Episode 370: Building A Personal Brand with Dr. Lance Haggith OBE
In this episode, Dr. Lance Haggith OBE shares his fascinating journey from his humble beginnings to spearheading various sports charities. With a focus on thinking outside the box and seizing opportunities, Dr. Haggith offers valuable insights into building brands, navigating setbacks, and pursuing new ideas. The conversation delves into his experiences with successful ventures, setbacks, and the importance of resilience in the entrepreneurial world.
Dr. Haggith has been the driving force behind the Sports Traider charity, which he founded in 2009. For the first 13 years, he has made a significant impact not only on many young people’s lives but also on the environment. He has helped reduce landfills by extending the life of products and raising awareness of the damages caused by plastics and other challenging materials. His commitment to helping more people and addressing environmental issues is not waning.
Show Highlights:
- Dr. Haggith highlights the importance of seizing opportunities, thinking outside the box, and adapting to market trends for success in entrepreneurship.
- Significance of resilience, creative problem-solving, and embracing challenges as opportunities for growth.
- The value of staying true to one’s vision, pursuing new ideas with conviction, and learning from both successes and setbacks in the entrepreneurial journey.
- Dr. Haggith’s experiences underscore the impact of innovation, determination, and a proactive mindset in building successful brands and businesses.
- Navigating setbacks, overcoming obstacles, and maintaining a forward-thinking approach to entrepreneurship.
Links Mentioned:
Know more about Dr. Lance Haggith’s work on his website at https://lancehaggith.com/
Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172
Adam’s website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod
Watch the Episode on Adam’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod
Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod
Join Adam’s network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod
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Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Adam Stott: So today we have with us Dr Lance Haggith, OBE, let’s give him a big round of applause.
[00:00:16] How we doing? Well done my man, how’s it going, all right?
[00:00:21] Dr. Lance Haggith: I’m still alive, that’s the good start.
[00:00:23] Adam Stott: It definitely is. Grab a seat. So, welcome. This is Gold Circle, right? Yeah. So we sat down probably 2016, 2017. Yeah. You’ve got an OBE since then.
[00:00:36] Dr. Lance Haggith: Yeah, must be doing something right.
[00:00:37] Adam Stott: Yeah, so, which has been, you know, pretty awesome. You haven’t changed much. Who, me? No. A few wrinkles now, you know. I think
[00:00:44] Dr. Lance Haggith: it’s like 2015 or something.
[00:00:46] Adam Stott: 2016. It might even could have even been 2015 actually. Could have been 2015
[00:00:51] Dr. Lance Haggith: before the dreaded COVID.
[00:00:52] Adam Stott: Yeah, that’s it. Absolutely. So yeah, wanted to, really pleased to be bringing you on to meet everyone.
[00:00:58] Wanted to, you know, talk about your journey, sports personality of the year, OBE, built a great band, just speaking all over the world doing amazing things. You know, what’s that been like and how have you built your career? And specifically, Today we’re talking all about building brands. And you’ve been building that personal brand, which has opened masses of doors for you, you know, to be speaking alongside, you know, megastars and going all over the world and being on national TV and getting your own Wikipedia page and doing all these cool things.
[00:01:29] Where did that come from? What’s your journey been like? And take us back to the beginning.
[00:01:33] Dr. Lance Haggith: I suppose as a youngster, I was always thinking outside the box. And I think that’s quite key to you know, you’re not being in the normal sort of, you know, you know, we did sport and various things like that, but I always was, had a, an inclination that I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
[00:01:50] I wanted to be a business person. So I was looking for those opportunities. And yeah, at at school I was getting things, selling things and that sort of stuff. And then towards the end of the, my school career, buying, well, stretched denim in those days and then selling them on the market.
[00:02:05] And that’s stretched denim stretched down because that’s what came out that time. So, it was quite new. But yeah, I think with everything you’ve got to grab the opportunity. And, you know, sometimes it’s luck but you’ve got to really Look at the opportunities and go for them because you don’t want to get well I was thinking well, you don’t want to get to about 30 or 40 and think right what if so I went to well, I went to a Foundation course in St.
