Why do so many brilliant, ambitious women still hold back, play small, and second‑guess themselves?

This episode is for people who are:

• Are ambitious but secretly plagued by self‑doubt
• Have a side project idea you can’t stop thinking about
• Are tired of over‑editing emails and apologising for taking up space
• Want a more compassionate, grounded way to begin “playing big”

In this episode, I’m joined by Tara Mohr—author of the best‑selling book “Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead.” Tara has coached thousands of women worldwide and created the global Playing Big leadership program, helping women move past self‑doubt and step into their real power.

We get into the reasons women stay small—and how to change that in practical, doable ways. In this conversation, we talk about:

• The “good girl / good student” trap
• How being the star student at school can secretly sabotage you at work, in leadership, and in creative life.
• The two kinds of fear you must learn to tell apart
• The ancient concepts of pahad (projected, catastrophising fear) and yirah (the sacred fear of expansion) and how to know whether you’re in danger or on the edge of growth.
• Why we self‑blame when things go wrong
• Side projects, callings and why you don't need to “make it your job”
• How to start if you feel like you “don’t have a calling”
• The key question Tara prefers instead of “What is my purpose?” and what to do with that one idea that has been quietly nagging at you for years.
• Minimising language and email habits that keep you small
• The subtle phrases that undermine you (and simple ways to fix it)
• Redefining success so you actually take risks

If you’ve ever felt like you have more to say, more to build, or more to become - this episode will give you language, frameworks, and practical steps to finally play bigger on your own terms.

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I wanted to speak to Stuart because this podcast is about living before you run out of hours - and Stuart embodies this more than most. 

He started All Saints in the 90s and built it into a cult brand - dressing rockstars like Kings of Leon, The Who, Depeche Mode, Placebo and Destinys Child and Gwen Stefani - at its peak it had over 200 stores worldwide across 25 countries, with hundreds of millions of revenue.

But he went on to sell it. 

Stuart had previously been scouted by two of the biggest fashion brands at the time - Paul Smith and Reiss - and ended up joining Reiss and working under David Reiss’ tutelage for a while until he plucked the courage up to start his own brand.

The shop has changed a lot now, it’s a world away from the All Saints that Trevor poured his love and soul into - so this is a story of building what should exist, letting go, and moving on to a new passion in your next chapter. It’s also a story of what happens when you seek to optimise JOY and FUN and not just productivity and efficiency. Much needed in today’s world.

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In this episode, we go beyond the polished founder origin story of Unplugged to explore burnout, addiction, shame, and the deeper search for meaning. We unpack how dopamine dysregulation, phone addiction, and suppressed emotions show up in modern life, and why numbing becomes our default. We also explore the power of subtraction, digital detox, spirituality, and emotional honesty as routes back to joy, presence, and a kinder way of being in the world.

Unplugged aims to offer a sanctuary away from screens, stress, and scrolling. In just a few years, they’ve helped tens of thousands of people go offline - when staying guests have to literally lock their phones away, and switch off.

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Today on the podcast I am joined by Viv Groskop - writer, podcaster and comedian.

Her podcast How to Own the Room has reached millions of downloads - and counts guests like Hilary Clinton, Margaret Atwood, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and is the biggest resource for public speaking in the world.

But she didn’t start as a public speaker. She was more known for her words than her voice, beginning as a journalist for publications like The Guardian and The Observer. She then ventured into the world of stand up comedy, taking on a crazy project project of 100 gigs in 100 days, all with 3 children under 6 - we talk about that today.

I wanted to talk to Viv as I am quickly realising that one of the most important things to do is to become better at speaking. It helps you confidently share what you care about in the world, and put yourself out there. So many of us hold back, and I love to coach people on this 1-1.

In this conversation, we’ll talk about how you can get better at public speaking, what encouraged Viv to take up comedy as a second career, the downsides of fame and parasocial relationships, why stand up comedy isn’t actually scary and lots lots more.

Hear more from us by signing up to the newsletter!

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I hope it is a good reminder to the many, many people I speak to who I know put on the same pressure.

Stop putting pressure on creativity. Find the joy, find the compassion and then find the consistency.

Next episode soon!

Website here, coaching here.

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Natoora can be seen as a ‘premium greengrocer for the best produce’. They have direct relationships with farmers and offer some of the world's best seasonal produce. Working with over 2,000 of the world’s most influential chefs in restaurants in London, Paris, New York, Miami, Copenhagen, Malmö & Melbourne. They also offer their produce to taste-conscious home chefs, and have four London stores.

Natoora’s big-picture mission is to revolutionise the food system. Franco is also an adjunct Professor of Sustainability Management at Columbia university and the author of “In Search of the. Perfect Peach” his book which talks about food supply and why flavour is so key in our diet.

Natoora did not start on the side, but as a response to a life long passion and a decision that this thing needed to exist in the world.

I wanted to speak to Franco as this podcast is all about following your curiosities and passions and making them your life’s work - something Franco has done, but in a different way. In this episode we’ll talk about why the food system is so broken and what we can do about it, why he moved from finance to groceries and why a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction every four weeks at work drove him to make changes, and the surprising things he learnt from a lunch with the founder of Patagonia. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. We recorded this in their shop on an early morning in Bermondsey, surrounded by Radiccio and blood oranges. You can see some video footage from this morning on Out of Hours' Instagram. I’ve done what I can with the audio, but you might still hear some background sounds...

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She is also an investor - founder of Wellness Growth Ventures, where she partners with visionary female founders who are transforming the wellness industry.

Rachel has built her life at the intersection of wellness and investment. From her early days at UBS Investment Bank and Tiger Global, to collaborating with Lululemon as an Ambassador. Part investor, part yogi, and full-time community builder - Rachel's story is an honest, relatable and inspiring account of following your authentic path.

On this episode - we get personal. We talk about everything from not being able to see your own success, to how to start a yoga studio on the side, how to start a proper studio, why she's passionate about supporting female founders, and why she doesn't feel the need to choose between finance and wellness. It's an inspiring episode for anyone looking to make the leap into the scary unknown and come out with a deeper knowledge of yourself.

