Would you grow it faster? Spend more time with your best customers? Develop the people around you? Take two weeks off and actually switch off? Or would you simply enjoy running it again? My life changed when I finally built a business that didn’t need me every minute. It allowed me to spend six weeks at sea and a month climbing mountains without any contact. But the real benefit wasn’t the adventure. It was the respite. I could breathe, regain some perspective and remember that I had a life outside the business. A business that works without you doesn’t mean you disappear. It means you stop spending your days doing work that someone else should own. ...it also exponentially increases the exit value of your business because it proves succession and that you business is dependent on you. Your team knows what is expected. The numbers don’t come as a surprise. People make decisions without checking everything with you, and you have time to think about where the business is going instead of dealing with whatever has gone wrong that morning. That gives you something most business owners don’t have enough of: choice. The choice to grow, create, step back, take time off ...or eventually sell a business that doesn’t need you to come with it. The first step isn’t doing more. It’s identifying where the business depends most heavily on you and fixing that properly. If your business gave you back one day every week, or one week every month, what would you do with it?

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Mike, Juls and Mimi and everyone for today the food was lovely, I had a fantastic time and really enjoyed myself Thank you Sam

My wife and I were sofa-surfing, and we spent 2 years delivering pizzas on mopeds just to survive. I eventually worked my way back through a corporate career and found the courage to start again in business. But I made another mistake. I thought being a good business owner meant carrying everything myself ...the decisions, the problems and the responsibility. I worked every hour, had ulcers in my twenties and was grey by my thirties. The business belonged to me, but most of the time it felt as though I belonged to the business. Everything changed when I stopped trying to be the answer to everything. I put the right people around me and built proper plans, structures and systems so the business no longer needed me in every conversation or decision. That business went on to support clients in 20+ countries. I sold it and retired in 2011 at 46. After 9months i was bored Sh💩less and realised i missed and loved business So for the past 15 years, I’ve helped other business owners avoid learning every lesson the hard way. Some turn over £500,000... others are responsible for businesses worth £billions. The numbers change, but the problem doesn’t: too much still depends on the person at the top. You don’t need to work harder. You need the right people around the table, the right systems behind the business and somewhere to take the decisions you shouldn’t have to make alone. That’s the problem I’m setting out to solve. What are you still carrying because there’s nobody else you trust to carry it?

I’ve always loved Apple’s iconic line: “Think Different.” It’s an idea that resonates with me, particularly when I look at the mentoring industry. Too many coaching/mentoring companies draw people in through a prominent founder or recognisable face. Once you’ve joined, however, you’re delegated to a day-rate trainer who may have achieved little more… and often less, than you have yourself. You might receive the occasional token hello from the founder. If you’re lucky, you’ll be invited to a corporate dinner in a stuffy hotel… an event designed more for appearances and social-media photographs than for creating genuine connections. That has never been my idea of mentoring. I love bringing mentees together properly: A lunch at the House of Lords, A breakfast at the Jockey Club in Newmarket, …or my annual family barbecue for mentees and VIP members of our Skool community. The garden Party/barbecue has no business agenda. It’s simply about enjoying one another’s company. Families meet, friendships are formed, relationships deepen, and the children have fun. I’ve created this kind of culture within the companies I’ve owned for decades because I believe business should be built on lifelong relationships. It should involve caring as much about the person as you do about their business. Of course there’s a commercial element… we’re all in business. But when the relationship goes deeper than the transaction, it becomes real. It becomes worthwhile. That’s what mentoring means to me. And it’s why I continue to do what I love.

Morning, The Board Community! Inspired by one of the calls, we are now entering the Great Eastern Run on Sunday 11th October, 2026, starting with a discussion with @Betsy Wong (Thank you for stepping up). We already have a commitment from me in the wheelchair, @Scott Dwyer @Betsy Wong @Dr Mike Greene DL @Godfrey Muneri @Debbie Dorans @Daron Harvey and calling on any community members who want to join our team. For those who want to join, this is a team effort; however, to be clear, you run your own race. We are out there to finish, have fun, and enjoy the day! This is a closed road event, with a 3hr 30mins cut-off where they re-instate the roads, but Mike worked out the timings, and this can be achieved with a walk/jog idea. For those who possibly don't want to join, your efforts towards our combined charity endeavours would be amazing, please (!) and a link can be found below. Mike may have more to say on this.... 😀 I have set a team page for Little Miracles Charity based in the Peterborough area and covering East Anglia. To apply, please go to the APEG Great Eastern Run website - greateastern.run and hit the REGISTER NOW button. Once you have registered, please let me know, and I will invite you to our JustGiving page. As a team, I have set up a page - https://www.justgiving.com/team/scottlittlemiracles with a combined £2,000 target, but I do hope we raise much more. This charity helps support families of children with additional needs, disabilities and life-limiting conditions, which is obviously dear to my heart, considering what I have been through over the past four years. One of the Little Miracles T-shirts will arrive by post shortly, and I aim to "sell" the space (not my body) to corporates and raise as much money as we can, as this worked for me last time for Magas and it raised over £1,500! Anyone can let me know, and I will then create race T-shirts for our team to wear on the day, and I will have your name put on them.