Lara Morgan on The BEYOND Podcast: the founder who sold like a sportsperson and exited at 20 million pounds

Before making money, do you wanted to prove something to- Well,

I wasn't gonna get it from anyone else

You've seen your parent going bankrupt. How did that not make you afraid of going into business?

It was more, I'm gonna show you that if you couldn't do it, I can. I'm Lara Morgan. I sold a business for 20 million quid that I owned 99% of.

Why are you successful?

Two ears, one mouth. If you don't ask, you don't get. I will not employ salespeople that aren't sportspeople. I

Hear you because you've gotta put yourself in really uncomfortable situation.

I wouldn't have a cup of, a drink until I'd made 100 calls, which might mean I'd been rejected 100 times before I got a drink in the morning. There is no rule book. I have one life- Mm … and I am gonna squeeze the hell out of every opportunity.

Yeah.

Okay. I spent awful lot of time living life. What you don't wanna do is spend any time regretting. Team is everything. Absolutely. You're not gonna do this alone. I mean, if it gets the job done, just 'cause it's not your way, learn that it doesn't bloody matter. You cannot learn if you're not making mistakes. If you are surviving and keeping the lights on, you will thrive because you're years ahead of the person that's still a startup. What's the worst thing that can happen? Lara,

Why are you successful?

You asked me a question about why am I successful and my humility kicks in- but I don't see myself as successful. I see myself as doing the best I can do, and it's not because I'm couching it in any fluffiness because I'm by no means perfect. But I have been lucky enough to exit, a very successful business that a amazing group of people helped me grow. We're a global hotel supply company, but I think the success comes from an international upbringing, a parental determination on my parents' behalf to make me understand that hard work pays off, and it always has. An education that gifted me the ability to deal with failure, falling down, getting up, whether it's off a horse or in a classroom being the bottom, doesn't matter. It matters that you're doing your best. So I think success comes from a whole number of skills, but the biggest one in my leadership learning is probably if you don't ask, you don't get, and have humility- Hmm because without humility we have nothing.

I like that if you don't ask, you won't get. And then you've had that international upbringing and a work ethic. And you touched on failure, so let's, because this is the second question really, is you were, you had a dose of that failure, what you can call a failure, I mean, things happen in business, but from your father- Yeah who went bankrupt. That must have had a profound effect on you.

Really annoyingly, he took- Mm … a long time to go bankrupt. By which I mean from about the age of 12, we were very conscious that we didn't have lots of extra, and my dad was working in Asia, trying to build his computer hardware sales company. And we had this kind of odd life where we'd come from him working in a com- big computer business with a good salary and all the rest of it. And I was then sent by my parents to private school. They were determined to try and keep me in education. My grandparents ended up paying for it. But, and then I got a bursary because my parents ran out of money and, and when my dad went bankrupt, I'd just done my, in those days, A levels. I wanted to go and do something, like sports science at Loughborough, but I failed to be able to come back because we didn't have the money, so I just had to- Wow … get a job and paying the bills, and I was paying rent back to my parents two weeks after I finished my A levels.

How, how was it? Because you, you mentioned the Scottish boarding school, so obviously- Yeah that, that, that's money. So you're s- you're surrounded- Surrounded by … people with immense wealth, aren't you? Yeah. So how did that affect your self-esteem? Did it have a, a feeling of like, oh, I'm, I don't have- Definitely a- … as than the others?

Definitely a quiet determination of- There's nothing stopping me being as best as I could be. Mm. There was always a jealousy, I think, for other people's belongings. I'm laughing as I picture- … this pair of hideous yellow trousers that I desperately wanted. Oh. I, I was lucky in the sense that I had a very, good support from my godmother, which gave me a, a bolthole in the Borders of Scotland, and my grandparents who were also there. But they, you know, if they embellished me with a fiver, that changed my life.

Mm-hmm.

You know, when I went back to school, and I would keep the fiver because… And then I would do things like make stuff last. So I had a pair of Kickers shoes, and I wore those school shoes for four and a half years.

Mm.

Right? I never asked my mom and dad for more school shoes. Yeah. Yeah. And those, learning to look after things. I desperately wanted a pair of great lacrosse gloves. So that was my birthday present, and I was a pretty decent runner. I always wanted the best trainers- Mm … but I never had them. Oh. So those things- Yeah are childhood shapers.

For sure. For sure. So you were, you were conscious of the fact, you know, you've got all these wealthy kids around you. Y- y- you've gotta look after what you've got 'cause no one's giving you anything extra. Um- But what about, did it instill any sort of fear in you or any sort of worry about money that, you know, you can have it all and then

Lose it all or not- No, because I, I don't think at a childhood age you don't have that complexity. A- albeit, like every teenager, you know, I worked in the school holidays when I was 16 in a, market research company going out onto the streets of East Croydon with my aunt going, "Do you want to come and taste these new snacks?" They were actually Cheezy Wotsits. They were delicious. And I had a bin bag of them, which I really did try and consume. But you know, those, those… Working at McDonald's where I can still say two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickled onions on a ses- sesame seed bun very quickly 'cause you got free fries. Yeah. I did that. I worked in 7-Eleven. So I was… And I bought my first watch out of the money that I saved up. So I think those, you can call me old-fashioned, I don't care, I think they're really good grounding values. So you can imagine- Mm … that my f- children have not handed it on a plate.

Yeah. Yeah. So you learned the value of money, I guess, and you didn't absorb any of the- And budgeting … And, and budgeting, yes. And you didn't absorb the, the negative side because you've gone into business. So if you've seen your parent going bankrupt, this is really what I'm getting at, how did that not make you afraid of going into business, for example? Did you not think, "Oh, you could go bankrupt"? Did you… Did, does that not really cross your mind of

What if- Actually, the benefit was, albeit my dad-

Yeah

Went bankrupt, he was also quite a challenging character, and it was more, "I'm gonna show you that if you couldn't do it, I can."

Interesting.

And, and equally because I was the girl and my brother, an older brother, kind of quite a lot of misogyny in these days' language. Mm. But, you know, I'm, I- Remember being very direct with my dad and explaining that I also had an opinion and I also had a brain. But it w- you know, the irony that they sent both my brother and I to great schools and really suffered doing it was never not appreciated. But-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: the conflict then of when we came out of the different path of support or otherwise was something I reflect on. Yeah. I mean, 'cause I, I also went to a, a boarding school and, and yes, your parents make sacrifices as well, you know, to take you to, to allow you to go to these schools. But then, of course, there's something in the school upbringing that's different to the upbringing at home.

Very. I loved school. And their

Parents.

I was free at school. You got

Freedom, yeah.

And I also manipulated the rules. Even though you don't. Yeah, of course. So that's, of course, where you learn- Yeah … a bit of enterprise- Yeah and I traded alcohol and I made- Massive … massive margins on cigarettes in the- No … Huge. Like- Okay … I mean, off the charts. Um-

Okay, okay … Lara Morgan: and so those early trading opportunities- Mm … to embellish my income were very important. Right, okay. Okay, so you had that hunger, hunger for making money, determination in your personality. You wanted to prove something. You wanted to prove something to-

I wasn't gonna get it from anyone else.

Yeah.

Right? And so I think the, the challenge of lots of sort of, exited entrepreneurs is when they look at their own kids, they go, "How am I gonna manage this 'cause I know what it is to be hungry?" That's it. And when I mean hungry-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: I mean hungry. Mm. I mean sitting for seven hours on a train from Edinburgh to London without the money for a cheese toasty, which I literally was drooling over and, and that sounds- Yeah … Lara Morgan: but you can see that that, you know, for a 17-year-old sports person who's bloody hungry- Mm you don't wanna be like that. Yeah. Gosh, I can feel, I can f- feel

It Literally, I can feel myself- I can feel it off you … salivating now. It's ridiculous- I can feel it

Off you … Lara Morgan: but it's not. Okay. And that's a hunger that we need sometimes. Cool, yeah. And I don't believe that you build a business just because you wanna make money. Mm. That's not what it's about. For me, it was security Interesting

Right? Freedom to make choices. Choices is my driven word. I have the choice to do anything I like. How I spend my time is a choice. Who I spend it with.

Yeah. I, I've spoken to a couple of … I've had lots of different types of entrepreneurs in, in here, and there is another one, actually Michael Howard, who's very similar in the way that you are in the sense that he also grew up in poverty, and similar sort of thing, the hunger, and also similar concern about what about my kids? How can I make them hungry?

