S4, E2: Building Connections and Business with Networking Legend Paul Lancaster (Business Advisor, Founder of Newcastle Startup Week and PLATFORM Events).

 Paul Lancaster shares his passion for helping people start and grow businesses as well as supporting individuals fulfil their potential. He has spent the past 20yrs+ championing and supporting startups, scaleups and enterprise level organisations across the UK in a range of high impact roles.
 
Paul recently spent two years working in IT / Tech recruitment before returning to run his own events, consultancy & coaching business alongside working as a Business Adviser for the North East BIC with a particular focus on Sunderland.

Paul is the Founder & organiser of the 5-day Newcastle Startup Week festivals & 1-day Newcastle Scaleup Summit + monthly Founders' Friday & PLATFORM events. He was voted ‘Collaborator of the Year’ at Dynamo North East’s Dynamites awards in 2016 & 2017, was runner up in 2018 & won the 'PROFILE' category in the North East Times 'Impact Awards’ for the work he did to promote the North East business community on a regional, national & international level in 2019.

Paul is also co-author of the 'Small Business Marketing For Dummies' book published by Wiley in 2013 and a former semi-professional electronic dance music DJ & producer.

Get ready to be inspired…..5-4-3-2-1. 

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Connect with Paul Lancaster: 

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Email: paul@ukstartupweek.com

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Click here to purchase a copy of The Momentum Mindset Book by Vicki Main and Jonathan S.Bean.

Transcript

Paul: 0:00

Business development, networking, creating opportunities, signposts and matchmaking. People still struggle with that. I think there's been obviously such a focus of moving everything online. And yes, obviously you can do a lot online, digital marketing, social media, but you still need people to connect on a human level and people are missing that.

Vicki: 0:24

Welcome to the Get Unstuck Fast Viscosity podcast brought to you by VLM training and coaching specialists across the UK and Australia, hosted by me, Vicki Mane. Are you a business owner, leader or executive? Have you ever felt stuck or disappointed where your life or business is heading? Do you ever feel overwhelmed, compare yourself to others or feel like you're swimming in treacle at times. This podcast is here to help you get unstuck fast from viscosity to achieving escape velocity and expanding your knowledge. Our guests on the show will share practical tips and real life experience about how they got out of negative situations or circumstances to live their best life on their terms. We will be sharing real life stories from real people doing some incredible things. Stay tuned for our next guest. Welcome to season four, episode two of the Get Unstuck Fast Viscosity podcast. I'm your host, Vicki Mayne. And today we have special guest Paul Lancaster on the show. Welcome Paul.

Paul: 1:25

Hi Vicki. Thanks for inviting me onto your show. It's

Vicki: 1:27

great to see you online today. And I'm very excited to interview you today. I know you've done some fantastic things. Thanks. Especially in the Northeast and beyond in the UK. So first of all, can you tell our listeners about your career journey and what you're doing

Paul: 1:41

now? Yes, uh, well, it's, uh, been quite meandering, I suppose, but there is, there is a running theme throughout all of it, I think. So I've done a bit of everything, to be fair, in the Northeast, but I've worked at the startup and small business support world for about 20 years. I've worked for Sage twice, the big software company. I've worked for British Airways, I've worked for the government a couple of times. I've worked for local enterprise agencies, youth enterprise schemes. And that's where I got the bug. When you're hanging around entrepreneurs and you think, well, this is exciting and inspiring. And one day I'd like to start my own business. But for now, I'm just enjoying being in support roles for those types of people. Then I finally started my own business in 2016. To do the same sort of thing, giving help and advice and signposting and matchmaking to startups and small businesses. Yeah. Uh, then COVID came along, pandemic came along, um, had to take a bit of a sideways route and moved into recruitment for a couple of years. Left that in December and I'm back doing what I love doing, which is working with startups and small businesses, helping them to grow. and running events again, which we could talk a little bit more about the events that I've done in the past and what I'm doing. Sure.

Vicki: 2:55

Sure. Well, I know you're a huge collaborator. And when we met, gosh, it must've been about 15 years ago now, Paul, when I was teaching and also I've been in the ecosystem in the Northeast as well. And you are a huge supporter of startups and growing businesses, and especially with students as well. Talk to us a bit about your events that you've got coming up. And you did used to run the, all the startup events in the Northeast as well, but you're now, you've rebranded a bit. Tell us a bit more about that.

