Asim Amin

Founder & CEO at Plumm | Empowering Minds & Building Thriving Workplaces | Passionate Mental Health Advocate

I’m the Founder & CEO of Plumm, the all-in-one HR platform with mental health at its core.

HR today is fragmented, companies juggle payroll, performance, compliance, and wellbeing across too many tools. Plumm brings it all into one platform, helping organisations cut costs, save time, and look after their people. Because no HR strategy is complete without mental health.

Plumm started as a mental health solution and has grown into a full-service HR platform, used by companies worldwide. Our mission is clear: make workplaces more productive, inclusive, and human.

I’m also the host of the Immigrants Building Companies Podcast, where I speak with immigrant entrepreneurs who’ve built companies against the odds, sharing lessons on resilience, growth, and leadership.

If you’d like to:
🚀 Book a demo with Plumm: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0mJb040 
🎙️ Discuss podcasts, speaking, or media features: taslynn@heyplumm.com

International Trade Program

Poor mental health costs UK employers up to £56 billion a year.

And yet, when employers invest even just £1 in preventative employee wellbeing, they see an average return of £5.30.

We’ve seen case after case, that happier employees make for a healthier business.

It’s why we developed Plumm: a seamless all-in-one, evidence-backed mental wellbeing solution for employers and their teams.

We support your team through our global and diverse pool over 200 accredited therapists and coaches, who can cater to their individual needs, preferences, and circumstances, regardless of where they are in their wellbeing journey.

Whether they can benefit from group learning, need professional help and personalised 1:1 therapy or coaching, or self-help resources, we've got it covered.

Ready to level up your team's wellbeing? 👉 https://www.plummhealth.com/request-demo

You’ll spend £4 a day on a latte without blinking.
But £27 a month for your health?
“Too expensive.”

That’s roughly what a WHOOP costs.
And no, not everyone needs a WHOOP.
It could just as easily be a gym membership. Plenty in the UK cost £20–£30 a month.

The number isn’t really the point.
It’s where the line gets drawn.

Some spending feels automatic.
Other spending gets questioned, even when it’s about your own health, energy, and how you want to feel day to day.

That says a lot about priorities.

Because health isn’t a one-off decision.
You don’t choose it once.
You choose it in small ways, over and over again.

Those choices compound.

And one day you realise how you’ve been feeling for a while now
more tired, less resilient, lower energy
or the opposite.

That’s why what you prioritise today matters more than it seems 👌🏼

PS: I still love coffee, but I’d rather have it home ;)

Founder & CEO at Plumm | Speaker | Advisor

Let’s be honest.
 
Most of us f*cked up over the holidays.
 
Too much food.
Too much sugar.
Too much wine.
 
And now everyone’s pretending they “reset” on Jan 1.
BS.
Here’s what actually happens:
You enjoy yourself.
Then you feel guilty.
Then you convince yourself you’re already behind.
You’re not behind.
You’re human.
 
What’s messed up isn’t December.
It’s the idea that one month can “ruin” you.
Your body didn’t suddenly forget how to function.
Your discipline didn’t disappear.
Your year isn’t over because you ate more than planned.
 
The real problem?
People think progress has to be perfect.
It doesn’t.
Balance beats punishment.
Every time.
 
You don’t need extremes.
You don’t need to suffer.
You don’t need a diet built around how you look.
You need habits built around how you feel.
 
Energy > aesthetics.
Focus > abs.
Consistency > guilt.
 
So no, you didn’t fail January.
And no, you don’t need to “start again” next Monday.
You start today.
You eat better because it helps you think.
You move because it gives you energy.
You sleep because you perform better.
That’s it.
 
Just show up.
Again.
And again.
That’s how it actually works.
 
Happy 2026 everyone ✌🏼

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Perfection is how average founders justify being slow.

I’ve done it.
Watched others do it.
Same outcome every time.

Early on, I hid behind “not ready yet”.
What I really meant was: “I don’t want the market to tell me I’m wrong.”
So I delayed.
Refined.
Overthought.
And nothing happened.

In the first 3–5 years, your product isn’t supposed to be good.
It’s supposed to move.
Because movement creates:
- feedback
- revenue
- momentum
Perfection creates meetings.

I’ve launched things that made me cringe.
They still taught me more in a week than months of planning ever did.
Most features I was obsessed with? Nobody cared.
The market told me that. Fast.

And the reality is, most founders fail because they wait until they feel confident.
Confidence doesn’t come before action.
It comes after exposure.

If you’re still polishing:
You’re not protecting quality.
You’re protecting ego.
Speed doesn’t mean sloppy.
It means honest.
And honesty compounds faster than perfection ever will.