But you can be also- In a way, yeah … spoilt and yet feel that you have poverty Yeah. And feel … Aleksandra King: Yeah Right? Because, you know, when I got home I went to play golf. I learned to play golf, very good golf, at a children's age. So that kind of contrast of seeing … And, you know, living in a five-star environment at the golf club.

Mm. Yeah. You see that.

It's bizarre.

What rubs off on you if you see, if you see that wealth and you sort of think- Choice … "Well, they've done it. I can-" Back

To choice … I can,

I can do it. It's normalized as well if you're around it, right?

Yeah. And also there are just some things that you look at and you go, "I'd like to be able to buy lovely flowers, fresh flowers."

Yeah. ' Lara Morgan: Cause it makes a place. Yeah. It makes a scent. It makes an atmosphere. I'd like to have the choice to have, nice fabric or nice environments. Mm. But they're not the be all and end all because equally I've traveled fifth class and- Yeah … Lara Morgan: scrimped and saved and spent nine and a half hours on a sodding bus at £6.50 instead of getting the train. Yeah. Gosh. Well, talk about flexibility, but I guess in your childhood you've got that flexibility. You had this- Time … and then you didn't have this, and you've had to adjust, and it's turbulent, it's emotion- it's stressful. It's a, it's, it's not the most calm of upbringings,

But- Don't think you understand child- But- stress at that age. Mm. Yeah. It's, it's not. For me, that was just a motivating positive-

Interesting … Lara Morgan: thing, and I don't think stress is negative by, by any means all of the time. I think it's learning to handle stuff. I think it's using your brains to get round a problem, and I think we need to learn that there are resilience things that come through the negatives. Life is not perfect. Nobody owes you a living, and I think we need to be more clear about you have to get off your backside. Yeah. Okay. We're, we're getting into all these things. Okay. All right. So you started working very young, and, you realized you were good at sales, right? There was something in it. H- what was that moment?

When did I really believe I knew I could sell? Because I'd worked, in Hong Kong. I was thrown in the deep end, and I got given a book that said, by the guy that ran the company, and said, "Go and sell to those top 500 companies in Hong Kong who are in the book." I literally shook in receptions, literally physically fearful. And then I just went with the sort of view of two ears, one mouth, and try and solve customers' problems. Mm-hmm. Because if you listen to what the customer wants, and you are genuinely and authentically looking to add value, you'll never fail. And you should never- Yeah … sell something you don't believe in.

Oh, totally.

Yeah. So I went to this place. Yeah. Edward Keller owned a baby food brand, and they wanted to sell more tins of baby food. And I, I'm at this point 18 years old, just out of school, no idea. No interest in babies. I just listened, and then it occurred to me that, you know, maybe a bib or a mat or a… It's not rocket science to use common sense. It's a really valuable thing. Mm. And again, you h- are brave enough to speak out, so that's, you know, the ability to make suggestions- Mm … but the ability to listen. I'm not perfect by any means, but, um- That's when I started to learn that sales isn't about a hard thing. It's not about a push. It's about a relationship, and if you put your shoes in the shoes of someone else to understand their goals and aims, because you will always make a decision based on what's good for you, and then for your brand, and then for your business. But if I do your job well by helping- Mm smooth the path, then ultimately I'm a salesperson. I literally just had a call like that with one of my team in China on the way here.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So I, I understand the concept of believing in what you sell. Of course, there's many people that just sell and don't believe in what they sell, but then there's also the whole concept of what question about ethics- I don't think they do it for long

Successfully.

Yeah. Pro- probably not long, long successfully. Yeah. I mean, it must be very difficult. It's like you'd have to be an immense, an incredible liar. Like, you have to have lying skills.

It

Ne- it's never gonna work.

Yeah. You know, I mean, in the end, you can't offer a sea view- No … if you're 40 minutes from the beach on a top of a hill.

Yeah.

It's not a sea view.

Yeah. That's true. That's true, and eventually you get found out 'cause customers are not silly

And you just spend too much time going backwards as opposed to going forward. I mean, I've made some real mistakes recently where I've been trying to discover a route and path- Mm-hmm for a particular brand that we have invested in, and it's been my biggest challenge. But it's also- Mm … the market changes, and you've gotta see what's going, and it's been tough, the businesses and- Mm … everything's tough at the moment.

Everything is tough. Everything is tough, which is why you have to have this resilience.

Yeah, and you've also- Which is- … gotta have a absolute belief that the world In your product- Mm … and that the world, the world doesn't need another bag, and yet I invested in Kitbricks because it has a waterproof base, and it is genius. And it literally gives you a feeling of relief 'cause you can put it on- Mm any surface, right? Mm-hmm. So there's a practicality. Mm. But I know the world doesn't need more bags, but they need better bags that last much longer. With Scentered, it's a completely almost like T Ford concept, where Henry Ford brought the motor car, and people went kind of, "We don't really need that. We've got horses and carts," and he's pushing water uphill. And I feel with things that I really want to invest in, that make a difference- Mm … they've got to be almost like the, you know, when we build trains, actually, you know, it's a bloody nuisance, but then we realize they're actually, they make a difference. They're pretty

Cool.

Yeah. That, that matters. Yeah. And then things flourish because people come back. And actually it may not be what you thought it was gonna be initially. So I did stupid stuff with the brand Scentered by making the balm too big, and now it's a pocket rocket size. Pocket rocket means something quite different in America, but I think it's funny. You can Google it. But the idea that I can change my mindset through scent- Mm which is scientifically proven, and then the idiot Lara made the balm too big, so it wasn't really pocket size, seems really such a daft mistake. But it was very well-meaning at the time, very intelligently applied. Yeah. We talked about it. So I … Resilience, persistence, determination, but you will have none of those things if you don't see and gain a return on your invested effort. Like a lady told me she s- I'd saved her life recently. Really? That's pretty cool, right? In fact, it's not the first time, and in fact, you know, it blows my mind. But that's how strongly she feels about the brand Scentered, and she's loyal to us and, and the

K- Well, that's the kind of testimony

That- And she's just going, "Holy cow." Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a, what an amazing … I, I still am r- Truly … I'm still rolling, and that's, like, two, three m- two months ago she- Yeah, of

Course … Lara Morgan: and I had a conversation, and I put kind of, you know, I'm such a drip. I'm floods of tears and anyway. Yeah.

But that's the meaning of a great product. But you

Wanna do it for the, yeah, for the right reasons. Right. You wanna do it for the right reasons. What I'm sensing though as you talk is you're, I suppose it's a sportsman mentality- Oh, without- … 'cause you obviously love your sports. But I'm sensing you're quite, you're tough on yourself. Like, you are, you are the sort of person, you will punish yourself. When you're running up a hill, you're not gonna give yourself any breaks 'cause you can say, "Oh, Lara, that was daft. That was this." So- The way you talk to yourself is really harsh.

Um- Is it harsh? I, I think- Yeah … it's grounded. I think, you've gotta have goals. Mm-hmm. And why have average goals, you know? It's that aim for the s- moon- Yeah you might land on the stars kinda thing. But also it's a… Yeah, I do come from a sporting background where kind of, and even in my own house, we have a joke- Tough … that if you don't come in the top three, you sleep in the tree house. So- Yeah … you know, you've either got a podium. Yeah. I, I came 10th in the world in triathlon. I- Yeah.

I was gonna

Say that … and I had to sleep in the bloody tree house.

Yeah.

Because, you know, let's set some goals. Let's, let's set some expectations. That's incredible. Well, and you have to… And just because you don't make the podium, it's not the end of the world. Find a different way. Be better next time. So this re- r- endless-

Yeah … Lara Morgan:, reiteration and, path testing, you know, how do I go faster in cross country? I look for the bits that aren't quite as muddy so that I'm running on stable ground, I get better grip, I go faster. Mm-hmm. So that's in my head when I'm thinking about, how do I make this business work better? How do I scale it? And- Yeah … Lara Morgan: I've also done… I mean, you know, I, I think, and I, and you know, hopefully your listeners will buy into this, but I will not employ salespeople that aren't sportspeople. Yeah.

