Precisely, What is the point of you? What do you do, exactly?

If you never intimately fully grasp your big ‘doing self’ along with minor ‘doing selves’ you can come across like marbles scattered across the ground

One of the accurate industry experts in harnessing own picture for small business good results is previous BBC Dragon James Caan CBE. A sharp-suited, no nonsense operator.

I put in 7 years symbolizing his PR and labored with Caan yet again recently on one particular of his jobs.

There’s a apparent dividing line appropriate at the summit of Caan’s media persona, which he instinctively understands how to curate and deliver.

He has Hamilton Bradshaw, the personal equity and expenditure corporation as a company brand – which he is the CEO of. That is just one aspect of the dividing line.

But then he also has The Workplace of James Caan CBE staffed up and fully independent. And its this division that handles appearances, endorsements, and speaking engagements.

He injects his individual profile across a myriad of firms – not just Hamilton Bradshaw at the very top, but a entire host of investments.

Under is the limited biography and description of James Caan printed on the site of The World Economic Discussion board:

‘James Caan is a Serial Entrepreneur. He is CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw Team, a non-public equity agency that focuses on buyouts and progress money and particular predicaments, together with turnarounds. He is CEO of ‘Recruitment Entrepreneur’ a seed money investment decision business, and Trader at Spacious’.

Arguably the ‘James Caan CBE’ individual brand is the greatest definition of the serial entrepreneur acquiring stakeholdings in anything from canine treadmill, Healthy Fur Life, on Dragon’s Den via to recruitment companies.
But you just can’t get anyplace in the media jungle by simply taking a ‘scattered marbles throughout the floor’ tactic with 100 unique firms who you in some way personify and endorse.

It’s not a canine treadmill, but would be a dog’s dinner.

What is Caan ultimately recognized for executing? What does he in fact do, in basic communicate?

You will have to adopt the educational composition of an American University, in fleshing out your ‘doing selves’.

In these universities, college students Significant in a person distinct matter.

You must do this no matter how a great deal you loathe currently being ‘pinned down’ or ‘restricted’ and ‘defined’.

Then you can have a myriad of Minimal subjects. Plenty of other subjects can make up your portfolio.

Caan instinctively subdivides all of his pursuits into hubs and applies communications emphasis and weighting to the distinct regions.

At the top rated he’s the ‘People’s Dragon’ and Tv Entrepreneur, permanently outlined by the standing his BBC Dragons’ Den stint between 2007 and 2010. ‘The Chairman of the Board’ is his catch-all persona. His publicity shots are typically shot at a Board home desk with him wanting like he’s approachable but critically signifies company.

When I organised for Caan’s electronic e-book legal rights to be presented to Access Plc to present them as a giveaway to their audience in November 2020, the value from James was millions for their visitors who enjoy him as ‘The People’s Dragon’. He did a Fb interview with Fleet Street Fox for the Mirror. But all the Get to Plc nationwide newspapers ran the marketing from the Everyday History, the Daily Star to the Day-to-day Specific. All the Arrive at Plc regionals from the Birmingham Submit, to the Manchester Evening News also ran the marketing, some on their front web page. The joint reach of Arrive at Plc is 45,000,000 eye balls. This is pretty hearts and minds sell and was joined to Caan serving to people today out throughout the disaster of Lockdown with Caan positioned as the ‘People’s Dragon’.

I assisted drive and outline his purpose as the Chairman of the United kingdom Government’s Start out Up Loans plan in May perhaps 2012 when David Cameron appointed him to the role. Yet again this tapped into him being ‘The People’s Dragon’.

It is a pretty ‘catch-all’ ‘emotional’ promote.

This could possibly signify about 50% of Caan’s communications output.

Its appealing how numerous large-profile personalities aspire to the definition of becoming noticed very first and foremost as a serial entrepreneur – but ultiomately they simply cannot.

Rapper Kanye West is pretty considerably described as a rapper to start with and entrepreneur 2nd. His business Yeezy, was valued at US$3 Billion by Financial institution of The us in 2019. Infact the bulk of his US$1.8 Billion fortune will come from this sneaker model. Yet, even so, Kanye West is even now defined as first and foremost, a rapper.

Tv mogul Simon Cowell is not just a Tv boss, which is his Major but also generally stated as an entrepreneur. JK Rowling is also thought of an entrepreneur by lots of entrepreneurial Best 10 or Prime 50 lists. But men and women would clearly describe her as very first and foremost an writer. That’s her Important.
Its conclusion time, in terms of your daring technique at glory.

What are you going to Major in?

Is ‘Serial entrepreneur’ turning into the masthead of your boat to electrical power ahead into the oceans?