Paul: 3:23

Yeah. So you're right. I was actually looking before it was, it was probably about 15 years ago when I first met you. And then 10 years ago, I think when you left college in the Northeast of England, which is where I'm based, I can't believe it's been that, that long, actually, since then. But I remember when I, when I met you just straight away, I thought we clicked and I Oh, this lady really gets it and she's, um, on the same wavelength when it comes to helping startups and small businesses. Yeah, going, going back in time. So a lot of the roles that I was doing before, I was looking at, I was traveling a lot around the UK and, and helping to map out startup ecosystems and thinking, okay, well, why, why is that city doing so well versus the Newcastle or Gateshead or the Northeast of England? I wanted to try and bring some of that experience back. To the northeast. So I started getting involved in quite a few meetups and mentoring and coaching and even sponsoring some events to the large businesses that I was working for. But then I was kind of waiting for someone else to to come up with the idea of running a big, uh, event. Big event and no one was doing it. I think I suggested it to a few people, no one did it. So when I finally started my own business, I thought, well, I'm going to do it. I'm going to, so I created a five day, five night multi venue citywide start a week festival in, uh, 2017. And the first two had just over 600 people attended. And then the third one had just over 800 people, which was amazing to bring everyone together in one place. Even though I say so myself, I might be biased, but people still say they were pretty special. And then along the way, I started doing monthly events as well called Founders Friday, and they were bringing together between 50 and 80 people every month and trying to keep that momentum going all year round. I mentioned before COVID came along, spent a bit of time in recruitment. I've left recruitment to go back to do my events and consultancy and coaching, and I've I've taken what I've learned from the monthly events and I've rebranded it as platform because I'm creating a platform for, for businesses, startup, small businesses, it's literally next door to the train station. And, uh, if you look at the logo, which is PL underscore T F O R M, the underscore looks like a platform and the, and the PL or my initials, Paul Lancaster. So. A lot of thought goes into it, I like. Oh, it's

Vicki: 5:47

fantastic. And I know, I know you, you come across as so humble, Paul, but you have, you've won awards for your collaborations and pre COVID as well, of all of the stuff that you did, the great work in the Northeast of bringing businesses together and bringing the ecosystem together. I think that was pretty, pretty awesome what you did. And I know Placervault's really taken off so

Paul: 6:08

far, hasn't it? Yeah, I'm, I'm really pleased with how well it's going because last year I was, I was really missing what I, what I've been doing before, uh, moving into recruitment and recruitment was good. I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it and I loved what I was doing before and I love what I'm doing now, but, uh, I was having a lot of conversations with people and probably on a weekly basis, I was getting asked once or twice a week saying. Do you not fancy doing your events again? They were really good and there's a need for them and you know, we miss them. So I guess the momentum was building inside me. We're talking about the momentum mindset, but the momentum was definitely built inside me. And I'm not just saying it because we're on this podcast, but I read your book as well. Little things like that added to the momentum, you know, and got me thinking again about what I wanted to do, what I thought I was best at. And yeah, and then I decided that now is the time to bring some events back and fingers crossed, touch wood, everything's going really well and yeah, we're getting the first one I did in January had 80 people there and the one last month had just over 70 and I'm expecting similar numbers for this, this month and every month. That's fantastic.

Vicki: 7:15

Do you think that it could be something that could go nationwide in the

Paul: 7:18

future? I mean, potentially there's no reason why it couldn't happen in any city, but I think where my strong point and where my passions are, it's the Northeast. So I'm already considering doing platform events in, in other parts of the Northeast, but the, the startup week event that I did, I have rebranded that a little bit. I've dropped the new castle from it and I've changed it to UK startup week. Yes, I saw that. Cause I could potentially run a start a week event anywhere in the UK, but yeah, I'm, I'm keeping my options open, but for now it's, it's Newcastle in the Northeast that I'm, that I'm

Vicki: 7:51

mostly. And speaking of startups, I mean, I know I'm now in my fifth business that I've had. And interestingly enough, when I was reading your backstory, I didn't realize you're an electronic dance DJ and producer. Like, as you know, I was a DJ

Paul: 8:04

as well. Yes, you were a DJ.

