If Not Now... When? with Nicola & Paul Broomham

There comes a point in many careers where success stops being measured by job titles, turnover or the size of the team you manage. Instead, you begin asking much bigger questions.

Am I enjoying this? Is this still what I want? What am I actually working towards? And perhaps the biggest question of all...

If not now... when?

In this episode of The Viking Chats, I'm joined by Nicola and Paul Broomham, founders of 2.0 Group, for a remarkably honest conversation about reinvention, entrepreneurship and having the courage to build a business- and a life- on your own terms.

Between them, Nicola and Paul have decades of experience in residential property. Nicola built and successfully sold one of the industry's best-known recruitment businesses before stepping away to recharge and rethink what came next. Paul has held senior leadership positions at some of the UK's most respected estate agency groups, leading acquisitions, business growth and large operational teams before deciding it was time for a different challenge.

On paper, this is the story of launching a new business together. In reality, it's about so much more.

We explore what it's really like to leave behind successful careers, why selling a business isn't always the end of the story, and how a holiday in Vietnam became the catalyst for asking whether they were living the life they genuinely wanted—or simply following the path they'd always been on.

One of the themes that runs throughout the conversation is that success evolves.

What motivates you in your twenties often isn't what motivates you in your forties. Priorities shift. Family changes your perspective. Health can change everything. Sometimes the bravest decision isn't chasing the next promotion or growing a bigger business—it's stepping back long enough to work out what actually matters.

Nicola speaks openly about the pressures of running a business, selling it and eventually returning to entrepreneurship with a completely different outlook. Paul reflects on moving from entrepreneurial estate agency into the world of private equity, the lessons that came with it and why autonomy ultimately became more important than hierarchy.

We also talk about burnout, stress and the importance of giving yourself permission to pause. Nicola shares her experience of developing a rare autoimmune condition and why taking time away from work proved to be one of the most valuable investments she could have made- not just for her health, but for her future.

As with many Viking Chats, the conversation naturally wanders into leadership, culture and the future of our industry. We discuss why so many business owners mistake being busy for being productive, how technology and AI are changing what modern businesses can look like, and why founders should spend more time doing the things only they can do.

The discussion also touches on something Nicola has long been passionate about- supporting women in property. We explore how the industry has evolved over the last decade, why shared parental leave could be one of the biggest catalysts for genuine equality in the workplace, and why creating better businesses often starts with creating better opportunities for people.

What struck me most about this conversation wasn't the business story. It was the honesty.

There's something refreshing about hearing successful people admit they don't have every answer. That they still question themselves. That they still worry about making the right decisions. And that sometimes the biggest leap isn't into the unknown—it's giving yourself permission to start again.

Whether you're running a business, considering a career change or simply wondering what your own version of success looks like, I think you'll find something in this conversation that resonates.

Because eventually, all of us face the same question.

If not now... when?

Transcript

Kristjan Byfield  0:00  
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the latest episode of the Viking Chats podcast. I'm delighted to be joined today by Nicola and Paul Broomham. Hi, guys.

Nicola Broomham  0:09  
Hello. Thank you for having us.

Kristjan Byfield  0:10  
Now, world global first. I've got them both on the same podcast together, so there we go. Let chaos ensue. So, guys, for those not familiar with the two of you, I think it's fair to say, Nic, you've probably got a slightly more higher profile, a higher profile within the industry. Although Paul has had some very senior roles, I think in terms of yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  0:34  
I'm certainly

Kristjan Byfield  0:34  
personalities out there.

Paul Broomham  0:36  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  0:37  
So for those who aren't familiar with each of you, can you both give us a little bit of a intro of who you are.

Nicola Broomham  0:43  
Yeah, no problem. So Nicola Broom, I originally started my career in lettings. It's my background.

Kristjan Byfield  0:51  
All the best people do,

Kristjan Byfield  0:52  
which is where I met Paul because Paul was my boss. So, but anyway, less said about that. It's been all reverser.

Kristjan Byfield  1:00  
HR, HR,

Nicola Broomham  1:01  
and then basically had kids and took a load of time off the out of the industry. Became a bit of a consultant actually for some of our local agents, and I found that the bit of my job that I liked the most as a consultant was the people piece. And somebody said to me, "Look, you you know what if you can't get back into lettings because I couldn't because it just didn't work around kids and school and all that stuff why don't you become a recruiter so I did and then and that worked really well actually and I really enjoyed it and I loved what I was doing and then very quickly I set up my own business Broomham Recruitment which so

Kristjan Byfield  1:40  
when was when was that? Was that like it

Kristjan Byfield  1:42  
was January 2020

Kristjan Byfield  1:45  
Oh, more recent than I thought.

Kristjan Byfield  1:46  
Yeah, January 2020

Kristjan Byfield  1:48  
A lot has happened in the last six years for you.

Kristjan Byfield  1:50  
Oh yeah, it was six weeks before we went into lockdown as well. So yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  1:54  
we launched Depository two weeks before lockdown. Yay!

Kristjan Byfield  1:57  
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I picked up the keys to the new office.

Kristjan Byfield  2:02  
There was the last time you saw it for six months.

Nicola Broomham  2:05  
Yeah, so I did work as a recruiter before that, but then set up the business in January 2020. Business went mental during COVID because we just were everywhere, all over socials. Which, to be honest, is kind of how I grew that business. Yeah, is through socials. Came out of there, grew it, grew it, grew it. I got approached by Deverell Smith, and that was just after we'd won EA Masters for the second time, Supplier of the Year. Was

Kristjan Byfield  2:33  
that 2324

Kristjan Byfield  2:35  
What was that? We won gold in 2020 or gold in 2021, I think. No, gold in 2020 because it was in the middle of COVID. Because we couldn't go to the event. We got announced. We won

Kristjan Byfield  2:47  
gold the year. You look. That's impressive.

Kristjan Byfield  2:49  
Yeah, yeah. Small supplier of the year. We won gold that year, and then the following year, 2021, we won joint bronze with Stephen Brown.

