I failed abysmally. But as a support for my pitch, I had created a website that listed the then only US online bingo sites. Some of those sites began approaching me to ask if they could advertise on my website. And that became the business. A total accident. No investment.
We initially started with just myself and my wife working from home. That progressed to bringing in freelancers. Our first full-time staff arrived after five years, at the same time that we got our first office.
At the time, a big scary step! The business grew initially because the sector we were in was in a growth phase. However, we built on that sector growth with what we felt was a strong USP, a key positioning within the sector, high standards and a big hairy audacious goal BHAG that kept us focussed on where we were trying to get.
Because we had no funding, we kept budgets very tight, and the only way we drove traffic in the early days was through SEO Search Engine Optimisation. We eventually ended up with an in-house team of SEO experts. London News Sections. Opinion Feature Deep dive Research All insights Trusts ETFs Funds.
But what are investors buying? What are you searching for? Companies News. See all companies matching. See all news matching. Does it give you a great feeling of achievement? Was is hard to achieve this perfect TV ad? Coming from a background in advertising I knew that the key to a great advert was a great brief. We spent a lot of time writing, re-writing and crafting the brief. We also undertook customer research to find out more about our site visitors and their thinking about our site.
We ran a pitch and had a number of advertising agencies put ideas to us before we made the decision on who to go with. Once we had made the decision, the process involved a lot of backwards and forwards and we were allowed to input our ideas. We even attended the production day when we recorded the voice-overs, which was fun. It was a great feeling to see our brand on TV, and even better when a few days later I received a call from my father saying that he had just seen it whilst watching a programme!
EEG: Which are your favourite programs you work with. Everybody has some favourite Affiliate Managers they like to work with. Please share…. Our favourite programmes are the ones that send us the biggest cheques!! But seriously our favourites are the programmes and Affiliate Managers that communicate with us; they send updated content without us asking for it!
The good Affilliate Managers also make time to meet us, whether that be at a conference or simply a one-on-one meeting. Where can they contact you? I can be contacted at [email protected]. EEG: Alright, here comes the fun part…. My favorite food will depend on my mood, but usually a Chinese or Indian. My two favourite destinations are Hillside Beach Club in Fethiye in Turkey heaven on earth — check it out and Nerja in Spain where we own a property.
Probably anywhere that has civil unrest going on at the time. Having said that we went to Egypt on holiday in the immediate aftermath of the Arab Spring! If we were to ever expand into Eastern Europe it would definitely be my first port of call.
With an experience of over 8 years in the online gambling industry, as an affiliate, later affiliate manager and consultant, I consider myself a veteran of the industry and can guarantee that you will be served with the most accurate information.
In the ever evolving and fast-growing gambling industry, not only C-level but all employees are overexposed to visual and mind stress, facing challenging projects in a short time, suffering the overstimulation caused by desktop screens and multiple screens. So, how to mitigate the frantic days while working in the gambling industry? BtoBet chose to have its head office in Malta not only for the favorable gambling legislation, but also for the therapeutic power of water which, when in close proximity, has been proven to transmit calm and connectivity between people, to increase innovation and insight.
Living and working in Malta, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, is undoubtedly a big plus. Since ancient times, humans have ascribed healing and transformational properties to water. In early Rome, baths were an important part of cultural life, a place where citizens went to find relaxation and to connect with others in a calming setting.
Rivers have long been seen as sacred places, and in a number of different spiritual contexts, water has symbolized rebirth, spiritual cleansing and salvation. Today, we still turn to water for a sense of calm and clarity. Our affinity to water is even reflected in the near-universal attraction to the colour blue. The marine biologist Wallace J. To discover more, read the entire blog here :. It brings 3 main benefits to human beings: first of all, contact with water allows us to give our brains a rest from our everyday stressing life , constantly bombarded with sensory stimuli, whether from our devices, home, office and expos.
This is especially true in our hectic sportsbook and gambling industry. How many of you are feeling the same? The sound of water is far simpler than the sound of voices or the sound of music or the sound of a city.