[00:02:35] Albans to because I particularly art and sport. I wasn’t Great. I was okay academic, but wasn’t excelling in it. So, when I was at the foundation course, that will tell you where you what your interest is, what you’re good at, et cetera, et cetera. And ironically I was quite good at drawing and and fashion, funnily enough.
[00:02:54] I actually won a competition, so I thought, oh, maybe that’s my forte. Not going in thinking I was going to do that. So, that’s what I did. I went to fashion. And then there was four, five courses, the best in the country. And the one that I particularly liked was Harrow. I didn’t have to have green hair and earrings and all that sort of stuff with some of the other fashion courses you did.
[00:03:13] So I looked at it as a business. And so when I went there I wanted to do you know, I must admit I enjoyed the drawing the technical side, the pattern cutting, that. Not great at sewing. So I used to sort of help. The girls with the drawing of that and they would help me with the sewing so we had a quite a good rapport there, but Going through I thought well, you know as a you know, I’m going to be finishing the degree and I’ll be competing with thousands of other youngsters to you know a Limited number of jobs and I always knew that what happens is that when you’re out there You They’ll ask what experience you’ve got.
[00:03:54] So I thought, well, I need to gain that bit more experience than anybody else. I had that edge on others. So in my second year I approached companies and I said, Look, you know, I love what you do. I love your brand. Is there any chance we can have some works experience and that sort of stuff? And and I came across a company called Hoofer.
[00:04:14] who you probably don’t know. It’s a brand from, unless you’re my age, from years ago, but it was in way in Harrods and various other places. So it was a good brand. And they said, yeah, they said, well, you know, can I come for a week or two and just pay my expenses. So my train fare and they said, yeah.
[00:04:30] So in the two weeks I did really well. I actually my products and designs actually were very successful and getting good reactions and they. They extended it not only for the rest of the summer holiday, but also paid me. So I thought, well, that’s quite useful. And, but what it meant is when I went back to the course I was, the teachers then said, well, can you talk about your experience and what happened?
[00:04:54] And of course, I had some industrial experience already. Plus also, they kept on asking me because what was happening, my, my products or my designs were getting into the papers, were getting into, were selling well. They then asked me to come back in the evenings and weekends and all that, and so I built up my sort of knowledge through that industrial knowledge through the rest of the year which put me in good stead, I must admit.
[00:05:17] So I think, right, when I come, when I finish my end of year course, I’m out in the big wild world and I’m confident I’ll get a job because I’ve got that industrial experience. Plus I’ve got a fantastic letter reference of what my ability is. Slight change of plans, what I was going to do because in my final year There’s a situation where you get, the show was at the Café Royal and you get 60 as a budget to buy your materials.
[00:05:47] So, interestingly enough, well that’s not a lot, because I wanted to do leather, and not kinky, it’s just, I just, I was just interested in leather. So LAUGHTER Cause I wanted to stand, I wanted to stand out. I wanted to be different because I’ve, I had I just put this down.
[00:06:12] Not being unkind to my classmates there was 35 girls and a couple of guys and myself. And I wanted to stand out and they were doing things like silks, broderon glaze, chintz, very nice, very pretty, very good. But I thought I have to make an impact. I need to be, you know. You know, there and out there because I’m in the cafe role.
[00:06:32] You’ve got all these buyers, you’ve got all these press. So I want to make an impact. So I wanted leather, but I’m 60 quid doesn’t buy you much leather. So I thought, so I asked the question and this is what I’m saying about thinking outside the box. And I said, is there any rules in all the years you’ve been going to get sponsored?
[00:06:52] And they said, no, there’s no, nothing. So I said, right. Okay. So I thought I’m going to go around to some tanneries. And ask them if they’ll sponsor me with some leather. And the first tannery I went to, Gomshuls, said, Yeah, I love the idea. So I went there and I said, Look, what I’m interested in is doing a collection of leather with your product.
