00:00 - Jess White (Host)

Thank you so much for listening to The Networking SPARK podcast today. I'm super excited to talk to Andy Baker, who is an author, entrepreneur, business mentor, educator, behaviour expert and the host of the Able to Care podcast, and he's also going to be running our first SPARK Nottingham network. With over 15 years of experience in training, Andy is the Managing Director of Able Training Support Limited and founder of several other businesses, including Ability Training Awards, Able Meeting Rooms and Target Martial Arts.

Andy is passionate about helping individuals and organisations improve behaviour management, staff development and self-care. He loves promoting positive changes in people and individuals from all walks of life and he is a fantastically perfect fit for running SPARK. So a huge welcome.

00:58

I'm so excited, Andy, to have you here on The Networking SPARK podcast today, not only because you're an incredibly successful and amazing human being running multiple businesses and totally inspiring, but also because you are taking on the very first SPARK franchise, which is going to be in Nottingham, and I'm so, so excited. So, Andy, thank you so much and welcome. May I ask you, first of all, what made you say yes to taking on the very first SPARK franchise?

01:38 - Andy Baker (Guest)

There’s a couple of reasons, I suppose one is. So I've been looking at networking businesses for a little while and it's been in the back of my mind because, I have done networking on numerous occasions throughout my my business life and I've always found them very, very beneficial, uh, and not just as well for a business connections, but for some of them not all that I've been to but some are really positive as far as a social network and things like that. And I was kind of re-inspired beginning of this year, even before we kind of connected properly, of going to some events and reconnecting with business owners, I've been isolated for a while and started to build some connections and stuff. I really enjoyed it, and the town I'm in, Grantham, is a little bit limited on its networking availability and so I knew I needed to kind of branch out a little bit further. But it would also be nice to have something here. So I'd kind of been looking around and seeing what was available, as well as one of my businesses, a meeting room, so I thought I'd fit in nicely with that. But then I met you and heard about what you were doing and the concept that you were presenting, the brand that you were presenting really appealed to me as a concept.

02:48

I've done other networking events and some of them have been hit and miss and some of them felt a bit intense and not fun and some of them have been a bit lax as far as lacking any structure whatsoever and things like that. It didn't feel the most beneficial lacks as far as lacking any structure whatsoever and things like that it didn't feel the most beneficial, whereas yours sounded like it was something that had a really nice kind of feel to it. It felt like it was had that social aspect but also was a really supportive community and it was one of the things I've kind of been developing with the group that we both know as separately. I found that really useful actually in the last year when I've really been accelerating my business to have people to bounce ideas off and community and other people just supporting each other, just simple things like just liking each other's posts and stuff like that. It just makes a big difference. It just makes business, which is hard, just a little bit easier.

03:50 - Jess White (Host)

And I think if I can facilitate that and offer that, not just for myself and my own business but also to other people, that's invaluable and open up that opportunity to others as well.

03:55

And it feels like such a good fit because you also have a training business and a big part of what we do at SPARK is training and of course you know the main part, the original part, is networking and of course you know the main part, the original part is networking and, as you say, let's face it, a lot of people have got this idea of what a networking event is.

04:22

They may have had an experience of them feeling a little bit awkward or maybe going along to an event or a company where it's just the same people every time, or maybe just a bit too salesy, just feeling awkward, and then people shoving business cards at them and just talking about themselves all the time and it just doesn't feel attractive for many.

04:44

So with SPARK, as you're rightly saying, we've changed, we've flipped that on its head and we've made a really supportive, a fun and relaxed environment for people to get together, because during COVID all of that was taken away, events were dead, and so now, just coming back into it after COVID, people are really wanting live events and getting together in person rather than just on Zoom. So we found a really big gap in the market in many ways. And so at SPARK we do. We bring people together in a beautiful way in nice environments to create growth, connection, inspiration and it really is a people business and I can see with the businesses that you run and what you do that you are definitely good at bringing people together. But tell us a little bit about your training business.

05:48 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah, my training business we've been going for well. I started training in-house and I moved into freelance training and I started my company then 10 years ago, so Able Training Support Limited, and it was just me in a cupboard. That was my office. I didn't even have a proper office in a cupboard.

06:03 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, yeah, I didn't even have a proper office.

06:04 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah yeah, I didn't even have a proper room. I didn't have an office in my house, I just had a cupboard with a printer in it and that was my entire business essentially. So I started it up from that and then, over a period of time, I then had to take a member of staff on because there's too much work for me, and we expanded and my co-director now she's kind of moved up. Co-director was the second employee that I had. She was my bookkeeper. Then she came on board with me in our first office. She didn't even have a desk, it was just I had a desk, somebody else had a desk and she had a bit of wood between those two desks and that was her desk. So we've kind of expanded up. So now it's 13 members of staff I think we're on at the moment, about to potentially take on number 14, I think. So it's grown quite a lot.

06:48

Um, we specialise in the health and social care sector. We deliver over 250 different courses. we are the external training organisation of the Alzheimer's Society, so we deliver on behalf of the Alzheimer's Society across the whole of the UK. we specialise in understanding people and that's always been my kind of passion and that's why it kind of connects in with the networking of just connecting people. Understanding people, improving communication, everything like that is my absolute passion, so that's what we've expanded out over the years.

