Why you should never give up in business (even when it feels pointless)

I want to tell you about my speaking career. Not the polished version. The actual version.

The first time I spoke at an event, 9 people turned up. The second time, I tried to go big - video crew, multiple speakers, Tony Robbins energy. I lost a significant amount of money. The third time, I put a lot into Facebook ads and broke even. The fourth time, it finally clicked. I made a real profit and worked out what actually worked.

Then lockdown happened and nobody would pay me anything.

What persistence in business looks like in practice

Over the following year I gave around 50 talks for free on Zoom. Some were 2 minutes long. Some were 30. I got better with every single one, even when nobody was hiring me for paid work.

I started showing up on Clubhouse - an audio-only app - surrounding myself with people who were different to me, better than me in different ways. I asked questions. I turned up every day. I kept going. 

Then the paid work started coming.

Since then I've spoken in Portugal, Croatia, Spain, the USA (six times), Germany (five times), Canada (twice on Zoom - face to face is coming), and 14 times in various parts of the UK.

None of that happened because it was easy. It happened because I didn't stop. The speaking career isn't the only place I've learned things the hard way. My time as a failed rock star taught me just as much.

Rejection is part of the process, not a sign to quit

Over the last year alone, here's what I dealt with when trying to get conference speaking work:

• Being offered "exposure" instead of a fee. (When exposure pays my bills, I'll reconsider.)
• Being told sales and LinkedIn aren't relevant - at business events. If you don't have sales, you don't have a business.
• Being ignored, even when I'd been recommended directly to the organisers.

It's easy to take that personally. I won't pretend I didn't. But none of it means you stop.

How you treat people says everything about your business

What turned things around wasn't just persistence - it was finding the right people. John Espirian, Jeremy Freeman, and Gus Bhandal paid me to speak at Uplift Live, and what stood out wasn't just the fee. It was how they treated every single person involved.

When times get tough, a lot of businesses cut corners. Language gets sharper. Budgets shrink. The customer experience quietly gets worse. John, Gus, and Jeremy did the opposite. They overdelivered. They cared about the details. They created something people actually wanted to be part of.

That week I gave what I genuinely think was the best talk of my career. I also got to be around people who showed real kindness and support - and that matters more than most business advice I've ever received.

A huge thank you to Harry Singha for the coaching work over the last year, to Richard Newman for You Were Born To Speak (still my favourite book on speaking), and to Holly Christie and Corina Goetz for consistently telling me I was capable of more.

What business resilience means day to day

You don't control the outcome. You never fully do. What you control is the effort you put in, the people you invest in, and whether you keep going when it would be easier to stop. I've written about what 30 years of doing exactly that taught me about sales.

That's it. That's the whole thing.

If you want to talk about getting better results in your business or having me speak at your event, get in touch. You can also find out more about the coaching programmes I offer.