In this episode, Matthew Newton reveals how he grew Leatherback Travel into a global house of brands, including Patch Adventures and Magnificent Rail. From his early days at Tourism Tiger to leading a multi-day tour operator space, Matthew’s approach to business is a masterclass in modern company culture, operational excellence, and the psychology of sales.

You’ll learn:

• How to build a "large group of small companies" to dominate niche markets
• The "Operating Principles" strategy: Why memorisation is key to a high-performing team
• Real strategies for creating a culture of ownership and "almost perfect" guest satisfaction
• How to identify and fix "Oozers", the hidden inefficiencies killing your productivity
• The "Special Feeling" framework for recruitment, marketing, and guest experience
• Behind the Scenes of Salemi Ceramics: A project revitalising a Sicilian town through tourism

Matthew also shares his "Meatball" theory of delegation, how to use data to drive marketing decisions, and why writing like a human being is the ultimate competitive advantage in an AI-driven world.

Whether you're:

✔️ Scaling a multi-day tour operator

✔️ Building a "house of brands" strategy

✔️ Obsessed with improving company culture and operations

✔️ Or looking to inject more authenticity into your marketing

This episode is packed with magical nuggets you can use in your own business today.

Key themes: travel entrepreneurship, niche marketing, company culture, operational efficiency, business acquisitions, leadership, sustainable tourism, and brand scaling.

Who this is for: travel entrepreneurs, tour operators, agency founders, and business leaders who want to build a scalable, high-satisfaction business without losing its "soul" or "special feeling."

00:00 Introduction to Matthew Newton and Leatherback

01:58 Matthew's Journey to Entrepreneurship

04:01 The Birth of Leatherback and Its Brands

05:58 The Structure of Leatherback's Business Model

08:59 Identifying Niche Markets and Brand Development

12:02 Acquisitions and Business Growth Strategies

14:54 The Importance of Team Culture and Structure

16:57 Operational Strategies and Continuous Improvement

24:06 Cross-Brand Collaboration and Future Directions

28:37 Cross-Pollination in Operations

31:06 The Importance of Operating Principles

33:19 Gardening and Continuous Improvement

36:14 Empowering Teams with Meatballs

39:41 Onboarding and Memorization of Principles

43:11 Special Feeling in Recruitment

47:17 Leadership and Time Investment

50:58 Balancing Fun and Profitability

54:58 Salemi Ceramics: A Community Revitalization Project

01:00:07 Marketing Strategies and Authenticity

01:01:41 Writing with Authenticity

01:04:37 Targeted Marketing Strategies

01:07:36 Data-Driven Marketing Decisions

01:08:27 The Role of AI in Travel

01:12:51 Personal Qualities for Business Success

01:17:55 Continuous Improvement and Learning

01:20:18 Future Growth and Brand Expansion

01:22:51 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

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From studying law to working at Goldman Sachs, and now advising global hospitality brands, Sonal’s journey is anything but conventional. Her diverse background, spanning Kenya, the UK, and now Madrid, brings a unique, commercially grounded perspective to an industry often driven by trends rather than substance.

We dive into what it truly means to integrate wellness into a brand’s DNA (not just add it as an amenity), and why understanding the numbers is just as important as understanding the guest experience.

This conversation covers:

• How Sonal’s investment banking experience shaped her approach to hospitality and asset management

• The balance between purpose and profit - and why both are essential

• Commercial sustainability and the ROI of wellness

• The role of indigenous wisdom and timeless practices in modern hospitality

• Building a personal brand through content, books, and thought leadership

• Scaling a one-person business and creating a long-term content ecosystem

• The importance of resilience, grit, and knowing when to say no

• Emerging trends shaping the future of wellness and hospitality

Whether you’re in hospitality, wellness, or building any kind of business, this episode is packed with practical insights you can apply immediately.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Sonal's Journey: From Law to Wellness