07:20 - Jess White (Host)

I love stories of hearing about people from where they started to where they are now. So I can really picture you in a little cupboard and you know, and I've just had a tour around your offices and it's just wonderful. In fact, I just said to you, it's just got a really lovely feel to it and I think you are a creator. But you also look after people and I'm just, you know, I can just feel that just by walking around the space. It's a great sort of space and community you've created here, which makes me even more excited that you're coming on board with SPARK and going to be launching in January and, yeah, super, super, super excited to you know, begin and get going with regular events and building your community, bringing business professionals and business owners together to grow and to network. So, yeah, amazing to have you on board. What are your experiences in the past so far with networking? Have you had any? You know you've mentioned you've had some. You know, maybe not great experiences, but tell us about the good experiences of networking that you've had.

08:39 - Andy Baker (Guest)

I've. I've met some really beneficial people within my business life, definitely through networking, and I've also made some connections and friends through networking that I've done over the years. We lost touch ages ago but there was a lady I met on a networking event and she ended up doing some marketing for me and coming to some events. We ended up supporting each other for a while. She then moved away, so it was one of those that you know these things happen, but it was really nice and I met a number of people through certain networking events that we supported each other over that time and still in contact with some of them now, years later, even though I haven't done the networking scene for a while.

09:22

Really, covid as, as you mentioned, kind of knocked things out a little bit as well, so I've definitely kind of really benefited from some of the connections I've made that have lasted since COVID.

09:33

We are quite disconnected.

09:35

More people are working from home, we're more working virtually than ever before and things like that.

09:39

And, and you said, people are screaming out for some form of connection and and I think especially in the whether you're a bigger business and sometimes you can just feel lost in the crowd, or whether it be a smaller business where you're getting started and it's lonely, you know it's hard work, and I think those opportunities to connect to other like-minded people is really beneficial as well, and I've got a couple of friends who are both it's earlier on or in different places in their kind of business journey, and we were talking about how important it is just to it was really nice we hadn't managed to get together for a day.

10:11

We don't often get to get together, but just to kind of talk about this is a nightmare, isn't it? This is a pain. This is really good, though, and this is difficult, and I'm going through this in a minute and you through this in a minute, and you know I've got some ideas for that and, and just that interconnection between us like solved a few problems. It allowed us to vent a few challenges and stuff like that, and I think that's wonderful if you've got those few friends that are in a similar world, but if you don't, that's where networking comes into play.

10:41 - Jess White (Host)

There's more and more people leaving employment to start and do their own thing, to live their purpose or to start their own business. And although sometimes it can feel like an amazing idea, when you actually get to it, building a business is not easy and a lot of people will say, hey, I'm going to be an entrepreneur, I'm going to own my own business. And then they're suddenly finding they're wearing a multitude of hats, they're you know, everything is on their shoulders and, as you say, it can feel lonely. So to be able to actually just take a step away from that and go and meet people in the same boat, you know, maybe with totally different businesses to yourself, but in the same boat as in they're carrying that same sort of responsibility, not only gets you out of your head and into a social space, but allows you to create these connections and who knows where they'll lead. You can often meet somebody you would collaborate with, or a future business partner at a networking event would collaborate with, or a future business partner at a networking event.

11:47

And networking doesn't just have to happen at a networking event. Podcasting is networking, for instance. Yeah, there's all sorts of different ways of doing it, but it's, yeah, it's. You know, you start your own business and there's an immense amount of pressure on you and I think it's really good for your mental health to step away and just, you know, just go and talk to other people, you know, in a similar boat as in they've got the same responsibility, not just so you can, you know, sit and you know, just kind of talk about the hard bits, but also also to inspire each other. You might not have those same conversations with somebody who's doing a nine-to-five, for instance, and you might not feel comfortable enough to open up, whereas if you're speaking to other business owners, you can open up. You know, and you know who knows what. You know what you can create together and you and I essentially have met each other through networking.

12:57 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah.

12:58 - Jess White (Host)

So, and you know, through these events where business owners come together, I just find it personally so inspiring. When I went to the same meeting as yourself, I would walk around and say, oh hi, so what do you do? Oh, I've got six businesses, or I've got nine businesses, and it's like wow, oh, brilliant, these are my people.

13:21 - Andy Baker (Guest)

It is difficult to connect, isn't it? And it's finding those opportunities. So, if you go and start a new hobby or something like that, so, like yoga, you go along to yoga, you're going to chat to some other people who may or may not be interested in the same thing, and whether yoga is your passion or not, you know you might meet some people there who've got other similar passions and stuff. I definitely find, within business networking, though, when you get the right opportunity in the right kind of environment as well, that most people are passionate about their business and therefore that straight away, it's a common common ground to really connect with you know? you know, if I'm going to a sport I might just go into it. I need to lose a bit of weight, but I don't really care what the sport is, it was just an opportunity. Whereas businesses, we're meeting other people who genuinely have a drive and have a passion.

14:03 - Jess White (Host)

I was about to say that there's that word driven isn't there and not everybody is driven. I read some stats the other day that said only 2% of the population is driven. I'm not quite exactly sure where they got those stats from.

14:17 - Andy Baker (Guest)

That's a difficult metric to get, isn't it? Are you driven? Isn't it no.

14:22 - Jess White (Host)

But I do know being honest. I'm not naming any names, but I do know people, and I'm sure we all know people who we, where, we can say, well, they're definitely not driven they're just yeah, but I personally prefer to be surrounded by driven people because they inspire me to to, to get going.

