• How ‘Rory’s Travel Club’ Got 100k Customers
    Aug 18 2024

    Rory King is the owner of Rory’s Travel Club.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • Leaving Northern Ireland to work in Fiji
    • Starting his travel club in an Indian restaurant in Brooklyn
    • Scaling to 100,000 customers
    • Running a business where “everyone wins”
    • And his plan to grow to 1 million customers

    Check it out.

    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/rory-king-rorys-travel-club

    Join Rory’s Travel Club Here: https://rorystravelclub.com/

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    50 mins
  • Collecting Adventures with Lucy Briggs
    Aug 12 2024

    Lucy Briggs is a world traveller whose career spans across Government, Academia and Royalty.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • Her love of collecting things
    • Where she got her desire to travel from
    • Why Gen-Z's career path will look different than their parents
    • How a StudyUSA experience ended up taking her around the world
    • Landing a job with the Royal Family
    • And advice she'd give to her 18-year-old self.

    Check it out.

    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/lucy-briggs

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    58 mins
  • This coach helped me stop being a workaholic | Caroline McKenna
    Aug 5 2024

    Caroline McKenna is an Executive Coach who works with some of the most successful people in Northern Ireland.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • Why hard work doesn't always work
    • Working on the business vs in the business
    • Why self-care if one of the highest leverage activities you can engage in
    • How to take time off without thinking about work
    • And a live coaching session with Matt

    Check it out.https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/caroline-mckenna-coach

    P.S. Work with Caroline: www.leadself.co.uk

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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Ciaran May on the Sins of our Fathers, Suicide & the Path to Resilience
    May 27 2024

    Ciaran May is the founder of Natural Resilience, a lover of nature and a proud father.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • The baggage Northern Irish men are unpacking from their dads/grandas
    • Joining the police as a young lad from West Belfast
    • Taking “the armour off” for the first time
    • The rock bottom moment that changed his life forever
    • And breaking limiting beliefs around business/money

    Check it out.

    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/ciaran-may-natural-resilience

    Ciaran’s Skool: https://www.skool.com/natural-resilience-6996/about

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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • “Just do” — Tom Griffiths
    May 20 2024

    Tom Griffiths is a Sunday Times Top 100 Entrepreneur & Disruptor who is currently launching a revolution with https://www.nightlenses.com

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • Getting Richard Branson naked
    • Digitally selling fish in buckets before they come to shore
    • Breaking the “crabs in a barrel” mentality
    • 10-second courage
    • The power of taking action
    • And advice he’d give to an 18-year-old self

    Check it out!

    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/tom-griffiths-night-lenses

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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Bethel’s Kitchen’s Willetta Gabriel on Bagels, Pickles & the Future of Dromore
    May 13 2024

    Willetta Gabriel is the founder of Bethel’s Kitchen: an artisan bagel and pickle business in Dromore, County Down.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • Launching an extremely niche product in a rural town
    • Why every single bagel tastes different
    • (Depending on who rolled it)
    • How one social media post saved her whole business
    • And her experience living in Northern Ireland for the last 20+ years.

    Check it out!

    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/willetta-gabriel-bethels-kitchen

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethelskitchen?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

    Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9PnmQraZ3Gg9zTFr7

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Mark Marais on Nostalgia, Africa & Building a Business Around Your Passion
    May 6 2024

    Mark Marais is an entrepreneur from Zimbabwe with deep roots in Belfast.

    He’s the founder of the luxury travel business Africa Golf Safari and co-founder of the Sport Changes Life Foundation.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • Growing up on an idyllic African farm during the war
    • How sport helped with racial integration in his school
    • What Donald Draper can teach us about nostalgia
    • The difference between space and place
    • Starting his business even though it didn’t make any sense
    • Combining passion with entrepreneurship
    • His experience in and passion for Northern Ireland
    • And advice he’d give to his 19-year-old self.

    Check it out!

    https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/mark-marais-africa-golf-safari

    P.S. Mad Men nostalgia video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • “American Uncle” Tony Novosel on Study USA & the Transformational Power of Travel
    Apr 29 2024

    Tony Novosel MBE is a former motor mechanic, steelworker, and semi-retired academic from Pittsburgh who has dedicated his life to serving Northern Ireland.

    In this episode, we talk about:

    • How the collapse of the steel industry was the best thing that ever happened to him

    • Why he first decided to visit Northern Ireland 50 years ago

    • (And why he's been 85+ times since!)

    • Acting as "the American uncle” for NI students on the Study USA programme, (which is is managed by British Council Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department for the Economy)

    • The transformation power travel has had on his own life and the lives of his students

    • Why we tend to oversimplify narratives

    • The grassroots movements that led to a hugely successful academic book about NI

    • Being awarded an MBE

    • And advice he'd give to any student interested in studying overseas!

    Check it out.

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    49 mins