5d ago

Changing the world one bottle at a time: a conversation with Louis Watkins

What happens when a 19-year-old sitting at his dining room table during lockdown, struggling with anxiety he didn't yet have a name for, decides to turn his own mental health journey into a skincare brand that is changing how men think about taking care of themselves? That's Louis Watkins' story, and it's one of those conversations that will make you rethink what it takes to build something meaningful from absolutely nothing. In this episode, you'll hear: How Clear for Men went from a dining room table idea to a real product in 18 months, with no industry experience, no budget, and a logo that cost £300The personal story behind the brand that most founders would never have the courage to share publiclyWhy Louis measures success by how many lives he's positively impacted in a day rather than how many orders came inThe moment he stopped comparing his journey to everyone else's and what changed when he didThe big takeaway? You don't need expertise, a budget, or all the answers before you start. You need a reason that matters, the willingness to figure it out as you go, and the patience to build it one small step at a time. Follow Louis' journey and get involved: Website: https://clearformen.co.uk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-watkins-29637126a Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weareclear1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weareclear_ and https://www.instagram.com/louiswxtkins/ Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Aug 6

What happens when it does work: a guided visualisation

What if you could visit the version of your life where everything you've been holding back from has already worked, walk around inside it, notice every detail, and come back knowing exactly what you're building towards? That's what this episode does. It's one that is meant to be experienced, not just heard. (and top tip: save this one for a moment when you can be fully in it, because it works best when you're not half distracted). In this episode, you'll experience: A guided visualisation unlike anything I've done on this podcast beforeA practice that Olympic athletes have used for decades to prepare for the biggest moments of their careers, applied to founders and the businesses they want to buildA few minutes that might show you something about your life and your business that you haven't let yourself see yetAnd a reason to never answer that question the same way againThe big takeaway? Once you've been there, the question "what if it doesn't work" loses its grip, as now you have something far more powerful to answer it with. You know what the future can look like. Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Aug 4

What If It Does Work? The Question Every Founder Needs to Ask

Every founder knows the question: What if it doesn't work? It arrives uninvited, feels heavy, and has a way of closing things down before they've even had a chance to start. But what if there's a different question, one that opens everything up instead? In this episode, you'll hear: A personal story about the moment this question nearly stopped me from stepping into coaching, and why it was more unsettling than I expectedThe fascinating reason our brains are wired to ask the negative version first, and why it's not a flaw but a survival mechanism that's long past its usefulnessThe simple practice I now use every time that question arrives, and why it worksAnd the follow-up question that naturally shows up once you make the flip, the one that changes everythingThe big takeaway? There are two questions that, asked in the right order, will always take you somewhere more useful and more expansive than the one you started with. Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Jul 28

Joy, ink, and doing things your own way: a conversation with Lu at ToodlePip

Some conversations make you want to unleash your inner artist. This one will. Lu started ToodlePip in lockdown as a hobby that was only ever supposed to pay for her nails and eyebrows. What it became is something else entirely, and her vision for the future gave me actual goosebumps. In this episode, you'll hear: How ToodlePip started, what it's named after, and the moment Lu decided to go all in under circumstances most people would consider terrible timingWhy she runs two businesses that feed each other rather than choosing between them, and how she's made that workA story about wooden lanyards that perfectly captures what doing things differently actually looks like in practiceAnd a big vision for the future that you'll be thinking about long after this episode endsThe big takeaway? If your gut and your heart are where it's at, your head will follow, and sometimes the best thing you can do is stop trying to go at everyone else's speed and just do one thing a little bit differently. Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Discover Lu's world: Lu is the founder of ToodlePip, a brand designer and artist bringing joy, ink, and analogue creativity to everything she touches. ToodlePip Designs (art shop): https://www.toodle-pip-designs.com/ ToodlePip Does Design (branding): https://toodlepip-does-design.co.uk/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toodlepip.does.design/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-underwood-design/ ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Jul 23

How to know the difference between patience and avoidance in your outreach

If you've ever sent a message, had a brilliant conversation, and genuinely believed something good was coming from it.....and then heard absolutely nothing back, this episode is for you, because I've been there more times than I can count. What I've learned from getting it wrong is honestly some of the most useful feedback I've ever had. Following on from our last episode about why most outreach doesn't work, today I'm answering the question I know every founder is sitting with: how do I actually know whether I'm being patient or just avoiding the fact that something isn't working? In this episode, you'll hear: A confession about my first proper ghosting, and what shifted somewhere around the fourth and fifth time that changed how I see rejection entirelyWhy "I don't want to bother people" sounds considerate but is actually something else wearing a very convincing costumeThe three questions to ask yourself when you genuinely can't tell whether to trust the timing or change the approachAnd why the signals most founders are tracking to measure whether their outreach is working are almost entirely the wrong onesThe big takeaway? Curious outreach, given enough time and done in a way that's genuinely yours, will always find its people BUT the hard part is learning to tell the difference between continuing and hiding, and that's exactly what this episode helps you figure out. Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Jul 21