14:40

One thing we do, at SPARK, in our groups so we have a WhatsApp group is every Monday we set goals together, because writing down your goals and sharing them with everyone else means you're far more likely to take the steps to achieve them. And then at the end of the week, we share our wins like what's gone well this week, and it's just really, really, it's not boasting, it's just really nice and inspiring to to read everybody else's wins and to to write down your own as well. Talking about being driven, you've written a book. So I mean writing a book is you know? Tell us about the process? How long did it take you to write the book? So it's called Targeting the Positive. Yes, yes.

15:33 - Andy Baker (Guest)

So my specialist subject and what I've been studying and engaged in and passionate about for the last 18, 19 years is understanding people and managing difficult or behaviours that challenge. So, whether that be so predominantly in the health and social care sector, whether it be those living with dementia, those with neurodiversity who are being supported and cared for, mental health issues, or I've done a lot of work within children's services, so foster children and looked after children, so it applies to teachers and all. So I was just in a meeting today and somebody who's read it said it made me question everything. I am as a parent, so that's always quite good as well. So it's been in there for a long time, and when lockdown happened, obviously I was in a situation that my training company wasn't going to be doing anything for a little while. It didn't hit us for long because we're quite unimportant. Uh, the training we do is obviously for essential workers and therefore we got back to it very, very quickly, but I had a couple of months of not having anything to do.

16:32 - Jess White (Host)

so therefore, I started yeah, I'll write a book, yeah. I'll write a book, so it's quite a big book, andy, it is quite a big book, yeah, and I had to cut that down.

16:41 - Andy Baker (Guest)

The publisher made me cut it down, so there's online chapters as well, because I couldn't. I was like, but it's still really important. So I spent it probably took me two years to put the book together, but it was a an amalgamation of 25 years of of studying and and loving psychology and human beings, and then it's taken me kind of. The publisher has been sitting with it for about 18 months. They've gone through everything, which takes a while to get through the whole publishing process. So, yeah, it's out. So, depending on when this podcast goes out, but it's out on the 21st of November in 2024. And I'm excited Nervous, but excited in so much as I hope I sell more. I hope the only one I've signed isn't to my parents and they get some other opportunities to do it. It is a bit of a textbook but it's quite accessible and, yeah, I'm very proud.

17:35 - Jess White (Host)

So it's a big, big goal. Yeah, and actually the podcast is going to go out before the book launch, so in the show notes you'll be able to kind of order the book, but you're also, I believe you're going to have a book launch.

17:51 - Andy Baker (Guest)

We are, yeah. So at the moment it's 28th of November we're looking for the book launch. I'm going to be holding it within Grantham and we're going to be putting it out to lots of people to attend. We've kind of got a venue sorted. We've also got some of my people I used to interact with, so some fellow stand-up comedians. I used to be on the circuit, so got some coming along. We're doing a bit of a comedy gig. They're going to be kind of doing the entertainment and I'll do a little tiny talk and then hopefully just sign some copies or people will come and interact and you get in free with the book.

18:24 - Jess White (Host)

I like that. So to get tickets to your event, you just need to buy a book.

18:28 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Buy the book and you can get in free, absolutely. There is other ways of getting a ticket as well, but that's the best way.

18:34 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, no, I love that concept and I love the news that you've just shared with me that you used to be a standup comedian and a singer.

18:44 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah, I was about 19 when I was a singer, though it doesn't carry forwards very much. So, yeah, I, I definitely have some some dynamic traits where I like to try things, yeah, but I usually kind of continue them until I've got some level of success. Uh, so I did standup comedy. Well, I originally did it as a charity thing, so you could do eight weeks of a course and at the end of it you got a gig in front of like 250 people at the Glee Club and I'd been told a lot when I was training you should be a standup comedian, and a lot when I was training, you should be a stand-up comedian, um. And therefore I thought, well, I'll go and give it a go then.

19:20

So I did it for a year, I supported, uh, a famous comedian called Bobby Mair. Some people may have heard of him, so I supported him. So I did some headline gigs and stuff like that. I was never going to be live at the Apollo, I knew that. But I did it for a year. Well, I just, yeah, I don't know I wasn't dedicating enough time to it. Let's put it that way didn't feel like your purpose.

19:39 - Jess White (Host)

Maybe no it did.

19:41 - Andy Baker (Guest)

It was a really nice hobby. it was hard. It's probably one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life hard.

19:47 - Jess White (Host)

It takes a lot of skill to do that yeah, well, it's.

19:50 - Andy Baker (Guest)

It's more the emotional resilience that requires because, being funny on a training course is okay, because the expectation isn't you're going to be funny, it's you're going to know stuff. Being funny when people are expecting you to be funny is hard going and, yeah, telling jokes and people just staring at you. But you do things like gigs. When you're starting like a gig in a pub where people are being served or somebody will laugh over there and everybody's kind of listening to you, and then they'll all look over there and then you give your punchline and they look back and they've got no idea what you said and there's just a blank audience at that point. That's horrible but I enjoyed it.

20:24

But then again it was locked down here and therefore it kind of stopped and I just never really went back to it. It was, it was. It was quite a lot of work for doing it. So my priorities changed. But I've still got some really close friends in the circuit. I've had a couple of the guys on my podcast and I say they're going to be coming and supporting the book launch and stuff like that. So I met some amazing people through networking. I met some amazing people through that, yeah, absolutely.

