In this episode, join us as we delve into the life and career of Dan Sherrard-Smith, an entrepreneur passionate about renewable energy and sustainable living. Growing up in Swansea, Wales, Dan developed an early love for the environment. His journey through various jobs led him to discover his passion for renewable energy and set up a social business connecting volunteers with the elderly.
Dan discusses the profound impact his mentor and the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” had on his life. He shares his experiences on Dragon’s Den, the creation of Mother Tree, a fintech company focused on sustainable investments, and his efforts to live more sustainably through initiatives like the Climate Challenge.
Explore Dan’s reflections on the education system, the importance of fostering creativity, and aligning business actions with personal values. He emphasises the significance of recognising privilege, using it to empower others and the interconnectedness of global challenges like climate change.
00:00 – Early Years and Path to Entrepreneurship: Dan’s upbringing and educational background.
02:43 – Discovering Renewable Energy: Transition from unfulfilling jobs to finding a true passion.
08:36 – Impact on Personal Finance and Environment: Journey to sustainable living and launching Mother Tree.
13:46 – Education and Purpose-Driven Business: Aligning company values with sustainable practices.
19:32 – Addressing Climate Change and Financial Impact: The importance of conscious banking and investment choices.
24:44 – Balancing Passion with Personal Life: The power of collective action and maintaining work-life balance.
29:43 – Learning from Mentors: The value of absorbing knowledge and experiences from successful entrepreneurs.
Dan’s story is not just about entrepreneurial success but also about personal transformation, emphasizing the importance of sustainable living, continuous learning, and the impact of small changes in making a big difference.
Welcome to the balanced ambition podcast I’m your host Matt Salam here we delve into candid conversations with entrepreneurs exploring both their business journey and their secrets to maintaining mental well-being as we navigate the balance of ambition and inner peace I hope you find insights inspiration and invaluable takeaways in
Every episode thank you for joining us Dan thank you very much for joining me today um I’d like to start actually by asking you to take us right back tell me about your your early years your school years and then how you progressed into work and then then obviously we build
Through to what it is you’re doing now but take take me right back tell us about you yeah sure Matt fantastic to be here thanks for having me on the podcast and H yeah what an interesting question it’s so rare to get asked about those early
Years uh so for me I grew up in Swansea in South Wales and really sort of fell in love with the beaches there kind of Golden Sands and dramatic Cliffs really cold water which tends to keep the uh the tourists away H and yeah went to school to a comprehensive called oaka
Good good luck pronouncing that a Welsh a Welsh word h so you know really kind of standard childhood really in you know Swansea and played a lot of sport play played hockey and football and uh spent far too much time on on the beaches and then uh yeah univ went to exer studied
History in French um one thing one thing I would say actually about about my childhood I remember really clearly sitting in a geography lesson gosh at about 12 years old and hearing about climate change for the first time and realizing without dramatic change we were going to lose
This beautiful part of the world kind of more the Gower and the beaches there than Swansea itself for all its uh for all its great points uh and just realizing you know without dramatic change change we’re going to lose that part but also you know within my
Lifetime and so that kind of stayed with me ever since that and I didn’t know what to do about that back then but sort of when we get to the mother Tre part of this conversation that that will loop back in I’m I’m sure H but yeah went to
University studied history and French simply because they were things that interested me at the time uh spent far too much time at University uh you know drinking chasing girls playing football all the normal things just never really thought about being an entrepreneur or any of that and
Just was on this kind of path that I think my dad’s probably set I think I was just living how you know he said go to UNI have have fun and get a 21 and that’s what I did H and left and had a couple of jobs that I really that really
Just didn’t fit with me I did recruitment for three months and was awful at it h and left and then I did I did sales I was selling um it’s basically what Google news is now H and Google News existed back then like a rival to Google news and was
Awful at it I and really at that point in my life was thinking oh you know I’m like I’m like 22 23 think I have to make this work it seems so ludicrous now looking back but for you I had that in my head and just wasn’t working at all
And got fired from that after five months and it was like this release I loved it suddenly was like I’m free free of that job uh and then and then spent for the very first time in my life spent a bit of time thinking actually what do
I want to do like these two jobs didn’t work for me I didn’t give it any thought at University so yeah what do I really want to do and um renewable energy at that time really interested me this is the kind of early 2010s I got really lucky I got onto a
Graduate course at a Energy company called over energy they’re huge now back then they had about 90 employees and that graduate course meant I could just work in all different parts of their business and got really kind of a deep understanding of how this Energy company works and they’re buying part of