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Rory doesn’t have a side project that we discuss, but he does have some of the sharpest insights on creative thinking and how to stay creative.

Rory is arguably one of the most influential behavioural scientists in the world - his TED talks have over 7 million views. He also writes a column for the Spectator, serves on the advisory board of The Evolution Institute, and is the former President of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). Rory is a master of creative thinking and new ideas. He’s written a best selling book called Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense - all about how irrational ideas matter in the age of the rational. In this podcast we talk about all sorts of things - if you’ve come across Rory before you’ll know quite how unwieldy conversation with him becomes. We talk about why he would love to sell air conditioners, why Elon musk should build a modern day trailer business, why he thinks the Industrial Revolution was largely because of good marketing, the homogenisation of modern society, and if he believes AI can ever replace an irrational human mind, and how to sell climate solutions that change behaviour. It’s quite the conversation, let me know what you think via comments!

Looking for coaching to help you find your own voice and be more creative? Head to outofhours.org/coaching

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He's an ultra-athlete, coach and founder of That's Runnable, a brand new community for runners. I speak to Tommy at a really interesting time. Tommy has just quit his job to go full-time on this passion of inspiring others to run. But his journey has not been linear. He started his running side project three years ago, and he's been slowly building up his following from 250 followers to hundreds of thousands.

His story is an inspiring one, one built on passion, love and authenticity, and also one of false starts. Tommy quit his job prematurely when he decided to train as a personal trainer and moved to Bristol. But getting sick and not making enough money, he eventually admitted defeat and moved back to London to work at a startup. But not one for the corporate life, he applied lessons from his previous bold start and has built a plan and a savings pot so he can continue on his mission to get people outdoors and running for the benefit of their mental health and fitness.

In this episode, which is a little longer than normal, we talk about the anatomy of going viral, how he films his famous videos, what powers him to run ultramarathons, how to avoid running burnout, how he got over his fear of posting online, and his plans for that's runnable. This really is a must listen for anyone wanting to get more into running, or to build an Instagram or TikTok following, or just to be inspired by Tommy's attitude to life. I hope you enjoy!

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On a chance encounter, that we talk about in this podcast, Imme joined him a few months later to turn Botivo into what it is today. A brand builder by trade - having led major brands across multiple categories, she joined Botivo as co-founder - and helped bring it to market - from restaurants like the River Cafe to chains like Waitrose, to raise capital and hire a team. 

In this show, we talk about everything from how to run a business when you have a family, the secret to distribution and her killer playbook formula for perfect brand positioning - whatever you are building,. It’s a perfect episode for anyone who’s ever considered bottling one of their own creations, or wondered how to build a brand that stands out. I hope you enjoy the episode!

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Elliott Howell is a travel, product, and brand photographer who was living a beautiful, full life until one fateful Sunday night when he had a seizure and within moments, his entire life changed. He was rushed to the hospital where he spent the next 20 hours undergoing all kinds of tests and scans, finally to discover that he has a massive 2.5-inch cancerous brain tumour.

Elliott had awake brain surgery and then had to go through radiation. With the help from his friends and his GoFundMe, Elliott went all in on his recovery: reorienting his diet, and quitting his job. Now, years later, his MRI looks great - the scan is stable and there’s no sign of anything to worry about. He continues to do

a low-carb, zero-sugar, no alcohol diet and goes to the gym multiple times per week. He's ramping up work again as a visual artist with brands in the lifestyle and travel spaces (products, hotels, tourism boards, agencies). His portfolio is here, and his Instagram is here.

In this show we talk about what diet did for his health, what he learnt from a diagnosis giving him 8-10 years to live, and how it feels to face such difficult news.

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You can also sign up for free to the newsletter (https://outofhours.substack.com), to read articles focused on human potential, self growth, and doing more things that light you up.

Please send me an email at hello[@]outofhours.org with any feedback on the show :)

Or join the coaching waitlist here:

https://www.outofhours.org/coaching

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• ✏️ If you haven't left a review yet - please do!!
• ☕️ To support me to keep making the show you can buy me a coffee to say thanks here.
• 📧 To sign up for the newsletter head to outofhours.org for lots of exciting news.

About this episode:

Today on the podcast we have Stephanie Harrison, founder of The New Happy, and soon to be published author with Penguin Random House for her book, The New Happy.

Stephanie, who has a masters in positive psychology, is on a mission to teach us the truth about happiness, and why - when you do everything right, pursuing the right jobs and education - you still don’t feel happy. Stephanie's interest in studying happiness started many years ago when she worked at LinkedIn, and her interest in workplace happiness grew when she worked at Thrive Global. The New Happy started as just a curiosity, then a newsletter for family and friends and now a community of millions of people - with millions of followers across her newsletter and recognisable Instagram page.

We talk about how it got started, why everything you know about happiness is wrong, how she got over the fear of posting online, and why you don't need to read the science to know that helping people makes you feel happy.

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Gay received his Ph.D. in counselling psychology from Stanford University, and twenty years later he set up the Hendricks Institute - an International Learning Center that teaches core skills for conscious living. As a coach, he’s coached more than eight hundred executives, from firms like Dell and HP. He has also written over 40 books, including The Big Leap - where he coined the ‘zone of genius’ that so many people talk about today. Along with his wife, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, he has co-authored many books including Conscious Loving - where they explore how you can have creativity, and happiness in your relationships all through life - shedding relationship habits that keep us small and stuck. 

In this episode we talk about relationships and how to live in our full potential:

• How to take responsibility in relationships - and avoid racing to the victim position
• How not to lose yourself in relationships
• Why your happiness about someone's flaws is normally enabled by you
• Why there is 200% responsibility to take in the relationship
• How to radically eradicate criticism from your relationship
• Why a fear of being fundamentally flawed or outshining someone can hold us back
• how do we stop nagging and instead use that energy for our own creativity?

This an episode for anyone interested in getting more from life, in understanding how they can build more fulfilling relationships and work.

☕️ Enjoying the show and want to say thanks? You can now buy me a coffee :)

📧 Sign up to the fortnightly newsletter!

