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Our guest today is Helen Pattinson, a former lawyer who left behind a promising career to embark on a bold and, at times, uncertain new path—one that would ultimately lead to a flourishing business, Montezuma Chocolate.

But this story is far from straightforward. Helen doesn’t just share the wins—she takes us through the moments of doubt, the near-disasters, and the pivotal choices that could have ended it all before the business even started.

• What would you do if your main supplier suddenly disappeared just weeks before launch?
• Or if your company was on the brink of collapse during one of the worst financial crises in recent history? Helen faced all of this and more.

In this episode, you’ll hear how a spontaneous adventure through South America sparked an obsession, and how that simple passion turned into something much bigger.

You’ll also discover how Helen and her husband Simon built their business from scratch—literally—and the unexpected hurdles they had to clear to keep their dream alive.

Towards the end, Helen shares her experience of the post-sale period, including her loss of identity and her need to find a new purpose.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Chocolate Entrepreneur - Helen Pattinson.

Links:

Helen Pattinson - Montezuma's Chocolates | LinkedIn

Montezuma's Chocolate

Alan Smith - Capital Asset Management | LinkedIn

This podcast is produced by GR Media
Sponsored by Capital Asset Management

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Hello, and welcome back to the latest episode of the Bulletproof Entrepreneur podcast. I’m your host, Alan Smith. In this episode, I speak with someone I’ve known for many years, and as you’re about to discover, he’s a force of nature!

His name is Jason Butler, and although I’ve known him for a long time, I had no idea just how challenging his upbringing was.

People talk about a tough childhood and not having the same chances as other people from more privileged backgrounds, and Jason grew up in a house in south London with an outside toilet and a tin bath—almost Dickensian, as he says himself.

He had a challenging childhood, living hand to mouth, trying to hide from debt collectors and avoid being beaten up at the tough school he went to.

Yet he went on to build a leading financial services business, which he sold, bought back, and sold again.

• During the conversation, you’ll learn how his early years taught him to be resilient when your back’s against the wall—metaphorically and literally—and this proved useful in his later years in business.
• He shares the importance of creating a culture of continuous improvement and thinking about everything through the lens of your customers’ experiences.
• He also explains the value of having a deep sense of purpose after a business sale, the importance of giving back when one no longer has financial worries, and how he took 18 months off after he sold his business to think and design the exact sort of life he wanted to live in the future.

He also shares an incredible David and Goliath story about the time he took on the taxman over something he felt was unfair and won.

These are a fraction of the valuable insights that Jason shares. It’s a long episode because there was no way I was going to cut him short as he shared these nuggets of wisdom!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr Jason Butler

Links:

https://www.jason-butler.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonfbutler/

Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine: Amazon.co.uk: Brown, Derren: 9780593076194: Books

The Antidote: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks eBook : Burkeman, Oliver

This podcast is produced by GR Media
Sponsored by Capital Asset Management

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My guest, Elizabeth Hopkins, candidly shares her inspiring journey through the ups and downs of life as a founder entrepreneur who has experienced everything that life has to offer, including scaling a business to a multi-million-pound exit, but then having to deal with the worst kind of tragedy immediately after.

As Liz mentions, she’s recently become a client of our financial planning business, and in the time I’ve known her, I’ve been blown away by her positivity, resilience, and sense of fun.

She encapsulates what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and frankly, that's why I started this podcast—to enjoy inspiring conversations with business owners and then share them with the world!

• You’ll learn about the vital importance of focussing on a niche market, which you can dominate when others fight it out as generalists.
• Liz shares something really interesting that no one has ever talked about in the past—her decision to run a lifestyle business for many years and enjoy lots of time with her family as they were growing up and then very intentionally pivot to a growth business and target a multi-million-pound exit. She believed you could have the best of both worlds - and did!
• She then candidly explains the tragic circumstances when, a week after the business was sold, her husband and business partner had a brain tumour and died. Her story of survival and resilience is nothing short of remarkable and a true inspiration to all of us.

This is an incredible conversation and I hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Elizabeth Hopkins.

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethspencerphillips/

https://www.juliasamuel.co.uk/

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/grief-works-self-care-love/id1558867513

This podcast is produced by GR Media
Sponsored by Capital Asset Management