Because you have to ha- turn up. And I love that. That's interesting. You have to be disciplined. You have to… The skills you learn, bring so much to the sales competency. Not everybody in sports is suitable for sales, but there is an- No … awful lot of skill set. I hear

You. I hear you because you've gotta put yourself in really uncomfortable situations. Yep. That, that's the thing. You've gotta push through the pain. Yep. Yep. It's a mentality. It's good training. I completely, completely understand. And it is strategy as well 'cause you're right, like if you can shave off a few seconds by avoiding that, that bit of… Yes, you might have to run a bit longer, but ultimately you'll have gains- Yeah … if you go that, that, that-

Yeah. And, and Brailsford, sum of small gains, you know, makes you go faster on your bike- Mm-hmm … or in your life.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. So you realize you're good at sales because you listen to people, you get into their emotion, into their head, you're understanding their needs, you're offering a, a-

Problem-solving

Problem-solving and an, a legitimate solution that is the truth, so therefore you can't lose because it is the way it is. So you're actually using credible evidence and fact and not- Also- … you're not making things up … Lara Morgan: also- You're not making it up … Lara Morgan: without question- Yeah … you know, like I've never worn a face mask, right? A sleeping face mask. Okay. I'll tell you this 'cause I think- Yeah … it's funny. Okay.

And a few months ago I was approached, by some people to invest in a business which I'm, we're hoping to close on.

Mm-hmm.

Just because it's not for me.

Mm-hmm.

If it's better and different, which is a real kind of underpinning mental, it has to be better and different. Yeah. I don't want to just bring more stuff, right? The world doesn't need it. Mm. And then also there has to be a sustainability ping thing because I sold millions and millions of mini shampoos and shower gels. That's how I made my money, and of course we didn't know as much then. I'm talking, I exited that business at nearly 18 years ago- Yeah which is a flipping miracle.

Yeah.

But you know, I, we didn't know what we kn- knew then.

Yeah.

We now know what we know and dispensers go on the wall and thank God I've exited because it leaves a massive gap for me to do wellness in hotels in a very different- Of course, yeah … thoughtful, meaningful way. But with my approach to everything and this sodding face mask, which I will … was originally not even gonna really … I took it on an airplane, and I've traveled a lot.

Mm.

When I say a lot, a lot, a lot, 221 nights in a year.

I'm sure. I'm sure

You have. But the mask makes a difference.

Mm.

It, it, and there's something about the blackout of the Somo proposition that just is worth investing in because it's going to make people's sleep lives better. And if your health is the only th- I love this saying, which is, if you don't have your health, you have one problem. If you have your health, you have hundreds of problems. Mm. And that's a deeply grounding thing. That is

A deeply grounding thing. Yeah, I love that.

You can't buy health. I love

The power

Of that. So you've got to look after this singular engine you've got.

Yeah.

And if you're not looking after your engine, you're pretty disgraceful because you're mad.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, we're gonna get into how you look after your engine or didn't. But you started this company- Mm … Pacific Direct, v- very young, early 20s.

Yep.

And you started it basically by yourself.

Yep. Because- One-man band for two- One-man band … miserable, lonely-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: hideous years. ' Aleksandra King: Cause you were determined and you wanted to do something, and you wanted to build something, and you wanted to prove yourself, and all these things that we spoke about. And you had a really good mindset, work ethic, sportsman mentality, and you're like, "Okay, I'm gonna do it." And then you do it, and then you get to a certain level. Did you… And this is an important… I really- Mm … really wanna understand this- Mm … the answer to this question fully. Did you think you would be able to grow it big at that point if it still carried on being one-man band with some assistant, or did you really realize at a certain point, "I have to, I am going to now scale because I'm, I'm at my capacity. I've reached…" I, I'm only asking this- Mm … because sometimes business people can get a bit- Actually … ahead of themselves, can't they?

So it's, I never really- Yeah … thought that far ahead. Yeah. I mean, it was 1991. There were no jobs. I had to make a job, so I got a job selling some, ridiculously sewing kits and shower caps that were made in China. And, you know, did I wanna sell them? No, not particularly. Wasn't that excited about. Yeah. But they were a job, and I knew I could go and test the market, so I potted off down to the Dorchester based on Granny's strategic advice. And, you know, I just came out with an idea that they might buy some. I thought I was on, you know, off to the races, and then I realized that they're like 20p. Well, actually 18.9p. And we sold 10,000 of them, which is 2/10 of nothing and barely pays any bills.

Yep.

So I did my maths as I was going back down Park Lane, and I thought, "Oh, I'm gonna have to sell a lot of sewing kits and shower caps- Yeah … to make anything." I just… To make it, yeah … really disappointing- That's it, yeah compared to where I'd been before. So- I just thought I'd give it a bash for a while. But actually, you know, I'm in that ridiculous position where I had no experience. I'm 23 years old. I had all the luck with me because I didn't know what I didn't know. It's dangerous to know stuff, and now I'm slower- It is and I'm stupid, and I'm redundant, and I'm far less brave. You see what I

Mean when you talk to me?

But, but, you know, and you just, it's- Yeah, yeah … and, and you reflect, and you just give it a go. You do your best. You ke- I mean, I'm, I … Sometimes I would make literally 100 calls. I, in fact, I set this ridiculous target over a period of time where I wouldn't have a cup of, a drink until I'd made 100 calls, which might mean I'd been rejected 100 times before I got a drink in the morning. And it meant that, I sat in this cold borrowed office. It was miserable. But these are- Wow … things that make you. Wow. And yet we did £108,000 worth of business in our first year. We did 360. I say we, this is the royal we. I'm laughing. Yeah. 'Cause until the end of two years, and invoicing 360K with a very high order book going into year three at 8- 80K I had no idea about where this would go. I didn't have a big ambish- ambition. It was paying the bills, having enough to play my games- Yeah … and sports. Yeah, yeah,

Exactly. It was about priority. So you reach that point, but then what? What, what, what? Like, why,

What? Then, well, you know, you're living life. You realize it's expensive. You've got aspirations and, and there was always this niggle if I'm, you know, reflecting honestly that I just wanted to show others what I could do. Yeah. And that I could- I love it, yeah … not r- and, and importantly, not rely on any person.

I really

Like this. Like, I owe nobody. Yeah. I, I, I owe nobody anything- Yeah … and I don't want to borrow, and in fact, to this day I've borrowed nobody else's money except I've used bank money. Yeah. As in bank terms, overdraft, factoring, begging for a larger overdraft, continuing to beg. And in those days I wouldn't give personal guarantees. I didn't have any money to give a personal guarantee, although there was one stage I nearly… I did put the house up- Yeah … for six months- You did … but I told my husband- Okay,

Okay … Lara Morgan: after the six months, so he never knew that we had the house on the line. I mean, it just sounds wild. Like, it's crazy to me because you've also got the, the bankruptcy that happened, but never… It's not crossing your mind to go, "Oh, I could lose it. I could lose the house. I could lose this. I could lose that-" Yeah, I mean, the

Bailiffs- "… like my dad did" … came to Hong Kong, but they were my dad's bailiffs, they weren't my bailiffs.

Wow.

And you know, it's, it's, you just compartmentalize, right?

Yeah, yeah, you compartmentalize. It's not your- And

I had a job to do- … bankruptcy … and we were doing well … it's not your bankruptcy. And when we put the house up, it was because of September the 11th.

Okay, so, so just to be clear, you, you took it to a point, and then the ambition and hunger of wanting more made you go- Was

About security. It was never about the money.

Com- Okay.

So it was about I wanna have a family, I wanna get married. Yeah. I wanna have a certain standard of living.

Mm-hmm.

I wanna… I already have my own flat, but, because I'd made quite a lot of money as a young salesperson in Hong Kong, I wanted to upgrade. Nice. So the business started in a three-bedroom flat in Bedford, a granny flat. It then went to a fa- th- three, sort of three-and-a-half bedroom semi. Then I bought a thatched cottage. After the thatched cottage came the rectory, and then a friend of mine called me up and said, "You're not gonna buy a bloody castle," so I bought a manor. Genuinely. It was quite f- I think that's funny. But I mean, my point is- I love it. I love it … is that you, you know, you're making stepping stones, and my family have had the most amazing privilege to live in this unbelievable home that we sold a little while ago. 'Cause if you have a problem with your kids coming home, sell the home. So I became a digital nomad two and a half years ago.

Wow. Gosh, you know, you're completely… I love it. I love it 'cause you, there is a drive to you. You are like a, like, you are. You're like an athlete that's just been let out onto a track. Poor world. And you're just going. Well- And you're going.