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Cure begins with a simple question: can our minds really heal our bodies? It is a controversial subject, but she studies it with the scientific rigour learnt from her PhD along with a skeptical and open mind. She uncovers evidence that our subjective thoughts, emotions and beliefs can have very real benefits for our health, from easing symptoms and influencing immune responses to reducing our risk of getting ill in the first place.

She explores everything from hypnosis to meditation, from placebos to positive visualisation – to explore the power, and limits, of healing our body with our mind.

This episode is a bit different from normal, we explore the science instead of her own journey making the book, but I hope you enjoy it just as much!

Please do leave it a review & sign up to the newsletter at outofhours.org for more exciting news.

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In this episode we talk about:

• The birth of the speed project
• Why Nils loves running why it's an anchor in his life
• Why people should allow people to love their work and get paid
• When you should quit a side project
• Why your 'why' matters so much.
• How you can keep going when doing such an extreme race

P.S. If you enjoy this episode you can now buy me a coffee to say thanks! ☕️

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/outofhours

Thank you so much A Nonny Mouse for your support!

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(You can also email me on hello@outofhours.org)

Kevin Kelly is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine and a former editor and publisher of the Whole Earth Review. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture.

He is also co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, a membership organisation that champions long-term thinking. He is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. He is also the author of multiple best-selling books about the future of technology. His newest is Excellent Advice for Living, a book of 450 modern proverbs for a pretty good life.

In this episode we talk about:

• What makes good advice (and is there such thing as original advice?)
• Why language is important for using advice well
• Why he wasn't in love when he got married but is now
• The self-help books that actually changed his behaviour
• Why you shouldn't wear a hat with more personality than you
• Why he admires Jeff Bezos every time he meets him

Please enjoy!

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Joining the podcast today is Edward Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Velocity coaching, best selling author of Leading with Heart and executive coach.

His twenty-five-year career as an executive coach and political consultant has taken him around the globe coaching and advising start-up founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, and heads of state of foreign nations. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fast Company, INC., USA Today and more.

We talk about finding your zone of genius, on falling into coaching by mistake, what a ski time CEO is (vs war time or peace time CEO), fear led work cultures vs heart based cultures and so much more!

☕️ Like the show? Buy me a coffee to show your appreciation!

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Today on the podcast we have Matt Buechele - known on instagram as Matt Booshell. You may recognise Matt from his comedic, straight-to-camera one minute monologues - as he walks through the street of new york with his airpods.

He is a writer, comedian, and composer. He has always been interested in comedy, music and sketches - and today he is full time on his creative work - having written for the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and having had his work featured on place like Netflix and Comedy Central. We talk about why fear is irrational, why putting his work online was so key for his success, and why he thinks all musicians want to be comedians and all comedians want to be musicians. 

I hope you enjoy!

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Today on the podcast we have Tim Brown, co-founder of Allbirds.  

Today Allbirds is a public company, with an IPO in 2021, and almost one thousand employees. But it didn’t start that way. In fact for many years, Allbirds was just an idea, a side project for Tim Brown - who was a professional footballer for the first part of his career, even playing in the world cup. Tim was bored of the branded shoes he had to wear as a footballer, and started to wonder if a better shoe could be made. For years, he experimented. Tim is a New Zealander, which is the home of merino wool, and he started experimenting with creating a new shoe material with his homegrown merino wool. After he had a prototype shoe, he launched a kickstarter - which proved the idea was popular with others.

 In 2016 - Tim officially co-founded Allbirds with his cofounder Joey Zwillinger - who helped shape the sustainability focus for the company. They are now a carbon neutral company, and were termed the ‘world’s most comfortable shoe’ by time magazine.

We talk about tall poppy syndrome, why he thinks a sense of humour matters in entrepreneurship, and why he thinks the 85% rule of effort is so important. I hope you enjoy. 

Join the Out of Hours newsletter here!

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Today on the show we have Lauren Zander, life coach and author of the book “Maybe it’s You” - offering a step-by-step process that has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of her clients.

Following a realisation that she’d been living a life full of lies, she decided to “clean up her life” and tell the truth. The result was a lifelong successful career in life coaching and writing. She was in the first vanguard of life coaches, a newly emerging industry, and counts the well known life coach Mel Robbins as one of her early clients. She’s also the coach of Hugh Jackman, the actor in Wolverine and Greatest Showman, who has cited her practice as a “slap taken” - a dose of reality and motivation when preparing for the Greatest Showman.

We talk about why people are so afraid to commit fully to their projects, why lying makes our lives so unenjoyable, and why she doesn’t care that coaching isn’t an industry for everyone.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ Your support shows us it's worth continuing!

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Today on the show we have Tim Urban. Tim’s TED talk - Inside the mind of a master procrastinator - is now the third most watched TED talk in the world - totalling over 65 million views. Tim is also one of the internet’s most thought provoking writers, he started his blog Wait But Why  - originally as an attempt to exercise his creative side, only to find it resonated with many many others.

Wait But Why’s longform articles have since attracted millions of views, and over 700,000 subscribers. He is famous for his long form essays on everything from The Fermi Paradox and intelligent aliens, to why we should spend more time with our parents. He's also about to release a new book called What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies.

Tim is a lesson in how you can build a career following your own weird and wonderful curiosity. We talk less about his interests and more about his process; how he started and grew Wait But Why, how he structures his writing process, how he manages his procrastination and why he thinks there is no objectively cool job. I hope you enjoy!

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Today on the show we have James Fox, the founder of Prison Yoga Project.

Yoga changed the course of James’ life, and in 2002, he started his own organisation - Prison Yoga Project - a programme to teach trauma informed yoga and bring yoga and mindfulness to prisons. 70% of prisoners return to the community there is a 76% re-arrest rate within the first 5 years. Prison Yoga Project supports incarcerated people with trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness. Their goal is to help reduce reoffending and providing a more humane experience for incarcerated people. James also has written a book about yoga and sent thousands of copies to prisoners who have requested them.

He began the programme in the US, in San Quentin, and has now brought the practice global - from the U.K., to Mexico to Australia.

In this episode, we talk about the male role complex, how trauma is stored in the body, and why everyone should support yoga in prison if they want a safer and more humane society.

