A Pragmatic Podcaster’s Perspective on Clubhouse as it Stands Today
There's a lot of chatter about the new startup "unicorn" Clubhouse recently. And rightly so, it's a fascinating ...
Why We Stopped Publishing Our Podcast to YouTube
There's a lot of debate about whether or not you should publish your podcast to YouTube. Last year, ...
I Started Saying “No”, and Something Weird Happened
Running a business is tough at the best of times. The "entrepreneur" lifestyle that is often touted online ...
What is Apple Building Next in Podcasting?
Disclosure: I've been planning and considering this opinion piece for close to 9 months but wanted to fully ...
Some No Bullsh*t Reflections on Building a Product in 2019
Most of my writing, heck, most of my content these days is in or around podcasting. But now ...
Why Founders Must Learn Patience
People constantly ask me how I get so much done, especially as the co-founder of Rebel Base Media ...
The Future of Podcast SEO Now That Google Is Here to Stay?
A thought exercise. Back in “the day”, I used to work a fair bit in search engine optimisation ...
Podfade: A More Responsible Approach?
I love singing on karaoke. I’m a product of the 80s so anything fronted by a guitar typically ...
The Question Podcasters Don’t Always Like the Answer To
As I write this, it has just been revealed that there are 700,000 podcasts in the Apple Podcasts ...
The Gap Between Indie &”Big” Podcasting – Cause for Concern?
As I pulled on my blazer, I felt a deep pang of regret for leaving England without a ...
Warning: Podcast Review Extortion
This is not a marketing or opinion piece, this is a piece that all podcasters need to read ...
Podcast Marketing Strategy: The Podcast Discoverability Triangle
Last updated: 19th February 2022. (TL;DR: Podcast marketing is hard. As independent podcasters, there are three layers to ...
Spotify is Defanging Apple as Podcasting’s Biggest Threat
There’s a land grab happening right now in podcasting. Talent is being acquired at a startling rate and ...
Why Anchor Isn’t the Villain in the Podcasting Story
I get it. I run a podcasting tech company. We have a web platform, a podcast hosting platform, ...
4 Personal Branding Mistakes I Learned From (The Hard Way)
Personal branding is a hot topic right now and even though this is the way that business has ...
20 Ways to Start Dealing with Your Limiting Self-Beliefs
We're our own worst enemies. Well, I'm my own worst enemy, anyway. The thing is, that's really easy ...
Entrepreneurs Steal This Edge from Themselves Every Day!
When I was around 8 years old, my school teacher, let's call her "Mrs Teacher", told me I ...
“What do I want to do with my life?”
I had a few whiskeys last Saturday with a bunch of friends, and as the tongues began to ...
You Don’t Need More Time!
In mid-2017, I came to the realisation that I was trapped within a lifestyle prison that I had ...
My Business, My Prison
In my last piece, I gave you the outline of how we spotted a problem, solved that problem ...
How I Turned a Boring Business Model into a Six-Figure Side Hustle
In 2017 I closed the design & digital agency that I’d spent ten years building to focus on ...
My Rejection Story – Without Your Own Platform, You Don’t Exist
A few years ago I pitched the idea of a long, super high-quality piece of content to a ...
Two Secrets to The Perfect Work/Life Balance
When I first put together The 14 Day Guide to Cutting Your Working Hours and Increasing Your Impact ...
You’re Doing Authenticity Wrong
This is a post that I originally published at Entrepreneur.com on May 1st 2017. "Authenticity" - a word ...
You Sell Experiences, Whether You Like It or Not
This is a piece that I originally authored over at Entrepreneur.com. I took my little nephew to Meadowhall ...
INFOGRAPHIC: 5 Honest Productivity Hacks That You Can’t Miss
Productivity is a word that anyone in business holds in such high regard and is often seen as ...
The 3 Social Media Tools That I Couldn’t Live Without
Everyone's a social media expert these days, right? I'll be honest, I'm not. I experiment, try things, measure ...
Thank you for the music, HACKSAW™
Thirteen years ago, on a cold winters afternoon, my Grandad Reuben walked into PC World with me and ...