04:57 Lessons from Goldman Sachs: Grit and Sustainability

10:02 The Intersection of Purpose and Profit

14:56 Mission-Driven Wellness: Reviving Traditions

19:55 Defining Wellness: Tools for Well-Being

25:07 Creating Unique Wellness Experiences

29:52 Marketing Wellness: Engaging the Consumer

34:56 Building Thought Leadership in Wellness

42:37 Building a Varied Content Ecosystem

46:03 The Journey of Writing a Book

51:45 Scaling a One-Person Operation

01:01:30 Overcoming Challenges in Entrepreneurship

01:18:40 Future Trends in Wellness and Hospitality

Whether you're:

✔️ Building a wellness or hospitality brand

✔️ Trying to balance purpose with profitability

✔️ Developing a personal brand or thought leadership platform

✔️ Scaling a solo business or consultancy

✔️ Or looking to create more meaningful, experience-led offerings

This episode gives you a clear, practical perspective on what it really takes to build something sustainable in today’s market.

Key themes:

Wellness in hospitality, commercial sustainability, personal branding, entrepreneurship, content strategy, thought leadership, ROI of wellness, guest experience, business growth, resilience

Who this is for:

Hospitality professionals, wellness entrepreneurs, consultants, founders, creators, and anyone looking to build a purpose-driven, commercially viable business.

If you found this valuable:

Like | Subscribe | Share with someone building their next chapter in business

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Thank you!

In this episode, Simon and Alistair reveal how they grew a small startup with just £10,000 into a thriving international travel company serving over 16,000 customers a year. From teaching English in Japan to leading a multi-destination brand across Asia, their journey is packed with hard-earned lessons in resilience, strategy, and growth.

You’ll learn:

• How to turn a niche passion into a scalable global business

• The shift from specialist to multi-destination operator

• Real strategies for surviving crises like COVID-19 and natural disasters

• How to use customer insight and data to drive profit and growth

• The role of partnerships, local leadership, and company culture

• What it’s really like working with private equity while keeping founder control

They also share behind-the-scenes insights on navigating the 2011 tsunami, managing uncertainty during the pandemic, and securing major investment - including a landmark partnership with Japan’s Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Whether you're:

✔️ Starting a travel business

✔️ Scaling a tour company

✔️ Navigating uncertain markets

✔️ Or building a purpose-driven brand

This episode gives you a clear, honest roadmap.

Key themes: travel entrepreneurship, startup growth, resilience, scaling a business, sustainable travel, leadership, private equity, crisis management

Who this is for: Travel entrepreneurs, founders, tour operators, startup builders, and anyone passionate about building a meaningful business in a challenging industry.

If you found this valuable:

Like | Subscribe | Share with someone building their dream business

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Thank you!

We cover a lot.

How do travel brands avoid greenwashing and maintain integrity? What does sustainability really mean? And what part does storytelling play in it all?

Whether you’re interested in the evolution of travel journalism, the ethics of AI, or practical PR & sustainability strategies, Juliet brings decades of experience to the table.

We discuss her journey from Ibiza journalist to sustainability consultant and explore why grit is the secret ingredient to a successful career in travel.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Juliette Kinsman’s journey from music journalism to travel media
• The growth of sustainable and regenerative travel
• How luxury hotels are adapting to conscious consumers
• The role of influencers and digital media in modern storytelling
• What “solutions-led storytelling” means (and why it matters)
• How brands can create stories that truly engage audiences
• The balance between data and creativity in content strategy
• The future of journalism, trust, and earned media
• Key traits for success: grit, integrity, and curiosity
• Actionable advice for newcomers in travel and hospitality

This is a real beauty to get Season 3 started - let us know what you think! 💥

***

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Thank you!

She is a strong believer in the power and responsibility of travel to create positive change, and she takes a unique purpose-led approach to business leadership and team building. Trips created by SA Expeditions are designed not only to benefit travelers but everyone impacted by them, from local communities to the people in the business who run them.