DO NOT hire people who are good on paper.

The strongest hires I’ve seen recently weren’t the neatest on paper anyway.
A few gaps.
Not every box ticked.
Some rough edges.

But when things shifted, they didn’t stall.
That’s what stood out.
Work is changing faster than job descriptions can keep up.
By the end of this decade, around 39% of the skills people use today won’t be relevant anymore.
Most roles won’t disappear.
They’ll mutate.
Which makes “tool knowledge” a short-lived advantage.

In practice, I’ve learned to watch for different signals:
Who asks better questions once the brief gets fuzzy.
Who notices second-order problems, not just the task in front of them.
Who can disagree without becoming defensive.
Who recovers quickly after being wrong.

Those things don’t show up on a CV.
And they matter more when pressure is real.

Nearly 6 in 10 people will need reskilling in the coming years.
Yet the global workforce is still expected to grow.
So the edge isn’t experience alone.
It’s adaptability over time.

You can train systems.
Rewrite processes.
Roll out new tools.
What’s harder to build is judgement.
Curiosity under uncertainty.
The ability to stay useful when the rules change.

As automation takes care of the predictable, these qualities surface.
Not because they’re “soft skills”
But because they’re the difference between keeping up
and actually moving forward.

BREAKING 🚨 Europe just made its boldest move for founders in decades.

Yesterday at Davos, Ursula von der Leyen announced EU–INC.
A single, truly European company structure.
This matters. A lot.
For years, Europe hasn’t lacked talent, it’s lacked simplicity.
27 countries.
27 rulebooks.
Different equity rules.
Different compliance hoops.

So founders did the rational thing.
They incorporated elsewhere.
(Usually Delaware)

EU–INC changes the equation.
One corporate framework across the EU.
Incorporate online in 48 hours.
No mandatory notaries.
One legal entity, valid in all 27 countries.
Taxes and labour laws stay national.

The corporate layer goes European. That distinction is critical.
Because Europe’s biggest problem was never ambition. It was friction.

Scaling shouldn’t mean:
– Setting up new entities per country
– Reworking equity structures
– Burning seed capital on legal fees

If executed properly, EU–INC could unlock:
– Faster company creation
– Founder-friendly equity
– Easier cross-border scaling
– A real Single Market, not a theoretical one

Most importantly?
This is the first time Europe has clearly chosen builders over bureaucracy.
Execution will be everything.
Speed will matter.
Consistency will matter.
But the signal is loud and clear: Europe is finally building for founders 🇪🇺🚀

I didn’t wake up one day and decide to rethink health.
Life did it for me.

What surprised me wasn’t the moment itself.
It was what changed afterwards.

How quickly your definition of “healthy” shifts when it’s no longer abstract.
When it’s not about performance, or numbers, or discipline.
You start paying attention to different things.
How stress shows up in your body.
How sleep affects your mood, not just your energy.
How recovery isn’t optional if you want consistency.

Longevity stops being about adding years.
It becomes about protecting capacity.

The ability to think clearly under pressure.
To regulate stress instead of living in it.
To train, work, and live without constantly borrowing from tomorrow.

I’m reading Outlive at the moment.
What resonates most isn’t the science, it’s the reminder that decline accumulates through small decisions repeated daily.
Ignoring signals.
Normalising fatigue.
Treating rest as a reward instead of a requirement.

Perspective changes how you move through life.
You become less reactive.
More intentional.

Longevity, in that sense, isn’t about fear.
It’s about responsibility.
And once life forces that lesson,
you don’t approach health the same way again.

STOP focusing on your personal brand.

(I know, coming from someone who posts 5x week lol)
But hear me out.

A lot of people start building their personal brands, and then visibility comes:
the likes, the comments, the impressions, DMs
you somehow get momentum

but something doesn’t quite add up..
All those vanity numbers..all the likes, all the followers..
CAN’T fix a sh*t product
(or service)

The issue is that attention doesn’t give you breathing room. It does the opposite.
Once people are watching, they’re not just reacting to your ideas. They’re experiencing everything. The product. The service. The follow-up. The bits you were hoping to fix later.

If that experience is weak, people don’t argue about it. 
They just disappear.

I’ve seen people with impressive visibility struggle to keep customers.
I’ve also seen founders with no presence at all build businesses people stick with because the thing actually does what it says.

A personal brand doesn’t create trust. 
It spends it.

Does that mean you should not work on your personal brand? Absolutely not, you should.
But that shouldn’t be your priority.

Building an amazing product should be.
Building a fantastic service your customers can’t stop talking about should be.

Once you have that, then you can build your personal brand on top.
Just get your priorities straight.

