One idea to Build your Business, one idea to Scale your life. Every Wednesday.

Welcome to Winformation Weekly. My 13 years’ experience of growing a business from £0-£100m, and the life that goes with it. All wrapped up, in one winning weekly email.

Simon Says

Welcome to the Brand-New Layout & My New Feature: The Victory Vault!

Firstly, a big thank you to you all. The first few months of Winformation Weekly have surpassed all expectations! We’re now 15 weeks in, our readership has doubled, and Beehiiv has rated our engagement as “excellent.” 

We don’t rest, though. Based on some of your valuable feedback, I felt we needed to adjust the layout slightly to ensure we’re always enhancing the newsletter—its content, and how best we present the ideas and lessons I’ve gained from 13 years of growing a business from scratch into a £100 million organisation. I believe that now, more than ever, this country needs people ready to step up and build remarkable businesses for their communities, providing great products and services to customers, as well as quality employment opportunities. If the recent budget has shown us anything, it’s that we really can’t rely on the government to get us out of this mess. It’s going to fall on the good people of this country to do it themselves. And it starts where it’s always started—with the will and desire to win. 

With that in mind, I’m thrilled to introduce my brand-new feature: The Victory Vault. This is a treasure trove of information, accessible exclusively to the Winformation Weekly community. Your key to the Vault is through a link at the bottom of this newsletter and in every edition of Winformation going forward. This databank will grow over the coming months and years with e-books, guides, videos, links, cheat sheets, and more. My hope is that, over time, the information in the Vault will become so valuable that far fewer people feel the need to hand over hundreds of pounds to online “gurus” selling courses when they’ve never even run a business themselves. 

Winformation This Week…

We’re kicking off the new feature, The Victory Vault, in style with the introduction of my second free e-book, 24 Books That All Entrepreneurs Must Read. A summary of this guide can be found in the Business section below, so be sure to head to the bottom of the email and download your copy. 

In the Life section this week, we’re covering one of the most important tasks of the year. If December is reserved for finishing strong and setting intentions for 2025, then November has always been a month of reflection for me. The Annual Review—a crucial process for both personal and professional growth—is explained in detail in this week’s Life section. 

As always, I’m keen to hear your thoughts on the newsletter and how it could be improved. Feel free to DM me anytime or email me by replying to this newsletter—I respond to every DM and every email. 

Business

24 Books Every Entrepreneur Must Read

One of my biggest regrets over the past 13 years is not making the reading of non-fiction personal development and business-related books a habit far sooner. I was years into my career before I found the time (or the effort) to start reading around my subject. If, like me, you went to university or had some form of further education, reading can start to feel like a chore. So, I think I subconsciously wanted a break from it. But it’s no coincidence that since we made personal development a big part of our culture—and began implementing what we learned—our business and results have surged. 

What I discovered is that you don’t need to read for an hour a day to make solid progress. Reading just 10 pages a day equates to about a book a month, based on the average length of some of the best titles. So, I’ve carefully included 12 books that will help you start, scale, and manage all aspects of a business. And, as we do with this newsletter—and as I’ve learned the hard way—I’ve also included 12 books that will help you improve, optimise, and manage all aspects of the life that surrounds the business you create. I’ve experienced having a small business in a well-run life when I was broke. I’ve also experienced having a big business in a chaotic life—when I was wealthy but very unhappy. You need both streams to run alongside each other to be truly successful. 

So, I’m pleased to launch my new short e-book, 24 Books All Entrepreneurs Must Read, available for free download in the brand-new Victory Vault below. Happy reading, and let me know which titles you think I’ve missed!

Life

Now’s The Time: The 8 Point Personal Annual Review

December, we plan. But November is the month we need to review the year that has just passed. Failure to review our actions, our habits and the people in our lives will inevitably lead to setting goals and outcomes for the year ahead with blinkers fixed upon our self-awareness. 

1. Greatest hits. Always so important to start with the positive. List your 3 greatest achievements of the year. These could have been things you intended to do, or things that you unexpectedly nailed during the last 12 months.  

2. Feeling your best. What were the 3 times during the year that you felt your best? Physically, mentally and your most accomplished best self.

3. Habit tracking. What habits, thought patterns or actions were you taking in the weeks in the run up to those 3 times?

4. More of. With the above in mind, what do you need to do more of, next year?

5. Less of. What do you need to do less of next year?  

6. Stop doing. What do you need to stop doing altogether next year?

7. Hand breaks and engines. Who were the people that held you back last year (your hand breaks). Half down hand breaks are people that slowed you down, drained your energy. These people need to be spoken to, or time with them reduced. Full down hand breaks are people that just simply got in your way and stopped you achieving. These are the people that need to be cut. Who were your engines? The people that inspired you propelled you forward, and you for them. These are the people that you need to increase your exposure with next year.  

8. Magic wand. If you could wave a magic wand and create an entirely possible but maybe unplausible outcome for the year just gone, what would your life and business look like. Think quickly, no emotion. Write it down. This thought point, and what you put down, will help you create a solid vision for next year from which you can set your objectives, milestones and goals.

Until next week! 

Let’s win, together!