What’s really going on behind those “too good to be true” marketing promises?

Simon and I are talking the good stuff first: marketing that treats people like actual humans (ground-breaking, we know). Clear communication, real expectations, transparency that isn’t just sprinkled on top like glitter.

Then we jump straight into the chaos... the fear-based messaging, the “act now or you’ll die cold and alone” tactics, the pretend scarcity, the “guaranteed results” promises, and the guilt-tripping funnels that somehow convince you you’re failing at life if you don’t buy the course. You’ve seen them. You’ve probably rolled your eyes at them. Same.

From SEO cowboys, to lead-gen “gurus,” to PPC agencies that promise the moon and deliver a pebble, we shine a very bright, very unapologetic light on the worst offenders, and why these tactics stick around. Spoiler: because people don’t always know they’re being manipulated.

But here’s the good news! Once you understand how unethical marketing works, you’re a lot harder to fool. Consumer education is the real power move, and ethical businesses (the ones who actually care) are the ones who win long term.

If you’ve ever felt confused, pressured, or straight-up bamboozled by a marketing message… you’re going to love this episode. It’s honest, it’s funny, it’s slightly chaotic, and yes, we definitely rolled our eyes more than once.

Grab your brew, press play, and enjoy.

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

In this week’s episode, Simon and I dive into a topic that comes up again and again… corporate denial. You know the one, the moment a huge organisation gets caught red-handed, denies everything with a perfectly polished statement, and quietly carries on making millions. Yep!

We unpack some of the biggest examples from recent years and explore why it happens, how companies manage to bounce back so quickly, and why society seems to give them more grace than they sometimes deserve.

We also talk about the performative side of corporate “values,” where glossy marketing promises don’t always line up with what’s happening behind the scenes. It’s the gap between what brands say they stand for and what they actually do that frustrates so many of us.

This isn’t just a rant session (although we had a few moments!). It’s an honest look at accountability, reputation, and why genuine change is so rare in corporate spaces. We explore whether public outrage ever leads to lasting transformation, or if most businesses simply ride out the storm until the media moves on.

If you’ve ever wondered why some companies seem untouchable... or why “lessons learned” often feels like an empty phrase, this episode pulls back the curtain. It’s thought-provoking, a little spicy, and full of those conversations we all have privately but rarely say out loud.

Grab a cuppa and join us. This one goes deep!

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

Grab your mug and settle in, because this week we’re tackling one of the biggest questions shaking up the creative world... can artificial intelligence really be creative?

We chat about the good, the bad, and the slightly terrifying side of it all, from how AI can supercharge efficiency to the uncomfortable question of whether it could ever replace genuine human creativity. Spoiler! We’re not convinced it can.

There’s also a serious side to this brew-fuelled chat, the ethical and legal mess that comes with AI-generated content. Should creators be declaring when something’s AI-made? Who’s responsible if it copies someone else’s work? And what happens when regulations finally catch up?

This episode isn’t a doom scroll in podcast form, it’s a conversation about balance, transparency, and remembering that while AI can imitate, it can’t feel. Creativity, at its core, is still a human heartbeat.

Tune in and join us as we unpack the ethics, the innovation, and the odd existential crisis, all in the name of keeping our creative cups half full.

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

Fraud. Scams. Dodgy deals that sound too good to be true (and usually are).

In this week’s episode of Business and a Brew, we dive headfirst into the wonderfully weird and slightly worrying world of fraud. From fake magazine ads to a suspicious pig purchase (yes, you read that right), we’ve seen and shared some stories that prove scammers will try anything.

We get into the mechanics of how these scams work, from the “just one more person and you’ll be rich” world of MLMs, to pyramid schemes that crumble faster than a soggy biscuit, to Ponzi schemes with promises so outrageous you wonder how anyone believed them.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Between the laughs and the “you couldn’t make it up” stories, we share practical advice too, like how to spot the red flags of a scam, and why Action Fraud should be your first port of call if you think something’s dodgy.

If you’ve ever wondered how scams really work, or you just want to hear us giggle about pigs, pyramids, and promises that were never going to happen, this episode’s for you.

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

Grab your cuppa, because this week we’re diving headfirst into one of the most divisive business conversations out there, niching. Yep, that old chestnut.

On one side, we’ve got the anti-niche camp waving their “don’t box me in!” banners. They argue that telling every small business owner they must pick a niche is like telling a toddler they can only play with one toy forever. It’s restrictive, it’s stressful, and it can totally squash your creativity.