Speaker 1  3:00  
Brown,

Nicola Broomham  3:01  
yeah, Stephen Brown, and then Andrew came. Andrew Deverell- Smith came up to me at the awards and said, "Look, Nicola, I think we'd be better working together than separately. And he just got me at a point when, to be honest, I'd really fallen out of love and I was finding it really tricky. And then I sold the business the following year, so sold it to him. Worked with him for three years, left last January, and have relaunched a new business this year.

Kristjan Byfield  3:24  
Cool, and we will we will talk about more the new business soon. So, Paul, likewise, I mean, you're up until very recently you were very much boots on the ground front line.

Speaker 2  3:36  
Yeah, to a degree. So I stumbled into a state agency. Absolutely, I think Megan.

Kristjan Byfield  3:43  
I think Megan is the only person I've ever met. Oh, apart from our dear Jacob as well, the the Scandi guy who I've never seen prepare for a career in agency more than he has. But I think they're the only two people I've met who had a very definitive career plan of I'm going to be an estate agent. Well, I whereas most of us

Speaker 2  4:06  
was on the gap year, raised a few quid before going off to uni, and sort of stumbled into it in the January and never looked back. And did

Kristjan Byfield  4:15  
you still go to uni? No, no,

Paul Broomham  4:17  
no. I'm still on my gap year. Yeah, but no. By the time I'd done six months in a state agency, I was only commission. I had a company car. I was going to visit my mates at uni at the weekend, and it was like this is as good as it gets. So I started my career with Romans when it was pre LRG. I worked there for 11 years, I think it was. Now

Kristjan Byfield  4:41  
Romans was Iain White, right?

Paul Broomham  4:43  
With Dale. Oh no, yeah, Dale. Dale, Peter Coles, Iain White. So yeah, I worked alongside Iain for quite a while when I was regional lettings director.

Nicola Broomham  4:51  
Iain was sales sales.

Speaker 1  4:53  
Yes. Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  4:53  
Like area director. You were lettings.

Speaker 1  4:56  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  4:56  
Area director. So they both.

Kristjan Byfield  4:58  
No. So you were. Yeah, kind of on.

Paul Broomham  5:00  
Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  5:00  
yeah.

Speaker 2  5:01  
So left Romans, went and joined a much smaller company in Newbury called Jones Robinson. Yeah, I did about seven years there working with Charles and the team, and was brought in to run the lettings business. So we did because of my experience at Romans with acquisitions, buying the smaller companies, bringing them into the fold and onboarding the teams and the clients and the the properties. I went over to join Charles at JR, and we did a few few there. So went on a bit of a growth.

Kristjan Byfield  5:31  
Yeah, and they're a growth mission. We've worked with them for years. Brilliant business, absolutely brilliant

Speaker 2  5:35  
business. You know, they've got what they do. They've got the customer at the heart of everything, and there are so many agents that forget that now. So, you know, old-fashioned in some ways, but very proactive and forward-thinking in others. But fundamentally, a good business that cares about its people and and the clients left there and went to join a company called Alexander and Co. We rebranded that, so that was Alexander and Co. We had six or seven brands when I took on the Hemi

Kristjan Byfield  6:05  
Anco Group. Yeah, so kind of all income set. We

Speaker 2  6:08  
had we we rebranded all of the existing businesses and all acquisitions that we did into Alexander and Co, and then we bought a company called Peter Ball and Co in Cheltenham. So that led logically to call the parent company, the Anco Group, we launched financial services. Did got more acquisitions than I can remember there, and then must have been a. Can you

Kristjan Byfield  6:30  
leave before LRG acquired it?

Speaker 2  6:32  
Yeah, yeah. So about about three and a half years ago, I was approached to go and run the South Coast for Lowland, and it was one of those do I don't I moment, and we took the view that as a family, this was sort of like the move that if we don't do it, I'd always regret it. Yeah, and you still being

Kristjan Byfield  6:51  
down south already, or was that kind of, or did you aspire to live down south, or the geography was was largely irrelevant?

Speaker 2  7:00  
Yeah, I guess kind of. In reality, was we were. It was a two and a half hour drive for me to get down to the coast where I was based in the Brighton Worthing offices, and so I was staying down there for three or four nights a week. You were going into London with DS, and it just didn't work.

Speaker 3  7:20  
Yeah,

Speaker 2  7:20  
it was just too far, so we sold up, bought a new house, did all of that in eight weeks,

Kristjan Byfield  7:27  
and moved down,

Speaker 2  7:28  
and moved,

Kristjan Byfield  7:29  
moved down south, moved

Speaker 2  7:29  
down. Yeah, we're not that far south, though, are we now? We're

Nicola Broomham  7:33  
no, south, south,

Speaker 2  7:33  
six border. Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  7:35  
but we're near family now.

Kristjan Byfield  7:37  
So you've got that support, yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  7:39  
yeah. It was just the most stressful time ever, and I think it was one of the catalysts to why I got ill.

Kristjan Byfield  7:44  
Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  7:45  
as well. So it was a lot

Kristjan Byfield  7:47  
stress. It wasn't stress

Speaker 2  7:49  
trying to

Kristjan Byfield  7:49  
larder damage.

Kristjan Byfield  7:50  
Yeah, it's the most horrendous thing ever, and and I swear because it was only six weeks after we moved, I suddenly got literally overnight got ill. Jesus, and it it's got to be that you know, trying to get kids into new schools with no spaces, having to go through the appeal process, selling to a guy who was moving from Singapore as a cash buyer that wasn't. Oh yeah, I would love them. It was Paul was down south Monday to Friday. I was going to London three days a week. We it was it was cotton

Speaker 4  8:18  
edge

Kristjan Byfield  8:19  
absolutely cotton edge, but it turned out to actually be some one in lots of ways one of the best things we've ever done. You

Kristjan Byfield  8:25  
just had to get through it. We

Kristjan Byfield  8:26  
just had to get through it because we've been there now three years this month, isn't it?

Speaker 2  8:29  
Yeah, coming up three years in July, August. So it's it's been hard work. A hell of a lot has changed in those three years, but actually, you know, looking back, the kids are now happier.

Kristjan Byfield  8:42  
Settled.

