PODCAST · business
Happy MBA
by The Happy Startup School
If you want to be the next Elon Musk look away now.This podcast is for the new breed of entrepreneur that wants to make money, do good and be happy.An antidote to 'business as usual'.Hosted by Carlos Saba and Laurence McCahill, long-time friends and co-founders of The Happy Startup School, an alternative business school and thriving community of entrepreneurs.Back in 2012 we believed there had to be a better way than this.And so we set out on a mission to create a new story of entrepreneurship. One where happiness and purpose came before profits.Over the last decade and more we've built up a tribe of practical dreamers, creative visionaries, changemakers and wisdom workers that are committed to making a positive dent in the world.If you want to do business differently this podcast is for you.We cover some of the big questions that people like us face:- How do I find my purpose?- Am I too old to reinvent myself?- Will people care about my ideas?- How do I balance meaning wit
Episodes
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Who am I becoming?
Something's off. You can feel it. The work is working, but something just doesn't fit you anymore. In this episode, Carlos and Laurence are joined by fellow program coach Lana Jelenjev and five graduates of the Happy MBA (formerly Vision 2020) to explore one of the most important questions you…
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What’s stopping you from getting started?
You don’t need a better plan. You don’t need more qualifications. And you definitely don’t need to wait until you've got the perfect plan. In this episode, we unpack the real reason so many thoughtful, capable people stay stuck at the starting line: fear. Fear of getting it wrong. Fear of being...
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Am I too old to start a business?
The average age of an entrepreneur in the UK is 46, and more than a third of businesses are run by people over 50. Entrepreneurship isn’t just for the young; in fact older individuals bring valuable wisdom, experience, and networks to their ventures. Midlife entrepreneurs are often more…
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Welcome to Happy MBA
In this episode, we open a new chapter of the podcast. After years as The Happy Entrepreneur, we’re evolving the show into Happy MBA, a name that better reflects the work we now do and the people we serve. This conversation is about: what’s changing, why it matters, and who this podcast is really...
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Unlock the magic of nature's boardroom
Ever wondered what 500 million years of mountain wisdom could teach you about where you take your business or work from here? Laurence and Carlos explore how the French Alps create the perfect environment for profound perspective shifts. Discover why conversations beside Alpine lakes spark...
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Showing up without the cringe
Sharing on social media can feel like stepping into the spotlight with nowhere to hide. No wonder so many of us shrink from it. How do we show up bravely without losing ourselves? How do we share our voices in ways that build genuine connections instead of just chasing likes and follows? How can…
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The authenticity dilemma
The idea of "personal branding” can be a bit exhausting. The thought of carefully curating a version of yourself that’s optimised for engagement feels like too much effort if you struggle to be anything other than yourself. Amanda Baker has been developing a framework to help people navigate…
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Tiny Experiments – Unlocking big possibilities
What if we reframed failure as a step toward clarity rather than away from success? In this episode, Laurence and Carlos sit down with Anne-Laure le Cunff, neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and author of the book Tiny Experiments, to explore why failure isn’t failure – it’s feedback. Anne-Laure’s…
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Sharing your voice – Vision Tribe Summit 2025
Carlos, Laurence, and Lana present the fourth and final session in their Vision Tribe Summit from February 2025. This conversation will help you Reframe sharing your voice on social media from self-promotion to a tool for personal clarity and connection Overcome perfectionism, fear of adding to…
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Making happy money – Vision Tribe Summit 2025
Carlos, Laurence, and Lana present the third session in their Vision Tribe Summit from February 2025. This conversation will help you Develop a healthier relationship with money by understanding your personal money stories and how they affect your current attitudes Create multiple income streams...
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Your story of change – Vision Tribe Summit 2025
Carlos, Laurence, and Lana present the second session in their Vision Tribe Summit from February 2025. This discussion will help you Shift from traditional marketing approaches that target everyone to creating deeper impact with those who truly resonate with your values Discover why vulnerability...
