Stepping away from your business for two weeks sounds ideal—until airport admin fails, Grab car crashes, accidental kitchen fires, and packs of wild monkeys enter the mix. In this special solo episode of The Video Marketing Toolkit, I share the unfiltered story of my recent trip to Indonesia. From navigating chaotic travel mishaps across Canggu, the Gili Islands, and Lombok to stepping completely out of my comfort zone, this journey brought unexpected challenges. More importantly, taking time off provided powerful leadership lessons on handling founder burnout, mastering patience, and building true trust in your team to step away and scale up. Chapters 00:00 – Welcome to The Video Marketing Toolkit 00:50 – Stepping Away: A Solo Episode from Indonesia 02:04 – Booking a Rogue Trip to Southeast Asia 04:21 – Pre-Travel Founder Anxieties & Birmingham Flight 08:57 – Airport Admin Fail: The Passport Typo 12:32 – Bali Grab Chaos & The Airport Car Crash 17:14 – Canggu Hostels, Party Central & Founder Stress 21:00 – The Hostel Story That Was Too Spicy for LinkedIn 🌶️ 27:34 – Escaping to Paradise: Arriving in the Gili Islands 31:06 – Slowing Down & Recharging on Gili Air 32:38 – Flambé Cooking Class Disaster 🔥 34:16 – Beachfront Bungalows & Island Life 37:03 – Heading to Lombok & Senggigi 37:28 – Taxi Karaoke with "Captain Palestine" 39:53 – Senggigi Nightlife & Chased by Dogs in the Jungle 44:36 – The Brutal 30°C Mountain Hike 48:29 – Surviving Packs of Aggressive Monkeys 🐒 50:14 – Heading Home & Reflecting on the Journey 51:36 – Lesson 1: Learning to Slow Down & Have Patience 53:23 – Lesson 2: Trusting Your Team to Run Without You 54:17 – Lesson 3: Grounding Yourself in Gratitude 56:18 – Final Thoughts & Episode Wrap Up

What makes a Meta ad actually perform?

Dan Dennis sits down with Eddie Kelly from We Do Marketing to break down the secrets behind high-performing Meta Ads, including how he helped a UK jewellery business generate £140k+ in sales at around 8x ROAS.

They cover ad creative, hooks, targeting, sales funnels, retargeting, A/B testing, ad fatigue and the differences between Meta and Google Ads.

Plus, Eddie reveals the strategy behind the campaign and the biggest mistakes businesses make when running Facebook and Instagram ads.

If you want more from your Meta Ads, this episode is worth a listen.

00:00 — Introduction & Meet Eddie

01:10 — How Eddie Started in Marketing

02:02 — The £140K Jewellery Case Study

03:23 — Building a Community Through Facebook

04:25 — Growing the Business & Google Ads

05:45 — Google Ads vs Meta Ads

06:58 — Lookalike Audiences & Meta AI

07:37 — How Much Should You Spend on Meta Ads?

09:12 — Building a Sales Funnel

11:00 — Setting Goals & Measuring Results

13:45 — Blind Ranking: What Makes a Great Ad?

14:39 — Audience Targeting

15:42 — Why the Hook Matters

16:08 — Landing Pages & Offers

17:32 — Testing, Copy & Social Proof

Hiring Your First Employee? Watch This Before You Do.

Going from solopreneur to employer is a huge! But what do you actually need to know before hiring your first employee? And can you hire your friend? ( spoiler, I did!) In this episode of The Video Marketing Toolkit, I sit down with HR consultant and business leadership coach Karen Robinson to uncover the reality of hiring, employment contracts, interviews, onboarding, employee engagement, company culture and leadership.

Karen shares practical HR advice from 18 years of experience, including:

How to hire the RIGHT person, not just someone who ticks every box Why people want to be challenged and see progression The importance of emotional intelligence in leadership Employment contracts, right-to-work checks, payroll & pensions How to conduct better interviews Why you can't grow a business by doing everything yourself Plus, Karen takes on the Ask the Expert HR Quiz. Does she win? Watch along to find out.