And btw, sometimes the best move is to shut up, build properly, and let people talk later 👋🏻

If your best people are leaving..
it’s probably NOT about MONEY.

It’s about growth.
Companies that invest seriously in L&D see up to 50% higher retention.
Yet most still treat learning as a perk - or worse, a cost.

That’s not a people problem.
That’s a leadership one.

High performers don’t quit bad jobs, they quit stagnation.
When people stop learning, they don’t argue.
They don’t disengage loudly.
They don’t ask for more.
They just start planning their exit.

The data is blunt:
- 94% would stay longer with better development
- Growth opportunities now outrank pay for many senior performers
- Teams with weak learning cultures lose their best talent first

And yet we keep trying to fix retention with:
Bonuses.
Perks.
Offsites.

None of those solve stagnation.
Real L&D is whether someone leaves a year later with better judgment, broader scope, and more confidence than when they arrived.
If the answer is no, they’ll leave.
Eventually.

That’s why we don’t treat L&D as HR hygiene.
We treat it as leadership responsibility.
Because people don’t stay loyal to companies.
They stay loyal to growth.

“Go to HR.”

People hear it the same way they heard “go to the headteacher’s office” at school.
Somewhere you end up once things have already gone wrong.

That perception didn’t come out of nowhere.

HR usually gets involved after weeks of small things being left unsaid. 
Feedback is usually avoided. 
And, expectations are left vague. 
Managers hoping issues fix themselves. 
By the time HR shows up, there’s history, emotion, and momentum.

From the outside, HR looks like enforcement.
Inside, HR is dealing with accumulated silence.

Most problems don’t start as formal issues. 
They start as ordinary moments that weren’t handled early, when the cost was low.

When managers treat HR as the place difficult conversations go, people learn to associate HR with punishment instead of support.

If you want HR to feel human, managers have to do the human work first.

Clear expectations early. 
Feedback while there’s still room to adjust. Intervention before frustration hardens.

HR isn’t the headteacher’s office.
It just inherits what wasn’t handled sooner.

2026 HR trends you need to know:

1. HR will end up owning problems no one else wants
Because they sit between leadership intent and lived reality.

2. AI will finally expose how little most companies understand their own workforce
HR has been saying this quietly for years.

3. “Hiring shortages” will keep being blamed on the market
When the issue is internal talent stuck in the wrong places.

4. Job frameworks will keep getting rewritten
Work will keep changing faster.

5. Hybrid work will stay unresolved
Because many leaders still don’t know what good work looks like.

6. Burnout won’t be treated as a crisis
Until it hits delivery timelines.

7. As usual, HR will be looped in late,
then blamed early.

HR isn’t late. 
It’s just been convenient to ignore.

There’s one kind of decision
I never got used to making.

It wasn’t about direction or priorities.
It was about people, and knowing that whatever I chose would follow them home.

Later, it gets called a pivot. 
In the moment, it felt like sitting across from someone and realising you were about to change something you couldn’t take back.

I’ve been laid off before. 
I remember the shock, the quiet afterwards, the way it made everything outside of work feel suddenly uncertain.

I’ve also had to be the one delivering that news.
What stays with me isn’t what I said.
It’s what I saw.
The pause before someone replied.
The way they nodded, even when it hurt.
How often they asked about everyone else instead of themselves.

There wasn’t anger.
There was care.

People checking in on teammates.
Worrying about how the team would manage.
Trying to make sense of what came next.

That kind of response doesn’t come from policies or values written on a wall.
It comes from how people have been treated all along.

You don’t really understand leadership when things are moving fast and going well.
You understand it when something breaks and there is nowhere to hide.

We talk a lot about growth.
But responsibility shows up differently.
It sits with you long after the meeting ends.
Long after the decision is made.

Those moments are uncomfortable, and they should be.
Because once the decision is made, there’s nowhere else for it to land but on you.
You don’t get to soften it with language or hide behind process.
All you can do is stand in it, be clear, be honest, and make sure the people affected are treated with as much care as possible.
Not because it looks good.
Because you owe them that.

If things get hard → raise.
If growth slows → raise.
If you’re unsure → raise.

There’s a weird default in startups…
Everyone’s obsessed with raising.
But no one really stops to ask the boring question:

What exactly are we trying to buy with this money?

Not the pitch-deck version.
The one you’re honest about when it’s just you and the numbers.

Some of the best decisions I’ve made at Plumm didn’t happen after a round.
They happened when there was little (sometimes VERY little) money in the bank.
Because that’s when you’re forced to think differently.
You get creative.
You stop hiding behind “we’ll fix it after the raise”.
You really ask: what actually moves the needle?

