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Listen "#93 Big Ideas for Small Businesses with John Lamerton"
Episode Synopsis
John Lamerton is a best-selling author; entrepreneur; and mentor to small businesses. He hails from Devon and is a passionate Plymouth Argyle fan. John has just published a new book Big Ideas for Small Businesses and joins the podcast to tell us about the personal journey that inspires the book.
John Lamerton started off as a civil servant and became a self-taught marketer. It was the early 2000s and he read a lot about the dot com millionaires. He registered domain names and waited for the phone to ring. But it didn’t.
He started the business with £100. He learnt how to monetise the traffic he attracted to his sites. All this before to leave the day job at the council. It took him 9 months to earn his first cheque - £13.09! 3 months past time he went part time and 3 months later he started working for himself.
His first development book Internet Marketing for Dummies. Didn’t really help him. He learnt more from hours in forums, asking and understanding questions.
John Lamerton - Big Ideas for Small Businesses
At the time, the press was all over the dot com millionaires. He was 22 at the time. His heroes at the time were only burning VC money. He recognised this and reflects he should have been worshipping at the feet of his first mentor, Clarke.
Ask Ask Ask for advice from a mentor
He was 2 years ahead of John on the journey. John contacted him and said, “Hi Clarke, I’d like to do exactly what you are doing please! Could you tell me how you are doing it?”
Clarke’s answer? “Yes, of course I will”.
The first tip: Find someone who has been there. Book, YouTube videos. PICK THEIR BRAINS. Clarke got the good feeling from seeing a protégé doing what he was doing. The mentor relationship has blossomed into a life-long friendship.
Now their respective son’s ae helping each other on YouTube!
John had a remarkable run and was soon earning £300k a year from the internet. He thought he was God’s Gift to the internet. Branson and Sugar were his idols.
His first hire was 2003 and by 2004 he had 15 staff in 2 offices. He became a full-time HR officer, and he hated it. John left the business in 2005, it was not the business he wanted. He was in full control and he’d created a monster!
What did he learn?
His learnings from that period came down to who he was hanging around with. His contemporaries all wanted to be super-successful internet millionaires. Was he thinking big enough? A potential business partner expected he should be earning £100k per month just from the deal with him. Again, was he thinking big enough? Therefore, he needed to scale, he needed staff, offices etc – WITHOUT THINKING DOES HE REALLY WANT THIS?
He is a now a big proponent of LIFESTYLE businesses. With his meteoric rise in the early stages of his business, John started to forecast what he could earn in the next 10 years. Tens, Hundreds of Millions. The thing is he realised that those businesses are entirely different from the business HE WANTED TO RUN.
Now, he realises, business is about the lifestyle you want, whatever that means to you.
He recalls from Alan Sugar’s book. One line leapt out at him “I never really saw my kids when they were growing up”. He had a 3 months old baby. He realised he was running the wrong business. Branson’s book also had the same absent father comment.
Instead of working 100 hours a week, he decided to change.
Lifestyle. It’s something a lot of male business owners don’t appreciate. His book:
BIG IDEAS for small businesses – John Lamerton https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Ideas-Small-Businesses-Practical-ebook/dp/B073SJ74MR
John’s book talks about how you can have that work life balance. It’s a fine balance, but it can be achievable. Be there on sports days, assemblies. Share the joys of parenthood, without losing in business.
Work Life Balance
It involves:
Working smarter
Working fewer hours
Doing the right things
You can achieve a hell of a lot without doing a...
John Lamerton started off as a civil servant and became a self-taught marketer. It was the early 2000s and he read a lot about the dot com millionaires. He registered domain names and waited for the phone to ring. But it didn’t.
He started the business with £100. He learnt how to monetise the traffic he attracted to his sites. All this before to leave the day job at the council. It took him 9 months to earn his first cheque - £13.09! 3 months past time he went part time and 3 months later he started working for himself.
His first development book Internet Marketing for Dummies. Didn’t really help him. He learnt more from hours in forums, asking and understanding questions.
John Lamerton - Big Ideas for Small Businesses
At the time, the press was all over the dot com millionaires. He was 22 at the time. His heroes at the time were only burning VC money. He recognised this and reflects he should have been worshipping at the feet of his first mentor, Clarke.
Ask Ask Ask for advice from a mentor
He was 2 years ahead of John on the journey. John contacted him and said, “Hi Clarke, I’d like to do exactly what you are doing please! Could you tell me how you are doing it?”
Clarke’s answer? “Yes, of course I will”.
The first tip: Find someone who has been there. Book, YouTube videos. PICK THEIR BRAINS. Clarke got the good feeling from seeing a protégé doing what he was doing. The mentor relationship has blossomed into a life-long friendship.
Now their respective son’s ae helping each other on YouTube!
John had a remarkable run and was soon earning £300k a year from the internet. He thought he was God’s Gift to the internet. Branson and Sugar were his idols.
His first hire was 2003 and by 2004 he had 15 staff in 2 offices. He became a full-time HR officer, and he hated it. John left the business in 2005, it was not the business he wanted. He was in full control and he’d created a monster!
What did he learn?
His learnings from that period came down to who he was hanging around with. His contemporaries all wanted to be super-successful internet millionaires. Was he thinking big enough? A potential business partner expected he should be earning £100k per month just from the deal with him. Again, was he thinking big enough? Therefore, he needed to scale, he needed staff, offices etc – WITHOUT THINKING DOES HE REALLY WANT THIS?
He is a now a big proponent of LIFESTYLE businesses. With his meteoric rise in the early stages of his business, John started to forecast what he could earn in the next 10 years. Tens, Hundreds of Millions. The thing is he realised that those businesses are entirely different from the business HE WANTED TO RUN.
Now, he realises, business is about the lifestyle you want, whatever that means to you.
He recalls from Alan Sugar’s book. One line leapt out at him “I never really saw my kids when they were growing up”. He had a 3 months old baby. He realised he was running the wrong business. Branson’s book also had the same absent father comment.
Instead of working 100 hours a week, he decided to change.
Lifestyle. It’s something a lot of male business owners don’t appreciate. His book:
BIG IDEAS for small businesses – John Lamerton https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Ideas-Small-Businesses-Practical-ebook/dp/B073SJ74MR
John’s book talks about how you can have that work life balance. It’s a fine balance, but it can be achievable. Be there on sports days, assemblies. Share the joys of parenthood, without losing in business.
Work Life Balance
It involves:
Working smarter
Working fewer hours
Doing the right things
You can achieve a hell of a lot without doing a...
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