20:52 - Jess White (Host)

Who should read your book, Andy?

20:54 - Andy Baker (Guest)

It's predominantly aimed towards professionals, so whether that be teachers or caregivers of young people, children, those who work in children's homes, foster parents definitely, but all the way up to those supporting in residential, supporting individuals living with dementia and mental health conditions and anything around that, so it's predominantly aimed towards a professional. However, it is written in fairly layman language and it's got loads of case studies in there and you can kind of dip in and out of it. So although it looks quite intense, apparently it's quite an easy read, so even parents could kind of take it and run with it.

21:34 - Jess White (Host)

I was going to say could be something for parents to dip in and out of.

21:37 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Absolutely. Yeah, there are other books in the pipeline.

21:42 - Jess White (Host)

Oh, fantastic, yeah, because the thing is like we become parents and it's like, well, there's no training. It's all of a sudden you're parents and you know. And then often what happens when you're a parent, without you realising, is you begin to you know, repeat. Perhaps if you're not consciously parenting, you begin to repeat the way that you were parented and if you, you know, times change and you might not agree with that. So it takes quite a lot of mindset and thought and taking the reins to to parent properly, doesn't it? And having a, you know, a book to help you, I just think it is you know everybody should be like that's thinking about becoming a parent, uh, or is it is a new parent should be reading as much as they can rather than just blindly walking through, do you agree?

22:39 - Andy Baker (Guest)

100% and one of the main focus in the book. So there's loads of different books out there that gives you topics or strategies. It's called Targeting the Positive. For a reason and like, for instance, a lady I was chatting with today who's kind of read it was going, I always used to have a go at my son for just turning, for leaving the light on, and we've all done that as parents and we swear as kids.

23:01

We swear as kids. We won't repeat the things, as you said, that our parents do of like. It's like blackpool illuminations up here. You're trying to bankrupt me by the lights on, but then we get to that parent stage and we start saying exactly the same thing and doing exactly the same thing. And she said that the books made her just go rather than picking on when he doesn't turn the light, uh, turn the light off. Looking at that and understanding he's probably in a rush, he's probably being thoughtless, he's not thinking it's not malicious, he's not trying to bankrupt me, he's not doing it from a bad place, no, but rather than catching when he doesn't do it, trying to catch when he does do it.

23:32 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, positive reinforcement is far more powerful than telling somebody off.

23:38 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Absolutely.

23:39 - Jess White (Host)

And will make them want to do it again and again and again.

23:43 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah, it's a huge thing, so there's a lot of tactics around that and helping people to shift that mindset towards that and stuff, yeah right. And the other thing I'd say is, if you manage people, the book gives you stuff, because people are people. That's one of the things that are the thread like working with quite complex behaviours in dementia care and mental health and with traumatised children and stuff. There's some real complex behaviours and different settings would contact me kind of going. We need this course, this course, and they would go. We're a bit different here, a bit different. I was like you know what? Know you're dealing with people and people are people. They're complex but they tend to fall into a similar blueprint or the similar tools and approaches that work better. So actually anybody who deals with people- can benefit from better understanding people and themselves.

24:34 - Jess White (Host)

I mean, that's a huge topic, isn't it? And it can fall under leadership as well, and walking the walk, leading by example. It's a huge topic, but when you're going into psychology and dealing with different types of mindsets and people's behaviour, then it's, you know, it's just endless, endless. I think you are a curious soul.

24:59 - Andy Baker (Guest)

I am, yes.

25:00 - Jess White (Host)

Well, just I'm a curious soul, or I am curious as in you're curious, I'm curious about people and things, yeah you know, just learning about your background, you've tried a lot of things, and so you're curious, you know, becoming, I feel, becoming the best version of yourself. But you know, just, you've written a book, you've been a comedian, you've, you know, you've tried singing. You've now got six businesses, five businesses.

25:29 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Depends on how you break them up, but it's about eight.

25:31 - Jess White (Host)

Eight.

25:31 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Okay, yeah, it's about eight, but it depends on how you break them up. If you've got, the podcast is another business. It takes the amount of time as a business, so therefore I'm counting it 100% yeah.

25:41 - Jess White (Host)

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Where does your drive come from?

26:52 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Tell us about your backstory a little bit there's a few life-changing events for me, that kind of um. I feel I can kind of pinpoint as being particularly important. One was I was mugged at knife point when I was 16 years old and that was a bit of a life-changing event for me, mainly because I was already a black belt in karate at that point. So I got a lot of grief from people going like why didn't you take the knife off him and kill him or whatever? And it's because I was a 16 year old kid. I was terrified.

27:21 - Jess White (Host)

But do you know what, Andy, having done martial arts training myself, the advice, the sensible advice, is to run away.

27:28 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Absolutely. Yeah, that's it. But at the time, because people gave me grief about it, I went into a bit of a shame cycle. I was a bit like, why didn't I defend myself? Why didn't I do anything? Because it was me and two friends that kind of got mugged and it took me down a route. And that's where I kind of discovered psychology. I started reading the books of some self-defence or self-personal safety instructors that introduced the idea of the psychology of fear and the psychology of conflict and stuff like that and that started me on the route of psychology. Before that I'd wanted to be a zoologist. I cared about the behaviour of animals, but then I shifted over and I started to find the interest in the behaviour of people.

