Jon Graves

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Jon Graves Entrepreneur. Deal maker. Growth strategist. Completed 17 acquisitions. As an angel investor, I back entrepreneurs who are bold enough to build

Currently leading Northern Telecom, Soda IT, and more, I thrive on turning opportunity into momentum.

Something really wild is coming to Pudsey! 🐾I sat down with the guys behind plans for The Really Wild Zoo to hear all ab...
09/10/2026

Something really wild is coming to Pudsey! 🐾
I sat down with the guys behind plans for The Really Wild Zoo to hear all about their idea and the journey so far.
Tune in to hear their story! 🦁
The Really Wild Zoo

This is unbelievable. 🤦‍♂️The solution to rising fuel costs from the Prime Minister?Use Google Maps to find cheaper petr...
08/10/2026

This is unbelievable. 🤦‍♂️

The solution to rising fuel costs from the Prime Minister?

Use Google Maps to find cheaper petrol.

I'm sure millions of motorists struggling with the cost of filling their cars will be delighted with that advice…

Cutting fuel duty might be slightly more helpful.

06/10/2026

You don't have to be good at everything in business.
Lucy Piper talks about the importance of leaning on other people when you're not confident in a particular area.
Need financial advice?
Ask an accountant.
Want another perspective?
Ask a fellow business owner.
Thinking about making a big change?
Talk to someone who has experience.
Before taking a leap, sometimes the best thing you can do is ask for help.
That's what your community is there for.

06/10/2026

Carla Nokes had a simple thought:
“Why is there not an Uber for fitness?”
The idea was to connect people and make the process easier.
So instead of immediately building it, she started looking.
She searched for apps and platforms that already did what she was imagining.
And she couldn't find one.
The idea started in 2019.
Sometimes a business opportunity begins with a very simple question:
Why hasn't someone done this yet?

06/10/2026

You don't have to like someone to work effectively with them.
The speaker describes deep democracy as a powerful process for acknowledging different perspectives and working towards a result that everyone can move forward with.
That's an important distinction.
Collaboration doesn't mean everyone agrees.
It means people are willing to work through their differences, find common ground and move in the same direction.
The destination matters more than whether everyone sees the road exactly the same way.

05/10/2026

Can anyone really blame Jeremy Clarkson ?

Seriously… who would willingly start a business in the UK right now? 🤦‍♂️

Speak to business owners and the same frustrations come up again and again.

Costs are up.
Wages are up.
Employer costs are up.
Energy is expensive.
Rates are painful.
Regulation keeps growing.
Finance isn't cheap.

And seemingly every time you turn around there's another cost, tax or bit of paperwork waiting for you.

Then we wonder why people aren't rushing to risk their savings, employ people and start businesses.

Clarkson might say it louder and rather more colourfully than most, but he certainly isn't alone.

I've spent most of my working life building businesses, employing people and taking risks. I genuinely think the environment for entrepreneurs in Britain right now is woeful.

And that's a problem for everyone.

Because businesses create jobs. They train people. They invest. They pay taxes. They occupy empty buildings. They support other businesses. And ultimately, you don't get economic growth without people prepared to take a risk and build something.

We should be asking:
How do we make Britain the BEST place to start and grow a business?

Not how much more we can squeeze out of the people already doing it.

Clarkson knows it.

Business owners know it.

Does the Government?

05/10/2026

Language is incredibly imprecise.
Take the word “blue.”
Are we talking about a colour?
A mood?
A musical style?
And what shade of blue?
The word itself doesn't tell us enough.
It's the context that allows someone to go:
“Ah, I understand what you mean.”
This is why communication can be so difficult in business, leadership and relationships.
Two people can use exactly the same word while attaching completely different meanings to it.
Sometimes the problem isn't that someone isn't listening.
It's that the context hasn't been made clear.
Don't just communicate the words. Communicate the meaning.

You know when you can see something is going to be a disaster before it even happens…In fact, everyone in the industry c...
05/10/2026

You know when you can see something is going to be a disaster before it even happens…

In fact, everyone in the industry can see it coming, but theres absolutely nothing you can do about it.

This. 🤦‍♂️

can barely provide the level of service its existing wholesale partners need, and now were talking about adding the scale of and into the fold. Via an administration process that will be messy, slow but fast, limited DD...

I genuinely cant see how this ends well.

Integration will struggle.
Service will struggle.
Partners will struggle.

And ultimately customers will feel it.

From where Im sitting, this feels like about the worst possible outcome for the UK wholesale telecoms market.

Maybe theyll prove us all wrong. I sincerely hope they do.

But having spent years dealing with this industry, Im not holding my breath…

Hold onto your seats. This could get interesting. 🍿😂

05/10/2026

There's a difference between having a goal and actually achieving it.
Paul Crick uses the example of wanting to earn a black belt.
You can set the goal.
You can make it SMART.
You can write down exactly what you want to achieve.
But then you step onto the mat.
And reality kicks in.
It's harder than it looked.
Your body needs to adapt. Your skills need to develop. You need to train consistently to reach the required standard.
That's where Paul makes an important distinction:
Process vs outcome.
The outcome gives you direction.
The process is what actually gets you there.
His advice?
Focus on the process and hold the outcome lightly.
You can't control every result.
But you can focus on the training, practice and actions that move you towards it.

05/10/2026

“If we just tell people everything, I think they'll appreciate that.”
That simple idea became the foundation of how this business operates.
The original conversation was straightforward:
“I'll get you some work here.”
From there, the approach was simple.
Tell people everything.
Answer their questions.
Give straight answers.
Don't make things unnecessarily complicated.
And over time, that approach grew into a significant part of what they do today.
It's an interesting lesson in business.
You don't always need a complicated sales strategy.
Sometimes trust is built by doing something incredibly simple:
Give people the information they need and answer the question they're actually asking.
When people feel like they can trust the answer, the relationship can grow from there.

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