Latest news with #SimonSquibb
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
How entrepreneur and social media star Simon Squibb is helping people achieve their dreams
With 17 million followers and over 500 million monthly views across his social media platforms, Simon Squibb has built an audience most influencers can only dream of. Advertisement He has become one of the world's most influential voices in the realm of entrepreneurship, largely down to his approach – which is far from boring or didactic. His viral short videos – one has an accumulated watch time of 23 years – follow a similar formula. Squibb walks up to strangers, asks about their dreams and then offers business advice and sometimes even investment. The format has struck a chord with younger generations. But unlike most full-time influencers, Squibb is not motivated by money or fame. Simon Squibb has become known for his videos in which he asks people on the street about their dreams and offers business advice. Photo: Instagram/simonsquibb Not only did he achieve financial freedom and retire with his wife a decade ago, but he also finds fame more burdensome than enjoyable. Advertisement 'Being famous is not a good idea – but if you have a purpose, the influence is totally worth it. I love the influence. I hate the fame,' Squibb says over coffee at Hong Kong's IFC Mall.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How entrepreneur and social media star Simon Squibb is helping people achieve their dreams
With 17 million followers and over 500 million monthly views across his social media platforms, Simon Squibb has built an audience most influencers can only dream of. He has become one of the world's most influential voices in the realm of entrepreneurship, largely down to his approach – which is far from boring or didactic. His viral short videos – one has an accumulated watch time of 23 years – follow a similar formula. Squibb walks up to strangers, asks about their dreams and then offers business advice and sometimes even investment. The format has struck a chord with younger generations. But unlike most full-time influencers, Squibb is not motivated by money or fame. Simon Squibb has become known for his videos in which he asks people on the street about their dreams and offers business advice. Photo: Instagram/simonsquibb Not only did he achieve financial freedom and retire with his wife a decade ago, but he also finds fame more burdensome than enjoyable. 'Being famous is not a good idea – but if you have a purpose, the influence is totally worth it. I love the influence. I hate the fame,' Squibb says over coffee at Hong Kong's IFC Mall.
Entrepreneur
04-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
The Accidental Entrepreneur
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. When Simon Squibb knocked on a stranger's front door at age 15 and asked if he could tidy their garden, he wasn't chasing a dream. He wasn't pitching a side hustle or escaping a corporate grind. He was homeless, grieving, and desperate. That unplanned knock would become the start of a long entrepreneurial career - not driven by strategy, but survival. "I started a gardening company with no website, no brochure, no sales experience, having never started a business before in my life," he recalls. "And the reason that I started that business isn't because I wanted to be an entrepreneur, or I even knew what it was… I just had no choice." Squibb, the founder and CEO of HelpBnk, a community-powered start-up support platform with over 250,000 members, is now widely recognised as an entrepreneur, investor, author, and energetic advocate for founders who don't fit the typical mould. His TikTok-style videos giving away mentorship, equipment and cash to aspiring business owners rack up millions of views monthly. But the roots of Squibb's mission lie far from the glow of internet virality. They're grounded in loss, instability, and a deep sense that the UK system isn't built to help the people who need it most. A system not built for survival When Squibb was a teenager, life unravelled quickly. "My father died suddenly when I was 15 years old. And not long after that, my mum and I had an argument. And my mum kicked me out of home, which meant I suddenly had to fend for myself and figure out how to make it in the world." Despite spending 12 years in school, Squibb felt wildly unprepared. "It had never been mentioned to me what an entrepreneur was, or how I could become one… I didn't know how money worked. I didn't know how anything worked. The only thing the school system had taught me was that one day I'd get a job." But that wasn't even an option. With no national insurance number and no fixed address, job applications were impossible. "I tried. And I just couldn't get a job. So then I went to social services. And they told me just to go back home, which I couldn't do either. So I was stuck, really." That's when something shifted. "I call this moment the moment the entrepreneur muscle woke up in my brain. For the first time, I had to use it. We all have it. But I had to use it for the first time." He spotted a large house with an unkempt garden. "Maybe the people with the nice big house will pay you to tidy up their garden," he thought. "And so I, through needing it, not just wanting it, found the courage to walk up the path." The owner said yes. And a business - albeit short-lived - was born. "It went on to fail. But I had an amazing experience the next eight months trying to make a gardening company work. And that was my first experience as an entrepreneur." From survival to significance That early necessity-led venture eventually evolved into a more deliberate path. Squibb would go on to launch and sell multiple companies, including Fluid, a creative agency in Hong Kong that saw significant success. But it wasn't until later that he found what he now sees as the real engine of long-term motivation: purpose. "When I was younger, I didn't really have one belief. I just needed to survive… I think as I've gotten older, I've