As someone who is clearly hugely driven by personal development, Riva has so much to bring to the table in this conversation.

We go into depth on B Corp and the journey to get there, benefits of doing it and why B Corp is important. I’m personally fascinated by this as it’s a journey we’ve embarked upon with SEO Travel and I love hearing about other people’s experiences with it.

This ties into a wider conversation about purpose and what drives the growth of SA Expeditions which is not your typical travel business, from its virtual initiatives to its direction which is starting to veer towards becoming a tech company and an ‘uberised’ form of travel.

She has some excellent tips for women in business and hunting balance as a mum, changing paths from being a DMC and what made her take a punt on a couple of guys setting up a new travel company many moons ago.

I loved everything about this conversation. There is direct, actionable advice based on Riva’s experiences, thorough, educated insight into business and travel twinned with a nice dose of idealism, and also plenty of humility to show that Riva doesn’t feel she’s got it all worked out despite having achieved so much already.

***

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Thank you!

He was previously the luxury travel editor at the Telegraph Media Group, overseeing all their luxury travel content. 

He continues to write for some of the leading luxury travel publications internationally, including the Financial Times, The Times, Departures and Robb Report.

John’s insight into the world of luxury travel is fascinating and comes from someone who has now seen it frommany different angles. 

We discuss some of the incredible experiences he had during his time at the Telegraph, such as being the first to stay in the world’s first fully underwater hotel room as well as getting to the core of what makes good travel writing (and what doesn’t!).

John shares some excellent tips on how to get coverage in the kind of publications he’s worked at, and how to deal with journalists in an effective and respectful way, which includes the difference between pitching staff writers vs freelancers.

There is also some very practical insight into branding and what that means in the real world rather than just what colours you use on your website or what your logo looks like.

But the thing I enjoyed most in this conversation was how candid John was. He’s a straight talker and doesn’t pull any punches when explaining how he works which has clearly been a big contributor to his success. And he has some very surprising insight for budding travel journalists…

***

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Thank you!

He’s been at the helm of Rudding since the beginning, overseeing the launch and a raft of updates and improvements over the years that have led to Rudding winning award after award.

I have a strong personal connection to Rudding, with my brother having got married there and also being a very happy customer after many visits to the hotel and spa, so it was fascinating to sit down and speak to the man behind it to try and uncover some of the secrets to its success.

And boy does Peter deliver!

He’s a hugely entertaining storyteller and unsurprisingly has some very illuminating experiences to draw on after a long career in hospitality. From behind the scenes antics at hotels to the behaviour of the general public, he’s got plenty of material!

We talk in depth about how to build a culture of care and very practical actions you can take to do that in your own teams and businesses, from the recruitment process all the way through to the day to day management. 

We also cover Peter’s thoughts on how Rudding approaches its brand, why cash is everything  and some fascniatnig insight into how TripAdvisor works and what Rudding did in the past to gain success there.

Whether you’re an established hotelier, work in hospitality or just run a business in the travel sector I think you’ll find this fascinating. I did simply as someone who uses hotels!

This one is quintessential Yorkshire from top to bottom, with Peter even getting a cup of tea delivered mid conversation. So put the kettle on, relax and enjoy me talking to Peter Banks!

***

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Thank you!

Since leaving she has set up a range of businesses, from SaaS products like Squirellfish to Travel Kinship, her consultancy for DMCs.

I’ve known Becky for many years and she’s never been short of ideas or enthusiasm for business and is a wonderful person always looking to help others, as the nickname ‘Mother Teresa’ testifies which she mentions when we speak!

We go down all sorts of rabbit holes in this chat, including keeping focus, challenges with the traditional sales approach and what to do when you leave the business that has been your life for 15 years.

We also talk about the unsexy side of business, with Becky the new self-proclaimed queen of systems! It’s much more interesting than it sounds I promise!