Their energy mix was renewable energy so there was that kind of social yeah H social aspect here but yeah just got to work in all sorts of places and really love that kind of entrepreneurial and that fast pace uh that oo was in the in those kind of early 2010s kind of 2012
2013 point and then kind of mid 20s started thinking okay this is great but it still doesn’t it’s still not quite there in terms of purpose there was something missing yeah and I had this exceptional uh Mentor at the time called Craig moley who encouraged me to read a book called
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People yeah and it completely CH my life there was this point in you know it fantastic yeah it completely changed my there was a point in the book where it says you know think about your funeral and and what people are saying
And also what what you achieved in your life and you know really quickly it’s it’s obvious it’s not about the stuff you have or the clothes you wear it’s about how you make people feel and and the actions you take yeah and it just completely changed for me and so H I set
Up a social business which was called Good Company we were connecting volunteers with the elderly we ran that for about 18 months it failed like I was so scared of failure in my mid 20s H and it felt like working with with the handbreak on which is an arson
Wenger saying I think I’m sure other people have said it as well but that’s why I picked it up but yeah every month wasn’t sure if we were going to get paid we we designed this thing in a meeting room and then spent 18 months trying to
Prove that it was going to work and clearly it wasn’t but just learned so much of that process and when and when sort of it finally you know we realized this isn’t going to happen uh yeah there were Tears like I cried on my kitchen floor and my
My now wife then my girlfriend sort of like looks absolutely fine and it was it you know no one had died we just tested something and it didn’t work and it was like this massive release of of energy and you know some amazing lessons realized you can’t just design something
In the meeting room you have to get out there and design it around the people you genuinely want to help yeah and be willing to change what it is to deliver them genuine value to to be of genuine use in in their life so that was just
Such a fundamental lesson and also just realizing it’s okay to fail like it’s okay to try stuff yeah it’s um it’s really liberating in a way to to learn that isn’t it you know because we are all incredibly scared of failure because I think growing up you know we’re we’re
Praised for all the good things we do and and told off when we get things wrong um but but actually as long as you learn from that failure actually that can drive you forward I think that’s exactly it and liberating is the word I think you’ve nailed it
And I think you know partly our school system I I won’t go too much into depth from this it it’s all about getting the grades and getting the A and then you know going to University Etc but actually real life doesn’t always work that way and I think we kind of miss a
Bit of that creativity and that failure for the right reasons you know has to be we have our morals and our values in the right place and then any failure within that sphere is actually just good because we’re figuring out different ways that you know you only
Have to get one thing to work out of all those failures for it to to become a success so that it was just such an amazing um moment and and ended up writing a few books uh and and got head hunted and and and tried a few just
Little businesses just setting them up on my own like doing a bit of coding and and just side of figuring stuff out in in much more of a fluid way and then yeah got got head hunted for something back then which was called the big deal and they wanted me me to launch
Something called look after my bills which uh I think they liked my sort of entrepreneurial and Energy background and I became H I became the sort of third third shareholder in that business this is kind of middle of 2017 and look after my bills we would we were automatically switching People’s Energy
So whenever your energy price went up we’d automatically switch you to a better tariff and you know the energy companies we had this thing called the Loyalty tax which if you didn’t switch the price kept going up so you ended up paying more for a commodity which you
Could get for cheaper for less and actually often better customer service as well yeah and and so it just I think it was the right time right product and and we got really lucky we we we grew really quickly we had um 10,000 customers in the first six months and
Then we went on Dragons Den uh we were why combinator backs after six months as well and then we went on Dragons Den uh and um yeah hid it out the park we we had the best ever deal uh on Dragon’s Den in terms of equity to
To money raised that that it just went crazy we had I think we got 40 50,000 customers overnight when that got shown wow we 100,000 customers at the end of that year like just just this kind of crazy rocket ship that it was amazing to experience it was completely nuts to
Actually try and keep the thing together H but we did it we had a great team and then go compare uh bought us um so good good return for the dragons who who invested Jenny Campbell and Ted Lani and you know good return for other investors
H so that was that was the kind of look after my bills journey and actually while working there it become quite a comfortable job you know we’d established it it was it was a um was doing kind of 20 million plus Revenue a year by that point so it was a really
Establish and my wife became pregnant we’ve now got a two and a half year old boy Theo it just really made me question you know where I I spending my time and what was life going to be like for Theo when he’s my age when he’s in his
