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Practical advice, honest stories, and strategic thinking for founders and small business owners.
LATEST POSTS
Putting yourself first will drive your business forward
There’s a dangerous myth in small business: Good founders put themselves last. They work longer hours, carry everyone else’s stress, skip rest, and tell themselves it’s “just part of the job.” It sounds noble. It looks committed. In reality, it quietly damages the business you’re trying to build. Here’s the truth: founders do their best […]
The Importance of Accountability for Small Business Owners
It’s great, you can set your own hours. You create your targets. No one is shouting at you for missing deadlines. These are typical comments from people who have never run their own business! As small business owners, we know that’s nonsense. However, we also know that it can be lonely and we’d benefit from […]
The Loneliness of a First-Time Business Owner
You expect bumps in the road as a first-time business owner. You brace yourself for the late nights, the financial uncertainty, and the endless to-do lists. What you might not expect—what few people talk about—is how lonely it can feel. Starting a business is often romanticised. You’ll set your hours, make the choices you want […]
Choosing Who Runs Marketing In An SME
Having run businesses of different sizes over the last 15 years, I’ve tried and seen marketing run in many different ways, to varying degrees of success. Personally, I’ve made plenty of mistakes and seen others do the same. Part of why we created Thirty Thee Percent was to help others avoid making the same ones. […]
Charity Leaders Podcast – Chris Sherwood
Episode 7 and the final show in our first season of charity leaders podcasts, we were delighted to welcome the leader of the largest charity so far, Chris Sherwood, CEO of the RSPCA. The RSPCA does not need any introduction but maybe some people are not aware of how historical they are, even have acts […]
Charity Leaders Podcast – Mike Ward
Episode 6 of the Charity Leaders Podcast finds us talking to actor turned charity leader, Mike Ward. His passion has always been about helping young people, so the move into charity and not-for-profit work was an obvious one. Mike is the CEO of KM Charity Team, which delivers literacy, road safety and walk to school […]
Charity Leaders Podcast – Anthony Impey
In episode 5 of our podcast series talking to inspiring charity leaders, we were lucky enough to chat to Anthony Impey MBE, a man that might have started in the commercial world, but has a passion for helping people and created his own social enterprise when he saw action was needed. He is now the […]
Charity Leaders Podcast – Sarah Mortiboys
Week 4 of our charity leaders podcast see’s us chatting to Sarah Mortiboys, the former MD of Dallaglio Rugby Works and new lead for sport for development at UK Coaching. Dallaglio Rugby Works offers life-changing support to young people so they are equipped to get into sustained education, employment or training. Sarah is a lifelong […]
Charity Leaders Podcast – Barry Fletcher
Week 3 of our charity leaders podcast bring us to the CEO of Career Connect and someone that we’ve known for a couple of years at Thirty Three Percent, Barry Fletcher. Career Connect is a charity committed to ensuring both children and adults can achieve their potential through career, employment and training services. Barry comes […]
Charities Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Marketing
“We need to make money so we can impact peoples lives, so sales & marketing have to be talked about” Simon Blake, CEO of Mental Health First Aid (England) And yet at too many charities, these are seen as subjects that shouldn’t be talked about. It’s considered a commercial approach to things, but in reality, […]
Charity Leaders Podcast – Simon Blake
In the first of our exciting series of podcasts interviewing some of the most interesting leaders in the charity sector, we talked to Simon Blake, the CEO of the social enterprise Mental Health First Aid (England), who have a vision to improve the mental health of the nation. In the last year alone they have […]