If you’re interested in supporting Prison Yoga Project - they run a book program, which supplies a free book to any inmate who requests one. If you’re interested in a trauma-informed approach to yoga instruction, you can train with Prison Yoga Project. Just head to PrisonYoga.org.

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Today on the podcast we have Ella Mils, the founder of Deliciously Ella.

Ella started Deliciously Ella - a blog for plant based recipes - over ten years ago when she was still at university. Having been diagnosed with a chronic condition, and being in and out of hospital with drugs having no meaningful impact, she turned to the internet. 

Originally she started the blog as just a personal project - but she eventually released it to the public - gaining over 130 million hits within the next few years. Buoyed by this success, she launched an app, which went straight to #1 in the UK app store for food & drink , thanks to the growing online community she is so known for today. Her debut cook book became the best-selling debut cookbook of all time in the UK.   

Together with her husband Matt, she has grown the business even further - expanding into a deli which is now their flagship restaurant, as well as many new food products listed in places like Waitrose, Starbucks, Tesco and Sainsburys. 

We talk about why building moments of calm is so important, what people get wrong about plant based diet, her skin care routine, and why she doesn’t want to be famous. I hope you enjoy!

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Subscribe to catch the first episode!

If you enjoy the show, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Today on the podcast we have Kevin Kelly - the founding editor of Wired Magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first 7 years. He's also:

-Written a New York Times bestseller on technology and written books on the economy and on decentralization.

- Been the publisher and editor of Whole earth Catalogue - an American counterculture magazine.

- Founded the popular Cool Tools website in 2003, which has published a cool tool every day for past 18 years.

- Co-chair of the Long Now Foundation - which aims to provide a counterpoint to what it views as today's "faster/cheaper" mindset and to promote "slower/better" thinking.

Kevin Kelly also has another side project - spanning over the past 50 years - where he has travelled to 35 Asian countries photographing the disappearing cultural traditions - and recently he put his curated works in a book called ‘Vanishing Asia’.

Today we talk about everything from how and why he writes (and why he’s different from Neil Stephenson, the author of Snowcrash, who has to write every day). We also talk about why he’s interested in crypto and projects that don’t make sense, why he believes the centre of gravity of culture will move to Asia, why becoming too big as a company or too good at a skill holds you back, and why he wants to be a youtube star. I hope you enjoy!

Buy Vanishing Asia here or check out Kevin Kelly's site.

Or, sign up to the Out of Hours newsletter here, or email hello [at] outofhours.org.

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Today on the podcast we have Michelle Maldonado. Michelle is the founder & CEO of Lucenscia, a human potential and business transformation firm for developing leaders and organizations, work which she started practicing originally in her corporate job. Michelle designs leadership development and coaching, and has worked with everyone from PepsiCo to the United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers.

Michelle is and does so many things - she is an entrepreneur, a business leader, a mother, a wife, as well as holding certifications in emotional intelligence, mindfulness and meditation.  

Most recently, she ran and got elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Michelleis not a career politician but she was moved to run for election following the public murder of George Floyd and the strorming of the capitol - and sees her role as a ‘bridge builder’. We talk about so much in this conversation - from why she thinks compassion is different to empathy, the three breath meditation you can do any time of day, how to talk to people with different views to you without demonizing them, why emotional intelligence is so important in business and how she discovered meditation aged 7.

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Today on the podcast we have Charlie Moult. Charlie works in the field of breathwork and she is a 1-1 and group breathwork facilitator and the founder of Source, a Breathwork membership. After a life changing experience on a retreat, Charlie was inspired to start training in therapeutic Breathwork practices and eventually she quit her full time job as a Chiropractor to focus on guiding transformational breath journeys for emotional and trauma release.  

She’s been featured on the BBC (radio) and The Sunday Times and has worked with everyone from corporate sessions with Google to alongside shamans on retreats in Mexico. The purpose of her work is to provide a safe space to experience the healing power of the breath.

We talk about what breathwork actually is, how different techniques works, human design, what it means when people say ‘the body keeps the score’, and how you know when you’re on your path. I hope you enjoy!

• Check out the Source Breathwork website
• Follow Charlie on Instagram
• Sign up to the Out of Hours newsletter for inspiring content

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How does one West Virginian farmer, suspecting foul play and seeking justice, win against one of the largest chemical companies in the world?

With the help of someone called Robert Bilott.

Today on the show, we have Rob Bilott, described by the New York Times as 'DuPont's worst nightmare' - the lawyer whose story was turned into a Hollywood turned into the film starring Mark Rufalo and Anne Hathaway.

Rob is a corporate defence lawyer, who started this case as a small side project - a favour to a farmer from his local area. What he ended up uncovering was one of the biggest cover ups in America. He found that DuPont had been knowingly dumping toxic chemicals into our water, chemicals which are now found in 99% of all living creatures on this earth - and are linked to 6 diseases and birth defects.

To read more on Rob's story:

Watch the trailer for Dark Waters here

Watch The Devil We Now here

Read Exposure here

P.S. If you want to start your own side project - sign up to the Sprint here!

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Today on the podcast we have Ben Branson, founder of Seedlip - the world's first distilled non-alcoholic spirit.

Ben grew up with a a father who worked in design, and a mother from a farming family. He started Seedlip originally not from a business opportunity, but because he was curious about what he could do - and whether he could actually finish a project. He was curious to tinker with plants, and learn, and have a creative outlet experimenting with the natural world. 

He officially started Seedlip in 2015: inspired by nature, and on a new mission to change the way the world drinks by solving the question of what to drink when you’re not drinking. Seedlip has since turned into a global success. He’s had investment from drinks giant Diageo, it’s in thousands of the top bars and restaurants across the world - including London’s Savoy Hotel, and Soho House, and he’s brokered partnerships like the Chelsea Flower show and also met David Attenborough.

We talk about why he thinks it’s important to know your strengths, why you should trust your dreams, why your business should serve you as much as you serve the business, and why he hates it w hen someone says ‘hey we should get a drink sometime’.

Sign up to the Out of Hours Newsletter for more inspiring updates!

