Johnny Palmer: The Power of Personal Responsibility to unleash your Inner Entrepreneur

Join us on board a real Boeing 727 as we dive deep into the mind of a passionate business leader, entrepreneur, and activist, Johnny Palmer.

From software to hospitality to renewable energy, he has built multiple successful ventures and now shares his blueprint for success with you.  Are you ready to join the ride?

We discuss his core values of disruption, growth, and sustainability, the importance of delegation and trust, the benefits of building a support network, and the challenges of dealing with loneliness in business.

Key Takeaways

- The importance of taking personal responsibility for one's actions and outcomes, viewing every challenge or failure as an opportunity for learning and growth. 

-Johnny's blueprint to go from idea to execution and how to nurture embryonic concepts

-The power of collaboration, leadership, and delegation, suggesting that success in business involves trusting and empowering others, having a clear and energetic vision, and being open to the chaos that can lead to innovation.

Have questions about this episode? Ask our hosts, chat now via our website

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Oh this would be controversial. I'm sowing a seed of like, here's what might be possible. Here's a few resources in his sometimes a half baked or bad idea. And then people scratch their heads and they solve it into being a good idea. You're listening to founded and grounded with Ollie collard and Laura Rawlings. The podcast brings you the honest realities of startup life. If you're a founder or aspiring entrepreneur, this is for you. We know running a business can be lonely and tough at times, and we want to help you get ahead with simple tips and sound advice. Every fortnight we hear inspiring stories from an early stage business owner who's only a couple of steps ahead of you, talking about what they've learned. And as your hosts, we share our own insights and experiences as founders. So you can apply this to your own business. Hello, welcome to the founded and grounded podcast with me, Laura Rawlings, and business startup coach, Ollie collard Ali, how're you doing?

Ollie Collard: 1:16

I'm very well, Laura. I'm very relaxed. Actually, I went away weekend, which is very relevant to founded and grounded actually, because they're going to be our next guest. So it's a company called unoaked. And basically, they started over in Australia, branch down in New Zealand now in the UK, and they do nature cabin retreats, to get people back out into nature and reconnecting and thinking creatively, and all of that great stuff.

Unknown: 1:45

Excellent. And unoaked. It's unusual to hear that is such a rural term, isn't it? Anyway, we will talk about this more, but judging by your face, the results look good, so that they'll be happy. As are you in terms of who we've got today, then. So who is our featured entrepreneur today?

Ollie Collard: 2:05

So we've got an interesting chap named Johnny Palmer, who has got multiple various different business interests, so I can't list all of his businesses, but he will do a good job of explaining them all. And yeah, really blown away by how incredible all of his different visions are and interests and how they all interlink as well,

Unknown: 2:25

absolutely. Well, let's start there, shall we? Let's begin by getting Johnny to tell us more about his businesses.

Ollie Collard: 2:35

Good morning, Tony, thank you so much for coming on the founder and grounded show. It's an absolute pleasure to be here at picture on board your Boeing seven to seven. Thank you for joining us.

Unknown: 2:45

Thanks for having me. I'm very excited about the chat we're going to have today. Awesome, Johnny.

Ollie Collard: 2:49

So you're best described as a business adventurer, and activist. You've got interests ranging from stopping river pollution, harnessing renewable power, a production company, a commercial property portfolio, a manufacturing and incubation space, a glamping business And for good measure a whiskey company. Can you give us a quick whistlestop tour of all of your various business interests?

Unknown: 3:16

Yeah, they're diverse. They're all driven by a desire for adventure. And I think business is the best way of creating positive change in the world. So I love business and its ability to get things done, Jordan to tell you through the different things I do, fine. So software we founded in Telugu during lockdown as a streaming platform, which is still trading Now, despite quite a few people in that space. Having faded away. renewables, we've got Bristol's biggest off grid power station, which we're now getting certified so we can roll those solutions out to other commercial property owners and TV broadcasts, we've got the virtual venue and we're launching studio seven, which is a new soundstage for TV and broadcast to serve the southwest region of the UK in events pitch, which is a production company which I'm probably best known for which is a pretty pretty pretty major operation these days. I mean the accommodation space lunar domes look it up which is a series of Geodesic Domes we have down in Kent hopefully going to open up a Bristol site soon Fingers crossed. And then property I'm lesser known part of my work but probably where most of my income and wealth is which is Scotland Park, the industrial estate we're on right now and a stable block on the other side of town. And then we do some stuff in manufacturing, making flight cases and signage for live event clients. So quite a quite quite a broad spectrum of activities and projects are

Ollie Collard: 4:32

the whiskey company because there's an interesting story behind that.

Unknown: 4:35

Yeah, whiskey company Yeah. Ah, long version short version medium version, short version short version bought a Boeing seven to seven read up about seven to sevens guy called DB Cooper. Hijack 277 After drinks and whiskey and I thought what a great story. Someone must have branded his name they hadn't so I trademarked DB Cooper whiskey in the UK in the US, and I've now got a contract distiller out in Wales for bottling up the DBQ Per whiskey, which there will be 1100 bottles of a no more.

Ollie Collard: 5:04

Fantastic. Well, hopefully we get to sample some of that here on founded and grounded.

Unknown: 5:07

Yeah, yeah. Well, we can do that at 1040 in the morning, okay.

Ollie Collard: 5:11

Why not? Why not? Excellent Johnny. And in terms of these different various business interests, they may appear potentially random or unconnected, but they're, they're really tied together by your three core values, which are disruption, growth and sustainability. So what do these values mean to you?