00:00 — You can't grow alone 01:35 — Meet Karen Robinson 04:00 — From HR to business coach 08:19 — Why people make your business 10:00 — The importance of great managers 12:33 — Emotional intelligence & leadership 15:30 — Why Karen left corporate life 17:35 — Starting her own business 21:35 — Hiring your first employee 23:27 — Finding the right person 23:47 — Employee progression 24:43 — Employment contracts & legal basics 27:41 — Onboarding & workplace policies 29:29 — Building a team 31:21 — How to interview properly 35:22 — Skills vs attitude 37:19 — DISC & personality profiling 39:29 — Employee engagement & culture 43:21 — Listening to your employees 46:30 — Changes to UK employment law 48:19 — The HR Quiz 55:15 — Karen's final advice 56:31 — Outro

Tom shares his personal journey of leaving a high-pressure career as a network architect to follow his passion for psychology and neuroscience. The conversation provides deep insights into why we feel "Sunday scaries," how to handle negative self-talk, and practical, science-backed techniques to build confidence on camera.

00:00 Overcoming the fear of social media and the unknown.

01:06 Introduction: Meet Tom Price, hypnotherapist and mindset coach.

02:04 Tom’s journey: Transitioning from a 20-year IT career to hypnotherapy.

07:34 Moving from technical roles to strategic ones and losing the "love for the role."

11:51 The reality of building a business vs. just getting a qualification.

14:42 Understanding "Sunday scaries" and the cycle of work-related anxiety.

15:45 Documentation over perfection: Finding enjoyment in creating content.

17:41 Flipping the script: How to manage negative self-talk and focus on the outcome.

19:04 A practical exercise: Writing down thoughts to externalise fear.

23:45 Why communicating online feels more threatening than face-to-face.

25:22 Battling Imposter Syndrome and the impact of high stress on anxiety.

26:24 The "Singing Technique": Leveraging neuroscience to de-stress instantly.

32:00 Managing overthinking: The power of the Reticular Activating System (RAS).

33:15 Evening Gratitude: Training your brain to notice the positives.

36:39 What is Hypnotherapy? Dissolving unwanted habits through "Developer Mode."

38:38 Debunking Myths: Why hypnotherapy is not mind control.

41:05 Ask the Expert: The Hypnotherapy and Mindset Quiz.

46:39 Final thoughts and where to reach out for support.

In this episode of the Video Marketing Toolkit, I’m joined by Aimee Elsey to break down how to build a marketing strategy that is practical, measurable, and actually gets used.

We talk about why most businesses fall into “random acts of marketing”, why a proper audit is the best starting point, and how to build a simple plan around what your customers actually need to see (not just what you want to post).

We also run through a real example strategy for launching a local café, covering content, reviews, trust, and how to stay consistent when you are busy.

Chapters

00:36 Marketing strategy, where to start (and who Aimee helps)

03:55 Why a marketing audit comes first

06:06 The common mistakes businesses keep repeating

08:02 Batching content without losing quality

11:34 Value-first marketing (stop the hard sell)

15:16 Positioning and winning your first clients

19:25 Example strategy: launching a local café

22:27 Make content about people, not the brand

27:39 Organic content, and why ads are changing

33:24 Consistency, measurement, and 90-day goals

If you want people to stay on your website longer (and actually take action), this episode is for you.

I’m joined by Matt Johnson (Jono Designs), a web design and development freelancer, to break down what really keeps visitors on your site, from UX and trust to headings, structure, video, and clear messaging.

We also chat about the realities of going freelance, why onboarding is everything in a web project, and how small design choices can either build trust or send people bouncing.

Plus, we finish with our Ask the Expert quiz, web development edition.

Guest: Matt Johnson (Jono Designs) Host: Dan Dennis, Video Formula

If you have ever thought, “I know I should be posting… but I do not want to be the face of the business”, this episode is for you.

In this conversation, I sit down with Jayne Hume (Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, Small Business Academy) and Neil Betts (Go True North, creator of Vision to Venture) to break down why visibility matters, what people are really scared of, and how to start showing up without making it a big dramatic thing.

We get into the reality that most business owners are not actually scared of being on camera, they are scared their content will look “bad” and they will be judged, especially around editing and posting.

Jayne also shares why the Chamber kept seeing the same blocker come up whenever the word “marketing” was mentioned, and why visibility is something you cannot afford to ignore if you want to be found.

In this episode, you will learn:

Why “being visible” is not about being an influencer, it is about being findable What people are actually afraid of (and how to remove the friction).

How to make consistency realistic, even if it is once a week.

Why “everyone is a creator”, and what that actually means for business owners.

If you found this useful, subscribe for more episodes of Video Marketing Toolkit and share this with a business owner who is stuck in the “I should post… but…” loop.