The James Smith Show

Self-employment in the UK has never been harder. Accountant Rachel Harris (@accountant_she), one of the most followed accountants on Instagram, joins James Smith to explain why growing a business got 10x harder: UK tax, business expenses, the tax bands, child benefit over £100K, and why taxing the rich makes them leave.

Being self-employed in the UK is no longer as necessary as it once was. Rachel Harris explains why the landscape has shifted.

Rachel Harris, one of the most followed accountants on Instagram, joins the show to discuss the current reality of business ownership. She contrasts the significant benefits of the past with the modern environment, where the system makes starting a company easier than ever, but feeling like you are winning is increasingly difficult.

In this episode:

- Why financial education fails in the UK

- Why business expenses are really half price

- Tax relief for businesses vs families, and the 2.5% mortgage deposit scheme

- Reverse-engineering your dream life and how to KPI yourself (£12,400 a month)

- Building wealth: mortgage vs stocks vs business

👁️ Try Neutonic: https://www.neutonic.com/jamessmith

🤼‍♂️ Wear Adapt BJJ: https://adaptjj.com/

📝 Business Mentoring: https://www.jamessmith.business

Rachel's Online Courses: https://www.accountantshe.com/courses/

Rachel's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/accountant_she

Follow Rachel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accountant_she

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:39 Why Financial Education Fails in the UK

04:20 Hidden Benefits of Being Self-Employed

06:46 Tax Relief: Businesses vs Families

10:09 Gifted Trips & Influencer Tax Rules

12:31 Why Business Expenses Are Half Price

15:09 Should Voting Need a Test?

17:10 The 2.5% Mortgage Deposit Scheme

19:58 Tax the Rich and They Leave

21:37 Run the UK Like a Business

24:44 Child Benefit Over £100K

28:14 Would You Pay 45% Tax?

30:20 UK Tax Bands Are Too Close

32:39 Abundance vs Scarcity Mindset

34:49 Reverse-Engineer Your Dream Life

37:03 The Money Goal That Matters Most

40:19 How to KPI Your Life (£12,400 a Month)

44:05 Your Perfect Repeatable Day

45:56 The Quality of Life Audit

47:41 Paying $2.5M Tax Without Resentment

49:21 Why Charging for a Course Works

51:06 Mortgage vs Stocks vs Business

52:20 Rich Dad Poor Dad & Risk Profile

56:52 Buying Your Dream Car

01:01:09 The ROI of Joy

01:06:17 Flying Business Class

01:08:12 Champion Your Friends' Success
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Sam Dutney is a former school director of sport and rowing coach who now runs Top Crew Academy, an online coaching service for rowers. He joins James Smith to talk about fatherhood, fear and quitting a secure school job to go full time, how a $20,000 side hustle month showed it could be a real business, and what he has learned about social media, email and sales calls while growing towards seven figures. They also compare rowing, jiu-jitsu and rugby on pacing, fitness and mindset.

A practical listen for coaches and anyone thinking about turning a side hustle into a full-time online coaching business.

In this episode:

◼️ Why he left school sport leadership to build an online coaching business around being home for his kids

◼️ How a $20,000 side hustle month, then James's gun to the head advice, took him from about $5,000 a month to seven figure pace

◼️ Why a warm-up should follow a ramp protocol and prime your VO2 kinetics so less lactate builds early

◼️ Why many mindset problems in sport are really fitness problems

◼️ How he grows on social media by answering client questions, posting seven reels a week and keeping a 10,000 person email list warm

👁️ Try Neutonic: https://www.neutonic.com/jamessmith

🤼‍♂️ Wear Adapt BJJ: https://adaptjj.com/

📝 Business Mentoring: https://www.jamessmith.business

Top Crew Academy - https://www.topcrewacademy.com.au/

Follow Sam on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/p/DcRs8Q9E5PO/

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:17 From Rower to School Director of Sport