Mid-30s what what’s the world going to look like it’s gonna be so different it’s gonna be so it’s gonna be so different and I want him to grow up in a world where he has similar opportunities that I’ve had and uh you know the wild the amazing Wildlife that that that we
Share this world with is still available to him when he’s in his 30s H so yeah it just I just felt so compelled on on on this and yeah quick a quick look after my bills and just started interviewing people just started listening to people
Of all walks of life um in terms of how the climate crisis impacts their life yeah and my wife actually came up with the idea of something called the climate challenge which this is this is well over two years ago now uh which was basically groups of about eight people
Enough to share Pizza hopefully a vegan pizza but enough to share Pizza over a month Al together going through about 30 actions to live more sustainably so for me it was it was like running free focus groups and for us all going through it we were discovering Ways to Live more
Sustainably uh you know we did all sorts of things we got rid of single- use plastic which was much harder than it should be H we went vegan for the day which was easier than I thought it would be we looked at our carbon Footprints and two of the things that two actions
That we did really stood out for for me as well as lots of other people who went through these uh these challenges we did five challenges groups of eight people each time back then and those two two where where our banks were investing and where our pensions were invested for me
As well so 1% of of my pension was in tobacco 2% was in Island gas BP and shell 1% was in weapons one you know about half a percent in gambling just just things that there never and yeah every single month some of my hard earned cash had been going
There it was like oh this is this is this is ridiculous and then we looked at the banks and and we banked look after my bills with with Lloyds Lloyds um they’ve put 14 billion into oil and gas since 2016 so since the Paris agreement
So it’s over two billion a year going in um and so you know it’s it’s all very well getting people to Green energy tariffs and bringing renewable energy into the mix through through consumer choice but if Lloyd’s and actually there are worse actors than those continue to
Put those billions a year into that industry then when not going to move the needle so that’s really the spark that that mother tree started with and launched mother Tree in March um 202 one I want to say 2022 2022 got get my dat 2022 and we
Originally sort of B Toc it was a um what we call our money carbon calculator I’m pretty sure it’s it’s definitely the first in the UK I’m pretty sure it’s the first in the world but it will show you the carbon impact of your money if you
Have £10,000 with with Lloyd’s or with Barkley it’ll show you actually how much that means in terms of carbon uh as a result of holding that money in a in a current account and that was okay it was a real struggle for the first year it
Felt a bit like pushing the rock up the hill and we were talking to customers and um earlier last year we pivoted to B2B and that’s where it’s really taken off so we now work with with businesses to make sure uh their their money so their pension Banks and
Bills is is as low carbon as can be but also they’re getting the most possible savings out of those switches and then we do the switches on their behalf so we use the sort of knowledge re bu look after my bills to make sure those uh those switches go really smoothly so um
Yeah that’s a bit bit of my history sorry that I feel like I’ve Ted far too much for that question no that I mean that’s there’s a couple of bits that really stand out to me actually the um I guess back back to your early years one that geography lesson learning about
Something you know learning about the climate change and that obviously stuck with you even though like many people we all sort of follow the standard path so you you go to UNI and you get the because that’s what you’re meant to do and we all follow that and actually you
You mentioned that the school system and I don’t don’t blame teachers here at all you know they they I’ve got a couple of sisters who are teachers but you know they’re judged on teaching children to therefore pass pass an exam and and that’s what they do but it needs to go
Further back the the whole school system isn’t set up necessarily for thinking outside the box you know the the entrepreneurial Spirit coming up with something new it’s about learning something and then proving that you you know it um and you you you touched on on that and I think that’s sometimes where
You know entrepreneurs actually it it niggles away at us doesn’t it you know we’re working in other jobs but actually there’s that little niggle of is this actually what I want to be doing um and and talking about you know what someone would say at your funeral is is actually
A really good way of of thinking about it but those early years obviously did have an impact on where you are today is that that fair to say I I think so and I haven’t done a huge amount of introspection on this what what I I do just want to say one of
My sisters is a teacher she’s one of my favorite people so this is not a knock against teachers I think they no two two of my sisters are teachers so yeah yeah they work on a very hard system and I think they do incredible work with kids
So it’s not um it’s not the teachers themselves uh so yeah I think um I haven’t done a huge amount of introspection in terms of my early life I think it was you know like every kid probably was only swansee we played a lot of sport we
We we didn’t really want to go to school but the weird thing is I always liked learning I I loved I loved the pressure of exams I actually enjoyed it in this really bizarre probably like the one person in the UK I’m sure there are others but you know I haven’t heard many
