When Laurence started out in business, he was a company of one. For 5 years he found his own clients, did sales and marketing, managed his finances. It didn’t even occur to him to ask for help. Then one day he realised it wasn’t much fun anymore, and he could only go so far with his own skillset. Thankfully a project came in that meant he had to ask for help if he was to take it on. He could either stay solo and play it small, or start thinking bigger. As luck would have it, Carlos was...

What if you were unapologetically you? What impact would that have on your work, life and relationships? Unfortunately, too many of us aren’t prepared to bring our whole selves to work… or even life. We either create a mask or hold back on what’s really wanting to be seen. When we’re not prepared to show our full selves, it means we may not allow others to show their full selves too. This disconnection doesn’t help in work or life. It limits what’s possible in what we do and how we...

Our previous episode covered the theory along with Laurence, Carlos and Lana’s own stories of change, both small and large. On this episode, we invite some of our now 120-strong Vision 20/20 alumni – aka the Vision Tribe – to share their stories. These 3 amazing humans have been living their excite strategy by working out loud. Others have connected with their story, and helped them to reach their own goals. Ray Martin is an author, coach and explorer who just just published a book – Life...

The master storyteller. One of the most valuable things we’ve learned from him is about stories of change and how stories can motivate our own action and mobilise others. Story of Self, Story of Us, Story of Now. This approach to stories is a way to activate change in the world that is aligned to who we (entrepreneurial changemakers) are and what we need. In the world of business we can spend too much time and energy talking about what we do and how we do it, and don’t give enough thought to...

“Everything has a time to burn because it invites new life.” During his talk at Summercamp 2022, Ben Johnson shared his thoughts on the importance of creative destruction. Whether you’re talking about corporate innovation, the eventual demise of capitalism, or the maintenance of an ecological system, old things need to die in order for new things to live. In 2015, Laurence and Carlos experienced their own phase of creative destruction. They’d been simultaneously running both the Happy Startup...

At Summercamp 2020, coach David Papa gave a personal, entertaining and vulnerable talk about how to be scared. He believes that the only thing that can stop you living the life you love is not the fear, it’s believing the fear. Fear is just a thought and a sensation in the body. But when you add belief to it, then it’s energy that controls your life. In this week's episode, David shares how this has manifested throughout his own life and how our relationship to fear needs to evolve in order...

In a complex fast paced world it’s all too easy to think that we’re unable make any impact. But this isn’t true. At Happy Startup Summercamp 2022, Liana Fricker, founder of Inspiration Space, gave an empowering talk about turning apathy into action. Liana believes that if we harness our inspiration we can inspire others and these small ripples can turn into tidal waves of change. To start we just need to ask ourselves two simple questions: What do I really care about?What can I do about it...

When Ayse Birsel gave her talk at our Happy Startup Summercamp she was shocked that she only had 20 minutes to speak. Not only that, we told her that she should be sharing stories and not lessons. Ironically her talk is about lessons; lessons she’s learned from doing extensive research about older people and their attitude to life. She compiled these lessons along her research in her new book Design the Long Life You Love: A Step-by-Step Guide to Love, Purpose, Well-Being, and Friendship. As...

Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst are the cofounders of Hoxby, a community and social enterprise that provides companies with the best talent and helps people work in a way that best aligns with their chosen lifestyle. They're both advocates of what they call Workstyle, and have just published a book called Workstyle: A revolution for wellbeing, productivity and society. They also consult with companies to help them be more resilient and inclusive by learning how to take advantage of the rich...

“We are all part of this massive wood wide web. We are all connected, we are all entwined.” Life is full of changes, some are unexpected and traumatic and others can be intentional and nourishing. Coach and Vision 20/20 mentor Lana Jelenjev would like you to help you navigate change by thinking of your life as a tree – whether ripped from the soil or mindfully re-rooted. Re-rooting means digging carefully around your existing roots, gently shaking away old unwanted soil and looking for...

"When you’re writing something about your business. Anything. If it could be used – intact and just as coherently – by any of your competitors. It’s not good enough. Say something that only you can say, instead." Mychael Owen is an enigma. He started his first business at university, won a few awards and by 25 was advising other people how to start and grow businesses By 30 he'd started his first agency, employed 30 people with a turnover of £1.5m. On the surface everything looked great. But...

When Carlos was a teenager, he never thought he could be an entrepreneur. He had very specific beliefs around what it mean to be an entrepreneur or businessman – the entrepreneur type was loud, flamboyant and risk taking. The businessman type was sober, stern and hard-nosed. He didn’t identify with either of those types. These days, though, we’ve been given much more opportunity to start businesses; from anywhere, doing nearly anything, for just about anyone. The options feel unlimited....

