- Hi gang, in this video we're going to be discussing
with Chuds who makes all my content,
all those videos that you've seen over the last few years
on should you work for an entrepreneur
or should you work for a corporate structured company?
Let's go.
Put a little sting in there won't you?
- Of what?
- Have we not got a sting?
- Shall we just use that other one that we use?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- I think we should yeah.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, we're back here.
Chuds is here on the YouTube channel
make sure you like and subscribe
and hit that notification bell.
We want to discuss, because one of my senior team members
is leaving me and she's going to work for
a more structured company,
that's less entrepreneurial, so that's what she's told me.
- I think every company less entrepreneurial than you mate.
- Yeah well, there we go.
And it got me thinking about why do people want to work for
an entrepreneur like me, like this guy
or for a structured Thomas Cook, RBS, Barclays type company?
And what I did is, before I come on
I went on LinkedIn and I done a LinkedIn live
86 people watched and commented on there,
so I was on that and then I done a Facebook live
on my Facebook page.
And I wanted to, 'cause I think it's such a powerful subject
for entrepreneurs to think about
because you are not your team, (laughs)
like you are not your customer,
those two things I always think about.
I wanna bring Chuds on, so like bring up some of those
comments and discussions that people had
had on the social platforms and ask him as well.
First of all, what's--
- Start with me?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- What do you love and hate about working with me?
- So what I love, let's start with the pros shall we?
You're quite laid back so you don't really
manage me minute to minute, you just make sure--
- Are you less productive as a case that
has a result of that do you think?
- No, way more productive.
- Okay.
- Yeah because--
- Because I think that's what people would think.
What you just said there, I reckon people will be thinking
"we you'll be less productive as a result."
- Well I think that is down to the employee
I'm not bigging myself up but
if someone was on my back every two minutes,
'cause everything I'm doing is creative
so like if you were telling me every five seconds
"no, this video needs to go there
and you need to cut it here, you need to use this music"
I'd just be like
"what's the point in me doing my job then if you just wanna"
- Cause what I was saying on the LinkedIn live earlier
was, you know I always talk about
objective strategies and tactics.
- Yeah.
- Our objective is aligned on what we want to achieve.
- Oh yeah, yeah.
- We wanna create a big personal brand
that we can leverage off of.
- Yeah.
- You totally get that don't you?
- Yeah.
- Do you feel that we change our strategies and tactics
to meet that objective?
Or do you think--
- Yeah, so like with this whole YouTube thing
that we're trying to do, you've gotta play the game of
are we uploading the right content?
It can't just be any content, you gotta know what,
we're checking watch time,
we're checking analytics every week.
That stuff has to be, that's the strategy and tactics.
- And do you think that big companies
think like that as well?
I think they do to a degree.
Or some do, I mean it's just--
- But I've heard that, 'cause I've never worked for
a proper, proper corporate company.
- (laughs)
- I've never even had a proper job but a proper,
yeah hopefully I never do.
But in Felix Dennis "How to Get Rich" he said--
- Show them the book Chuds we got that there.
- So in this book, he said it got to a point
when his company was so big that they had
so many board meetings and round table discussions
that nothing ever got done so he stopped going to them.
- Yeah.
- So his whole senior team would just talk about stuff
for so long--
- But that's happening in my company already.
- Yeah but--
- I've got 450 of these people that work for us
and the more people you get around,
and I said this in the LinkedIn live earlier,
like you and I, we're like a little Vatican City
within the rest of our bigger business.
- Right.
- Where we don't have to answer to anyone.
- Yeah, yeah that's true.
- But as it gets bigger in the next three years,
people get political don't they?
- Yeah.
The decisions are made slower as well.
- I like comparing this to going out for dinner,
it's my favorite thing to do,
if you go out for dinner with six people, everyone's fine.
You go out for dinner with eight people,
you start getting two groups. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- That's what happens, right and if you go out for dinner
with more than 12 people,
that's when people start arguing about the bill
"I didn't have a dessert, I'm not paying for this!"
