📚Pre-order my book to get an exclusive ticket to The Feel-Good Productivity Annual Planning Workshop 👉https://www.feelgoodproductivity.com/?utm_campaign=pre-order_bonus+&utm_source=deepdive_audio&utm_medium=description&utm_content=thom_elliot Sponsored by Huel - go to https://www.huel.com/deepdive and with your first order you’ll get a free t-shirt and shaker. Sponsored by Trading 212 - download the Trading 212 app https://trading212.com/promocodes/ALI and use the promo code "ALI" after signing up and depositing to receive a random free share worth up to £100. This is not financial advice. Investments can fall and rise. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Other fees may apply*. Capital is at risk. Sponsored by Kajabi - go to https://www.kajabi.com/ali to get FREE access to the keynote. A lot of us dream about starting a business. But so many people spend years and years planning a business without actually taking the plunge and going for it. We want to plan for every challenge and potential problem, and forget that the most important step is to just start something. It turns out that some of the best businesses are born from spur of the moment decisions and taking surprising and exciting risks. In this episode of Deep Dive I chat to Thom Elliot, co-founder of the restaurant business Pizza Pilgrims. Pizza Pilgrims started on a whim when Thom and his brother went on a trip around Italy trying to taste test the best pizzas in the country. From there, Pizza Pilgrims has become an award winning business, which has survived all the adversity of the pandemic to celebrate its tenth birthday this year. In this conversation we talk all about how to become an entrepreneur, how to turn set backs into opportunities, and the importance of taking risks when starting your dream business. Enjoy! Season 7 Episode 6 (06:30) The origin of Pizza Pilgrims (15:57) Thom’s trip to Italy(22:55) The importance of random conversations (29:36) Getting Pizza Pilgrims off the ground (37:00) The difference between employment and entrepreneurship (45:22) Should you quit your job to start a business? (51:19) Why you need to take risks (58:16) Founder’s naivety (1:06:33) Pizza Pilgrims' stats (1:11:15) Sustainable growth and long- term thinking (1:20:10) How Pizza Pilgrims survived the pandemic (1:31:54) Franchises and the Pizza Academy  (1:38:44) Growth and giving back (1:45:19) Balancing family life (1:48:21) Lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs 🔗 CONNECT WITH THOM 🎥 YouTube Channel 👥 Linkedin 💻 Website 🔗 CONNECT WITH ALI 📲 Join My Telegram Community 🎥 YouTube Channel 🐦 Twitter📸 Instagram💻 Website 👥 Linkedin 📄SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT Visit the website for the transcript and highlights from the conversation - https://aliabdaal.com/podcast/ 🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST Deep Dive is the podcast that delves into the minds of entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people to uncover the philosophies, strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives.  🎧 LISTEN FOR FREE Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7gZkflC...RSS - https://feeds.transistor.fm/deep-dive 🙏 LEAVE A REVIEW  If you enjoyed listening to the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the show :) https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... 👋🏼 GET IN TOUCH  You can also Tweet @AliAbdaal with any feedback, ideas or thoughts about the lessons you've learnt from the episodes and we can thank you personally for tuning in 🙏 PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I get a kickback from 😜