Steven Bartlett has become one of Britain’s best-known young business leaders thanks to his success co-founding Social Chain and his starring role on Dragons’ Den.
Now he has shared some of his top business tips with the business leaders of the future as part of the Good Business Festival.
Mr Bartlett was the headline speaker at Liverpool Town Hall on Tuesday as part of the festival, which brings together speakers from across the country to discuss new and ethical ways of doing business.
Read more: New deal for Andy Murray and Issa brothers-backed sportwear brand Castore
Mr Bartlett was interviewed live on stage and talked about his life and career, from making money at school in Plymouth through to his smash hit success with Social Chain.
He then took questions from the audience - which meant he could share some inspiration with the mostly young crowd.
Here are some of the key lessons he shared:
Want to start in business? Learn sales
Mr Bartlett was asked the first piece of advice he would give to any aspiring entrepreneurs
He said the first thing that came to his mind was that anyone wanting to learn about business should "get a job in sales".
He added: "If there’s one skill that I’ve used all my life it's sales".
Mr Bartlett told the crowd about how he had worked in as many as ten different call centres while developing his business ideas, saying that the repetition of making sales calls to people who weren’t necessarily expecting them had been a useful discipline.
And he said those sales skills could be useful in other areas beyond simply selling goods and services - such as pitching to people you want to work for you.
Want to get a job? CVs just won’t cut it
Steven Bartlett spoke about how he tried to go against convention in his business life - and was then asked how that applied to hiring.
He said that he would no longer even open a plain CV sent by email as It was not an original approach.
He tried to describe what he thought of someone who tried that - and after a pause and a smile said: "I’m just going to say it - you’re not a creative individual."
He also said he still got emails from people just saying "any jobs going?" - which made some people in the hall laugh in recognition.
But he also explained how he tried to stand out from the crowd when job hunting in Manchester - such as by sending hand-written letters in gold envelopes, and another with a Manchester United keyring in it to show he knew about the person and the business he was approaching.
If you want to do a podcast, think differently
Mr Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast has become a chart-topper, and has hit the headlines thanks to high-profile interviews with people including former health secretary Matt Hancock.
So it’s no surprise he was asked what advice he would give to someone starting a podcast from scratch.
He warned that podcasting was not like any other medium "because there isn’t a social network underneath it" to help it go viral. Podcasts need word of mouth to grow.
Mr Bartlett said that videoing a podcast, as happens with Diary of a CEO, can help it get discovered on YouTube and on social media.
He added that interview podcasts were increasingly common - so people should come up with more innovative formats.
He jokingly suggested doing a podcast interviewing people who were currently cheating on their partners. When people laughed, he pointed out that it showed there would be interest in such an unusual format.
Want big success? Keep making small improvements every day
Mr Bartlett said he could be obsessive about making the small changes and improvements that will lead to great changes in the future.
He said he was always guided by the principle "How can I be 1% better today at the thing I’m doing".
He said small changes and small failures are invisible, but they add up over time.
"The things that are easy to do are also really easy not to do," he said, "whereas we do them".
With the podcast, Mr Bartlett and his team kept trying to improve by 1% a day - and "we knew then we’d be number one based on our trajectory".
He added: "Now it’s number one in every chart because we’re obsessive about the 1%."
Mr Bartlett said the small changes might seem petty but that you can show their effects in one simple way: "If you don’t believe me, Go to Google and type compounding interest calculator."
Facing a challenge? Learn from Elon Musk and go back to basics
Steven Bartlett said he had learned a vital tip from Elon Musk, the world-famous entrepreneur behind SpaceX and Tesla.
He explained the American’s principle of "reasoning from first principles" as a way to create new ideas.
Mr Bartlett said: "When you’re faced with a challenge - instead of accepting convention , focus on what you know is true right now and reason up from there."
People should not just accept what they are told is common sense, but should instead look at every idea afresh.
Mr Bartlett said Mr Musk had used that logic to create cheaper batteries for electric vehicles. And the Dragon’s Den star said he used the same principles in his early business Wallpark, when he decided to focus on social media rather than on more old-fashioned bulletin boards to help students connect with each other.