Where even at University I loved the focus I love that like here’s a deadline here’s something you have to deliver against and um yeah I enjoyed that but it doesn’t yeah it doesn’t promote that kind of out of the box thinking or that you know how can we be creative around a
Problem that we’ve noticed uh and that’s okay like I think there are different paths for different people uh but yeah I think from from my side I got really good at cramming knowledge at at school if you’re asking me like what my what my sort of youth
Youth gave me uh I I got good at being disciplined like I played hockey at quite a high level and to do you know you have to you have to be disciplined to do that I think that’s a really good thing to have um I had a really great
Family you I’ve got an amazing family keep me grounded and uh it’s very very lucky to have that so you know I definitely won the birth Lottery right I’m incredibly thankful for for those pie for those things and um yeah I mean it’s definitely helped
Helped get get me to where I am yeah but you certainly now feel like what you’re doing has more purpose you’re you’re a purpose-driven uh business or organization um and talk to me a little bit about why you think it’s really uh blossomed since you’ve launched out to
That B2B you know do you think businesses uh maybe one of my insights would be that businesses are a little more conscious that actually the the the message they’re putting out needs to match with the the public opinion of actually if you’re you’re saying you’re a good business you know
Try try and prove it please to us and and you know by using something like mry that’s one way that they can do that oh 100% this is this is a proof point to show employees and potential customers that we are one of the good guys We Are
One the good on the uh you know we’re doing good for for both the planet and for and for our employees and employees love that so part of the thing that we do for businesses is we we show them the video of the impact that these changes
Are having you know by going to a bank or a pension that’s genuinely investing in in these businesses Mission suddenly it lifts the whole company and we see that we we we do uh reports with employees questionnaires where they you know they actually it it adds to their positive experience with the company
I’ll give you one example we work with this brilliant uh Facebook marketing agency called quick Fox Labs two f Founders Emer and Amy um em and Amy have never had a female boss in their in their careers before launching quick Fox Labs which is just ludicrous yeah and
They recruit out of prisons and out of foster care so their whole their whole sort of ethos at this company is diversity and equality and social mobility and then we looked at their bank and their bank is investing billions into all white male boards all white male sea
Sues and you just really undermining their their their ethos and so we switched their Bank we saved them money we saved them carbon we saved them time from looking around all the accounts and is it going to be right for our systems and stuff we did all of for them but the
Thing that they got real value out of is that these the bank that they’re now with proportionately puts more into H diverse and um diverse boards diverse leadership teams and into social Mobility into making sure we have a society where you know wherever you’re you’re you you you come from you have a
Chance to end up doing what you really want to do yeah yeah I think that’s a that’s a really important point I mean you touched on it ju just now saying you know you know you you were lucky with the way you were born and brought up and
Family and things like that and actually I think sometimes you know why you know that’s not we couldn’t help that but actually yeah I was born into a family my parents together I was brought up nicely but actually not everyone is that lucky but that isn’t their their fault
But actually you know but they’re already starting the race a little bit behind um and actually yeah anything we can do to actually Empower people to make the most of their life and I think that’s that’s a really important part as well possibly you understanding what do
You want to do and then enabling people to be able to do that whatever the starting block was that they they initially had yeah I think that’s a really a really important part of uh of this journey of life and is realizing yeah you know really did win the the birth
Lottery I me I think the stat is I would need to check this if you’re earning more than I think it’s £25,000 PS a year you’re in something like the top 5% globally yeah I think it’s something which which seems crazy doesn’t it it sounds crazy yeah I mean the average wage in
The UK is I think at north of 30k now so we’re in incredibly privileged position and for me it’s it’s what I’m really interested in one of the things is how can we change the system so that it’s it’s fairer for as many people as possible and one you know one of those
Ways is actually through the finance Banks and pensions uh at the Forefront of that yeah I think um I want to ask you one question that I’ve I’ve asked a couple of people on this podcast and everyone’s given a slightly different answer the the the end game will be be the same but
Obviously you’ve got uh you know and I’m not going to put any words into your mouth but you you’ve obviously got quite an environmental background you’re interested in in climate change and trying to reduce our impact and that if I was to say well why should we care
What would your be yeah someone you start talking about you know climate change and someone says oh I’m not bothered why why should I care about that what would be your answer to that well I think climate change and the biodiversity crisis they go hand in hand they are the two biggest challenges
