Talking to Tony Robinson OBE felt like sitting down with someone who has lived nine different lives, each one shaped by courage, curiosity and a refusal to settle for anything that does not feel true.

Tony is a multi business owner, speaker and author of nine books across entrepreneurship, fiction, satire and poetry. He chairs Yorkshire in Business, runs its Yorkshire Coast Workshops subsidiary and leads organisations he founded, including the Micro Business Alliance.

His work across enterprise, education and advocacy has earned him an OBE, multiple lifetime achievement awards and a reputation as one of the UK’s most influential champions of small business.

What I loved most is how Tony approaches every reinvention the same way he approaches writing, by following what he loves, staying open to surprises and trusting the clues life places in front of him.

He has built and run businesses for decades with his long time business partner Clare Francis, campaigned for fairer treatment of micro business owners and helped shape national enterprise standards.

Tony shows that reinvention is never about dramatic declarations. It is about movement, experimentation and letting the next version of yourself emerge through doing. His generosity, grit and belief in community run through everything he touches, and his journey is a reminder that it is never too late to reshape your life with creativity and purpose.

Highlights:

(02:41) The early reinvention sparked by illness and homeschooling

(06:58) How sport, theatre and stubbornness shaped Tony’s identity

(11:05) From English and Philosophy to trade unions and industrial relations

(16:28) Walking away from corporate life to start from nothing

(24:21) Funding cuts, collapse and rebuilding from the ground up

(31:09) The sabbatical that led to Enterprise Rockers and a global movement

Connect with Tony:

Website https://TonyRobinsonOBE.com

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

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TonyRobinsonOBE

X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/TonyRobinsonOBE

Connect with Lucy:

Website - https://bookmagic.ai

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