Scarcity sharpens you.
It forces out-of-the-box thinking.
It makes you ruthless about priorities.
Sales matters more.
Focus matters more.
Every spend suddenly has to earn its place.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve been sold this fundraiser lifestyle.
The press.
The LinkedIn posts.
The idea that raising equals success.

But money isn’t success.
It’s just fuel.
And fuel on a bad engine doesn’t fix the engine.

There were moments where raising felt like the obvious next step.
And then we realised it wasn’t.
The better question became:
How do we push revenue?
How do we sell better?
What can we do without more capital?

Raising can make sense, I’m not anti-fundraising, but raising by default is a trap.
And sometimes, having less is exactly what makes you a better founder.
Because when there’s no safety net, your instincts show up properly.

You can’t make an A-player out of a B-player.

I know people hate hearing that.
I used to, too.

For a long time, I thought the right coaching, enough time, or “the right environment” would change people. It doesn’t. Not in the way founders hope it will.

I’ve tried. 
More than once. 
And every time, it cost the business.

Ash didn’t step up because he was promoted. 
He was promoted because he was already acting like it mattered to him personally.

No one had to chase him. 
No one had to spell things out twice. 
No one had to convince him to care.

He already did.
That’s the difference.
Some people feel ownership naturally. 
Others wait to be told what to do, how to do it, and when it’s “enough.”

You can train skills. 
You can’t train that internal bar.

At some point, I stopped trying to turn the wrong people into the right ones. And started backing the people who were already wired differently.

Everything got easier after that. 
Decisions. 
Trust. 
Progress.

Ash is a good example of this.
He is THAT person who takes responsibility even when no one is watching.
He cares.

If this makes you uncomfortable, good. 
It should.

PS: Choose carefully. 
And stop lying to yourself about potential.

The worst way to start a business:

	1.	Decide you want to be a founder before knowing what you want to build (because you like the “lifestyle”..)
	2.	Reverse-engineer a product that sounds good to investors, not customers
	3.	Build an MVP to justify a deck, not to solve a problem
	4.	Avoid talking to users because “we already know the market”
	5.	Call early confusion “vision”
	6.	Ship features no one asked for because they look impressive in demos
	7.	Measure success by meetings booked, not problems solved
	8.	Sell discounts as “traction”
	9.	Hire sales to compensate for unclear value
	10.	Blame sales when customers don’t convert
	11.	Add more features instead of fixing the core problem
	12.	Call lack of focus “moving fast”
	13.	Run internal meetings about growth instead of external conversations with users
	14.	Burn cash to protect the narrative
	15.	Pivot quietly, rebrand loudly 
	16.	Tell the team profitability comes after scale
	17.	Run out of time, not ideas
	18.	Buy PR articles to boost you ego

Remember: Build something people would miss if it disappeared.

Everyone wants the quick win.
The overnight success.
The shortcut.
The “one good idea”.
What they don’t want is the part before it.

It took me 10 businesses
and 27 years
to get here.

Because that’s how long it took to actually understand what works.
Most of those businesses didn’t fail, they just… faded.
Wrong timing.
Thin margins.
People problems.
Ideas that sounded good but didn’t survive reality.

Each one taught me something small and painfully specific.
How fragile cash really is.
How quickly momentum dies.
How often “almost ready” is just fear in disguise.

There was no big moment where it all clicked, just fewer mistakes over time.
The Plumm people see now isn’t the result of a breakthrough, it’s the result of repetition, and the sum of all the hard lessons learnt in those 27 years.

Everyone wants the result.
Very few want the years it takes to recognise one.
That gap is where most people disappear.

"Work smart, not hard."
That's how people justify being LAZY.

And it usually comes from those who have never done the hard part first.

At the start of anything new (a role, a company, a team, a product) you simply don't know enough. You haven't seen enough. You haven't broken enough things.

Saying "hard work isn't needed" at the beginning is complete BS.
You're trying to avoid building the foundation.

The only way you learn what matters is by putting the bloody work in.
Getting close to the details.
Seeing where time gets wasted.
Feeling where decisions hurt.

That's how judgement is built. Only after that do systems make sense.
Only then can you remove effort without removing understanding.
Only then does "working smart" actually mean something.

Skipping that phase doesn't make you efficient. It makes you fragile.
You end up managing ideas instead of reality, faking confidence until shit hits the fan.

Every good operator I've met has done the same:
Deep into the execution
Understood the gaps
Simplified ops
Built a system to scale

In that order. And repeat.

So yes, work smart.
But earn it.

Because if you haven't done the hard work yet, you're not being smart.
You're just hoping.
(and being LAZY)

We all say we hate talking about money.
What we really hate is being exposed.

