Creator of chart-topping podcast The Diary of a CEO Steven Bartlett shared his business insight and tips for success at The Good Business Festival in Liverpool last week.
The 29-year-old entrepreneur told an audience of aspiring entrepreneurs, small businesses and established leaders how he went from university dropout to a millionaire in less than a decade.
Steven started his social media marketing agency, Social Chain, from his bedroom in Manchester after spotting an opportunity to bring students from across the city together on one forum. The company is now worth more than $600M on the stock market.
He has gone on to release Sunday Times bestseller Happy Sexy Millionaire and is now considered as one of Europe’s most talented and accomplished young entrepreneurs and philosophical thinkers.
Commissioned by Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram, The Good Business Festival is being held in venues across Liverpool city centre from 22 to 24 March, tackling issues such as the climate crisis and helping businesses of all sizes to future-proof themselves.
And, as the penultimate session of the first day of the event, keynote speaker Steven Bartlett held a 30-minute chat with host Nick Wallis, followed by a Q&A with audience members, with Steven discussing how doing ‘good business’ has been a fundamental element of his career and business ventures to date.
During the session, he told how he came from humble beginnings, his family noticeably poor in comparison to their affluent neighbours in Devon.
He spoke about how, by the aged of 15, he was organising school trips and taking a cut of the funds and even went on to make thousands from charging for people to attend his birthday party via a Facebook event page.
Steven, who himself was a young entrepreneur having started Social Chain at just 21, also met with The Good Business Festival’s ‘Youthquakers’, a group of young people who took part in an 18-week training programme to develop their business acumen.
The group were tasked with developing a business concept that would tackle key issues affecting their communities. On day two of the festival (Wednesday), they will pitch their ideas in a Dragon’s Den-style event.
Speaking on stage, Steven said: “I was never really good at doing the things I didn’t enjoy. I loved learning but didn’t love school, so I knew I needed to find a way to be successful.
“I quickly learned that it’s the tiny little things that determine your results – I am the same in everything I do and it’s true that the things that are easy to do are also really easy not to do, and that’s what makes a difference.”
As part of the festival, small businesses also have the opportunity to get the expert advice and practical tools they need to make a positive impact on their employees, local communities and the planet, as part of The Good Business Festival.
Answering a question from an aspiring entrepreneur in the audience about business advice, Steven said: “Working in sales gave me the good skill stack – I worked in about 10 call centres in Manchester while setting up Social Chain. It forces you to adapt your pitch and the way you speak to a customer, something that is still engrained in me now.”
For more information about last week’s The Good Business Festival visit www.thegoodbusinessfestival.
