Phil Fraser speaks to Jane Slimming, CEO of Leeds digital agency, Zeal. Jane explains to us the importance of company culture on a business how it saved her business after 70% of revenue disappeared, and how she now helps other businesses to develop their company culture. She also tells us about her near-death experience and how it changed her, and her business, forever. Plus you’ll also learn how to run a tech project when you’re not even a techie.
INTRODUCING JANE SLIMMING
Jane Slimming is Founder and CEO of Zeal - an agency that helps E-commerce startups and scale ups achieve growth through branding, tech and marketing. Jane founded Zeal in 2010 following a 7 year career working at some of the UK's largest media buying agencies. She has grown Zeal into a £2m+ turnover agency employing 30+ staff and offering clients a range of services in the creative, tech and marketing space. Zeal works solely with start-up and scale-ups helping them achieve ambitious growth plans both with the services Zeal offer and by allowing them access to the Zeal Connect network. Jane is passionate about helping businesses scale quickly into household brands and Zeal has a proven track record of achieving this for clients across numerous industries.
Jane is also Founder and Director of Culco - a company that helps SME's develop and imbed values and become culture-led businesses - and holds Directorships at two further ecommerce businesses.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
[00:02:40] How Zeal changed post-Covid
[00.06:15] Turning away valuable, but incompatible clients
[00:12:50] Setting up an agency and the lessons learnt from previous employees
[00:16:00] The importance of culture in a company
[00:23:15] Zeal Connect and how it helps clients
[00:30:16] Jane’s near-death experience and how it changed her and the company
[00:37:15] How to run a tech project when you are not a techie
KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS
• Turning down troublesome clients because they don’t fit your culture is the strongest message you can send to your staff that you are culture driven
• The importance of curiosity and work ethic, and having worked in crap jobs in superstars
• Company culture can be measured
• Losing 70% of the revenue doesn’t have to be the end of a business
• Look at the risk of launching a business, mitigate the downsides, have a plan B, then go for it
BEST MOMENTS
“You have to want to grow and not be a dickhead – they are the key things for us when looking at clients”
“I dressed as a Kangaroo, and it’s the only job I’ve been fired from”
“Starting a business isn’t hard. If you want to, anybody can do it with the right support and the right opportunity”
“Nearly dying fundamentally changed me and I like the change”
“Don’t waste your energy on shit that doesn’t matter”
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU
Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Website: www.wehavezeal.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-slimming-698a4a3/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zeal-media-ltd/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/janehelenslimming/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janeslimming
Shout outs: https://www.luckynorth.co.uk/ https://hatch.group/
Book recommendation: ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins
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https://leedsbusinesspodcast.com/episode/the-biskery
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit.
As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s mantra is It doesn’t need to be ‘lonely at the top’. He helps Business Owners to be better business owners, by helping with their clarity and focus.
As a Business Sounding Board, he gives SME Owners the time & space to regularly discuss their challenges and opportunities, with no sense of judgement or bias, and in complete confidence. This allows them to explore their options in full, culminating with a list of issues to address/clarify, a clear target in mind, a roadmap to success, and a renewed enthusiasm and confidence for the challenges ahead.
Phil has appeared as a guest on over 60 podcasts, webinars and interviews, from around the whole globe, talking on a variety of business subjects. You can view them all at https://philfraser.co.uk/watch-hear-phil/.
LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST
Zeal, Digital agency, Lucky North, Hatch, Leeds digital agency, Leeds, Leeds Business, Business in Leeds, Nous of Fraser, Business Sounding Board, Business Coach, Business Mentor,
Email: phil@leedsbusinesspodcast.com
Mentioned in this episode:
Pre roll November
As November is my birthday month, I've got three special offers for you.
If you can say yes to the following four points, you qualify.
You have to be a business owner, have three to 15 staff, a turnover of between 350, 000 and 3 million, and wanting to develop and improve yourself and how you run your business.