Because money has a way of cutting through the BS.

The biggest mistake I see some founders make is stepping away from numbers too early.

Because staying close to revenue forces uncomfortable conversations.

Sales conversations.
Pricing conversations.
Reality conversations.

Top line tells you if anyone actually wants what you’re building.
Bottom line tells you whether the way you’re building it is sustainable.

Ignore either, and you start lying to yourself.

I’ve seen founders obsess over growth while margins slowly collapse.

I’ve seen “strong pipelines” with no cash to show for it.

By the time they re-engage with the numbers, the options are already limited.

Spreadsheets aren’t finance work. They’re where the truth shows up first.

If you know your numbers, you feel in control.
If you don’t, you call it stress.

That’s the difference.

“Is there still a future in HR?”

That question keeps coming up because a lot of HR work is disappearing in plain sight.

AI is already handling the volume work.
Questions. Admin. Scheduling. Screening.
The things that kept teams busy and roles full.

That part isn’t coming back.

But much of that work was never the value.

For years, HR became the place unfinished thinking was sent.
Vague roles. Avoided conversations. Poor decisions dressed up as process.

AI exposes that.

Because once the admin goes, what’s left is judgement.
And judgement is harder work.

The future of HR belongs to people who can design work that still makes sense as organisations change.
Intervene early, before silence turns into resentment.
Support leaders when there is no policy to hide behind.
Read patterns humans feel long before data shows them.

AI can answer questions.
It can’t rebuild trust.
It can’t decide what “fair” looks like in a messy situation.
It can’t carry the weight of a hard call.

Teams using tools like Plumm are already shifting this way.
Less firefighting.
More thinking.

So yes, there is a future in HR.

But it belongs to those willing to step away from owning process
and into helping organisations make better decisions about work.

Cognitive decline starts earlier than what you think 
(and if you are 30+, you should be reading this..)

Yep, the decline starts in your early 30s..
way earlier than you expected, right?

And interesting enough, the other day I was reading how some studies put the difference between people who actively challenge their brains and those who don’t at 2–3 years of memory decline.
In some cases, closer to a decade…

So, I was like “Hold on a minute.. I need to do something about it..”

So I’ve been trying to go back to basics lately.
And yesterday, instead of doing anything particularly “CEO-productive”,
I did a puzzle.
No phone nearby.
No background noise.

What surprised me wasn’t that it was calming.
It was how unfamiliar it felt to concentrate like that.
Holding pieces in my head.
Remembering what didn’t fit.
Staying with the problem instead of jumping to something else.
That kind of effort used to be normal.
Now it’s rare.

The data on brain longevity is pretty consistent on one thing:
it’s not about consuming more information.
It’s about effortful thinking.
Puzzles, crosswords, problem-solving tasks - they show up again and again in studies on cognitive reserve.
They force the brain to slow down and work.

Kids do this instinctively.
Adults engineer it out of their lives.
Shortcuts.
Assistance.
Constant input.
The brain adapts.

I’m not claiming puzzles are a solution to anything.
But they’re a good reminder.
If brain health matters - not just now, but over time -
it’s worth paying attention to how often we actually ask our brains to do something hard.

Sometimes going back to basics isn’t regression.
It’s maintenance 👌🏼

PS: What was your weekend “brain activity”?

“Graduates should work for free.”

That’s not a hot take.
It’s exploiting the market while pretending it’s common sense.

What it really says is this:
We want output without accountability.
We want talent without doing the work of building it.

Entry-level roles were never meant to be efficient, they were meant to be formative.
You hired for raw potential.
You tolerated mistakes.
You invested time before expecting judgement.
That’s how people got good.

Now?
Many companies want graduates who arrive finished.
Tool-ready. Confident. Immediately useful.

And when they don’t?
The gap gets filled with unpaid labour.
“Trials.”
“Exposure.”
Open-ended internships with no real intent to hire.

The cost moves from the balance sheet to the individual.
Income disappears.
Waiting becomes the price of entry.
At that point, talent isn’t about ability, it’s about who can afford to be patient.

AI is making this worse.
The low-risk learning work is vanishing.
Junior roles are fewer.
The remaining ones demand judgement before judgement has time to exist.
Instead of redesigning how people grow, many companies opt out altogether.

Pay matters.
Not as a moral argument.
As a forcing function.
Pay creates obligation.
Clear expectations.
Feedback.
Actual management.

Without pay, there is no graduate role.
There is only unpaid labour with nicer language.

If you hire graduates, you’re making a choice.
Either you build capability, or you extract value and avoid responsibility.