"No we're not splitting the bill I wanna"
and that is what people are like.
The more people you get involved the more political it gets.
- So I think, just going back to what we do,
because the content that we're making is just
between me and you, we have input from other people,
other team members and stuff, but because
we know what the objective is,
get as many people to watch your content,
help grow their business, the more business owners that--
- Win up.
- Yeah the more business owners we help,
the more stages you speak on, all of it collectively.
We know what we're working towards but
because it's only me making the content
you don't have to be on my back.
So that the detail is left.
- So that's what you like about working for an
entrepreneurial company
that there is no real structure around it?
- And even if you do change your mind, that's fine
because--
- But not everyone can work like that, can they?
- Oh no.
- So other people need real, and this is what we've learned
so I suppose whether it's better to work for an
entrepreneurial company or a structured company
is not your ability to work hard,
it's what surroundings and environment
that you're comfortable with.
- Yeah.
- Like a doctor, you know a lawyer, an accountant
would struggle to work around, they need structure
and I think that that probably is--
- I think everyone's different though.
So I like doing my own thing creatively,
I like making videos because I can just
take whatever direction I wanna go to.
- Would you say you're unemployable?
- At this point almost, yeah.
- Yeah, I would say now you are 'cause you've
never known any different. - No.
So I've worked--
- You'd just expect everyone to just be like me,
wouldn't you?
- Yes, yeah exactly.
Well I worked a little bit behind a til for
a couple of months, I worked as a waiter
for a couple of months - When you had spots?
- Yeah probably when I was like 16, 17
and then after that I did my own thing
for two or three years and now I'm doing this with you.
I like the freedom of like, if I wanna work
from Costa coffee, I go work from Costa coffee
and you ain't got a problem with it.
- And you've become quite chummy with some of
my other team members within the rest of the business.
- Yeah.
- That they don't work like that, do they?
- No, they have to be at a certain place at a certain time
'cause that's the job they need to get done
but I don't. (laughs)
- But that is most people isn't it?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah but I don't think--
- 99% of--
- But those 99% of people I don't think would work
having their own time freedom either.
- No.
- So if you said to a lot of those people
"as long as the job gets done,
go and do it in your own time"
I don't think the job would get done as well.
So I think it honestly depends on the person.
- Listen, let's go to some of the comments that we've got
but we've only had probably 100 comments
across all the platforms on this.
Because what is it?
What are you doing to retain employees?
Because I've lost someone really talented
and I'm really upset about it.
Lissa's her name, she's off.
She's going to be Chief Exec so she's been promoted
I'm really happy for her and will stay great friends.
But, you know we had a board meeting
and this is what prompted me to make this video.
I had a board meeting and I said to her
"you're off, off you go to your structured company"
like, you know, in jest.
Where as, there's no stress or it's all structured
and nothing changes and she said
"yeah, I know I can't wait" (laughs)
and we're building a dinosaur park
and this is what she said
that prompted me to make this video
and we were discussing this board meeting
I've seen the dinosaurs three weeks ago
and we're gonna open this dinosaur park
at Marsh Farm in May, already got the planning permission
already done the contracts, and she said
"that's exactly what I struggle with"
she said "because in other jobs I've done, if that was
happening it would take two years to implement.
I mean two years Chuds--
- I suppose there's pros and cons of both of that though.
- Is how long we've been making content.
- Yeah.
- So I'm not gonna just say - Yeah, that's ages.
- Should we just discuss what we're gonna make content--
- So it's either some is better than none
you just wanna get the place open
- Well I think start now-- - And then you can improve it.
- Improve, yeah.
- Yeah exactly, I can read you like a book
- Yeah.
- But some people would prefer to have
it already to go 100%, then open.
- Yeah but I just--
- People work differently.
- So if people were gonna wait two years
I'll be ahead of them in two years.
- But, I'm just being devil's avocado here,
that's what Lissa would say.
- Yeah, that's one of her phrases, we'll miss--
- If you waited two years and made sure it was absolutely
Disney-quality, you waited two years and then it opened
you just blow people away.