Speaker 2  8:43  
The kids are settled. They've grown up. They've got more friends. We live in a much. We live in a village outside of East Grinstead, but there's still there's buses. They can walk to school. Our previous life was literally in the middle of nowhere.

Speaker 5  8:56  
Right.

Speaker 2  8:56  
They couldn't go anywhere without dad's taxes, which again is picking them up. Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  9:02  
there was a bus once a week, and I'm not exaggerating. There

Kristjan Byfield  9:05  
was once. Oh my god! A few years ago, I moved my mum to Newant and went down. We we had to like we bought like this property hadn't been lived in for 20 years, so I had to sort it out before she moved in. And I naively kind of potted down there, her train got taxi, blah blah blah. They're all like, "Come on, I'll get a bus. I'll get a bus back to Gloucester to get the train back to London. And yeah, like I said, got to the bus stop at like four in the afternoon. Like last bus today, 230

Kristjan Byfield  9:31  
Yeah, I know, I know. And

Kristjan Byfield  9:34  
then walked into three different pubs to be like, "Does anyone know a taxi fam? I got looked at like I just called the pub landlord a slag. I was like, I got the weirdest looks ever. I was like, you know, taxis have been around a while. I'm not asking. It wasn't even like an Uber. Was like anyone got a taxi? Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  9:53  
it's it's it's hard. But I think doing that move was the best thing. And I think career wise for you. Joining private equity taught you loads as well.

Speaker 2  10:03  
Yeah, yeah, loads. I mean, it's a different world. It's an absolutely different world to anything I've been involved in before. So, from a career point of view, that's another great thing to have sort of ticked off, you know, have it under my belt type thing. But after two and a half years, some. something clicked in me, and I thought, right, unless I go and do something, or we go and do something, which was more

Kristjan Byfield  10:29  
well, you've done that senior mountain role quite a few times there. Then I mean, I think I feel like there's only so many times you can keep applying that same knowledge and stuff before for you, like great for the businesses you come into, but for you, yeah, I think

Speaker 2  10:43  
I think that whole yeah. Don't be wrong. Lowman are a phenomenal business, but it was very different going from a privately owned large independent estate agent group.

Speaker 6  10:53  
Yeah,

Speaker 2  10:53  
where I had you know complete autonomy. If you want to go and do this, you know, have a look at this deal. What do you think? Price it, you know, structure it. I never got turned down by the board because there was a huge amount of trust there. The private equity element is just different. It's all process. It's so much process, and I felt I was losing my autonomy in what was ultimately a more senior role. Yeah, you know, bigger teams, more offices, more people that I was looking after, and I kind of lost my passion for it a little bit. Love agency, you know, sales, lettings, property management. To me, it's just one big family. I absolutely adore that side of things, but I'm not the right person to go and set up my own estate agency. There's

Kristjan Byfield  11:44  
there's there's front of line agency, right? Yeah, and there's just the business part of it. Yeah, I think, and I think with private equity, that's the point. It could be any business. Yeah, it could be a plumbers and estate agents, and a you know toy supply company. Their view is number, balance sheet, process, yeah, ins and outs, yeah, and I think that's the thing. If you're if you're passionate about an industry, yeah, and I think it's one of the things I think we failed to grasp as an industry when we often go, oh, so and so's appointed a CEO who's got no background in agency, yeah, yeah, because that's that's not how it works in a PLC or private equity. It's no, they're not there to know what the Renters' Rights Act means or what the Property Misdescriptions Act does, they're just there to

Speaker 2  12:26  
yeah. It's different business, different business. But there was a huge, huge growth at the moment, and I think I mean insane. So you can't go to

Kristjan Byfield  12:32  
buy business like every two weeks.

Speaker 2  12:34  
Yeah, yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  12:35  
for like two years. I mean that is yes

Speaker 2  12:37  
huge amount.

Kristjan Byfield  12:38  
And there must have been obviously also ones that didn't quite work out, so you know there must have been deals in there that were being bounced and feathered and getting part of the way into due diligence, and then oh my god, yeah, I mean that's the the process value will

Speaker 2  12:51  
learn so much from a business once you get into that due diligence process, but also it's not always about the buyer pulling out the seller's change. Yeah, yeah, change of heart. Actually, I thought I was ready for this. I'm not, you know, mentally ready rather than you know structure of the business ready. But yeah, you you know, the number that didn't go ahead that could have done,

Kristjan Byfield  13:14  
yeah,

Speaker 2  13:15  
and probably still in the pipeline. Yeah, you know, there's all there's all of that, but the deals were just getting bigger and bigger and bigger as well to create more hubs and spokes and regions, etc. So we we went to Vietnam, didn't we? And

Kristjan Byfield  13:30  
yeah, yeah, yeah. We went to Vietnam last summer. No, it's amazing. If you've never been go, it's just

Kristjan Byfield  13:38  
I haven't done Vietnam. I I live Singapore, so we did Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, all that sort of stuff. Malaysia, growing up,

Kristjan Byfield  13:45  
nice.

Kristjan Byfield  13:45  
But yeah, didn't do Vietnam.

Speaker 7  13:47  
But

Kristjan Byfield  13:47  
I've had loads of friends who, yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  13:49  
it was amazing. It was amazing, and it's what we did was it really made us think about those existential life questions of what the doing. What

Kristjan Byfield  13:59  
do you want to? What do you?

Kristjan Byfield  14:02  
Just checking.

Kristjan Byfield  14:03  
We have met before. I suddenly thought, yes. Oh God! If in doubt, I tick explicit content on every single episode because I'm like, I can't really swore, but the likelihood is I probably did at least once. Yeah. Fair guess. No, swear it's perfectly acceptable on the on the podcast.

Kristjan Byfield  14:20  
Well, we were we were at middle of nowhere in this like sort of jungle retreat, and we we were sort of look we were having these snippets of conversations, and we just were like, "Hang on a second, what are we doing? We've got an opportunity here because of him joining the business he went to, and and us being having a little bit of money in the bank to actually just go. Do you know what? We're both early 40s. Fuck you. Just give it a go, right?

