My guest today, Sandra Stahl is from New York, who like me has worked in PR for many years. She has spent her career working in both New York and in various other places around the globe, including London.

Sandra talks about how she started her career as an intern while still at university, and at the end of the internship was offered a job. That job, working on research, was at an agency called Research and Forecast - part of a global agency called Ruder Finn. After leaving there, she moved around, working in many different places, eventually starting her own agency, which in 2020 was sold to Ruder Finn! The agency is called JacobStahl, a Ruder Finn company.

She talks about the types of work she has done, and about how the entrepreneurial skill sets within communications work whatever the situation -in both corporate or agency settings. We also talk about the importance of investing in good communications as messaging and presentation has always been critical in business. For many it’s what makes them stand out from their rivals. Particularly in the world today with uncertainties coming from all sides – both finance and politics.

Sandra talks with passion about AI - about how people in PR, comms, marketing and journalism are early adopters and this is true when it comes to AI. She thinks the best way to look at AI is to see it as a friend and a great efficiency tool. Embrace what it can do to help you in your work, but then use that information to add your own human spin. Add your humanity – your intuition, empathy using your distinctive voice.

Alongside her work, she writes for several publications, teaches and has written several books; 'The Art and Craft of PR’; ‘The Smart PR Book’, and ‘Shifting Sands’.

To contact Sandra:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-stahl-7b058a/

Website: www.JacobStahl.com

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

For today’s podcast, Lauren is talking to John Lewis, a mindset and performance coach at JL Mindset Performance.

After working as a holiday rep, on building sites and owning a courier company, John went into coaching because it was something that he realised he’d always done; helping other people and being interested in others’. He trained and qualified as a performance coach, and has training in first aid for mental health and NLP.

He works with businesses, sports teams and individuals to help them in their personal life, or helping them to achieve what they want to achieve, and to overcome any obstacles that are hindering them in reaching their goals.

John has a love of sport himself and regularly works with Swindon Town Football Club, delivering different training to their staff, alongside working with other international sports men and women. Presently he’s working with a lady who is ranked number two in Clay Pigeon shooting her in the UK. As with many sports people, it isn’t the technical or tactical things they need support with, but emotional barriers that sometimes get in their own way of success.

During and after Covid, John had to embrace his fear of technology and embrace online platforms to talk to people which was something he really didn’t want to do, but has embraced, although as you’ll hear, he far prefers face to face meetings. Flexibility is something that is important to John and so he offers clients a space to work where they feel comfortable.

Many people are uncomfortable about talking to people with problems, which is impacting on businesses, and John talks about how many days are lost due to people having poor mental health.

John’s passion for helping others’ shines through in his conversation, as he encourages people to ask for help to stay on top of things rather than seeing problems as a weakness.

To contact John:

Website: https://www.jlmindsetperformance.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lewis-691917173/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLmindsetperformance

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_m1nd5et/

Phone: 07947808675

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

My guest today is Georgina Fuller who has been a journalist for over 20 years. She mostly writes for national newspapers, like The Times, The Telegraph and magazines. Her subjects are broadly lifestyle topics, including parenting, travel and neurodiversity.

Georgina talks about how she started out in journalism, and how originally she worked on business to business articles, writing about trends in the workplace, HR, and interviews, whereas now, being freelance she can write about all sorts of different and wonderful things.

She also shares how she started writing first person articles; writing about her personal experiences. Writing about life without her Mum, and then about her brothers’ schizophrenia and death, and subsequently about her own autistic son she has touched so many other people’s lives. Because of her job, she has had access to people who are skilled and experienced in the fields of health she has been talking about. Georgina loves the fact that the world is beginning to open up and talking about, challenging and changing the stigmas surrounding mental health. Sharing her own experiences starts conversations with others.

We also talk about the trend with the rise in social media, for editors looking for stories that draw ‘clicks’, ie click bait. Although Georgina doesn’t like it, sadly working in journalism today it’s something you can’t really ignore.