Humanity ever faced and there’s a couple of other challenges that we’re facing so we’ve got the threat of nuclear war which is come back we’ve got AI but of those three there’s only one that each and every one of us can do something about and that’s our
Impact on the planet so that’s just for me the the sort of base level the second is thinking about what kind of planet do we want to retire into so we’re all you know we’re all on this on this rock together in 30 years I’ll never retire
In the traditional sense but in 30 years when retirement’s available yeah you know what what what kind of planet is it going to be we have a choice on that it could be you know we can’t go outside because of toxic air and our summers are 40 degrees Plus in the
UK and our rivers are polluted worse than they are today which is hard to hard to think that’s possible but it is possible and that is kind of the default future that is kind of the future that we’re on unless we have dramatic change here it doesn’t have to
Be the future we can genuinely change that and so you know for me it’s it’s that environmental point but for somebody else and you know work hard to understand what are they passionate about but it could be that you know they love they love fishing or golf well
Those things are going to be impacted unless they’re willing to change now the other really cool thing is actually these changes aren’t as hard as perhaps they’re sold to us and often there’s other advantages Often by switching Bank you actually save more money right so we
Switch one business as Bank we save them third ,000 last year like and we did all the work for them you can save you can save significant AMS of money by doing the right actions and we’re often told there’s this green premium that’s true that’s true on some products you know
You pay more for an electric bike than a that’s not that’s not a great example you pay more for an electric car perhaps than a petrol car these days um but for banks and for pensions as well in terms of returns if you get it right we’re not seeing that we’re seeing actually
Benefit more so there’s a financial return there’s a kind of what kind of future do I want to be in place and then also you know if if you do care even a modan even like just a kind of one pixel of caring H and you think okay well
Given I have some influence in this game and I realize you know my carbon footprint is part of that well as a as a UK uh consumer the average UK individual has about 10 tons carbon footprint per year for all of their actions except for Banking and pensions and when you add in
Banking and pensions adds another 10 tons right so if if if you care care even a tiny bit just getting the finances right could save you money could reduce carbon and could change the future yeah and and quite a by a massive amount as well you know I think that
That’s possibly and I’ve had this conversation with a few people is that maybe as individuals you often feel like look my impact isn’t going to make much of an impact but I guess it goes back to the whole marginal gains and the 1% FY and and all of this that actually if yes
Just me doing something won’t make a difference but if me and my neighbor and the neighbor the other side and you and your friends and my partner and their friend suddenly actually it does become quite a big group and we can have an impact exactly I love that I love that
Because it can feel quite isolating but you know why should I do it when when my next door neighbor isn’t making these changes but you need 2% of a of a society to to change that Society that’s the Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell and his books talk about it it’s the Tipping
Point of the number of citizens who need to make a change for it to become H you know a a new part of that Society so it doesn’t take that much and we’re we’re far more connected on these things than than we think and we’ve seen there’s a street in
London last year this this uh couple that artists they put solar panels on their house they thought this was such a good idea they turned the whole street into a solar panel Factory everybody on that street who wanted solar panels say they got it sorted out that street
Doesn’t pay anything for the energy anymore right they went through the energy crisis it’s like they they’re winning here and then you know there a ripple inside one house and now that whole street and actually we get more streets doing that suddenly that energy Revolution takes off so it doesn’t take
Much and I think actually by doing these actions and I seen this and I’m inspired by people who do it you inspire other people yeah so it might you might feel like one person but actually it as you’ve said already it very quickly grows yeah yeah it is those sort of
Marginal gains and the compound interest effect and all of that of just everyone doing a little bit a little bit better I want to move on to um I suppose you and your your business I often find entrepreneurs who are running a business that they’re really passionate about it
Almost becomes all consuming because it’s hard to switch off off between your your your passion and your likes and what you’re interested in and your work life so how do you balance that how how do you make sure you do switch off it’s such it’s such a challenge it’s such a
Challenge I am and I love you know I love balanced ambition I think that’s such a good name uh you know good aim as well and yeah it is it is a real challenge my wife and I work hard at it she’s also an entrepreneur so you know
It’s it’s we’re kind of lucky in one sense because we can set our own hours so we can yeah we’re very you know we’re both very very clear on the hours we’re going to dedicate and and I’ll get to that um but also you know both of us being entrepreneurs mean some stuff
Comes up where we just have to deal with it and it feels like at the cost of of the relationship at times so it takes real work um how do I how do I manage it first I’m intentional so every month I I have goals it’s all there’s always a
