0:00

Welcome to the next episode

0:02

of Insert Busward . Delighted to be here

0:04

with my good friend Jeremy . So

0:06

, jeremy , kick us off . How's

0:08

your week been ?

0:10

Oh , wow , I'm going first Throw

0:12

the ball over , I'll catch

0:14

it . Yeah , no , it's been a tense . It

0:16

has been a tense , busy

0:19

, big things going on . As

0:22

per , I guess you're trying to

0:24

manage those stress levels in the core

0:26

of solar through a system , aware

0:29

of what's going on , and

0:32

hey , I try

0:34

to hold on to the rocker ship as it reaches

0:36

orbit , right , but no

0:38

, it's been a grand week , grand old week , and it's only Wednesday

0:41

. What about you , tristan ?

0:43

Yeah , Same

0:45

same same . Basically

0:47

, it has been a fast

0:49

start to the year . I was grateful

0:51

and glad to have pretty much the

0:54

first week of January of work Come

0:56

back in motivated

0:58

submission goals . A

1:01

lot of personal goals have started doing

1:04

videos on LinkedIn , which was something

1:06

I was apprehensive about , but kind

1:09

of through guidance of others and you in particular

1:11

, you know , kind of reassured

1:13

and new New ultimately , you

1:16

know I wasn't worried really

1:18

, but you've got that kind of either feel of failure

1:20

or that vulnerability that kind of makes

1:23

you apprehensive . So I was

1:25

glad to do that . It's going well . I've got a goal

1:27

to do one a week this year , so that's

1:29

a needs consistency and

1:32

a hard one to do , but I'm

1:34

motivated . This year has been very

1:36

good so far and I think there will

1:38

naturally be , you know , difficult , each other

1:41

, difficult things , but I think this

1:43

year mine's

1:45

better than it's ever been and lots

1:49

of things taking magnesium

1:51

, taking some

1:55

unwinded new tropics that are helping me

1:57

sleep from pure sport , shout out to pure

1:59

sport . And so

2:01

some lion's mane mushrooms from Marble's

2:04

mythology they are helping

2:06

me get

2:08

that mental clarity and focus .

2:11

Big , big , big use . Since we last recorded a

2:13

podcast , you're part of the business now .

2:17

Yes , I'm in Helping

2:20

and supporting . Yeah , well dressed

2:22

, yeah , yeah

2:24

, and we're doing exciting things . So

2:27

what I haven't told you , jeremy , we'll do it live

2:29

on . The podcast is secured , or

2:31

stand at the ? Oh , I

2:34

don't get it . Footspect in London in April

2:36

oh goodness . Oh goodness , we're

2:38

H51 , frame out there . Look at

2:40

the floor plan , we're there .

2:41

Oh , that was the nice spot

2:44

as well , so yeah

2:46

, that's the premium premium one .

2:48

It's cost us money , but we're hopeful , hmm .

2:51

Everyone's going to see it . Everyone's going to see

2:54

it . That's amazing . Air

2:57

5's Tristan , nice one .

3:00

Oh , Smashing

3:02

this year . We're what Two and a half weeks

3:04

in halfway through January , In

3:07

terms of the goals we've been setting . We're absolutely

3:09

, you know , I know , in this episode or this intro

3:12

, to be just , you know us congratulating

3:14

ourselves a bit , you get to go , but we genuinely

3:17

have smashed the cramp . You

3:19

know , let's celebrate while we can , because there'll

3:21

be a week or a month where we're like , no

3:23

, we didn't do that . We did do that . No .

3:26

So let's enjoy it . What we equally

3:29

as crushing is the euphoric

3:31

, the hyzer at the moment . Yeah , not nice Nice

3:33

that's nice , because my parent thought it was like

3:35

this afternoon it's horrible .

3:38

Go for it . Sorry , talk , no big deal . I

3:40

was going to say the horrible thing is actually the

3:43

weather , and tomorrow I'm driving

3:45

to earth and petlockry . I

3:47

meant to be minus seven . You know

3:49

that'll be interesting . I'm actually going

3:51

to do a video or a vlog vlog

3:54

not of me driving I'd say I'd

3:56

be dangerous , but you know of my day and so

3:58

I'm keen to see what temperature is when I get in the

4:00

car and before I set

4:02

off .

4:03

Yeah , make sure you got a tank of fuel

4:05

, a blanket and a thermos flask

4:08

if you've got one , just in case .

4:10

Yeah , I'll have thermos and some little

4:12

snacks and worn jackets

4:14

and it was off keep

4:16

me safe .

4:17

It was minus three when I got back tonight already .

4:21

Yeah , there's articles that's called in there .

4:24

My parents says , before we get our guest on part

4:26

, two sets was . I said this afternoon I need to speak

4:28

to the wife about all this travel I've got going

4:30

on . I was rolling it off . It's

4:33

like it's only the second week in January

4:35

and look at all my travel . It was

4:37

every month . Every month there was like trips

4:40

, yeah .

4:42

Which is so have you got approval for

4:44

a Canada ?

4:45

Well , yes , I think in theory it

4:48

was . Oh well , it would be a shame if you didn't go

4:50

.

4:53

Wow , what a considerate and caring wife

4:55

. I don't know your wife .

4:58

She's long suffering Tristan . But

5:02

no , I think I want to take it away

5:04

from that A whole thing . The travel

5:06

is . It is only the second week . It

5:08

means that things are happening , exciting things

5:11

are happening , the calls are exciting , people want

5:13

to see what we're up to , people want to see what powers

5:15

up to . But

5:17

I guess , yeah , just mindful of the impact that it will have

5:19

at home . And with

5:21

that said , shall we

5:23

segue into our guest ?

5:27

Yes , why don't you do a little pre-intro for

5:29

a guest ? So a little teaser . Okay

5:31

, tell us about our guest . Who have we got ?

5:34

Perfect for me to do it . So , fraser

5:36

, he thinks I've got this like natural ability or some

5:39

sort of skill where I can be like no , this person do this

5:41

, they do this , this , this , this , this and this , and I'm at the here

5:43

, here , here and here . So , fraser , I met

5:45

RBS incubator . I

5:48

overheard him preparing his pitch for

5:50

Lions Den and immediately

5:52

subscribed to his product during the pitch . So when

5:54

he came out from his pitch practice he

5:56

obviously checked his phone , knew the name was like

5:59

, came over and introduced himself . So

6:01

Fraser is the founder of the Biscuit Baron

6:03

. The Biscuit Baron sell

6:05

a monthly subscription box of

6:07

biscuits from around the world . If

6:10

you are a biscuit lover , it is the

6:12

subscription box for you . Covid

6:15

obviously happened , fell out of touch , a little bit

6:17

caught up with them at a Scottish Edge

6:20

competition where Paralyze had a stand Soon

6:23

. After that , became a logistics

6:25

customer come client . That

6:27

was towards the end of

6:29

2022 . And

6:32

I've got to know him really really well over

6:34

2023 . And

6:36

I guess he's sort of part of the team

6:38

with what we're doing for both of our

6:41

businesses Paralyze and MMEs the logistics guru and

6:44

hopefully it's going to be part of some big things to move forward

6:46

as well .

6:47

Yeah , I've obviously met Fraser

6:50

once or twice . Now I'm

6:52

excited to hear more about his story and

6:55

because I'm sure there's lots of , from

6:57

what I know about him , lots of untold

6:59

things that he keeps . Keeps a

7:02

secret , but not secret , keeps himself Well

7:04

cards close to his chest . But final

7:08

thing , before we get into the episode of

7:10

me , fraser if

7:13

you were to describe Fraser three words , what three

7:15

words would you use ?