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Sharmadean Reid is a serial entrepreneur, based in London. She’s an inspiration to many women around the world, and is widely known for her impact on culture, the beauty industry, and women’s empowerment - and she received an MBE in 2015 for her services. 

Her entrepreneurial journey started at University, where she created a zine called WAH - a zine - as a side project. She then set up the nail salon, WAH nails, also originally as a side project. She is now founder and CEO of The Stack World - an ecosystem for women, which creates content, builds communities and hosts events for women.

Her personal mission is to empower women economically and socially through tech, and much of her life has been spent bringing people together and harnessing new technology for social impact. 

In this conversation, we talk about why she’s so excited about the future of the internet - what many are calling web3 - why she learnt about NFTs, the role of participation in new companies, and why she’s been working on a Stack DAO - her latest experiment.

Terms:

WEB3

NFT (non-fungible token)

DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation)

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Today on the show we have Dave Potter. Dave is a retired psychotherapist, and he specialises in anxiety, stress, and trauma. He created his side project, Palouse Mindfulness, when he was a working therapist, as a way to share a particular meditation practice that has changed his life, called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

MBSR, it’s a meditation therapy, originally designed for stress management, and it is used now for treating illnesses including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, cancer, diabetes and immune disorders.

Dave Potter had been interested in meditation since the 70s, and received his training as a MBSR instructor while he was a therapist, through University of Massachusetts Medical School - which was actually where Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of MBSR, founded the Center for Mindfulness and began MBSR. 

MBSR is a life-changing course, but if done in person - like all courses it can be expensive. Dave wanted to create a free version of this life-changing course - to bring the lessons to everyone who needs it. Single-handedly he leant on his previous experience in software, to create the Palouse Mindfulness website. The result is a true labour of love. He has personally recorded meditation sessions, curated online teaching content, and painstakingly written up exercises and built the website - all for free - all so people who need it most can access the benefits of MBSR through a free self-paced course. It has helped thousands. 

Dave is an incredible person, and I was moved by this conversation. We talk about why people procrastinate with meditation, the benefits of starting something on the side, altruism, dealing with difficult situations and why meditation is as important as sleep.

Check out Palouse Mindfulness here.

Sign up to the Out of Hours Substack newsletter here

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Today on the podcast we have Polina Marinova Pompliano. She’s the founder and author at the hugely popular newsletter The Profile.

What is the profile?

The Profile is a newsletter, which started on the side when she was full time at Fortune Magazine and she has since turned into a paid newsletter, and her full time job. The Profile studies the most successful and interesting people in business, entertainment, tech, sports, and more - with the goal of sharing lessons from the most exceptional people and business. It’s been read and promoted by people like Dwayne Johnson - the rock - and Alexis Ohanian - who’s an investor and the founder of Reddit.

Why listen to this episode?

This episode really is an essential listen for any online creators. We go deep into the details.

• We talk about how the newsletter started as a project for family and friends
• Why perfectionism kills ideas because builds expectations
• Why you should have a back up project
• Why you should write for yourself not the audience
• When to leave your job 
• What it’s like being in a relationship with two entrepreneurs

Sign up to The Profile here

Sign up to Out of Hours newsletter here

Please do reach out on Twitter, or by leaving a review, and let me know if you like the episode!

p.s. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a long wait, Season 3 is coming soon.

In this season, I'll be speaking to an incredible mix of people with one thing in common - they gave themselves permission to be completely themselves, to explore the things that light them up, and to build the things they think should exist in the world. Most of them started their passions as side projects, or curiosities, and turned them into something much bigger than they thought possible. 

The guests on this season know that like everyone, they're running out of hours and want to create things that should exist, say things that should be said, and build the life they actually want, before it’s too late. 

I’m speaking to creators, to entrepreneurs, to writers, and founders of non-profits -to hear about how they started and grew their projects, their mental models, why they stopped waiting for ‘one day’ and how they started taking their own ideas seriously. 

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About the guest

Our guest today is Matt Miller, better known as Mills. Mills is best known for co-founding digital design studio UsTwo, with his cofounder Synx. They have clients like Joe Wicks, Lego, Co-op, Google’s Deep Mind and Samsung to name just a few. 

Mills created a culture at UsTwo of experimentation, creativity and risk taking within the agency. They had 16 internal side project experiments, or as Mills likes to call them ‘succailures’. Learning from each one, as we tend to do with side projects, their learning culminated in the phenomenal success ‘Monument Valley’ - a game downloaded over 150 million times. The success of this experiment led to an entire new entity of UsTwo - UsTwo Games.

He’s since stepped back from UsTwo, and we talk about his new life as an investor - investing in over 38 companies and challenging what it really means to be an ‘investor’, as well as his own side project adventures in podcasting.

We also talk about what you need to create a successful game, why it matters to follow your curiosity, why it’s essential to have something outside your main work and his view on success and happiness. 

Join us on Out of Hours

Sign up to the Out of Hours newsletter here!

Follow Mills:

Check out UsTwo here, or check out Mills here

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Join the next Out of Hours Circle:

Create consistency, meet amazing people and reach your side project potential. Join here.

About the guest:

Today on the podcast we have Lottie Unwin, founder of The Copy Club.

The Copy Club are a community of entrepreneurial people who work in marketing. The Copy Club run events, courses and recruitment for an ever-growing community of entrepreneurial marketeers.

The Copy Club started as a solution to Lottie’s own problem. Having completed her graduate training at marketing powerhouse Proctor & Gamble, Lottie then joined Propercorn to lead their marketing efforts. Missing the support that P&G provided she quickly decided to seek out other connections who could help her on her journey - and she was soon regularly going for coffees and drinks with people doing similar roles in other companies. Copy Club started as a simple dinner - and it was only when she moved to India that she realised she had the beginnings of a business.

Fast forward to today, she has a successful business that employs a team of ten, and runs courses, events and recruitment for start ups. We talk about why monetising feels so scary, why selling can feel gross (and how you can avoid that) and why it’s OK not to have a plan. 

To join the Out of Hours circle sign up here.

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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(Special discount for TRIBE below!)