Vicki: 8:05

Yeah, especially for music and, um, being Geordian, maybe it's the, it's the Geordian us that the music site as well. But going back to startups, do you see common trends now, particularly post the pandemic? of where do you see some, where's the biggest challenges for startups? And also for businesses that have been in business for like two and a half, three years, do you see there's, there's different challenges or are there some similarities between what's happening in the ecosystem with regard to like problems that businesses are facing?

Paul: 8:37

Yeah, I think businesses of all sizes that struggle to find customers or clients and they don't know where to go to find them. I do genuinely think there's a massive need for in person events, networking. I've definitely done very well in my career through the network that I've built up online and offline. So yeah, like business development. Networking, creating opportunities, signposting, matchmaking, people still struggle with that. I think there's been such, obviously such a focus of moving everything online. Yeah. And yes, obviously you can do a lot online, digital marketing, social media, but you still need people to connect on a human level. And people are missing that. And I think pre lockdown it was still hard, but it was a bit easier because you kind of knew where to find people. You could go to more events, good events, small events, big events. You could, you kind of knew where people hung out. I mean, Where do people hang out these days? Like, a lot of people are working from home. So that's more challenging. Like, you know, if you're trying to get any sort of, um, momentum, again, that, that, that word, um, or critical mass around what you're doing, well, you could knock on everyone's door, but people don't hang out in the same places anymore, which makes it even more challenging. And when you're a starter, you might have a great idea. But you often don't have a customer. And even when you have got customers, you're always looking for more bigger ones or better ones than what you've had before. And if you're a massive company, you're probably selling to small businesses or, or consumers. So, uh, yeah. I

Vicki: 10:08

love the fact on your LinkedIn, I'm, I'm watching what you're doing and, you know, and you're, you're really a massive advocate and you're working with lots of businesses in Sunderland at the moment as well, aren't you? And helping them you. grown scale, which is fantastic. So it's great to see what you're doing there. Do you work with a certain industry or is it mainly small to medium businesses you work

Paul: 10:27

with? So for most, most of the work that I've done with the start of a small business, it's been Eddie. Any sector in any industry, and even the startup week events that I was running were for anyone. I wanted it to be for anyone who could tap into that. But the word startup does tend to get associated with tech or digital. Yeah. So I'm aware of that. Like, it doesn't matter how often I would say it's for any sector in any size business, and that it wasn't just for tech and digital. People still think, think that way. And Personally, I'm probably more interested in tech and digital and creative businesses. That's just my personal interest and one of the most experience of working in those types of businesses, or I've been in roles where I've done digital marketing or social media for tech or digital businesses. And you touched on being a DJ as well. I was, I was a semi professional DJ producer many years ago. So I'm drawn to art and culture and music and that type of thing. But the work that I'm doing now and have done for years, it's any, any sector. I just get inspired by people who have the ambition and the energy and the ideas to start something new. So I just love, I just love ideas and I love innovation and I love creativity. And I don't think there's anything more creative than being an entrepreneur. Yeah.

Vicki: 11:44

Well, you mentioned before about how small businesses sometimes struggle to connect with customers or build a business and get, you know, revenue streams going. What would you say to someone who has a fantastic idea, but it's still in their day job? And would you say, burn the boats and quit your day job and do it? Or, cause I guess you need cashflow there, don't you? How do you, do you see, do you hear from a lot of people or give advice about. That challenge between cashflow, but also putting your whole, all into something to make it really work.

