James Timpson - The Happy Index | PM Small Business Council
If you are new here, my name is Jimmy McLoughlin, a former Downing Street adviser turned podcaster. I write this notebook on the most interesting things I have seen on the future of work, jobs, technology and politics.
I have known James Timpson for over five years and whilst I would not say we are friends, we are friendly. I have huge admiration and respect for what he and his family have built. But there is a danger when you know someone on a regular basis, you don’t actually know what their foundational principles are, what really makes them tick. That is why I was looking forward to his new book the happy index and it finally gave me an excuse to get him on Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future.
We recorded in-store at Timpson’s and trialled our new documentary style.
In my mind he is one of the best entrepreneurs the country has, if anything we need to think about how we can multiply his efforts on the High Street.
What impresses me more as the years go by is his sheer drive and passion for the job continues, if anything it seems to be going up! I mean how do you stay that passionate about key cutting and cobbling shoes!?
I asked him this, and what is his north star? Ultimately the answer came down to competition, he wants to be the best. There is a far more ruthless business leader tin here than sometimes comes out. (Watch at 7:50 for his answer on this)
As I spent time in the shop with him, I undertook some interviews with their staff and James actually took over the tills, and sold some engraving on some soap bottles for £30 - I was genuinely impressed that James could just take over like that (Heaven knows what would happen if I had to video edit an episode of Jimmy’s Jobs)
My one critique of the book is that I wish there had been a bit more about money making. As we chatted about that in the interview, we spoke about the difference in margins between keys and shoes …. which do you think has a higher margin?
And how much do you think they pay in rent and business rates on a 50 square foot in the King’s Road, Chelsea? What do you reckon the ratio of rents to rates is?
Watch at 8:40 to find out.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Timpson’s new book, ‘the happy index’ lessons from upside down management, it was great to sit down with him and has already become one of our most popular episodes.
Prime Minister Small Business Council
A new small business council has been appointed, with some interesting names from non alcoholic brewer, Lucky Saint and even Sidemen manager and former JJ Guest, Jordan Schwarzenberger.
I had chat with Christian May, the former editor of City AM about PM business councils and Labour’s love in with business a couple of weeks ago. We posted it on the Jimmy’s Jobs feed here.
You can see a clip on LinkedIn here and why Oliver Letwin was running around with a bunch of Ordance Survey maps in No.10 with no shoes on.
Would love to hear people’s thoughts on the couple of episodes I have done with Christian where we are talking about the intersection of business, politics and economics.
This year has been crazy busy, we have been operating at full tilt , in the last two weeks alone, we have recorded eight (!) podcasts, recorded three mini docs, hosted our own live show, spoken on stage at another two conferences and interviewed 20 candidates for our founder’s associate role.
I was struck by how much Covid has really ripped through so many young professional lives, but the good news is that we are going to be taking a couple of them on and we have an exciting pipeline of activity coming up. So make sure you subscribe or forward to a friend.
✍️ How we make money …
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