Start-up to Scale-up with Channel 4 Ventures: Scaling to Success with Nikki Wicks

Your Dream Business

In this exclusive series I interview five distinguished entrepreneurs, courtesy of Channel 4 Ventures, starting with the incredible Nikki Wicks, CEO of The Body Coach. He shares fascinating insights on the evolution of their business, their content strategies, the shift to mobile app development, and the challenges and opportunities in separating a personal brand from the business. Ideal for small business owners, course creators, membership owners, and coaches looking to understand the dynamics of scaling a business and attracting investment, this episode highlights the importance of investment when scaling a business. Full of practical tips and inspiring stories, you’re going to love it!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

1. The Power of Media for Equity: Investing in media can be a game-changer for scaling a business, offering both exposure and growth opportunities.
2. Investment Demographics: A large portion of investment tends to go to well-educated white men from top universities, highlighting the need for more diversity in investment opportunities.
3. Brand Evolution and Challenges: Nikki Wicks shares how The Body Coach evolved, focusing on content strategies, transitioning to mobile apps, and balancing personal branding with business growth.

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.

LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE

Connect with Nikki Wicks on Linkedin Connect with Teresa on Website, The Club, Sign up to Teresa's email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter

Transcript

Teresa: Hello and a really warm welcome back to this week's episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. And this week I have something very special for you. You see, we're not just doing one episode like [00:01:00] normal. We're actually doing. Five, which I know sounds a bit crazy, but I have a super special podcast series that we're doing for this week only. You see some time ago, I was invited by channel four to go to their offices in London because they were having an event alongside other media sort of business outlets and leaders in business. amazingly got invited along to go and see what they were doing. And as part of this, I have put together a special series of podcast episodes. As part of this event, they had four really amazing entrepreneurs come along and talk about various things. And I was given access to these entrepreneurs and the ability to interview them for the podcast. So this is going to be really, really cool because I have got some people who are coming up that you will probably recognize their [00:02:00] business names, if not their names. For those of you who are not in the UK, Channel 4 is one of our main channels. So like the BBC, you'd probably know about that if you're not in the UK. Channel 4 is one of those channels. So it's, you know, one of the first four channels that we UK. So it's quite a big deal from my point of view to be part of this. But basically, Channel 4 has an arm of their business called Channel 4 Ventures and it's an investment team within Channel 4 that specializes in media for equity, where high growth, unprofitable startups exchange shares, i. e. equity in their business for Channel 4's advertising space. So if you want some investment in your business rather than getting money, you can do that. You will get advertising and Channel 4 would get a, you know, part of your business. They would get a section of your equity. Channel 4 Ventures has completed over 50 deals backing companies such as What3Words, Oddbox, Purple Bricks, [00:03:00] Crowdcube, and Pinterest. So the reason I was invited is because Channel 4 Ventures did some research about who was most likely to get given investment in their business. And I know this is going to surprise you all, but it was mostly well educated white men. And they basically did this research, which didn't really come as a surprise to anyone in the room and the entrepreneurs that I speak to in this special little series I've got here. So basically, um, They profiled hundreds of founders that had secured investment valuing their company at a hundred million or more since 2013. And the data was based on analysis of founders own disclosure of their race, gender, education, background, employment history, and company base. And this was just some of the data that was found. So 94 [00:04:00] percent of founders were men, despite men representing only 41 percent of all UK graduates, and those founders We're 51 times more likely to have graduated from an Oxbridge university or it's us equivalent. Consumer companies in London, Oxford, and Cambridge are 11 times more likely to have raised valuation of a hundred million plus than companies located anywhere else in the UK. And white university graduates are 10 times more likely to have founded a consumer company with a valuation of a hundred million plus than a black university graduate and nearly twice as likely as an Asian graduate. So like I said, none of these stats, I mean, they are all shocking, but when you think about it, it's not that shocking to hear in terms of not that shocking from an unexpected point of view. It feels surprisingly, yes, that sounds like what it would be like, although it's not fair. It's not [00:05:00] right. It's not okay. It does feel like, well, I get it. I get that that's the case. That's not a surprise to us. And it's broke and they need to fix it. So when Channel 4 came to me and spoke to me about doing these podcast episodes, I was a little bit kind of, is this going to fit with my audience? Obviously you are my audience listening to this and most of my audience, that listen to the podcast are small business owners, lots of online business owners, very female heavy, or people who identify as a female heavy audience. And part of me was