Paul: 12:15

Well, I'm, I'm doing both at the minute, so, and I've done, I've done the burn the boats kind of situation as well. So when I first started my own business, it had been built up inside me for a long time, you know, I'd been in these roles where I was helping other people start their own business and I wanted to do my own thing, but I was in a role where they basically the funding ran out. I was, I was in a government funded program where. The funding ran out and everything changed and really what we set out to do, we couldn't do it anymore. So I did have the opportunity to move into a different role and continue, but it wasn't what I signed up for, if you know what I mean. And that was when I thought, right, well, I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm going to continue doing what I was doing before, but instead of the whole of the North of England, which is what I was doing, I'm just going to focus on the Northeast. And I'm not going to be relying on grants and funding. I'm going to be a commercial business where I'm bringing in the money so that I can do the things that are needed. So in sponsorship and ticket sales from the big events, but then doing a lot of free intangible stuff that was still valuable, if you know what I mean. Now that was. For me, that made sense, but it did put a lot of pressure on, obviously, because it was like, you just have to make some money this month. And thankfully I did, but it was not easy, you know, and it might have been, well, it would have been easier if I'd had a bit more money saved up. So I would say with hindsight, but not with hindsight, I did the right thing at the time. In an ideal situation, I would have had maybe two or three months cash saved up, at least one month's cash saved up because I didn't, I didn't have anything. But then some people talk about making the leap into self employment. I quite like the idea of straddling. a foot in both camps. Yeah. So there's nothing wrong with having a day job or a salaried role and doing your business in your spare time or alongside that. And that's actually what I'm doing at the minute is, um, when I decided to leave recruitment to go back into running my own business, that was the intention. I'm just going to quit my job, go back to running my own business full time. But then I had an opportunity to take on a paid role as well. And when I discussed taking on that role to them, I made it clear that my intention was to have my own business and I would to do the role they wanted me to do. I wanted to condense my hours. So I basically do Monday to Thursday on a program, a funded program in the Sunderland area in the northeast of England. And then every Friday is my day to do my business. And, and then I do other stuff, obviously on the evenings and a bit on weekends, but that's where I am at the minute. I'm, I'm doing both and I'm better. I'm better off that way. It takes a bit of the pressure off.

Vicki: 14:53

Absolutely. And I, I guess there's nothing worse than worrying about cash flow as well and where the next, you know, mortgage payment's gonna come from and stuff like that. But I know a lot of entrepreneurs I've worked with, it's like they do take huge risks and I've done it myself and, you know, it's, it's, it can be scary territory when you're looking at new markets or bringing in, you know, new products or services as well. There's, there's, but I guess that comes with, it's almost like freedom versus comfort, isn't it? Yes. When you're an entrepreneur, you want to do it because it's, it gives you the freedom to operate and do what you want to do. But I remember years ago, well, probably about six years ago. So I did both, I'd had my feet in both camps. And one of my kids, when they were younger, they said, mom, you know, why don't you go and get a proper job? And I said, but son, this is my proper job. I run my own business. And, you know, they were younger, they didn't understand at the time. And I said, son, you know, I'm building a business to live a life that some people, or most people can't. And, you know, it was a different way of thinking. But then again, I think different markets like, you know, for me coming back from being in Australia full time to working in the UK market now, they're very different, different markets and it's being able to adapt to change as well and help. And I mean, you've certainly been a huge supporter of Maypole in my building my business in the UK and internationally. And I remember having a chat with you. It was, I think it was just after my book was launched with Jonathan, the momentum mindset, which you've mentioned, and you'd read it and you're just a huge supporter and like to be there for startups or, you know, business owners, and you just, you know, what to say. And that's really important because even though I coach people in my line of business and you do in yours. I think we always need someone there behind the scenes to go, you know what, I've got your back, I believe in you and it's, it's really important. So, you know, thank you for that as well. I think that's really, and I remember you, you, you said to me, you gave me an example of, so you're, is it Twitter? Your name is Lord Lancaster and you have this different persona, don't you? Online, you were like, I can't remember what you said to

Paul: 16:56

me. We were talking about Beyonce. Yeah, you were like, you need to

Vicki: 16:59

bring out your

Paul: 16:59

Beyonce thing. You need to be Sasha, you need to be Sasha Fierce. So Beyonce has the alter ego called Sasha Fierce. Sasha Fierce. Which goes on stage. So you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Vicki: 17:09

No, I love that. And it just, I think going back to what you were saying about connections and having that community feel. It's so important when you're in business to have a network around you.

Paul: 17:18

Support network, yeah. People who can inspire you and support you.

Vicki: 17:23

Absolutely. Absolutely. So thanks for that. Um, so let's talk about, I guess, you talked a bit about your business, talked about helping other people. When you worked in teams or when you've worked with leaders and teams, do you think there's, what do you think the most common, the biggest mistake that leaders might make within the teams? Or have you seen it for your, you don't have to mention names of companies, but you know, what, what do you think the biggest mistake leaders make within the teams?

Paul: 17:48

That's a big question and I'm stalling. I'm stalling for an answer. Yeah. Well, that's okay. That's okay. I guess big mistake, maybe feeling like they've gotta have all the answers and or not discussing the problems with other people. Mm-Hmm.. So I can think of quite a few examples where there's, there's people who are like the c-suite, you know, they might be the CEO or the, or the CTO. And they haven't got anyone to talk to. They've not been in that situation before, especially if they're in a scaling business. And everybody's covered to them for the answers. And yes, they might know the answers from a technical point of view or a business specific point of view, but if they've not been in that situation before, then who does it go to for the answer? And it might not be the, the board. might not be the chair. So I have, there's some good examples of people who use external boards or peer networks made up of non competing people. So they do that in an official capacity, or you could do it informally. So I definitely think that people who bring in external advice or just discuss their problems with other people, I think that's really important for people to do. Yeah.