come to realise that the businesses that drive me the most are ones that have purpose, ones that matter more than me." It was at Fluid, a company based in Hong Kong, that this lesson crystallised. "It was going really well, but people were leaving and I wondered why. And then I realised that it was because the company was just there to make money." So he made a change. "I wanted to make it about the thinkers and the creatives and not just about making money… giving them the time to be creative and making sure they're paid well." For Squibb, the best businesses now aren't necessarily the biggest - they're the most meaningful. "I think the purpose of life is a life of purpose." Purpose vs. cynicism Of course, preaching purpose in a world obsessed with monetisation doesn't come easy. "Even now with what I'm doing, a lot of people judge me. It's like, 'Oh, you're just doing it for views, you're just doing it for likes.' And I'm permanently defending myself saying I'm doing it to help people enjoy their work and give people more options than just getting a job." That's one of Squibb's loudest critiques of the UK system: it pushes everyone toward a narrow version of success. School. University. Job. Stability. But there are so many more possibilities. His book, What's Your Dream?, is a manifesto for this mindset - an invitation to dream first, strategise later. He says, "People only regret what they don't do, not what they do do… If you don't try something, you'll have a regret. And if you do try and it fails, you'll have a good story." Advice to young founders: take risks early Squibb's advice to UK entrepreneurs varies depending on life stage, but the message is clear: if you're young, take the leap now. "If you're single, and you've got a job, the likelihood is if you quit that job, you could get another job… you don't realise how much time you've got, how much freedom you've got. So when you're young, I think you should really just take every bit of risk you can." Cost is the killer, so he recommends keeping living expenses low. "Live at home if you can while you get your dream off the ground. Give yourself a solid runway - six to twelve months - with low living costs and some savings to support the journey." For those with more responsibilities? It is harder but this is no excuse. "Kids don't do what you say, they do what you do," he says. "If you want them to dream, you have to dream." Asked what he would do if he had £500 and no contacts in the UK today, his answer is unequivocal: social media. "It's the new TV. My channel gets half a billion views a month. We haven't ever paid for a post, sponsored a post. Everything's organic." He advises putting that £500 into making one great piece of content - something that informs, entertains or sells. "I'd sell something in that video to generate the money back… with AI, it's getting cheaper." The future start-up map: offline and online While London remains the gravity centre of UK entrepreneurship, Squibb thinks smaller towns like Tunbridge Wells are quietly generating the next wave. "It's one of the few towns where the old high street is doing better than the new high street." He recently helped restore a historic water fountain in the area - not just as a civic act, but as a bet on localism. "I believe we're returning to a time when we value genuine connections with people and communities. I have quite a few friends now in Tunbridge Wells who are building businesses." But the real start-up hub? "These days the best hub is online. I have a platform called with 252,000 entrepreneurs on it… you have to go where the community is." Ask Squibb what he'd redesign in the UK's start-up ecosystem and his answer is blunt: "I'd love to make job centres into dream centres." He believes these spaces have become lifeless and bureaucratic - not built to inspire, but to contain. "I'd love to redesign them and make them places where people can go and learn how to do what they love… give them the tools, the funding and network to make that happen." This vision - of accessible, empowering spaces for anyone with an idea - sits at the heart of his platform HelpBnk. It's designed for the people the ecosystem usually ignores: the non-technical, non-venture-backed majority. "There's 60–70% of the population that would love to start their own business but don't have any funding. They can't afford a course. And they don't have a business that necessarily people want equity in." Whether it's a dog-walking venture, a bakery, or a flower business, he believes these "bottom of the pyramid" start-ups deserve support. "No one's really servicing that part of the ecosystem because there's no money in that ecosystem… so I'm helping that sector for free." Everyone wants to see unicorns and more successful businesses in the UK, but that means we have to encourage more people, particularly the younger generation, give them the tools, the capital and the support to start something. "This could create a huge difference in the UK long term, creating an additional sloth of businesses that are investable for the VC market. The unicorns of the future." Winning $1m at the One Billion Summit supercharged Squibb's ambitions - especially around education. The entrepreneur challenges the idea that entrepreneurship is only for the privileged, has built multi million pound businesses and asked thousands of people to name their dream. His own? "My big dream is to fix the education system, so that schools include business education and financial literacy for students as young as 4 or 5 years old. I want to power that up, investing further in investing in education-related platforms and businesses." If he gets his way, future generations won't need to stumble into entrepreneurship by accident - they'll be taught to dream, build, and believe from the start. And if you're young right now? You're luckier than you know. Because if Squibb realises even half of his vision, the world you'll be starting up in will be fairer, freer, and finally built with you in mind. Now that's what I call dreamy.