like, this really doesn't fit. Like I'm talking about bigger businesses. I'm talking about capital investment, media for equity, things that I don't necessarily understand well enough. But then. I thought about it and I thought, no, that's the reason I should do it. The reason I should be doing it is because we should be having these conversations in places where they don't typically happen [00:06:00] in places where you wouldn't typically hear about it. And I was being given an opportunity to bring some information to you and in the process, bring some really cool business owners to you. And actually, that's what I'm going to do. So I am really, really happy about doing this, about bringing a conversation to you that might seem like it's not one that you've thought about. It certainly wasn't one that I've thought about. I had the conversation, I think, with one of the guests about, you know, I don't ever see me ever wanting investment in my business because it's just me. And I, I can't see why I would need that. However, This type of things, the investment sort of, you know, space has been behind closed doors and in most cases, from my opinion, quite fancy closed doors, so unless you're a white straight male from Oxford or somewhere like that, then you don't have these conversations, which is why I thought it was even more important. to have these [00:07:00] conversations. So Channel 4 gave me the opportunity to speak to some amazing, amazing business owners. And this week I am going to be sharing with you an interview from those five different people. So we have four business owners and then someone who works for Channel 4 who heads up their Channel 4 ventures. And They were fascinating conversations for so many reasons. There is so much that you're going to get from this, not only hearing what some incredibly successful business owners have to say about how they became incredibly successful, the drive they have, the way they look at problems, but also you're going to get an understanding of this may be part of a world that you didn't know about, or maybe you did, and I'm just kind of bringing it back to you. The world of capital investment. private equity, all words that I wouldn't understand a lot about. I know a little bit, but not a lot. So this was as educational to me as hopefully it will be to you. And it [00:08:00] was super inspiring. So like I said, we have some amazing, amazing guests coming out. And today we are kicking off with the super, super lovely Nikki Wicks, CEO and creative director at The Body Coach. Forward slash Joe Wick's. Brother, if you have not heard of Nikki or Joe, the Body Coach is a global fitness and wellness company on a mission to make the world fitter, healthier, and happier. Previously, Nikki was a journalist and an editor working across sports, lifestyle, and trade magazines. Prior to joining the Body Coach, Nikki was based in Singapore, where he worked as an editor at Campaign Magazine. His team, Austin affectionately. Call him the crying CEO and Nicky thinks one day this will make a great title for a biography if he ever writes one. Fun fact, Nicky was an extra in the final Harry Potter movie where he played a snatcher, a member of an organization of bounty hunters formed by [00:09:00] Lord Voldemort, which I'm completely gutted I didn't read prior to interviewing him, so I wasn't able to ask him about it, but still, it's still an amazing episode. So like I said, This week, you're going to get an episode every single day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I've got some incredible business owners, some incredible conversations, and I hope you enjoy them. Let's get on with the first interview. Nikki, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing? Nikki: Hello, morning, Tracy. Yeah, good. Good to see you again. Um, thank you for inviting me. Teresa: My pleasure. So I want to be super honest. You said to me before we got started, you don't often do podcast interviews. So, and I guess this would make sense when we explain who you are and what you do. So, Can you start off by just explaining to my audience who you are and what you do? Nikki: Sure. Yeah. So I'm Nicky, but, um, I'm the CEO of The Body Coach. Um, I guess firstly, actually I've done it in the wrong order. I'm Joe Wicks's brother. You may have [00:10:00] heard of, lots of people have heard of Joe Wicks and, and actually be surprised. Some people scratch their heads when you, when you say The Body Coach, even though they're, you know, Joe is The Body Coach, but yeah, I'm Joe's, Joe's brother first. CEO, now CEO of The Body Coach, which always feels weird when I say that because it was, yeah, I never thought I'd be CEO of any company, but yeah, here we are. Teresa: So that immediately brings up loads of thoughts and questions in terms of How did you get, because like you said, you, you never expect to be a CEO of any company. So how did you get to come into the company in the first place? Because working with a family member, I have three siblings, two older sisters, one younger brother. I'm not sure I could work with any of them. So working with a family member and then becoming CEO, how did all that come back? Was it from day one or was it as it grew? At what point did you kick in? Nikki: Yeah. And, and you meant, you know, that concern about working with a family member was a massive thing for me. So [00:11:00] Joe and I are very close. We've always been close. We're, we're close in age. There's 18 months between us. You know, my, my mom had us very young. She was 17 when she had me. And I think she was just 18, just no, maybe just 19 by the time she had Joe. So very, very close as siblings. And I was working as a magazine editor and journalist for about seven years. And when Joe asked me to come back and, and help him, I said no, pretty much straight away. And was like, look, don't think that's a good idea. You never, you never hear