My guest today, on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview is a a guy who it seems is a born entrepreneur with a fascinating story to boot. Which makes him a perfect guest for a show like Join Up Dots. Growing up on the Shetland Islands – the most northerly tip of the UK, his first taste of entrepreneurship was running a small Dropshipping business whilst still at school. At 14, he used to buy electronics from China and sold them on eBay whilst building his first ever website at 14 years old, which still gets sales to this day! Leaving the islands at aged 18, he knew University wasn’t for him and lucky enough to be accepted into the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy in Manchester. As he says “The academy was an incredible experience – one in which I was pushed out my comfort zone on a daily basis, whether that was pitching, networking or just having to work incredibly hard. Things that are now a normal every day thing for me now – but certainly weren’t back then! It was in Manchester I launched a corporate well-being company called Alba Fitness, where he used to place personal trainers into corporate environments (such as call centres) to run corporate fitness programmes. However it really started to come together for him, when he realised that the trainers were generally terrible at marketing themselves. Secondly, he was reading a book called the 7 Day Startup – a book all about (you guessed it) launching a business in 7 days. On June 21st 2015, he finished the book. On June 29th 2015, Blue Cliff Media was born. He offered social media and community management services at the beginning but eventually carved ourselves a nice wee niche in Facebook advertising. The business continues to grow and have some amazing clients all over the world. So looking back on his life on the Shetland Islands, was it a blessing or a hindrance to his entrepreneurial venture? And is he where he wants to be in his life or simply on the first rung of what he can now see is possible for him? Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Gavin Bell Show Highlights During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Gavin Bell such as: How Gavin managed to get his business up and running as a small school boy even buying and selling belts on vacation Why networking and pitching his business is such a huge part of his business strategy. You have to get out from behind your pc! Gavin recalls the moment when he decided to pivot from his business Alba Fitness, and learn from what it had given him (or more often that not didn’t give him) Why FB ads are an amazing way to grow your business, but you have to let then run before seeing the results. Its all about data after all. and lastly…. Why it is so powerful to show your successes and failures to the world. Reality is today’s marketing strategy that works.