7:17

Cool under pressure , and

7:21

we'll hopefully get him to explain why , because I think it's

7:23

really interesting .

7:26

Okay , really , thank

7:28

you very much . Right , let's get

7:30

straight into it .

7:32

That's who we are , joined

7:34

by Fraser . Fraser , I've already done

7:37

somewhat of an intro about you , but it'd be interesting

7:39

to hear how you would describe yourself , please

7:41

. Who are you ? What do you do ?

7:44

This is strange because I've not heard what you've got to say

7:46

yet , so this could

7:48

be a . I could be bigger myself , up better

7:50

than you have or worse than you have . My

7:53

name's Fraser . I'm owner of the

7:55

Biscuit Baron , but also offer fulfillment

7:57

services to predominantly start-up businesses

8:00

, businesses across

8:02

e-commerce , in a range of different kind of sectors

8:05

and niches .

8:07

Amazing . Okay , yeah , to the point

8:10

.

8:11

How would you describe yourself in three words without

8:13

saying the Biscuit Baron ?

8:15

Yeah , I am the Biscuit , Baron . Love and breathe it .

8:19

Oh , I don't know .

8:23

I generally do not know . That's probably the toughest question

8:25

you'll ask and ask me tonight

8:28

is probably to describe myself in

8:30

three words I think I'll have others to do

8:32

that for me Generally as a pretty good summer day , also

8:34

with people .

8:35

So I might just part

8:37

that one to the episode .

8:39

Okay , what was that ?

8:41

Mine was cool under pressure . That one to the end of the episode

8:43

. Take that one . So

8:46

, fraser , what were some of your like early influences

8:49

or inspirations getting

8:51

into business ?

8:53

Yeah , I think growing up I came from a . I grew

8:55

up in a small town . There

8:57

wasn't much in terms of entrepreneurship

9:00

. Most of the people

9:02

who had their own business it was family

9:04

run businesses that they took over and

9:06

I kind of gave your success . For

9:09

someone from the precinct alleyway that's

9:11

where I grew up was you

9:13

went to university and you worked in big

9:15

business that was our or you worked for

9:17

. You got a job in industry , whatever it was

9:19

you decided to do at university

9:22

. There wasn't really much of a career path . There

9:24

wasn't much anything . Nothing was ever mentioned . You could

9:26

set up your own business or you could do your own

9:28

thing . And growing up , I

9:30

think when I went to university , I moved

9:33

to Stirling . I think

9:35

initially it was kind of around

9:38

that time . I always want , I always

9:40

was working , even while it's the university . But

9:42

I kind of got the bug

9:44

for wanting to do my own things with various side hustles

9:47

. I would do the odd buying and

9:49

reselling , even when I was a student , to

9:51

earn some extra money and

9:53

I think that kind of lit the fire in terms of

9:55

I wanted to be my own person or

9:57

I wanted to be self-employed or I wanted to

9:59

be . You can control my own income . But

10:02

I think from growing

10:04

up it's hard coming from a small

10:06

place because there is no real entrepreneurship

10:09

. It's not a thing that people mention . I think

10:11

our school just got

10:14

a kind of entrepreneur thing . In

10:16

the final year of my year at

10:18

school there was a kind of entrepreneur club . There

10:21

was kind of business challenges that he got

10:23

set in kind of six year . But apart

10:25

from that that was never a gateway

10:27

for people . It was still very much of . You

10:29

had a left school at fourth year and

10:31

went into a traineeship or an apprenticeship or

10:33

if you were clever enough

10:35

, you stayed on to six year and then you went to university

10:38

and then that was your career

10:40

. Your business as self-employed

10:42

wasn't really an option unless you

10:44

opened a trade or you had a trade . That

10:47

was the only kind of business we knew .

10:50

That's really interesting . Personally

10:52

, I hadn't reflected on that , but now that you're saying

10:54

, like , who in secondary

10:57

school did we know ? Well

11:00

, there was people that knew whose parents owned

11:02

businesses , so it always felt

11:04

like it would be possible because so

11:06

and so dad or mum was doing it . That's

11:08

very interesting , tristan .

11:13

Well , I'm just keen , because there's been such

11:15

, I guess , a big focus on on being

11:18

your own boss . What , what

11:20

are you actually like as an employee ?

11:25

Me as an employee . Sorry , I caught up just slightly

11:27

there .

11:28

Yeah , yeah , yeah . What are you

11:30

like as an employee ? Are you difficult

11:33

to manage ?

11:34

No , I think I was . I think I was the

11:36

opposite . I think I was . I was the dream person

11:39

that I would have loved because I was keen to learn

11:41

. I was like I really was

11:43

a sponge around , no matter who I worked with . I

11:46

actually had , quite think , probably

11:48

this kind of shaped me into the person

11:50

that I am now . But I had a little bit of

11:52

a success when I was younger . In terms

11:54

of when I was , I was

11:56

working from the age of 11 . And then

11:59

, first , as I turned 18

12:01

, it was like an opportunity arose in the kind

12:03

of small convenience shop that I was

12:05

working at to become a supervisor . So I was a supervisor

12:08

in our convenience shop at the age of 18

12:10

. I think I look

12:12

back then and it was like who gave the keys to ? Who

12:15

would give ? Who in the right mind would give the keys to

12:17

shop this responsible ? Quite

12:19

a decent turnover of the keys to shop for the 18

12:21

year old just seems . It seems bonkers , but

12:24

they did . And then from whilst

12:26

I was at university I worked . I was still working

12:28

as a supervisor , and then I graduated

12:31

and became manager role . So I think that was kind of proof

12:33

of the kind of person that I was . But

12:35

as an employee I like to think I was the

12:37

dream employee because I was keen to learn

12:40

. I didn't really I wanted to learn

12:42

more . I was always and I use

12:44

this analogy quite often with my employees

12:46

now but I like people that get

12:49

the why , because I think

12:51

employees is great having an employee

12:53

that that does as you say and does

12:55

it by the book . But it's

12:58

a lot easier to explain to someone if they get

13:00

the why , and that's so if you're doing

13:02

a task is something as simple as understanding

13:04

what the main output of why am I doing this ? When I'm just doing this , I'm

13:07

just clocking in to the function , go away at

13:09

the end of the day , do my time

13:11

and move on . But I was always the one that got

13:13

the why , or if I didn't , I asked why so

13:16

that I could learn . Or then I think any task you know

13:18

, then you're putting the real kind of effort into it . You're

13:21

you're understanding the reason why

13:23

you're actually doing this and it's not just a case of you know

13:26

, I'm just doing my bit , I'm a

13:28

colleague in the giant wheel , kind of thing .

13:33

Perfect and I am . I

13:37

always , having

13:39

worked in a variety of businesses . I

13:42

think it's like really important

13:44

on what drives the business , that people obviously

13:46

get the why and and have a bit of ambition

13:49

to just learn or

13:51

to know and understand and

13:54

that ability to kind of think

13:56

about a how

13:58

they should improve things , really more than anything

14:00

you know . But

14:03

you , I think , depending on time of this issue

14:05

, I'll say those people are just want

14:08

to do a job . It might not

14:10

drive the excess there . Just as critical

14:12

. You need that diversity of a role

14:15

really , but everyone has a different

14:17

value or role to

14:19

add depending on on what

14:21

they want in life . Against , yeah

14:23

, yeah . So our under

14:25

this jump straight into . So what are

14:27

some of the kind of struggles you faced ? We

14:29

kind of heard about some of your early

14:32

success and some of your early influences

14:34

, but yeah , some . Of

14:36

those proposals are challenges .