Speaker 8  14:44  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  14:44  
Worse that happened. That's

Kristjan Byfield  14:46  
it. You're settled. Kids are secure. The big things are ticked.

Kristjan Byfield  14:49  
Yeah. So

Kristjan Byfield  14:50  
if not now, when?

Kristjan Byfield  14:52  
Exactly that. Exactly that. You know, Paul's 40-five was 40-four. How old are you?

Speaker 2  14:58  
40-six now. Two odds. The

Kristjan Byfield  15:00  
age of the best people in the industry.

Kristjan Byfield  15:02  
He was 40-five at the point we had the conversation. It was like, hang on a second, you know, you you were going to work for another 15 years ish, give or take. That's what you want to do, if not less. So let's just do it. Let's just try it. And if it doesn't work out, do you know what? We go and work in Tesco's, or we can go. You can go and get another job as an MD, or I'll go.

Kristjan Byfield  15:22  
Well, that's it. You've still got that track record. Like you know, the industry's always going to need people who know their shit. So

Kristjan Byfield  15:28  
exactly. So we are now six months into 2.0 group, and it's it's it's going all right actually.

Speaker 1  15:36  
Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  15:36  
it's going right. I mean,

Kristjan Byfield  15:38  
the. So what's it like doing that, Jenny? Because we had a little chat before we hopped on camera, and I was saying I remember you and I having a little chat, not a million miles after you told Broomham, or you know you'd done the opposition with with Broomham. I think it was a few months later,

Speaker 9  15:55  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  15:55  
and all the dust had settled, you know, and and I I don't think it was a particularly long and in-depth conversation that we had, but you you were quite succinct, going yeah, kind of yeah maybe maybe doing running my own business maybe isn't my own bag it just that that wasn't fun yeah but like you said you know you launched a business in COVID year

Kristjan Byfield  16:16  
I did I did

Kristjan Byfield  16:18  
you know with with everything else and as you said, you know you've given context of real life circumstance as well. So you layer all of that on, and at the time, you probably attribute that to this is what's involved with running a business, and that's not necessarily the case. So, so what's in that kind of two three year window, roughly? Yeah, that three years. What what do you think has kind has kind of shifted you from oh maybe this isn't my bag to actually come on let's do this let's have let's have a crack at this because if not now when one

Kristjan Byfield  16:53  
of the main reasons is that I genuinely think I'm unemployable so

Speaker 2  16:58  
absolutely

Kristjan Byfield  17:00  
ah. I I think I realised very quickly because of course part of selling my old business, you know, I sold the rights to the name and every part of that. So I don't even know if I'm technically allowed to mention it, but hang on, see how happens. So, but I joining a much bigger business and then despite going into launch that business nationally, what I soon realised was that the way that I like to do things is not the way that other people like to do things. I mean,

Kristjan Byfield  17:31  
again, a bit like the kind of private equity experience, right? You'd you'd gone from a more independent thing of your own and before, and then into an established big business.

Kristjan Byfield  17:42  
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I had a so I used to be a member of the Property Academy. Yeah, I'm again now. Sorry, Leaders Inc.

Kristjan Byfield  17:49  
Leaders Inc. Yes, indeed.

Kristjan Byfield  17:50  
And I brought up the subject to my group before I sold the business. Of I've got this offer on the table. What should I do? And I remember Peter Knight saying to me, "Go and do it. Go and learn everything you can possibly learn, and then just do it again, but do it better.

Kristjan Byfield  18:08  
Better, yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  18:09  
And for the so, I had a three-year run out, and pretty much during that three-year run out, all I kept thinking about and mowing him about was, "This is what's happened. This is what I'm learning. These are relationships I'm building because, of course, it was very different marketplace, etc. etc. But all the time thinking, ah, you know, maybe I shouldn't have sold it. Maybe I should be doing this. And I was moaning to you all the time, wasn't I?

Kristjan Byfield  18:34  
But then you wouldn't have had those lessons if you had sold it. So

Kristjan Byfield  18:39  
yeah, and I learned loads, absolutely loads, and the reality was was that you know I left the month my earnout finished,

Speaker 1  18:49  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  18:49  
due to a number of factors, including me being very unwell,

Speaker 1  18:53  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  18:53  
I'm much better now, and and all of that is great, but at the time I was not in a good place, and I took pretty much a year out last year to make sure I was back to to me again,

Kristjan Byfield  19:04  
which again really important things that a lot of people struggle even when it's serious.

Kristjan Byfield  19:09  
I had no idea being able

Kristjan Byfield  19:11  
to to to step away to give yourself that space.

Kristjan Byfield  19:14  
If if I can, if you have an opportunity in your life ever to step away for a bit,

Speaker 1  19:20  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  19:21  
just do it. If you've got the opportunity to have a sabbatical, to you know anything like that, like the value of that time is massive. Because you did that as well. You stepped away in the October, and we didn't launch the business to the January. And those two and a half two

Speaker 2  19:37  
and a half months, we were tinkering, but we were planning to launch due December,

Kristjan Byfield  19:42  
but we perspended.

Speaker 2  19:43  
But I realised, sort of probably four weeks into having some time off, quite how much I nodded it. Yeah, yeah, and it's

Kristjan Byfield  19:51  
and also Russia enjoy Christmas, enjoy New Year, yeah, New Year. What's absolutely most businesses are not avidly looking to recruit or reprint their business. In the last three weeks of December, you know, so very wise move. But no, I think I remember reading a book a few years ago, and it was about someone who'd been a career whatever, and they and they they basically had a semi nervous breakdown at work. So I don't know, I'm just drinking you like that's when you heard you, and like you, no, but they basically like a lot of professionals properly burnt themselves out and then they ended up just basically going travelling for a year with wife and kids like pulled the kids up boarding school yeah nice went off and they and they came back and it transformed their entire lives that everything changed yeah

Kristjan Byfield  20:38  
totally get it I totally get it if I hadn't have taken last year, so so just in a in a very quick summary. So basically, I have an autoimmune disease that affects my muscles and my skin. It's really rare. Doesn't happen sounds

Kristjan Byfield  20:52  
fabulous.