And the visual input is simplified, too. Though we may not be conscious of it, water could be inducing a mildly meditative state of calm focus and gentle awareness. In fact, being in a mindful state — in which the brain is relaxed but focused —the mind and body benefits include lower stress levels , relief from mild anxiety, pain and depression , improved mental clarity and focus, and better sleep quality.
The third benefit of the proximity to water is that it can inspire us to be more compassionate and connected with the rest of the world around us and more creative. This feeling of awe can increase our capacity for connection and empathy. Also hopping in the shower can be a great way to trigger ideas when our brains are in a creative rut. We need to activate a default network to let the best insights and ideas come up instead of leaving them stuck while sitting at our computers, desperately searching for the solution.
BtoBet is a pioneer in new technologies for iGaming operators and the betting industry by using technological intelligence as its main base for its products. It seems he hasn't really looked on those times with affection but talking to us reminded him of those proud moments that did come out of that time.
He started his foodie brand The Cure Charcuterie which is all about Great British snacking - think the snack equivalent of craft beer, in fact eat the snacks whilst drinking craft beer! He also held loads of great events that brought local brands together and Co-Up was also the birth place of a few more successful brands, so it wasn't all bad, he just needed the reminder. Honestly, being a podcast guest can be like therapy we are not suggesting that it is an alternative to good quality therapy mind, that would be ridiculous and totally irresponsible!
So anyway, talking of therapy and different ways of dealing with things Danny has struggled with anxiety and depression in the last few years which led him to his latest bright idea yes, he is full of them which is Good Footing. On top of the current day job as a brand strategist and creative direction consultant he helps creators think, do and make good things.
He basically runs workshops that take place in the great outdoors whilst walking with the aim to inspire people to think creatively in order to help solve big problems. With the added bonus of instilling positive mental and physical wellbeing. What's not to love about that concept? In fact, during the last few months it has been pretty difficult but he is currently putting things in place to launch In Good Company - a netwalking event in September! That's next month! How blummin' exciting! A dose of inspiration from the younger generation with Melissa Roberts.
At the age of just 21 Melissa has a fire in her belly that betrays her youth, she is just so bloody sorted and is such an inspiration to us and other people that are more than twice her age we know!!! At school Mel didn't really know what she wanted to do and didn't really enjoy any other subjects other than business but nevertheless for the last time in her life she bowed to outside pressures and went to college to study A Levels, and then she didn't.
She gave up part way through year one and decided to go to Kirklees College to study a BTEC in Business which some might be under the misconception that this is a bit of a cop out and that a BTEC doesn't have as much value as A levels! Well they would be wrong then wouldn't they?
We believe that people should take their own path in life, how many guests have we had on who are doing or have done, what they feel they should do and not what they actually want to do? Plenty, so it is particularly refreshing to meet Mel who absolutely has set off on her own path and that path, so far, seems to be leading to great places.
While she studied her BTEC she also worked two and a half days a week at a local marketing agency and this stood her in good stead when it came to starting her full time career as she had a head start on her peers.
But she didn't just settle for employment, of course she didn't. Growing up surrounded by entrepeneurs inspired her to start her own business with a friend at just 18 years old and she has not looked back. Beanie Media offers web design and development as well as social media advertising to family owned manufacturing businesses and they do it well!
This is where Melissa's youth is firmly on her side, you may say she has an unfair advantage read the book , because she is bang up to date with the latest technologies and because she has a genuine geek streak when it comes to all things tech and digital media she is constantly learning and guess what?
She then passes this knowledge on to her clients to ensure they get amazing results! Melissa also prides herself on solving real life problems through technology and this has led her to her latest venture Kidcrowd which is a platform that gives parents of partygoers an alternative to buying a token gift tat that ends up hanging around the home, not getting much use and ultimately goes to landfill. We have all had that 'that'll do' moment when buying a gift for our kids to take to a party right?