We’ve always paid interns, because serious companies invest in the pipeline they depend on.

If you hire graduates, pay them.
That’s the line between developing people
and taking advantage of them.

I help founders, accelerators, and organisations design scalable, inclusive business models - powered by AI, strategy, and strong digital communities.

With nearly 30 years of international business experience and multiple 7-figure ventures built and exited, I now advise on high-impact entrepreneurship initiatives - especially those creating real opportunity for women.

As founder of Female Fusion, I lead a global community of 60,000+ women, including a high-retention paid membership of 1,000+ entrepreneurs across 35+ countries. I’ve advised UN Women and regularly support governments, NGOs, and accelerators in designing entrepreneurship and AI-readiness programmes.

I bring full P&L ownership across multiple multi-7-figure ventures, hands-on experience in CRM and analytics platforms (HubSpot, Capsule, Monday.com, Google Analytics), and a track record of designing and delivering accelerator-style programmes, including UN Women’s 16-week entrepreneurship accelerator. I’ve also connected founders with early-stage investment and funding opportunities, bridging entrepreneurs with VCs, banks, and angel networks.

My expertise sits at the intersection of AI integration, digital business design, and community-led growth - always focused on long-term profitability, measurable impact, and innovation.

Key Areas of Focus

Speaking & Events: Keynotes and panels on AI, women in business, digital entrepreneurship, and the future of work

Programme Advisory: Consulting for governments, NGOs, and accelerators on inclusive entrepreneurship and skills initiatives

Strategic Consulting: Offer design, pricing models, digital ecosystems, and community monetisation strategies

Founder & Leadership Advisory: By application - for founders and leaders scaling digital-first, service-based, platform, or monetised membership and community businesses

For bookings: candace@femalefusionnetwork.com

Jen Blandos

Just because you fit does not mean you belong.

You can meet the expectations.
You can check every box.
You can play the role.

And still feel out of place.

Fitting in is about adapting.
Belonging is about alignment.

Here’s the difference ↓

→ Fitting in asks you to shrink parts of yourself
→ Belonging lets you show up fully

→ Fitting in requires constant effort
→ Belonging feels steady, not forced

→ Fitting in focuses on approval
→ Belonging comes from shared values

If you constantly feel drained, cautious, or muted:
Pay attention.

That discomfort is information.

You do not need to force yourself into spaces
that were never designed for who you are.

The right environment does not just accept you.
It supports you.

Repost now with others
Follow Jen Blandos for more

Global Communications & Reputation Leader | Executive Visibility, Partnerships & Scale Founder & CEO, Female Fusion | Advisor to Governments & Corporates

People going nowhere have the most to say.
Ignore them.

The ones who’ve done what you’re trying to do?
They won’t judge you, they’ll support you.

🏋️ An athlete won’t laugh at you in the gym.
💼 A business owner won’t mock your idea.
🎤 A musician won’t criticise you for trying.

Judgement is loud.
But it’s never from people doing the work.

So what should you do?
→ Join circles where action is normal.
→ Connect with those a few steps ahead.
→ Surround yourself with people who get it.

Because if you’re serious about growing -
The right people make all the difference.

The loudest boos always come from the cheapest seats.

⬇️ What’s helped you find the right people?
♻️ Repost to remind someone: the haters don’t matter. Keep going.
➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for daily business insights. 

Quote inspiration: ArtofPoets

Stop chasing perfect. 

Choose your 80%.

Small habits build big results.

I have to remind myself daily:
Abs are made in the kitchen. So is business growth.
It’s mostly boring habits, not flashy hacks.

1/ Health
↳ 80% eating, 20% exercising.
↳ My rule: prep, don’t guess.

2/ Wealth
↳ 80% habits, 20% maths.
↳ Track cash, invest on autopilot.

3/ Learning
↳ 80% understanding, 20% reading.
↳ Implement one thing before enrolling on another course.

4/ Relationships (work and life)
↳ 80% giving, 20% receiving.
↳ Share playbooks, make intros, credit people.

5/ Talking
↳ 80% listening, 20% speaking.
↳ Ask, “What would make this a win for you?”

6/ Achieving
↳ 80% doing, 20% dreaming.
↳ Ship at 80% - iterate in public.

Prioritise the 80% that actually makes a difference.
Let the last 20% catch up later.

⤵️ What 80/20 rules do you follow?
🔄 Repost to nudge a friend who’s stuck perfecting.
➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for daily business insights.

Great advice never gets old
Especially when it’s from Warren Buffett

We live in a world obsessed with hacks, speed and shortcuts.
But Buffett’s brilliance? It lies in the basics.

