3.3B Views A Month... How Benjy Leslie Built The UK's No.1 Social First Talent Agency In Just 6 Years!

What happens when you post a video every single day for 243 days and STILL can't break 1,000 views on TikTok? Layton went from working as an electrician to building a successful personal brand, growing an audience of nearly 250,000 followers and securing brand partnerships with companies including Sony, DJI and Adobe. But his success didn't happen overnight. He committed to posting content for 400 consecutive days, learning how to create better videos, build audience trust and turn social media attention into a profitable creator business. Today, Layton helps entrepreneurs, founders and businesses master short-form video content, Instagram growth, storytelling and personal branding through online courses, workshops and brand collaborations. In this episode of Building The Brand, Layton sits down with James Burtt to explain why most businesses get their content strategy wrong, why views don't necessarily equal sales, how to create engaging videos without expensive equipment and how he turned his content into multiple income streams. He also shares the practical formula behind his viral videos, why brands should prioritise storytelling over selling, how to negotiate paid UGC and influencer brand deals, and why consistency is one of the most underrated tools in building a successful personal brand. Connect with Layton: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/layton_video/ Want more from Building The Brand? Connect here:https://buildingthebrand.co.uk/newsletter KEY MOMENTS: 0:00 — Posting 400 Days in a Row: The Reality of Building a Personal Brand 01:46 — Why Most Businesses Get Their Video Content Strategy Wrong 03:01 — Content Consistency vs Batching: How to Get Better at Making Videos 19:22 — Overcoming Camera Anxiety and the Fear of Posting Online 21:22 — 243 Days Without Going Viral: Why Persistence Builds Audience Trust 27:38 — How Businesses Can Create More Video Content In-House 30:13 — Monetising Your Personal Brand With Online Courses and Digital Products 35:15 — How to Get Brand Deals and Build Multiple Creator Income Streams 40:50 — How Consistent Content Builds Trust, Followers and Brand Awareness 45:11 — Brand Storytelling, Social Proof and UGC Marketing That Converts 51:45 — How to Negotiate Influencer Brand Deals, Fees and Usage Rights 54:26 — Do Talking Head Videos Still Work? Creating Authentic Content 01:04:30 — Finding Original Content Ideas and Avoiding Social Media Comparison 01:10:17 — How to Film Better Instagram Reels: The 15-Shot Video Formula 01:12:07 — Viral Videos vs Valuable Content: Building a Social Media Sales Funnel 01:22:35 — Instagram vs Email Marketing: What Actually Converts Into Sales? 01:30:43 — The One-Brick-a-Day Mindset for Building a Successful Business

Guy Phoenix builds £25M super homes for billionaires complete with shark tanks and helipads! The Channel 4 star reveals how he went from terraced houses to Monaco mansions. How do you go from building standard terraced houses to building some of the most extravagant luxury homes in the world for billionaires? Guy Phoenix - luxury home builder, star of Building Britain's Superhomes on Channel 4, and founder of Guy Phoenix Luxury Developments - sits down with James Burtt for an unfiltered conversation on Building The Brand. Guy doesn't call himself a builder. He calls himself an artist. In this episode he breaks down how the Guy Phoenix name became synonymous with luxury and extravagance over 20+ years, why he once built ONE super home on a plot where he could have built six houses, why a client paid him £50,000 just for a conversation, and why his future billionaire project will cost hundreds of millions. You'll hear how his son Jack took the brand to another level with YouTube and TV in the last 3 years (90% of growth), his on-site design process with spray paint and string, 585 lighting circuits vs 23 in a normal house, six-figures-a-month interest bills, £300k planning fees, Monaco, Miami, Beverly Hills expansion, and his take on the UK property market, wealth exodus and tax. If you want to understand luxury property development in the UK, how to build a personal brand in construction, and the mindset of the ultra-wealthy who buy Guy Phoenix homes - this is it. KEY MOMENTS: 0:00 - How Guy Phoenix Accidentally Built a Luxury Brand 01:54 - I Am Not a Builder. I Am an Artist. 04:01 - Shark Tanks, Lagoons, Helipads & Football Pitches: Client Wish Lists 06:06 - How His Son Jack 10X'd The Business With YouTube & TV 0:40 - The Hundreds-Of-Millions Billionaire Super Home 12:23 - From Terraced Houses To £25M Mansions: The Stepping Stones 13:41 - Designing With Spray Paint & String: Guy's Process 27:02 - UK Wealth Exodus, Tax & Stamp Duty Truth 29:14 - Moving to Monaco: Why He's Relocating 30:50 - The £50,000 Chat & Hugh Grant Story: Fame & Clients 32:59 - Impenetrable Homes: Security For Billionaires 50:00 - 585 Lighting Circuits: His Lighting Superpower 51:00 - Hard Work, Resilience & Short Temper: Work Ethic 52:35 - Legacy: Homes That Live On After He's Gone 53:12 - Strip Billionaires Naked & They'd Get Rich Again: Wealth Mindset