Metro
29-06-2025
- Business
- Metro
I went from homeless to entrepreneur — these are my key tips for success
At 15, Simon Squibb's dad died suddenly, leaving him homeless, out of school and unable to find work. Then, he had a brainwave that turned his life around. 'I was so desperate to get out of this situation I was in,' he tells Metro. 'I walked past a big house that had a really messy garden, and thought maybe they'd pay me to tidy it a bit. So I knocked on the door saying I had a gardening company (which I didn't) and amazingly, the guy who answered was like 'alright, how much?'. 'I just picked a number out of thin air – £200 pounds a month. Then he shook my hand and that was my first ever deal. Suddenly I was a gardener with a gardening contract.' Fast forward three decades and that same entrepreneurial mindset has made him a millionaire, with 19 companies under his belt alongside a bestselling book, What's Your Dream? You may know Simon from social media, where his brand of gonzo-style angel investing has earned him an army of loyal fans (who he calls dreamers). After selling his businesses and retiring at 40 in the midst of Covid, Simon noticed a growing desire for people to become their own bosses, and embarked on a mission to help wannabe entrepreneurs do exactly that. He now spends his days asking strangers what they'd do if there was nothing standing in their way, and has invested in over 60 firms as a result of their answers, from fintech to food delivery. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video But it's not as simplistic as 'if you can dream it, you can do it'. And while the 51-year-old argues that everyone – regardless of background or qualifications – has it in them to be successful, they need the right outlook and support to get there. He explains: 'I want people to know that it's possible, if they have a purpose or a mission or a hobby, there is a way to put it into a business context and make money by doing what you love. I want education around that. 'If I had my way. I'd change all the Job Centres to Dream Centres, and give people the entrepreneurial skills I'm talking about. Then you could get a job, but on top of that, start a company and be your own boss. And why shouldn't we give people that power?' In his view, one of the biggest obstacles is the idea that the business world is only for a select few. In a recent study, Shopify found that 61% of Brits want to start their own company, yet the majority are held back by a lack of confidence in their abilities. However, Simon's own experiences have led him to believe the opposite; that adversity actually helps people thrive. 'The people that succeed don't just want it, they need it,' he says. 'Personally, I've been most excited when I had no money; I was broke, I was homeless, I had nowhere stable to sleep, so if I knocked on a door and got told to f*** off, I had nothing to lose.' You may be reading this thinking 'my plate's too full already', either with family responsibilities, a job you can't afford to leave, or a lack of connections. According to Simon though, you can still build a flourishing side hustle – one that may even become your main gig. You just need to keep these eight things in mind. In terms of the idea itself, forget what's lucrative or will make the most money. Instead, Simon recommends building on your own strengths 'Whatever you're really good at, get great at it.' he says. 'In school, they'll tell you that if you get a D in biology, you need to do more biology. But I'm saying don't do more biology if you're brilliant at public speaking or sports.' It has to be about passion too, with Simon advising 'dreamers' to 'match [their] hobby to their income' – like the one he helped who turned his love of supercars into a popular (and profitable) social media brand. Your route to the C-suite may also be through spotting a problem and solving it. Aged 19 and working at a hotel after his landscaping venture shut up shop, Simon realised they were missing a trick by turning people away if they were full. Instead of hanging up when there was no room at the inn, he got nearby hotels to give them a commission for each customer they passed along – and from that germ of an idea came his second company, Accommodation Express. If you aren't sure what to do, think of the little issues you or your loved ones face day-to-day, and start from there. For those of us used to a standard 9-to-5, it can be difficult to self-motivate or be the sole decision maker – vital skills if you're running a business. 'Frankly, working for yourself is hard,' says Simon. 'And being an entrepreneur is especially hard at the beginning because it's a huge learning curve.' Over time, this new role will become natural to you. You just need to stay the course and keep your eyes on the prize. When Simon walked up to that door as a down on his luck teenager, he was fuelled by that aforementioned survival instinct. The fact he didn't know anything about landscaping was an afterthought – something to be dealt with once he'd landed the client. In that moment, he was terrified, but he sees fear as an 'asset, not a liability', explaining: 'Fear was designed to help us: you prep more, you push more, you fight, and it's actually a superpower.' It may be easier said than done, but once you grip the nettle and step out of your comfort zone, you'll start to enjoy the adrenaline rush. Just ensure you actually make good on your promises. 