Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP150 - You Don’t Have To Be Ready To Start

Transcript

EP150 - You Don’t Have To Be Ready To Start · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into the
• 0:07
  strategies to help you build a Better Business one step at a
• 0:10
  time. I'm your host, Stephanie, a
• 0:12
  multi awarding entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in
• 0:15
  the bookkeeping and currency world.
• 0:17
  If you're a business owner looking to streamline, grow, and
• 0:19
  get back the time that you deserve, you're in the right
• 0:21
  place tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions, and digging deep into business building secrets in
• 0:27
  just 15 minutes each week. So, Are you ready to build a
• 0:31
  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
• 0:33
  Then let's go hello and welcome back to another episode of the
• 0:38
  three BS Podcast. Your go to place for 15 minutes
• 0:41
  of motivation, inspiration and education to help you build a
• 0:46
  Better Business. If you're new here, welcome.
• 0:48
  This is a really special episode because Yep, we made it.
• 0:53
  Episode 150 of the Three BS Podcast is here and it's such a
• 0:59
  special 1 and I can't believe I'm saying this, but we have
• 1:01
  been here every single Thursday for 150 weeks.
• 1:05
  That's almost three years of consistency helping you build
• 1:09
  better businesses. And I want to pause for a moment
• 1:12
  and take you right back to the beginning with this episode,
• 1:15
  because if you've been listening for a while, you might remember
• 1:18
  the original intro. It was simple.
• 1:20
  It was audio only. There was no video, no fancy
• 1:24
  production, just me, my phone, and a very clear intention.
• 1:29
  I didn't even have a microphone back then.
• 1:31
  I definitely didn't have a camera.
• 1:32
  I think I recorded the original audio maybe 20 times from my
• 1:37
  sofa in my living room. I think it's just proof that
• 1:40
  actually, if you want to do something, you can do it.
• 1:43
  And when the Three BS podcast started, it was just an idea.
• 1:47
  There wasn't a big plan. There wasn't a strategy deck,
• 1:50
  there wasn't a launch campaign, there wasn't any sort of idea of
• 1:54
  where this was going to get to. And I can't believe we're at 150
• 1:57
  and we've actually still got so much more space to go.
• 2:00
  So have a listen to the intro to Season 1, episode one of the
• 2:04
  three Beast. Hey there, business owner.
• 2:06
  Do you want a better understanding of business
• 2:08
  finance, what your numbers actually mean and stories of the
• 2:11
  highs and lows of business where I'll be sharing my tips and
• 2:14
  tricks every week? Then you're in the right place.
• 2:17
  Welcome to the 3B's podcast with Stephanie.
• 2:20
  Hello. Hi there, welcome.
• 2:23
  Welcome to the very first episode of the Three B's podcast
• 2:26
  with Stephanie. I can't believe this is actually
• 2:29
  going out live. I don't know if you are the same
• 2:32
  as me, but as a business owner, I always find it really hard to
• 2:35
  keep a secret from my audience. Whether that's social media
• 2:39
  followers, e-mail subscribers, all my 1:00 to 1:00 clients.
• 2:42
  When a big project like this comes along that I'm just so
• 2:45
  excited to share and I've been working on for such a long time,
• 2:49
  I find it so tough. So here it is in all its glory
• 2:53
  and I am so excited for you to listen to it.
• 2:55
  This podcast has been created for busy business owners like
• 2:59
  you who want to understand more about the numbers on the balance
• 3:01
  sheet, love to learn, want to understand all the parts that
• 3:05
  make up a successful business and to share the tips and tricks
• 3:07
  I've learnt and the epic mistakes I've learnt from along
• 3:11
  the way. In short, 15 minute weekly
• 3:13
  episodes. Time is precious and so valuable
• 3:17
  so I want you to pop this on while you're walking the dog,
• 3:19
  doing the school run or commuting to the office.
• 3:22
  Let's master this together and build brilliant businesses.
• 3:26
  See where the name came from, as you can hear from that if you're
• 3:30
  watching on YouTube, you can probably see the colour in my
• 3:33
  cheeks because when you first do anything, it's not great.
• 3:36
  And I'm living proof of that. And that was the best of, like I
• 3:39
  said, around 20 takes. So we all start somewhere.
• 3:43
  And there was just a feeling when the podcast started that
• 3:46
  business owners were overwhelmed, confused, drowning,
• 3:50
  noise. And I was with them too, and not
• 3:52
  getting enough clear, calm, useful information.
• 3:55
  When the podcast started, like I say, three years ago, there we
• 4:00
  were still coming out of COVID lockdown.
• 4:02
  We were still dealing with the after effects of having to close
• 4:05
  so many of our businesses. There was a whole host of new
• 4:07
  businesses, mine included, that started because of the pandemic.
