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Inside The Queen’s Funeral: What The Public Never Saw
What does it take to run a fifth generation funeral business, grow from one branch to 27, and be trusted with the final journey of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II?
Weekly Scottish business podcast
Real talk for ambitious operators across Scotland and the UK.
Hosts Wicus van Biljon, Johnny Bisset, and Mike Annandale dig into the wins, wobbles, and working playbooks behind growing a resilient business. No fluff - just useful conversations with the people doing the work.
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Browse all episodesInside The Queen’s Funeral: What The Public Never Saw
What does it take to run a fifth generation funeral business, grow from one branch to 27, and be trusted with the final journey of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II?
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Read full show notes, highlights, and shareable clips on the episode page.
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Inside The Queen’s Funeral: What The Public Never Saw
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Getting started
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Starting Strong: Essentials for Launching Your Business
Build momentum with routes to market, pricing, and first hires.
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Crafting Your Business's Value Proposition: Articulating Purpose and Impact
Define the impact you deliver so your team can sell it consistently.
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From Thinker to Doer: 9 Roles Every Business Needs to Scale and Thrive
Break down the operator hats every scaling business must cover.
Marketing & growth
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From Farm to Luxury Lodges: How Anna Black Transformed Lindores into Scotland’s Ultimate Rural Escape
Learn how Lindores turned a third-generation farm into a destination brand.
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From Ad Agency to Landlord: Guy Harrower on thriving through crashes, rent caps and building a Scottish portfolio
Hear how Guy scaled a mixed property portfolio through ups and downs.
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Connor Burns figured out the hard way what it really takes to make it
Lessons from the Fringe on building an authentic personal brand.
Operations & people
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How To Change Direction Without Losing Your Team | Alan Russell, Forth Road Ltd
Lead change without breaking trust inside your team.
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Can Schools Really Prepare Teens for Work? Mark Blair on Meta Skills, Sport and Real Jobs
Bridge the gap between education and the skills employers need.
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It’s Okay to Talk: How Andy’s Man Club is Saving Lives One Conversation at a Time
Support wellbeing in the workplace with practical peer-led ideas.
Why we exist
The Business Babble mission
We exist to help founders and operators build the next wave of Scottish business success - without the guru nonsense.
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01
Educate and inform
Actionable stories and frameworks that keep you ahead of the curve in a changing market.
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02
Inspire with practical guidance
Clear next steps, tested tactics, and honest reflections from people who have done it.
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03
Foster community
Bring Scottish founders, operators, and leaders together to swap learnings and collaborate.
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04
Promote innovation
Spotlight fresh ideas and best practices from across sectors - tech, hospitality, manufacturing, and more.
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05
Support growth at every stage
Whether you’re pre-launch or scaling teams, we share the mindset and tools that get you moving.
Meet the hosts
Three Scottish operators who still run businesses off mic.
Mike Annandale
Founder of award-winning letting agency moo-let, Mike champions better service for Scottish landlords and tenants while steering multiple ventures across property and golf.
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Johnny Bisset
Trade entrepreneur behind JDB All Trades, Johnny coordinates full-service renovations across Scotland and brings that boots-on-the-ground rigour to every Business Babble conversation.
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Wicus van Biljon
Business Doctors advisor, Wicus works with Scottish SMEs to turn ambitious visions into executable plans, tightening operations while coaching founders through growth.
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Catch bonus clips on YouTube, swap wins with other operators on Facebook, and get invites to in-person meetups across Scotland.