'The school system tells you if you get an answer wrong you're a failure,' says Simon. 'But look at Edison's lightbulb, it failed 99 times before it worked. So you need those 99 times.' The entrepreneur recommends looking at failure as a chance to grow, while using your wins to galvanise you when times get hard. He recalls: 'The first person that opened the door that time I started the gardening firm said yes, then the second, third, fourth and fifth person all said no to me. But because I had one, I knew it could work – and sometimes we need to remember that. 'Then that business failed. But here's the thing: before it failed, I made loads of money, I learned how to sell, to do contract structures, to rent equipment and do lease agreements. That's learning you couldn't take away from me.' Even if you've got past these mental blocks, life can still get in the way of being an entrepreneur. So when time is your main constraint, Simon has one main piece of advice: prioritise work/life integration over work/life balance. In his case, that means bringing his seven-year-old son along to help him shoot and edit content, but it could translate to a variety of other businesses. 'If you're making candles or whatever, get your kids involved in the business,' continues Simon. 'When you're doing something that's important to you, you find the time.' While many of the people Simon chats to worry about the logistical side of business ownership, he subscribes to the 'keep it simple' way of thinking. In one example of a mum whose journalling company he invested in: she had a great idea but logistical knowledge around manufacturing, so she checked major retailers' websites to find out their suppliers, then called them and went from there. More Trending 'Figure it out,' says Simon. 'Some doors you pull, some you push – don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.' Sustainability should be the goal of any business owner, so you need to plan ahead. If you don't, you may find it's still a slog even years down the line. Simon explains: 'It could be that you're doing it all yourself and you should have brought someone in to help, like a good partner. I see people make that mistake all the time. View More » 'Others get too greedy, and when they make money they put it straight in their pocket. It's vital to invest in a good team.' The fact is, not everybody can – or even really wants to – own their own company. But Simon believes that shouldn't stop you applying the 'entrepreneurial muscle' to your working life – and that this starts with asking your boss for equity in the business. Pitch an idea that'll save them time or cash, show them the value you add and how having a stake in their success will motivate you to do even more. The worst they can say is no, right? Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: 'If I didn't want to work, I wouldn't have gone to a thousand interviews' MORE: I built a fashion business from the ground up — you don't need entrepreneur family to succeed MORE: Porn sites to make major change to who can watch x-rated videos Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
Glasgow Times
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Teenagers help produce latest Big Issue magazine
Youth charity OnSide nominated a number of 13 to 18-year-olds engaged with their youth centres to provide content for this week's special edition of the magazine. Among interviewees chosen by the teenagers were X Factor winner James Arthur and influencer Simon Squibb. Topics covered include educational support for people with cerebral palsy and other special educational needs, and mental health challenges faced by youngsters, Hundreds of young Big Issue vendors have accessed support from the magazine for issues including health and wellbeing. The new issue (Handout/PA) Big Issue editor Paul McNamee said: 'Big Issue begins with opportunity. We offer young people who are frequently marginalised and on society's edge an opportunity to lift themselves up, both through the Big Issue's own earning and learning opportunities, and by championing their voices and views through our journalism. 'For this very special edition, we wanted to learn of the unfiltered hopes, concerns and future plans of this special group of young people. They chose the content, conducted the interviews, guided Big Issue team on how they wanted the pages will look.' Jamie Masraff, OnSide's chief executive, said: 'This special youth edition of the Big Issue highlights what people lucky enough to work with young people already know. 'Despite tired stereotypes, young people are not disengaged or lacking in ambition. They are brilliant, care about their communities and are deeply connected to the issues shaping society. 'We're proud to support this edition and even prouder of the young people who have made it happen. At a time when so many young people are facing unprecedented challenges, we need more opportunities for them to be seen, heard, and celebrated.'
