Chris England, cofounder and owner of PBS Media in Grantham, shares his journey from journalism and local government communications to building a visual production company serving national clients, including Red Bull, Experian and MGM.

In this episode, Chris speaks openly about developing his photography skills, growing a business alongside a full time job and finding the confidence to leave a secure salary behind. He reflects on building a team of 11 and the responsibility that comes with managing people, paying wages and keeping a company moving forward. The conversation also explores the setbacks behind the success.

From flooded studios and stolen equipment to losing major clients, Chris explains how difficult moments pushed PBS Media to diversify and rethink its ambitions. Along the way, we discuss turning a love of golf into new business opportunities, making sensible financial decisions and why trust, service and strong relationships matter so much to lasting success.

In this episode, Adam and Jon sit down with Stuart Lee from Atlas Mapping to explore how location intelligence, spatial data and visual mapping software can help businesses make smarter decisions about growth, marketing, sales and territory planning.

Atlas Mapping provides a software platform called Vision, which allows businesses to visualise their data on maps. By bringing together customer locations, demographics, competitor activity, market penetration and financial values, the platform helps companies understand where they are performing well, where opportunities exist and where smarter decisions can be made.

Stuart shares how Atlas Mapping was founded 15 years ago alongside co founder John Bellamy, after they identified a need for more sophisticated territory analysis within the franchising sector. Having previously worked at a data agency, the founders saw an opportunity to build their own mapping technology and launched the business through a sweat equity arrangement, despite some early scepticism from family members.

The Vision platform also helps businesses identify target customers, calculate potential revenue, analyse competitor locations and assess the strength of different territories. This is particularly valuable for franchises, gyms, service businesses, retailers and companies planning new sites or local marketing campaigns.

This is a valuable episode for anyone interested in data, mapping software, franchise planning, marketing strategy, customer analysis, territory mapping, business growth, location intelligence or using smarter information to make better commercial decisions.

About the hosts

Adam is the founder of Active Internet Marketing, a UK digital marketing agency helping businesses improve their online visibility through SEO, paid advertising, content marketing and website development.

Visit Active Internet Marketing: https://activeinternetmarketing.co.uk/

Jon is from Octopus Computers, an established technology business providing IT support, cybersecurity, cloud services and business technology solutions.

Visit Octopus Computers: https://octopus-computers.com/

In this episode, Adam and Jon sit down with Amy and James to explore how operational efficiency, better processes and human centred change can help businesses reduce costs, improve productivity and prepare for sustainable growth.

Amy and James are business efficiency specialists who support organisations with process improvement, productivity and operating model design. Their work is focused on helping businesses simplify the way they operate, remove unnecessary complexity and build stronger systems that make growth easier to manage.

A major theme of the episode is change management. Resistance to change often comes from change fatigue, fear of the unknown or a lack of belief that improvement will actually happen. Amy and James explain why quick wins are so important, helping teams see progress early and proving that better ways of working can be introduced without huge disruption.

Their approach is bespoke and flexible. Some clients need short term cost saving support, while others require a complete review of their operating model. In every case, the aim is not to make businesses dependent on outside consultants, but to empower internal teams with the tools, confidence and understanding to sustain improvements long after the project ends.

The episode also looks at why businesses often chase new technology before fixing the basics. AI and automation can be incredibly useful, but only when workflows are clear, consistent and properly understood. Amy and James discuss how companies can waste money by introducing new systems without adapting their operating model, preparing their people or understanding different levels of technological confidence across a multi generational workforce.

Artificial intelligence is explored as a valuable support tool, particularly for repetitive, high volume tasks in areas such as contact centres. However, the real opportunity comes when AI allows people to spend more time solving root problems, improving the customer experience and applying creative thinking where human judgement still matters most.

The conversation also covers communication and professional development. Amy and James explain why complex concepts need to be translated into relatable, practical language. Training that is too theoretical, too fast or too full of jargon often fails because people cannot connect it to the realities of their work. For change to last, it needs context, clarity and a genuine understanding of people.

Amy and James also share the thinking behind their business model. Rather than building a large internal team, they have chosen to grow through a collaborative partnership network. This allows them to take on larger and more varied projects while staying flexible and focused on quality.

Their professional backgrounds in retail, productivity projects, Lean and Six Sigma have shaped the way they work today. With experience across retail management, supply chain, change roles and supplier relationships, they understand how important it is to bridge communication gaps, reduce friction and make processes work better for the people who use them.

About the hosts

Adam is the founder of Active Internet Marketing, a UK digital marketing agency helping businesses improve their online visibility through SEO, paid advertising, content marketing and website development.

Visit Active Internet Marketing:

https://activeinternetmarketing.co.uk/

Jon is from Octopus Computers, an established technology business providing IT support, cybersecurity, cloud services and business technology solutions.

Visit Octopus Computers:

https://octopus-computers.com/