28:03 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, I mean, in that situation it's hard to know how you would act, because did you find that you were frozen in fear?

28:17 - Andy Baker (Guest)

I kind of had a strange reaction Looking back, and obviously I was 16, so it was a fair while ago, so I probably changed the memory over and over again. But I remember feeling frightened. The thing is looking back because I now know exactly what he did, how he did it, and understand everything about the kind of interaction. I see it very differently. I feel no anger towards the guy and it's very much a case of like hmm, I wonder what he was going through at the time. But he didn't kind of walk over with his knife and go, I'm coming to stab you. He kind of came over just going oh sorry, boys, I've got to quit it all. And then that allowed him close distance and then pulled the knife on us and I felt very I felt different than my two friends did in after, when we talked about it, that I felt slightly. It was a form of disassociation, almost like a. I was outside of my body watching the situation happening. It didn't feel real. It was a slight form of disassociation, which is a freeze response. It's a form of the freeze response, so I didn't feel affected by it, like I felt terror. I felt like this is weird, it's like watching a movie. now, that did allow me to note all the details of all his clothing and stuff like that, which meant that then he got caught and went to prison for six years. But, but yeah, it was. It was a strange event, but I think the reaction afterwards was probably more important. Definitely one of my friends. It affected in quite a negative way and he felt very nervous going out and leaving the house and stuff like that. It really did affect him in that way, whereas I just became incredibly curious and I turned it into I need to be better, and I think that's maybe a realisation of just that.

29:58

You mentioned it there about why do I do all the things I do? I work hard to do everything I do because my life philosophy is to be the best me I can be. That's it. I don't know what the purpose of life is other than that to be the best me I can be. So I'm going to work hard at that. Every day. I'm going to try things to see what I'm good at, because I don't know what I'm good at unless I try it.

30:23

I try and step out my comfort zone. all the time, I try and do everything. At least one thing every year that scares me is kind of always on my goal list, because if you're not stretching your comfort zone it will shrink. grow, absolutely, you gotta grow. So I think that's that's. That was a big part of that kind of journey into that world. And then the other thing that kind of changed my life was and again related to martial arts. I've been in martial arts a long time and I think there's a lot of martial arts philosophy that really resonates with me as well. But I went to a seminar, hadn't done, I quit martial arts, probably for a little while. I started drinking and eating too much and smoking and stuff like that. All that stuff came in.

30:58 - Jess White (Host)

And that doesn't go hand in hand with fitness, it doesn't go with martial arts. Yeah, absolutely.

31:04 - Andy Baker (Guest)

So I wasn't doing any exercise for a while and I went to a seminar just because I got invited and this guy said you've got potential.

31:10 - Jess White (Host)

And I think it was the first time that I'd heard somebody saying you've got potential, without the caveat that all the teachers had done when I was at school going. But and that statement that he said you've got potential was almost well, not almost, but that was in another language him saying I believe in you and that is so powerful, isn't it? And so so you were not in a good place by the sounds of things. Yeah.

31:36 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

31:38 - Jess White (Host)

And when he said that, did that turn things around.

31:42 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah, it changed. So basically I spoke to him afterwards and this was again, it was towards the martial arts side of things. So I was I quit drinking, I quit smoking. I started, I changed my diet, I started exercising five days a week because I was going to step in the ring and fight and that's what gave me that purpose, that's something to aim for. And I thought, right, I need to be the best I can be. And if I'm going to be the best I can be, then you don't nip to the gym for half an hour once a week, you train every day. And that's just then what I started doing. I hyper focused on that and kind of drove forwards with it and kind of did all right. So I did step into the ring, won one, lost one, drew one.

32:30

It was partly because it wasn't. Some of the people who loved me around didn't like seeing my nose spread across my face, so they weren't keen on me doing it. So it was kind of then fell by the wayside a little bit. But it was an amazing experience to do. But what it started introducing me to was that I can do anything I put my mind to. And that was then and I. Then I started to come across personal development and things like that. Some of the things kind of got introduced to me as far as personal development and the if you think you can do something, you think you can't do do something, you're probably right, kind of mentality kind of came into play. So I started going well, I could do anything, then can't I, as long as I apply myself to it.

33:02 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, and, I think it's. I really I want to thank you first of all, for opening up and sharing the bad times, because I think it's really, really important for people to be able to connect to you, for you to like. Sometimes people like I could go wow, you've got eight businesses like you're amazing, you know. But I always find, behind every entrepreneur and anyone that's successful there, there are these pivotal points in time where they have gone through something that's been incredibly hard or, you know, life has got incredibly dark for them to actually do this turnaround and and and then you know, to have this drive that takes them forward to create, to help others. so I think it's it's super important to open up and share that with people, because you never know who you're going to help when you share.

33:58

And yet there are some people find it difficult to open up and share because you know they're worried that you know that was their weakest point in their life and they don't want to go back there or open up that pain. But it's, you know, I just feel it's important to share and that's why I think, like podcasting is quite a nice way of doing that, of know I, I just feel it's important to share and that's why I think, like, podcasting is quite a nice way of doing that, of telling your story, because, as as successful as we might be now, uh, life might not have always been wonderful, and it was the case for me as well. You know, I, I, I, you know, one day I will sort of do a podcast where I'll open up about all the. One day I will sort of do a podcast where I'll open up about all the you know, the bad times and trauma throughout my early life I had. But, yeah, I, I just think there's I like to to share that really, because it it creates this connection.