[00:07:12] I’ll promote your product. There’ll be press, there’ll be tannery, there’ll be leather by Gomshaw. But also, you know, in your showrooms, you’ve got lovely leather all over the place, but it’s pretty boring. You know, I can give you some of your product. Your leather back. I’ll give you some of this kinky stuff.
[00:07:27] Yeah. Steady. You haven’t heard about his rubber fetish.
[00:07:34] Yeah, I told you we go back away. So, so yeah, so I, so picture this. I’ve now got a chance to get leather and and I thought, right, how do I make an impact on on the day? And I thought, right, what I need is really. Some quite outlandish garments and good music. And I wanted a smoke machine.
[00:07:58] Because I just wanted to be, you know, but in those days, they didn’t have all the magical, You know, machines, they have it basically a glorified kettle that and dry ice. So I go to flipping butchers to get the dry ice stick this kettle. So if ever there is a video on my, for my if you ever, you are interested to see it it, it is it’s old.
[00:08:19] You know, it’s obviously old films, it’s not high definition or anything like that, but you get the gist of it. And you do see smoke, you still see magic, and you still see these lovely models coming on with my outfits. So, so I thought, right, I achieved what I wanted to do. In that era, if you’re my age or older, there’s Mad Max.
[00:08:38] Mad Max has just come out. Studded leather and the like. So I thought, studded leather? No, not kinkies. I like the fact that this studded leather is raw, really impactful. And that’s what I did. I did studded leather. And with jackets and joppers and all sorts of stuff. But I got my thing because I was in the press.
[00:08:58] I had, I was the one that they photographed. I was the one they were talking about. I had Macy’s from New York getting in touch. The good thing is, Gomshaw’s, when they sent me the leather, now, if you know, leather is quite thin. It’s, you know, skin thick. They sent me a pile. That big. So hundreds of skins.
[00:09:16] So, not only did I have enough for my collection and I had enough for giving them some items back, but I had enough to start my business. And that’s what I did. And I used the 60 quid on trims. I had the best trims, I had the best linings, because I had 60 quid to spend on it. So, so that’s what I did.
[00:09:35] So I set my Lance of London might not have heard of it, but but it was doing really well. And one of the people in the audience like the leather so much that they said they work for Motley music, which is part of CBS. I’m not sure if they’re still going, but anyway, they had up and coming artists, some of which you might know, if you’re my age, you’ll probably know them.
[00:09:58] But yeah. Some you don’t because we give them a look, but they never lasted. Like Roaring Boys. No one’s heard of Roaring Boys. That was one that didn’t work. But there are other ones you might have heard of. Paul Young, Alison Moyet, Wham!, Spounder Ballet and one of my favourites, if you’re of my age and older if you remember the Kenny Everett show.
[00:10:21] Yeah, Hot Gossip.
[00:10:26] Yes, that was very, as a young lad, it was very educational. Let’s put it like that. One of them became one of my friends. So, and, but yeah, so, So the brand I created had my name in it, yes, and London, because I felt that sort of gives a bit of a you know, a bit of a kudos when dealing with America and that.
[00:10:45] But what was interesting, bear in mind I was still at home is that, you know, hotel mum and dad. So this is the chance to really push yourself, cos you’re not risking not being able to pay the mortgage, you’ve got kids or whatever. So I actually felt, right, now’s the time, to give it a go. So, you know, I’d be sitting there having tea with Alice Moyer next to me at my house, at my mum’s house, mum and dad’s house, or Paul Young, or, you know, that’s how I grew up.
[00:11:13] That’s what I was doing. And then it was going really well and I was charging fortunes, you know, because I could. Because they wanted me. So, give you an idea, and it’s embarrassing, but my jeans, my my trousers, 465. But they were handmade, they were really fantastic and I only realised there was a lot of money in those.