02:59 Why He Left School Rowing

05:18 Starting Online Coaching as a Side Hustle

07:04 Quitting the School Job

07:56 Gun to the Head and the Move to Full Time

10:42 Why Going All In Beats the Fear

13:45 Staff, Revenue and a New Kind of Stress

17:48 Online Coaching Is Closer to Business Coaching

19:02 Why a Business Network Matters

24:49 James's Rowing Story

28:51 Why Rowing Overvalues Height

32:07 Pacing Mistakes in Running and Rowing

35:04 Pacing in Jiu-Jitsu and CrossFit

37:32 Warm-Ups and VO2 Kinetics

39:54 Testing Energy Systems and Fixing Bottlenecks

45:02 Rugby in New Zealand and Why Fitness Wins

47:28 Mindset Problems That Are Really Fitness Problems

48:46 Held in Mount by a Black Belt

51:27 The Race Where the Tactics Almost Worked

55:52 What Works on Social Media

59:11 Why People Care About Your Content

1:03:43 Pro Bono Content and Repetition

1:06:58 Email as Extra Nurture

1:08:32 Growing on LinkedIn

1:11:00 Sales Calls and an 80% Close Rate

1:12:49 Email Lists and Sales Pages

1:15:31 Where to Find Sam
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Christian Ozbek joins James Smith to talk about the harsh realities of training Brazilian jiu-jitsu and why most grapplers struggle to earn money. They cover fighting heavyweights, judo versus jiu-jitsu rules, why judo conditioning is so brutal, the Olympic qualification paradox and the training injuries that often go unaddressed.

A grounded look at competitive grappling for anyone who wants to understand the sport, the commitment it takes and what the industry really looks like today. Why you must compete more, and the gap between gym training and competition.

🤼‍♂️ Wear Adapt BJJ: https://adaptjj.com/

👁️ Try Neutonic: https://www.neutonic.com/jamessmith

📝 Business Mentoring: https://www.jamessmith.business

Follow Christian on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thewizardofozbek/?hl=en

Get Chris's instructional - https://bjjfanatics.com/products/feet-finder-foot-sweeps-by-christian-ozbek

Chapters:

00:00 From Street Confrontation to the Mat

1:08 The Balding to Takedown Ratio

1:57 Humbled by a Seven-Year-Old

3:16 Judo vs Jiu-Jitsu Rules

4:41 Why Judo Conditioning is Brutal

6:11 The Olympic Qualification Paradox

8:11 The Dangers of High-Level Judo

9:52 The Anatomy of a Training Injury

13:38 The Spectator Effect in Training

17:45 The Disconnect Between Gym and Comp

22:01 Why You Must Compete More

25:49 The Low-Calorie Grappler Strategy

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Ollie Marchon joins James Smith for a business masterclass on what it really takes to build a fitness brand in the UK right now. A former professional rugby player turned coach, Ollie started out cold calling leisure centre members and training clients in a converted cattle shed. Ten years later he runs Marchon across four verticals: in-person gyms, an online training app, a sports nutrition range and a growing community of hybrid athletes.

🎬 Edits Course: https://jamessmith.business/ig-edits

👁️ Try Neutonic: https://www.neutonic.com/jamessmith

🤼‍♂️ Wear Adapt BJJ: https://adaptjj.com/

📝 Business Mentoring: https://www.jamessmith.business

Check out Marchon - https://marchon-global.com/

Follow Ollie on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/olliemarchon/?hl=en

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:28 How Ollie Built Marchon

02:29 How Covid Accelerated the Online Business

03:57 Spotting the Gap in Sports Nutrition

05:28 Building a Brand Nobody Has a Bad Word About

06:32 Bricks and Mortar or Online First?

08:32 Why Every Coach Should Coach in Person First

09:59 From Failed Rugby Career to Freelance PT

11:48 Starting a Gym in a Cattle Shed

12:40 The Small Group Training Model

13:59 Why You’re Always Being Watched on the Gym Floor

14:26 Scaling From One Gym to Two

16:18 The Hires Nobody Tells You About

17:27 Where the Opportunity Is in Fitness Now

19:53 Why Hyrox Affiliates Won’t Last

20:23 James Gets Humbled at CrossFit

22:55 Will GLP-1s Bring a New Wave of Gym Members?