Outreach for founders who hate outreach

If the word outreach makes you flinch or you've been avoiding it because it feels pushy, salesy, or like you'd have to become someone you're not to do it, this episode might change how you think about it entirely. Outreach doesn't have to look like the spammy LinkedIn message that arrives 30 seconds after a connection is accepted. There is another way. In this episode, I share something that happened this week that shows exactly what outreach looks like when it's done with curiosity and patience rather than pressure, and why the results of that approach sometimes take months to show up but when they do, they're worth every moment of the wait. In this episode, you'll hear: Why content and outreach are two arms of the same thing and why most founders are only using oneWhat curious outreach actually looks and feels like in practice, and why the people on the receiving end are genuinely glad to hear from youThe most common reason outreach fails, and it's got nothing to do with the platform, the message, or the volumeAnd why separating the method from the reputation changes everythingThe big takeaway? When you swap the pitch for curiosity and the pressure for patience, outreach stops being the thing you dread and starts being the thing that actually builds your business. Until next time, stay Quietly Disruptive. ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Jul 14

Every founder has a book inside them: a conversation with Amy Warren

If you've ever had the idea of writing a book tucked away somewhere in the back of your mind, filed under someday, waiting for the right time, then this conversation might be the nudge you need to dust it off. My guest Amy Warren is the founder of The Writing House and TWH Press, and her journey from solicitor to self-published author to landing a book deal with Penguin is one of those stories that reminds you how much can change when you take that first leap. In this episode, you'll hear: Amy's journey and the sequence of events that would never have happened if she hadn't taken one small riskThe three things that hold most founders back from writing their book, and a brilliantly simple solution to the biggest oneA new approach to publishing that's quietly disrupting the traditional route and solving a problem no one else hasThe unexpected realisation we landed on mid-conversation that changed how we both think about writing and businessAnd a closing question that might just spark your next ideaThe big takeaway? You learn how to write a book by writing it, not by waiting until you feel ready, and certainly not by waiting for someday to arrive. Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Connect with Amy Warren: Amy is the founder of The Writing House and TWH Press, helping founders write, finish, and publish the book they've always wanted to write. Website: https://www.thewritinghouse.co.uk/ TWH Press: https://twhpress.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-writing-house/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_thewritinghouse_ ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Jul 9

The 5 non-negotiables that protect everything in my business

Wanting to work differently is one thing but actually holding it is another, and that's where most founders come unstuck. It's not the big dramatic moments that pull you off course, but the small ones — the perfectly reasonable request that falls just outside your hours, the single yes that feels harmless, the instinct to fix something for someone at your own expense. Each one is a small negotiation with a boundary that was there for a reason. In this episode, I share my five non-negotiables and the specific decisions I've already made so I don't have to make them over and over again every time something comes along and asks me to move them. In this episode, you'll hear: Why I'm sharing mine not because yours should look the same, but because hearing someone name theirs specifically might be exactly what helps you start naming yoursThe one that surprises people every time I mention itThe one that took me the longest to hold, and the hard lesson that finally made it stickWhere to look in your own business to find the non-negotiables you might already be protecting without ever having named themAnd why making the decision once and then holding it changes absolutely everythingThe big takeaway? Non-negotiables aren't rules someone told you to follow but are decisions you've already made, and when you hold them, everything gets simpler. Until next time, stay quietly disruptive. ### Ready to go further? Sign the pact and join the Quietly Disruptive movement. It's free and takes seconds. Sign the Pact and every week you'll receive Field Notes, my weekly letter where I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like behind-the-scenes. You'll also receive exclusive invitations to workshops, in-person meetups, and experiences you won't find anywhere else. Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com/signthepact Read my story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive business coach, which involves over twenty-five years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo). Link: https://www.beckybenfieldhumberstone.com

Quietly Disruptive

Changing the world one bottle at a time: a conversation with Louis Watkins

What happens when it does work: a guided visualisation

What If It Does Work? The Question Every Founder Needs to Ask

Joy, ink, and doing things your own way: a conversation with Lu at ToodlePip

How to know the difference between patience and avoidance in your outreach

Outreach for founders who hate outreach

Every founder has a book inside them: a conversation with Amy Warren

The 5 non-negotiables that protect everything in my business

Trailer

The Quietly Disruptive Business Trailer

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Quietly Disruptive

Episodes

Changing the world one bottle at a time: a conversation with Louis Watkins

What happens when it does work: a guided visualisation

What If It Does Work? The Question Every Founder Needs to Ask

Joy, ink, and doing things your own way: a conversation with Lu at ToodlePip

How to know the difference between patience and avoidance in your outreach

Outreach for founders who hate outreach

Every founder has a book inside them: a conversation with Amy Warren

The 5 non-negotiables that protect everything in my business

Trailer

About

Information