Yeah, but also- And you're running … I don't wanna follow the rule book. Mm. Because there is no rule book. I have one life, right? Mm. And I am gonna squeeze the hell out of every opportunity that I can. But in doing so, I live by my own values and compass, where I'm trying to put everything back into my world. Okay,

Let's talk about your values. What are your values? What is your compass?

Working hard. Do unto others. And I'm sometimes hy- hypocritical. I mean, at the moment, like many businesses in Britain, we're really cash tight, so we're not paying our bills on time. That hurts. It also annoys me. Mm. But I'm lucky enough to have great supply chain that's also supporting me. And I think being honest about, really honest about how's it going. Mm. But I've, you know, in the first business, we, we, e- d- even though September 11 happened, we never went bankrupt. Never went backwards, rather.

Mm-hmm.

And we never refinanced anything. We just grew and grew and grew. Mm. But because I play a different role and I haven't spent enough time partic- And, and, and COVID really screwed investment groups like mine. Yeah. I had a spa supply company, a hotel supply company, a luggage company. Mm. Everything shut. Yeah, yeah, of course. It was bloody miserable. Of course. Yeah. But, so from a values point of view, try and do to others as you would have done unto yourself. In fact, always.

Yeah.

And respect people. Everybody has a value. I, I learned at my godmother's, who had an amazing Scots guy who did the ru- dustbins called Danny, who had an abroad Scots accent. I could hardly under- understand. But kind of everybody's got a value in life. Mm. So, you know, Danny would come for lunch when he came out to the farm to get the bins, 'cause it's… And, and just everybody… You know, I was in a very competitive school where I was definitely not the top of the class. But I brought different things. Mm. And I was definitely good at cross country. That, that mattered. Of course. So it's what matters to you, right?

It does matter. That matters.

Right.

It matters a lot.

Yeah. What matters, um- Other values? I mean, my family are at the heart of everything, and I'm delighted to say they seem to keep coming back and visiting, and we keep meeting up and- Aw. And, and the health piece is always at the heart of that. So whether it's sailing or skiing or something ridiculous that we get together to do, that lights my fire. Yeah.

Beautiful. I love those. Beautiful values. And, how do you maintain your resilience?

I think practice makes perfect. You build it in, you fail a lot, you keep making mistakes, you just keep getting back because… And actually, as you build that kind of armory, it gets so easier to ma- be an idiot. Um-

Yeah, you're

Right. You're right. And, and, and you know, I've- That's actually true … I've been wrong lots of times. It's actually

True.

Yeah. And also as a kid, you know, you have to ask the time in the old days when all you've got, your number one and only belonging was a Sony Walkman, which I would have died to pay for- Mm the batteries for, right? So I would ask other people the time- Yeah … until I had made enough money to buy my own watch. So I think incremental gains, and we're now fortunately, GA8's paying dividend. It survived COVID. It's a great brand, and it's a wonderful engineered product by Alastair. KitBricks has had its best year yet, and we're picking up business from Spartan and DEKA and Ragnar Races in the States, and we've got, you know, it- momentum But momentum isn't a pure sport, right? You're gonna be f- s- there's gonna be a QC issue. There's gonna be a member of staff who's not well. The, you know, one of our team had a horrendous, riding accident at, at, at Christmas time. Oh, no. And so everything goes tits up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you'd never- It's terrible … lose the ability to pick up boxes or turn up and tidy the shed, so I spent Christmas doing the stock count and tidying one of our warehouses.

Yeah, back to the basics.

Because I d- it's good for my fitness, right? Yeah. It's actually reasonably warm inside some of the time, and it gets us set for the year ahead- Yeah … which I'm really excited about.

I love that. I love that. And, you know, f- with this, podcast, which is, you know, it's something it's, it's important to me that it grows. I want it to do well. I want it to be valuable.

But your infectious energy is what's going to, you know, is what's going to say to somebody, "Please come to Uxbridge on a Friday morning in the pouring rain." Yeah. Exactly. Right? And I'm gonna go, "Okay, I've signed up." Yeah, yeah. And your energy- And

I appreciate your time 'cause you're a busy woman. You've got things to do. You're not gonna, like you

Said to me, I'm- Everybody has. But everybody has. Yeah, yeah. And why is your time any less valuable- Yeah … to my time?

True.

It's not.

True. But, you know, I, I don't know if we, we spoke about this before in our pre-podcast call, but I, I have init- when I started, I had to face rejection so badly. I mean, I just couldn't believe it, that people would say, "No." I was like, eh, friends, I'd be like, "Come on, you're a, you're a nutritionist. Come onto my podcast. We went to primary school together. You're gonna love it." It's like, ghosted. I'm like… And again and again and again, and I just kept- Wow … getting rejected, and it wasn't, and, and it, I don't mean to sound

Ung-

Arrogant. Let's just use the word arrogant Yeah But I haven't been rejected like that before. It… I really had a slap in the face.

But you see, that's where sometimes when- Just come to leave it I mean, you know, I guess there is a kind of enterprise class versus a corporate class.

Yeah.

And there's a smug bastards group on both sides. Yeah. Right? And sometimes you don't know what you know- Yeah,

Yeah … Lara Morgan: until you actually go, "Actually, I'm giving this thing a whirl." And, you know, the joy and my luck are starting earlier- Mm … than most. Yeah. Means that I think I owe society a great deal because- Head start … I got help, right? And I got help because I asked. Mm.

And I was strategic about my ask, and this is a real lesson for people, which is, you know, I knew nothing, so it was very easy for me to ask anyone for help. But actually, I tried to get a little bit organized in my mind about- Mm-hmm … well, I know nothing about this. Let's learn about that. So I'd speak to someone who I really respected in that field. That's

Right.

And then I'd kind of suck the blood out of them like you should with a non-executive director, and then you move on. And- As

I'm doing with you.

Right. But that, but the point is- Yeah, yeah … is you, you wanna have that relationship where there's an understanding that we're going into this together. And by the way, it's always a two-way street, right? Mm. I can always give and I can always get.

Yeah.

And there's never an occasion where any exchange should be other than e- mutual-

Yeah, mutual,

Mutual … equal value, blah, blah. So I think also the bravery of being able to pl- approach anybody of any age and stage. You know, at my hockey club, there was a guy called, Brian Woodward, who was the chairman of this, that, and that, and he became mayor of Bedford. But, you know, I just went up to Brian in the bar one day and said, "Look, you know, this is who I am, but I, I understand you're in recruiting. Could you tell me what it… how I go about…" I have no idea what I'm doing, right? I have no idea in everything.

Mm-hmm.

So I just kept picking off the Brians in this world that were experts in- Yeah, help you and lift you up … these different fields. So you don't… You know, and actually doing it locally was immensely lucky and powerful as well because you started to build a community. I remember when I interviewed my lawyer set. I went to meet three different lawyers. This is my, by the way, random, approach to everything that isn't so random. Ask, get three quotes. Yeah. Meet three styles, and then make good decisions, and sometimes combine all the learnings. And Nick Davis, who, was my first accountant, was just a thoroughly good, liked his style, had a gut feel about him. I still, no, he wasn't an accountant. He was a lawyer. And I still have a lawyer from that original relationship- Mm-hmm … over 30- Yeah … 40 nearly years ago.

Yeah, so don't be afraid to ask, and don't be afraid of that rejection.

Yeah.

And the resilience of… 'Cause I, I really love that I had that experience of all initially that rejection, and then when the right person says- The buzz right. Now you're

Hooked- And you think- … aren't you? Wow, that's hooked.

I've

Done one.

I'm hooked. And that was amazing. And-

Now aim higher, by the way … Aleksandra King: yeah. And then you get them- Right … and then the other ones- Yeah, yeah … and this and that. But it's a sharpening thing. It's a very… It was so important for me to learn and be rejected. It was so important. But also the… But I, yeah, a- a- and I think it's inherent on the more elderly gray-haired entrepreneurs and others that you want to interview to celebrate your success and to introduce you to others. And you… But if you don't ask, you won't get. Yeah. Yeah. Right? And so if anybody, again Is, you know, thinking about taking the leap. I loved this quote, which is, you know, something about, and it won't be right, but, you know, you can spend an all a- awful lot of time living a life. What you don't wanna do is spend any time regretting it.

Oh.