14:39

No , I think in employed life I think

14:41

I was . I think because I

14:43

got given authority a young age

14:45

, I didn't know how to necessarily ask for

14:48

, why I asked for help , or

14:50

I think that was maybe a bit of an I

14:52

don't know whether it was an insecurity . Being young I

14:54

didn't want to feel like I didn't know something

14:56

or I didn't . I

14:59

didn't need help or was self sufficient . I would

15:01

. My my work hard attitude

15:04

would get me through any struggles that I might

15:06

have had . I think , looking back now

15:08

, there are certainly times that you know

15:11

that I wish I'd put my hand up and say the guys , look

15:13

, I'm struggling with this . I could , I could do with a hand

15:15

, but instead I would kind of persevere and

15:17

try and get through it just from hard work alone . I

15:20

don't think you can necessarily just need to know

15:22

when when that point is . I

15:24

think looking back now and obviously hindsight

15:27

is wonderful , but

15:29

I think , looking back now , there's certainly a couple of times where

15:31

I wish I had said you know , like

15:33

this , this is a bit too much . And

15:36

I think one of the one of the main ones was

15:38

whenever , given a

15:40

pharmacy manager's job and after

15:43

being a kind of supervisor and

15:45

in the area , given a

15:47

pharmacy manager role in an area that I

15:49

didn't know , and the way that it worked was

15:51

you had your regions for

15:54

your pharmacy chain and all the shops

15:56

in one area knew each other . You would go to managers

15:58

forums , you would . You would know everyone

16:00

by personal name . If you had a problem you'd

16:03

pick up the phone and you could phone Manager

16:05

in the next shop , for example . But when

16:08

I got given my first manager's role and

16:10

it was in the area that I'd never worked in before

16:12

and , to be honest , it was in the West

16:14

, it was in the the not the

16:17

best part of Glasgow and

16:19

I was in a young manager

16:22

and I was in amongst

16:24

Other managers from the

16:26

shops I didn't know , and I think my first weekend

16:28

I had a member of staff come in under

16:30

the influence and I had to deal

16:32

with and you know , I was a young manager

16:35

at that point with no , no one around

16:37

, no one around me that I felt comfortable enough to

16:39

reach out and I felt like I had this is my moment

16:41

that had to kind of prove myself and

16:43

I think , looking back now , that was something

16:45

that definitely could have or should have handled a little

16:47

bit better and and

16:50

that was , that was the example I was a little bit

16:52

kind of raw and

16:54

a bit kind of naive and I thought I could , I could

16:56

maybe handle it or I didn't need to ask for help

16:58

, because that was a sign of weakness . When you

17:00

know , on hindsight , looking back , it wasn't and I generally

17:02

don't think anyone would have thought that . But You're

17:05

in that motion and you're going through it , then

17:07

live . You don't

17:09

think clearly , as you probably would

17:11

now .

17:16

Yeah , I think I've had similar

17:18

experience . I'm sure most , most people

17:20

, if they've had any sort of

17:22

responsibility at a young age

17:24

, you know I think majority would have

17:26

similar experiences , if not the same , and

17:28

I can certainly relate to that . I

17:31

know the way I look at it now is more like

17:33

if , if . If

17:35

I look back on it now and

17:37

I was like , and then differently , I wish I was more

17:40

comfortable to ask for feedback . Like it's

17:42

not even like , you know , in situations where

17:44

you need direct help . It's like just

17:46

being open and seeking

17:49

feedback . But because you know you

17:52

have to learn by making mistakes . But you can learn so much

17:54

from other people around you . Like when you're young

17:56

, you don't appreciate the

17:58

knowledge or the experience around you and

18:01

don't value it . Necessarily because you've got either

18:03

filled with ambition or you're excited

18:06

about what you're doing , can have almost wrapped up

18:08

in your own , your own importance

18:10

. You forget , forget what's around you , maybe

18:12

the bigger purpose of the why , like we've said already

18:14

, yeah , yep .

18:16

I agree with that . So , how

18:19

about ?

18:19

you is there .

18:21

So , like the pharmacy career , going to uni

18:23

doing pharmacy studies

18:26

. Why did you jump ship ? What

18:28

was the ? What was the reason that you jumped ship

18:31

? To start up the biscuit ban ?

18:34

I think it was a kind of burning desire . It

18:36

was a little bit of where

18:39

I always wanted to be , like I said , self

18:41

employed , always wanted to be kind

18:44

of responsible for my own thing . And you

18:46

know , pharmacy is very strict

18:48

and regimented in terms of processing

18:51

, in terms of what you can and can't do , especially

18:53

when you work for a , for a big chain . They've got

18:55

standard operating procedures for a reason

18:57

, and I totally agree with that . But there was the

18:59

odd time where you think you could improve

19:01

a process or you think you want to change

19:04

more , you would like to be able to see

19:06

things better , and when

19:08

you're working for a big business like that , they have to

19:10

make sure that what works works across

19:13

every shop . But there's the odd way nuances

19:15

where obviously things would would be different and

19:18

I think I would wanted

19:20

to be able to make wider changes . And you

19:23

know , I always knew that was never going to be possible in

19:25

pharmacy and so

19:28

I think that was the kind of burning desire . I knew that wasn't

19:30

getting the freedom or the kind of

19:32

free reign

19:34

that I kind of needed or I wanted

19:36

to make , and always had

19:38

that burning desire to do something

19:41

on my own . And then it was more a case

19:43

of the right idea , the

19:45

right kind of timing . I knew that I wanted to do something

19:47

when I was still being young . I was still

19:49

felt young and

19:52

I think at the time , to be honest , I came out

19:54

of university and my overheads

19:56

were still pretty low . So I thought , if there's the time to

19:58

start start a business , it's now . And

20:00

I think we just bought our house In

20:03

terms of I didn't have to put myself itself employed

20:05

on the mortgage application and

20:08

I'd get you done that . I'd already

20:10

got the keys . So it was the case

20:12

of our overheads from being a student was still

20:14

pretty low , but

20:16

our security were pretty secure in terms of our

20:18

. So at the time , that was the less

20:20

risk or the risk case , risk , less

20:23

risk time to kind of do it

20:25

. So between

20:27

that and then there was obviously there was pharmacy was

20:29

going through changes . At the time I think there was a lot of change within

20:32

the pharmacy chain that I worked for . So

20:35

it kind of all came together and a kind of nice time

20:37

I thought , no , this , if I'm going to do it , this is , this

20:39

is now . Why biscuits

20:42

this

20:44

is where it was actually subscription box first

20:46

. It was always going to be a subscription box and

20:48

I think at the time of partner Sophie

20:51

was getting them like all

20:53

these subscription boxes glossy box kind

20:55

of makeup ones

20:58

delivered in . The subscription box industry was was

21:00

booming in the States and

21:02

it was slowly coming to the UK . You can see there

21:05

was like glossy box was doing extremely

21:07

well . And

21:09

then we thought I quite like the idea of a subscription

21:11

box , that recurring revenue model

21:14

, the kind of you could create your

21:16

own product every month . It wouldn't be

21:18

plug in a dead horse in terms

21:20

of you don't have to put all your thing into one product

21:22

. It's just an idea and the product changes every

21:24

month and you can kind of tweak and change as you

21:26

go to find something that worked in the market

21:28

. And then it was to try and find a product

21:30

that we'd both all enjoy . And

21:33

both me and my partner are quite foodies

21:35

. We like our food , we like our snacks

21:37

. So it was kind of narrowing

21:39

down then what we kind of liked , what we thought

21:41

the British public would like in terms

21:43

of what what we could offer

21:46

. And and

21:48

biscuits was the one we settled on . It

21:50

helped that , I'll be honest , it helped . The biscuits

21:52

are are zero rated for tax

21:55

, so our sales didn't have any tax

21:57

on them , so there was no nasty tax

21:59

money to come along and take some

22:01

iron later on .