*Content warning: this episode talks about recent violence in Nigeria, which might be difficult for some listeners to hear*

Today on the podcast we have Odunayo Eweniyi, the founder of Feminist Coalition, a group of young Nigerian feminists formed by Odun and her co-founder Dami in July 2020. 

Feminist Coalition, also known as FemCo, started with a clear mission to champion equality for women in Nigerian society. But in October, as the Nigerian ENDSARS movement surged, protesting the brutality of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Nigeria, they felt they had no choice but to act. 

They decided to help first by simply setting up a form for volunteer lawyers, and then went on to fundraise to support those affected by the protests with Medical and legal care. They raised over $380,000 in just two weeks, starting first raising Naira and then Bitcoin.

Despite being launched less than a year ago, Odun and her co-founders Dami’s work has been recognised across the globe, and being featured in countless of the most prestigious press:

- They were featured on the Bloomberg 50 2020.

- They were featured by Vogue as part of the 12 Women Leaders That Changed The World In 2020

- They were listed in the Time 100 - the list of the most influential people in the world in 2020.

In this episode we talked about how FemCo started, why they supported the victims of the ENDSARS protests switched to Bitcoin, how she managed to do it alongside her day job - COO of Piggyvest which counts over 2 million customers, and how she learnt to deal with criticism and the huge role her father played in who she is today. Hope you enjoy the episode. 

A huge thank you to our sponsor TRIBE!

TRIBE are one of the UK's leading plant-based nutrition brands. 

You can get your first pack for just £2 (which includes shipping) at this link (wearetribe.co/outofhours) --> use the code "TRIBEOUTOFHOURS'".

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Inspired by a trip to Argentina, and armed with less than a year’s professional experience, ManiLife's story started in Stu’s home kitchen in 2015. ManiLife has seen a meteoric rise in the last few years - running a successful crowdfunding round, winning Great taste awards, being recommended by celebrities like Joe Wicks and Ella Mills of Deliciously Ella, and being stocked in major retailers like Waitrose and Sainsburys and turned over millions of pounds in revenue. 

We talk about the practical things like how to get into retailers, why he thinks influencer marketing might be overrated, and how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign, as well as his journey along the way: why its hard being a sole founder, when he decided to go full time, and how one of his biggest product successes came from a failure.

p.s. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Please note:

This episode comes with a content warning : we talk about the topic of femicide, gender based violence and other topics that some listeners may find upsetting. If you want to avoid this discussion, please skip from 28.06 minutes - 37.50 minutes.

About the guest

Zaharan Sofi is the founder of ‘Talking Circle London’, an Instagram account designed to keep people informed on social issues that don’t receive enough media attention. Zaharan started this account, on the side of her job in finance, with the idea of creating a safe space for people to both discuss and learn about social issues. It is less than a year old but has already grown to over 44 thousand followers, and had huge impact - both in educating people on key issue, and helping drive signatures for charity campaigns. 

This is a slightly different episode than normal, we do talk about the origin of the idea but we also talk about polarization online, personality politics, cancel culture and why she thinks all celebrities should be change makers. 

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today on the podcast is David Heinemeier Hansson: the co-founder and CTO of Basecamp, a NYT best selling author, and creator of Ruby on Rails.

Ruby on rails is a free open source web application framework. and some of the biggest companies in the world were built with it: Airbnb, Shopify, Twitch and Square to name a few. 

He’s also built hugely successful businesses: Basecamp - which started as a side project for him and his cofounder Jason. It has since made him a millionaire, and served millions of users.  

Alongside all of this, he is also an author. He’s written three books, including New York Times Bestseller Rework. He’s also a Le Mans class-winning racing driver.

Even though he started all his biggest projects as side projects, this is not a traditional podcast episode - we talk much more about the other meaning of ‘out of hours’ - the fact we are running out of hours and life should be meaningful. We talk about everything from:

• open source
• why intrinsic motivation matters
• why he was a terrible employee
• how to build your internal sense of control
• why he doesn’t set goals
• how he found out money doesn’t make him happy
• whether he’ll ever go into politics
• climate change

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Today on the podcast we have Thom Elliott, co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims.

Thom set up Pizza Pilgrims with his brother James, and they now have 16 restaurants across the UK, in London and Oxford, and have released two books.

They originally wanted to start a pizza street food business, and so set about acquiring a vehicle and a pizza oven - which took them to Italy and one week’s trip turned into a 6 week road trip touring the country.

On their return, Pizza Pilgrims was born: starting first as a street food stall in London, before growing into the chain of restaurants we know today. 

We talk about how the idea came abut, their amazing success pivoting in the pandemic and his own surprising side project.

Check out Pizza Pilgrims here,

Or check out Out of Hours here.

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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Today on the podcast we are joined by Tiwa Ogunlesi - a globally recognised coach specialising in positive psychology. She's an international speaker, delivering workshops for companies like Google, Facebook, The Times, and the founder of Confident and Killing It: a purpose driven organisation and community that wakes women up to their worth so they can be confident and unstoppable.

Tiwa started Confident and Killing It in 2016, running it as a side project before quitting in 2020 to go full time. She's since run workshops, coaching sessions and podcasts, to give women the tools they need to overcome fear and self-doubt. 

We talk about how she became more confident, her rocky start to going full time when the world shut down in 2020, how she trained as a coach and how to find paid speaking gigs. Hope you enjoy!

Check out Tiwa here: confidentandkillingit.com

Launch your own side project here: https://www.outofhours.org/launch-your-project

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today on the podcast we have John Furno, Founder of Bundle of Sticks - A queer publication, proudly sharing coming out stories to help and inspire the LGBTQ + community.

Having gone through his coming out experience all alone, John decided to help others.

A Bundle of Sticks started as a Facebook page, where he enocuraged other people to share their coming out stories. He’s since turned it into a publication, where people from all around the world have shared their own stories to help other people feel less alone. The magazine has been sent around the world - from the US, to Israel to South Africa.

This is is not a story of something that has gone viral, but rather a story of a project with deep impact. The stories have caused school bullies to reach out to apologise, and fathers to reach out to make amends. This is a story about the power of stories themselves to change people’s minds. 

We talk about how John created the first edition, how to balance side projects with everything else, his experience of coming out and the life changing journey of self acceptance.