Unknown: 5:30

Okay, So sustainability is used a lot to talk about environmental stuff. That's only one part of it. It's about being able to do what you're doing now forever. Can you run a business where you're burning fossil fuels for your energy forever? No, you can't? Can I run a business that uses solar power and stores it to heat their premises and power our operations? Yes, I can't. That's sustainable. Likewise, disruption. I think that if you enter a sector, which has already got established incumbent players, your opportunity to dominate is very, very low. You need to either disrupt existing sectors, or find new ones better still create new ones. So that's the disruption piece. And what was the third one sustainability disruption? Growth? If you aren't growing, you're shrinking. You're not going to last long. If you're shrinking by 1% a year that's only going in one direction. So you've got to grow to

Ollie Collard: 6:17

well said there, Johnny. And Johnny, I just want to rewind back to your childhood. You were born in a Tasmania on a rural farm. How was that kind of really influenced the person you are today?

Unknown: 6:28

Yeah, my upbringing in Tasmania, beautiful place Tasmania, I'm quite lonely as a child, I'm probably a bit sort of passively neglected, just left to my own devices a lot, very poor. So what I learned was, money matters. Without it, it's hard to get stuff done. I also learnt being a fall in the middle of nowhere, that you've got to deal with what you've got in front of you, you're responsible for yourself, and you can't rely on other things or other people. So you've got to be independent. And that has fundamentally informed nearly everything I do throughout my career, independence, personal responsibility, having resources and that money does matter a lot.

Ollie Collard: 7:03

And it sounds like you've taken responsibility for your own life and happiness. And money is something that you've not struggled with, because of that, taking that responsibility.

Unknown: 7:12

Oh, I've tried to take responsibility have I struggled, I'm sure I have a lot, but I just, you know, take personal responsibility. So things aren't going well. Don't blame other people deal with it, Johnny, get your act together, learn more, build more, grow more, whatever you got to do sorted out and move on. So again, that gives me a resilience that enables me to deal with most stuff just by taking personal responsibility.

Ollie Collard: 7:32

Love it. And we were having a tour of your Skyline Park industrial unit here in Bristol and brislington. And I was very impressed with all of your visions for all of the various interests in terms of your businesses, but also how much you care about the finer detail on the minutia AI, how do you how do you concentrate on the big picture and the finer detail?

Unknown: 7:52

They're the same thing. You know, if I'm talking about building up a new, amazing tech incubator facility, one Skyline park where you were earlier, come on down, if you're in the area, I can't think about that strategically and creatively if I didn't take a granular interest in the type of bolts we're using. And the way we cut bits of metal, what paints we're using, it all matters, because otherwise, you just got a fluffy vague vision for me a vision can only be full when it really gets granular on really, really minor details. In fact, it's a minor details that inform the Big Vision

Ollie Collard: 8:24

loves actually moving on slightly to I'm really impressed with your how you go from an idea to execution. So what's your blueprint from going from idea to execution?

Unknown: 8:36

I'm very varies. If we take the two ones that are embryonic right now, which is probably more or more your audience, a lot of it's being egged on you know, I put an idea out there like Oh, guys, I thought maybe we could, you know, get some whiskey stuck in a bottle, put label on it. Or another concept I'm working on right now is Hey, guys, let's build a forest health spa. And then I put that out into the world. And then if it's a good one, I find that my friends so called friends and family start egging me on. And they're often the ones which are worth doing, are the ones driven by maybe a desire to disrupt sometimes from a place of anger and frustration. I for example, I don't like that we're buying oil from countries that are pretty dubious, and then using it to burn destroy our planet and get energy. So I'm like, basically, can I swear? I'm like, fuck you. I'm not using your fucking energy. I'm going to make my own. Yeah. So it comes from a place of anger and disruption, that I want to do my own things. So the origins of my projects vary quite a lot. Other ones like commercial property, it was an intense dislike of industrial landlords, I can't stand you people aren't gonna do this myself. So sometimes not from a very positive place.

Ollie Collard: 9:43

But it's about taking that frustration and putting it into your own hands and making things happen. Ultimately,

Unknown: 9:49

yeah, personal responsibility. I think I can do this better than you. Invariably most of us can do things better than the person who's doing them badly. And then yeah, just getting on with it really.

Ollie Collard: 9:59

And talk to me bout some of your Power Solutions here at the industrial park. I know you've got a, an a free EPC for an industrial unit, which is quite unheard of. So talk to us a bit about what that entails.

Unknown: 10:11

Yeah, so an EPC is an energy performance certificate. It's basically how good is your building for energy and an A three is you don't get much better except maybe an a tour and a one they don't exist. The reason that came about was I bought this industrial facility, which is borderline derelict, refitted it and in the process, it was just obvious that our energy standards need to be really high. That means good insulation, good lighting, and a massive renewable power system. So we've got this enormous solar power rig on the roof and a huge battery storage system. And I mean, big, I mean, like in November, we barely use any grid power whatsoever. It's really big, really oversized. And that's given the company pitch in the in that property, a level of financial resilience that its competitors won't have. So when others are suffering from the energy crisis, we just don't care because it doesn't affect us, then it goes on to the point we can give away our energy to anyone who drives an electric vehicle plug in have energy for free. So we go from being like, small sort of fear based thinking of like, Oh, my God, the energy crisis through to being generous, and we only give away one of the most valuable commodities there are right now.