Well no more! Kidcrowd is on a mission to reduce gifting wastage, and let children use their own savings to buy the gift they really want. So as a family friend, grandparent or partygoer we can use the money we would have spent on said token gift and pledge it to the birthday boy or girls crowd fund, so they get to put the money together and buy something they really want. How good is that?
There is no need to wait until you are in your 40's like we did, although that is fine too - obvs! Simply Winning with David Horrocks.
It's fair to say he is a busy man but these days his life is much less busy and much more settled than it has been in the past. As a Lancashire lad growing up in Burnley, like many lads he was an aspiring footballer. His dad managed to get him into a local Catholic school which had a good reputation for being a 'good football school' despite the fact that he wasn't Catholic at all. Actually his Dad met the headmaster of the school in the local pub where most of us Northerners form many friendships.
Back in those days football wasn't the way it is now, the money was nowhere near and they didn't offer academy places to the youth, though many clubs did have Under 16's sides and David was lucky enough to play for Burnley and Blackburn at that level. Trying to balance a football career with full time studies didn't really work well for him and he found himself fledgling at both rather than excelling at one or the other.
He had basically compromised and this was a wake up call for him. He went on to get a job in a local paint factory and then in the Warburton's bread factory best bread ever btw - northern lasses opinion and nobody paid us to say that!
His friends by this point where at Uni so he was basically living the student lifestyle whilst trying to carve out a football career, again, not the best combination. What sport had done for him though was allow him to meet a load of people he probably wouldn't have otherwise met and this enabled him to get a 'proper job' in an IT firm and he stayed in this industry for about 12 years, that's where he met our Michelle - what a lucky fella! He was still paying football at this point but was approaching his 30's and realised that when football was no longer an option for him he didn't want to be stuck in that particular day job.
This revelation led him to start studying coaching which then fed his interest in the psychology side of sports so he went on to study that via an Open University Course whilst he worked part time in community clubs and schools.
One of these clubs at the time was of particularly interest to the academy scouts academies now exist by this point who came along to see the players and spotted the coach we love this part of David's story. So he then went to work at Bury FC and met their Head of Psychology who inspired and encouraged him to go to University and finish the degree where he did his dissertation entitled Talent Development and Serial Winning Manchester United Football Club which ended up getting published - you might say he got noticed.
After this he worked for quite a few football clubs then was poached to golf for a few years where he went on world tours and led a very busy and hectic life. Then something amazing happened, something that he describes as the best thing that ever happened happened, his son Jordi now 7 was born and that lifestyle became unsustainable as he didn't want to be away more than he was at home.
Next step, lecturing at Universities, consulting in various sports and setting up his own company www. He also became a Research Consultant at Man Utd FC which sounds like such an interesting role and involves David and therefore the club being at the forefront of sports technology - you are going to have to listen to find out more!
The story behind the man behind Sanctum Healthcare with Jonathan Edgeley. We know what you're thinking 'what's Sanctum Healthcare'?
Well, in short it is a registered provider of mental health and addiction services based in Cheshire. And that is all we are telling you, you will have to listen if you want to know more won't you?
So anyway, Jonathan is one of the founders of Sanctum and his journey to this is long and varied. Well, yes they are but this one is even more long and varied than usual. After leaving school at 18 before he took his A Levels, Jonathan was lucky enough to get a job through his Dad selling some sort of techy thing that we don't really know what he means, but it doesn't really matter now anyway.
He spent 13 years working in IT and loved the sales side of things but not particularly the tech. He also loved the 'jollies' that came with a sales career back in the day which don't tend to happen much these days. However, the 'jollies' were not great for a guy like Jonathan who soon discovered that he was suffering from issues associated with poor mental health, namely alcoholism and anxiety.
Having no off switch often left him partying way longer than his colleagues did and eventually as these issues, and age, caught up with him, he found himself on a downward spiral.
He lost his driving licence and therefore his career took a nose dive which then changed his lifestyle and his relationships. In December his dad staged an intervention and sent him to a rehab centre in South Africa where he spent 4 months and managed to stop drinking and taking, what he describes as 'mind and mood altering substances'.