Kristjan Byfield  20:52  
Yeah, I mean, at one point last year, I could I struggled to walk upstairs, couldn't lift the kettle.

Kristjan Byfield  20:57  
I mean, muscles and skin they don't make up much of body. No, not really. Not

Speaker 10  21:02  
really. Skin

Kristjan Byfield  21:02  
the largest organ.

Kristjan Byfield  21:04  
Yes, it is. It is. So, but it just came out of nowhere. And

Kristjan Byfield  21:07  
then

Kristjan Byfield  21:08  
I've been seeing loads and loads of super duper specialists, and I'm now on the this concoction of medication that has made me back to normal. And

Kristjan Byfield  21:16  
it was all kind of stress triggered. There is no triggers it. They have no idea. And there is no history of it in the family, or

Speaker 1  21:22  
no,

Kristjan Byfield  21:23  
no, no, and stress is a major cause of autoimmune. So yeah, they think so, and that is is something now moving forward we are acutely aware of. So in answer to your question, which has been a really long way of answering, the I I also realised what my limitations were, and both in terms of the work that I enjoy, the work I'm capable of, but like my own physical limitations too. And so when we talked about launching a business again, it wasn't. Whilst the idea had been sort of like you know going around my head for three years,

Kristjan Byfield  21:56  
the thought of doing it by yourself,

Kristjan Byfield  21:58  
there was no way I was going to do it. And so when Paul said, "Actually, we can do something together, do you know what? I hate finance. I hate doing anything tax related. Anything to do with invoicing or money, just not my bag. Paul loves that.

Speaker 2  22:11  
I think he loves a bit far fetched, but happy to do it. He has

Kristjan Byfield  22:17  
a very particular set of skills.

Speaker 2  22:18  
I have a nice tip

Kristjan Byfield  22:20  
like that, and it's not risking abducted children. It's running ducks. That's it. And

Speaker 2  22:24  
I can, I understand a P and L account.

Kristjan Byfield  22:27  
I mean, look in an not dissimilar fashion. You know, when when I originally came up with the idea of bass and then started talking to Anne about it, you know, it was going to be my business and was going to be my first employee. Thank fuck she had the common sense to sit around and be like, "Hold on, you've done this job for a year. I've been in it for seven. Yeah, maybe we do this together. But Godsend because, like you said, Anne is good at all the stuff I'm not. You know, dotting the eyes, crossing the T's, double checking the contracts and all the account ledgers and all that sort of.

Speaker 2  23:01  
I think you kind of learn where you're both good in that situation. You know, it's understand. You know, marketing. I've had very little involvement in anything marketing over the last sort of three years, whereas that is totally your bag. It gets you excited. You love doing it, and you run with it, which is partly why you've got such a big social media.

Kristjan Byfield  23:23  
Whereas about the way that in reality your career is way more successful than mine, Paul's is, but it's people just don't know about you because you don't talk about it. Whereas I'm like all over LinkedIn with a "Here's video of me walking the dog. Here's another photo of me. I'm going to talk about me, whereas you don't do any of that. Where so it's it's, I think I'm just louder.

Kristjan Byfield  23:48  
What's that like?

Kristjan Byfield  23:52  
So, but you know, you have a you have your own thing. So my hair is obviously very much me, whereas you know you just you just look like the 45 year old bloke.

Speaker 2  24:03  
Yeah, I have grown my hair back, so you know that's that's a big positive. That was the benefit. Just love some time now. 45 year old. Hello, those are the words of true love. I don't know what is.

Kristjan Byfield  24:17  
You know I love German.

Speaker 2  24:18  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  24:19  
So yeah, so it's about using our skills and knowing what our limitations are. And there's no way, in answer to your question, I would have done it on my own. So here we are, and we're doing our own thing, but we're very much in our own lanes. I do recruitment. Paul does business consultancy, advisory, mentor.

Kristjan Byfield  24:37  
So yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2  24:39  
Just in case there's anyone that listens to this doesn't know yet. I made the first recruitment placement of the business, so just just to make sure everyone's aware of that. Is

Kristjan Byfield  24:50  
you say this to everybody all the time, like it's that big a deal? Come on,

Speaker 2  24:55  
it is to me. It is. No, you're right. You're right. We've, we've, you know, we started off, and it was very much let's build this initially based on what you're good at, what you're known for. Yeah, we spent most of December learning. You've got to, right?

Kristjan Byfield  25:13  
You've got to, you've got to lean into your strengths, lean into the things that you're comfortable at, and then figure out how you manage the stuff you

Speaker 2  25:19  
absolutely. And so we, you know, literally threw ourselves into that, and very quickly, I, you know, two months, I was picking up consultancy clients. I was working with individuals, companies, and we naturally, you know, stuck in our lens. Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  25:38  
they interweave.

Kristjan Byfield  25:39  
Oh man, yeah, of course, of course, they will for

Speaker 11  25:41  
you.

Speaker 2  25:42  
Yeah, yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  25:42  
I mean, we called it 2.0 breach because I could call it my old business name. Yeah, but everyone would phone me and go, "So, Nicola, when are you going to set up Brewman recruitment? 2.0 and I was like, "Fuck it, I just call it 2.0. So we did.

Kristjan Byfield  25:56  
But it's a great name because it's also, you know, why most businesses will come to you is because they're on that kind of journey of what's next for them. What's that? Yes, the reimagined version of that business, or that director's or owner's objective, or you know whatever it is. So

Kristjan Byfield  26:12  
yeah, that was the plan. So it's kind of like multifaceted, as as I like to look at it. But it's they they intertwine and they overlap and all the rest of it, but it's we're flown. We're finding our way now. We're six months in, and

Kristjan Byfield  26:27  
and is it still just you two at

Speaker 2  26:29  
the at the moment? Yeah, yeah. At

Kristjan Byfield  26:31  
the moment, it

Kristjan Byfield  26:32  
feels like that. That's on the precipice of

Speaker 2  26:35  
yeah. Why we we we went into this saying let's this is going to be more lifestyle yeah than you know, world domination. As if, as if a lot of we knew, we knew, but we were just lying to each other over that, and and it's kind of got to the stage where we either scale back a little bit, yeah, because we're too busy at the moment for two of us, or we roll the dice and go again, and so,

Kristjan Byfield  27:02  
but I mean, also, and you've still got layers in between that, right? You've still got like VAs that you can slot in to take admin off your desk, or yeah, you know, putting some, getting a good bit of AI just to slot in, yeah, deal with the messy bits. Oh, totally, totally. I think that's the exciting thing now, is that you've, and it doesn't it doesn't limit the business either. You, I, you know, I keep reading these amazing stories about people who've built like multi million pound generation businesses, and it's one or two people in the business, and then it's a bit of AI, a bit of VAs, yeah, and a bit of outsourcing, and they still get to do what they wouldn't do. They're still building a serious business.

