Never Settle Podcast

Caroline McKenna is the founder of Social Good Connect, an organisation helping charities and social enterprises to develop, grow and prosper. They're on a mission to build connected communities through an online platform that connects employees with charities to positively impact the communities in which we live and work. In response to the Coronavirus crisis and the demand for volunteering across Scotland, Social Good Connect accelerated their digital platform to launch during the Coronavirus lockdown. In this episode, we’re digging into the story behind Social Good Connect, Caroline's journey in the world of social entrepreneurship, and how that's brought her to where she is today. If you’d like to connect with Caroline or Social Good Connect, you can email her at [email protected] or head to their website at socialgoodconnect.org.

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK

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•Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

La Fabrica is a cycle cafe in the heart of Girona, merging the passions of its founders, husband and wife Christian and Amber, their vision and heart. Amber and Christian moved to Spain over 12 years ago when the promising career of a professional cyclist was offered to Christian in Girona. Starting as a Stagiaire, he was able to work his way to the top tier of the peloton, riding in races he had only dreamed of as a child. World Championships, The Classics in Europe to the National Championships in Canada… he was riding them all. While Amber was happy to support him, travel and live an enjoyable life of early retirement, she knew Christian’s cycling career was only going to be a long journey. So she decided to follow her dream of opening a a small, specialty coffee shop in their adopted hometown of Girona. After just 2 years, they were the owners of 3 incredible businesses at the forefront of cycling and coffee culture in Spain. In this episode you’ll hear the incredible story behind La Fabrica, Christian's professional cycling career, the journey to building Girona's only in-house coffee roasters, Espresso Mafia, and luxury bicycle shop, The Service Course. If you'd like to connect with Christian and Amber, you can follow them on Instagram @lafabricacafes or head to lafabricagirona.com.

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK

•Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

•Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

Goose's Quizzes are an Edinburgh based pub quiz company, taking a design-led approach to the world of pub quizzes. Since the Coronavirus lockdown, founder Goose has moved Goose's Quizzes entirely online, hosting pub quizzes every night on Twitch. In the space of just a few weeks, Goose’s Quizzes gained thousands of new followers, built a growing online community and created an entirely new revenue stream overnight, all driven by their purpose of bringing joy to viewers every single day. Join us as we delve into the fascinating story behind Goose's Quizzes. We discuss Goose's background in service design and how he's applied this to pub quizzes. You'll also hear how Goose has innovated his business model in a time of crisis with a focus on spreading joy. You can connect with Goose's Quizzes at goosesquizzes.com and you can listen to all their online quizzes at twitch.tv/goosesquizzes.

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

•Twitter: https://twitter.com/AshtonMcGillUK

•Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

•Website: https://www.ashtonmcgill.com/

Vero are an Aberdeen-based recruitment agency disrupting their industry with an approach that's transparent, trusted and, most of all, human. Vero are unashamedly selective in their recruitment process and are amazing at what they do, taking a content-led approach to finding the right people for organistions. In this episode, you’ll hear co-founder Andrew Ferguson’s story, his forward-thinking approach to recruitment and his insights on finding the right people for your organisation. You can connect with Vero on Instagram @verorecruitment and check out their website verorecruitment.com.

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

To round off Season 3, we’re chatting with Illustrator and Ink Evangelist Johanna Basford OBE. Johanna’s illustrations are hand-drawn, predominantly in black and white. She has designed colouring books, wallpaper, beer labels, tattoos and even drawn on cars! But Johanna is perhaps best known for pioneering the adult colouring book trend. After studying at DJCAD, she was quickly noticed for her distinctive style, and since then has worked with global brands the likes of Starbucks, Penguin and Staedtler. Johanna’s story is a fascinating one of innovation and tenacity. And she doesn’t play by the rules. In this episode, we dig into the incredible journey from starting off as a young design student to now selling over 21 million colouring books worldwide and being awarded an OBE. Johanna has a real passion for giving people the tools to be creative in their own way, and she has just launched her own online course, Inky Art School, where she offers people a unique art school experience. Johanna also tells us about her brand new book, How to Draw Inky Wonderlands, in which she shares her drawing tips and tricks, and how she’s collaborating with the drawing community, inspiring millions of people around the world to put down their devices and pick up a pencil. Finally, she shares the exciting things she’s got planned for the future and some words of wisdom for budding designers. Johanna is one of the most inspiring guests we’ve had on the podcast to date, and a real testament to why you should Never Settle until you’re living your dream. If you’d like to keep up with Johanna’s inky adventures and be the first to know when she next runs a course like Inky Art School, you can sign up to her newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/johannabasford.com/inkyemail. You can also order Johanna’s new book here: https://www.johannabasford.com/books/ And you can follow Johanna on Instagram and Facebook @JohannaBasford.


