Brad Burton, a man transforming the industry narrated his story in the most intriguing way ever — “1973, born, Sanford, Dad left, primary school, BMX bikes, role-playing games, computer games, class clown, no qualifications, shop boy, girls, chalet cleaner, nightclubbing, pothead, more girls, games journalist, became a Dad, shot at, moved to Somerset, depressed, dole, more weed, shop manager, blagged CV head of marketing, dole, Director, Oxford sucked, dole, 3 days away from bankruptcy, Dad again, depressed, maisonette above a chippy, married, employed, shove job up arse, self-employed, depression, skint, skint, skint, whinging wife, Dad again, 4Networking, stopped smoking weed, bluffing, struggling, speaking, author, still skint, skint, skint, Dad yet again, 5,000+ events a year, uh oh, UK’s #1 motivational business speaker, bought dream Range Rover, still waiting to be found out, sold dream Range Rover, author again, people are buying them, scratches head, stabbed in the back. Twice. Burned out, near divorce, crisis
averted, just, snapped up by a top publisher for 3rd book, still waiting to be found out, Dad again, a daughter this time – uh oh, Audi driver, buzzing, blue tick, blue tick, more 5 stars on Amazon, still UK’s #1 motivational business speaker. Time to quit? Now What? 4th book, no longer skint, no longer depressed, actually now quite balanced and happy. Wife still whinging.” www.4Nonline.biz is the UK’s largest online business network. Well, it was, prior to lockdown, the UK’s largest joined-up business networking organization, running over 5000 meetings across the UK
each year. Then COVID came along at which point they had to change the whole business model overnight, converting the real-world network to an online one. They’re glad to say if they hadn’t pulled this off, the business would have been kaput! Struggles and successes Lock down changed everything, while other real-life networking organizations made the decision to “wait to see what happens” they made the decision to change what happens…
Immediately they got a plan in place that allowed them to move fast and transition into a workable online solution to allow their thousands of members to continue to grow their network and business. They changed the face of business networking, they innovated their format, technology, and more importantly instilled a culture which endures 14 years on, 50% social, 50% business and it still works. Back in 2006 when they started the organization this was considered ‘off-key’ by many. As he said at the time, you’ll never be the market leader copying the market leader.
From his personal perspective, he has written 4 best-selling books, and became the UK’s #1 Motivational Business Speaker, headlining for global brands and organizations like Bentley, Xero, JCB, Snap-On tools, given where he started off this is a massive personal achievement.
Describing himself in one sentence.
“Doing it my way,” perfectly describes his going against all odds.
Future goals and advice to the budding entrepreneurs.
When asked about his future goals, he said. “I’ve got an amazing and trusted management team who handle the day to day, and for the first time In the companies history, we have our first ever female MD, who has a wonderful and more rounded approach which is exactly what is needed as we head into the next 14 years. I’ll go as far as believing 4Networking Online will become the Netflix of Networking, you heard it first.”
To the emerging entrepreneurs, he said
“That you can’t skip the steps, it’s going to take you 4x longer than what your business plan for the bank states.”