Ollie Collard: 11:14

Fantastic, John, I love it. And in terms of maybe an outsider looking in, I see kind of leadership, delegation and collaboration, probably at the heart of all of your ventures. Can you name a number one skill in each of those areas? So that's collaboration. First of all,

Unknown: 11:34

okay, collaboration. You're not You're not that smart. None of us are, you should be employing people who are smarter than you in their respective areas, or at least have things there are better you at that at. So you need to say, here's a vision, here's an idea, and get get their thoughts and input into that conversation with humility so that people can say, I think you're wrong, or we can do this better, or we can do it differently. But also filter that with knowing if people are just being naysaying or they're just injecting their own negative or past traumas into a conversation. So collaboration, basically, listen to people take them for what they say, but also be damn good at filtering, why they're saying what they're saying. leadership, leadership, you'd have to ask the people I work with on that. I personally think and again, ask them, they're more qualified than me. I think having a strong vision is really important. And the energy to back it up matters a lot. And I think that certain people will gravitate towards that. And I think without that, there's no way I could do what I do at the scale that I do it.

Ollie Collard: 12:31

And the art of delegation.

Unknown: 12:34

This would be controversial. I think they when I say they, the people I work with would say the same thing. I think that I often create a sense of what would appear to be chaos, which then people run around after and fix. What's really going on though, is I'm sowing a seed of like, here's what might be possible. Here's a few resources and here's sometimes a half baked or bad idea. And then people scratch their heads and they solve it into being a good idea. So that's my slightly abrasive, chaotic version of delegation. A word about our sponsors. As a founder, cybersecurity isn't top of your priorities. Yet Alliance has identified cyber threats is one of the top three risks facing business globally. This is where Nova blue comes in. Its founder Steve Mason was technical director with GCHQ he was in charge of keeping the nation safe from cyber threats. He set up Nova blue to help keep businesses safe. Nova blue are offering founded and grounded listeners, a free cybersecurity health check. Simply go to Nova hyphen blue.co.uk forward slash podcast offer. Goodness me, there is so much in all of this Ollie. Let's begin by one of the most striking things that actually I kind of stayed with me after I'd heard your initial conversation. And that's about taking responsibility. And you know, something that runs through as a theme through your conversation with Johnny. So deciding to do something about it. It's not enough just to leave it and be irritated about it, but actually to take responsibility, get on and do what needs to be done. Which is something he's kind of done in an abundance. And there's been a background and the catalyst for many of his businesses. I don't think I've ever heard anyone sum it up in quite that way or with quite that sort of passion.

Ollie Collard: 14:31

Yeah, I mean, I was blown away by it, to be honest, Laura, like he is taking, you know, 100 110% everything that happens to him, he is saying, I am responsible for this. I've got control over it. I can make it happen. I'm not looking for anyone else to take blame or excuses. I am in charge my own destiny. And I'm just so impressed by this mentality. And obviously this has led to a lot of the successes that he's had along the way.

Unknown: 14:58

Absolutely, yeah, definitely. See, and it will be something that crops up again in a later part of the conversation. One of the other things he also talked about was just how he has these ideas, he'll share them amongst friends, they will kind of egg him on. Yeah, he'll just release his ideas into the world and just see one which flies, which requires the kind of a bit of bravery a bit of think believing that you could see it through if it actually comes to. But it's, it's always interesting when people say this, you know, lots of other people sit on an idea chicken on an egg waiting for it to hatch before it can come out. Whereas he's like, what about this? You know, it's like all the best ideas in the pub. And then suddenly, you've said out loud, and you have to do it.

Ollie Collard: 15:42

Yeah. And he just puts out these ideas and see what sticks ultimately with his close network of family and friends. And ultimately, he kind of manifests these ideas and actually makes them happen. And I think a lot of people, as you say, Laura, kind of sit on things, maybe talk about them, to very, very close friends. And ultimately, sometimes that's not going to make the idea happen, because you have to make it make it happen by making it real talking about it getting feedback. And what I love about it, he's not afraid to put out stupid ideas or what he may think is stupid, because ultimately the, you know, the biggest, boldest business ideas are often the ones that are a bit crazy.

Unknown: 16:20

Yeah, yes, that's very true. He also talks about delegation, you know, employing people who are smarter than him. And I know that's something that some people struggle with, with delegating. And then when I've looked around a room of founders, I've realised that those who are the most successful are successfully delegating lots of tasks. But that can feel hard, it can feel like you don't have enough money, you don't know who you can delegate it to. You don't know if someone will get what you're doing. I don't know, there are lots of reasons why that can feel tough, but in a way is absolutely what's required if things are gonna get off the ground, because you can't do everything.

Ollie Collard: 16:56

And I think Johnny 100% trust all of his staff that he employs. So like, he's not a micromanager. He's saying, right, this is your responsibility, you get on with it, or oversee it give the strategic direction, but I 100% trust in your ability to get this job done. And when I was there at Skyline park, there was about 20 staff on site. And I spoke to a couple of his, like, senior people, and they were just saying how great he was to work for, you know, they let them get on with things. And they just have that 100% trust between one another, which ultimately enables teams to build results. And I think that's why Johnny has been so successful, because he's not doing it by himself.

Unknown: 17:38

Yeah, cuz you just, you cannot, especially with that many different businesses. I mean, yeah. On that subject, though, there is still a risk with so many different interests, and busy family life as well that you could spread yourself too thinly. And that's one of the questions that you put to Johnny, has he ever found himself spread too thinly? Yeah, probably most most days of the week.