22:03

So he was on my door this afternoon and , tristan

22:05

, I need to tell you after .

22:08

Yeah

22:11

, so that the biscuits was was brought

22:13

about because that was the one that

22:15

had a nice little tax

22:17

advantage to it as well .

22:20

And , like those first few subscribers

22:22

, like at what point were you ? And so feel like

22:25

we've clearly got something that's working here after

22:27

this sort of friends and family and the initial launch

22:29

.

22:31

Yeah , I think it was . It wasn't necessarily when

22:33

the numbers started coming through or we saw a

22:36

boost in terms of sales . It was more

22:38

when the feedback started coming in and

22:41

when we got someone saying we enjoyed our box

22:43

or they bought it for their son , and it was actually the real

22:46

stories that we heard from them initial customers

22:48

. So I think it was the first time we started to get the

22:50

the reviews come in , and

22:52

or it was someone , I think quite early

22:54

on , one of our probably one of our first

22:56

20 subscribers happened

22:58

to have a small YouTube channel and

23:00

it was a case of suddenly this person was

23:02

unboxing . We didn't even think about influencers

23:05

at this point , but this person had

23:07

a YouTube channel , happened to subscribe and

23:09

then all of a sudden it was seeing your product on YouTube

23:12

and it was like this is it ? We

23:14

made it on YouTube and

23:16

several we had night everywhere at that time

23:18

in terms of how easy it was to be to

23:20

be seen on on a platform like

23:23

that . But I think that was the kind

23:25

of key point . It was like it doesn't

23:27

really matter if you kind of goes

23:29

anywhere or not , you know fine , well , you're making not

23:31

a difference in terms of it's not a product that's changing

23:34

lives , but in terms of in that happiness

23:36

, you're giving someone something that they're felt

23:38

they went out of their way to

23:40

post positive feedback about . And

23:43

just as a side point , sophie , my partner

23:45

was a psychology graduate

23:48

and she did a study

23:50

into the kind of if

23:52

you have a bad experience , you can have one

23:54

experience . You know going the negative bias

23:56

of leaving negative reviews but actually

23:58

to have a positive review . It takes a lot

24:00

for someone to go out of their way to leave a

24:02

positive review , especially when it's not garnered

24:06

in terms of never sent out an email to say

24:08

I'm going to leave us a positive review

24:10

on this . It was . This is someone had

24:12

received our product and then naturally went out of

24:14

their way to leave feedback somewhere . So

24:16

you know that it must have been a

24:18

good experience for them to have gone out

24:20

and done that and I think that was that was a key

24:22

thing that really saw people are enjoying

24:25

it . It's worth continuing to do .

24:28

I guess I was saying to Tristan

24:31

first I heard of the biscuit bar , and

24:33

was you practicing your Dragon's Den pitch

24:35

? What was that

24:37

?

24:38

That was a weird one . So that

24:40

actually came about pretty early

24:44

on into doing the biscuit bar . And

24:46

it's funny . You look at moments and you think you know

24:49

, would we be standing here having this conversation just

24:51

now if certain things hadn't happened

24:53

along the way ? And

24:56

I look back and I think we got an

24:59

invitation to an award

25:01

final , for I think it was start-up

25:04

online business of the year or something

25:06

like that , and we happened to win it and

25:10

we got a little bit of press coverage out of it and

25:12

I think we were in kind of remember what paper it

25:14

was nowadays now , but I think we got

25:16

a lot of press coverage from it . And it just so

25:18

happened that one of the researchers

25:20

from the Dragon's Den or for the BBC

25:22

that was working on the Dragon's Den

25:25

with Scottish and he had a bit of a preference

25:27

to look for Scottish businesses and

25:29

it just so happened again , you're looking at random

25:32

moments but the researcher

25:34

from the Dragon's Den was visiting his parents in Glasgow

25:36

and he happened to pick up their paper and he was looking

25:38

through the business awards section and he

25:40

saw the biscuit bar and he thought that that

25:43

might play well on the TV

25:45

. So he reached out to us . It's

25:47

always that thing to reapply . We never

25:49

filled in an application form . They do reach

25:51

out to brands and businesses that

25:54

they come across and you know it's that

25:56

way . You've just jacked in your job , your

25:58

full-time employed running

26:01

the business , and I think I was even sat where I'm sitting

26:04

right now in our office and my phone

26:06

rang and it was not number .

26:08

And , jeremy , you know me , I'll not pick

26:10

up a so you'd say I'd call the phone calls , I'd

26:12

take all of them . You never know who's on the end of it .

26:14

Well , I've passed this call , I've passed this

26:16

private number and they left

26:18

a voicemail and I thought what the hell is this ? Listen

26:21

to the voicemail and it's hi , we are

26:23

a Dragon's Den researcher . We're keen to have

26:25

you on the show . And I thought , yeah right , this

26:27

is one of my mates on the wind up , put the phone

26:29

down and , can you know , I've just started a business

26:31

. That's what they find . That's the kind of humor that some of

26:33

my friends would have . They genuinely

26:36

thought it was a wind up . And then they sent

26:38

an email and had the official BBC signature

26:41

at the bottom . I was like this actually might be

26:43

something . And again , the whole

26:45

application . It was a case of they put various

26:47

hurdles in front of you in terms of there's

26:49

a screen test you've got to do or

26:52

at least this is the process

26:54

when we did it . It was a . There was a screen

26:56

test in Manchester with an interview

26:58

. There was then a pitch . They

27:01

then went through your whole paperwork . There was

27:03

a whole legal check to

27:06

make sure there was nothing that was going to make the BBC look

27:08

bad . And then there's a case of

27:10

it goes to a panel and an

27:12

editor . I think it is of the show

27:14

and it's a case of we'll give you the

27:17

. You'll hear from them . And it was the case of it . It's always

27:19

two weeks , it's always two weeks . The next step was two

27:21

weeks and I remember we were in , I

27:23

was in the RBS accelerator office

27:26

when I got an email to say hey , just to let you

27:28

know that you're you're

27:30

pitching in the Dragon's Den

27:32

on two weeks time or three

27:34

weeks time or something like that , and let

27:36

us know how many people will be traveling

27:39

, what hotel requirements you need and if you get any

27:41

allergies for your meal . And it was literally as simple

27:43

as that . It was a case of we thought there'd be a hurdle , come

27:45

in at some point . Something that came and said , nah

27:47

, it's not going to happen , but it never

27:50

. We just , we just kept getting through , we just kept getting

27:52

through . So , yeah , the first time you heard

27:54

us was when and the thing is , we took the

27:56

whole secrecy to heart that you can't

27:58

tell anyone . You can't tell anyone , you're not

28:00

allowed to inform anyone . You're on the show . We

28:02

were dead secretive , never told anyone , apart from

28:05

our business advisor at the

28:07

Royal Bank , and that was us

28:09

practicing the pitch for the first time in front

28:11

of her and she brought down . One of our colleagues

28:13

from from commercial banking

28:15

came down and you just happened to be in the in

28:18

the hub at the same time and you just drop in

28:20

.

28:20

It's like what's good on here ? Yeah

28:24

, nice , nice , I'll

28:27

give it one more question and I'm firing it back to you . Tristan

28:29

Pickin' Packers

28:31

, so obviously , biscuit barring going great

28:33

guns . How come the diversification

28:36

and fulfillment more generally

28:38

?