So I don't do guilt. Oh. I've ne- and as a female- Oh. … when I learnt-

Oh … Lara Morgan:, with a Dale Carnegie course about this thing where you can write the as is versus the should be, right? And you, you kind of class where you wanna be in five years' time in writing, and then you go, "So where are we now?" And you do this, then I've got this other skill set learnt at Stanford, which is you walk the wall, which is you write, right, in five years' time, this is where we wanna be. Yeah. What are the things we have to do? Mm-hmm. And we break it down, we chunk it into periods of time, and we go, so in that case, the first absolutes are these targets and goals, and then you've got the next set of g- targets and goals. Yeah. But you don't do it on your own. You get your team to walk the wall with you- Mm … and to write things on large bits of paper, and it's bringing the team on the journey, and then hopefully they'll be here in five years' time and we'll get really drunk together or whatever- Yeah is our flavor, 'cause I don't drink very much. But- Yeah … you know, whatever is, the effort, it, it, team is everything. And, you know- It's important … you're not gonna do this alone. So, so-

So that's also where women- Yeah … are shockingly. Aleksandra King: Yeah. ' Lara Morgan: Cause they don't trust, they don't take risks in terms of the risk of trusting.

Mm.

And they are appalling at this idea that you have to bloody fill in the box the same as everybody else. I mean, if it gets the job done, just 'cause it's not your way, learn that it doesn't bloody matter, and also have the humility, like I did, to realize nine out of 10 people are gonna do it better than Lara, right? Nine out of 10 people- Nine … are going to do it better, because I am not an expert in most fields. In fact, nearly every field.

Oh, no.

Right?

Don't say … Lara Morgan: no, no. Nearly every field I am not an expert in. No. But of course, yeah, that piece,

Yeah. So how can I grow my business- Mm … by pretending to be an average- No, you

Can't be

Dictator? Yeah.

Yeah.

It ain't gonna work.

And that, I suppose, is the difference between carrying on with that one-man band thing, which was still successful, and it would've remained on that level and- I

Could not go from 360,000 to 880- Yeah, and what you grew without this … without Rachel.

Yeah. Okay.

And then without Margaret. Margaret stayed with us- Yeah … for 17 or 18 years.

And that's the difference. Rachel, 10,

11.

That is the difference. And then you've had to take your culture and your brand, your, those values we spoke about, plus your resilience, and instill that into everyone in the business because they have to operate in the way that's function- functioning, it's effective, it's efficient, it's-

So in the early days of a business, I think a great way- Yeah to reward is to everybody shares in the pot. And of course, salespeople will be on a commission scheme that's highly- Mm … motivational, but everybody should share in the profit pot. And then everybody starts to treat stuff completely differently as if it's their own. And again, one of my big mistakes is probably not having a shareholding structure for all until I exited my first set of Pacific Direct's large chunk of shares, and then we had a management pot, and I learnt so much during the exit. But, you know, like yesterday we've, we're negotiating the final stages of this Sommo eye mask, partly also 'cause it's gonna leverage another brand of mine called Scentered in Mindful Wellbeing. Mm-hmm. We have Sleep Well. But, you know, the guy that's doing the deal for me will take a share of my shares.

Yeah. And you're comfortable with that?

Very.

Yeah. ' Lara Morgan: Cause he's a genius, and I'm not. Yeah, yeah. And he's doing all the modeling, and it's really dull, and I don't like box filling, and I don't like bloody contracts. And if he can do that, together we triumph. Together we triumph, yes. And it is, it's, yeah, it's team reward for team effort.

Mm. But it, you know, we won't be perfect, he won't be perfect, I won't be perfect. Together we muddle through. We'll no doubt make the odd mistake. Think we've got a good deal, think it's fair. Fairness matters, right? It does. And, and so does, and this is really important in business, consistency and precedence. Okay. You cannot have one rule for one and one rule for another like we do with our current political system.

Right.

But let's not go there. No

No. We're gonna avoid, we're gonna avoid UK politics enough. Mm. But okay, so you've, you've gone into what, you know, a wellness space.

Yeah.

Why? Why? What's the-

Like I said to you, the engine piece and the joy of activity and sport has always been my kind of release. Each child swam in my tummy 365 miles or more. That's- Wow … first thing in the morning, pretty quickly, I have to say.

Yeah. Wow. Um- Impressive.

I am swimming pool rage. Uh-

Gosh … Lara Morgan: even nine months pregnant. Wow. So, you know- The importance of movement and actually the importance of great products that makes time to play is really important. So the idea that you can have an item that motivates your mindset with Scentered, a great piece of luggage which gets you out of bloody baggage control quickly so you can get to your destination. That's the most tangent, sort of tangen- li- little connection, but I, I love it 'cause I don't b- like waste … Time is the most valuable- Yeah commodity o- other than health. I can't buy time, but I can design time in, time savings. Mm-hmm. So when you look at KitBricks, it's functional. When you look at Parker, it's utterly genius because I learnt from DryRobe investment, which was a very successful exit, and I wrote the strategy, employed the first member of staff with the guy that built that His mother invented the coat- Mm-hmm … it's a stroke of genius., the idea that I can invest in products, and I've got one in my mind's eye that I think could reduce the bill of the NHS, and that makes me very excited. Mm. And I mean really reduce it. Mm-hmm.

So if we think about the power of movement, and we've all got elderly friends, parents, relatives, hopefully, the power of balance is everything, and it comes from your core. So everything I do in my investment has an end goal of dying ungracefully at 127 years old- Yeah … having squeezed the out of life.

Yeah. You really do mean it, don't you? I

Do. You really do mean it. But for mindset, right? Yes. I have to get up and go.

Yeah.

So sleep is critical. So I've now got a mask company that can help me sleep better. Okay. I've got a fragrance company that sets my mind for the day ahead. I've got a yoga company that helps me balance. I've got a kit bag company that gets me moving and allows me to keep my stuff wet, dry on my shoulder running for planes and trains. And I've got an outdoor coat that keeps me warm in performance when I get there, and I'll attach the odd other thing along the way. Yeah, I know.

I love how you

Design- But that's the thinking.

Yeah, but it's so cool 'cause I love the way that you've designed your businesses- It's stupid … around all the cool stuff

That you like. No, but private equity people all go- Yeah … "Oh, you're all kind of in one area," and I'm like, "Is the only area that we should invest in- Mm our health if we've, we're just doing it for fun?" And by the way, it's not all fun all the time 'cause it isn't bloody perfect, the journey.

Mm-hmm.

Because it's too much and I've been overstretched because of COVID and whatever. It's not a perfect journey, but aren't I lucky that I don't have to be private equity? I can do what I like. I just, it's … You know, it's been averagely good and hard work, and we're starting to get results, and what I'm really proud of is making sustainable products that can refill or be reused or repurposed. Yeah. But most importantly, the most important part of our sustainability journey is make stuff that lasts.

Okay. So- What you're describing, so it's a, these are passion businesses, businesses that you believe in that match your lifestyle That

Have a cool USP

But also when you speak, even now, it's like you're indirectly selling the businesses. You believe in them. You're selling. I wanna know what you feel about selling. For the person watching now, how important is sales? It's everything. Should you be selling?

Disproportionately- Yes … every day, all the time, every connection, every network, every…, you know, my friends will be going, "She really means this." And it's like, who do they know? She really do. You know, who do they know that I need to know? Do you know? Yeah. Are you connected? Um- Wow … can you link… A- and I'm not, I mean, I, I do, I relax on the bike, and I am involved in the most amazing group of people do… We've made £2

Million for charity with One

More Child. Wow. Gosh. And, the charity was called Ride25, where-

Yeah.

Co- congratulations … we cycled from London to Azerbaijan. Mm-hmm. We are mad. We're now in India. It's brilliant. It's changed my life. It looks after my health. But even in, on the bike ride, sometimes you come across someone who goes, "You should meet," or, "I'll introduce you to," and you're like, "Get in." God. And so, but strategically-, you can maneuver yourself to places. You can attend the right talks. I went to Dubai recently to mo- meet Joe De Sena of Spartan, who I've met before, but I wanted to physically- Physically … hand him a product. Okay. And I knew he was doing a speech- Okay … at Global Wellness, so I went.

Mm-hmm.

And it's working. Okay. We've just sold him some product.

Those in-person meetings can be valuable. Everything.

Not, not just

Valuable.

Yeah. Priceless.

Priceless. Yeah.