Ollie Collard: 18:04

Okay, love it, honestly. And how do you deal with that?

Unknown: 18:08

I'm being very concise with what really matters today. And what usually matters is health people relationships, and the commitments and responsibilities I've made, they have to come first, then creative pursuits come second, as long as I always focus on that things tend to work out well. But it's about keeping the promises and commitments to others always first, when they're okay, then I can go off and do crazy, silly adventurous stuff,

Ollie Collard: 18:33

man of your word. And yeah, it matters, doesn't it? Well, I've

Unknown: 18:36

tried really hard, you know, so really important to you know, make sure that you know, any commitment or even passive commitments to someone to get a project done, they need a resource, or I've got to deliver on something like some equipment or paying a bill on time or whatever I really, really focusing hard on do my absolute best to always deliver on my responsibilities to others.

Ollie Collard: 18:54

Love that, Charlie? And in terms of your all your business ventures, I'm sure there's been some failures and chaos as you put it along the way. Can you talk to me about a favourite failure so far? And what was the lesson that you learned from it?

Unknown: 19:09

Um, it's not contrived. But I'm just I just don't think in those terms. Honestly, I'm sure the people I work with have endless lists of things that probably photos and videos to prove it. I don't think in those terms, what I genuinely I know, that's such a cliche to say, I think about times I learned things. What's a big cock up? I mean, the amount of materials I've broken or things that have blown up, or relationships that have endless, it just doesn't end all the time. If I'm not having some kind of what some might call a failure every day. I'm just not learning. I mean, just today that we're talking about the size of bolts and those bolts went right because it wouldn't interlock with something else. You could call that a failure. But it wasn't I now know that an M 16. bolt on that application is not the right fit for the job. So it's about condensing those failures into a way that doesn't kill anyone doesn't lose too much money. doesn't upset too many people. And then you can learn from us. So I'm sorry that isn't out to the question, but I really do believe that and my brain is literally wired to not recognise the concept of failure. And I truly mean that.

Ollie Collard: 20:07

How do you How have you over the past developed that skill? Because people aren't born with that.

Unknown: 20:13

Okay, so if I don't know, let's think of if I try and build a renewable power system and I short out of battery, you get a face full of sparks, and a lithium ion battery catches fire. Yeah, first thing is see the funny side of it, look at it through an outside lens of like what you know, laugh at yourself, what an idiot. And then think, you know what, I didn't fail. Now I know about how to make a lithium ion battery blow up, that's really good to know. Now I know where the dangers are, how to mitigate them. And I've got a funny story to tell my mates.

Ollie Collard: 20:42

So it's not taking yourself too seriously. And also the power of reframing what you're doing.

Unknown: 20:46

Yeah, that does come from a place where you're making those mistakes and environment, you're not going to hurt someone or you're not going to lose too much money. That helps a lot.

Ollie Collard: 20:58

And Johnny, I'm sure you've got lots of people that you call when things aren't going to plan and people that you rely on in terms of your support network, who are those important people in your life,

Unknown: 21:07

lots of people. So most of my friends I talked to about everything, and I encourage them to do the same hold, I'm sure they get sick of hearing me talk. My wife, obviously, I get my kids in putting a lot of things. And then I've got a very broad network of mentors who are people I respect and admire who are amazing at what they do. And I tell them that you know, your whether you like it or not one of my unwitting mentors, and I'll be phoning you at some point. And I found that people love having their opinions asked, and the people I've got access to is just incredible. And I love it. When people come to me and ask advice, too. I think it's really under recognised as a valuable thing in building a network of mentors who are amazing, who can help you out and people do want to help you They really do.

Ollie Collard: 21:49

Have people listening who probably haven't maybe got that power or pool of mentors currently. How would you start that process and developing a bank of people that you can call upon?

Unknown: 21:59

Okay, so assuming most of your listeners have who who start up or pre startup? Yeah, chances are that chances are I'm not being judgmental that people around you are probably not the best mentors. Possibly, right. Don't look to the people down the pub for advice, okay? Unless you want to know about how to knock back more pints of beer. Look at who is the best in their sector? Ideally, once you know, and if you don't know, that's fine. So give me an example. What's one of the sectors so one of your people might be into, could be

Ollie Collard: 22:28

FinTech as an example. Okay, so

Unknown: 22:29

FinTech who are the rockstars in that world, I mean, straight away, I think the guys that set up stripe and the people that run Starling, right, send them a DM, they might be really interested in talking to you, if you can't speak to them, try and get through to the head developer at a bank in your region, you might be surprised you can get access to and if you can't get through to them, find out who the best coders or graphic designers or people that run network systems and target specific people and go for them treat it like hunting them down. I want to be in your world, I want you as a mentor, maybe I want to be your friend. There's nothing wrong with entering a relationship with absolute intent of what you want. And be honest about that. You might be surprised on how positive people are towards you. I would love it if some I don't know. 17 year old said, Johnny love what you do in this space? Could you please advise me I'd be 100% Let's meet up right now. Genuinely, I would. And I think most people like me the same.

Ollie Collard: 23:19

Love that. And we were talking earlier a bit about, you know, sectorial interest in terms of specific sectors and people meeting up we were talking about going a bit deeper than that and talking about connecting on a leisure and a recreational basis. And how important is friendships in business?