Not surprisingly, Georgina has many great stories, some of which she shares. She also shares how at times she also receives negative responses – and how she deals with them.

To contact Georgina:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georginafullerwriter/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgina-fuller-6b785913/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009800910804

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my website: https://scottmedia.uk/ or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

In today’s podcast, Lauren talks to Gamal Turawa, who prefers to be known as G.

G has a fascinating background and story; one that resonates with many others. Born in the early 1960s, his early life was traumatic. He went on to be a policeman, and he was in fact, the first openly gay, black policeman. He had a film made about his life, which won him a BAFTA, and was also a consultant on the drama Mr Loverman, aired on BBC last year, and he has won two more BAFTA’s this year.

Overall, now G thinks of himself as a storyteller. He runs workshops, does keynote presentations and uses his own story to enable people to unlock their own. He feels that stories connect to us and unlock something deeper within us.

G also talks about coming out as a gay man, and how hard it was to even accept it himself. Then he had to face the reaction of other people around him. But the biggest thing was self-acceptance which gave him the courage to get on stage and talk to the huge audience at the Gay Pride rally in London.

He shares his emotional story of his identity, after being fostered from a young age by a white family. He felt ‘white’ and when he was suddenly moved away from the cocoon of where he’d grown up to a London suburb, and a mainly ‘black’ area, he had to come to terms with what his identity was.

Working as a policeman he faced a lot of bullying due to the colour of his skin, which nearly pushed him over the edge. He eventually found help from a counsellor, who asked him ‘who defines you?’ G had never realised he could define himself until that point.

His story is a rollercoaster of emotions and in the end, wonderful when you hear about all the things he has done and how he now helps others.

To contact G:

Website: https://purplefrog-connections.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purpleconnectionltd

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gamal-turawa/

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

Today’s guest is Emma Jones, the new Small Business Commissioner, so if you are the owner of a small business, this podcast is not to be missed!

Before going into details about her new role, Emma talks about starting her own business in her mid 20s, during the .com boom. After reading a book by American, Dan Pink, called Free Agent Nation, and at a time when there was a rise in people becoming self-employed, she launched Enterprise Nation. That business was designed to help people starting out in business and their growth. Emma led the business for around 20 years and left earlier this year. Now Enterprise Nation attracts a huge number of small businesses to the platform each year.

When the role of Small Business Commissioner came up, Emma jumped at the chance.

She shares her three pronged approach to how she and her team plan to get money moving more quickly through the economy. And we focus on one of the most serious issues: late payment.

Much of the plan is around digital adoption, and how evidence has shown that small businesses who use cloud accounting software get paid quicker. She also talks about a digital idea called Open Finance, where there is transparency about how a small business is performing. Ultimately her vision is that businesses would have their own personal business agent who would be there to give support to find grants and help with applications.

We talk about the fact that often late payment is between two small businesses, rather than between a small and larger company. However, the remit of the Commissioner role is formed in legislation and it is about small businesses not being paid by larger companies.

But another initiative is Fair Payment Code which rewards businesses for paying their suppliers on time. They can share this with customers and clients to see how prompt they are making payments. Any sized business can be involved in this.

Emma also answers some questions put forward by my contacts and she shares some very useful tips how to combat the different issues.

It’s obvious hearing Emma talk just how passionate she is about UK small businesses – like me but in a much more high profile role!

To contact Emma:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-jones-8063536/

Website: smallbusinesscommissioner.gov.uk

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my site: www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

My guest today is someone who I only met a few weeks ago at a networking group. Harvey Boddy is the founder of HGP Property Deals. Working with his business partner, Jackie Collier, a multi-award winning property investor, they help people to buy and rent properties.

They work with properties in Bradford and Leeds, where they do them up and supply them to the social housing market.

Only 24, he has been interested in property for the last four years, and after talking to many people in the industry, he realised that there is a gap in the market – social housing. After studying for two years, Harvey decided to set up his own business with the aim of helping vulnerable people to get onto the housing ladder.