Speaker 2  27:42  
You've got to value your worth as well. Yeah, you know the reality is Nicola's a bloody good recruiter, very well connected. To have you running, you know, doing the VAT return or I don't know reconciling the bank account is a total waste of your time and ability, you know, we're we're both

Kristjan Byfield  28:03  
things as well.

Speaker 2  28:04  
Yeah, yeah, yes. But now that's yeah, the accountant's taking on more to to actually go and deal with that because although I can do it and I like to keep an eye on it, I quite like to make sure that the money reconciles and rather something else too. There's a nice thing you just go yes, that's right. Yeah, yeah. I like to keep an eye on it, but we've both done that realisation of hold on. Why am I doing this when we could outsource? We could utilise AI to do it. You know, the VA element, all of that pulled together. You've just got to find what you're really good at, and as a business, where you can add the most value.

Kristjan Byfield  28:38  
Well, I think you've also got to be careful about just not being busy, right? It's something Dan and I talk about quite a bit when we kind of constantly have discussions around, yeah, you know, what is, what's next for Base? Where are we, you know, where are we going? Particularly with with with Base Depository's got more of a kind of intentional roadmap, I would say, but Base has kind of been more of an organic business in that respect, and we've just kind of bumbled along a bit strategically, kind of gone with where the market's gone. But I think there's there's as a founder you can get really tied up with being busy and assigning value to being busy.

Speaker 12  29:17  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  29:17  
Oh, I'm doing this, and I'm and I'm working flat out like four or the five days a week, I'm doing stuff and getting stuff done. And then there's really anything we talk about. Oh, what if what if we brought some? What if we had a part time person do that, or we outsourced that? And suddenly, oh, because I'm really good at that, and I and I do that really well. And it's like great, but we could pay them a quarter of what we pay you to do it, and they would do the job, and then that would free you up. Yeah, yeah, a day a week, two days a week, to as you know, as we've alluded to, either do something else within the business or take a day off work.

Kristjan Byfield  29:54  
Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  29:54  
work a four day week, work a three day week, and this is the other conversation we've got because Anne's wife Diane. Know is quite a few years older than her, so there's very much considerations about you know what that looks like and you know what the what that future you know spending time with with those that are important to us. So yeah, I think there's there's lots of really interesting conversations around that, and I think it's a really interesting time in terms of business because I think that you there are quite a lot of options now,

Kristjan Byfield  30:23  
yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  30:23  
In terms of how you can choose to kind of piece,

Speaker 9  30:26  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  30:27  
piece a business together, regardless of what your aspirations are, to a certain extent.

Kristjan Byfield  30:31  
Yeah, I think that there are there are other ways than just traditionally hiring somebody in. The challenge that we have in what we do is that because I do the recruitment piece? It's so personal and it's so human centric. It's very difficult to outsource that bit, and it's also very difficult to bring people in that are the same as you, do what you do in the same way you do it. And it was always a challenge I had previously was finding people that aligned in the right way. Yeah, and of course with you doing consultancy? It's really they're just buying. They're literally buying you. Yeah,

Speaker 2  31:06  
it's quite difficult to train 25 years of experience. Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  31:09  
So therefore, you've got to think about like maximising your time. One of the things we are really seriously looking at is another string to the bow.

Speaker 8  31:18  
Yeah.

Speaker 1  31:18  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  31:18  
Of what 2.0 means for businesses. Um. And and and 2.0 how what taking a business to its 2.0 is

Speaker 3  31:26  
yeah

Kristjan Byfield  31:26  
and we're in conversations at the moment about something which is very exciting which is why Paul and I gave each other a look when last because it's like ooh but it's all very hot but it's

Kristjan Byfield  31:37  
well I mean you hinted that he learned a lot with private equity so there we go.

Kristjan Byfield  31:41  
He did, but it's um, yeah. I don't know at the moment what we're going to do. I mean, we talk about this a lot, and Paul tends to bring it up when we've had like two glasses of wine on a Friday night, knowing that I'm.

Kristjan Byfield  31:52  
Oh yeah, that's me. Yeah, yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  31:54  
yeah. I'm like, I'm trying to watch. You know, whatever it is we're watching.

Kristjan Byfield  31:58  
Whereas I told you guys at 9o'clock this morning, two minutes before I left the door, my wife wanted to have an existential chat about about life choices. And

Kristjan Byfield  32:05  
yeah, well, well, Paul will be like, you know, what's the plan? Are we scaling this? Are we growing this? Are we doing whatever? I'm like, I'm looking.

Kristjan Byfield  32:13  
I want decisions.

Kristjan Byfield  32:14  
I'm in the middle of watching Ted Lasso for the third time. It'd be my own. You know, it's but you do bring it. Tend to bring it up right when you know that I'm in the middle of doing something because your brains constantly go, and I have to pull you off your laptop at 9o'clock Where one thing I did learn very quickly last year is when to go. You know what? I finished for the day.

Speaker 5  32:37  
Yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  32:38  
So

Kristjan Byfield  32:40  
I do long hours. Anne and I do long hours in the office, but I, I, I've learned for me working from home. No,

Kristjan Byfield  32:48  
yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  32:48  
I mean, I don't. We have a home where I can't properly. You can't get privacy in our home. We live in like a two-story kind of warehousey kind of thing. It's all semi-open plan. There is you don't escape. It's it. Most of the time, it's cool. There is no separation with for kids and wife and everything else. There is no private escape.