Here’s why this still holds true today:

1/ Stay calm under pressure
-> Studies show that high performers regulate stress better, not because they feel less, but because they react less. 

2/ Never stop learning
-> The World Economic Forum predicts 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted by 2027. The best way to stay relevant is by constantly refreshing your skills.

3/ Surround yourself with better people
-> A Harvard study found social connection is the strongest predictor of long-term success and happiness. A strategically chosen circle pushes your limits, challenges thinking, and holds you accountable. This unlocks a higher level of success beyond just “networking.”

4/ Say no often
-> Steve Jobs said it best: “Focus is about saying no.” Energy is finite, we need to protect it like your capital. Remember that every “yes” comes with a hidden cost.

5/ The boring stuff builds wealth
-> Buffett made 99% of his wealth after his 50th birthday. The secret? Repeating simple decisions for decades without getting bored.

These rules may sound simple.
But mastering them is anything but.

⤵️ Which of these has made the biggest difference in your life?
♻️ Repost to remind your network that long-term thinking still wins.
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You’re one interaction away

From your next big opportunity.

In every business I’ve built, I’ve followed one simple rule:
Be good to everyone.

Not just the clients.
Not just the decision-makers.
Everyone.

Because over time, roles change.
Titles shift.
And the business world is smaller than you think.

I’ve seen it come full circle:
- A junior team member brought us in to train their organisation
- A former employee became a key referral partner
- An intern became a client who brought us a six-figure deal

But it works the other way too.
I once had a supplier who made a mistake - and doubled down with arrogance.
No fix. No ownership. 
Just: "This is what we made. We expect payment."

Years later, I was asked to recommend them.
I was gracious. I was polite.
But I never forgot.
And I most certainly wouldn't work with them again.

How you treat people stays with them - good or bad.
You’re not just building a reputation.
You’re building your future opportunities.

⤵️ What’s one interaction you’ve never forgotten - good or bad?
♻️ Repost to remind people to always lead with kindness.
➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for daily business insights.

What you look for is what you find.

When you believe things will work out,
your mind scans for possibilities.

→ Options appear
→ Connections stand out
→ Ideas feel reachable

When you believe they won’t,
the same situation looks different.

→ Risks dominate
→ Obstacles multiply
→ Doubt feels logical

Nothing outside changed.
Only your lens did.

Belief is not blind optimism.
It is a decision about where to place your attention.

Opportunity and obstacle often exist in the same moment.
What you see first shapes what you do next.

Remember this:
Your mindset decides your map.
Choose the lens that moves you forward.

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Protect your energy.

People influence more than you think.

We rarely notice it in real time, but the people closest to us shape how we think, act and grow.

Sometimes in the smallest ways.
Sometimes in ways that slowly change everything.

A mouldy orange can infect a fresh one just by touching it.
Humans are no different.

Here is what happens when you stay around the wrong people:
↳ Your ambition shrinks because theirs does
↳ Your standards drop because theirs are low
↳ Your ideas fade because no one around you thinks bigger
↳ Your motivation drains because you're carrying all the weight
↳ Your goals stall because you are surrounded by doubt, drama or negativity

And here is what happens when you choose the right people:
↳ You grow faster without forcing it
↳ You take braver steps because they expect more from you
↳ You think bigger because they normalise possibility
↳ You feel lighter because they lift as much as you do
↳ You become someone you are proud of

Environment is not a soft factor.
It is one of the greatest predictors of your success.

Most people don’t fail because they are incapable.
They fail because they are influenced by the wrong surroundings.

Choose wisely.
Your future depends on it.

⤵️ Who in your life has had a positive impact on your growth?
🔄 Repost this to remind someone that their circle matters more than they realise.
➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for daily business and growth insights.

Truth: The secret is simple. There is no secret.

What works has always worked.

→ Consistency over intensity
→ Progress over perfection
→ Fundamentals over fads

❌ Not once.
❌ Not occasionally.
✅ Over and over again.

Most people look for shortcuts.
They chase bursts of motivation.
They jump from trend to trend.

That feels exciting.
It rarely lasts.

Real progress comes from showing up:
+ when it feels ordinary.
+ when no one is watching.
+ when the work feels repetitive.

Intensity gets attention.

Consistency gets results.

Master the basics.

Repeat them longer than others are willing to.

That’s not boring.
That’s how everything meaningful is built.

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What can’t be taken from you
Are the things worth investing in

According to the World Economic Forum, people committed to continuous learning earn more, adapt faster, and stay employed longer.

And the same applies across every area of life.
The strongest foundation you can build is in the skills no one can take away.

Here are 7 that last a lifetime:

1/ Your body
↳ Regular exercise can add up to 7 years to your life.