Vicki: 18:55

And I know I've been doing a bit of research recently around conflict in the workplace as well. And. I'm curious, you may have seen this in your career, I heard stories of people, um, do you sort of think, well, how would you handle conflict situations in the workplace or how would you advise others to handle those situations?

Paul: 19:14

Mm. People who are better qualified than me to do that. But, uh, it's usually comes from, well, lack of communication or a perceived threat. So one or both parties think that the other is. is threatening their position. Yeah. And often they're not. I mean, sometimes they are, sometimes they are in direct competition, but often they're not. Often it's just, it's the ego getting in the way or a bit of fear, you know, all the human, human emotions that people face. Uh, there was a guy actually speaking at one of my events recently who talked about how he'd been brought in to do a particular role. He'd done that very, very well. The company was growing really significantly as a result of the work he and his team were doing, but the guy who brought him in saw that as a threat. So for, for several years they were in opposite, opposite sides of the office and they never spoke to each other. They just, the guy who was already in the role needed that other guy. He couldn't get away was without that other guy. And the other guy wouldn't have been in that position if the other one hadn't given him that opportunity. So eventually they did. Come together and see the value in each other. But for a while it was, it was just difficult for them to appreciate each

Vicki: 20:32

other. Yeah, I reckon that was to being quite a. Well, toxic, but also draining environment to be in where you're working alongside someone, but you can't be like yourself. That must be really

Paul: 20:44

tough. Yeah, and it would have been difficult for them, but also the people around them as well. You know, that's very, very difficult for your team. But I've also been in situations where everybody appreciates each other. And yeah, you might not always agree, but you appreciate and value what each person can bring to the table. That's a much. Much better environment to be in and the project or the team just performs better as a result.

Vicki: 21:09

Because I guess, I guess with, you know, you help a lot with startups, but as those businesses are scaling, the team is so important in that synergy for them to be able to grow and scale. So it's having the awareness, isn't it? For them leaders to be able to take their business from startup to where it needs to grow and scale in the future as well. And, and sometimes I know from experience working with startups to larger organizations. The leaders might not necessarily be the right people after going from startup to that growth phase, and you might need to bring other people in to help with that team development as well. So, because I guess people have different skill sets, like you've got the ones who really want to start the startup, and then you've got ones who want to grow and nurture the team and build that in the future and grow it for scale.. Yeah. Do you find that, have you seen that before?

Paul: 21:55

Yeah, definitely. Definitely seen that. And it's, it's difficult to know when to step aside or move into a different role and that sometimes, yeah, the CEO or the founder might not be the best person to, to take a business forward and um, but then they might move into a chair role or, um, step out the business altogether. But yeah, it's, it's known when to do that is difficult for a lot of people. And I suppose it's probably better to leave on your own accord than to be pushed out. So I remember going to an event a few years ago, actually, where the guys running it were saying it was all about how to build a valuable business and preparing for your exit. And they're like, you will probably exit your business in some way. Eventually your business will either fail or you'll sell it or. You'll get ill or you'll die or you'll, or you'll move into a chair or like, like you will exit your business at some point. So you might as well start thinking about it now, like how do you want to do that?

Vicki: 22:49

I've spoke to a few entrepreneurs who say you should always have an exit strategy, but then there's other ones who are like, this is my life. This is my business. Would you recommend an exit

Paul: 22:58

strategy? It's hard when you, when you start out, you can't think that far ahead because in that mindset, you're just trying to get things going. And yeah, I mean, it's nothing wrong with thinking it's sometimes, it's often said as a negative thing, like a lifestyle business, but the business has given you the lifestyle that you want. And it's meaning that you can do fun things that you enjoy doing and you're good at, and it's bringing you enough money to make you happy and allow you to do the things and give you freedom. Well, that's a great lifestyle to be. No, I wants to build a team and build a massive business and I actually don't have realized that I don't really want to build a team and have a massive business. I can add a lot of value in a business or working alongside someone that's running a business or a team like that, but I don't really want to build my own business like that. I want to add value to ideas and projects and businesses and organizations and be that connector that brings people together. Um, that's, that's what I'm good at.