Kristjan Byfield  33:10  
Okay.

Kristjan Byfield  33:11  
Um. So that combined with the fact I'm not the most disciplined person at home, like I've just that the the amount of times in the first 10 years we had the business where I was like, right, I'm going to go home and I'll have a quick bite to eat and I'm going to sit down my laptop and bum bum bum and in an hour or two I get this done and I put it off and put it off and midnight and roll around and be like, what a bit known to do it now. That

Kristjan Byfield  33:35  
is really,

Kristjan Byfield  33:35  
or I'd start and be like, oh well, I don't have that file to leave it, and that only happens how many times now, where I'm just like, no, no, like Haley, or sometimes be like, I know you're stressed about work. Do you want to get your laptop out? And I'm like, absolutely fucking,

Kristjan Byfield  33:50  
yeah,

Speaker 2  33:51  
yeah. On your, if I start something, I need to finish it.

Kristjan Byfield  33:54  
You are so disciplined. Yeah. But one, but also, I think, so you've probably realised this more, really, like really realised this in the last few months. I can almost do my entire job off my mobile.

Speaker 13  34:05  
Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  34:05  
I don't actually need my laptop. I spent like three hours yesterday afternoon on the phone to a professional looking for a new role, and then was phoning through all of these people, going right. I've got this person who's got this incredible experience, and I came back upstairs, and you were like, "Oh, okay. Well, what what have you been doing? Like just

Speaker 2  34:25  
like that.

Kristjan Byfield  34:26  
Like sort of like no, but it gave me this sort of look as if to go, "Oh, have you been like you know putting the washing out, doing the kids' tea or whatever? And I'm like, "No, I've been doing deals done. But I can do it anywhere.

Kristjan Byfield  34:37  
But no, I get that. I mean, like my my role, particularly with depository as well. Again, very similar thing. It's it's a lot of it is about relationships, whether it's our partners, our developers, or or prospective clients. Absolutely, a lot of it is talking and chatting and social media and events, and you know, like Anne and I will occasionally have conversations. She'll be like, "How many emails have you sent today? Because I've. And I'd be like, let's let's not go there. It's irrelevant. Let's let's not look at emails. No,

Kristjan Byfield  35:07  
it's it's it's interesting. But I mean, the thing we haven't touched on actually is the whole women in.

Kristjan Byfield  35:14  
Yes.

Kristjan Byfield  35:15  
So so

Kristjan Byfield  35:15  
let's yeah, let's talk about that.

Kristjan Byfield  35:17  
I haven't done anything on it yet. I haven't picked anything up. You know, you had Ellie reads on your sofa a little while ago. Ellie was talking about that and everything involved with her thoughts. And Ellie is a very, very, very good friend of mine and yours. She's

Kristjan Byfield  35:30  
a wilting wallflower. I mean, I really wish she'd hop off the fence and actually say what she fucking means one day. Yeah, wow. We live and breathe and dream one day, Ellie. One day. One day. One day. I tell you, I've never met anyone who looks through your soul as quickly as Ellie does.

Kristjan Byfield  35:48  
It's very true, very true. But she's been going on at me for ages about trying to do something and start something up again, and I, I, I, I don't know, but it is one of the things that I'm kind of, I guess, I'm known for, I suppose, in this industry because women in residential property, yeah, just everything I did before, yeah, is is my sort of passion for women in the sector.

Kristjan Byfield  36:11  
So, rather than talk about organisations, like if you could change one thing for women in property tomorrow, what would it be? You walked into that one.

Kristjan Byfield  36:24  
I did walk into that one. Whoa, that's a big.

Kristjan Byfield  36:26  
I don't know. It's a big one.

Kristjan Byfield  36:30  
Do you know what? I would really, if I could change one thing. Yeah. I would like shared maternity and paternity leave as standard.

Kristjan Byfield  36:38  
Like the Norwegians. Is it Norwegian or Sweden that's got that

Kristjan Byfield  36:42  
yeah

Kristjan Byfield  36:42  
substantial

Kristjan Byfield  36:44  
joint jail? They'll do it as well, don't

Speaker 2  36:46  
they? They, I'm not quite certain on the detail of the package and how it works, but the paternity leave is second to none.

Kristjan Byfield  36:53  
Yeah, absolutely second. But some of the business hour industries have really switched on.

Kristjan Byfield  36:56  
They are, yeah. Some are learning.

Kristjan Byfield  36:59  
Some are learning, but I, I truly believe. I mean,

Kristjan Byfield  37:02  
wage parity is still shocking.

Kristjan Byfield  37:04  
It is, but I think every position is still poor. I think if we were to deal with this maternity issue, then actually it would have a knock-on effect for so many other parts of it. Because actually, if if for example, let's say you could have taken maternity leave for all or paternity leave, but all three of our children, and taking that year off with them, and I'd have stayed in my job as a lettings director, which is what I was.

Speaker 1  37:28  
Yep, our

Kristjan Byfield  37:28  
lives would be very different.

Speaker 14  37:30  
Yeah,

Speaker 2  37:30  
yeah, very different.

Kristjan Byfield  37:31  
So I just and and that pay disparity, I don't know if that would be an issue, and I don't know if you know whatever would yeah whatever would be would be. But in answer to your question, that would be my one thing. Interesting, and I'm just a big, a big fan of it, a big sporter of of Trump. I

Kristjan Byfield  37:50  
think the interesting thing with that is fundamentally, it's something that could happen actually, really quite easily.

Speaker 6  37:56  
Really,

Kristjan Byfield  37:56  
but companies could wake up tomorrow and be like, "Do you know what next right?

Kristjan Byfield  38:01  
Yeah, just make it equal. Yeah, that's where it starts.

Speaker 1  38:04  
Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  38:05  
that's that's my my thoughts on it. So, I haven't done a lot in that sector for a while in terms of that that side of stuff, but it that is that is one big thing. Have you seen the whole dad shift and things like that. You've not seen that. I would highly recommend looking at Dad.

Kristjan Byfield  38:24  
Dad Shift. No, I haven't seen that one. I mean, I'm members of quite a few kind of like dad Facebooky group things that always talk about that and parental self worth and yeah, this is dad in the home and perception of who does what.

