This morning I had breakfast with Peter Hargreaves, of Hargreaves Lansdown notoriety. Well, to not be quite so misleading – I was invited to attend a small group breakfast meeting in Bristol hosted by Peter Hargreaves. It was less he and I sharing an intimate chat over our eggs benedict, and more of a group of us taking advantage of some delicious food whilst we listened to Peter give a talk about how to grow your business.
I must admit, in my rush to get to the venue on time this morning I was questioning whether it was going to be worth giving up my time (though the free breakfast I feel did hold part of the appeal 😂).
After all – what has multi-billionaire Peter Hargreaves and his FTSE 100 listed investment megacorp got to say that’s useful to me and my lovely little self-grown limited company?
Well actually, quite a few things it turns out.
And not just about business either. Whilst he didn’t position his advice to be about life, there were definitely some life lessons in there. There was nothing groundbreaking or new about his advice. This in itself was insightful. Succeeding in life (or business) does not need to be about anything more than careful application of basic common sense – but sometimes we need a reminder of what’s important.
So here’s the top 10 things I took away from his talk:
- Love the work that you do, and if you can’t, then do work that you love
- Be open to new opportunities that you may not have considered before
- Walk away from the things that you try that are taking too much energy and you know aren’t working out
- Trust your gut instinct to tell you when a particular endeavour is not going to work out as you hoped
- Keep an eye on your costs
- Negotiate costs down where you can
- There are times to discuss your decisions with others, and there are also times where you need to make them on your own and simply inform others
- Be careful who you consult with; only ask advice from those you know to have the relevant experience and/or knowledge to give you valuable guidance
- Manage your risks (step 5 in my process for personal change)
- Be careful of the environment you keep company in; you’ll be limited by the ambition of those around you
I also had a nice chat with Peter after his talk, having expressed my appreciation of his insights. Turns out we’re both fellow Northeners at heart, having made our home in Bristol. Of course, it doesn’t matter how many decades we’ve been living in Bristol, old habits die hard – the age-old Lancashire / Yorkshire rivalry and opinion on which side of the pennines is better did need some discussion!
Which leads me to bonus insight number 11:
11. Spend time being curious with people who are different from you.
Not only do they have a different perspective on the world from which to give you insight, but you may just find you have more in common than you realised. Even if they are from the wrong side of the pennines.