• 4:12
  And being an expert and a bookkeeping accountant for over
• 4:14
  a decade, I knew that I could give some of my knowledge to
• 4:17
  business owners who couldn't yet afford our services or we're
• 4:20
  just starting out to help them not make the mistakes that I
• 4:23
  made. I wasn't trying to build a
• 4:26
  podcast brand. I wasn't trying to be the next
• 4:28
  big podcaster. I was trying to be helpful.
• 4:31
  I just wanted to help business owners.
• 4:33
  And as I've said on the previous episode of Ashley Leeds, he is
• 4:36
  the 15 minute guy. He was the guy who did 15 minute
• 4:40
  help you with LinkedIn. And I thought 15 minutes is
• 4:43
  perfect because I love Steven Bartlett, I loved I over CEO,
• 4:48
  but I don't sometimes have an hour, 2 hours to stay locked in
• 4:51
  to listen to and absorb the information that's been given in
• 4:54
  those episodes. We're mums, we're parents, we're
• 4:57
  carers, we are looking after dogs and running households and
• 5:01
  running businesses. We needed something short, sharp
• 5:04
  and actionable. And I was hoping I would be able
• 5:06
  to provide that for business owners.
• 5:08
  And if you haven't listened to this podcast before, please know
• 5:11
  that this is 150 episodes and counting of trying and improving
• 5:16
  1% every week. I am a huge introvert, I have a
• 5:19
  lot of anxiety and audio only was the only way I felt I could
• 5:25
  do it back in the beginning. I didn't want perfection to get
• 5:29
  in the way and I knew that it had to be consistent.
• 5:31
  I think I'd started planning on recording the first couple of
• 5:34
  episodes around the January, and it launched on the 5th of April.
• 5:38
  I knew that visuals and editing was something I'd have to learn
• 5:42
  to do, and I think it was really important to just do the thing.
• 5:47
  I'm very much a person of once I've got an idea, I'm going to
• 5:50
  do a thing. I am not somebody who thinks I'm
• 5:52
  going to do something in a year's time.
• 5:54
  Usually I give myself a week, sometimes 24 hours to get things
• 5:59
  done. That's the type of business
• 6:00
  owner that I am. It's the type of person that I
• 6:02
  am. So this podcast was actually
• 6:05
  something I put a lot of thought into.
• 6:06
  One, because it was really pushing me outside of my comfort
• 6:09
  zone, and two, because I needed to make sure that these episodes
• 6:14
  actually gave listeners something.
• 6:16
  They could take something away and implement it immediately
• 6:18
  into their business and start to see a difference within a week.
• 6:22
  By the time the next episode came around.
• 6:25
  I wanted something human, something honest and something
• 6:28
  that didn't shout at you. And honestly, I really wasn't
• 6:30
  ready when the first 3 episodes came out.
• 6:32
  I just started. I didn't have fancy kit.
• 6:35
  As I said, I think it was just my phone to start with.
• 6:37
  Even now to this day, I'm recording on my laptop with a
• 6:41
  microphone attached to my T-shirt and a ring light in the
• 6:43
  corner and that is it. I'm sat in my office even now,
• 6:46
  150 episodes in. You don't need a fancy kit.
• 6:50
  You don't need a team. I didn't have a team.
• 6:52
  I don't have a team. It's just me.
• 6:55
  And I didn't have any idea how many people would listen.
• 6:57
  I think when I first looked at the podcast properly, I was
• 7:01
  like, OK, so if I can get, I don't know, 10 listeners, I'll
• 7:04
  be really happy. I just knew that if it helped
• 7:07
  one business owner feel less stuck or less alone, it was
• 7:10
  worth doing. What surprised me most wasn't
• 7:14
  that people listened, it's that they stayed.
• 7:18
  We're 150 episodes in. We are over 40,000 impressions
• 7:22
  on YouTube in the last year alone.
• 7:24
  We have upwards of 3000 downloads on podcast platforms.
• 7:29
  People are watching and they're listening and I'm making an
• 7:32
  impact in their businesses, which is all I really wanted to
• 7:34
  do. And I'm hoping that they stay
• 7:37
  because I never tried to be anything I wasn't.
• 7:40
  I was always honest, I was always open and I hope that that
• 7:45
  honesty and transparency is the reason why people stay and
• 7:48
  listen. It's definitely not because of
• 7:50
  my Northern accent. I'm hoping people are staying
• 7:53
  because it's not about hype or hacks and it's talking about
• 7:56
  real businesses and real humans on that messy journey.
• 7:59
  Not look at me. I've made seven figures and this
• 8:02
  is how I did it 10 years ago. I am in the trenches with you.
• 8:06
  I am building a business alongside you, and I hope that
• 8:10
  comes across now. Over time, things evolved.
