Episode #254 - I’ve Learnt To Support My Staff, Even If They’re Leaving The Company - with Mike Dunn
Release Date: 06/23/2023
Episode #607: Culture Is A Reflection Of Leadership - with Mike Mair
ScaleUp Radio
What if the real reason your business isn’t scaling isn’t strategy, systems, or sales… but the way you develop your people? In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by leadership and strategic L&D expert Mike Mair to unpack one of the most overlooked drivers of sustainable growth: building engaged, high-performing teams through intentional leadership and culture development. Mike shares practical frameworks and real-world advice for SME leaders who want to create stronger cultures, develop future leaders, improve accountability, and unlock better performance across...
info_outline
Episode #606: ScaleUp Shorts - Fear, Focus & the Founder Trap - What Jacqueline Wales and Jules Herd reveal about scaling without losing control
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt unpack the powerful overlap between mindset and operational scale-up challenges through insights from two exceptional guests: Jacqueline Wales and Jules Herd. While Jules Herd brings practical expertise from the world of strategic communications and scaling technology businesses, Jacqueline Wales explores the deeper psychological patterns that often hold founders back. Together, their lessons reveal a critical truth: many operational bottlenecks are actually rooted in fear, control, and limiting beliefs. This episode...
info_outline
Episode #605 - Harnessing Fear Intelligence to Lead, Decide, and Scale with Confidence
- with Jacqueline Wales
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent is joined by expert advisor Jacqueline Wales, a leading authority on Fear Intelligence. This conversation reframes one of the most misunderstood forces in business, fear, and turns it into a practical leadership tool. Rather than trying to eliminate fear, Jacqueline explains how scaleup leaders can use it as valuable data to make better decisions, build stronger teams, and unlock growth. If you are navigating uncertainty, leading through change, or feeling stuck at a plateau, this episode offers clear frameworks and actionable insights to help you...
info_outline
Episode #604 - Founder Mistakes & Building Resilient Scale-ups - with Jules Herd
ScaleUp Radio
In this episode of ScaleUp Radio, Kevin Brent sits down with Jules Herd, founder of Five in a Boat, to unpack the real reasons scale-ups stall and what founders must do differently to grow sustainably. Jules shares hard-earned insights from working with Series A to C tech businesses, revealing why marketing often isn’t the real problem and what actually needs fixing underneath. Key Takeaway The one key thing: Growth stalls when founders try to scale without upgrading their thinking, their team, and their focus. Standout Message “Marketing doesn’t fail because marketing is...
info_outline
Episode #603 - ScaleUp Shorts - What two very different founders teach us about leadership, resilience, Al and the future of human connection in business
ScaleUp Radio
This week on ScaleUp Radio Shorts, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt unpack two fascinating conversations with founders operating in completely different worlds — yet connected by one powerful idea: Business success still comes down to people. On one side is Bob Ferguson — city councilman, long-standing business owner, and leader of what he calls an “all-volunteer army” through his network marketing organisation in Fairfield, Iowa. On the other is Priyanka Rao — immigrant tech founder and creator of MicroInterns, an innovative platform connecting students with startups through short-term,...
info_outline
Episode #602 - Solving the Experience Paradox with Micro-Internships - with Priyanka Rao
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today's episode I’m joined by Priyanka Rao, founder of MicroInterns. Now if you’ve ever struggled with hiring or wondered whether CVs really tell the full story anymore, this one’s for you. With AI now writing CVs and even running interviews, there’s a growing question around trust in the hiring...
info_outline
Episode #601 - Leadership Effectiveness Is A State Of Mind - with Bob Ferguson
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today's episode I’m joined by Bob Ferguson. Bob brings a fascinating perspective on leadership - combining decades of experience in business, community building, and global networks - and at the heart of it all is one powerful idea: mental fitness. We explore why your effectiveness as a leader is shaped less...
info_outline
Episode #600 - ScaleUp Shorts - Stop explaining. Start solving!
ScaleUp Radio
This episode is created with the use of AI In this ScaleUp Radio Shorts episode, Kevin Brent and Louise Blunt unpack two recent interviews with very different leaders operating in very different sectors, yet facing strikingly similar scaling challenges. On one side, Paul Patras, a deep-tech founder translating complex AI into commercial value. On the other, Greg Baldwin, scaling a fast-growing operational business through practical, data-led leadership. This episode focuses on the practical shifts in thinking, communication, and leadership that enable businesses to move from complexity and...
info_outline
Episode #599 - 5 Years On: What Happens When You Choose Control Over Chaos? - with Greg Baldwin
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today's episode I’m joined by Greg Baldwin, Managing Director of Highway Traffic Management. Now this is a special one; because we’re revisiting Greg’s journey five years on to see what’s actually happened since our last conversation. And it’s a fascinating look at what real scaling looks like in...
info_outline
Episode #598 - ScaleUp Club - AI Agents, Anti-Fragile Teams & Hiring for Outcomes - with Rafmary Baker
ScaleUp Radio
Hi there and welcome back to another edition of ScaleUp Radio, the podcast brought to you by Smart90, inspired by the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System and designed to make navigating our ScaleUp journeys that little bit easier by learning from others' experiences. I’m Kevin Brent and in today's episode I’m joined by returning guest Rafmary for a live Q&A session recorded at our ScaleUp Club. This episode is structured a little differently and brings together three key elements. First, our latest AI Pulse update, where we explore how tools like Claude Co-Work are moving AI beyond content...
info_outlineToday I had the pleasure to interview Mike Dunn on ScaleUp Radio. Mike founded the Excel TM group and they're a telemarketing company in the construction sector. I love that they have specialised down into a niche and you'll hear some of the ways that that brings them a competitive advantage over general telemarketing companies.
I'd really like you to listen to this episode. Mike's very open and honest about some of the things that didn't go too well as well as some of the things that went well. He's had the situation where they did scale up to 22 people and then they had to drop back and regroup if you like and then and then go again. There's a lot of powerful messages in how he talks about this and definitely worth listening to.
I love his answer to my question around what legacy do you want to leave I think and I recommend you listen out for this.
So some great conversation, quite a lot of it around the people side of things, but listen out for some of the lessons around the cash side of scaling his business and the lessons that he's learned
So I won't spoil it any more, let’s go straight across and listen to Mike for the rest of his story.
Mike can be found here:
linkedin.com/in/mike-dunn-b3033358
07946 767634
https://www.instagram.com/mike.dunn_/
Resources:
Taking Care of Business by Paul Cheetham-Karcz - https://www.waterstones.com/book/taking-care-of-business/paul-cheetham-karcz/9781912587193
Taking Care of Business Podcast - https://www.sedulo.co.uk/podcasts/taking-care-of-business/
Deep Work by Cal Newport - https://www.waterstones.com/book/deep-work/cal-newport/9780349411903
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie - https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/dale-carnegie/9780091906818
Diary of a CEO - https://stevenbartlett.com/the-diary-of-a-ceo-podcast/
The Secret Leaders Podcast - https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes
Startup Podcast - https://gimletmedia.com/shows/startup
MyCoach - https://mycoachapp.io/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/