28:39

Yeah , I think when , to be honest , we grew

28:42

quite quickly during COVID , I

28:45

think everyone was stuck at home with nothing to

28:47

do . Everyone was online shopping . So

28:50

we grew exponentially

28:52

during COVID , so much so that

28:54

we're kind of faced with the decision whether

28:56

we went to a fulfillment center ourselves

28:59

or whether we took

29:01

the overheads and , you know , opened our own warehouse

29:03

and did it ourselves in house . And

29:06

I think at the time I reached out , there was a

29:08

lot of ecom fulfillment

29:10

companies who didn't have space because

29:13

they were growing during COVID . They weren't

29:15

. They were doing a lot more . They didn't want to

29:17

take on new clients , or the one that's , or

29:19

the ones that did . The

29:21

pricing model just didn't work for us in terms

29:23

of how how that worked with our profit

29:26

margin , with our boxes and stuff . So

29:28

I felt like it was a little bit aimed against

29:30

small businesses . Some of their pricing . They were only

29:33

really interested in those big contracts

29:35

. So we did the , did

29:37

the numbers and we thought we would actually be better

29:41

off opening our own warehouse . So

29:43

we did that . We opened our own warehouse

29:45

with fulfilling our own items and more or less

29:48

to protect ourselves against , you

29:50

know , our business failing

29:53

or numbers dropping or whatever it

29:55

was . We decided to offer fulfillment

29:57

services because we had the warehouse and we had the

29:59

space . We decided to offer fulfillment

30:01

services to other kind of brands who were seen growth

30:04

during COVID as well , as a

30:06

way to help us with the overheads

30:08

of the rent and the rates and the

30:10

electricity and the heating and staffing , but

30:13

also to the

30:16

canine and share the risk across the

30:19

new warehouse but also to kind of offer a service

30:21

that I thought was lacking because there

30:23

was nothing out there for us at the time and

30:26

certainly we found that other businesses at the time

30:28

either didn't know that our services existed

30:31

or couldn't find one that would

30:33

entertain them due to their volumes that they were doing

30:35

at the time . So we had the warehouse

30:37

space , we had the staff capable

30:39

of packing orders , so we thought we

30:41

might as well .

30:48

Class Tristan .

30:48

Wow , how did you

30:50

go about getting customers initially ? Was it

30:53

an easy process ? Did you just reach

30:55

out to companies you do , or did you ? Yeah , it's

30:57

like trust .

30:58

I know Companies we knew to

31:00

be honest , we were in the we'd

31:03

done a little bit of shortly from our

31:07

own kind of growth for our own business

31:09

. We'd been a part of Facebook groups and

31:11

kind of business networking

31:13

stuff for a while

31:16

and we'd be on a few of the pages and we knew there were

31:18

people who were looking for

31:20

the best way to ship parcels . There was constantly

31:22

questions in Facebook groups that was like who

31:24

do you ship with ? What's their rates for

31:26

this size parcel and things like that . So

31:29

we knew that there was a kind of demand and

31:31

I think initially as well , there was a lot of kind of

31:33

local people

31:35

who had either we'd shared the RBS

31:37

accelerator space with

31:41

or there was people in our network

31:43

who we knew had e-commerce businesses as

31:45

well . So the initial kind of customers were

31:47

definitely within our circle and

31:50

then new clients since then have either came on

31:52

through the same kind of Facebook groups

31:54

and business posts

31:56

or there's been referrals from our

31:59

current clients .

32:02

Perfect . What

32:08

would you describe

32:11

as your greatest achievement or success so

32:13

far ?

32:16

Ought Ought

32:18

. I think

32:21

it's probably surviving

32:23

this Black Friday period , as Jeremy was

32:25

then . Jeremy was then our

32:27

witness that .

32:28

They were all survived without Fraser .

32:32

Anyway , that was our first Black Friday where

32:34

we've had as many orders

32:36

as we've had in terms of Black Friday

32:38

running into Christmas . So it

32:40

kind of six weeks from Black Friday into

32:42

Christmas , because that was our first

32:45

Christmas where we've had clients with

32:47

significant volume . It's the first time we've had

32:49

the biscuit bar and doing

32:51

a decent number of boxes because we're

32:54

kind of focused on commercial or B2B

32:56

sales for this Christmas

32:58

period . So we had a significant

33:00

number of them . So generally putting the processes

33:03

in place and having staffing

33:05

and the kind of where all to be

33:07

able to get through this Black

33:09

Friday to Christmas periods is definitely from

33:11

my biggest achievement . At least it's still freshest in

33:13

my memory right now .

33:14

You'll still be recovering from this . No

33:16

.

33:19

Sure , that

33:22

is a great achievement and

33:24

a very big

33:28

humble braggers of . To

33:32

be fair , the latest achievement is just being far too

33:34

busy and busy with it all .

33:38

I think . Well , funnily enough , you say that , though it

33:40

was a case of . I

33:42

was moaning at one point in terms of we

33:44

were busy and how we were going to cope , and actually

33:46

one of our clients , I think Jeremy , was in our warehouse

33:49

on this day . One of our other clients

33:51

was in the warehouse and he was like billable

33:53

income , billable income , and

33:55

that's all he came was like , because that was a morning , we were

33:57

too busy , and he was like think about it , billable

34:00

income is billable income and it

34:02

was his billable income . Funnily

34:04

enough , the way we're doing it , yeah , I

34:06

can't really complain .

34:10

What would you do differently for the next time ?

34:13

Sorry , trust me Sorry . Jeremy

34:15

, I'm still running with the success

34:17

.

34:19

So yeah , how are we going to make an even bigger success

34:21

next year , Fraser ? What would we do different ?

34:24

I think , yeah , I think there's definitely learnings

34:26

from it in terms of we there's

34:29

certain things I would do again . There's things that

34:31

we know that definitely worked . I think , to

34:33

be honest , when we're back against the wall

34:35

in terms of I know what's

34:37

overcapable of , there was certainly the

34:39

odd day and I think , unfortunately

34:42

, they were probably the odd day where

34:44

, you know , everyone was seamless in terms of what we

34:46

looked at , how many orders we could get out and

34:48

we could handle during one of our busiest days

34:50

. So I think we just need to have more of them . And

34:52

there's certain things we can do that

34:55

worked on that day in terms of the way the staffing

34:57

was broken up , in terms of how many pickers and

34:59

packers , how many people were doing certain functions

35:01

within the warehouse , and

35:04

I think there's certain things that we can do leading

35:06

into Black Friday , in the busy period

35:08

, that we could have done better in terms of even

35:11

if it's just space allocation , just to

35:13

have room . You know

35:15

, you know my partner , sophie , is the biggest

35:17

advocate of just having space and I'm

35:19

not in a person that if space is just spaces

35:21

pointless , it has to have a function that

35:23

has to do something . But in terms of just

35:26

having that blowout space where we could

35:28

have had space to organize stuff

35:30

. They would not wouldn't necessarily have

35:32

been quicker

35:34

or better or whatever , but

35:36

actually just for sanity's sake , just be

35:38

able to put something to the side and

35:40

forget about it for a bit . We didn't have so

35:42

always felt like it was a bit on top of

35:44

you .

35:50

I want to ask you , purely

35:52

because it's something I've reflected on , I

35:54

guess , recently or as you , as you get

35:56

older , but what

35:58

do you , I guess

36:01

, define as success , or what do you view as success

36:04

, and has it , has it , changed

36:06

over time , from when

36:08

you were , maybe , younger ?