Vicki: 23:55

I think there's, there's some gold there in terms of knowing what you want and not trying to be all things to all people as well and being clear from the onset of that's exactly what you want to do. And you're right, not everybody has to build a global scalable business. To fulfill their own needs as well and have that lifestyle business, there's nothing wrong with that as well. It's having the freedom to be able to do what you want to do. And I know when I've scaled businesses in the past, the worry for me was, is not being able to spend the quality time with my children that I wanted to because I wanted to build a business and have the life with my kids that. Some people couldn't because I was going to work hard and do it. I also didn't want to not see my children. You know, that was the thing. So as much as I was prepared to work 60 plus hours a week and more, I didn't want to not see my kids. And that's, that's, I think is the danger as well is I guess you get out what you want to put into it and having that balance. So, but let's, let's talk about mindset. So, what's the bravest or scariest thing you've ever

Paul: 24:57

done? Um, starting my own business was to some people was quite brave or maybe stupid to me. It wasn't. It was just a natural next step. And it's something that I've been thinking about doing for a long time. So it just made perfect sense, but still not having that safety net, I guess, was quite scary. Pressure was on then. It was like, all right, I kind of actually do what I think I can do for you. Um, and then doing the first starter week event, you know, that was. pretty scary because I had the idea and I was convinced it would work and I manifested it, I made it happen and everyone, I don't know, I think that when you really believe in something and you put a lot of effort into it, that does create a lot of energy and momentum around what you're doing and people want to be part of that. So, yeah, I was just so sure that I was going to make it work and that there was a need for it. And thankfully there was. So, uh, but yeah, I remember thinking on the day, even though I'd spent 11 months organizing it and people have bought tickets and everything, the fear that people wouldn't actually turn up, even though I knew tickets, enough tickets had been sold, but once people started coming through the door, then I relaxed and it was, uh, it was all plain sailing after that. But yeah, I don't know, maybe, maybe having kids is pretty scary, you know, on a more personal note. Yeah. I'm the type of person who I think I do think things through quite a lot. I think things through quite deeply, but I think to the outside world, it might look like I've made a quick decision. Do you know what I mean? I do. I do have lots of conversations. I do a lot of research in my own head or in my own time. And then once I'm convinced that it's going to work, then I'll just, I'll just make a quick decision. Yeah. But to other people, that's like, Oh, that's a surprise that you've done that.

Vicki: 26:38

Okay. So what would you say? Are you fearful of anything? Not

Paul: 26:43

really. Not really. I think the only thing I'm sometimes a bit worried about is not fulfilling my potential. That's the only thing that I'm a bit afraid of, but what it, you know, that's just my own, my own, uh, my own head. It's, I can, I also know I can do whatever I want. If I put my mind to it, I can achieve, if it's humanly possible, I can do it, but it's just my own thoughts will just get in the way. And I know that I've done amazing things when I've been single minded enough or believed in it enough. I've done amazing things. So you're

Vicki: 27:16

quite a strategic thinker in terms of your, your thought process

Paul: 27:20

around. I think you're the first person who's ever called me a strategic thinker, but yeah, probably.

Vicki: 27:24

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I know. Look, I kind of, I kind of not talk about the book because we're talking about mindset. And as you know, I wrote the book with Jonathan about the momentum mindset. What was your favorite part of the book, Paul? And what, what would you say was, well, your biggest takeaway? I mean, I did,

Paul: 27:39

I did enjoy all of it, but I liked, I liked his style. I liked the style, the writing style, just very relatable, very human and honest. I think it was the honesty that I, that I liked the most about it. But I mean, I did read it when it was about a year ago when I read it. So I should have reread it. No, no, that's fine. It's been, but what I, I'll tell you, it, it was the right book at the right time. So I do, I dunno, I believe in serendipity and I believe in things happening for a reason, or it was, I needed to read that book at that time. Yeah. And read it. It definitely added to the momentum of, of, and I, I often talk about positive triggers and I think that was a positive trigger for me too. Yeah. What I knew I needed to do and wanted to do. And reading that book just reminded me why I wanted to do what I was