2/ Your mindset
↳ A growth mindset makes you more resilient and motivated.

3/ Your knowledge
↳ Skills compound faster than experience and travel with you.

4/ Your emotional control
↳ Linked to better decision-making and stronger leadership.

5/ Your discipline
↳ Habits make productivity easier, even when motivation fades.

6/ Your work ethic
↳ Grit is a stronger predictor of success than talent.

7/ Your commitment to learning
↳ Learning keeps you relevant and ahead of the curve.

These are the investments that pay lifelong dividends.

⤵️ What other skills would you add to this list?
♻️ Repost this to remind others to invest in skills that last.
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Your value changes with the environment.

So does your price.

Think about a bottle of water:
Same product.
Same liquid inside.
But the environment changes the perceived value.

That’s because people don’t just pay for what you sell - they pay for where they find you.

If you’re not happy with what you’re making, 
stop blaming the market.

Start looking at:
↳ Where you’re playing.
↳ Who you’re selling to.
↳ How you’re positioning yourself.

I learnt this the hard way.
When I launched my communications and PR training company in the UK, I underpriced myself thinking I’d be booked solid.
Instead, I was ignored by the very corporates and government clients I wanted to work with.

When I raised my rates to match the market’s top tier, I was booked months in advance.
Same service. 
Same expertise.
Different perceived value.

Here’s the takeaway:
1/ Everyone has an audience.
2/ Make sure you’re in the right environment - and priced for it.
3/ Cheap can cost you far more than you think.

⤵️ Ever left one room and instantly been worth more in another?
♻️ Repost this to challenge the “charge less, win more” myth.
➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for daily business insights.

Stop overcomplicating leadership.
This is all you really need.

Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits were published in 1989.
But in today’s world of burnout and "busywork" - they’re more relevant than ever.

This is the cheat sheet I wish every manager, founder, and exec had on their wall.

Because "high performance" isn’t about doing more.
It’s about doing the right things, in the right way.

If you only pick one:
↳ Be proactive.
↳ Prioritise what actually matters.
↳ Protect your energy like it’s your edge - because it is.

Start small.
Build the habit.
Then stack the next one.

⤵️ Which habit do you need to strengthen right now?
♻️ Repost this to help others level up their leadership game.
➕ Follow me, Jen Blandos, for daily business insights.

58% of employees will leave their jobs.

A better culture is all it takes.

What makes a company a great place to work? 

Here are 9 culture green flags with practical suggestions for how to implement them:

1/ Transparent Communication
↳ Regular company-wide updates and open-door policies.
Try: Hosting monthly "Ask Me Anything" sessions with leadership.

2/ Work-Life Balance
↳ Flexible working hours and respect for personal time.
Try: Implementing a "no-meeting day" each week for focused work or personal tasks.

3/ Professional Development
↳ Dedicated budget for learning and growth opportunities.
Try: Creating individual development plans with quarterly check-ins.

4/ Recognition and Appreciation
↳ Regular acknowledgment of employee contributions.
Try: Implementing a peer-to-peer recognition program.

5/ Collaborative Environment
↳ Cross-functional projects and team-building activities.
Try: Organising quarterly team-building days during office hours.

6/ Clear Career Progression
↳ Well-defined career paths and promotion criteria.
Try: Creating and communicating clear progression routes for each role.

7/ Ethical Leadership
↳ Leaders who act with integrity and follow through on commitments.
Try: Incorporating company values into performance reviews at all levels.

8/ Employee Wellbeing
↳ Access to mental health resources and wellness programs.
Try: Offering mental health days in addition to regular sick leave.

9/ Continuous Improvement
↳ Willingness to accept and implement feedback.
Try: Conducting regular pulse surveys and acting on the results.

How many culture green flags does your workplace have? Share in the comments. ⤵️

♻️ Spread the word: Share this post to help others build amazing company cultures.
🔔 Follow Jen Blandos for daily business insights that drive success.

A balanced life is not an outcome.
It is something you practice every day.

Not through big changes.
Through small, intentional choices.

Balance shows up when you:

→ Stay present instead of rushing ahead
→ Choose progress over perfection
→ Take care of your body before it demands attention
→ Protect personal boundaries without guilt
→ Practice appreciation on ordinary days
→ Speak to yourself with respect
→ Rest with intention, not exhaustion
→ Act in line with your values
→ Pause and breathe when pressure rises
→ Contribute to something meaningful
→ Release what you cannot control
→ Keep learning, even when growth feels slow

Balance does not mean life feels easy.
It means you are steady while moving forward.

And that steadiness is built...
One practice at a time.

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