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What does it really take to build a company that no longer needs you? Andrew Hulbert reveals how he went from starting in his bedroom to £50 million in turnover, more than 500 employees and an £100 million exit, and why the hardest part was learning to stop being the centre of everything!

Andrew Hulbert is an entrepreneur who built and exited a property services business over ten years. After growing the company through major contracts with brands including Bulgari Hotel, Yahoo!, Twitter, Candy Crush and London Zoo, he invested £1 million into a new leadership team, stepped away from the day-to-day operation and sold the business in November 2023.

He explains:

• Why working harder eventually becomes the very thing stopping your business from scaling
• How one trusted relationship helped him win his first major contract and create unstoppable momentum
• Why he invested £1 million into leadership, temporarily flattened profit and built a company that could run without him

Chapters
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:26 Who Is Andrew Hulbert?
00:01:26 The Superpower Behind His Success
00:03:48 Where His Determination Came From
00:07:06 From Intern To Operations Director
00:08:18 How To Become Indispensable At Work
00:10:45 His Advice For Young People Starting Their Careers
00:12:19 Why Networking Still Beats Selling
00:13:51 Build The Room You Want To Be In
00:15:15 The Moment He Decided To Start His Own Business
00:18:05 How He Reached A £1.5M Run Rate In Year One
00:19:12 The Truth About "Starting With Nothing"
00:20:06 Finding The First Customer Who Changes Everything
00:21:58 How One Contract Created Momentum
00:22:36 The Deal That Grew The Business 300% In One Day
00:24:25 The Biggest Challenges In The Early Years
00:25:37 What To Do When Clients Say You're Too Small
00:27:47 How To Make Rejection Irrelevant
00:28:55 Why Every Business Needs A Memorable Hook
00:30:11 How Donuts Helped Win Major Clients
00:32:06 Why Sales Is About Thoughtfulness
00:34:26 Ads
00:35:12 When Andrew Started Planning His Exit
00:36:12 Building A Leadership Team That Could Replace Him
00:36:47 Why He Accepted Flat EBITDA To Scale
00:38:12 The Moment The Business Stopped Depending On Him
00:39:16 Selling The Business In Four Weeks
00:39:54 How His Team Shared £15M From The Exit
00:41:48 Why None Of His Senior Leaders Left
00:44:29 The Reality Of Working 100-Hour Weeks
00:46:49 The Personal Cost Of Building The Business
00:47:38 How Much Is Enough?
00:48:14 How Founders Can Start Replacing Themselves
00:49:46 The Warning Signs Of Burnout
00:50:44 Andrew's Three Rules For Entrepreneurs
00:53:28 Quick Fire: Strategy, Brand, Marketing, Sales And Operations
00:54:29 How To Build Authority Through The Media
00:55:10 Find Your Donuts
00:55:47 Treat People How They Want To Be Treated
00:57:19 Build Processes Before You Need Them
00:58:36 Where To Find Andrew

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