36:10

Yeah , I think when you're young and naive it's

36:12

money . Well , at least for me , it was always

36:14

a case of success is how much money you've got in

36:16

your bank account , and

36:19

that was one of the motivation

36:22

of being self employed . My idea was , if I can

36:24

control the business decisions

36:26

, I can make a business that can make more money

36:28

, and that was the be all and end all

36:30

. But I think , jen it

36:32

sounds a bit salty now but generally think that kind of

36:34

changed a little bit during during

36:37

COVID , because this is

36:39

still something I say that I struggle with now . But

36:41

we did well out of COVID and I mean there's

36:44

that's a pandemic that impacted so

36:46

many people's lives and change people's lives and people

36:48

lost their lives . But yet we

36:50

did well out of it and I struggled to say

36:52

that because it felt like you were

36:54

, you were dirty or you were bad , saying you

36:57

you benefited from a pandemic

36:59

, felt like you were the

37:01

name name or not to name names , but the

37:03

conservative party and their donations

37:06

and where contracts were going during COVID

37:08

and things . You felt like you were in amongst that mix because

37:10

you were benefiting from a pandemic . But

37:13

someone pointed out to me was like it was a change

37:16

of buyer's behavior . You just happen

37:18

to be in an area

37:20

or in a sector that benefits from it . But

37:22

actually , looking at that kind of time , when we were

37:24

shipping people's boxes out to

37:26

people and this is just obviously for the biscuit bar and this

37:29

is not even thinking about success for

37:31

the picking packer side of things , but for

37:33

the biscuit bar and we were sending people's boxes

37:35

out and we we

37:37

got these sound modules

37:39

that you can record voices onto , so

37:43

we were recording personal sentiments

37:45

on these voice recorders so that when people

37:47

got their box and opened it it spoke

37:49

to the person's voice . It was a gift message

37:51

that played their voice . What we didn't really

37:53

realized the impact of that

37:55

during COVID , because there was people who were

37:57

hearing their grandkids voice for the first

37:59

time because they hadn't seen them during COVID

38:02

, because the grandparent was saying

38:04

was isolating and the hunts met their

38:06

grandchildren yet physically and

38:08

they might have seen them on FaceTime or whatever , but

38:10

actually having that sentiment of albeit beside

38:13

biscuits that then they could enjoy , there

38:15

was this things like , there was these gift notes

38:17

, that suddenly you were having a bigger impact than

38:20

you realized in just sending biscuits through the post

38:22

. And then there was other ones where there was families

38:24

who would get together on a Friday night . They would all

38:26

buy a subscription on the Friday that they delivered

38:28

. They would all have a family zoom , they'd

38:31

put themselves up on their tellies and they would all do a

38:33

biscuit like taste along and stuff . And

38:35

I was like suddenly you it's not necessarily

38:37

money motivated , but you're actually making a difference

38:39

to these people like . These are people who are giving you feedback

38:42

and it's real kind of tangible stuff

38:44

over nice stuff to hear

38:46

it and it kind of changed your focus that you know

38:48

not everything's money motivated . There's

38:50

there's nice things , there's

38:52

nice things about having a business as well , and

38:54

I think they're worth their weight in the money

38:56

as well .

38:59

That's really interesting , fraser , because the biscuit

39:01

bar , like I , was a subscriber for a long time . I

39:03

am . We're doing a health kick though , so we're not eating

39:05

biscuits though . But

39:08

I mean , my head again is a bit like

39:10

that with power . I'm so focused on the sales , I forget

39:12

the impact with the biscuit bar and I just see them as pallets

39:14

of biscuits in the warehouse . Yeah

39:16

, forget that . It is as people

39:18

, people having nice moments with their family , you

39:21

know especially making

39:23

memories .

39:25

Yeah , covid was the

39:27

resetter on that , I think

39:29

, because I think it was a case of . For us it was pallets

39:31

and biscuit and it was a business and we

39:34

provided a product . And it was a product

39:36

at that time and people bought it , but actually

39:38

it was . It became a service because it became

39:41

that family activity

39:43

that they could do and they you know COVID

39:45

took so much away from everyone . This

39:47

was the one thing that we provided

39:49

. Something wasn't a product , it was the family

39:52

get together on the Friday night or it was the

39:54

you know , meeting your grandson or granddaughter

39:56

, hearing their voice , or whatever it was . It was that touch

39:58

point that they've kept on . And there's

40:01

a lot of people who have got subscriptions and there are people

40:03

who have left us since

40:05

COVID , who have left messages and

40:07

it's been a case of . You know , we'll always be

40:09

thankful for what you gave us during that time because

40:11

we did have . We don't need three boxes amongst the

40:13

family now , but we did at the time because we

40:16

were in three different locations and couldn't see each

40:18

other .

40:19

You should have them printed on the wall in the warehouse . Yeah

40:21

, I have no idea that . That was the feedback

40:23

. Was coming in again and you see the boxes

40:26

in the way that we're climbing over . Yeah

40:29

, that's really cool . What

40:33

qualities ? So ? This leads on the next

40:35

one , right ? So what qualities or

40:37

habits do you think contributed to your

40:39

success , fraser , bearing in mind

40:41

that when Tristan asked me what three words

40:43

best describes you , I said cool , under pressure

40:45

, and hopefully we'll find out why .

40:49

Yeah , I don't think I'm someone that gets stressed

40:51

very much . I don't think stress helps

40:53

. I think I use it as a

40:55

motivation . Can

40:58

I like being busy ? So I think

41:00

I'm quite comfortable around when there is

41:02

that noise going on . I can quite kind

41:04

of focus and clear and I think

41:06

I suppose I never ever knew why , but

41:09

we've just found out recently what this might be . But

41:12

Sophie recently was watching

41:14

a TikTok and it was one of these

41:16

things . She saw a TikTok and she was like you know

41:18

that there's people that don't have an internal voice

41:20

. And I was like that's

41:22

weird . And then she's like I'm like you imagine

41:25

not being able to have thoughts ? And I

41:27

was like yeah , that's strange and I'll go along

41:29

with it . And I was like agreeing with it . And

41:31

then she said something else or

41:34

they don't see pictures in their heads . And I was like

41:36

wait , what ? And she's

41:38

like they don't , visually , don't see pictures in their

41:40

heads . And I was like I don't have pictures in my head . And

41:42

she's like what do you mean ? I was like I don't have

41:44

pictures in my head . And then

41:46

she was like do you have an internal voice

41:48

? And I was like , well , what do you mean internal voice , like I have thoughts

41:51

. And she's like , do you have a voice

41:53

? I was like I can't hear myself . And

41:55

then she's like , what is , if this was the strangest

41:57

thing in the world ? And I was like I can't hear

41:59

soup voice and I can't hear myself

42:02

. And then I was like , can you

42:04

actually ? Yeah , this is what this TikTok is . And

42:07

it turns out this is this aphantasia . And

42:09

there's like a kind of a spectrum on where

42:12

you are between people who have no internal

42:14

thought , can't think for themselves , are very

42:16

, very on one side , and then there's

42:18

the people who are dead creatives and see

42:20

pictures vividly and have wild

42:23

dreams and stuff . Well

42:25

, I don't have that and I don't have a voice in my

42:27

head that I can have thoughts and

42:29

I can have private thoughts in my own

42:31

head , but I don't hear them as a voice and

42:34

I don't really see pictures . Any

42:36

pictures that I do see are from a memory , so I

42:38

can remember how something looks by memory , but

42:41

I can't think of something

42:43

new . And it was only really

42:45

. When I was thinking about that , I was like , yeah , I don't dream , I

42:47

don't really , or at least I just thought . I don't

42:49

remember my dreams , but actually I

42:51

don't dream at all . That must be like

42:53

. I just thought it was a case of I didn't remember

42:55

them and the odd time I thought I've

42:58

had a dream . It's not really . It's been a case

43:00

of I kind of been just half a week and I've been

43:02

thinking about something and

43:05

you know , in that kind of semi-a week state

43:07

but it's the . I just thought that was the norm

43:09

. I didn't know I was any different

43:11

.