Becky is a very open person and she shows a huge amount of vulnerability in this conversation about the challenges she faces as a single mum, dealing with a loss of direction and how imposter syndrome can overcome you.

But the main thing that came out of this for me was the depth of knowledge Becky has from her experience. She’s obviously got bags of practical knowledge from running a business for so long, but it’s also clear how much time she’s put into personal development over the years and she brings so much value here that people can lift and use for themselves. 

It was a pleasure to spend this time with Becky and I’m super grateful to her for everything she shared which i’m sure anyone listening can benefit from on many levels, whether its practical business advice or the empathy that comes from someone sharing their personal challenges so openly.

***

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Nick is the founder of One Bottle at a Time, an initiative aimed at reducing the amount of plastic used throughout Asia by working with local NGOs.

He was also the behind the launch of the first ‘half moon’ parties in Koh Phan Ngan (which he insists are far better than the ‘full moon’ version!).

I met Nick last year when he reached out to me after we announced our 100% initiative to find out more around the thinking behind it. We’ve since had many discussions and I’ve learnt lots from him and his approach to business and travel which I’m really excited to share with you today.

We discuss how Nick got into travel and immediately had a desire to run his own business, how he defines success and what it means to be an entrepreneur. 

But the main topic is something we both have in common which is moving our businesses to being self managed organisations and the benefits that can bring. We’ve both been working on this over the last year and this conversation highlights lots of the actionable things Nick has done that I think are super interesting and might well prompt you to delve deeper into the topic for your own business or the business you work in.

***

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Tom was an Officer in the Parachute Regiment for 6 years, and commanded on operations in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2010, working alongside Afghan security forces. He’s also a qualified Jungle Warfare Instructor and has spent lots of time working in Africa and the rain forests of Brunei. 

He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and loves ski-touring, snowboarding, mountain biking and kite-surfing, all the more when it is done in the world’s wildest places.

***

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Zakia and her team have empowered countless homeless people to create unique tours of their home cities to give visitors an experience that wouldn’t otherwise exist.

She has spoken at TedX, is a guest lecturer and Invisible Cities was awarded the accolade of ‘Best Tour’ in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel list in 2021.

We discuss the journey that led to starting Invisible Cities and Zakia’s experiences with the homeless that led to that previously. 

We also cover her experience in a startup incubator and the benefits that brought, some amazing guerilla marketing examples that Zakia used with Invisible Cities, as well as going into depth on social enterprise and the benefits of taking that path with your entrepreneurial spirit. 

This is a really inspiring episode from a truly inspirational woman. I hope you enjoy it!

***

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Thank you!

Since 2015 they have raised $1.2m for grassroots organisations where they tackle The Global Goals in those communities, and have organised races in 5 different countries and built a community of more than 400 runners. 

In this conversation we discuss the thinking behind making a true impact, Nick’s clear desire to keep improving himself and how travel businesses should be approaching their work in a world that is becoming more and more demanding of social and environmental awareness and action.

We also cover community, the importance of empowering others, growing their team in a distributed way around the world and how Nick turns up in new countries with sometimes no connections and goes about building an event.

Marketing is also included of course, with Nick’s thoughts on cultivating word of mouth and some discussion around influencers, partnerships and what is at the centre of good marketing.

Nick is a thoroughly nice guy doing wonderful things and if you've enjoyed the podcast so far you'll definitely like this one. A fitting end to season 1!

Enjoy!

***

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Travel Dudes has amassed a Twitter following of more than 250,000 people and has similarly huge numbers on Facebook, Instagram and other social media channels.

Melvin is at the forefront of the conversation around influencer marketing in travel and partners with clients to create engaging content that reaches an audience of over three million travelers each month.

We cover a lot in this conversation, from building your dream team to valuing your investment in content and marketing to ensure you get the best possible ROI.