That's another way people work.
- Yeah, if you've got the finance
and the cash around to do it like that.
- But you've got two years, you've not got three months
like you're trying to do, do you know what I mean?
- You know this is and I think well,
do you wanna be like a Thomas Cook?
That's a, you know that is the sort of thing
that Thomas Cook would've done.
- Waited two years. - We need to do
Facebook marketing, we need to do social media,
we need to build influence online but you know
what should've Thomas Cook done, they should've got
2000 Instagram influencers to talk about
their holidays, that instead of doing TV advertising
and radio advertising, they probably would've had a
much better return on investment on that
but they didn't do any of that stuff.
But I've been reading some stuff, they wanted to do
all that stuff-- - But it took too long.
- But they're talking about it.
- Right.
- Talkie, talkie, talkie, talkie, talkie, talkie, talkie,
talkie goodbye. - Yeah I got it.
- Look, you know I'm a big fan of systems and processes.
But here's everything but then Lissa said you know
we was discussing about, she said like for example
"your children's festival, you changed it all
45 days beforehand, you said you didn't want to run it
over two days you wanted to run it over five days"
- Yeah.
- I just changed it and I made everyone changed it.
- So I can think of pros and cons immediately.
So it was a massive success, wasn't it?
I was the best summer you've ever had.
So that's like the number one thing there, it worked.
- Just you make my head go bigger when you edit this.
- But for about four weeks before you opened--
- Please do that, please do that.
For when you edit this. (laughs)
- I'll try.
But then for the prior weeks going up to it,
you stressed everyone out, some people
would've got really annoyed at you for doing that.
- What as said there?
- They had a plan what was gonna do for summer
and then you suggest that one thing
and they've got to change it all.
- Yeah.
- But it worked so, it's fine now but you
would've annoyed some people.
- But then next year we'll just repeat that
because now we've got a system that works.
- Unless you decide to change your mind
two weeks before. - We literally
over doubled our turnover.
No I won't, once it works.
Like I don't change the Father Christmas experience
like which is another one of our businesses.
- You just improve it.
- That's an improve situation.
Until we've got it right,
like Thomas Cook
obviously, you know what they wanted?
They was trying to go to market
to raise another few hundred million
a few hundred million! a few hundred million!
"Let's just go to the market, and try and
borrow some more money to, while we work out
what we're doing," but where entrepreneurs don't do that
but you're absolutely right Chuds,
some people cannot work in an environment like that
- No
- But, they think it's stable, they think it's secure
because it's all well long planned out
- until it happens
- But you know in 2009, Barclay's nearly went bust,
RBS, NatWest, you know all of the big banks
that everyone would've said was strong
and stable
- So this leads me to this Facebook question, David Christie
not a question, just a statement really.
Said, " Isn't that the classic battle between big businesses
and small ones, some ones tend to stay safer, whereas
small ones are more agile, and can pivot quickly,"
- Absolutely, well that's...
I think what needs to happen is there needs
to be a hybrid of both,
- Yeah
- And then you meet in the middle
- Well I think the hybrid is, you make your decisions
as you go along and as you learn, and change your mind
when in needed, to make a better product or service
and your team then obviously needs to put the systems
in to make it; like so you've changed your mind
three weeks before for the summer event was annoying
but you made it work, so next year
it's gonna be even better.
- Yeah
So the system or process is that next year's
going to be fantastic.
- Yeah, you've got the foundation
- But the being agile bit was you changing your mind
three weeks before, so.
- But I had changed my mind, I changed the strategy
and tactics to meet the objective
- Yeah
- The objective is still to get 250,000 visitors
- Yeah, yeah have a successful summer.
- Yeah
- Everyone enjoys their day out.
- Yeah
- Em, so Dave Graham commented as well, I think
the big one, "I think one thing my guys hate most about
me, is that can't read my mind and sometimes I don't know
100% myself, until the last minute, what's happening.
But most of this is due to..
- Well I know his problem.
- Clients not knowing themselves 100%."