34:51 - Andy Baker (Guest)

I think on any, on any journey, there's never it's never going to be all downhill. And and I have and I've been quite open on my podcasts and stuff like that about experiencing significant challenges with my mental health over the years and and as I learn and learn more and and one of the things I found have found difficult, especially in even the last few years, is I know all that stuff and therefore I beat myself up going. You should be able to sort yourself out. You should be able to. You know you've been studying psychology and studying psychotherapy for 18 years now. You should be able to deal with this stuff, but it still catches me out at times. And and what I've got better out is being accepting of that, and I've definitely done a lot of work, even in the last couple of years, as kind of really really learning to accept that the bad times are going to happen, but they sometimes are, in that they're still useful, they're still a positive to them in the fact that they're informing you that things aren't right in your world right now, the balance in your life is not right or something isn't quite okay. So then re-examine, see where that disbalance is and see what you can do about it. But don't take it like I'm struggling and therefore I'm not good enough or I'm struggling and therefore I'm failing. And it's so important to kind of recognize you're struggling right now because life sometimes is a struggle.

36:08

There's an amazing song by an artist called Ren who talks about it, that it isn't the light and the dark is not a battle between good and evil.

36:18

It should be a dance that we go with the flow. It's a pendulum from light and dark and rather than fighting against it and being rigid and everything I kind of do we spoke about jujitsu earlier it's not about fighting the opponent with force. It's about going with the flow of that force and learning to kind of use it against itself. And I've definitely done a lot of self-reflection on that to to help me through those difficult times, and I think, especially as a business owner, as we've said a few times, there's nobody else necessarily patting you on the back. So therefore it's that it can be in the dark times it can feel really dark and lonely and but then when the good times, it can also feel quite lonely because there's nobody there going. It's all down to you, because you have to be there for your employees to go. You guys are brilliant. Thank you so much. And then that's it.

37:07 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, but, Andy, that's the beauty of being part of the SPARK community.

37:10 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Absolutely, absolutely nice segue. But it is, you're right, because it's that accountability, so there's other entrepreneurs that will go. But make sure you pat yourself on the back, make sure you say well done, because you get to say this happened as you, as you mentioned like the, the wins that you have and stuff like that there's an opportunity to go.

37:30 - Jess White (Host)

I'm doing this yeah, and you feel like you have a business family around you too, so everybody celebrates each other. but I do like you have a business family around you, so everybody celebrates each other. But I do like to. I do want to say because sometimes I do talk about the positive a lot, because I think it's important to keep the vibration high, but when you are going through something difficult, those are the times that you learn and that's what you have to remember. If things are really hard right now, what can you learn and that's what you have to remember? If things are really hard right now, what can you learn from this? And you know, just remembering the saying that this, this shall pass. Just like the good times, this too shall pass it. One thing is certain is change and time yeah, yeah, absolutely would you just go?

38:16

go into the other businesses that you run. We're talking martial arts, you know? Just tell us, and the podcast as well.

38:26 - Andy Baker (Guest)

The full list. Okay, it's a bit like remembering your children's birthdays, though it's like if I get one wrong.

38:31 - Jess White (Host)

Don't you think businesses are like babies, though? Oh?

38:34 - Andy Baker (Guest)

yes, 100%. So Able Training Support Limited is my main business and the one that I spend most of my time and have spent most of my time building Within that. Then I've got the podcast, which is Able to Care podcast, and then we're just about to launch the ablehubuk, which is a membership site for paid and unpaid caregivers to access a lot of the stuff we teach, allow them to access at a significantly lower price to to to improve quality of life for themselves and those that they care about. So they're all kind of stacked slightly. Then I've got an awarding body which is called ability training awards, offers a cpd accreditation and a accreditation service.

39:15

Target martial arts, which is my martial arts studio, able meeting rooms, which is my meeting and, uh, yeah, meeting and conference venue. And have I forgotten in there? Oh, and then, yeah, my fairly new one which is now I offer business mentoring and speaking, and that's called the positive behaviour coach, which kind of ties into then talking to positive. And then next year I'm exciting, I'm starting this very exciting new venture, I don't think we've mentioned it yet.

39:44 - Jess White (Host)

So I think it needs the word able on it, though. Sparkable yeah, I like it. Sparkable. Yeah, so do you. How do you manage to fit all of this in, Andy, because there's only 24 hours in a day, and also just for anyone else that is managing you know their time what? What would your tips be?

40:10 - Andy Baker (Guest)

strict and self-discipline is massive. I am a big believer that I am the toughest boss that I've ever had, but I'm also the best employee that I've ever had and I fill both roles. So therefore, as a tough boss, I sometimes have to make sure that I'm doing the work that I should, that I'm holding myself accountable, but also that I'm not working in times I shouldn't, and I am trying to make sure I take that downtime. As a best employee, I'm wanting to make sure that I meet those challenges. I use my ingenuity, I step outside the box, so there's a lot of that of kind of playing dual roles. I do a lot of time management stuff, but I also have got very good.