Unknown: 23:36

Ah, well, that's a Yeah, simple question, complex answer. I think that true true friends, and I probably have less than 10 I'd like to think probably more than five true friends don't give a shit about my business. And I didn't care about their businesses, we care about each other. But what happens in their life, their true friends, those those people are few and far between. If you have more than 10. That's amazing. Now, then there's then there's the other extreme people you just work with. And it's just about work, then there's everyone in between, which I think for me is 90% of the people in my life, friendship and business has a significant overlap on the spectrum. And I think are really valuable. I mean, people who are in business, and we talk about business, we don't do business together a valuable one of my best friends as a co founder, one of my companies. So I think it's really important to see relationships as a spectrum from pure friendship, no judgement, like family level stuff through to hardcore money business, and be mindful of where relationships are on that spectrum. And I think there's a real richness to that this idea of work life separation, I don't agree with because they all interlock with each other and they should if you're passionate about your work,

Ollie Collard: 24:43

great answer, Tony. And is that Daniel referring to your co founder at the glamping? Business? Yeah, what would Dan say about you

Unknown: 24:49

are denied Dan's Dan's awesome, hope you're listening, Dan. Dan's Great. Dan's an amazing creative man. Awesomely good at self growth. What would he say about me? I don't know. I have to ask him. Maybe get him on the show. He'd be a good one. She's good fun. Danis

Ollie Collard: 25:04

make a call after we've recorded this. Johnny, can you tell me about a specific moment where you've seriously doubted your own ability? And how you overcame that internal struggle?

Unknown: 25:17

Not I can't, I can't think of one. And that's not egotistical or arrogant. It's just like, again, I just don't think like that. If I'm faced with a situation where I'm truly for whatever reason, not able to do a thing, I'm going to reframe the thing or I'm going to skill up, it's back to personal responsibility, and that is so deeply ingrained within me, I die. I can't think of a situation where that's happened. Honestly, I can't

Ollie Collard: 25:41

love the honest answer. And then I think there's a lot to say about your positive mindset that in terms of what that's made you into in terms of a successful business person. Yeah. But

Unknown: 25:50

they'll probably would have been things where I thought I'd liked it and thought, well, actually, I'm probably not the guy to do this and move on Johnny, you know, like, I've tried coding, I'm not a good coder. But I've gotten a couple of guys I work with who are amazing coders. So it's a matter of reframing. And I wouldn't use the word pivoting. But reframing your expectations and getting different resources within your ecosystem to deliver on what your vision is, or adjust your vision a little bit. So fairly nothing sorry, kind of without. The first thing only to say from this bit is Johnny is so clear in what he thinks and what he does. And so when he talked about keeping commitments to others, let's pick that out as the first thing. You know, he, he sat back to responsibility thing, isn't it. But it sounded as though he is very clear, he has these commitments, and he sticks to them. And I don't know about you, but I mean, I have commitments, but sometimes it's hard to stick to them. Because I think I just need to just do this. And you'll understand partner, because you're really lovely. And you don't want to see me stressed. So you'll just say yes, that's fine, you can run a little bit late or whatever. But I sense with him, you know, the way to make all of this work is to keep your commitments to others and have a really clear boundary on that. Actually, yeah,

Ollie Collard: 27:11

I got the sense that Johnny is definitely a man of his word. So if he said something, you know, we're meeting at seven o'clock for dinner, then you better be sure that you're going to be there because he certainly is going to be, but I think a lot of it probably stems back to his childhood, where he said that, you know, he grew up on this farm, being left to his own devices, not having much money. And, you know, he knows the importance of money. And ultimately, he just makes things happen. So if he makes a commitment, be sure that he's going to stick to it. And I think, you know, this will transcend across his team. And it gives everyone confidence that if he says something, he's gonna make it happen. And I think that enables others to play at the top of their game as well.

Unknown: 27:54

It's true. And it's one of those things, it also means that as well as putting in a really clear boundary, people know where to connect with you as well, because they know that if it's not at that time, then it's at this point. And I think it can speed things up in so many ways. Often we think we're being more efficient by having slightly porous boundaries and commitments that can, you know, obviously, that's still important, but there might be the odd time, but it can actually make things far easier for every for everybody.

Ollie Collard: 28:25

I think so because there's that transparency isn't there. So I think, ultimately, you're not going to say something, if you're working for Johnny, if you didn't think 100% It was going to happen, because you want to be sure that it is going to happen. So I think having that that clarity is key,

Unknown: 28:41

talking of things that are deeply ingrained. He said failure can't help with that. Again, such a clear non negotiable outlook on failure, which is really, you know, very, very refreshing. It is only learning. I think that is stuff we all need to embrace. I mean, I often i I'm thinking about that, as I'm saying it thinking well do I mean that when we're, you know, no one dies as a result of my work? Would that be different? But no, actually, if you think about, you know, airline industry, the key thing, why they've been, you know, really good at reducing the number of accidents is that they learn they learn from things that go wrong. So actually, definitely, that is the way forward but such clarity again, on that there are many times only when I have learned things. This is what Johnny said to you, didn't he?

Ollie Collard: 29:33

He did. And I think it's a fantastic mentality to have. Because ultimately, if something goes wrong, he's just saying, Well, what was the key takeaway from that? What did I learn? I'm now grateful because I know x y Zed as a result of that bad thing happening. So it's just that really good reframing of that mentality, to actually making sure that either he's learning something upskilling himself, not making the same mistake twice. I think it's so refreshing to see that mentality from Johnny. And it ultimately goes back to his, you know, his character and his values and how much he really places an emphasis on that personal responsibility.