In conditions of his suite of Minors, leaks break it suitable down in conditions of James Caan.

Caan’s extremely a lot a House entrepreneur, revered by home journalists especially in this vertical. Property Week did a large element on him when I represented Mailbox REIT. They know he’s got believability in the residence sector as he has a extensive home portfolio and required to listen to his views.

This could depict 10% of his communications output.

But he’s significantly large on currently being ‘The Recruitment Entrepreneur’ also. So significantly so he’s even created sub-brand name called ‘The Recruitment Entrepeneneur’, to harness and energy ahead his graphic into at minimum 30 various recruitment companies which he has a economic curiosity in.

He’s very well revered by recruitment sector journalists.

He’s received to be cautious the tail does not wag the puppy in this recruitment sector vertical simply because of the sheer enormous back story he has in this obtaining founded both equally Alexander Mann and Humana Global, today with joint turnovers of above US$1 Billion among them.

It would be significantly quick for Caan to develop into ‘lead’ by Recruitment.

Unquestionably, plenty of his media requests automatically occur in for Caan to discuss about office fulfillment, the Furlough plan for the duration of Lockdown, the 4-working day doing the job week. Journalists often see him as ‘Mr Recruitment’.

But which is not what he needs to finally determine him. So a very careful balance has to be maintained.

This would signify up to 20% of his communications output.

The Asian ethic minorities champion is a little something I helped produced as a substantial profile Pakistani nationwide dwelling in Britain. He was Chairman of the British Muslim Affiliation. He invested in a Sharia fund. He encourages younger people today from Asian backgrounds to excel in small business.

This would be a 10% focus.
The Philanthropist is the fifth strand to his communications matrix. When the Pakistan Floods struck in 2010, it was normal for me to help James discuss to Britons about digging deep economically for his household state which was in crisis. He flew with ITV to Pakistan. He paid out to establish the Abdul Kashid Khan Campus, by means of the James Caan Foundation, for 400 underprivileged youthful men and women in a rural village in Pakistan just outside the house Lahore.

For a time, he effectively grew to become the Pakistani Bob Geldof as I had him throughout BBC Breakfast, Excellent Early morning Britain and everywhere else contacting out for Brits to aid out in Pakistan’s hour of have to have.

I also steered him towards turning out to be Chairman of The Big Situation for a time, the magazine which helps the homeless, which underlined his Philanthropic credentials well and truly.

This philanthropic element would be about 10% of his concentrate and communications output.

So, that is 1 Big and 4 Minors that make up James Caan’s communications mix.

The sixth hub is considerably less glamorous and 1 that is not emphasised in anyway, whilst apparently, it was picked up on by the Entire world Financial Forum in them touching on him as specialising in ‘turnarounds’.

Which is effectively the acquisition of distressed belongings. Caan generally invests in companies that have long gone bust and literally phoenixes them from the ashes. But this is not so glamorous and as a result Caan has consciously picked out to not target on this factor of his small business dealings in the media whatsoever.

So the weighting here is %.

With this all worked out, you then want to weigh it all up in terms of the emphasis you put on them in terms of the quantity of content you produce about every single of the ‘themes’ and the effort and hard work you area on receiving traction in the media from every of them.

The moment you have defined what you, be careful not to action outside the grid.

A single of the most important blowups I’ve ever viewed in my time as PR was the time in 2010 that I happened to be representing, for a time, the PR for equally previous Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne and James Caan concurrently, but taken care of quite individually.

The competitiveness amongst the Dragons’ was very fierce, and even even though Bannatyne was okay with it on the floor, the actuality Caan employed his PR, Richard Hillgrove, almost certainly did not go down too very well.

Bannatyne eventually experienced a meltdown when Caan ‘got entirely on Bannatyne’s turf’, from Bannatyne’s standpoint, in conditions of him proudly owning the health club space.

Caan obtained Nuyuu, a overall health club, which he marketed to Energie group in 2010.

Banntyne’s primary business was and nonetheless is Bannatyne Exercise.

This off-model ‘hostile act’ by Caan was ample for Bannatyne to refuse to speak to Caan ever yet again, quite pretty much, and he started off sending dossiers to nationwide newspapers to test to destroy Caan.

The final collection of Dragons’ Den they have been on jointly, Bannatyne refused to glimpse at Caan or converse to him even after.

All their prior investments collectively – such as ChocBox – have been all thrown into chaos, as Bannatyne induced there to constantly be two independent Board meetings – a single with Bannatyne current, and one more a single with Caan existing. It received ridiculous.

Bannatyne took umbrage to Caan stepping off his verticals and into his wellness club house.

So define what you do and don’t deviate.

At all moments, every part can be tweaked and up to date as we collect extra info and feedback.

---