40:57

I learned from two mentors in my life, so my dad was a business owner and my dad's an amazing and wonderful man, and I learned an awful lot from him. However, one of the things he was terrible at was delegating, because he was very much at the old school mindset. He was first there last away in the business, but he would, because it's easier to do myself, so he would then be down on his hands and knees cleaning shelves while his staff was stood there having a chat, and that was something that I noticed and picked up on and thought that isn't going to be me. Then I had another mentor who was an interesting business owner, very, very different style. He's a nice, he's a good man, but had some unusual ways of doing business.

41:42 - Jess White (Host)

Sensing a butt.

41:43 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Yeah, there was a definite butt. There he is. Yeah, he's lovable but a pain. But he was the epitome of the delegator. He would call you upstairs because the son had gone in, and call a member of staff, come up and turn the light on in his room. Oh god, that he was that level of um. He would just stand there and point at things going uh, can you clean that up for me please? And now, so I've kind of gone.

42:07

I need to be something between, yeah, that I always worked and when I was a manager and things like that different environments. In the case of if'm busy, then you should be doing something, but I'd never ask anybody to do something I wouldn't do myself. So I will learn new things, but I am quite strict myself as far as delegating, and one of the ways that's helped me with that is I worked out what I should value my hourly rate at because of what I do and what I can earn through doing the training and things like that. So one of the things is I have in my head that I know what my hourly rate is or what I am worth per hour, and therefore I try and apply that to every job that I do in the fact that now I don't always get it right and I have. The other day I caught myself breaking up boxes to put in the bin and thought, what are you doing? Because that is not the job of somebody who earns the hourly rate that I should be. But I try, and then you know, if it's even painting a wall in my house, then it's well. Why wouldn't I pay somebody else to do it if their rate is lower than my hourly rate? Because I could be using that time to be doing some marketing in my business, which would actually be worth far more to me. So I'd rather pay them and then utilise that time for doing something in my business.

43:19

So, unless it's something I enjoy and I am the other thing, I, my tip is I am very strict with my time off, like so I have certain habits. I do every morning, I try, and I read a chapter of a book every morning and I do 100 press-ups every morning. that's my morning routine. there's times when it's a bit morning and I do a hundred press-ups every morning. that's my morning routine. there's times when it's been better and I've made it to the gym and all sorts, but at the minute that's as much as I'm able to do.

43:45 - Jess White (Host)

That's. I mean that's. That's great, because it doesn't matter where you are. You can do a hundred press-ups and you know if you are watching your time actually getting yourself to the gym and stuff like that takes some time, and that's the thing, isn't it?

43:59 - Andy Baker (Guest)

That's the mentality. I think that's probably another important point that I've noticed and caught people doing and even my mentees have caught them doing Is that if I can't go to the gym for an hour, there's no point in going.

44:09 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah.

44:10 - Andy Baker (Guest)

But doing 100 press-ups takes me well. I put the kettle on, I do 100 press-ups and I go back and make the coffee. That's literally what I do and that's my morning routine, but I think sometimes like so, I've just been doing some work with a mentee that's going like you get half an hour for a lunch break. It only takes you 20 minutes. So what are you doing in the 10? Go on LinkedIn, get three connections, aim to get three connections a day, and it's just those little incremental opportunities that mean actually and I know both you and I use our voice notes quite a lot.

44:41 - Jess White (Host)

I know all the time. It's just so much faster, yeah walking, drawing, whatever.

44:46

And also you know, I don't know about you. Sometimes people can read text in the wrong tone of voice. So I think voice notes are brilliant because you can put yourself across in the right tone of voice if you catch someone. I've had it recently. Someone read an email of mine and took it totally the wrong way and I showed about 10 other people and they said what? So people really can and maybe I've done it myself read something and read it in the wrong tone of voice. So I think voice notes are great. Sorry, off tangent there.

45:14 - Andy Baker (Guest)

No, no, no, massively, yeah, yeah, the words. So I think voice notes are great. Sorry, off-touch. No, no, no, massively, yeah, yeah. The words we use only make up seven percent of our overall communication. So 38 is vocal tone, 55 is body language. So, straight away, if you can see me face to face, that's far better. But if I can, just seven percent changes everything, if it's only the words. So just adding in a little bit of vocal tone, a little bit of pace and pitch, and yeah, because it's not what you say often, it's only the words.

45:38 - Jess White (Host)

So just adding in a little bit of vocal tone, a little bit of pace and pitch yeah, because it's not what you say often. It's how you make someone feel yeah, oh, yeah, 100%, which can be how you say it too yeah. So what about getting overwhelmed, like there might be someone listening going oh my God, eight businesses, like what the heck? You know what the heck, how on earth? So what would you say to someone that's feeling overwhelmed? And do you ever feel overwhelmed? What do you do when you, when that happens?

46:06 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Because I have struggled with my mental health. I have got much better at recognizing when there is an imbalance. I don't always catch it, but if I get it early, if I notice early, then I'm better at instigating things quickly and I try and I have certain things in my head that balance. So there's a model called the PERMA model and I can never remember what everything stands for, but basically I kind of look at it as where usually if I'm struggling, there's an imbalance, there's too much work, not enough socialising, I'm not doing enough exercise, I'm not doing enough things that I just enjoy, I'm not taking time just to not think, or I'm not taking enough time to be in what we call flow state and it's trying to make sure like. So I'll look at if I'm starting to feel like when was the last time I went and socialised with somebody just for the sake of socialising, not business, just hung out with a friend or went for a drink or something like that? So therefore then I'll reach out and go hey, do you fancy a drink? Have I been able to get to my martial art classes properly? Have I been doing my press-ups properly? You know, making sure that I've got enough exercise in my life, but also things like flow state. So I've had a lot of people go. You know, uh, you work too much and I am very, very strict.

