Small & Mighty LIVE: Review and Takeaways

On Thursday 2nd October 2025, Small Business Britain put on the very first Small & Mighty LIVE at the Science Museum in London. I was booked as a speaker for this event. But I’m not one of those speakers who turns up 10 minutes before, does my thing, and then heads off. I was there for the whole day, and as hopefully it will be the first of many thought I’d share my reflections on the day. Keep on reading to find out about my biggest takeaways and review of Small & Mighty LIVE.

 

 

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SMALL & MIGHTY LIVE: REVIEW AND TAKEAWAYS

 

Ian Phillips

Ian is from Xero, an accounting software company for SMBs and one of the sponsors of Small & Mighty LIVE.

 

In this talk, he spoke about the importance of having good accounting software, the three main ways an accountant can help small businesses and their programme – Know Your Numbers. ​​

 

But what really stuck with me with what Ian said about cash flow. Cash flow issues are one of the leading reasons why businesses fail, and it’s easy for small businesses to blame others (the people/businesses that are late paying invoices). But Ian spoke about how sometimes business can be causing their own cash flow issues. He shared a story of how he wanted to pay for a service with a credit card, but the company wasn’t able to and insisted on generating an invoice. But that meant Ian had to go through the process of getting the spend approved and raising the PO, sending the PO order across, and then once having the invoice sending that on to be paid. This made more work for Ian and will have meant the business had to wait longer to get paid – all because they couldbn’t accept card payments. So before you start blaming cash flow issues on those external you should check to make sure internally you are doing everything possible to minimise cash flow issues.

 

Biggest takeaway – Make it easy for people to pay you.

 

Mike Soutar

 

Mike Soutar is an entrepreneur, advisor and portfolio director. But many, myself included, will know him as one of the interviewers on The Apprentice. Mike opened his talk by sharing how even though many in the audience would know him for his successes, he has experienced failure too. He shared the story of closing his production company Perfect Storm. He spoke about how 2025 had been a tough year for small businesses, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that is going to change anytime soon. He then went on to share a checklist of 5 things to concentrate on during these tough times.

 

Biggest takeaway – Times may be tough, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. Focus on what you can control and know the businesses that survive tough times are perfectly placed to thrive when the tide turns.

 

Marketing Masterclass: Creating Content that Connects and Converts – By Charelle Griffith 

 

 

In this talk I talked about the importance of connecting with people and building the know, like and trust factor. I shared 5 things you can do in your content to build trust. Then I went onto the share the importance of adjusting your sales content so that it appeals to the four different buyer types.

 

WANT TO MAKE MORE SALES THROUGH YOUR CONTENT? To maximise sales through your content you need to ensure you are making content for the whole buyer journey and adjusting your content for the four buyer types. I help business owners learn how exactly how to do this in SHINE ONLINE. You can find out all the official information about SHINE ONLINE here.

 

The Importance of Customer Journey – By Garry Lee and James Adam

 

Garry and James broke the customer journey into 5 stages: awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty and advocacy. Then they went through each stage, sharing what was important to remember and some tips on what you can do.

 

Biggest takeaway – If you want to have more advocates, tell people how they can help you.

 

Why Strategy Is The Key To Success – Hosted by Emma Mills-Sheffield with Erin Thomas Wong, Jeevan Punj, Denise de Gromoboy and Ezekiel Osundina

 

This panel discussion was hosted Emma Mills-Sheffield by a strategic business consultant, but whilst she clearly is someone who believes in the importance of strategy, it quickly became evident that not everyone on the panel had started with a strategy, or even considered they needed a strategy. However, through Emma’s questioning each business owner shared how strategy they now use strategy in their business and the difference it has made. Due to the range of businesses on the panel the conversation ranged from talking about rapid business growth, dealing with illness and death, having dedicated CEO time, dealing with seasonality and sustainability.

 

Biggest takeaway – Strategy is vital, so if you don’t have one, get one, but don’t blindly follow someone else’s.

 

Getting Found Online: Your Guide to SEO – By Charlotte Wise

 

Charlotte Wise is the founder of Charlotte Pink (a digital marketing consultancy) . C The talk looked at website functionality, Google’s SEO guidelines and Google’s AI Overview.

 

Biggest takeaway – Your website is the foundation for AI. If you want to appear in Google’s AI Overview section think about what needs to be on your website, and make sure it is there.

 

PR 101 – By Fiona Minett

The day ended with Fiona Minett giving the audience a PR 101. She talked about the 3 things everyone needs to do PR and then introduced the audience to the idea of a PR Pick ‘n’ Mix. The Pick ‘n’ Mix was a range of activities you could do for PR purposes. And then Fiona recommended business owners choose 2 or 3 to focus on (because as a small business owner, you can’t do everything!). Then Fiona shared her 3 point pitch framework and encouraged everyone to get pitching because “the media needs you”. But the aim isn’t to pitch to everyone, but to build relationships and send tailored pitches.

 

Biggest takeaway – The media is not reinventing the wheel. Look backwards to work out what to pitch moving forward. And never forget the media need you.

 

 

That’s it! You’ve heard my review and biggest takeaways from Small & Mighty LIVE.

 

As it was the first Small & Mighty LIVE I had no idea what to expect, but I had a lovely day. I loved sharing my marketing wisdom from the stage, but as you can tell, I was my usual eager beaver self and listened in to as many other talks as I could.

 

I left with action points, which I’ll be working my way through over the next few weeks and have no doubt they’ll benefit my business.

 

At the moment there has been no mention of there being another Small & Mighty LIVE, but if that changes I’ll be sure to share that information in my newsletter. So if you aren’t already on my mailing list you can join so here. 

 

WANT TO RUN A THRIVING ONLINE BUSINESS? I’m a Business Growth and Marketing Strategist that specialises in helping online, service-based business owners to build thriving online businesses that enable them to live their best life. If you want to work with amazing clients, make great money and have a business that supports living your best life – I can help you! To find out more about how we can work together check out my services here.