What I Learned from Podcast Movement 2017
Last week, what felt like the entire podcasting industry descended upon Anaheim, CA for Podcast Movement 2017. Hosted ...
Truth: Failure is Overrated
Just like many "entrepreneurs", I've fallen on my ass and failed more than once. And it hurts, it's ...
5 Harsh Realities of Running Your Own Blog
I love writing. In fact, I love communicating overall. There's a freedom that comes from expressing yourself via ...
How You Should Really Be Pricing Things
I've been in the service game for a long time now and one of the most significant lessons ...
INFOGRAPHIC: 10 Heartfelt Truths That I’d Tell My Younger Self as an Entrepreneur
Hindsight and experience. Two things that can neither be bought nor truly understood by anyone but ourselves. Whilst ...
The Secret to Starting
This is a piece I wrote and published over at Entrepreneur.com, too on April 28th 2017. Starting something, ...
Practice what you preach!
Hands up if you know more than five "social media experts". Ten? Fifteen? When I started my first ...
I’m really struggling, but here’s how I’m fixing it
This is a flash post that I decided to write because honestly, I've been struggling the last few ...
Die a Hero or Live Long Enough to be the Villain – A Ballad of Customer Service
Customer service is hard. Yet it's also really, really satisfying and is of course, absolutely vital to any ...
Turn Your Competitors into Customers
Business is hard. It doesn't matter what inspirational quotes you read, how much people give you "foolproof roadmaps" ...
5 Telltale Signs Of A Terrible Client
As a constant reader of Excellence Expected, you know how much I advocate the notion of keeping bad ...
27 Tools That Every Entrepreneur Needs from Day One
If you're anything like me, you get shiny object syndrome - a LOT! Not only do I love ...
One Simple Step to Gaining an Unfair Advantage When Pricing!
I write a lot about bad money. As a constant reader you’ll be familiar with the concept, but ...
INFOGRAPHIC: 10 Steps to Creating a Downloadable Resource Tool-Kit for Your Audience
When I created The Straight Talking Guide to Launching Your First Product I knew that I had to ...
Don’t be an Entrepreneur! Do this instead.
When I was younger, specifically around 23, I had the opportunity to grab some free coaching from an ...
Why Your Should Treat Your Website Like a Startup
This is a post that I originally authored for New Media Europe, check out their blog and the ...
Here’s What I Learned When I Quit My Own Business
This is a post that I originally wrote for and published at Entrepreneur.com. I remember the day well. ...
The Secret to Keeping Your Sanity in Customer Service
This post is a piece I originally wrote for Entrepreneur.com, where it was published first. Years ago, when my design ...
Money Making Ideas That You Can Get Started with Right Now
Starting a business feels like big step, and it is without a doubt one of the biggest decisions ...
5 Ways to Screw Up Your First Week in Business and How to Avoid Them
There’s honestly no better feeling than turning out for your first day “at work” when you begin working ...
Hard Truths That You May Not Want to Hear About Starting Your First Business
I’ve worked in the digital industry since 2001, and it is a wondrous place. I struggle to think ...
7 Reasons You Should be Thinking About Your First Pivot
The word “pivot” comes with a certain charm to it and at times, a certain mystique that alludes ...
Content Marketing: Bad, Fad or Something Else?
As I write this, I've been in the web industry for just about 12 years. In that time, ...
Lessons I Learned from Starting a Business – Warts ’n’ All
I’ve worked in the digital industry since 2001, and it is a wondrous place. I struggle to think ...
LIVE PANEL: How to Begin a Startup & The Real Life Impact of a Pivot
14 weeks of a startup accelerator are hard. There's no doubt about that. And if you've been following ...
Startup Diaries Week#14: The Show Must Go On
That’s it. Ignite cohort #8 is done. 14 weeks of my life have flown by in the blink ...
Startup Diaries Week #13: F*ck You, Ego.
Ego is a funny thing. even when you’re so sure you don’t have one, you’re proven wrong. That ...
Startup Diaries Week #12: The Road to an Investment Round Begins
It’s weird, really. You know the situation: something seems so far off that it can’t possibly be real? ...
Startup Diaries Week #11: Head Down
The hard thing about writing a blog series like this is that it relies on "stuff happening". That ...