many happy stories about family members working together. And I just was very worried that it was gonna affect our relationship. So for about three months, I kind of resisted the idea of coming back and, and working with him. So, yeah, that was a thing. But no, to answer your question, so, um, Joe and I, we're living together. So the body coach has been going for 12 years this year. So 2012. And I, I won't go the, the short version of the story. And Joe started out as a, you [00:12:00] know, a personal trainer doing bootcamps in the park. And that was in 2012. We were living together at the time. Um, and I was working as a journalist on the London Olympics. So had an 2012 was an amazing summer. I always looked back at, with such good memories, having a chance to work on the official magazines and programs for London 2012. And Joe started at this boot camp in Richmond then I was living with him. Yeah, it was sort of, you know, in those very early days, it was, I think all the family at some point was out helping him do some flyering. We were all kind of, called it, called to do a shift, handing flyers through doors to try and get him, you know, more people sort of coming to his boot camp. And so then I carried on with my career, he started out, and then Yeah, I think it was 2015 when he'd started to get a quid, got a bit bigger following on social media. And, you know, he sort of said, look, I think this is, he started getting some traction and really wanted to sort of, you know, give it a go and try and, you know, his pitch to me was come and help me get more people moving and more people, you know, I really think we can use social media and people seem to be connecting [00:13:00] with my message that he was putting out. And yeah, so I, I eventually came back, I was living in Singapore and I decided to come and, you know, see if I could help him out. Yeah. Cool. Teresa: What were you doing in the early days? Like what was, because I guess a lot of his business at that point was social media, like huge amount of content creation. So, and obviously that is a hard thing for someone else to get involved with, especially when it has to be his face. So was there a natural kind of fit for you to come in and go, this is my skill set. This is where I could be a great asset. Nikki: Yeah, a hundred, a hundred percent. Like I, you know, I was very clear that I said, look, I, I, um, I think I can help you with a certain part of, you know, what you're, what you're trying to do and it was content and the media, I guess I, you know, having worked as a journalist, I'd, you know, I'd originally wanted to work in magazines. I still love magazines now. Like I still love print. Even, uh, you know, during my career as a journalist like print was starting to struggle and, you [00:14:00] know, it's moving more digital. So a lot of the work I had done, you know, before coming back to Joe was sort of, you know, content, building community, engagement, and really kind of like, I'd say, yeah, it was very kind of content. That was my expertise, really. You'd now call it content. I mean, I was a journalist and a writer and an editor, but that was becoming more and more digital and social. So, you know, Twitter was a huge in, you know, in the early and still is for, for journalists and for media companies, I'd started doing more video over some of the projects I was working on. So there was a real, like natural, my skillset was very much in, Content, creative, I suppose, like ideas of how do you engage people and when I, when I originally came back, my role was, yeah, as head of content was the role that we sort of loosely gave myself. But it was very much like, let's launch a YouTube channel, let's do more video content on social and it was always about how do we reach more people [00:15:00] and how do we get more people moving or cooking healthy food. You know, and Joe had already started the Lean in 15 videos at this point. He was, he was well into that, but I guess we really just doubled down on, when I look back now, I think we really kind of doubled down on like content and engaging and building community. And it's still 90 percent of what, of our business now, I would say. Teresa: Joe kind of got the dream, right? I think I work in an industry full of online business owners, so loads of people who have courses and memberships and coaching, and they are super skilled and passionate at the thing they do. Like Joe, you know, they have a service that maybe they offer one to one or maybe they do done for you staff. And then they want to move into the one to many, which is exactly what, what Joe's done. And, and really to look at his business. And as I think I mentioned to you, when we met that him and I spoke at the same event and I met him, which was lovely, like he's the dream, like he's the, his business is like, Oh my God, if only our businesses could be as big as [00:16:00] his. Was there something like, was there something you look back on now and think that's what caused that? Or is there something, would you view it very differently now doing it? Do you think that success would, I've asked you two completely different questions there, so let's start with there. Is there something that you look back on that think that's what caused it? Nikki: Yeah, I mean, Joe gets asked that a lot over the years and I, and I, and I can't even think what his answer is to that question. I was there a moment or was there a thing? I think now, like, you know, 12 years into the journey, I think, Joe's, I, I, this is just my opinion, my view is that Joe, Joe's superpower I think is his ability to connect with people like he, and, and whether that's on, in, in real life, face to face or over digital platforms. I think he's, you know, he's, he's, he's got a natural, very natural way of connecting and he has a lot of empathy and compassion for, for people. And I think [00:17:00] he, he genuinely cares about.