47:18

My time off, as I said so, but I I posted it the other day I think that I do the mopping of my own martial arts studio floor and I think I'll continue to do that because just the the process of mopping, I don't have to think about anything else, I can kind of put my music on. It's a kind of a laborious, boring task. It doesn't really require my brain but it's something that needs doing. But I really enjoy it. It's a bit like painting or cutting the lawn, that transition from one state to another, where it's going from dry to wet, the light to the dark, just that process and at the end of it, seeing a success, because I am mindful in that moment, because I am strict and I'm not just doing it as a chore, I'm doing it. This is an activity that is for me to take that time away, actually find it really therapeutic. Yeah, so I've turned certain jobs I do into something that feels therapeutic.

48:16 - Jess White (Host)

I like that a lot. I find that with running you switch off and naturally, it's just yeah, just as you say. If you're mindful about the things you're doing and you're not just blindly going through them, then they can really have impact. Just one thought I had is that you've educated yourself so much and you're you're very mindful of everything that you do. You must be a great person to work for. What would you say, your staff say?

48:47 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Do you agree? Now there's a person in the corner there. He's smiling. He is smiling, yeah, and he's my son, so it doesn't count. I have been told that I am a good employer. I am very. I try to look after my staff. I think because of the nature of looking after people and supporting people it is. You know, if I can't manage the behaviour of my staff, then I need to be having a stern word with myself about writing a book about managing behaviour, although there's always challenges.

49:20 - Jess White (Host)

Always.

49:24 - Andy Baker (Guest)

I try to make sure that my staff are happy, but at the same time I have to kind of push the objectives. I try to make sure we're very strict with our values.

49:33

I have a mission and objective statement that's up on the wall and we also have a value structure that's up on the wall and the values say it's a lot of different words, basically, but the main ones is kind of caring, knowledgeable and approachable is part of the business, but then within the organisation we have respect we have, we genuinely care is a huge part of us. Growth, mindset, ingenuity, solution focused, positive outcomes All of these, I think, kind of phrases we have that we try to ingrain to all the staff. So we, I don't. I remember reading a management book actually years ago and I've just passed it on to one of my mentees. It's called the One Minute Manager. One of the things that really resonated with me is similar to stuff that I do in the book and it's kind of like that's what I say.

50:25

Oh, people are people, because I've just read it in so many different places. I'm remembering to appreciate them every day and not take for granted the little things, like we all do in every relationship, where, well, you should do that, you shouldn't do that. You should come to work on time, you should come to work and work hard. No, appreciate it, don't take it for granted, because there's plenty of people who wouldn't do that. So, the same as your partner should come home and, you know, make you a coffee or whatever, but if they do still acknowledge it, appreciate it, value it, because don't take it for granted, because the things you take for granted, the things will disappear. So I make sure I appreciate the things and little things they do. I try to make sure I say thank you to every one of them at least once a week, usually more than once a week, whereas reprimands I will still reprimand, I'll still say that's not good enough, but focus on them.

51:15

I focus on the. There's a gap somewhere, there's a, there's a challenge somewhere we have. We've got a problem in our system, not a problem with you. We've got a problem in our system. How can we close that gap? Human error happens, so my system isn't good enough and therefore let's work together to try and improve the system, the process that we've got, rather than ever blaming the person, because people make mistakes, that's just human nature. So if they've made a mistake, it usually means that I haven't put the correct process or system in place.

51:42 - Jess White (Host)

I think you've got some good advice there, some great leadership qualities, and I can see how you would be a great mentor to others, and there's so many different aspects of your personality and your life, and not just that, it's not you know, some people in leadership roles will just give it the big one and they would not sit here and tell me like things that they've struggled with and open up for others to be able to go gosh right. Okay, now I can connect, and I think that's you know, that really makes you the man that you are.

So thank you so much, Andy, for coming on the podcast and opening up today, and thank you so much for being the first SPARK, a sparky. Can we call you a sparkler?

52:33 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Is that too?

52:35 - Jess White (Host)

That's a new thing but yeah, I think we can make that work. Yeah, no 100%.

52:39 - Andy Baker (Guest)

I'm really excited about it. I think it's going to be an interesting journey. I think it's, you know, one of the reasons was, you know, I liked your brand and the brand that you've built and that reflects in your values, and I think there's a lot of crossover between the two of us in genuinely wanting people to achieve and to do their best and to reach their full potential. And if we can be a small part of offering that, we can make it be a small impact on their lives to help them on that journey, then that's a win, that's something to leave in a legacy as far as a reason, a raison d'etre, a purpose, raison d'etre a purpose. So, 100%, I think there's a really good value structure there for us to work together to improve the wellbeing and lives of, hopefully, many entrepreneurs and business owners.

53:25 - Jess White (Host)

And create a zillion sparks.

53:28 - Andy Baker (Guest)

Absolutely yes, absolutely A full sky full.

53:31 - Jess White (Host)

Yeah, exactly Well, fantastic Well, thanks again. It was wonderful having you on.

53:37 - Andy Baker (Guest)

My pleasure.