43:13

I think it's wild . I think it's wild , it's a

43:15

superpower . It is a superpower , tristan

43:17

. Do you have any questions before I dive into

43:19

this link ?

43:22

I've just yeah , yeah , I'm just , I

43:24

guess it's . Maybe you can't answer , but he's

43:26

doing any different . But do you think it's a positive or

43:28

a negative thing ? I

43:31

think Jeremy calls it a superpower .

43:33

Yeah , I think , because I don't know any different to

43:35

me . I've got to look at the benefits of it and I think

43:37

it helped me understand in terms

43:39

of why

43:42

I can enjoy that stress or

43:44

I can thrive off of that thing , because I can

43:46

quite clearly see a

43:48

plan and I think for my line of works probably

43:51

why I went into this line of work but I

43:53

like processes , I like putting plans in

43:55

place , I like , you know

43:57

, yeah , process or job

44:00

driven type things . So I think

44:02

that's helped . I think the flip side of

44:04

that is there's certain things

44:06

that I struggle with and I think I've put it down

44:08

to this now , and any of my staff members

44:10

will tell you this that if I am trying to explain

44:12

something or if I show someone something , I

44:15

have to explain it as I would do it or as I would

44:17

say it . So quite often I have to like draw it out

44:19

in terms of physically on a picture , and

44:21

I've realized now that's probably because I can't

44:24

form that picture in my head . So , for

44:26

example , if I'm talking you through a process

44:28

, I'd be like step one goes into step B , which

44:30

goes into step three , step C , step

44:32

D , whatever it is , for

44:34

that I would want to stand , sit beside the

44:36

person I'm explaining that to and actually draw

44:38

the step one , step two of how I

44:41

think obviously other people would visualize that in

44:43

their head and use their in their head to talk

44:45

through it . I don't have that . So

44:47

, yeah , any of my staff members will tell you

44:49

anytime we're trying to explain something . But yeah , if he's

44:51

always draws it in a bit of paper .

44:56

I think it's amazing . So , tristan

44:58

, we did the tests when these

45:00

. Obviously the next day , fraser came in and was like

45:02

this tip , this is so fissure . So the test is

45:05

like if you were to close your eyes , for instance , and

45:07

I was to say , yeah , can you imagine yourself on a beach

45:10

? Can you picture the beach ? Well , I'm assuming

45:12

you probably can , because this thing's relatively rare

45:14

. And if I say , yeah , can you imagine a

45:16

bird flying across the sky ? Can you

45:18

now picture the cliffs and imagine the birds

45:20

wearing a pair of purple Wellies , like they

45:22

will come up point where it

45:24

becomes hard for you to continue to

45:26

construct that picture in your head . Fraser

45:29

can't even get himself on the beach . So

45:31

when it comes to things like this

45:34

is why , for me , the beauty of working with Fraser

45:36

on the logistics the logistics proper stressed

45:38

me out . Before Fraser kindly

45:41

started to help . The head of my voice

45:43

is like what if really , on this order , that

45:45

customer is going to be really annoyed . What's the customer going to

45:47

say ? What if the logistics come ? Fraser

45:50

is very matter of fact . The logistics

45:53

update is saying this . Therefore

45:55

, this is the email that needs to be sent . There's

45:57

no , and I'm speaking on your behalf . A lot with Fraser

45:59

, but it's what I've observed , which I think is

46:01

a superpower , just like yeah , cool

46:03

, under pressure , because you've not called that voice

46:06

in your head , creating these

46:08

scenarios that are never going to happen .

46:10

Yeah , yeah , there's no that kind of . I

46:12

suppose the only the only doubt

46:14

ever have is one

46:17

that comes in . It's not

46:19

an unrealistic doubt , it's not one just because

46:21

you're feeling having a bad day in terms

46:23

of people will not feel on form today

46:25

. Therefore , that impacts their mood

46:27

and impacts their . The likelihood of

46:29

a situation arise and it's that

46:32

you imagine the worst case , or you , you

46:34

think about the worst case . The worst case is more likely to

46:36

happen . For me , I don't

46:38

have that because I don't imagine , I don't have that imagination

46:41

to think like that . It's a case

46:43

of . This is the likelihood . I

46:46

saw someone describe it as everything could be

46:48

a percentage gain in terms of well , your

46:50

, your delivery today is saying that it's

46:52

reached the thing . That means that 75%

46:54

likelihood it'll go out there for an run and I'm going

46:56

down that path . There's no this , yeah

46:59

, but what if that's ? That's

47:01

my , that's where I'm going , angus

47:04

, amazing .

47:07

Yeah , angus class , yes

47:11

, yes , Now that , now that we understand why

47:13

you're cool under pressure , what

47:17

advice would you give to someone starting out in your

47:19

field , just starting out ? What would that be for

47:21

us ?

47:23

And entrepreneurship overall or in

47:25

specific to this business

47:28

. Let's do entrepreneurship first . I

47:32

think it's have that conviction

47:34

to go for it . I think my

47:37

my thing's always been um

47:39

risk it , and we've always had that

47:41

that phrase would risk it for a chocolate biscuit . We

47:44

used to use that as um was

47:46

that tiny template song , risk it for a chocolate

47:48

biscuit , and we use that as

47:50

our motto when we're starting out . Because it

47:53

was the case of when I left the pharmacy

47:55

. We took a risk to go full time with the biscuit

47:57

bar and but the way that I saw it was if

48:00

in a year's time or if in six months time

48:02

the biscuit bar doesn't exist and it's a flop and

48:04

I have to go back with my hands in my hat

48:06

begging for a job somewhere . My

48:09

opinion of it is that my CV richer

48:12

for having been a self-employed

48:14

person for that period doesn't matter whether it was

48:16

six months or a year , because you know

48:18

fine well that you've had to have built a website in that

48:20

time . You'll have bootstrapped it from the start

48:22

. You'll have had to have learned about um

48:24

import regulations , in our case

48:27

for biscuits , and the tax , uh

48:29

status of biscuits and

48:31

all these kind of things and uh , the

48:33

drive that I had to be self-employed in terms

48:35

of there was no alarm clock every morning , you

48:37

just had to get up whenever you wanted to get up and it was

48:39

a case of well , that drive , that learning

48:41

, that behavior , my CV is

48:43

richer for it . So therefore , my

48:46

opinion was that if it was a flop , in six

48:48

years time I could probably apply for a better job

48:50

than what I was doing beforehand . So

48:52

there was that risk go for it

48:54

. What's the worst that can happen , your CV's better and

48:57

I think , as long as you know that line in terms of

48:59

you're not remortgaging the house , you're not spending

49:02

the kids college fund , you're not refinancing

49:05

your car , taking financial risks

49:07

that could have a long-term impact , it's not

49:09

where your limits are . But if you've

49:12

got an S-tec that's doing nothing

49:14

and you want to , you've always had a dream of being self-employed

49:16

and you know , you think , that if worse

49:18

came to the worst and that went away and you had to go

49:20

back , would you be richer for the experience

49:23

than go for it Like . I don't think it's . I

49:25

think people can get pulled back by

49:27

, especially parents or other

49:29

people who are like oh no , just do the status

49:32

quo , go to university , get the degree

49:34

, get the job , be safe

49:36

, pay into your pension and you know , we

49:38

don't even know if our pensions are going to be here by the time we

49:40

reach pension age . So , like , have

49:42

something around you that you know you can . You've

49:45

got some kind of legs and something or something

49:47

that you enjoy and you know there's that old

49:49

attitude to you know , do something you enjoy

49:52

. You never work a day in your life , type thing . But to

49:54

be to be like cheesy

49:56

on that there is if you enjoy your jobs and

49:58

you're much happier

50:00

in terms of your personal life and whatnot . So

50:02

yeah , go for it , take the risk .