Unknown: 30:12

Do you think, in some ways that if you have got that sort of mindset, they're not, it also protects you emotionally a bit from the roller coaster? If you can not take it as, oh, God, I personally made this great big mistake I did that my decision making was wrong, you know, I lost that money, I shouldn't have hired that person. Do you see what I mean? You get all of the feelings about everywhere that you went wrong, rather than going. And this is everything that I learned and everything I would do differently. It does feel differently when you say it like that, doesn't it? You know, and there is a bit of protection from the emotional challenges of running a business by having that outlook as well as perhaps being faster to be more successful.

Ollie Collard: 30:55

And I think this is something that Johnny's inevitably learned over time, like, if something goes wrong, and he's not thinking 30 seconds later, what did I learn from it? He probably is now but when he started this transformational process of thinking about learnings, like you say it does protect yourself, because you can sleep on and say, well, actually, I'm going to remove the emotion from it. I'm going to think about this logically, what did I do wrong? I'm going to take personal responsibility for that. And this is what I learned. And this is how I'm going to do it differently next time. I think that yeah, it's just such a great way of thinking

Unknown: 31:29

really true, especially for bouncing back. Okay, on to the final part of your conversation together. And I'm sure this is a sort of episode where people are sitting there with a with a pen and paper thinking, Oh, that's a good point, I need to need to note that one down, stop and rewind. But in the final part of your conversation you were asking him about as his tradition, the future and looking ahead to the next five years and what that might hold. next five years. I don't think in cycles, that long, lat much shorter, the next three months are about making damn certain that all my work in progress is completed the TV studio, the stable block, phase two of Skyline Park, the incubator and the rest of it, which is a matter of months. Beyond that, I want to start bringing together all the skills and resource across all the industries, I've worked together to do some really epic projects. What I've done is cool, what's great and makes money. It's good on a solid businesses, but I want to do something much, much bigger scale, which is more culturally significant. Next, that brings in power events, media property, design everything together.

Ollie Collard: 32:34

So what does success look like for you?

Unknown: 32:36

Success for me is complex, lots of things. My physical and mental and social and financial health have to be good. That's to me like a hygiene factor. Then success beyond that is having rich in gauging inspiring interactions with people that make people laugh or smile or pull their hair out or cry Hello. I like I like intense kind of interactions, not for everyone. And then beyond that, it's about adventures, doing things that scare me a bit, or that reframe the way I look at the world. And then I also like to have very, very deep experiences like deep connection with my children, or times when I feel at one with nature. So yeah, moving parts, I think that you know, like life's are very turbulence, organic thing that's changing all the time. So there's not not a specific bullet points. It's all those things all happening at once all in different levels all the time.

Ollie Collard: 33:29

Now, Johnny, there's an opportunity for you to ask our listeners the question. So what would that be?

Unknown: 33:35

Okay, I'm gonna do this a bit differently from other people on your podcast, and I'm going to give a series of questions. The first one is, do you want to succeed? Think hard about that. Next question, is what does success mean to you? Is this money? Is this changing the world? Is it status or ego? Is it making a point to someone? Be honest with yourself about that, and really think about us? The next question that sequence is, are you prepared to do what it takes to achieve the kind of success you want? Now, if your success is significant, which it will be, it's going to involve doing some hard work? Be honest with yourself about are you prepared to do the hard work? Ask yourself those three questions. Be honest, reflect on it, build on that, and I guarantee you that will, to a large extent inform the next stage of your journey with entrepreneurship.

Ollie Collard: 34:36

Love that journey in terms of your family talks about your kids, their How do you manage the relationships with your family and all your business interests? How do you how do you keep on top of keeping both successful?

Unknown: 34:50

I'm in one part, I think of things as projects like being a good dad is a project. It's a project that requires an open heart and real connection and A lot of love, but it still is a project that requires time investment and effort. So I'll make sure that today I'm home at three o'clock. So I spend time with the kids, before I go and do whatever else I'm doing tonight. Same thing with my wife, you know, she insists every morning. For Kathy to be happy, we have to have our tea and coffee every morning, this morning. That was at 530. Because an early start other days it might be at seven. If alone we do that we reconnect, share ideas, have our chats have our arguments, whatever she's happy, right? And then that's the baseline. So then above that other things I have to do in business, it starts with fulfilling the responsibilities I've got to others, and just keeping all this stuff in order. Getting all that done right, then hopefully creating enough space where I can be creative and adventurous with other new projects. Does that answer the question?

Ollie Collard: 35:44

It definitely did definitely. Like that connection time with you and your wife. And wherever you're talking about goals, projects, whatever you're working on, or wherever it's having an argument. So yeah,

Unknown: 35:54

loves might be relevant to your startup crew, like if you know, like, You got to get the basics right before you kind of go off. And one, I heard this phrase many years ago, you need to the extent of your diversification needs to match the quality of your core competence, as in get the basics right, then you can flit off now being someone you've probably noticed is quite prone to doing lots of different things. I've got to be very disciplined on my personal responsibility to make sure these basic things in business and life are right. Otherwise, I'd be flitting around behalf building loads of stuff. And that would only go one way it would be absolute catastrophe. If that's all I did, so I've got to be very disciplined. I

Ollie Collard: 36:29

love that. And what are your non negotiables?

Unknown: 36:32

What with people or in life, in life? In life, I've got to be around good people who aren't out to sabotage each other or me. I've got to be healthy and body, mind and finance. I also it's not being on time is non negotiable. People who are late just aren't part of my life. It sounds harsh, but it's true. Yeah, I tell them my non negotiables and living a good life living a life that matters because we'll all be dead soon. Could we enjoy it?