• 8:14
  Video came later, YouTube followed, but the format stayed
• 8:18
  short and intentional. And I think that's really
• 8:21
  important to me is that these stay short, sharp and
• 8:24
  actionable. I think the longest episode
• 8:25
  we've ever done is 20 minutes. Sometimes they're not even 10
• 8:28
  minutes because the information that you need doesn't need to be
• 8:32
  padded out with waffle, doesn't need to be spread over 20
• 8:35
  episodes like this is intentional, short, sharp,
• 8:39
  whether it's the latest news and the changes you need to know
• 8:41
  about, whether it's my experience as a business owner,
• 8:44
  whether it's an area of business that I also need support with.
• 8:47
  Go back and listen to the episodes with Zoe Jew.
• 8:50
  She gave me so much insight and helped me build my business.
• 8:53
  So I am literally alongside you building a Better Business.
• 8:57
  And that was the whole premise of this podcast.
• 8:59
  Now, again, if you're new to this, you probably won't know
• 9:03
  this, but I'm a big data nerd. I love data because it helps
• 9:07
  make informed decisions in business, whether that's your
• 9:09
  finance numbers, your reach numbers, or anything in between.
• 9:13
  And obviously, getting to episode 150 meant I got to look
• 9:16
  back, and I do it at the end of every year anyway.
• 9:20
  And the numbers matter, but not because they impress, but
• 9:24
  because they show consistency. Were over 3000 downloads across
• 9:28
  podcast platforms and counting and over 40,000 impressions on
• 9:32
  YouTube in the last year. Now that didn't happen
• 9:34
  overnight. It happened because I show up
• 9:37
  every Thursday 6:00 AM on podcast platforms ATM on YouTube
• 9:41
  week after week, even when it felt like I was screaming into
• 9:44
  the void and nobody was listening.
• 9:47
  I also have no ad spend. I have no real marketing
• 9:50
  channels for this. This is the heart of the
• 9:53
  podcast. It's all about business owners
• 9:55
  like you. It's all about the humans behind
• 9:58
  the business. And it's about clear
• 10:00
  conversations actually make a difference.
• 10:03
  And I think that matters now in this world more than ever
• 10:06
  because we're in a time right now where you need to hook
• 10:10
  someone in the first 3 seconds of your social media reel.
• 10:14
  We want short sharpen action, but we don't want to sit around
• 10:16
  for flop for hours on end. If you're listening to this or
• 10:19
  watching it and you've been sitting on an idea, waiting for
• 10:22
  confidence, waiting for the right moment, or waiting for
• 10:25
  things to feel perfect, that this is your reminder.
• 10:29
  You don't need permission, you don't need perfect.
• 10:32
  You just need to get started. That's how this podcast started
• 10:36
  and that's why it still exists today.
• 10:38
  And I never thought I would be here when we were back at
• 10:41
  episode 1 on my sofa, Episode 150, building a bespoke podcast
• 10:46
  area to start levelling up this podcast even further.
• 10:52
  So before I finish, I want to say thank you to the listeners
• 10:55
  who have been here from the early audio only days.
• 10:58
  There's listeners such as Mahal and Kirstie who often drop me a
• 11:02
  message on social media and let me know they've been listening.
• 11:04
  And that means absolute world to the guests who trusted me with
• 11:07
  their stories. I love the fact that we have a
• 11:09
  real mix of myself, solo episodes like this and guests on
• 11:13
  here, other experts who really help us all build better
• 11:16
  businesses. And to the people who message
• 11:18
  after an episode saying that really helped or thank you for
• 11:21
  that, or I didn't know you could do that.
• 11:24
  You are the reason that this podcast keeps going.
• 11:27
  Now looking ahead, I'd love to know what you want more of.
• 11:30
  What topics do you want to cover?
• 11:32
  What conversations do you want to hear?
• 11:34
  What guests do you want to see or are there questions that you
• 11:37
  want answering? This podcast has always been
• 11:39
  shaped by the people listening to it, and I want that to
• 11:42
  continue way past 150 episodes. If you're watching on YouTube,
• 11:46
  please do like rate and review, hit that notification bell,
• 11:49
  subscribe so that you know when new episodes of the three B's
• 11:52
  podcast go live. And if you're listening on a
• 11:54
  podcast platform, if you could take just 30 seconds to hit that
• 11:58
  five star review, I'd be so, so grateful because that helps this
• 12:01
  podcast reach more business owners.
• 12:03
  And that brings me to the end of episode 150 of the podcast.
• 12:09
  Thank you so much for being here.
• 12:11
  Thank you so much for listening, watching, and getting involved.
• 12:15
  And I will see you next week for the next episode of the Three BS
• 12:17
  Podcast. Bye.
• 12:20
  And that brings us to the end of another episode of The Three BS
• 12:23
  Podcast. I hope you found it useful and
• 12:25
  that you're walking away with some motivation, inspiration or
• 12:28
  education to help you build a Better Business.
• 12:31
  Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and of course, connect
• 12:34
  with us on social media for more insights, tips and behind the
• 12:37
  scenes content. Your next step in building a
• 12:39
  Better Business is just a click away.
• 12:41
  I can't wait to connect with you and I'll see you on the next
• 12:43
  episode. Bye.