50:06

Love it , tristan .

50:11

I guess , to kind of close

50:13

things off , what are some future

50:15

plans or projects you're working on ? Is

50:17

there anything you can share with us about

50:19

what the future looks like for the biscuit baron ?

50:23

Yeah , I think , coming into

50:25

the kind of Christmas period we were , a little bit

50:27

we didn't really know where we sat . We

50:29

were in a bit of a kind of crossroads in terms of

50:31

the biscuit baron was doing one thing and the fulfillment

50:34

side of the thing was doing another . We

50:37

had a bit of a decision to make in terms of what

50:40

we're going to do . To speak openly , we

50:46

had a good Christmas period . We made a

50:48

decent amount of money . We might seem

50:50

happy , but it

50:52

was a case of do we go again or do

50:54

we stick where we are and just kind of be

50:56

happy with where we are ? So that kind of growth

50:58

ambition , the burning ambition , is

51:01

like do we put that to the

51:03

gas and go again and grow again From

51:06

that that becomes ? Do we need a new , bigger

51:08

warehouse ? Do we need what ? Does the hiring

51:10

decision of that look like ? And we

51:13

started to have some kind of early conversations

51:15

on that with some of our kind of key partners

51:18

and stakeholders and stuff and seeing how that would

51:20

work in terms of if we did go

51:22

again and we did look to that

51:24

next step in terms of a bigger warehouse , which

51:27

three years ago looked crazy

51:30

to think that it would be in a warehouse At the start

51:32

of the year .

51:32

the one that we are in just now was empty

51:34

. Now it's bursting

51:37

at the scene .

51:38

I've got a before and after picture in the space of

51:40

a year . That's quite interesting to look

51:42

back on . So , yeah

51:44

, where will we be in a year's time ? Hopefully we'll fill

51:46

out that next warehouse . That's the

51:48

dream the

51:50

biscuit baron squared . Well

51:53

, we're into . This will be a

51:55

3.0 . This will be version

51:58

three . Well , we're shipping

52:00

boxes out of our house to

52:02

start off with a spare bedroom in the lemon

52:04

room and we're packing boxes there to start off

52:06

with . This

52:08

would be warehouse number four , including it .

52:11

Nice . Do you miss these ?

52:13

are packing boxes . I

52:16

cannot do because it was nuts and bolts . It was the grind

52:18

to start off with and it's quite nice and

52:20

saying that the kind of

52:22

the stage for that now and how efficient we are

52:24

with it is a win swapper

52:27

for the world .

52:28

Nice . So

52:30

I guess you have final thoughts or messages

52:32

for our listeners , for us .

52:36

Yeah , harper , back to that . Take a risk . If

52:38

you're in that , if you've got that burning desire

52:40

to be your own person or you're

52:43

kind of want to start your own business , and go for it . Take

52:46

that risk and you've only got one life , do

52:48

what you want with it , and if it

52:50

happens to be an e-commerce product , then

52:52

you know where to come to for any fulfillment advice . What's

52:55

the website for this ? Wwwthepickingpackerscouk

52:59

? Amazing .

53:01

And I almost forgot . I don't think

53:03

you would have forgotten Tristan . I will jump in with

53:05

it . Favorite business

53:07

buzzwords for either or

53:10

phrase .

53:13

Accountability . How

53:16

come ? Why ?

53:18

accountability for that

53:20

.

53:23

I think , as a kind of young manager starting

53:25

out when I was self-employed , when

53:27

I was working in the pharmacy or the convenience store , that was something

53:29

that was always big . You know you had your

53:31

tasks , you had what you need to do , be

53:34

accountable for it . But also then , as yourself employed

53:36

, you're accountable . You're

53:40

accountable for various things

53:42

, whether it's your business or your family life or the mortgage payments . So

53:46

I think accountability is a

53:48

big thing , knowing what you're accountable for . And also that's

53:50

the biggest thing when we then hire staff , it's

53:53

what are they accountable for ? And as long

53:55

as you're managing what's expected of

53:57

you , then everyone's happier . Everyone

54:01

can hit business goals , personal goals . So

54:03

, yeah , accountability is a big thing . So

54:06

yeah , accountability is a big one for me . Nice

54:10

.

54:13

I agree , a big fan of accountability

54:15

. Well

54:19

, thank you so much , fraser . It's been enlightening

54:22

. I will certainly met you a couple of times , so

54:24

it's been great to hear a bit more about your journey , and

54:27

thank you for giving your time For

54:30

anyone listening . You can

54:32

obviously get the links to Fraser's multiple business

54:34

Social media links in the comments , and

54:39

we look forward to seeing

54:41

you and sharing another journey

54:43

with you in the next episode . Wasn't that interesting

54:45

? Yeah , why are we ? What

54:47

a man . That was really cool

54:50

. What's the link ? Yeah

54:53

? I thought it was really interesting

54:55

and

54:58

like hearing I guess hearing it from

55:00

his perspective , obviously but it was interesting

55:02

how you were able to get a lot of people interested in hearing it and

55:05

I think it was interesting how big a conviction he has for taking

55:07

risks . I

55:11

mean , I really like it and got

55:13

a lot of respect for it . It's not , it's not your

55:15

usual . I would overthink everything and

55:19

I like to think I'm quite risk pro risk . I

55:21

think we wouldn't be doing what we're doing if

55:24

we weren't . But it was interesting

55:26

hearing it from his perspective

55:28

.

55:30

Calculated risks . I enjoy . I enjoy Fraser chat

55:32

about not getting stressed . Oh my goodness

55:34

. Yeah , not letting that inner voice

55:36

gets you , not letting those inner

55:38

pictures mess with your mind , breaking

55:42

it down into probabilities and stats . What

55:44

is the most likely outcome ? It's not

55:46

likely to be the worst , but that's where your mind often

55:48

goes to . Yeah

55:51

, and of course , the conversation

55:53

after the fact has taken us to 10 to 11

55:55

.

55:55

The

55:57

conversation yeah , that was a long , long conversation

56:00

. I wonder whether

56:02

the conversation after the recording

56:04

was longer than the actual podcast

56:07

. I think it better than it might have been .

56:09

Yeah , you see it in my eyes

56:11

, red and bloodshot

56:14

, and tongue .

56:17

Watch this space . Lots of cool

56:19

things happening and

56:23

I guess a

56:25

little teaser for for the next

56:27

guest we'll have on . I'm not going to early , there

56:29

is , but it is my turn to bring

56:31

one of my pals on the show , so that's going to be fun

56:35

. From the world

56:37

of hospitality and hotels , can't

56:41

wait . Questions ready , special questions about

56:43

that . Thank

56:45

you very much to everyone who's listening . It's been

56:47

a pleasure , jeremy , as always , and

56:50

we look forward to the next episode . Actually

56:53

, guys later See ya .