Startup Diaries Week #10 – The Calm Before the Storm
There's a distinct feeling this week that this is the calm before the storm. Accelerator programmes seem to ...
Startup Diaries Week #9: #PipPipHooray
Pip™ is in the wild! It's free and you can use it today (click to try)... Last week I ...
Startup Diaries Week #8: Excitement & Distraction
I’m excited. I get excited a lot, it’s why I do what I do. But now I’m really ...
Startup Diaries Week #7: The Hardest Days of My Life
On Sunday last week, I jumped in an Uber with 2 great friends to head to Heathrow airport. ...
Startup Diaries Week #6: The One Week Business
Shelving Cavalry left us at a fork in the road. Actually, it was more of a roundabout, one ...
Startup Diaries Week #5: I Just Killed My Startup
We’ve had some very hard conversations this week; with each other, with ourselves. The beginning of the week ...
Startup Diaries Week #4: The Struggle is Real
I had a “short” week on Ignite during week 4. On the Thursday morning I flew out to ...
Startup Diaries Week #3: The Calm Before the Storm?
Wondering what this is all about? Read about week 1 Read about week 2 The Story So Far ...
Startup Diaries Week #2: Real Life
This is an honest, open and personal account of my time on the 14 week Ignite Accelerator, cohort ...
Startup Diaries Week #1: Orientation
This is an honest, open and personal account of my time on the 14 week Ignite Accelerator, cohort ...
A Christmas Thank You [Video]
[youtube id="sSQAdzXmB3A" align="center" maxwidth="645"] A short Christmas 2015 thank you to you, for supporting Excellence Expected and me personally ...
The confession of a former pain in the ass.
Things really get on top of me sometimes and the truth is, regardless of how much I try ...
Don’t wind down for Christmas, wind up for next year!
I love Christmas. I love everything about it: the extended family time, the chance to spend time with ...
What Arnold Schwarzenegger Can Teach Us About Marketing
Often, Im asked what my most influential books are. You know the sort of books that I'm talking ...
Should I have separate Twitter accounts for business and personal?
When I first started Excellence Expected I received this tweet: @MrAsquith sorry dude, you should definitely set up ...
It’s a pivot, not a fail.
Failure: the golden accolade that each and every entrepreneur should achieve at least once before reaching their own ...
3 Productivity Tools I Couldn’t Live Without
I'm a self confessed productivity monster. ALWAYS trying to be "better" and constantly "optimising" my workflow. Being one ...
Why it’s not enough to do enough. Taking your customer service to the next level.
We live in an accountable world. A world where our businesses are expected to be as open and ...
3 Ways to Dominate Your First Public Talk
Public speaking: the thought of it brings a shiver to the spines of many of us. The very ...
How to Promote Your Products on Social Media Without Annoying People
It's something that really bugs so many of us and I want reminded of it late last week. ...
3 Ways to Load Your Day The Right Way
Yesterday I sent out a really personal email to my VIP subscriber list with the title: “I had ...
It Isn’t Who You Know, It’s How You Know Them
And so the old adage goes: it isn't what you know, it's who you know. Without a doubt, ...
Periscope: Small Business Marketing’s Secret Weapon?
2015 is undoubtedly the year of the live stream. Since the year rolled in we’ve seen the advent, ...
Excellence Expected Named One of the Best Small Business Podcasts of 2015
Wow, what a surprise and honour it is that, less than a year in to the show and Excellence Expected ...
The Curse of Mega Success
Whilst delayed on holiday recently I had 9 hours to kill. Like any good geek my iPad is ...
How a small business can optimise a website for mobile and tablet users
Mobile browsing now accounts for approximately 31% of all Internet traffic in the UK. Perhaps a more startling ...
Staying Productive As a Small Business Owner/Manager
Running a successful business requires excellent plate spinning and navigational skills. In the early days, self-employment is all ...
Effective Small Business Networking – Making the Most of Your Valuable Time
As the owner-manager of a new business one of the greatest challenges you'll face is the age old ...
Encouraging Youth Startups – A Refreshing Approach from Schools & Colleges
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking at Barnsley College at its Enterprise Society event. Speaking ...