Have you ever noticed how easy it is to lose touch with someone you genuinely like? Not because you fell out. Not because they stopped mattering. Life just got in the way. You meant to call. You meant to grab a coffee. You meant to catch up. Then six months vanished. 👀 Here is the thing. The exact same thing happens in business. People do not stop buying from you because they dislike you. They do not stop referring you because you got worse at the job. They just forget. They are busy. Distracted. Overloaded. Pulled in a hundred directions before lunch. Which leads to one of the most important truths in business 👇 ❌ If you are not being talked about, you are being forgotten ❌ If you are being forgotten, you are becoming irrelevant That is why marketing is so much more than advertising. The old mix was product, price, place and promotion. Modern business adds three more 👇 ✅ People ✅ Positioning ✅ Public relations Because being good is not enough. People need to know you are good. They need to see you. Hear about you. Be reminded you exist. Which is why I was genuinely chuffed to be featured recently in the Peterborough United seasonal programme. ⚽ For me, that was never just publicity: Peterborough is where my family has lived for five generations. Where I built businesses. Raised a family. Backed charities. Mentored founders. Serve as a Deputy Lieutenant. So seeing my mentoring work in print there was not good PR. It was passion, purpose and positioning landing in the same place. 🎯 And that is where the strongest marketing always lives. Not in clever slogans. Not in expensive adverts. In the real connection between people, place and purpose. So here is your question for today 👇: If someone in your town or your industry needed exactly what you do tomorrow, would your name come to mind? Or have you been so busy doing the work that you forgot to remind people you are even there?

or... The words of Losing pitches: “If…” “Maybe…” “Just…” “Hopefully…” “We’re nearly there…” “It’s not quite ready yet…” I hear this language every single day in business. And most of the time… It’s the language of people trying to sell products or services that are not ready, not focused, or not what the client actually asked for. One of the biggest mistakes in business is this: Trying to sell people what YOU want to sell… Instead of listening properly and delivering what THEY actually want or need. I see it constantly. People trying to: - Upsell before trust exists - Change the brief - Reframe the requirement - Sell a “better” service the client never asked for - Push a bigger package - Defend weak delivery with excuses “If we just…” “Maybe later…” “Once this is finished…” “We can adapt it…” "Can I suggest..." No. Answer their f*cking question. Deliver the f*cking product/service THEY want or need. Solve the actual problem. Because here’s the irony… If you genuinely solve the client’s immediate need properly: - They come back - They trust you - They buy more - They take your advice - They refer people Trust is earned through delivery. Not through pitching people into something they didn’t ask for. Too many businesses are trying to force customers into their world… Instead of building solutions around the customer’s world. ....And that’s why so many businesses struggle. Not because they lack talent. But because they lack listening. The best businesses in the world are not the best talkers. They are the best listeners. Reminds me of what one of my mentors used to say - 'dont sell them a 'chocolate teapot' it may look good and even be enticing but on first use they will realise it IS NOT fit for purpose'!!

Most people are not trapped. They are contained. Same routines. Same conversations. Same assumptions. Same view, every single day. And because the water feels familiar, they call it safe. Because the glass is invisible, they call it freedom. The problem is not that people lack opportunity. The problem is that they stop questioning the edges of their world. Like a fish in a bowl, you can live a full life swimming in circles and never once ask whether the bowl is the world, or just the container you were placed in. Nothing changes inside the bowl. Only the view does. And the view only changes when the bowl moves. That is why growth feels uncomfortable. It is not the effort. It is the disorientation. New angles. New light. New questions. The mind resists this because certainty feels like security, even when it is quietly suffocating you. Most people are not afraid of failure. They are afraid of discovering that the life they built was smaller than it needed to be. The moment you question the bowl, the spell breaks. You start to see that many of the limits you accepted were never walls, just habits you stopped noticing. The remembering is not about becoming someone new. It is about seeing more clearly. Same fish. Same water. Different view. And once you see that the bowl can move, you can never unsee it. That is when real freedom begins.

Yesterday evening Juls and I were privileged to attend a B&S end of year celebration. ...And it was nothing like any corporate event/dinner I have ever attended. No seating plan. No hierarchy. No 'formal' speeches. ...just fun, friendly, inspirational shares From the cleaner to the founders. Everyone equal. Everyone valued. It was not a business dinner. It was a family dinner... a frienship dinner And suddenly it became crystal clear why this business has gone from one pharmacy to over £500m. ...And why I have zero doubt we will hit/surpass £1bn within 3 years. This business does not talk about values. It lives them. If I had to sum up what I saw, felt and experienced in 5 words, it would be 5 Ps. - People - Passion - Pride - Principles - Processes People first. Not on posters. In behaviour. You could feel it in the room. The ease. The respect. The shared purpose. No airs or graces. No power plays. Just people who matter 'knowing' they matter. Passion that shines through generations. Multiple generations working together. And a genuine commitment to employ future generations of their people too. This is not telling people they are important. This is showing them. Pride in every role. Every customer. Every transaction. Principles that are lived, not laminated. For everyone. At every level. And processes that think beyond today. Not How do we fix this fire? But How do we build a system so it never happens again? Always asking Who is best in the world? What are they doing better? How is the world changing? And how must we change to stay ahead? Samit & Alpa are extraordinary people. Their Children are shining examples continuing that legacy Kish a shining example of that next generation Giving back at scale. Building free schools for hundreds. Growing people as the business grows. Founded on values that are embodied every single day. I do not often call out individual companies on this platform. But this is an outstanding example of how to build something special.

@Mike Greene thanks so much for running the Saturday Syndi-cafe earlier. We covered so much. Brilliant. ☕️