Don't sit on your arse and sell.

Yeah. I, I watched an interview of yours with a … Not interview, a speech of yours, at the London Business School.

Uh-oh.

Yeah. I, I know, I really liked it. You did speak about the importance of, of meetings and communication and about your team. But

Be, be original, right?

Yeah. So- Brainstorming … Lara Morgan: send someone a … I mean, I sent Jane Brightwell a tin of treacle. Like golden syrup, but, treacle that you put in a Christm- like, literally gungy, thick, can't … And I put a Post-It Note on it saying, "Trying to get ahold of you is like running through this stuff. Try it." And she rang me. Mm.

I had already rung her 917 times.

Stop.

She wouldn't speak until I sent her treacle.

Can I just say, this is very un-British of you

Though, isn't it? I don't give a toss. And I am not. I, I, I d- Yeah … I don't, that, I am in, I am- Yeah … hugely nationalistic, right?

Okay. Okay.

But ultimately, I sent empty boxes of chocolate to people. I sent S- I sent Savlon to David Tyler, who said my prices were high. If he went into a procurement meeting and presented them, he'd get a beating. And I said, "You know that I've met your brief," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And 11 years after the event, when he did give me the business, he called me up and he said, "I've still got the tube of Savlon you sent me." Oh. Because what I said to him in my Post-It note is, "I can help with the beating- Mm … but I can't help with the price."

Oh.

And he, and he laughed about it for 11 years- Yeah. Yeah … having this bloody tube of

Savlon. Yeah. No,

For sure. Because you've gotta be better and different. Why be boring?

Yeah. I think you've also just gotta be prepared to-

Put yourself

Out there go the extra mile and go almost against, because there is- I mean, this is a global podcast, so this is, Americans are gonna hear us, Brazilians are gonna hear it, you know, people from all over the place. But in the UK specifically, for those that don't know, there is this thing about, "Ooh, you shouldn't really put yourself out there too much. You shouldn't-" What a load of shit … I've got clients, I've got clients. You know, I'm in the world of… 'Cause I've got the podcast, but I've also got a marketing business. So in the world of marketing, I have got- Just … clients that-

Stop

It … will get a bit shy sometimes and go, "Ooh, do you-" So

We all get shy … Aleksandra King: shall we really put the- I have sweaty-knickered moments

Yeah. Shall we

Really- Don't you think I'm afraid?

No, of course.

I've been through those emotions. My heart's jumping- Yeah … out of my chest. I shook in the reception.

But, but you've got to, you've got to say to them, "Listen, like your personality, please do run the business. Please do these things, but let me take your products to market, please."

No,

I mean- "And I won't be shy, and, and, and I will be brave. And can I just do it?" And you've got to almost ask permission 'cause they're, "Ooh, is that not gonna be a bit… " And you're, "Trust me. Go."

But, but you know

This- And then they do, but they get… You know, you have to really- But that's

Also why. Where's your value? Really. Know what- Yeah … so an awareness about your skill set is really important. I've already- Mm … made it clear there are millions and millions more things that I cannot do than I can.

Mm.

So if I stick to my lane, and I fudge my way around the other stuff and employ amazing people to do it, and I listen and learn- Yeah enough to be dangerous.

Yeah.

You know, often there are great inventors, and I'd like to think of myself as somewhat of an inventor, but I'm certainly not great. Listening to the brains of the many will always evolve the product better, right? But inventors are often not able to sell their product. Meet some of the investments I've invested in, and yet-

Mm

I think selling is one of the most powerful tools, 'cause I never have a ceiling.

But, but Lara, I don't know if you've encountered this one where it, I… Absolutely what you said about the skills and trust the people to do that, but it's almost like a, a mentality of even not wanting to put the business out there too much in case the business is seen as too, too out there or too in the limelight or trying to grab the limelight. And you think, "Well, hang on"- Why,

Aren't you proud of what you're doing? But- Why wouldn't you be- Yeah … wanting to- Don't you- … shout to the rooftops? Exactly. And if you can't- Yeah … shout to the rooftops- Yeah … and you're having that level of doubt, is your product or service not good enough? Yeah. I mean, what are you? I

Think, I think the products and services, I mean, I- I- with the clients I work with, I know that they are, well, they are, they are, they have incredible businesses, and I will stand by them-

Well, then- … Aleksandra King: all the way. So I've got to, but I've, I've got to work with… And it's, it is British businesses that it's a cultural thing that they sometimes are- It's reserved, right? Reserved, polite, very English. And you can- I'm never impolite.

Yes. But you know, you know, there's a-

So your perception that I'm pushy is your perception.

No, the

Clients- Right? But that's the cust- Yeah … that's what, you know that quiet- No … shy and retiring person- Mm … who is a little bit embarrassed and says- Mm "I can't do that," well, there's lots of things I can't do either. But if you wanna run a business-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: the one absolute is you either back a great salesperson, or you- Yeah … bloody do it yourself. But they will say, you know, "Should we really do this?" Or, "Should we really put ourselves here?" Oh, stop it. Or, "Should we really do that?" What

Are you gonna do? But then- This stupidity of standing still is not gonna grow your business.

Exactly. But then, you know, when you get it right for them, you know, you do say, "Just trust me with one. I'll do this thing." And then when they see the sales, and then they're like, "That worked. Okay. But don't tell anyone. Don't, don't," you know, and then they do the,

Oh- What are you worried about?

You know.

It's a competitive world. You know. It's time to grow up.

Yeah.

Put your big pants on.

I think British businesses need to be whereas, and you know, you find with the American- Get

Out … Aleksandra King: it's much more up there. Get out there.

Yeah.

Doesn't, I

Don't, really. Or it's like you'll suggest to a client- Just- … you'll say, "Well, why don't you take your, you know, why don't you s- do a thing on LinkedIn or whatever?" "Oh, no, I couldn't do that." You know, there's a shy, there is a reserved- Oh,

Look, nobody's, not everybody's going- Mm … to love you. There's apparently eight billion people. Yeah. Some of them might like you. Some. Some of them might love you. Yeah, true. You can't shag all of them. No. Just get on with it.

Yeah, yeah. Life's too short.

Right. Yeah. So laugh to, laugh at life. Mm. Know there's rules. Yeah. Just because, you know, of course, I've ruffled feathers and- Mm … some people find me too direct. Mm. I'm like, you know what-

Mm … Lara Morgan: it's not my problem. I've ne- Mm … as long as I'm not rude. Yeah.

Then, then that's- Yeah … unacceptable. Yeah. You know, and- I, I, you shouldn't be pushy to the point of rudeness or-

No … Lara Morgan: you know, a- one of my salespeople on the way here said to me, "What do I do about this?" And I said, "Well, if this lady's trying to pick different sizes so that she can customize, believe it or not, somebody's name on each of our parka products in America." Mm-hmm.

Shirley said, "I don't understand why she's not come back to me." And I said, "Shirley, do you know how difficult it is for getting 30 chief executives to tell you their size, and not being funny, the name they want on their coat?"

Mm.

You know, do they want their nickname? Do they want their ski name? Do they want their family-

Yeah you know? It's gonna be a big deal, isn't it?

Right?

Yeah.

I've got a friend who's called Emma Bag, so I sent her a bag with embroidery of the word bag, right? I guessed, but then I've known Emma for 50-something years. Mm. Right? Sometimes you're gonna get wrong, sometimes you're gonna get… Sh- she loves her bag, I'm glad to say. I'm, you know.

Yeah.

It's, but I mighta got it wrong. You just have some- Mm. It's not, so what? Why doesn't- Yeah … why don't we all live by that Dale Carnegie saying, "What's the worst thing that can happen?" Because the truth is, and very sadly at the moment, is usually somebody doesn't die Right? And it's disproportionately-

Okay

Most of the time you ain't killing someone.

You ain't killing someone. That- that's such good advice for today's times because we are all living in fear, and we all think, "Oh, no, I can't do this, and I can't take that risk, and I can't put myself out there, and I can't start up a

Business-" Oh, really? "… and I can't go to credit." Well, you can't go anywhere then.

Yeah.

Yeah. You can't progress- And it does stop you, doesn't it? … if you don't fail. Yeah. You cannot learn if you're not making mistakes. Mm. It isn't a perfect world. Nobody owes you a living. Have a go. What's the worst thing that could happen?