LINKS:

Join the Out of Hours Sprint here: https://www.outofhours.org/courses/sideprojectsprint

Submit your story to A Bundle of Sticks here: https://www.abundleofsticks.com/

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

My guest today is Alice Bentinck - most well known as the founder of Entrepreneur First: the world's leading talent investor: building startups teams from scratch across the world.

Today, we’re here to talk about her side project - Code First Girls. 

Code First Girls are on a mission to help women rewrite their future. Their website reads: “Through the power of community, change can and will happen.” Their active community of coders, trainers and coaches is one of the largest in the UK, facilitating women to break into and excel within the industry. They have since taught over 20,000 girls to code, and connected them with over 50 top employers.

We explore why scale matters, how to know if corporate sponsorship is the right revenue model for you, why non-profits need a business models and whether new ideas are best built under pressure. I hope you enjoy!



P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today on the podcast we are joined by Rémi Clermont - founder of Café du Cycliste: a premium cycling apparel company, designed in France and built for road cyclists and beyond. 

Remi started Café du Cycliste on a belief that cycling can make us happy and not all cyclists wanted to look like pro cyclists. This is not a neat entrepreneurial story. Leaving a job in marketing at an IT firm, he went all in - only to find that he had to turn it back into a side project for a year while the brand gained momentum.

Cafe Du Cycliste then became a full time business - opening a concept store in Nice, and then a store in London and in Majorca. 

They have since been recognised as one of the fastest growing French companies for three years in a row, they have been featured in Vogue, Esquire and GQ and they have been stocked in fashion retailers like Mr Porter.

This is a must listen if you’re building fashion or e-commerce projects. We also discuss why being an outsider can be a competitive advantage, how to decide whether to be stocked in retailers, what is really required from an entrepreneur to succeed and whether starting your own business makes you feel more free. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

We are joined today by Elle Huerta - founder and CEO of the app Mend - designed to help you heal from both break ups and work burnout.

Following a late night Google search after a particularly bad break up - she found herself wondering if there was a better way to help people go through the pain of break ups and heal faster. 

Elle left Google simply to explore some passions she had neglected. She started doing an apprenticeship at a bakery, she did some start up consultancy, all whilst building Mend as a newsletter. Mend is now the app to help you heal from break ups and burn out, and has since been featured in countless press from the New York Times to Vogue and has been featured in Apple’s App of the year. Elle has been mentored by Jessica Alba, and raised over 2 million dollars in venture capital.

We talk about letting go of achievement-based goals, how to build a successful app that isn’t addictive, her experience of raising venture capital, why break ups s and the life changing impact of a digital detox.

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today on the podcast we have Andy Ayim. Andy is a product leader and the founder of the Angel Investing School. He is also a 2020 Advisory Board Member for London Tech Week and was recently awarded an MBE for his services.

The Angel Investing School is empowering a new breed of angel investors. Angel investors are high net worth individuals who provide financial backing for early startups or entrepreneurs in exchange for a percentage of ownership. The Angel Investing School aims to teach professionals from all backgrounds how to get started with investing in startups.

We talk about what you should really consider when monetising your project, why it’s helpful to iterate in public, his 2 and 5 rule and why to keep a personal tracker.

Sign up to his newsletter here: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/Andy-Ayim

Sign up to the Out of Hours newsletter here: outofhours.org

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today's guest is Lisa Congdon - an artist, illustrator and author based in Oregon.

Lisa Congdon is an artist, published author, illustrator. She’s based in Oregon, but known across the world for her colourful drawings and hand lettering. Her work has also attracted over 400,000 instagram followers, and she’s done commercial work for clients like Comme Des Garcons, Facebook, MoMa and Harvard University. Her 8 books include Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist. She also runs her own courses.

Lisa started her art career as a side project in her late 30's, when she was working for a non profit. She is a constant advocate for showing up and getting started, but also understands how vulnerable early creative attempts can be. We talked about how to grow an audience, where imposter syndrome comes from, why we can be afraid of success, the value of starting late, when to know if something is a bad idea and why it can be important to keep your personal life separate from your work.

See more

Follow Out of Hours on Instagram here.

Follow Lisa Congdon on Instagram here.

Thank you for listening to this episode! If you liked it, please do subscribe and leave a review.

Or, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

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If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

What can you do to help in global pandemic if you’re not a doctor?

Rachel Smith is a Latina UX Designer based in LA. She has now founded two global volunteer organisations, one Design and the other Mutual Aid.

Design to Combat COVID-19 was set up to unite designers across the world to apply their skills to help solve problems caused by the pandemic.

Out of this community came the idea Masks For Docs - a project set up to get personal protective equipment to nurses and doctors.

They’ve delivered over 100,000 sets of PPE. Together the organisations now have over 7000+ global volunteers, across 6 continents. Design to Combat COVID19 has been featured in Google Design, Washington Post and Adobe for their work in the Design community.

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Dan Murray-Serter, our guest today, set out to have authentic conversations with entrepreneurs when launching his podcast Secret Leaders. The Secret Leaders podcast is the number one business podcast in the UK, and Dan has featured some of the world’s top entrepreneurs - from the founder of Bulb, Slack, Deliveroo, Planet Organic, Calm, Last Minute.com, and Jo Malone - to name but a few.

He now runs Secret Leaders as a side project, alongside his new business Heights - a brain health & mental wellness company that offers a smart supplement for the brain, and who count among their customers Stephen Fry. 

He started Secret Leaders 4 years ago, when running one of his early companies, because he wanted to share some honest discussions with entrepreneurs about their rise to success - and he has since ran 5 seasons, attracted serious podcast sponsorship, ran live events and been featured in places like the Independent and Cosmopolitan. 

We talk about the right way to network, how to find your dream guests, why podcasts are a form of self improvement, and some really useful insights on how to launch, promote and grow your podcast.

*****

You can check it out at secretleaders.com or by searching 'Secret Leaders' any podcast player.

If you want to try Heights, Dan's created a special 'outofhours' code that will get you £10 off their quarterly subscription - you can do that at www.yourheights.com.