One of the core models shared with participants of the Vision 20/20 programme is the Story of Change. Based on the Satir Change Model developed by Virginia Satir (family therapist and author), the Happy Startup School uses it to describe the transformation they wish for others. Rather than build products and services that they hope people will buy, members advocate a more design thinking approach that's based on understanding the change that people want to see in their lives. This helps them...

Mood is a mobile app that lets users track their mood with one tap a day. It was invented by Gareth Dauncey, a Welsh architect specialising in low-impact design and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. Gareth created Mood after years of spreading himself too thin. Things hadn’t felt right for a while so he started recording how he felt each day with a calendar and coloured pens. Over weeks and months he started to gain a new perspective that helped him take charge of his mental...

If you’re like Laurence and Carlos, following a squiggly life isn’t just a matter of circumstance, it’s in your nature. Sarah Ellis, cofounder of AmazingIf, says in her TED talk with her cofounder Helen Tupper “The legacy of the ladder is all around us.” That’s the career ladder; the linear view of life where work is all about straight line progression. Many of us were led to believe that progressing in life was as simple as ABC: school to university to graduate training scheme to skilled...

One of the most powerful ways we've found to connect with our followers is through our newsletter. But how do you do it so that it's energising and not exhausting, particularly when you're just starting out? For this episode, Carlos is joined by Lyndsay Lucero, founder of Baxley Goods. She's passionate about making exceptional goods that also help our planet. She shares her journey of creating a newsletter for her company to inspire you to do it for yourself, why having your own newsletter is...

Anniki Summerville is a broadcaster, author, journalist, and speaker specialising in telling positive and authentic narratives about women in their forties and beyond. This is about the "shoulds" and how when we reach midlife a lot of us start questioning them. The invitation is to do that a lot sooner, and lose the comparisonitis that can follow us around. Could the solution be to could encourage smaller sparks earlier in life, rather that one big midlife explosion when we hit our forties?...

How do we have to be to create a new world that sidesteps the mistakes of the old?What do we need to learn about relating differently and more compassionately with ourselves, and others, in order to create a different social and cultural reality?And what does a new world business designed to help people practise this look and feel like, and how do we learn to lead such a thing? Gaylene creates space for the new, the imaginative and the transformative. Through The Space to Come she and her...

Kindness, compassion, and playfulness can create positive ripples in the world. This episode’s guest, Bernadette Russell, has a daily intentional practice of kindness that not only brings her a sense of hope and joy, but has also opened doors to new opportunities and experiences. By embracing our childlike wonder and bringing it into our adult lives, we can redefine what it means to be a grown-up, take responsibility for our actions, and make a difference in the world. Through intentional...

There’s never enough time, and the work is never done. On this episode, author and journalist Oliver Burkeman shares his insights on how we can better manage our time, but not get bogged down in productivity. If you’re felt overwhelmed, stressed or unfulfilled, Oliver’s book, Four Thousand Weeks, offers a valuable reframe: pushing against the endless need for productivity, and towards a Zen-like surrender to the fact that we can’t – we won’t – get it all done. LinksJoin the conversation...

To cultivate creativity and authenticity, we have to be be willing to take risks and face the fear of rejection. James Victore is a designer and author whose podcast and course help people cultivate creativity and courage. He believes in authenticity, self-awareness, and the importance of understanding one's creative voice in order to put meaningful work out into the world. He encourages people to find their own voice and to not let self-doubt or negative opinions hold them back. He joins...

One of the things Laurence and Carlos are really passionate about at the Happy Startup School is helping entrepreneurs build businesses that are aligned to who they really are. Most people they work with are experienced professionals or seasoned business owners who are looking for a different work path: a path that feels less effortful and alive. Up until now the path they’ve followed seemed like the right one as they felt like they were achieving and succeeding. However, they were eventually...

For those of us born in the West today, living to 100 will be the norm, not the exception. Living longer is clearly a gift, but the simple truth is these extra 25-30 years of life did not exist before. This new horizon is as important and exciting as the invention of motion pictures, cars or even space travel.When a change this big happens, innovation follows. Ayse Birsel is the author of Design the Life You Love, a step-by-step guide to building a meaningful future. As well as being on the...

We believe that money is a law of nature and is as real as the metal or paper it’s made of. We give it power and even say it makes the world go round. And this is where we can get unstuck. We give money more power than we need to. But money is really neutral screen on which we project our fantasies, desires, and insecurities. In this episode, Carlos speaks with Nadjeschda Taranczewski, CEO of Conscious-U, and coach to CEOs and founders who want to reinvent their organisations. They talk about...