Yeah. No one's going to… Yeah, 'cause as long as someone doesn't die I mean, everything's… You can find solutions. You can, you can use that brain to come out of it, right? You can work it out. It will be okay.

That's the

Goal. Yeah.

And by the way, it won't be okay all of the time.

Mm.

Life's like that: highs, lows. Why do we have mental health issues?

Yeah.

World's not a perfect place. Some people have a rougher journey than another.

Okay, talk to me about genuinely the, the worst thing that you encountered in a business, the hardest moment when you thought… 'Cause I, I, in that London Business School- I, I quite often- … of Economics, you said you would've sold Pacific Direct for 50p. How bad did it- … get for you to make a statement like that? What's your… Is that your lowest moment where you really, really, really- It's usually,

It's always, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Okay. And, and always related to people.

Oh, okay.

People are, stating the bleeding obvious, all different. They don't all have the same values. They don't all understand necessarily or buy into your vision. Some people just want a job, and they haven't had the joy of my upbringing, which gave me an international outlook. So I have to have perspe- perspective-

Okay … Lara Morgan: that we're not all the same. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

But you know that I said to my husband, I even know the road I was driving on in Bedford at the time going into work and feeling very low. I mean, it's, it's those moments, moments when you look back and you go… And of course, sometimes you go, "God, is it…" I bet I said to you, before the recording, there's a coffee shop owner who said to me this week, "I'm serving coffee because-" Things are that tough, right? He's trying to reduce overheads. Mm. He's got a number of places in London.

Mm-hmm.

He said, "I've never seen so many people come here, through here, and we have quick words or we know each other, and it's so tough." And it is those moments. And we said to each other yesterday, I said, "Let me tell you, if you're even in business still, you've survived. So hang in." Wow. That's a good way of putting it. Because for those that survived, genuinely at the moment-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: if you are surviving and keeping the lights on, you will thrive because you're years ahead of the person that's still a startup. Mm.

And obviously there's the tech side, but I know little to nothing-

Yeah

About tech dev. But I do absolutely buy to the concept of it takes time to build, which is of course why, you know, 76% of businesses or something like that fail by the time they're three years old, and another 74% of those that get to five years have failed out of the ones that have survived at that point. So it takes gumption, it takes bouncing back, it takes miserable bloody days. It takes- It does.

But, but talk to me about your lowest moment.

I can't think of one because- It's always been a people one, and it's a private matter when you've felt that someone has behaved in a way that just doesn't meet your values. Oh. And the dishonest- I- so dishonesty Dishonesty … right?

Yeah.

But- It's horrible. Yeah … but very honestly- Yeah … I have personally experienced an inability to cope recently. Not that recently. Unfortunately, let's call it a recovering inability moment. Mm-hmm. But where there's just so much, right? So much coming at us, during COVID that you just, you, you might let someone down. And as long as you can go back to them, or you make up for it, or you try and keep up, or you communicate-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: then hopefully you're held in better stead. But it's when someone buries their head in their hat- hat, in their, in the sand, and they're lying. Oh, yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

Is that, that's a- Yeah, that's horrible that's annoying, right?

Yeah. That's,

That's right up there with the top annoying factor.

I, I do find d- dishonesty, lying tough, 'cause I just think-

Well, it's

Not necessary … well, it's also hard. Why can't you just say the truth, and then we can deal with it? Why can't-

But for some people-

Even if it's horrible, horrible, horrible

Right, right.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So do the decent thing and talk.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of misery at the moment because people owe people money. People have, coming to the end of their tether.

Mm, mm-hmm.

And, and sometimes it must be very, very hard because you've put everything in. And when you lose everything.

Oh, yeah.

Right? That's where I, I've seen my father do that.

You have.

Right? So- You

Have … Lara Morgan: I don't ever want to… I will never get to that, where I've put it all in. No.

But people, when they're building a business- M- my turning point, I guess, when I put the house up because of September the 11th, hotel occupancy went from an amazing skyrocket-

Mm-hmm

To nothing.

Mm-hmm.

So if you're a soap seller, you're not putting any soap bars in bedroom 'cause there's no bums in beds, so there's no need to wash them. That's the way I look at it, right?

Yeah,

Yeah. So that was a disaster, and I had to go to the bank, and I, gave them my house as collateral. Oh

My gosh.

And, uh-

That's so hectic.

But I was lucky. I came out the other side. It ma- ma- I mean, when I reflect now, that it never occurred to me that a second version of September the 11th could happen.

Yeah.

And I did make a commercial and mindset decision around are we going to war? Mm. And about, about three year- two, two years ago, I went through do I just liquidate? So you have to have- Mm … a consciousness around the world you… But I can't change political will. I can't-

No … Lara Morgan: I'm, you know, and I'm not made… I, I'd like to give back in a humanitarian way in due course. That's why I need to stay fit and healthy so that I can go and serve soup in Gaza. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I, I have some other goals and aims, but right now I think I can do more for humanity by inventing product that makes a difference. And with a scented brand, we're trying to help mental health causes, but you can't sell mental health solutions. Mm-hmm. So you sell mindful wellbeing balms that either help you sleep- Yeah or whatever. Calm people

Down. And, and the end result you have to believe in, but my God, has it been a tough journey to find out what the right strategy is.

Mm. And no one's- So it's not perfect for me … no one's gonna tell you. Yeah. No, well, you- It's not perfect for you … I mean, you're very brave. You're still, you're still fighting it. You're,

You're- What, what the hell am I doing this for? Yeah. Yeah, I know. You're still… I ask myself that. It, it's tough. I ask myself that every day.

It's tough because a lot of business people, even the, some of the most successful in the world tend to, tend to, go into property really. That's what they tend to do after they get out- Yeah, but if you

Are- of their businesses … look at Alan Sugar, he's done that, but he's an entrepreneur that's done that. Corporate guys, they've always had a salary Mm. Somebody's always paid

Their living. Yeah, that's true.

It's the entrepreneur class that bleed-

Yeah … Lara Morgan: and the government's leaning into them, and we are meant to continue to pay to keep- Yeah the lights on. What's that about? Yeah. That's

Not fair.

You've gotta cultivate an, a … You know, it's, it's a responsibility I feel of, of a, of a decent government to cultivate, um-

Some support.

Some

Kind of a- A foundation … Aleksandra King: yeah, give some healthy soil to these entrepreneurs- Jesus … to grow the businesses- So the other bit that's- to

Create this stuff,

Right? Like- The, the other bit that stops people growing is the lack of sharing reward.

Mm.

If I say to you, "People do what they're rewarded to do," would you agree with me?

Yes.

Right. So- Yeah … why haven't you got a reward structure that motivates and pays?

Yeah.

It's insane. And then these stupid bloody business owners are wondering why people won't bleed like they will. Well, guess what? They don't own the shares. Yeah. They have a job. They

Don't do that.

Right? Yeah. They don't owe you a living.

C- can I say I, I've, I've worked with some massive corporates, and they don't, … And it's funny 'cause the, some of the biggest companies, you know, turning over huge, huge amounts actually treat their salespeople very, very badly.

Which they're mad to because- Yeah … it's their economic engine.

I know.

That's insane.

And I was quite surprised, you know, the level of … It, it's almost even a res- But

I wonder whether there's a jealousy because the truth is- Yeah … we can't deliver without operations. But the truth is in this situation there is no chicken and egg. Without a bloody purchase order, you do not have a business.

Yeah.

So you better respect the sales mechanism because without selling something, you have

Nothing. They're often not, not respected as they should be.

I

Agree. They're not as valued as

They should be. It's a pr- but it's a profession. It's such an issue. It's … But that's because stupid humans, in my opinion-

Mm … Lara Morgan: reflect on the sales class as a homogenous bunch. Yeah.

Right? And there are service sales. There are all different ways of selling, right? Mm-hmm. You know, there are door, the door-knocking guys who learn to be some of the best salespeople in the world because they're used to having the door shut in their face. The door shut in

Their face.

I have a friend who's genuinely- Developed skills and … Yeah … made a shed load of money, and that's how he started.

Yeah.

And then there's the insurance salesperson and the estate agent that we don't tend to love.

Mm.

And the banker because they're annoying, and they look like a Shylock. But let's be grown-up, right? These are all services that we need.

Yeah.

It's how we behave.

Yeah. Totally. Okay. So if you were considering backing someone, another business, a person, what would you be looking for?

So I'm not investing in anything anymore. I, I don't need to.