Vicki: 28:28

doing. Thank you. I mean, I know for me, sometimes I occasionally go and pick up the book and I'll open it just at a random chapter. And it's almost like, I need to hear that right now. Like there's certain things, like one of the sections was around being the CEO of your own life. And I truly believe. It is about taking action, but like you having those strategic thoughts and knowing what you want. And really thinking about it, knowing what lights you up, knowing what your values are, knowing yourself. So I talk about in the book about knowing yourself first, and obviously Jonathan brings his flair into it as well and his life experience, but then putting yourself on that path and trajectory to get what you want and take an action. I think the biggest thing for me was the whole book was around, if someone read the book. They can then take action on whatever it is they want to do and not everybody is going to be, you know, a multi millionaire wanting to have a global business. That's, that's, for some people it might be getting up on a morning is actually a goal, you know, and I've heard lots of people who've read the book and who've been a bit depressed or they've had things going on and it, it has helped them in a positive way. So, but I do appreciate you coming to the launch in Newcastle when I had that last year, it seems crazy. It's actually coming up a year now.

Paul: 29:42

Is it? Wow. Yeah. Well, yeah, it would have been, it would have been about a year ago when that happened. And yeah. And when I think back this time last year, I was, I needed it.

Vicki: 29:51

But you wrote your own book as well. Let's not be humble.

Paul: 29:54

Well, I did a long time ago, but it's not as good as your book. So, uh, Well, well, it

Vicki: 29:59

was in 2013, wasn't it? It was small business marketing for dummies published by Wiley. So that's pretty

Paul: 30:05

epic. Yeah, so that, I mean, that's, I think that's a good example of where, just cause I've been putting myself forward for things, basically Wiley, it was the, I think it was the 20th or 25th anniversary of the four dummies titles. So that, you know, they're quite famous, the yellow and black books and it's, it could be podcasting for dummies or videos for dummies or whatever. And it was the anniversary and they did a bit of a road show. So they came to Newcastle and they had a good trailer. Like a stage on next to grace monument, and they got in touch with the council and said, look, we're going to be here. Can you recommend any people to come along and give some business advice? And because I was known to the council, they're like, Oh, Paul's good to ask Paul if you'll do something. So they invited me along to do some sort of life workshop type things. And because I got on well with the team, they said, Oh, we've got an idea. We've got a book, which is only available in America, but we'd like to have an English version of it. It needs updating. It needs some new chapters written. It needs anglicizing. Would you be up for it? And of course, I just said, yes, of course. Like, cause I, But I didn't really know, I'd never done that before. Anyway, six months later, published it, but I feel like I've cheated a little bit because there was already a book there and there was a source material to start with and I didn't write it completely from scratch. But I am still proud that I've written that book because there's a good few chapters in there that were completely original and every line's been updated slightly or it's been anglicized. And actually, if you read it, there's a lot of references to Newcastle in the Northeast and Even Sage and other local businesses. So if you read a copy and you were from the Northeast, you would, you might recognize a few things, uh, that were in there.

Vicki: 31:48

Nice. No, that's wonderful. So what advice would you give to people who are maybe feeling a bit stuck at the moment? And who maybe can't get out of negative situations and want to live life on their terms, but they're just finding it difficult. What would be your advice

Paul: 32:02

to them? Change the environment that you're in. So, that may possibly is, like, spending a bit of time with some different people, going to some events, might be an online event or an in person event, but yeah, just, just, If you're feeling a bit stuck, like move and put yourself in a situation where you're around with other like minded people or situations that are going to inspire you and get you thinking differently. And that is definitely one of the reasons why I wanted to do my events and continue wanting to do my events because it's worked for me when I've gone to events and I've been inspired and I've been around other similar like minded or entrepreneurial or creative people. It gives me a buzz and gets me excited and it gives me energy being around people like that. So I definitely see that as like a positive trigger. I think a lot of, a lot of people start a business in a negative starting point. Like sometimes people will lose their job or something bad happens in their life, or, you know, there's often you come across people that are starting from a low point and that's hard. I mean, starting a business is hard, but if you're already feeling tired and run down and a bit depressed, that's even harder. So I think I want to try and put people in a positive state of mind so that ideally when they're, when they're already feeling good. That's when they want to start their own business. Yeah. So, yeah, I think if you can anyway, try and try and put yourself in more positive situations.

