The Start Up To Grown Up Podcast

Heather Townsend
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Running a small business can feel overwhelming - too much to do, not enough time, and growth that never quite takes off. This podcast is for small business owners who want to scale their business but feel stuck. No fluff, no vague advice - just clear, short, practical insights to help you build a business that works. Whether you’re struggling with sales, marketing, pricing, or just managing the daily chaos, you’ll get straight-talking strategies to move forward. If you’re tired of spinning your wheels and ready for real progress, this is for you. startuptogrownup.substack.com

  1. 4d ago

    Everything you need to manage a small team, in three processes

    Does sitting down for a formal performance review with someone you talk to every single day feel like pointless box ticking? Did you swear that when you left corporate life you would never do meaningless HR admin again? And are you now carrying emotional baggage from team members who underperformed, walked out or turned on you, wondering how on earth it got to that point? In this podcast episode I share what I have learned, mostly the hard way, about why good people management is not overkill when there are only a handful of you.  I talk about the real reasons we avoid the formal people management stuff, which are rarely about time, and what avoiding it has cost me. What you'll learn in the podcast episode: - Why the "we are all in this together" mindset will cost you dearly in your business - The real reasons you are avoiding formal people management, and why not having enough time is rarely the one that is genuinely stopping you - How hiring on trust, particularly with freelancers and experts for hire, is often an expensive mistake - Why quarterly reviews work better than annual appraisals  - How to work out the right frequency of 1:2:1s for each person, and the performance problems you will miss if you are not having them Related posts The 5.5 processes your business needs to scale without breaking https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-55-processes-your-business-needs 4 signs that an employee’s performance has dropped (and what to do about it) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/4-signs-that-an-employees-performance How to eliminate your emotional baggage when managing people https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-eliminate-your-emotional-baggage?r=l8khy They sent me an email apologising for “breaking my business” (and this is how I recovered) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/they-sent-me-an-email-apologising?r=l8khy Are you being gaslit by clients or staff? How to spot and stop it https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/are-you-being-gaslit-by-clients-or Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    Everything you need to manage a small team, in three processes

  2. Aug 9

    How to stop waking at 2am worrying about your numbers

    Do you wake at 2am with your mind churning over whether your business is actually OK? Are you either tracking a long list of numbers that nobody ever acts on, or nothing at all beyond keeping your P&L up to date? And if one of those numbers moved next week, would anything in your firm actually change? In this episode I go back to basics on how to choose the KPIs for your firm. I share why the financials your accountant talks to you about only tell you how your past decisions worked out, and what you need to measure alongside them to stay focused on what matters most. I also talk through how we set our own KPIs after losing 25% of our monthly recurring revenue, and what those numbers made us change. What you'll learn in the podcast episode: - Why revenue, profit and cash survival time are the right place to start but a terrible place to stop. - How to work top down from your 3-year growth plan and your big bets before you decide on a single KPI. - Why your firm needs a ONE BIG FOCUS for the next 90 days, and how to pick it when everything feels urgent. - The difference between the lagging indicators you measure at firm level and the leading indicators your team should be measuring. - How I broke a £6k new monthly recurring revenue target down into KPIs and an action plan for my relationship manager. - The one question to ask before any number goes on your dashboard. Related reading/episodes The 5 specific moves that made me redundant from my own business https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-5-specific-moves-that-made-me?r=l8khy You’re not running a business, you’re running an expensive job https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/youre-not-running-a-business-youre?r=l8khy AI and LinkedIn broke my marketing (this is what I did next) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/ai-and-linkedin-broke-my-marketing 6 emotions that drive real business growth (if you listen to them) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/6-emotions-that-drive-real-business?r=l8khy The beginner’s guide to know if your marketing is working https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-beginners-guide-to-knowing-if?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    How to stop waking at 2am worrying about your numbers