- I know his problem, is he's not taking time
to write down his thoughts and getting out and doing,
you know, Chuds and I watched the knew Netflix
documentary about Bill Gates, the bloke dedicates
a whole week of the year and calls it, "Think Week"
and he goes out and he plans his year and thinks,
and he really, you know, who does that?
- It's amazing.
- What human being?
- He's possibly the busiest human being out there
- So there is no excuse.
- Oh no.
- Yeah, 'cause that's what business, "oh well, I can't.."
Bill Gates, you know, you are not busier than Bill Gates.
- No
- His brain is working much more than anyone. On the planet!
- And if he can dedicate a whole week to, and he's
on his own, he goes on this little sea plane
lands in a lake, and he literally is like,
- Like a Father Christmas shack
- Yeah, it's like a little Father Christmas shack.
And the bloke! Spends the whole week, thinking
in this thing, you know? And I just...
- Stuff to learn from that.
- There is some stuff to learn, I always say,
"get out of environment," and that's what he's done
there he's gone out of his regular environment.
Because when you get out of your environment,
you think better, and that's what that... is it Dave
did you say?
- Yeah, Dave Graham.
- Mate, that's Dave Graham, you better get out
of environment and properly think.
Because if you don't know what the war plan is.
How are your team going to come up the great
battle plans to win that war? Um...
Have we got any comments, Chuds that he thinks worth it?
- So a few, a lot of people are just negative
towards "corporate," people saying they treat
the staff and the customers like they just want
to make money.
- Do you think that's biased because most people
follow us that are business...
- I was literally just about to say
so a lot of these people will be either business owners
themself or small businesses
- Yeah
or that work for small businesses.
Em, yeah now I work for a family business
who treat their customers and staff with respect
Em, cross generalization, but entrepreneurs often
fail to invest themselves, and don't grow as quickly
as they can.
- Yeah, which, so I would say that 80% don't invest
in themselves, they don't get on YouTube
and watch stuff like this.
They don't listen to podcasts, they don't read books.
But then there's the 20%, are the people that do
listen to that stuff, that always seem to be more
super successful, because they do pick up books,
they do read, they do go to seminars.
They do invest in themselves to learn more. Um,
and surround themselves by different ideas and ideologies
and invest time to go and visit other businesses,
to pick up ideas
and those 20% are the ones that survive, you know,
and I, were always saying 50% of businesses fail
within 2 years, 80% within 5 years,
94% are gone by their 10th anniversary.
And, we at the ones that invested in themselves.
Usually are the ones that make it.
- Yeah, just to finish it off I think, um,
thre'll be, because a lot of our viewers will be
business owners and they will run small businesses
with low numbers of staff, but, and that works.
Like, but, for me for example like working
just our content is pretty much just me and you
deciding where this goes.
- Yeah
- Which is great! It works for me.
But there'll be people that want to be part of a 400,
500, 600 person company. Where they're just told
exactly what to do, and they go and do it.
- Yeah.
- They don't want the freedom and the...
- Some people want structure.
- Yeah, perfect.
- Some people want freedom.
And I think, I think what business owners are guilty of
is hiring everyone for the same position.
- I was just about to say, I don't think, so like
which ever way you want to take this video
there are pros and cons of both.
And depending on what type of personality you've got,
that's what company you want to work for.
- Because I know that like a big chunk of my employees
just couldn't do what you're doing.
- Right
- And just say, "yeah you're free to just carry on."
- Yeah
- 'cause they're just, you won't get it done.
- But then, saying that, I couldn't go in, if you told me
- Like a day nursery!
- Yeah, if you told me you need to be there at this time
- I mean that would a video that would get some views.
Chuds, can you go and look after...
- Yeah
- forty three year olds!
- No, no I'm gone!
- Thanks for watching guys! Hit the comments below!
Make sure you like and subscribe, or a eh, that thumbs up
that makes us happy!
- Yep
- And that notification bell. We'll see you real soon!
- See you later!
- 7 o'clock Monday and Thursday to help grow your business.
Bye-Bye!