Melvin is a strong proponent of using partnerships to grow and we cover ways you can do that, especially in the early stages when you don’t necessarily have a big audience. We also get into the power of video and ways to use that for both social media and on your own website.

There are loads of takeaways in this one from one of the original travel bloggers.

Enjoy!

***

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Thank you!

Before this he grew and sold an events business, worked at an ad agency and ran adventure travel experiences before founding Easol, successfully taking it through the YCombinator accelerator programme in Silicon Valley and attracting $4.5 million investment to help the business grow.

Ben shares the kind of golden nuggets in this conversation that you would expect when you understand his back story. 

Firstly, he helped grow Rough Hill, the UK’s largest millennial events and marketing agency, from a bedroom startup to 2,000 events a year with more than 2million customers and employing more than a thousand people across the UK. Then sold it to Chime PLC after working with huge global brands and soaking up the experience that came with it.

He then launched and ran Rise with his wife Lisa, a winter snowsports festival in France, helping it double in size over the first 3 years to more than 5,000 attendees, before running other adventure travel experiences in the Sahara desert and Swedish archipelago as part of Beyond Adventures. Frustrated by the lack of tools to run and grow their experience business, they decided to build their own software. 

And so Easol was born.

Ben and Lisa took Easol through YCombinator, the best-known startup accelerator in the world, and rubbed shoulders with the best of the best in Silicon Valley, soaking up knowledge at every turn.

They are now coming out the other side, growing the business and using everything they’ve learned to develop a product they love and they know their customers need. Having now raised $4.5million they are looking to make an impact.

Our conversation covers everything from how to create a great brand to hiring fantastic people. And, of course, we delve into the YCombinator experience and the many, many learnings that have come from that. 

If you like hearing stories about people doing business differently then you’ll love this one. I certainly did, and I’ve got pages and pages of takeaways that I’m going to implement with our work at SEO Travel. 

Enjoy!

***

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He is so passionate about what he does and that shines through in bucket loads through this conversation.

Whether discussing the adventures which led to him starting the business or matters of sustainability and how crucial it is to the industry, he will capture your imagination and no doubt leave you keen to learn more.

Sam’s is a fantastic story as it truly illustrates what you can do if you make big choices and commit to them. He had a well-paid corporate job but he decided it wasn’t for him, cut the cord and went to do what he loved. 

He’s also a testament to the value of a beginner’s mindset and ongoing learning, as he continues to hone how he runs the business and sets it up for success. 

We cover loads in this conversation, from how Sam did a run of crowdfunding to accelerate the growth of the business to his thought process behind writing a book and the benefits it can have for the business.

We also discuss marketing approaches, how partnerships have helped drive revenue and how he sees the future of travel. 

But most of all, I think Sam’s passion is the thing that shines through and is at the core of why this business is a success and will continue to grow. And that passion is definitely infectious!

Enjoy!

***

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Matthijs has had a fascinating journey in business, working for multiple companies that he has gone on to sell, and working in both startups and then corporate environments after selling those businesses.

It has given him a hugely informed view of what makes successful businesses (and startups in particular) tick, and he delivers it with an incredibly calming tone as you would expect from a man who has been there and done it!

This conversation covers a wide variety of those learnings, from growing a successful team to how you should establish your mission as a company and how that should then flow down into all elements in the business structure. 

We also discuss how Matthijs satisfies his desire to learn (and specific ways he goes about that), along with insight into working with investors, tips for bigger thinking, leadership and hiring approaches he uses.

This one is packed with value from top to bottom, so make sure you’ve got your notepad at the ready...

Enjoy!

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The blog has more than a million followers on social media channels, thousands of people subscribed to the email list and receives in excess of 100,000 visits every month. It was the first luxury travel blog to be created and continues to lead the way in sharing luxury travel information with the world online.

Paul has worked in the travel industry for 30 years, from delivering local tourism brochures to building websites for hotels, and lots in between.