  3. Aug 2

    Your revenue has dried up. Here's how to fill your pipeline fast

    Has your revenue suddenly dropped off a cliff with no warning? Are you watching your cash reserves prop up a business that badly needs new clients? Do you know what to do first when the work dries up, or are you about to start rushing around with a face that says 'desperate for work'? In the space of four to six weeks we lost 25% of the monthly revenue in one of our businesses. In this episode I talk you through exactly what I am doing about it, and the same advice I have given clients time and time again when their pipeline empties. You will hear the diagnostic work to do before you panic, and the specific activity that reignites new business fastest. What you'll learn in the podcast episode: - The importance of learning how seasonality impacts your business - The three types of cost you should never cut when money gets tight, however tempting it looks. - Why warm relationships come before anything else, and the questions that turn a catch-up call into paid work. - How to manufacture a reason for a call when picking up the phone feels a bit icky. - What to say to prospects who went quiet and to the people who already told you no. - How the 60 in 60 days approach works - Why discounting to win work is almost always the wrong move, and the one exception. Related episodes How to turn meetings with existing clients into invoiceable business https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-your-clients-dont?r=l8khy How to get clients to say yes (without chasing or discounting) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/why-clients-say-let-me-think-about?r=l8khy Why your marketing isn’t working and how one simple document can fix it https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/why-your-marketing-isnt-working-and?r=l8khy How to build your marketing function: person by person https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-build-your-marketing-function?r=l8khy AI and LinkedIn broke my marketing (this is what we did next) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/ai-and-linkedin-broke-my-marketing?r=l8khyThe £20k trade show lesson I won’t forget https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-20k-trade-show-lesson-i-wont?r=l8khy3 decisions that turned my empty pipeline into a waiting list for clients https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/3-decisions-that-turned-my-empty?r=l8khy You’re showing up. So why aren’t the leads coming? https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/8-ways-you-are-killing-your-personal?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    Your revenue has dried up. Here's how to fill your pipeline fast

  4. Jul 26

    How to build your marketing function: person by person

    Have you outsourced or hired marketing help and watched it deliver very little? Could you explain, in granular detail, how your firm actually wins work?  If you are thinking about handing your marketing over to someone else, this episode is for you. I built a marketing function that did not properly understand how we won work, and that was part of the reason our marketing stopped working. Add in the changes to search and LinkedIn and our marketing was dead in the water.  In this episode, I talk through what I got wrong and the order I would now follow to build a marketing function that brings high quality leads into the business. What you'll learn in the podcast episode: - Why documenting your whole business development process comes before any decision to outsource or hire. - How missing KPIs left me unable to see whether the marketing was working until it had already cost me. - Why your new marketing hire needs to report directly to you rather than to someone else in your team. - What to measure in your account management before you spend money on winning new clients. - Why testing what AI can already do for you should come before hiring a person to do it. - How to work out what to outsource, and the point at which permanent help becomes more cost effective. - What a marketing "do-er" should be responsible for, and when to add a manager above them. Link to Riverside.fm (affiliate link) https://riverside.sjv.io/e1MXvg Related reading/episodes AI and LinkedIn broke my marketing (this is what I did next) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/ai-and-linkedin-broke-my-marketing The lead generator sitting in plain sight (that most firms ignore) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/you-know-your-website-needs-updating?r=l8khy You’re showing up. So why aren’t you the leads coming? https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/8-ways-you-are-killing-your-personal?r=l8khy How to put your marketing on autopilot https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-put-your-marketing-on-autopilot?r=l8khy The beginner’s guide to know if your marketing is working https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-beginners-guide-to-knowing-if?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    How to build your marketing function: person by person

  5. Jul 19

    How to create high-quality content when your mind has gone blank

    Are you staring at a blank page with a deadline coming and no idea what to write? Do you find that the weeks you most need to publish something are the weeks your head is completely empty? Are you churning out content at the last minute and knowing, as you press publish, that it isn’t your best work? I created the narrative for this podcast epsiode while sitting on a train with no idea what my podcast episode for the week was going to be. I’ve been creating content for over 17 years, six books, thousands of articles and more than 100 podcast episodes, and I still get stuck.  In this episode, I talk about what causes writer’s block for me, and the four things that make it far less likely to catch you out. What you’ll learn in the podcast episode: The two things most likely to give you writer’s block. What gets my writing going again How a content plan stops you from churning out poor quality content What to keep in a swipe file, and where to find ideas beyond social media. How to use AI to support you to overcome writers block without it writing or creating for you Related episodes AI and LinkedIn broke my marketing (this is what I did next) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/ai-and-linkedin-broke-my-marketing?r=l8khy The £20k trade show lesson I wouldn’t forget https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-20k-trade-show-lesson-i-wont?r=l8khy How to restart your business development activities when you’ve gone quiet https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-restart-your-business-development?r=l8khy The lead generator sitting in plain sight (that most firms ignore) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/you-know-your-website-needs-updating?r=l8khy How to put your marketing on autopilot https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-put-your-marketing-on-autopilot?r=l8khy The 5Ps to make sure that business development always happens https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-5ps-to-make-sure-that-business?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    How to create high-quality content when your mind has gone blank