25:06 The Barry’s-Style Strength Gym Model

26:38 Personal Training Is a Luxury Most Can’t Afford

27:55 Why One-to-One Sessions Go Stale

29:51 Jiu-Jitsu Clubs Are the New Health Clubs

32:44 The Real Cost of Running a Gym

34:20 The £200K Business Rates Bill

36:29 Why We Should Want Businesses to Make Money

38:28 Break Even Jumped From 180 to 250 Members

39:48 Why Investors Won’t Fund Bricks and Mortar

40:34 What Happens When Gyms Close

42:39 The Economics of a Jiu-Jitsu Gym

45:38 Building the Marchon Training App

48:56 Price Testing and the Profit Squeeze

51:08 Training as a Customer Acquisition Tool

52:48 Why Online Coaching Is a Lifestyle Business

54:38 Neutonic Pouches and Paid Ads

55:34 James’s Lockdown Slump

56:48 Launching the Marchon Nutrition Range

59:20 Hiring Celtic’s Head of Nutrition

1:01:30 Bootstrapping vs Raising Money

1:03:47 Marchon’s Best Seller: Workout Fuel

1:05:44 Why You Shouldn’t Fear Carbs Before Training

1:07:58 Rituals, Cues and Building Habits

1:09:16 The Protein Price Crisis

1:10:52 Protein Shakes and GLP-1s

1:13:38 GLP-1s as a Business Performance Aid

1:16:46 Why Food Is More Enjoyable on GLP-1s

1:17:49 The Hungry Months Behind Every Abs Photo

1:19:43 James’s Prescription Travel Stack

1:20:41 How Easy Is It to Get GLP-1s?

1:21:53 The Highest Leverage Play in Weight Loss

1:24:08 The Full Marchon Product Range

1:26:58 Marchon’s Top Five Sellers

1:27:56 Do You Actually Need Electrolytes?

1:30:11 Lessons in Impatience From Necker Island

1:33:17 Expensive Mistakes and Finding Your Hero Products

1:35:38 Every Business Is Personal Training Full Circle

1:37:11 Why Ollie Brought In a COO
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Olly Staniland joins James Smith to break down what actually makes a YouTube video work. Olly works on James's YouTube channel and, like James, studied under Ed Lawrence. They go through real thumbnails and analytics from James's channel, why one video with 80,000 views made nothing while another with 60,000 made thousands, how Matt Armstrong and Carwow built huge channels by repeating one format, and the status games that drive what people click and buy.

👁️ Try Neutonic: https://www.neutonic.com/jamessmith

🧪 Check your Test: https://www.manual.co/smith

📝 Business Mentoring: https://www.jamessmith.business

🏋🏼‍♂️ Online Coaching: https://www.jamessmithacademy.com

Olly Staniland's YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ollystaniland

Olly Staniland On Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/olly_staniland/

He explains:

◼️ Why you should package the title and thumbnail before you film

◼️ How to steal winning title formats from other niches

◼️ Why more views doesn't always mean more revenue

◼️ The split-testing rules that stop your metrics misleading you

◼️ Why long-form viewers trust you more than short-form followers

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:32 What Makes a Good YouTube Video?

02:46 Package First, Then Film

06:01 The Big Mistake Creators Make on YouTube

07:34 Stealing Titles From Other Niches

11:53 What Is YouTube Actually For?

15:38 Why You Can't Pivot a Big Channel

16:05 Views vs Revenue on the Business Channel

21:11 Split Testing and Misleading Metrics

24:11 Long Form vs Short Form Trust

26:07 Ed Lawrence and the $1,000 Phone Call

31:32 Who Actually Watches YouTube

33:48 Why End Screens Matter

35:39 How YouTube Made James a Better Business Owner

37:35 Scripting vs Riffing

40:31 AI Slop and Copied Scripts

42:00 Dial-Up, The Pirate Bay and LimeWire

44:56 Why Nobody Writes Their Own Emails

46:23 Should You Pay Someone to Run Your Channel?

47:15 Building an Offer for the Boys

54:16 Launch It Before You Build It

55:18 Why Transformation Videos Work

58:13 Matt Armstrong's Car-Build Empire

01:02:35 Raffling the Cars

01:06:48 The AdSense Maths

01:08:37 Carwow's Same-Video-Forever Format

01:11:08 The Status Games We All Play

01:15:47 What Status Has to Do With What We Buy

01:19:51 From Top Lad at Uni to the Real World

01:23:30 Status and Health

01:24:36 Tough Love for Starting a Channel
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