The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

Sarah Downs and Yekemi Otaru are cofounders and directors of Doqaru, a business management consultant based in Aberdeen. In their first eight months, they’ve hit the ground running. They’re now a team of 5 with award nominations, including a nomination for Scottish Startup Entrepreneurs of the Year in The Great British Entrepreneur Awards. Based in Aberdeen, the oil capital of Europe, Sarah and Yekemi talk about their experiences of running their separate businesses during the oil downturn and what it’s like running a business together in the energy sector of Aberdeen today. Before Doqaru, Yekemi also wrote a book, 'The Smart Sceptic's Guide to Social Media in Organisations', which reached the top 100 in 5 categories on Amazon. By merging together, they were able to offer a unique content marketing service to other technology and engineering businesses and provide a vertical alignment to an industry that didn’t have that. We dig into the journey of building a brand from a joint merger and how to develop a genuine and engaging brand voice as a business develops. You’ll hear why businesses today need to give potential customers an aligned message, both in person and online, and why they should be living and breathing their brand culture. And finally, we dig into the future of Doqaru and their plans for international expansion. If you’d like to keep up with the Doqaru journey, you can follow them on instagram @wearedoqaru or head to www.doqaru.com. And if you’d like to get in touch with Sarah or Yekemi, you can email them at [email protected].


The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

In this episode, we’re in conversation with the fabulous Deirdre Robertson, CEO of Dundee Heritage Trust. Dundee Heritage Trust runs 2 globally renowned 5 star visitor attractions in Dundee, both recently awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Trip Advisor’s Hall of Fame. Deirde and our podcast host Alasdair first met back in the 80s at Ernst & Young in Dundee, when the city was a very different place. We dig into the gradual regeneration of the city over those years, how Deirdre has seen the transformation of her hometown, and the impact of the new V&A Museum as it spreads outward. Very much epitomising the attitude of Never Settle, Deirdre has had a hugely varied career spanning many roles, from finance to art, which we begin to unpack in this episode. Her lifelong passion for art and for the City of Dundee have combined to form a fascinating journey, including a role in the Damien Hirst show at the Tate, the museum’s most commercially successful exhibition at the time, and a Masters Degree at DJCAD on Dundee’s Law Tunnel. And finally, we explore what the future holds for the City of Discovery and the exciting projects Deirdre has in the pipeline. If you'd like to get in touch with Deirdre, you can email her at [email protected].

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

In this episode, we chat with Ed Molyneux, Founder and CEO of FreeAgent. FreeAgent is an award-winning accounting platform that puts businesses in charge of their finances, with over 200 employees and more than 60,000 users worldwide. You’ll hear how Ed cofounded FreeAgent back in 2007 without any background in accountancy, and how the power of ignorance played a central role in the early days of the FreeAgent journey. It was a pivotal time for a lot of new businesses coming to market, and a pivotal time for the evolution of tech too, and we chat about how much the internet’s capability played a role in Ed deciding to do what he did in those early days. We also chat about building a culture and a brand and how Ed encouraged people to buy into what he’d created. Despite FreeAgent’s worldwide success, Ed isn’t one to rest on his laurels. He’s determined to Never Settle, always looking for new and innovative ways to grow the business, which he shares with us on the show. Finally, we delve into the future of FreeAgent, the newfangled opportunities arising from the convergence of banking and accounting, and how FreeAgent are breaking new ground with helping customers in ways they couldn’t imagine before. If you’d like to keep up with Ed and the FreeAgent journey, you can follow them on twitter @Freeagent, or email Ed at [email protected].

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

Colin Hewitt is cofounder and CEO of Float in Edinburgh, cash flow forecasting and financial management software for businesses. He’s disrupting the tech ecosystem on a mission to help people with the numbers so they can drive the right decisions for their business. In this episode, we delve into the early days of Colin’s first business, a web design agency If Looks Could Kill, and dig into the Float journey. You’ll hear how Float went from a solution for paying off Colin’s student debt to a Xero app partner and central dashboard for small businesses, with plans for international growth. We chat about the pivotal role of Edinburgh’s start-up culture in the development of Float, as well as the different ways businesses can get funding, from angel investors to crowdfunding. Colin tells us why it’s so critical for businesses to manage their cash flow and how they can do it. And finally, with Sweden set to become the world’s first cashless society by 2023, we delve into the future of cash flow management and FinTech as other countries potentially follow suit. If you’d like to get in touch with Colin, or find out more about Float, you can follow him on twitter @colinhewitt or email him at [email protected].

The Never Settle Podcast is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com

In this special episode, you’ll hear from Ashton McGill, the faces behind the Never Settle podcast. We’re a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses, and in this episode, we explore the theme of bridging gaps between education and industry, and between accountants and business owners. Based on our accountant Alicia’s dissertation project, we also discuss the core skills an accountant should have in the 21st Century: communication, empathy, and curiosity, and the shifting role of the accountant in guiding you through the business landscape. And finally, we dig into the future of work, exploring the shift from the traditional 9-5 and what role technology will play in the near future.

Never Settle is brought to you by Ashton McGill, a team of accountants and designers who help people build better businesses.

You can follow us here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/ashtonmcgilluk

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashtonmcgill/

Website https://www.ashtonmcgill.com