Former Diary of a CEO Head of Trailers Ant Smith - one of the first 10 key hires who helped build the world's fastest growing podcast - reveals his short form content strategy for YouTube Shorts, TikTok and podcast trailers. Ant goes full tactical on how to go viral short form. Ant made 450+ trailers for Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, turning 90-second podcast trailer cuts into miniature movies. In this episode of Building The Brand with James Burtt, he breaks down exactly how to grow a podcast with short-form: why disconnection kills retention, how to sell the guest in 10 seconds, the psychological effect behind cliff-hangers, eye-lines for retention, perfect imperfection cuts, and his ai video editing workflow that turned 4 hours into 20 minutes. If you want podcast growth , a proven youtube shorts strategy and real storytelling psychology from inside DOAC, this is the playbook. This is Ant Smith x Building The Brand Part 2 - more stories, all tactics. Perfect for podcasters, video editors, and founders using short-form to grow.👇 CHAPTERS - Diary of a CEO Short-Form Tactics: 0:00 — Hook: Why 90 seconds decides if they watch 2 hours 02:50 — Who is Ant Smith? Early DOAC hire to Head of Trailers 11:20 — He'd never heard of Steven Bartlett: joining Diary of a CEO 13:00 — Not a podcast, a show: the trailer philosophy that changed podcasting 29:40 — How Ant used AI in DOAC trailers (guest intros in 20 mins) 32:30 — Disconnection kills retention: the #1 retention rule 34:00 — Perfect imperfection: the authenticity cut that builds trust 38:00 — Quantity vs quality: AI for marketing teams 41:00 — Best AI tools for video creators (Artlist, Envato) 44:00 — Human-led ideas, AI for brutal feedback (Claude workflow) 46:00 — Psychology of cliff-hangers & the Zeigarnik effect 50:00 — Eye-lines for retention in YouTube Shorts 53:40 — Why story is king for brands and creator Connect with Ant via https://www.linkedin.com/in/antedits/ Building The Brand hosted by James Burtt - new episodes weekly on business, podcasting & brand building. Subscribe for tactical breakdowns.

How do you help build one of the UK’s best-known challenger beer brands, walk away from the business you helped create and then start all over again in a completely different industry? Hannah Williams helped build Tiny Rebel from a home-brewing experiment into a major independent brewery employing around 120 people, while acting as CFO and helping scale the company through rapid growth. Today, she is CEO of the Alacrity Foundation, working with technology startups and entrepreneurs, while simultaneously building Lucky No.7 Coffee alongside her husband Mo. And she’s doing it with many of the same principles that helped Tiny Rebel grow: move quickly, test the market, build a distinctive brand, surround yourself with great people and learn as you go. In this live episode of Building The Brand from Ideas Fest, Hannah shares the entrepreneurial lessons behind building Tiny Rebel, launching a coffee brand, scaling a startup, building a team and creating a brand people actually remember. Want more from Building The Brand?Connect here: https://buildingthebrand.co.uk/newsletter In this episode, Hannah reveals: How Tiny Rebel went from home brewing to employing around 120 people

How do you build a £50 million business empire, operate more than 30 companies, employ 3,000 people and keep acquiring businesses without giving away equity to investors? James 'Jimbo' Sinclair has spent his career buying businesses, building management teams, acquiring commercial property and turning struggling or overlooked companies into valuable assets. Starting out as a teenage children’s entertainer and magician, James has built a portfolio spanning leisure attractions, childcare, food service, hospitality, commercial property and self-storage. In this live episode of Building The Brand from Ideas Fest, James breaks down the business acquisition strategy, management systems and entrepreneurial mindset behind his £50m group. Want more from Building The Brand?Connect here: https://buildingthebrand.co.uk/newsletter Big thanks to our much-loved partners for this pod - go show them some love: Ideas Fest https://ideasfest.uk/ Lucky No.7 Coffee https://luckyno7coffee.co.uk/ Under The Canvas https://underthecanvas.co.uk/ In this tactical breakdown, James reveals: Why entrepreneurs should build a business to sell even if they never intend to sell it