After this he went from strength to strength setting up a couple of very successful businesses but then disaster struck and he relapsed, he started drinking again and he carried on drinking for three and a half more years.
We hope you enjoy listening to this episode, we loved recording it and managed to still have a laugh despite the sensitivity of the subject. Feedback welcome as per! With Love Michelle and Jayne.
Reigniting your career with best selling author of She's Back - Lisa Unwin. Lisa is a really interesting woman and has had a varied career as have many of our guests but what stands out about Lisa is that whilst taking a career break to raise her children she realised that finding her way back to her once loved career had become much more difficult than she had first thought it would be.
Then she realised something else - she wasn't alone! And instead of sitting back and letting this happen, she took action and then co-wrote a book to show the rest of us how to take action too. We have both been reading this book and wished we had discovered it sooner, it has some many helpful tips and inspiring stories in it.
Give this episode a listen to find out how Lisa came to be doing this and what she is up to these days. As ever, we would love to know what you think. Oh, and buy the book here - you won't regret it. No not really, just wanted to get your attention! The audio in this episode is a bit dodge in places, bear with it - we are recording in lockdown after all and silly Jayne thought she would risk it for a biscuit and record in her new office that doesn't actually have wifi yet.
Jayne says sorry!! So in this episode we have not only, one of few non-northern guests this isn't a strategy btw, we welcome inspiring people from anywhere but Jennifer is our first overseas guest to be fair though she does now live in the north of England after she met her hubby way back when at a Halloween party in the big smoke!! Jennifer is Director and co-owner of Sharp Ahead - a B2B that means business to business in case you didn't know digital marketing agency based in Reading and Leeds like the festivals and weirdly 3 employees in Blackpool - who knew Blackpool was the hub of digital expertise?
Well turns out Jayne did! So, have a listen to find out how Jennifer came from Stateside to London to up North and accidentally fell into her career and then her latest venture by being in the right place at the right time.
We are pretty sure that she is just being all modest on us and a fair bit of hard graft came into it too. If you want to find out more about Jennifers business here is the link. Talking cats, cakes and careers with social media trainer Janet Bebb. In this episode we chat with Janet Bebb from Social Progress all about her career and her business how it came about and what they do to help people either learn to manage their own social platforms or manage them on their behalf.
We also chat cake, specifically carrot cake Costa has the best in case you were wondering - Janet has tested them all and about her crazy cat Earl named after the tea. If you want to know more about Janet and her business then one of the many links below can put you in touch.
Getting your vibe from your tribe with fitness guru Natalie Rew. In this episode we discuss Natalies career journey from a background in graphic design and secretarial roles, meeting our Michelle at Apple, and the following years that led her, at the age of 43 to train to become a fitness coach and personal trainer.
Talking how you go from wannabe stripper to successful company director making radiators sexy with Fiona Conor. Talking business and podcasting with fellow podcaster and Northern Lass, Deborah Ogden. When our Jayne first saw Deborah speak at a local business event she spent the hour nodding like the Churchill dog. It is not often you hear a speaker who really connects with you and says the things that you are thinking, but with Deborah this is what you get.
She is a fantastic public speaker and just oozes confidence and authenticity and it is this down to earth yet authoritative manner that has her connecting with her entire audience from the get go. Deborah has a varied business offer, all of it based around helping people to be the best and most authentic version of themselves, to communicate effectively and unleash a personal brand that has impact, memorability and style.
She does this through mentoring, public speaking, workshops and of course her very own podcast that she launched last year - On brand with Give it a listen, it is really very good.
In fact we were a little nervous before this interview, you know, interviewing a pro and all that. It was fine though, it's just like having a chat with friends, it just happens to be recorded so you can join in too. But Deborah's road to where she is today, as is usually the case with our guests, was not as you would imagine.
She actually studied Law for 6 years we know!!! A successful marketing career ensued and she ended up starting her own business Deborah Ogden Ltd almost 10 years ago and the rest, as they say, is history.
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