He’s now a regular speaker at travel industry events and a significant influence on the travel world, harnessing his audience of over a million people on social media and hundreds of thousands of monthly website visitors.

In this conversation I speak to Paul about how he grew such a big following for the site, the journey and skills he developed in his early years in local tourism to get it off the ground and how he scales content production as a one-man band. Amongst many other super useful nuggets.

He’s got a really interesting perspective from both sides of the coin, both running a business in travel, but also being the owner of an editorial publication that works with travel businesses. This surfaces some interesting takeaways on partnerships and how best to work them to benefit everyone involved. 

This is a really interesting episode from someone who has been immersed in the travel industry for a long time.

Enjoy!

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He describes himself as an adventurer, speaker and community creator. 

In 2006 Dave skateboarded across Australia (3,618 miles) to break the world record for the longest skate journey which began his Expedition 1000 quest where he is aiming to complete twenty-five journeys, each one a minimum of 1000 miles, each one using a different form of non-motorised transport. So far he has completed 15 of the 25.

He’s also the founder of the Yes Tribe, a community of more than 10,000 people around the world with the aim of making a culture of happy, kind, yes-people the norm and to help foster dreams of living and working based around passions and hobbies. As part of this Dave was chosen as a Fellow of the Facebook Community Leadership Program, going into the belly of the beast and getting advice from inside Facebook in Silicon Valley on how best to flourish on the platform.

On 1st January 2020 Dave was awarded the Points of Light award by the prime minister which recognises outstanding volunteers who are making a change in their community and inspiring others in recognition of his unique message of positivity.

He’s also an author and podcaster, having written 3 books from dating to adventure, and now runs the Self Propelled podcast where he explores the drive, motivation and secrets of people who take the road less travelled.

He is now in the process of setting up Big Sky Hideaway - a glamping and events space and all-round escape in Lincolnshire, powered by renewable energy and with community at the core of its purpose. 

And that’s just scratching the surface!

Dave is a fascinating man and a wonderful storyteller, and it’s been a pleasure getting to know him since I shared a stage with him a couple of years ago in Italy and he’s been a real inspiration for me as he has for so many other people.

In this conversation we delve into some of these things and I’m sure you will get loads out of the incredible life Dave has lived, especially when you understand the seeds it came from which we can all relate to. We cover the importance of storytelling, how to build community and why it’s important, as well as unearthing many of the life tips and tricks Dave has learned from so many adventures and unique experiences.

Enjoy!

Before he became a travel business owner he was a journalist for ITN for ten years and we dig into how the lessons and skills he learned in his first career have helped pave the way for success in his travel exploits. 

We also delve into the challenges of building a team and the benefits of diversity within it, how to navigate the world of investment and investors, and also how interviewing Janet Jackson remains his go to reference point whenever he comes up against a new challenge.

Darren’s got a really unique perspective on how he’s built the business and there are lots of fantastic takeaways in this conversation that any business owner will find useful.

Enjoy!

He also founded Moving Mountains alongside this - an international charity working in Kenya, Tanzania and Nepal, aimed at relieving poverty through education, health and social welfare programmes.

Gavin has walked across the Sahara Desert solo, climbed Everest 5 times, numerous without oxygen, raised £200,000 for Comic Relief by summiting the highest peak on every continent for the millennium celebrations, and has raised millions of pounds for Moving Mountains through his extraordinary exploits over the years. He is quite a man.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Gavin for a few years now, and I believe the most surprising thing about him is how unassuming and down to earth he is when you understand the context of what he's done.

Underneath it all, he’s a wonderful human being and it was a pleasure to sit down with him and force him to share some of these incredible stories which he otherwise keeps under his hat in most situations! 

This conversation has everything from crazy adventure stories to life-affirming advice that will help you get more out of your day-to-day existence. There is also plenty to take from it from a business perspective, whether that’s the importance of having a mission and meaning behind your work, or the future of travel and how to create a business that has a successful future and much more besides.