Or what have you looked for in people?

U-, oh, that's a great question Having learned the lesson through some of my investments, I'm looking for another Alastair Campbell

Right. Okay. Well, not

Many

People are gonna

Know who that is- So not the one that some people will think of- Yeah, so- But my Alastair calendar is the guy that owns Gate 8 Luggage, who's one of the nicest human beings I've ever met in the world. Mm. But he's also an engineer. He's very different to me. We've a very contrasting… He's not a born sales guy, but he's a born servicer. He's a lovely, kind, generous-hearted person. I have learnt to my, hardship that As I said to you, we are all so different, and I make the assumption that everybody wants to put into life. Mm. There are some people that are so self-centered-

Yeah, I know … Lara Morgan: so, um- Some people just wanna watch TV, you know? Right. And just, and just chill out, so that's okay.

And, yeah, they ju- Yeah … or they just wanna be famous. Right.

Or they just wanna be famous.

And they wanna over pretend that they can do something. So- Mm …, I've seen that in one of my investments, and I, and it- Mm-hmm … is really sad, the appalling, difference in the spirit of one human being to another.

Yeah.

So that's been a lesson. And that's why partly I, you know, I, I don't wanna go through the journey again of the guessing game of the frog.

Yeah.

You know, I don't need more people or friends in my life. I need to maximize what we're trying to do. And a friend of mine also said to me yesterday, she said, "You are remembering to prioritize." It's funny, 'cause I teach- Yeah … people to prioritize all the time, and it's great to have a friend that goes, "Don't forget you two need to be living." Yeah. 'Cause I'm working really hard.

Yeah, you are. You are, but I, I also can tell that, you know, you hold yourself to a high standard. You're hard on yourself. You expect yourself to perform. You expect those around you to perform too. You want them to- Oh,

Have, have you read the book- … to your standards, you know? Have you read the book Jim Collins Good to Great?

No.

If you haven't and you're listening to this, you shouldn't be listening to me. Okay. You should be listening to Jim Collins- Jim Collins Good to Great … Good to Great.

Okay.

And any of his writings. And the idea that, you know-

I'll write it down so

I know. It's really important. Oh. And there was a real wave of it, I guess, 10, 20 years ago. I'm so bloody old I don't remember. But there's, you know, Who Moved My Cheese? Eat That Frog, all of the Dale Carne- the Dale Carnegie book- Yeah … that's How To, How to Win Friends. These are books that- Yeah … are far more important- Those are really good, yeah than what I can bring, right? But equally, I read all of those books.

Mm.

And I keep reading books.

Yeah.

Because it's really important. And it's r- and it's difficult now, so, but, but I get joy out of reading and turning pages, and I mean physically, because I spend lots of time on the screen.

Yeah.

So, in the old days when I traveled a lot, I used to read books and write in lines, even though my mother would loathe me, because you shouldn't write in books, but I do. And then I'd photocopy them, which is illegal, but I do that too. Because I then wanna give an idea to someone from the page on the book, so I just send it to them.

Mm.

Or take a picture these days with my phone, but in those days we didn't have that.

No, no. Yeah. Oh. Okay, so for people listening, what's the, what's the message you wanna leave to, to people? We've got all kinds of people. We've got people in, in jobs they might like or really dislike, people that are thinking about starting a business. If you're in a job

You don't like, stop whingeing and move.

Yeah.

But it's tough at the moment.

Wanting to start a business?

Um- What are you waiting for? What's the worst thing that can happen? Don't live in a world of regret.

In a business, but think afraid to scale or, or

Stop them Stop being an idiot. You can't do it on your own. Stop being an idiot. Well, I mean, you're not gonna do it on your own. Yeah. You can't scale a business- Yeah … as a one-man band.

Okay.

There are only 24 hours in the day, and by the way, consultants are screwed because of AI.

Yeah.

So they better find a different way.

Okay. And, um-

And always look after the finances, which I've, you know, I've said forever.

Always look after the finances. That's a good one.

Well-

That's a good one … Lara Morgan: know your numbers. Yeah.

Know your numbers. I mean, our cashflow might be extremely tight, and I might have to beg the odd supplier to give me a bit of breathing space.

Mm.

But we will duck and dive and find a way through.

Mm.

But we are now on the up, and of course, you have no money to grow, and then you start selling, and you need money to grow, and it's… that's just the nature of business. Yeah. You know, if you're in a product business- Yes … 'cause you need more stock, and you need different colors. You gotta bring out newness, and it's just relentless. Yeah. But welcome to it, and if you don't like the relentless, get a bloody job.

Get a job.

But respect that you should still put everything you can into your little company that is helping you pay your living and put the mortgage and pay for the roof over your head because those that lead carry that responsibility first and foremost every day of their lives-

Yeah

If they're doing the right thing.

There is something I forgot to, to talk about with you.

Mm.

There was something you said about almost running your business like the way that a Formula 1 car- Oh,

I love that analogy … is,

Is… Yeah.

So to picture- It's looked after, so

Let's, let's do that … Lara Morgan: picture. No, not just looked after- Right, okay but picture- Mm-hmm … Lara Morgan: the importance of changing four wheels on an automobile fast, meaning Formula 1. Picture the team and how many players, and picture the idea that in 1950, there's a video if you Google it, where there's three guys with massive s- hammers, spanners trying to kind of beat the spanner wheel off in a motor race. And it must have taken them a week and a half to get those bloody tires off. We're now at sub two seconds. Yeah. How did that happen? Yeah.

And if you ask any crowd of humans, they'll tell you it's down to teamwork and practice and finance for the team, and so maybe motivation, reward for going faster, and technology because they measure stuff and they review it, and maybe different fabric, so innovation so they can move quicker. But down to maybe having a short bloke carrying the tire so he gets there quicker. Would you believe it? You, you know, or shoving- Yeah … you know, the stocky, fast, strongest, moving the tire lever quicker to get the wheel on. Every ounce, every singular ounce of a team should always be looking for the sum of small gains. Yeah. And that's my vision, which is if Formula 1 can do it, why can't my team have that vision?

Yeah, totally. So as the entrepreneur, you're the one in the driving seat. You're the Lando Norris that's you know, just-

Yeah … Aleksandra King: just won that competition, and like he said, he couldn't have won it without the team. And he couldn't. And then you've got the engineers that figured it out. You've got the guys that are doing the wheels. And then you also let the car do its races, its laps. But you're also having to listen to feedback. Yeah, feedback.

Yeah. So

That's, by the way, criticism. Grow up.

Yeah. Grow up.

Take it. Right? Just take it. Ca- call it feedback- Take it … but you know it's criticism. Yeah. Just gr- well, nobody likes it. ' Aleksandra King: Cause you might lose any business. Nobody likes being told-

Yeah, people hate

It … that they're not any good.

No. No.

But just look at it as an opportunity to go, "you, I'm gonna be better."

Yeah. Well, some, some criticism matters and needs to be taken seriously and you adjust- Very much so. I'm not- And some really doesn't. But-

Yeah, and some really doesn't. But make a choice. Just listen and then- Yeah … respond accordingly.

Respond accordingly. But you know, with a-

Don't let it offend you. Yeah. Don't let it drag you … What are you doing? If it's dragging you back, who's winning?

Yeah, true. True.

Who's winning if something gets you down?

And then, and then also with a car, it, which brings us back to just the, the-

Mm … Aleksandra King: the thing about the wellness. That car then does its race, and then it goes and it's nursed, and it rests, and it has its scented whatever it might be and just ca- you know, has that break before it can go again. And I think that's also- But we, we need to rest- Yeah and

Recuperate. We need to rest. Yeah.

You know, I, I'm hoping that when people listen to this, and I said to you at the time, you know, if they use Lara20 and I promote my goods, it's because when I'm teaching about selling, everything is a sales opportunity. So you can get a discount with Lara20 on a website of mine, and I think, and if it doesn't work, email me or Instagram or whatever you w- wanna do. Work hard to find someone. But celebrate also by rewarding yourself. I mean, in the early days when I had no beans to rub together, it was leg waxing. So you can start small.

Yeah. Lara, it's been amazing. Thank you for your time, and I know that I've learned something, and I hope everyone watching has really taken in, and is gonna absorb your, your work ethic and your beautiful ability to be resilient and, that go-getter attitude.

Thank you for your energy shared.

Thank you. Thank you.