P.S. If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Becky Young, our guest today is the founder of Anti Diet Riot Club, an activist community and events platform dedicated to fighting back against ‘Diet Culture’ and what she calls the ‘dangerous standards of beauty that surround it’. She believes that empowering people to love themselves is a small but powerful resistance against a society that profits billions from our self-loathing. 

It started as a personal journey started to resonate with people across the world, and she has now built an online following of over 100,000 people. They host monthly events and workshops, they have also hosted a festival, ran a crowdfunding campaign and have been featured in places like The Independent, The Guardian, The Evening Standard, and Time Out as well as speaking on BBC news and to the London Mayer, Sadiq Khan.

We talked about where moralistic eating came from, what we can do to remove shame from food, why getting bad comments when running a project can be so difficult and why it might always stay a side project.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today I’m speaking to Dan Zell - cofounder of the London Sock Exchange. 

The London Sock Exchange is a ecommerce store for socks. They started as a subscription business, and have since been stocked in John Lewis, as well as shops in New York, sell over 200,000 pairs a year and, been featured in the Financial Times and The Guardian. Dan still runs it as a side project alongside his job as Managing Partner at Decoded. We talk about why you might not want to take your project full time, the tricks of running an e-commerce store, how to start lean and why side projects can help you learn and discover what you’re good at. It’s full of practical tips and tricks especially with anyone with product idea, but useful for everyone.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Ever wondered what would happen if you turned away from that corporate career, and did something you believed should exist in the world? Today we have someone who did just that - Aishetu Fatima Dozie, who turned away from a career in banking to build bossy cosmetics.

Aishetu spent over 20 years in finance and investment banking, and following a post grad year at Stanford decided to apply design thinking and build her own project: Bossy Beauty, what she calls a 'female empowerment company masquerading as a beauty company'.

We talk about why side projects can unlock the authentic self, how to find and choose manufacturers, how to do research, and the true reason why she believes we all need to find our voice.

Check out Bossy Cosmetics here.

Sign up to Out of Hours here (outofhours.org)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today's guest is Benedict Evans - a venture capitalist and analyst, who has grown his own personal newsletter on tech and media to over 150,000 subscribers. 

Benedict has spent over 20 years analysing mobile, digital media and technology, working in equity research, strategy and venture capital. He spent the last 6 years working for the Silicon Valley venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, famous for their high conviction investing - having invested in some of the best known companies of our time: Oculus, Buzzfeed, Medium, Pinterest, Slack and Airbnb to name a few.

He’s now back in London, working as venture partner at company builder Entrepreneur First, as well as at Mosaic Ventures.

His side project is his weekly newsletter - all about tech and media, selecting what he calls “the 10-20 pieces of news that actually matter” and explaining why they matter. It launched in 2013, and now has over 150,000 subscribers.

We talk about why side projects can help you with job interviews, the future bundling and unbundling of media, his golden rules for posting online and why even he can get imposter syndrome sending out his newsletter.

Sign up to Out of Hours here: outofhours.org

Sign up to the newsletter here: ben-evans.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today's guest is Valentina Milanova - the founder and CEO of the female healthcare company Daye.

Valentina set up Daye following a history of reading research papers at school on female health. The catalyst was when she discovered that industrial hemp could both make better more sustainable tampons, and be used as pain relief.

She set up Daye out of hours, making prototypes herself at home, before finally deciding to quit her job. 180 investor meetings later, she received 5.5 million dollars in funding from some of the best venture capitalists in the world.

We talk about how to do a good pitch, how to build credibility, how to build a prototype, how to do customer research and how it is being a sole founder.

Check out Daye here, and join us to build your own side project here.

To get £5 off your first pack use this code: OOHxDaye

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Today's guest is Charlie Dark - the poet, writer and movement maker on a mission to build movements, not just communities.

Charlie set up Run Dem Crew to get more of his DJ friends healthy - and years later it has become an international organisation, changed the running scene forever, and transformed many people's lives.

We talk about why you should build movements not communities, why you need to use your platform to be anti-racist, how to be honest with yourself about what you want to achieve and when to get other people involved in your idea.

Check out Run Dem Crew here, and join us at Out of Hours here.

(Music by Linden Jay.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today's guest is Check Warner - the venture capitalist on a mission to make the industry more diverse.

Check set up Diversity VC as a response to the homogeneity she saw in the industry, and just a few years later set up her own fund Ada Ventures - focused on surfacing outlier founders and untapped industries.

We talk about time management, finding your personal mission and how Diversity VC got started.

Check out Ada Ventures here, and take a look at Out of Hours here.

Music by Linden Jay.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today on the podcast we have Earl of East: a creative business started by couple Niko & Paul in London. Started initially as a simple creative outlet from their jobs in advertising - it’s since bloomed into a business with 3 stores and international acclaim. They sell their own cult fragrance and candle range as well as a curated selection of design-led products from local makers. 

It was founded in 2014 as a small market stall in Hackney. In 2017, just three years later, they had launched three shops.… all whilst still being a side project. 

We talked about the inspiration behind it, how much it cost to set up, the importance of a vision, when to go full time and why starting on the side was the best thing they ever did. 

Music by Linden Jay, editing help from Nathan Webber

Check out OutofHours.org // Earlofeast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you enjoy this episode, consider buying me a coffee to show your support! ☕️ We currently make a loss on the show and your support means the world!

Today's guest is Gregory Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries - the largest gang rehabilitation program on the planet. 

In the wake of the 1992 LA riots, he started a small project: called Jobs for a Future - a way of helping rival gang members find employment. The success of this project led to Homeboy Industries is now the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.

He famously looks to serve those who ‘want help’ not those who ‘need help’ - supporting 15,000 men and women a year - through initiatives like tattoo removal, therapy, work readiness, and legal assistance, and job training in one of their many businesses.

He’s also written two books - including the New York times best seller Tattoos on the Heart.

We talked about radical kinship, how to maintain compassion over judgement, what he thinks causes police brutality and why you shouldn't focus on what impact you’re going to have on the world.

Check out OutofHours.org or check out Homeboy Industries and donate here: https://homeboyindustries.org/

Music by Linden Jay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.