening to this could do if they have what you've got which is that driving that determination to go and make it on their own thank you really appreciate that it's not easy but it's great, right?

22:53Yeah. It feels great. Thank you. Thank you, man. Cheers, man. I loved that. I find it so inspiring. Jack to fellow founders finding out about their journeys. And I think the message right now is that good things are happening in British business. Lloyds Bank has the expertise and the ability to support you in any business journey if you're willing to take the plunge. Thank you so much for tuning into From Startup to Stand Out. I can't wait for you to join us for another episode and to find out more about the things we've spoken about today. For more information, just check out the Lloyds Bank business website.

23:26See you soon.