Ollie Collard: 37:05

So true? For hours and weeks?

Unknown: 37:08

Is that how long we got? On average? Is that right? I reckon I've got about 40 years left in me and then like, so it's like, how do I want to spend that time? You know, and that informs every day? If I've only got so many days left? How do I want this day to be? Is it worth doing that thing? Is it worth being with that person? How do I Why would I feel in my body and mind that day? That question every single day?

Ollie Collard: 37:27

That's actually a key part of the founder and grounded podcast is asking all of our featured founders to distil down just one piece of advice that you'd pass on to either either somebody running a business or thinking of starting a business. What would that one piece of advice be 20?

Unknown: 37:45

Okay, so someone who receives and gives a lot of mentoring, I think advice needs to be given to someone when they're ready for it and advice is curated to the individual. So let's think General, what's a really general bit of advice that I can give to everyone? I would say that, the more you know about many things, the better you get at one thing, so when people want to narrow down and focus in one professional, whatever, not. So the more diverse you are in the way you live, and express and love and create is going to make you better at all of it. The more things you do, the better you get at all of them. That'll be my key bit of advice.

Ollie Collard: 38:21

I love that tronics there's a lot of talk out there about, for example, the one thing which is a book by Gary Keller talks about obviously focusing on that one thing, but what you're saying is, you want to get a overarching interest in lots of different things to make that one thing better.

Unknown: 38:37

Yeah. And I'll give you an example. That makes sense, right? Let's say you're a foot surgeon, you're the best foot surgeon in the world and you only do feet, would you maybe be a better foot surgeon. If you knew a bit about skin and kidneys and brain? Would it make you better or worse, better in one of my industries, event production AV people want to be just a sound engineer and I say do you think you'd be a better sound engineer? If you knew a bit about video better or worse? The answer is always better. It's obvious the more you know about everything the better you are at the one thing you really want to focus your energies on.

Ollie Collard: 39:06

So Johnny, I'm sure we've got lots of listeners interested to find out more about all of your different business interests. Where can people find out a bit more about what you're doing?

Unknown: 39:15

Ah, search me up you'll find all sorts of colourful stuff. But if you want to know one in particular thing I did a wipe last year my 2022 yt which is basically a video summarising what me and the team has been up to last year. So on YouTube, check that out. Or just have a poke around on the internet or if you're in Bristol because that's where we are right now. Give me a shout. I love visitors. I've shown people around a special I've been cool with setting up businesses and learning about their journeys. We've talked about me mostly here but normally these conversations the other way around, so I'd invite him to come on down come see the aeroplane.

Ollie Collard: 39:44

Amazing Johnny, thank you for that kind invitation. What are your interests outside of business?

Unknown: 39:50

Oh, lots of things. I'm getting into cooking. I'm not very good at it. I love I like walking my dog. I like running I like going to the gym. I love travel all the usual cliched stuff really?

Ollie Collard: 40:02

Excellent. And I know you're going on a trip to India later in the year. Do you want to talk a bit about that?

Unknown: 40:08

Yeah, really exciting. One of my mentors guy called John Ponte, an absolute legend. He's a guy huge admiration for he's actually if you know, Bristol, he was the guy who really made the harbour what it is now. He's a fascinating man. So he said to me, Johnny, I've got these wind turbines, and I need someone to help me out with it, would you be interested? And I said, Yeah, John, let's go check them out these wind turbines in a place called Tamilnadu, near Chennai, in Southern India, and I'm super excited to go out there. I like that because it's travel with intent. It's not just being a tourist and being a spectator. It's like get stuck in I want to learn about the turbines meet the people see where I can add value to their operation, if at all. And then do some fun stuff along the way, you know, but it's been a scuba diving but a jungle trekking can't wait really excited about that.

Ollie Collard: 40:49

That's really what has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. Thank you so much for inviting us on your Boeing seven to seven and for your time and insights this morning. Cool.

Unknown: 40:57

Thanks for having me. And hopefully, there's some value for your audience in what I've said today.

Ollie Collard: 41:01

Definitely Australia. Thank you very much.

Unknown: 41:06

So next five years. Okay, actually, next three months. Interesting, that sort of use of I think he put it, you know, looking at it in terms of shorter cycles, wanting to do something bigger scale and bringing all these things together. I would love to know what he's on about there. Did you get any? Did you kind of get out any extra information there Ollie? Because I'm curious. What do you sense is in the offing,

Ollie Collard: 41:27

he didn't expand too much, Laura. But when Johnny says this, you know, it's going to be something pretty big right? From all that he's achieved so far. And he's talking about taking it to a next level and having a global impact. So I think he's got some very bold plans. And I love how he breaks things down into, you know, shorter cycles into quarters. And he goes 100% into that for those next three months. And then ultimately, he's got a bigger vision about where that is going to take him along that journey.

Unknown: 41:58

Yeah, one of the things that helps him that he talks about is how it's breaking things down into projects. So that might be work related, might be family related. But it's the time the energy and the investment required. I mean, this is such a methodological, next layer, Next Level way of looking at things. What did you make of that? Well, I

Ollie Collard: 42:17

think it's incredible how he kind of de compartmentalise everything, yeah, in different degrees and the way he thinks about things, you know, he's talking about, you know, business and friendships on a spectrum. And I just think that his brain just works in a really interesting way. And he clearly separates everything out. And I think ultimately, that gives him the clarity to be creative and achieve so much, because he's got this really clear way of thinking. And as you can tell from the audio, like, there was zero retakes. He was literally bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, so succinct with every answer, and I was so I was, I was just in awe of it, to be honest with you, Laura.