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Redefining success – Vision Tribe Summit 2025
Carlos, Laurence, and Lana present the first session in their Vision Tribe Summit from February 2025. In this session they explore four key dimensions of success: Finding ways to earn while doing what you love rather than chasing wealth at the expense of fulfilment Prioritising what genuinely...
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The midlife renaissance: navigating purpose and professional transitions
Chip Conley is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy and author of Learning to Love Midlife: How to Embrace What’s Next. In this discussion with Laurence and Carlos, he delves into the opportunities and challenges of navigating purpose and professional transitions during this pivotal stage of...
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How to commit to action
Feel like you’re stuck in a loop of fear, overwhelm, and endless faffing about? You’re not alone. Making a big change, whether in life or work, can feel like staring at a blank page with no idea where to begin. But getting moving doesn’t have to be scary, boring, or complicated. In this episode,...
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Nurture your inner rebel
What if it’s punk to pause? To quote the Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey, that “rest is a form of resistance”? Caro Turlings and Jobbe Holtes are multi-talented creatives and Vision alumni with a deep love for music, dancing, and dressing up. They join Laurence and Carlos to explore How to forget DIY…
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How to make your idea real
Carlos and Lana dive into the concept of creating Minimum Lovable Products: products that "thingify" your thoughts and turn your ideas into tangible, helpful solutions. These MLPs help you connect with the people you want to serve, promote your mission, and build momentum for your idea. Whether...
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Eat well, lead well
Sarah Bayliss is the author of Do Nourish: How to Eat for Resilience. She combines expertise with lived experience, helping professionals and entrepreneurs make intentional choices about their nutrition and overall wellbeing. Her approach goes beyond just food. In this episode, they explore how...
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Social media when unclear
We know that people will benefit from what we do, and one way to help others find us is through posting on social media. But what do you do when you don't have a content strategy, a target audience, and you're not yet clear on what you're going to post about? If this sounds like you, you're not...
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When values meet reality
A question submitted by our community sparked this conversation: "How are your values embodied with real examples in your current business? How have your values helped – or even emerged – when things get tough or friction arises?" In this episode, Carlos, Laurence, Lana and guest Stephanie dive...
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Lovely messy startups
How do you change direction without a map? By reconnecting to your inner navigation system. But many of us fall shy of it, because it means engaging with the messy parts of ourselves that we don’t want to acknowledge, let alone embrace. Someone who’s walked this tough but rewarding path is Vision...
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Embracing everything: From loss to aliveness
You probably know about 4,000 weeks. It’s what Oliver Burkeman suggests is the average time we all have on this earth. But do you know about 90,000 hours? That’s how long many of us will spend working during our lives. And it's essentially a third of your life. Life isn’t about work, but work can...
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Wayfinding your path to success
When Laurence and Carlos started the Happy Startup School, they didn’t have a business plan. Instead, they focused on what felt important: community, creativity, and meaningful work. They followed their intuition and sensed their way forward, building connections, thinking out loud, and engaging...
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Finding your second wind
You’ve exited your business or you’ve left your job. What next? You’ve gone from being busy and feeling like you had direction to now floating around aimlessly. This is what our guest David Spinks calls the Abyss. In his Substack post, he shared his experience of stepping down from the company…
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Leadership based on feeling, not just thinking
Michelle Grant is an alumna of our Vision 20/20 program and was part of Tribe 2 that started in September 2020. She’s the founder of The Great Full and offers coaching and community for women leaders within the realms of food systems, sustainability, and regeneration. Michelle combines her deep...
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Build your career like an entrepreneur
Can you learn to be more creative, courageous, and resourceful when it comes to pivoting your professional life? On this episode, Carlos and Laurence are joined by Iesha Small, a career pivot coach and seasoned communications professional, to talk about how we can adopt an entrepreneur’s mindset...