On the other side, the pro-niche brigade are sipping their lattes smugly, pointing out that having a clear niche makes your marketing easier, your messaging sharper, and your conversions higher. They’re not wrong either, it’s just that the rest of us are still trying to figure out which box we actually fit in.

We chat through the evolution of niches (because, yes, they can change), sharing real examples from our own businesses, from B2B e-commerce to the world of greeting cards. There are stories, laughs, and maybe a few gentle rants about how “finding your ideal client” can sometimes feel like online dating with less flirting and more spreadsheets.

So, whether you’re proudly niched down to a fine art or still dabbling in a bit of everything, pop the kettle on, plug in your headphones, and join us for some honest, funny, and surprisingly liberating chat about the non-rules of niching.

Tune in and tell us, are you team niche, or team “don’t tell me what to do”?

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

Ever wondered what happens when one of the world’s biggest credit reporting agencies accidentally leaves the front door wide open... for 76 days?

In this week’s episode, we dive into the absolute chaos that was the Equifax data breach of 2017.

We chat through how it went from bad to worse, the PR disaster, the “less than £5 per victim” compensation that wouldn’t even buy a pint, and the eye-watering £500,000 UK fine (which, let’s face it, is about as painful to Equifax as a paper cut).

This episode isn’t just about tech gone wrong, it’s about leadership, accountability, and why patching your software might just save you a few hundred million dollars (and your reputation).

Grab your brew, because this one’s got everything: corporate scandal, a sprinkle of outrage, and a few laughs at the expense of the world’s most ironically named “security” company.

Tune in now and tell us, if your data was worth a fiver, what would you spend it on?

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

Change. Some people love it. Most people… not so much.

In this week’s episode of Business and a Brew, we dive into the messy, magical world of change management - or, as we like to call it, “convincing people to stop clinging to spreadsheets from 2004.”

We chat about why change feels so uncomfortable, the resistance that crops up when businesses try to move from familiar (but painfully outdated) systems into something new, and how to actually make transitions smoother without everyone breaking into a panic.

From logistics nightmares to stubborn teams who’d rather wrestle with 10 different versions of the same spreadsheet than learn a shiny new system, we share the highs, lows, and facepalm-worthy stories of trying to get people on board.

But it’s not all chaos. We also get into the good stuff: how clear communication, proper training, and support make all the difference. Why you need a solid “guiding coalition” (fancy term, but basically your squad of cheerleaders who’ll back you up). And how a little bit of sensitivity can stop even the biggest changes from feeling like the end of the world.

Because here’s the truth: change is unavoidable. Businesses that adapt thrive. Businesses that resist… well, they get left behind with their dusty spreadsheets.

So if you’ve ever tried to roll out a new system and ended up in a battle of wills, or if you’re just curious about how to make change feel less scary and more strategic, this episode’s for you.

Grab your brew, hit play, and come have a laugh with us as we unpack the joys (and headaches) of change management.

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.

Is it all about the science, or can any business benefit? Let’s talk R&D

When you hear Research & Development, you probably picture lab coats, test tubes, and big pharma breakthroughs. But guess what? R&D isn’t just for the science geeks... it could be hiding in plain sight in your business.

We’re diving into the surprisingly wide world of R&D and how it’s not just about creating the next COVID vaccine or sending a robot to Mars. It’s also about improving processes, building better tech, and doing things in new, smarter ways, whether you’re in software, manufacturing, or even printing sassy greeting cards.

We’re breaking down how R&D tax credits actually work, why loads of businesses miss out, and what kind of expert support can help you claim what you’re owed. We also chat about what doesn’t qualify... sorry arts, humanities, and social sciences, HMRC just isn’t that into you.

This episode is your fun, jargon-free guide to making innovation pay off, even if you don’t wear a lab coat or carry a clipboard. Because whether you’re solving big problems or just making small improvements with a bit of creative thinking, you might be doing more “research and development” than you think.

About Simon and Danielle:

Simon and Danielle are both business owners, based in the East Midlands, who met through mutual business contacts and who share a love of all things business.

Simon runs Skylight Media – Award-winning experts in Website Design, E-commerce & Marketing running since 2003.

Danielle runs Goldspun Support – a multi-faceted support service for fractional directors and small business owners across the globe, running since 2009.

Since they first met Simon and Danielle have spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about the subjects that interest them – usually over a drink in the pub – and they decided that now was the time to bring these conversations to a wider audience and invite them to join the chat.

Both Simon and Danielle are successful business owners in their own rights with big plans for the future but will never lose their love of talking all things business… and the pub.