Unknown: 42:54

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I am an MP. I sort of feel like, you know, how you get people to come and declutter your house, Marie Kondo. People, I love all of that or dearly off of sort your life out. She's, she'd be my kind of ideal person. But maybe Johnny in the same way, if he ever stepped aside, my brain would be like, what on earth? There are plenty of learnings in here. No, I'm sure he'd be really nice, but it's like, Oh, wow. Okay, this is I feel like I can learn something here about how to think about things that could be more structured. I am not a really structured person. But he clearly is, and it was like, Oh, right. Okay, I need to, I need to think about what I could get from this because it sounds sounded very good. And helps him juggle everything. And, and with that, being disciplined, as well, I gained, this is one of those things you meet people, don't you from time to time, who are just so disciplined. There's some things that are easy to do, and easy not to do exercises, easy to do, and easy not to do. But those people who have the slight edge, and that is reference to a business book, or very good business book, or those who do it. They have that discipline. And unsurprisingly, he does.

Ollie Collard: 44:04

Yeah, and I think he just has this unrelenting desire to achieve. And I think it underpins everything that he does. And, again, coming back to taking this personal responsibility, having this clarity of thought, which is critical to all of his business ventures, and working with people. I love what you said about, you know, the fact that he gives back and you know, if a 17 year old asked him for help, then he'd be there tomorrow and giving, giving advice and I think, because he knows the value of what he's heard from some of the people around him and his mentors. He is looking to give back as well. And I think that's really refreshing to hear. Yeah,

Unknown: 44:45

absolutely. Okay, in terms of advice, we've got Johnny's advice there about knowing more about lots of things which is music to my ears, because that is how my brain naturally works. So now I feel I'm on terra firma. He naturally wants to know about loads of different things. And he's rice. So it's surprising how many times that actually is really helpful. And also a distraction. But we'd like to talk social just for a tick and return to last our previous episode. With Samantha he keeps an eye on all things community for us and see what you've been saying in response to our previous founders. Question to us. So, Sam, just give us a little reminder of who we had and what it is that they wanted to know. In our last episode, we spoke with Varun, from magic, all about the importance of having a co founder someone to lean on during the lows, somebody that you can confide in and share a clear vision and share those wins with as well as dividing up labour and expertise to really push their business forward. Varun talked about some amazing things, from his startup journey, how to fund and build an MVP. And the loneliness along the journey to in his recent episode, it was a really interesting episode was so many important insights into the loneliness of entrepreneurship, Varun, like all of our guests had a question for you, our listeners. So talking about the concept of loneliness in business, for everyone wanted to know how you deal with loneliness, whether you have a co founder, or whether you're riding solo, he wanted to know how you deal with this emotional roller coaster, we have some great comments back. And of course, it's such an important topic. So thank you, everybody who contributed to the conversation, we have people sharing how wonderful it is to share the journey with their co founder. And Jamie really resonated with this sharing how important complementary skill sets is. But also the support a co founder can bring that great businesses are built by great teams, and that you don't have to do it alone. And I think that's so important to remember, a lot of us go into business, kind of feeling that pressure that we have to do it alone, we have to prove something and prove that we can do it ourselves. bashley is who you surround yourself with that really makes your business Great. George also had thoughts on that sharing the complementary skills aren't so important and co founder, but also your team. So it's not just about your co founder, but all of the people you surround yourself with. You want the best people around you who plug the gaps and who are the best at what they do share, George, which is absolutely right. So I think all in, it's who you share that journey with your co founder, but also the rest of your team and how you find those little ways of kind of working together, filling those skill gaps. And also making the journey a little less lonely, whether that's through communities, like hear with other entrepreneurs, through co founders, or through the teams you build. But whatever you do, it's really important to find those little ways of making the entrepreneurial journey a little less lonely. As always, if you have other thoughts, comments, or want to join in the conversation, please do come and find us on social media where we would love to hear your thoughts on the loneliness of entrepreneurial journey. And then the other thoughts you had about our latest episode, looking at magic and Varennes journey into co founder and startup. Yeah, interesting as ever, you know, of course, get in touch and comment on the questions that our founders leave. But if there's anything else in the podcast that strikes you as something that needs to be mentioned, feedback, observations, any I don't know, anything that it makes you think about please do share it on social because we'd love to hear from you. Ali, who do we have? You've given us a hint, actually. So if you're paying attention at the start you you may know the answer to this. But who might we have next time.

Ollie Collard: 49:06

So we've got the co founder of unoaked, a guy called Ken, who hails from Australia. And he's talking about his nature retreats that have now sprung up in the UK, and the importance of reconnecting with nature.

Unknown: 49:21

Fabulous. Actually, I'm feeling almost a connection with Johnny there. Because he does a little bit of glamping stuff and coming from Luna from that part of the world. Yeah, exactly. Okay, well, looking forward to it. And in the meantime, thank you so much for listening. It's great to have you with us. Take care. Thank you for listening to founded and grounded with Ollie collard and Laura Rawlings. If you've enjoyed this free podcast, we'd love for you to recommend it someone else. You can leave a review on Apple podcasts regardless of where you get your podcasts from. And join our online community and share your comments with us. We're on link In Facebook and Instagram it's always good to hear from you