Running a small business can be tough. I mean, you're not just the CEO, you're also the marketing, the finance manager and everything else in between.

Technology, however, and digital tools can play a big part in taking on some of these tasks, giving you that much-needed headspace to focus on running your business.

But it's hard to know where to start.

Which tools are right for you?

How do you go about integrating them?

And when is the right time to make the investment?

MasterCard's Drive UK program has been set up to make it easy for small business owners

to access the support needed to digitise,

whether that's incorporating accountancy tools or new digital payment methods.

Through free guidance, helpful tools and personalise one-to-one mentoring,

Strive is empowering small business owners across the UK to succeed.

For more on how Strive UK could help your business, visit mastercard.com.com.

Dot.uk slash drive. Okay, here's a show.

My guest today is Julian Metcalf, co-founder of Pretter-Manger when he was just 26.

Born into a seemingly gilded world, he came from an upper-class family and was educated at Harrow. But Julian, like me, also lost his mother, but he was just age seven.

I don't remember it really, he once said, but I think hardship can breed empathy. Empathy is at the core

of creative instinct, and I believe great business, and Julian channeled it to reinvent something

that became a global retail sensation, the humble sandwich shop. Pratt was a revelation. We were

used to calf serving milky tea in Dorset

white bread sandwiches and I walked into this happy, bright place where nutritious food was

served by people who smiled and interacted. Stores gave leftovers to charity way before it was

a thing. Pratt ran a training scheme for the homeless and ex-offenders.

...