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The automated entrepreneur: embrace AI and stay creative
Are you a solo founder curious about AI? Do you want to know how it could help you be more impactful, more effective, and free up your time? Or are you a conscious business owner who worries about what AI is doing to our humanity and our creativity? If so, this conversation with Kerry Harrison…
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The art of resilient living
Do you take the time to design for your own wellbeing? When we’re being the change we want to see in the world, it’s easy to focus on hard metrics: more sales, more leads, more success. But what if your body suddenly says “no”? As the saying has it, our health is our truest form of wealth. But…
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It’s not about business plans, it’s about belief
You’ve decided to change. You’re driven to find a new professional path, but you’re struggling to take the next step. As an experienced professional or entrepreneur, you’ve accumulated the skills, but now you’re doing something new. And so fear kicks in. What got you here isn’t going to get you...
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Pathway to purpose: Stories of change
Tribe 8 of Vision 20/20 ended their journey together. On this episode, a few of the cohort share their stories and projects that have emerged and evolved over their last few months together: The Love Shortage podcast that came out of nowhere The Human Greenhouse with a bolder mission and…
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Navigating change by mastering uncertainty
Taking the entrepreneurial path requires taking risks. And the rewards we'll encounter are never certain. The choices we make create real consequences for our livelihood. And it can be hard to get over the feeling that we're imposters as we face the uncertainty over whether we've made the right...
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The great balancing act: finding joy in doing good
Ever felt like there was more that you could do but didn’t know what to commit to? You're not alone. When it comes to thinking about meaning, Laurence and Carlos found the book The Map of Meaning by Lani Morris and Marjolein Lips-Wiersma really helpful. They talk about working with meaning as...
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Making good in the ruins
While we can’t avoid the inevitable, we can still find agency. When we’re navigating a professional or personal transition, it may seem like we’re living in chaos, and there’s nothing we can do that can make things better. In his book At Work in the Ruins, Dougald Hine asks a question about the...
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Can I be paid to be me?
When people join the Happy Startup School’s Vision 20/20 program and talk about what they want to do, one phrase pops up again and again: “I just want to be paid for being me.” But it’s not always easy to get to this point. Sometimes it takes a circuitous route, as we get more and more used to...
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Go live to share your expertise
If you want to empower others to act and not just fill their heads with facts, Crowdcast is a platform that can help you do that. It was founded by Sai Hossain who got the idea in 2013 while at a retreat in Costa Rica. Laurence and Carlos started using Crowdcast in March 2020 which was the time…
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When it's time pause on purpose
John Pritchard was the founder of Pala, a brand driven by purpose. The mission was to produce high quality, long-lasting eyewear whilst making a commitment to minimise the impact on the planet and maximise positive social impact on people. Longevity of product was important to minimise resource...
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Boss like a mother; mother like a boss
Professional women are under overwhelming pressure to achieve it all – career, kids and caring partner.And to do it with an effortless smile.But it isn’t that easy. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have it all, but according to Emma Draper, award-winning retail entrepreneur, property developer and...
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Summercamp 2023 unpacked
It’s hard to put into words what happens at Summercamp. And that was never truer than in 2023. There’s an enormous amount of love, growth and connection that happens; and the openness and vulnerability that takes place in a field near Hastings every year is astounding. In this special episode,...
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Unlocking the effortless leader
In an age where meaningful leadership and authentic connection are more crucial than ever, Jerry Colonna, coach, entrepreneur, and author of the transformative books Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up and Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong. Jerry has worked with CEOs and...
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How your mind works on mushrooms
Whether it's problem-solving an issue, coming up with a new product, or making a mark on the world, our personal vision of success often needs new ideas. But what if you’re stuck in a rut? What if the usual ways of “shaking the snow globe” just won’t cut it any more? What if the way forward isn't...
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Build a human-to-human business
Forget thinking about business in terms of B2B or B2C – It’s time to think H2H; human to human. As much as lawyers and accountants will tell you that businesses are independent legal entities, in the end, they’re a bunch of humans working together for some reason or other. Too many solopreneurs…
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Elegant simplicity in business
In a world that wants to keep hustling and believing that “bigger is better”, we’ve always had a different measure of success. For Laurence and Carlos, it’s about forging deep friendships and relationships, getting out in nature, making things that give people delight, and making sure that those...