  6. Jul 12

    The growth premium no one warns you about

    Are you pouring everything into growing your business, telling yourself the long hours and the missed holidays are just what it takes right now? Do you scroll past other owners boasting about their numbers and wonder why you feel so wrung out? If you are so busy building a future lifestyle that you have forgotten to actually live your life, this episode is for you. I share what I have learned about the growth premium, the personal price you pay for growing your business that never shows up on your profit and loss report. In this episode, I talk about the toll growth took on my own health, including the burnout that led to my fibromyalgia, and why I now believe ambition and self care have to sit side by side. You will hear the practical ways I protect my health, my relationships and my sanity while still growing two businesses. What you’ll learn in the podcast episode: - What the growth premium really is and why its true cost never appears on your profit and loss report. - Why growing a business is far easier for some owners than others, and what that means if your load at home is heavier. - How the glass balls metaphor helps you decide what to protect at all costs and what can wait. - How to recognise when you are pushing past your healthy limits, and when to stop. - Why putting non-negotiable red lines in your diary early protects the relationships that matter most. - How to track your own happiness and health alongside your revenue so a bad year stays just a bad year. Related episodes 10 tactics to reduce your stress levels that you wouldn’t find in a text book https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/10-tactics-to-reduce-your-stress?r=l8khy Why we feel the compulsion to overwork (and how to stop) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/7-reasons-you-are-overworking-and?r=l8khy The 5 specific moves that made me redundant from my own business https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-5-specific-moves-that-made-me?r=l8khy Nobody told you this part of running a firm  https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/nobody-told-you-this-part-of-running?r=l8khy These 4 beliefs that made you and your firm successful are now sabotaging your firm’s growth https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-you-cant-let-go-of?r=l8khy 15 ways your life will unexpectedly change (and not always for the better) as your business moves from growing to scaling https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/15-ways-your-life-will-unexpectedly?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. References [1] Souitaris et al., “Does self-employment increase stress? A co-twin control analysis of Finnish and US twins,” Journal of Business Venturing (2026), Bayes Business School with Warwick Business School and the University of Notre Dame. [2] Mental Health UK with iwoca, survey of 984 UK small business owners. [3] Simply Business “Mind Your Business,” in partnership with Mind’s Mental Health at Work (2023 survey) [4] Mental Health UK with iwoca. [5] 2024 Simply Business “Mind Your Business” (2024 report) Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    The growth premium no one warns you about

  7. Jul 5

    10 tactics to reduce your stress levels that you wouldn’t find in a text book

    Is stress just your constant companion as a business owner, the thing you’ve stopped noticing because it never really goes away? Do you tell yourself you’re fine, even though your body is sending you signals you’re choosing to ignore? If the pressure of running your firm keeps building and you don’t have a proper way to deal with it, this episode is for you. I share what happened to me when years of unmanaged pressure caught up with me, and the coping strategies I’ve built since to protect my health while still growing my business. In this episode, I talk about my own decline through Covid into burnout and a Fibromyalgia diagnosis, what my Oura ring data showed me about my body long before I noticed anything myself, and the practical boundaries I now use every week to keep the pressure at a healthy level. What you’ll learn in the podcast episode: - Why the pressure on a business owner grows as the business grows, not the other way round. - The importance of being truly off work when on holiday - Why letting someone else manage your diary protects your time better than you can protect it yourself. - How tracking a simple biomarker can show you the true state of your stress when your own judgement can’t be trusted. - Why one fully switched off day a week can be the difference between burnout and thriving - Why a serious hobby outside your business gives you the perspective that keeps the pressure in proportion. Related episodes: Everyone talks about scaling up. Nobody talks about scaling down. https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/everyone-talks-about-scaling-up-nobody?r=l8khy What I did next when my rheumatologist told me I was broken https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/what-i-did-next-when-my-rheumatologist?r=l8khy The strategy I never wanted to learn - how to stop running yourself into the ground https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-strategy-i-never-wanted-to-learn?r=l8khy why we feel the compulsion to overwork (and how to stop) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/7-reasons-you-are-overworking-and?r=l8khy How to stay mentally strong when your business is under pressure https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-stay-mentally-strong-when?r=l8khy These 4 beliefs that made you and firm successful are now sabotaging your firm’s growth https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/the-real-reason-you-cant-let-go-of?r=l8khy How to make a clear decision even when your brain’s in panic mode https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-make-a-clear-decision-even?r=l8khy AI and LinkedIn broke my marketing (this is what I did next) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/ai-and-linkedin-broke-my-marketing?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