Vicki: 33:28

I love that. I love that. And taking yourself out of the environment that you're in and being able to flourish around other like minded, inspiring people. So which is why your platform events are so important in the Northeast and I'm really excited to come to your next one, hopefully at the end

Paul: 33:43

of this year. Yeah, 22nd of March, but even, you know, even books, I love books. Books can transport you literally in your head to a different place. And if you can't physically get somewhere or you, or you just can't find the time to do an online thing, pick up a good book or listen to some music. Like, you know, talk about music before music has the power to completely change your mood. I know you do a lot of coaching, I was starting to start doing a bit of coaching during the lockdown, I've continued doing a little bit of it. I almost always ask people what music they listen to, and a lot of the time the people who are feeling a bit stuck don't listen to any music. And one of the things I'll say to them is, right, I'll get them to talk about music and I'll get them listening to music. And then the next time I speak to them the following day, they're like, I felt so much better. I was in, I was in a much better mood and I felt lighter and I was excited and I hadn't listened to that thing in years. So yeah, I think listen to some music or read a book or maybe

Vicki: 34:41

do some karaoke. Yeah, definitely. Maybe when I'm back in the Northeast, we'll have to do karaoke. Final question. What does success look like for you in the future?

Paul: 34:52

I mean, I am really enjoying what I'm, what I'm doing now. I'm definitely feeling really fulfilled again. I feel like I'm making a difference again. I feel like I'm fulfilling my purpose, I suppose, and making good use of my skills. And that's something I want to continue doing. I think going forward, like I'm enjoying the events. I want to build the events, keep doing them, probably build it up to be in another big event, whether that's startup week or the platform conference or platform festival. Yeah, but yeah, I'm going to keep doing the monthly events. Probably do a big, another big event again in maybe April or May next year. I've said it out loud, so it's definitely happening now. I've manifested it. Um, and then in the next couple of years, I would like to get more involved in investments. So angel investor, that's something that I'd like to move towards. And, um, I think I'm a good talent spotter. So I get quite a lot of investors coming to me saying, who should we be looking at? Like, what interesting ideas are out there? And I get businesses in, do you know any investors we should talk to? So I'm often that person in the middle. And until recently, I wasn't monetizing that. I was just like connecting people and yeah, yeah, as I could and because I liked helping people. But I think there's definitely a role there where, whether it's, Getting paid a small fee or making that connection or in an ideal world, being the actual investor because I'm getting, for whatever reason, people are coming to me because they value my judgment or my insights and that's happening to my network. So if I had to build up some more reserves or whether I build a little syndicate of angel investors, I think that's, that's something I would like to do. Fantastic.

Vicki: 36:28

Well, I, I wish you all the best of luck with that, Paul, and I'm really looking forward to attending one of you events in the near future. So you're on LinkedIn and people can find you on there and as, are you on as Paul Lancaster

Paul: 36:40

or Lord Lancaster? Well, I'm Paul Lancaster, but all my social media channels is Lord Lancaster. Yeah, yeah. As you do, as you do. Uh, so I, I think you know this anyway, but when I was in school, I wanted to be a DJ and, and I thought. At the time, I thought that was a cool name. It's not a cool name, but it stuck. Is that your DJ name? No, I never used it. But, uh, in the end, but before I was a DJ, I thought, do you remember Judge Jules? Of course I do. Yes. It was right about the time I said, oh, Judge Jules, Lord Lancaster, quite like that. The other one, the alternative was DJ Storm kicking up a hurricane.

Vicki: 37:14

Nice. Nice. It's a bit like Stormzy, isn't it? If you were too far ahead for your time at the time. Maybe Lord Lancaster or DJ Storm might make a comeback next year at the Startup event.

Paul: 37:27

Well, that's, that's, yeah. I could jump on the decks as well. Yeah, we need to go back to back. That's it.

Vicki: 37:33

Hey, we've got a little show there. A performance show. Well, thank you so much, Paul. I'm always inspired chatting to you. I really appreciate you coming on the show. And if anybody wants to reach out to you, you're on LinkedIn, you're on all the socials as well, Lancaster, and I wish you all the very best helping lots of startups and small businesses grow and scale in the Northeast and

Paul: 37:54

beyond. Thanks, Peggy. Really enjoyed. doing that. And thanks again for writing your book. It genuinely was a big inspiration for being a positive trigger for me to get back to doing what I love. Thank you.

Vicki: 38:04

I'll pass it on to Jonathan too. Thanks very much, Paul. Cheers.