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Minimum loveable big ideas
On our previous episode, Laurence and Carlos spoke with John Parkin about big ideas: what they are; where they come from and how to spot them. He shared how big ideas can create real impact with minimum effort. The idea itself does the heavy lifting. However, what happens when you’re still...
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How to have a big idea
John Parkin knows a good idea when he sees one. As a formed Creative Director of one of the most innovative and exciting advertising agencies of the 1990s, he knows a thing or two about coming up with ideas. He's helped create big ideas for big brands, and he's also had one big idea of his own…
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Finding lasting colleagueship in business
When Laurence started out in business, he was a company of one. For 5 years he found his own clients, did sales and marketing, managed his finances. It didn’t even occur to him to ask for help. Then one day he realised it wasn’t much fun anymore, and he could only go so far with his own skillset....
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Belonging matters
What if you were unapologetically you? What impact would that have on your work, life and relationships? Unfortunately, too many of us aren’t prepared to bring our whole selves to work… or even life. We either create a mask or hold back on what’s really wanting to be seen. When we’re not prepared...
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Three real stories of change
Our previous episode covered the theory along with Laurence, Carlos and Lana’s own stories of change, both small and large. On this episode, we invite some of our now 120-strong Vision 20/20 alumni – aka the Vision Tribe – to share their stories. These 3 amazing humans have been living their…
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Stories of change
The master storyteller. One of the most valuable things we’ve learned from him is about stories of change and how stories can motivate our own action and mobilise others. Story of Self, Story of Us, Story of Now. This approach to stories is a way to activate change in the world that is aligned to...
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Why we need to end things
“Everything has a time to burn because it invites new life.” During his talk at Summercamp 2022, Ben Johnson shared his thoughts on the importance of creative destruction. Whether you’re talking about corporate innovation, the eventual demise of capitalism, or the maintenance of an ecological...
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Feel the fear but don't believe it
At Summercamp 2020, coach David Papa gave a personal, entertaining and vulnerable talk about how to be scared. He believes that the only thing that can stop you living the life you love is not the fear, it’s believing the fear. Fear is just a thought and a sensation in the body. But when you add...
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Turning apathy into action
In a complex fast paced world it’s all too easy to think that we’re unable make any impact. But this isn’t true. At Happy Startup Summercamp 2022, Liana Fricker, founder of Inspiration Space, gave an empowering talk about turning apathy into action. Liana believes that if we harness our…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
If you want to be the next Elon Musk look away now.This podcast is for the new breed of entrepreneur that wants to make money, do good and be happy.An antidote to 'business as usual'.Hosted by Carlos Saba and Laurence McCahill, long-time friends and co-founders of The Happy Startup School, an alternative business school and thriving community of entrepreneurs.Back in 2012 we believed there had to be a better way than this.And so we set out on a mission to create a new story of entrepreneurship. One where happiness and purpose came before profits.Over the last decade and more we've built up a tribe of practical dreamers, creative visionaries, changemakers and wisdom workers that are committed to making a positive dent in the world.If you want to do business differently this podcast is for you.We cover some of the big questions that people like us face:- How do I find my purpose?- Am I too old to reinvent myself?- Will people care about my ideas?- How do I balance meaning wit
HOSTED BY
The Happy Startup School
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Happy MBA have?
Happy MBA currently has 173 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Happy MBA about?
If you want to be the next Elon Musk look away now.This podcast is for the new breed of entrepreneur that wants to make money, do good and be happy.An antidote to 'business as usual'.Hosted by Carlos Saba and Laurence McCahill, long-time friends and co-founders of The Happy Startup School, an...
How often does Happy MBA release new episodes?
Happy MBA publishes regularly with 173 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Happy MBA?
You can listen to Happy MBA on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Happy MBA?
Happy MBA is created and hosted by The Happy Startup School.
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