Kristjan Byfield  38:39  
Well, this was a bun. This was a bunch of guys who attached babies like dolls in slings to all of the male statues around London, and used it as a a way to demonstrate that dads are also just as important as as mums with

Speaker 8  38:57  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  38:57  
and and it was all relates to all of this kind of stuff. So my one thing: equal rights for maternity and paternity.

Kristjan Byfield  39:04  
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  39:05  
So there we go. I think in terms of moving forward with 2.0 we don't really know what the next year is going

Kristjan Byfield  39:12  
to be. Well, there's some surprise new phantom phase. Do

Speaker 2  39:16  
know, but do

Kristjan Byfield  39:18  
know that

Kristjan Byfield  39:18  
they might have announced by the time this goes out in about three weeks' time, so oh no, no,

Kristjan Byfield  39:23  
not that soon, not that soon. Be towards the end of the year, but it's. I think for us, we're six months in, was finding our feet. The industry has been amazing at kind of welcoming me back and bringing you in as a in a very different fold, because that was always a bit of a worry. You know, you come back after being out of it for a while, and you're a bit like, "Oh God, is anyone gonna?

Kristjan Byfield  39:44  
Yeah, it's me. Always ever gonna be like, "Oh,

Kristjan Byfield  39:47  
yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  39:48  
back again.

Kristjan Byfield  39:48  
Yeah, you sold out.

Kristjan Byfield  39:50  
Oh, oh, now we're worthy of your time again, are you?

Kristjan Byfield  39:53  
Yeah, do you know what I mean?

Kristjan Byfield  39:54  
We've heard a couple. I've heard a couple of like nothing, nothing ever like particularly venomous, but like I've heard. Comment said about that about various people, not you specifically, but about people who kind of do an exit, whether they're a supplier or an agency, and then they kind of disappear for six to 12 months, having been a very prominent voice, and then all of a sudden they reappear, and it's like, oh, someone starting new business or someone.

Speaker 15  40:19  
Yeah,

Speaker 2  40:19  
funny. The reality is you would have carried on with women in residential property if you weren't having to take a year out.

Kristjan Byfield  40:27  
If yeah,

Speaker 2  40:27  
you your voice you would have kept going with that for another six.

Kristjan Byfield  40:31  
But I would get going with devils. No,

Speaker 2  40:33  
no, no, no. And it was you. You needed that cut off. That you know, almost that line in the sand to go right. I'm gonna down talks.

Speaker 1  40:41  
Yeah, the

Speaker 2  40:42  
social media element.

Kristjan Byfield  40:43  
Cross that unplugged. Stop.

Speaker 2  40:44  
You know, to a degree.

Kristjan Byfield  40:46  
I did some painting.

Speaker 2  40:47  
You did some painting. You, you, you know, we have the most amazing vegetable patch in the garden. But, but that was really really important for you to find yourself. Yeah, you know, and it's helped you get better. I think the industry has welcomed you, me, with open arms, because actually we're a little bit different coming back into it. There's quite a lot, you know, your social media following, your ability to speak. But you've

Kristjan Byfield  41:15  
both shifted position slightly as well. Oh, and I think it's moved slightly. There's not, yeah, but I think from a from a probably to you it feels a lot bigger. But I think from an external perspective point of view, it doesn't look necessarily like a massive shift. But I think there's always something nice to see when you see a couple do something together. It doesn't happen a lot. There's not a lot of couples that can put it off, you know, and I think it's quite exciting and quite, you know, it's always nice to see that togetherness. Yeah,

Kristjan Byfield  41:48  
we've been together for 20 years, so 20 years this year. Yep. In fact, next week we've been together for 20. No,

Speaker 2  41:56  
no, we've been married for

Kristjan Byfield  41:57  
married for 18 years. Next week, been together for 20. Oh,

Kristjan Byfield  42:01  
he doesn't hang around.

Speaker 2  42:02  
No, two and a half years, and we don't.

Kristjan Byfield  42:04  
He asked me to marry him after six months.

Kristjan Byfield  42:07  
So Haley and I got engaged after six months, and then we're engaged for 10 years.

Speaker 2  42:12  
Two years. Two years, and that was because we had. No,

Kristjan Byfield  42:15  
I had I had to work on Haley's idea of what she wanted the wedding. So it started off wanting to be a winter castle wedding with swans and fireworks, and I was like, "That sounds fabulous, darling. My idea was a summer wedding that felt like a hippie festival. So, you know, after nine years, I got the castle for the festival. We got married. There we go. There

Kristjan Byfield  42:37  
we

Speaker 7  42:37  
go.

Kristjan Byfield  42:37  
Well, then she hasn't forgotten because we were talking. We've been together 26 years.

Speaker 9  42:41  
Okay.

Kristjan Byfield  42:42  
So we were talking kind of all we should start thinking about what we do for our 30 years slash marry 20.

Kristjan Byfield  42:47  
Yeah, yeah.

Kristjan Byfield  42:47  
And she was like, I still haven't forgotten about the castle, you know.

Kristjan Byfield  42:51  
Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's that's that's a lot. That's a lot. We just we were very very small wedding, weren't we? A little Somerset, but three kids, two dogs, and a business later. So, and at the moment we're going all right. We haven't killed each other yet, but there is still plenty of time. Yeah, no, guys,

Kristjan Byfield  43:09  
give it time.

Kristjan Byfield  43:10  
Yeah. Well, thank you for having. This

Kristjan Byfield  43:13  
has been lovely. Thank you. Lovely. Thanks for joining us. If you want to find out more about their fabulous company 2.0 and what it can do for your business. What's the website?

Kristjan Byfield  43:22  
2.0 group.co.uk

Kristjan Byfield  43:25  
And is that point the word?

Kristjan Byfield  43:27  
Yeah, number two word point number zero

Kristjan Byfield  43:32  
group.co.uk There we go. So find out more, and we all wait. We tend to hook to see what the the surprise phase is towards the end of the year. World domination, no doubt. Guys, thanks for joining us. Tune in soon, guys. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai