🎙️ Welcome to ‘No Bollocks’!

I’m back with the raw truths of running a business! Or, more specifically, in my case, the raw truths of running multiple businesses and making a lot of mistakes along the way!

If you are a long time reader of this newsletter, you will remember this was more the style I used to write. But to be honest 2024 has been a fucking abortion for me and I lost both the time, and the headspace to write consistent, deep dive, weekly emails.

But my head is now clear (well a little clearer anyway!), my goals are set, and my diary is mapped to precision! So expect a raw, honest and (hopefully) educational email about building and scaling a business, in your inbox again, every Friday.

And if you are a more recent subscriber of this newsletter, then I think you are going to like this content. Everybody used to in the past, so strap yourself in and enjoy the stories.

💡 What’s in a Name?

If you didn’t know, this newsletter has a sister podcast, also called ‘No Bollocks’. The name was a rebrand from the slightly more vanilla ‘Matt Haycox Daily’. I can’t take total credit for the name, it was a team effort on a strategy call with Molly (my head of marketing) and Marketing Max who, as is name probably gives away, is a marketing mentor of mine who I have worked closely with this year.

We were trying to get the focus and format of this newsletter nailed down, and when I was asked to describe what I saw as my unique traits and how I differed from other business ‘gurus’ out there, my response was along the lines of ‘well in reality I am probably very similar to X, Y, Z, but without any of the bullshit. I tell it as it is, and share my stories and advice both positive and negative, regardless of how that may make me look at times’.

And so ‘No Bollocks’ was born! Or as Max (an American) says ‘No Bullocks’!

👉 P.S. This humour translates better in audio than text so be sure to check out the podcast version of this newsletter too!

And that little detour, and plug for the podcast, sets us up nicely for this week’s story!

💸 Payday Drama

The day this happened was payday. And over the last few months I have come to expect one thing on payday - resignations! If there is one thing that unites all of my leavers, it is their spineless obsession with handing their notice in the second that their wage has cleared the bank.

Despite the fact that I have advanced them money when they needed a loan, covered their training when requested, paid their travel requirements when visas have been a problem, erred on the generous side of commission when their has been ambiguity (or whatever statement is relevant to a particular employee) they always say the reason they quit on pay day is ‘in case I didn’t pay them’.

This comment totally ignores the fact they still need to ‘hope’ I pay them for the next month after they have worked their notice period, but let’s not let logic get in the way of propaganda!

And this month’s payday was no different….. within an hour of payroll leaving our bank, I received a resignation email. This time however, I was told the resignation was with immediate effect and no notice period would be given.

I didn’t really have any direct interaction with this employee so I wrote back to ask what her reasons were. The team she was in had been seriously underperforming over the past 12 months and I had just removed their manager so I could take charge of it myself - so any more knowledge I could garner would be useful.

She replied with a few issues and concerns (some valid, although all resolvable had I been approached for a simple conversation) but the one that stood out most was:

“I also wish to highlight that certain statements made in the No Bollocks podcast on December 11th about your latest hire (around minute 21) which I respected as part of the company’s ethos, seem inconsistent with the realities of this role and frankly quite upsetting.”

I was quite shocked as I had no idea what they were talking about. My team produce around 3/4 podcasts a week across my 2 brands, and once I have recorded an episode I never listen back to them again. I simply haven’t got the time, and I trust the team to deliver a product that represents me and the brand as I would want.

So I replied to her to answer the other concerns / complaints, and say that whatever was said in the podcast didn’t refer to her as I hadn’t even really had any interaction with her to have anything to talk about on a podcast.

🤔 But it got me curious!

And I was sat in a mountain restaurant waiting for my daughter Harlie to ski to me and meet for lunch. So I pulled up Apple Podcasts and started to fast forward to minute 20 of the offending episode. And I listened…………..

Then minute 21 came and………FUCK! It WAS about this person! Undeniably! And whilst no one else listening to the podcast would have a clue who it was, this person knew exactly that I was talking about them. (For full context, the episode saw me talking about a 2nd interview I had done with this person where I felt uncomfortable with their performance and wouldn’t have hired them. But the sales manager fought for them and, as there was no recruitment fee involved, I agreed to give the manager a chance to prove me wrong.)

 🤯 What Happened?

I guess it’s times like this when the concept of ‘building in public’ can have its downsides. But as the ‘No Bollocks’ name suggests, I think is essential to share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Otherwise I am just publishing curated bollocks like the influencers of Instagram who give the impression that the sun is always shining, and that anyone can tell their boss to ‘go fuck themselves’ and be making $20k a month within 30 days by following their foolproof course!

So do I regret my public comments? No. And I won’t change the way I speak, or create content. Obviously I take no pleasure in this person being upset and I immediately sent them a voice message to, firstly acknowledge my mistake in telling them the podcast comment wasn’t about them, and secondly apologise for an offence they felt. But I also said that the comments I made still stood, that was my view of the interaction we had.

💡 Lessons Learned

The old school people out there will be focusing on the fact that I am too open about my business or life and that I should operate in stealth! But that is never going to happen! I am a transparent person, and I believe I get many more benefits from an honest & public, personal brand than I get downsides.

I think I should have stuck to my guns after the interview and never allowed the sales manager to recruit her in the first place. I don’t say this out of bitterness that this person has now quit. They could very well have performed but we never got to see that in the 6 weeks of their employment.

But the reality is the sales manager himself wasn’t performing. He hadn’t demonstrated his ability to get the rest of his team performing and generating acceptable income, so why did I go against my gut until he had his existing house in order?….

Success comes from top down. Not bottom up. And the performance of the team is down to the ability of the manager. He either makes them perform or replaces them with ones who can perform. And if he can’t do this then it is on me to sort it.

I turned a blind eye to a problem for too long because I was distracted with other problems, both business and personal.

So 2025 starts off with a much smaller sales team, but one that I will be fully focussed on and getting my teeth into. Teaching what I have learned works for me, and tracking performance with daily metrics. Because, as I posted on twitter the other night, ‘Everything you want is on the other side of the tracks’.

And that word focus is key to my personal strategy for 2025 too. I have spent too long juggling too many plates and having my attention torn in too many directions. I have allowed bad businesses to pull me away from good businesses. Cash drains to pull me away from cash cows.

Social media likes to talk about multiple streams of income. But generating real wealth comes from focussing on one thing and doing it very well. If that thing is ever sold then multiple streams of income are a sensible diversification strategy, but to generate the wealth then you need to go all in on 1 thing in the first place. (For me it still won’t be 1 thing as that isn’t quite practical, but it will be 80% less things than I have been doing!)

So I hope you like this reversion back to some of the old newsletter format. Please reply to this email and tell me what you think - good or bad. I can take criticism as well as give it!!

✍🏼 What’s Next?

Next week I will talk about how I have rebuilt out my diary to ensure I always have the time in it to write this newsletter as well as all the other activities (personal and professional) that I see as important to me and essential for a successful busy and a happy life.

🎒Entrepreneur’s Tool Kit

Each week I am going to dig in to my box of tools to tell you about one of my favourite app’s that I can’t live without. They will save you time, save you money, and maybe even make you look cool!

To kick off this segment I am giving you the one I use multiple times a day. I really should be sponsored by these guys because I can’t tell you how many people have signed up to this app because they found it through me!

Otter.AI - aka my secret weapon for productivity.

It’s not just a transcription tool—it’s a meeting ninja. Otter shows up to your Zoom calls, takes perfect notes, and even covers for you when you’re not there, sending a summary like the overachiever it is.

There’s a free version, but if you talk as much as I do, you’ll need the paid plan. Worth every penny.

Sign up today—your assistant might not thank you, but your schedule will!

Team Talk 💪🏼

Each week someone from my team hijacks this section of the newsletter to write about a must have strategy or tip that they have been implementing within our businesses.

Molly Hill, Head of Marketing 🙋‍♀️

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Need Help Scaling Your Business?

I’ve been where you are—struggling with decisions, distractions, and scaling pains. Whether you need clarity on your next move, help building a strategy, or funding to fuel your growth, I can help.

Here’s how:
📞 Get coaching with me: Real, no-bullshit advice tailored to your business. Book a 15 minute power coaching call here.
📈 Work with my marketing team: Build a brand that gets results here.
💸Get a business loan: Access funding to scale and thrive. Click here.

💡 Let’s cut the bollocks and get to work. Book a call today and take the next step toward making your business unstoppable!