Harvey shares his own personal story, after his father had a stroke, the family lost their house, and they ended up in a social housing hostel. It meant they had a roof over their head, but it wasn’t necessarily a safe place, due to the environment, which could include people doing drugs. Not surprisingly, he was too embarrassed to take friends home from school. His ideal social housing is somewhere you can call home, which is secure and the right environment where a family can rebuild and grow.

He explains the process of how he finds investors, buys rundown properties, does them up ensuring they are right for the tenant that is going in to them. He has a small team in Bradford; a legal team and people who help with the refurbishment of the properties.

We also discuss the plans of the government to build more social and council housing, and why Harvey thinks it’s totally unrealistic especially when there is currently a waiting list of 1.2 million people!

His thinking is that landlords need to realise that it’s not just about how much money you charge, or the return you get, but that you’re doing good for people and making some money from it. He believes many people in the property industry are just too greedy.

Harvey’s personal aim in the next five years if to help around 250 families get a place to call home.

To contact Harvey:

Email: Harveyboddy1@icloud.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/harvey-boddy-b87011343

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my site: www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

In today's episode, Lauren talks to Paula Harsley about being a wordsmith. Paula specialises in helping businesses to bring their internal and external business communications to life.

Paula worked in banking for many years and then for the Swindon and Wiltshire Growth Hub as one of their business navigators. Following the Covid pandemic and having met many business owners before and then during at online meetings, she decided to set up her business helping new businesses, small and medium enterprises with their marketing.

When working with clients, she enjoys getting to know them, so that she can write from their point of view, putting herself in their shoes. She writes for the customer, translating technical or industry language into something that they will understand. Acronyms have their place, but only when the people you are talking to understand them. She particularly loves doing a website rewrite and longer form writing, but does also help clients with their social media – particularly tone of voice.

Paula also shares how important networking has been to her over the years, not only for making new contacts, but also having the chance to talk to like-minded people. She has tried both formal and informal groups, and thinks they all have their place.

She also talks about the perceptions we have of sales, and how when she worked in a bank it was easy, because they had lots of products that people might want. She prefers sales to be about relationships, not hard selling.

Paula also talks about the common mistakes people make in their writing and how she helps.

To contact Paula:

Website: www.paulaharsley.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulaharsley/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004564489319

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe

My guest joining me today is Liz Perkins, a journalist who was involved in my No BS Media Summit at the end of last year.

Liz is the night news editor on the Sunday Telegraph, but also she often appears on Time Radio, talking about Welsh politics. Previously, she was the night news editor at The Daily Express. She has already had an amazing career, having worked across the world, doing many different things; moderating at the UN and in Davos, plus working in Afghanistan and reporting on the frontline troops during the conflict.

She shares how she knew she wanted to be a journalist at the age of 13, being inspired by Wimbledon. Initially she wanted to be a tennis writer and interview all of the famous players. And now, this is part of what she does! She is about to go to Wimbledon, this year writing for The Telegraph. Liz explains some of the differences in the reporting style of Wimbledon between The Telegraph and The Daily Express.

Liz also talks about being a female journalist in what is still seen as predominantly a man’s world, and shares how she took on the Welsh Rugby union, which was a brave thing to do; bringing to account a sporting institution - as a Welsh woman!

Having recently worked with one of my clients, Louise Muir-Sage to write her story, Liz explains how important it is to her that she gains people’s trust, when they are sharing such terrible times in their lives. She has written many stories about domestic abuse and other harrowing situations and strongly believes it’s important to give everyone a platform.

If you want to hear about the fascinating and hectic life of a working journalist, then you need to listen to this podcast!

To contact Liz:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-perkins-7b667b75/

X: https://www.x.com/LizPerkinsMedia

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journoliz/

If you would like to contact me, you can visit my www.Scottmedia.uk or join my free Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/prtribe