Family goal okay them I check in with those goals and I make sure you know for me it is about there’s no point doing what I’m doing if I haven’t got an amazing fam Jules my wife and my son theia if I don’t get to spend quality
Time with them now like I don’t want to look back in 10 years and think oh I built a good business if I’m lucky enough to do that if the condition you know make that work I look back and think but it was at the cost of my
Family like that’s not a cost I’m willing to pay so you know I make sure that is really front and center um what that means is so at 4:30 every day my wife and I we we down tools the laptops get closed if possible the phones go off
It’s not always possible but H you know that’s that we aim for it and there the three of us we have we have time together at about seven one of us will read the book and put them to sleep and we’ll both be back online on on emails
And stuff for for you know bit more in the evening and then we try you know as much as we can we try and have sort of Friday evening and Saturdays off and um but yeah it takes balance and the thing that the thing that my wife and I
Really connect on is long walks and yeah a combination of of our companies plus having a two-year-old has meant that’s been particularly hard H we have yeah we just have to be really strict like we are going on a two-hour walk at least once a month just to have you know be
Able to talk a lot of that stuff out so that all helps uh but it’s a constant balance right it’s a constant Balancing Act uh so yeah great question love love the name of the podcast because I think that is what it’s all about isn’t it it’s about having something of purpose but
Also without without sacrificing you know the the family and amazing other things that going go on in life yeah because I I think so many entrepreneurs are passionate about their business whatever sector they’re in and it’s very easy that that becomes all consuming and it’s quite often with I certainly know
With with families um you know your partner and things like that you you almost you get to the stage where everything’s about the business and you not take them for granted but you become complacent that actually they’re always there they’re always there but actually it’s the same if if you don’t invest in
Your relationship it’s going to be the same as your business if you don’t invest in your business and the time things start to slip things start to fail um and actually you need to take stock at that much earlier that’s it yeah yeah look thank
You so much for talking to me today I’ve actually really enjoyed our conversation I’ve enjoyed learning about what it is uh you the business does and how actually as businesses we can make an impact um on on behalf of of the business but also on behalf of our you
Know our teams and and you know the staff that we employ whether that’s via pensions or or I guess even on a you business side actually ensuring that our team are more engaged with what we’re doing and understanding that actually we’re not just just saying we’re we’re a
Good company we’re we’re doing good and we’re I suppose position not position ourselves correctly but actually act on that as well and and uh make the right choices So yeah thank you I want to finish actually just one one final question someone starting a business they might be where you were
You know mid 20s or early 20s working a job they’re not too sure about but they’re thinking of maybe doing something but they haven’t quite figured it out what would you say to someone looking to start a business great question I think the best thing and this is
Entirely based on my own experience so feel free to Chuck this out as advice but the best thing that I did was work with Incredible entrepreneurs so I was lucky enough to work for Stephen Fitzpatrick at over energy I was lucky enough to launch good company alongside
Craig moley and then uh lucky enough to to uh launch look after my bills with Henry deso and will Hudson and there’s this there’s this sort of story that’s sold to us that you can just launch a business in your 20s and it’ll be amazing and the reality is is
You know it’s a very different to that it’s grit and you know there were a lot a lot of boring jobs that you just have to get done to make the business work and I honestly think one the best thing I did was become the sort of second hand
The right hand of these amazing well particularly Craig will and Henry of these amazing entrepreneurs and just learn from them and absorb from them and understand you know what are they doing that creates successful companies and I yeah just it was just like the best apprenticeship I could have
Had so yeah I would say if you did one thing go and find an entrepreneur that you you really think is on to something and you know try and get in early try and get in so that you’re you’re that sort of second third person higher so you can
Really learn from them yeah I I think that’s fantastic advice I think we should all act like sponges you know so many people get caught up in the the hustle culture of we’re business owners We Know It All no actually you can always learn something and I think
Learning as much as you can learn learn from their mistakes you know you mentioned making failures or making mistakes we’ve all been there the more you can learn from other people the better the odds are that actually your business is going to succeed so I think that’s great
Advice yeah thanks Dan thank you very much for joining me today and enjoy the rest of your day absolute pleasure thanks for having me thank you for tuning in to this episode of the balance ambition podcast I genuinely hope the stories inspire you as much as they inspire me if you found
Value in today’s conversation please share it with a friend and remember by subscribing you won’t miss an episode and it would truly mean the world to me stay balanced and I’ll see you next time