Alice Thompson – Founder of Social Bite shares her personal scaling journey and life beyond

In 2011 Alice co-founded Scotland’s leading social enterprise, Social Bite, a cafe chain famous for feeding and employing the homeless community, and bringing the likes of George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harry & Meghan and many more to Scotland.

In 2020, with Social Bite fully established as a respected organisation employing over 100 people, Alice decided to leave. She found herself burnt out, and ironically, unfulfilled from a decade of high-pressure business expansion and professional growth. She flew the nest to begin a new chapter, curious to understand professional well-being, integrity and what having a purpose really means. Alice retrained as a Coach. She discovered that purpose and motivation are inextricably linked (neurobiologically) and that understanding ourselves on a deeper level and approaching life with authenticity can liberate us and the way we work. She prides herself on a science-based approach combining neurochemistry, cognitive behavioural coaching, the enneagram of personality and breath work. She offers 'Find Your Why' workshops for people and organisations on a purpose journey of their own and a 9-Month Purpose Coaching Programme for people looking for more meaning from their work. She uses her expertise to listen, guide, and challenge her client’s limiting beliefs, facilitating a structured process that unlocks their true potential. She holds 3 Honorary Degrees for her contribution to social impact and social enterprise in Scotland, a Higher Diploma in Coaching, a Higher Diploma in People Management & a certificate in Neurochemistry and The Enneagram of Personality.

Alice continues to give back by supporting 3 selected social enterprises pro bono.

In today's conversation we will explore:

A personal account of how to cultivate a great partnership and some of the pitfalls to avoid for co-founders. Being aware of Founder's Syndrome and knowing when to step off the bus How do you scale your brand by leveraging celebrity and how this is much easier when you're leading a business for good. Alice also shares a very personal story of her mental health challenges whilst scaling social bite.

Quote

“Slow Down to speed up”

Contact Alice

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alice-thompson-coaching/about/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicepurposecoach/

Website: https://www.alice-thompson.com/

Watch Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America is a 2010 documentary film directed and produced by Gayle Ferraro about the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner's ongoing campaign against poverty around the world.

Buy the Simple Scaling Book

Check out our book, an Amazon Best-Seller: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10X Your Business Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10X Your Business

About the Host, Brendan McGurgan

Brendan is a global business leader who builds profitable, scalable businesses by delivering on his strong personal belief that anything is possible. Over seventeen years, twelve as CEO of CDE Group, he helped the company achieve 25x revenue growth and become an industry leader, delivering almost £500 million ($750 million) cumulative revenue and £50 million ($75 million) cumulative profit from more than 90 countries.

Driven by his own desire to inspire, connect and enable ambitious leaders of SMEs to scale with purpose, he co-founded Simple Scaling with Claire Colvin with whom he co-authored Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x your business.

Contact Brendan or Simple Scaling:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-mcgurgan-11854a13/

https://simplescaling.com/meet-the-team

www.simplescaling.com

My name is Brendan McGurgan and I am immersed in the world of scaleup businesses. In 2020, myself and business partner Claire Colvin co-founded Simple Scaling with the sole purpose of inspiring and enabling millions of ambitious leaders to scale with purpose. Over the past two years we have researched and examined our success and the success of those who have 'been there and done it' to create the 10 Principles of Scaling which is enshrined in our ScaleX™ Framework. As an extension of this we have created the ScaleX™ Insider Podcast.

Every week I will be having fascinating conversations with authors, change makers and business leaders on one or more of the ScaleX™ Principles to support you on your journey to success. I believe passionately in business scaleup and most importantly the wellbeing of you - the aspirational scaleup leader. New episodes on Wednesdays. Listen anywhere you get your podcasts, and please rate, review and share the podcast if you enjoy it. For more information go to: www.simplescaling.com.

• No. of episodes: 180
• Latest episode: 2024-12-18
• Business Entrepreneurship Management

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