Sir Richard Harpin

I think that's the wrong discipline.

My magic model was hiring people that were better than me.

Entrepreneurship is a high risk activity.

I have always struggled with goal setting.

Don't set any goals.

Don't try and become too big.

Keep it small, prove it out and then go big.

Copy what others are doing because it's working.

They can either spend more quality time with their kids or they can put in five or six hours of extra work a week and earn more money.

And do just call me Richard Ryan.

I did think that my knighthood would help me get a better seat in a London restaurant.

But then somebody told me that they make a surcharge.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I'm a big believer that you need to prove things out small.

And I learned that the hard way because a great example was my original plumbing emergency business called A1 Fast Fix.

Started it with my life savings, my business partner's life savings, £50,000.

And we grew it and the business model didn't work and we ran out of money.

We then managed to get half a million pound investment from a UK water company.

And I thought, right, I'm going to grow the business even bigger.