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We’ve Never Wanted To Be The Biggest - Just The Best

9 Jan 2023

Show notes

Jan 9, 2023

Hello, I’m Kevin Brent and on this episode of ScaleUp Radio I’ll be speaking with Roland Lees who is the Corporate Sales Manager of Arctic Spas.

 

As you might expect, Arctic Spas manufacture and supply hot tubs and other leisure goods for the garden.

 

They’ve been in business for just over 20 years when they started out purely as a distribution company, but they’ve grown into a retail company whilst also moving into the international market.

 

Like so many businesses that we’ve featured on ScaleUp Radio, they were affected by the pandemic - but it wasn’t the huge body blow that you would have expected.

 

As always, there is an awful lot covered, including:

 

 - Be ready for your business to change, sometimes without planning; Roland and the team didn’t plan to expand into retail - but when they saw the demand, they grew that side of the company.

 - The benefit of keeping the team small, even if you are going to be working internationally

 - Working out how long you could last if all of your business stopped suddenly - and how much you should have in your ‘pot’

 

No matter what industry you’re in, or where you are on your scale up journey, you’ll definitely find something in this episode that you can put into action straight away. 

 

 

 

Roland can be found here:

linkedin.com/in/roland-lees-9b3a2aa1

 

https://www.arcticspas.co.uk/en/

 

info@arcticspas.co.uk

 

 

Zoho - https://www.zoho.com/en-uk/

 

Trello - https://trello.com/

 

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-lord-of-the-rings/j-r-r-tolkien/9780261103252

 

Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu - https://impacttheory.com/

 

Scaling up your business isn't easy, and can be a little daunting. Let ScaleUp Radio make it a little easier for you. With guests who have been where you are now, and can offer their thoughts and advice on several aspects of business. ScaleUp Radio is the business podcast you've been waiting for.   If you would like to be a guest on ScaleUp Radio, please click here: https://bizsmarts.co.uk/scaleupradio/apply   You can get in touch with Kevin here: kevin@biz-smart.co.uk   Kevin's New Book Is Now Available!    Drawing on BizSmart’s own research and experiences of working with hundreds of owner-managers, Kevin Brentexplores the key reasons why most organisations do not scale and how the challenges change as they reach different milestones on the ScaleUp Journey. He then details a practical step by step guide to successfully navigate between the milestones in the form of ESUS - a proven system for entrepreneurs to scale up.    More on the Book HERE - https://www.esusgroup.co.uk/

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ScaleUp Radio is hosted by Kevin Brent — founder of Smart90, author of the Entrepreneurial ScaleUp System (ESUS), and the same Kevin who works directly with founders inside the G90 Summit.

The Summit is a structured half-day — quarterly, virtual via Zoom — where founders and their teams get clear on the three to five things that must happen in the next 90 days, and leave with a plan committed to making them happen.

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Next session: 26th June 2026 · £97 for a standalone seat · smart90.co.uk/summit