    10 tactics to reduce your stress levels that you wouldn’t find in a text book

  8. Jun 28

    AI and LinkedIn broke my marketing (this is what I did next)

    Has AI broken the traffic to your website? Have you watched your reach on LinkedIn collapse despite having thousands of followers? If your marketing has stopped working and you have no idea how to fix it, this episode is for you. It all was getting pretty bleak when it came to our business development. We just couldn’t grow and we had started to make a loss. AI ate up most of informational search and I lost around 30,000 monthly page views across my websites, which meant organic sign ups went from about 300 a month to barely a trickle. LinkedIn’s algorithm update did the rest. In this episode, I talk through how bleak it got with our ability to attract new members, and the specific things I did to go from eating into our cash reserves to having the healthiest pipeline we’ve had in nearly three years. What you’ll learn in the podcast episode: - How AI and the LinkedIn algorithm broke the holy trinity of content marketing, SEO and social media I’d relied on for 17 years - Why I started paying for facebook ads despite not being a fan of Meta, and what it has cost - What a paid SEO audit revealed about the basic technical errors hiding in my website - The tight email discipline I went back to after a branded template killed our open rate - Why finally getting granular visibility of my sales pipeline changed how I forecast new business - How making the time to work on the business mattered more than any single tactic Link to buy an SEO audit: https://www.fiverr.com/volpagirl/impact-your-domain-rating-keyword-rating-web-audit-score-google-visibility Related episodes and articles: What to do when work dries up over summer https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/what-to-do-when-work-dries-up-over?r=l8khy How to fix your website and stop losing clients https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-fix-your-website-and-stop?r=l8khy The lead generator sitting in plain sight (that most firms ignore) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/you-know-your-website-needs-updating?r=l8khy How AI has broken 2 of my businesses (and what I am doing about it) https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-ai-has-broken-2-of-my-businesses?r=l8khy How to put your marketing on autopilot https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-put-your-marketing-on-autopilot?r=l8khy How to get your article to rank highly in google search and AI search tools https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-get-your-article-to-rank-highly?r=l8khy 3 decisions that turned my empty pipeline into a waiting list to work with me https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/3-decisions-that-turned-my-empty How to restart your business development activities when you’ve gone quiet https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/how-to-restart-your-business-development?r=l8khy How to finally have the conversation you’ve been too scared to have  https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/p/4-things-to-do-before-the-conversation?r=l8khy Useful links: - sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again. About Heather Townsend Heather is the leading business coach for accountants (and other professionals) who want to grow their business. She is the founder of The Accountants Growth Club, who specialise in helping accounting firm owners grow their accounting business profitably and sustainably. She is also the founder of How To Make Partner, the global experts in helping professionals in practice make it to partner, and when they get there, stay that. Get the confidence, the skills AND the time to focus on the right things and move your career forward with Progress to Partner Academy. Get full access to Start Up To Grown Up at startuptogrownup.substack.com/subscribe

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Running a small business can feel overwhelming - too much to do, not enough time, and growth that never quite takes off. This podcast is for small business owners who want to scale their business but feel stuck. No fluff, no vague advice - just clear, short, practical insights to help you build a business that works. Whether you’re struggling with sales, marketing, pricing, or just managing the daily chaos, you’ll get straight-talking strategies to move forward. If you’re tired of spinning your wheels and ready for real progress, this is for you. startuptogrownup.substack.com

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