[00:11:33] So, it was good, so I built up, I also poached one of the Seamstresses at the college because I was getting told off in the last year I was getting told off because I was building my business up, But I thought well, I they said you know, you can’t do both. You can’t do a business and you can’t do You know get a degree and then and I did so up to yours.
[00:11:54] Yeah But I like people when they say you can’t because and they’ll always find a way so Coming forward, I then made a bit of a mistake, although, again, you’re talking about, you know, in life, you make mistakes you also succeed and, but you’ve got to have a go. So I opened a shop in South Malden Street, which you probably know, just off Oxford Circuit, off Oxford Street.
[00:12:19] In those days, it was quite, you know, quite the go to place. It was South Morton Street and King’s Road. Those are the two places you would aim for. And but South Morton Street if ever you remember, there was Browns, and I was down a bit further to the bottom on the right hand side. And that was in the days you could park outside the shop.
[00:12:36] So, just shows you how much we’ve come on by. You couldn’t do that now for obvious reasons. But so, but although It sort of put me in a different circle and more experience because I was then having, like, people coming from all over the world coming to my shop, even had them coming and saying, but they’re from America saying, then they fly back and they say, oh, any chance you could send me another?
[00:12:59] Two items, three items the cost was so high, you know, the rent Astronomical in those days, I think it was a thousand pounds a week which you’re talking like a hundred years ago, so, but So, but it was an education, so, you know, I came out and I hadn’t, didn’t make any money. More profit I made less profit and more headache because they were always saying we need more stuff And we also so I was get I felt I was getting a little bit Not me because I was kicking my machinists and that because it’s all hand done and it’s not mass produced So you had to put the quality in them But I was not proud of what how I was because I was like really getting quite hard on people So I came out of that and then Carried on making products for Popstars and that.
[00:13:43] And that was going well, and all of a sudden, because of that blip, I felt I needed to do some, look at something else. And lo and behold, what came along was computers. And I thought, well, this could be an up and coming market. You know, these computers. There’s a market for them. And I basically, again, thinking outside the box, stopped.
[00:14:07] leather, I went into computers, but not the computers itself, I went into peripherals. So I felt that there’s a bit like a photocopier machine, you know, you can sell one photocopier machine, but you can sell a lot more paper and toners and that. So I went in the peripherals and contacted, again thinking outside the box again, the way I think, is to right, there’s these floppy disks and they were, they started off like five and a quarter inch, and eight, and 32 hard sector, and all these sort of complicated, there’s just big floppy biscuits in a plastic container.
[00:14:41] So I thought, right, I want to be I want to supply product for people who are just getting these computers. Now the computers in those days, Apple IIe, Macintosh and that, you’ve got more powerful watches now, memory wise, you know, and speed wise. It was totally a different era. So, so I thought, how can I stand out and give a service?
[00:15:01] And so I thought, well, I’m going to go for the big companies, the Abbey Nationals, the Lloyds Bank, the Post Office, the American Expresses. And how can I be different? Because at that day there were companies like Dice and Verbatim, BASF, doing all these discs. So they’re all the same and that.
[00:15:18] So I then came up with an idea about security, cause I, you know, at the end of the day, you might have a, an employee putting data on a thing and then the disk travel home or, and if you leave it on a desk. So I was saying, right, what we do is we’ll color code your disks. So a red one means it’s like got, of a certain level of secure security needed.
[00:15:43] And so what I did was I, yeah, there’s a very simple idea. You basically just change the color. Yeah. But I even made it simpler, but made it unique to what I I was doing, because there was a a product, they also, because it was a biscuit, well they called it a biscuit, but it left, it was on a Mylar or Melonex base, which is, you know, common plastic but it would leave, you What they call like crumbs or dust on the thing.
[00:16:12] So the heads were getting contaminated and they needed cleaning. So I thought, right, okay, I’ll do the disks and I’ll also do the cleaning products. So, like, almost like another disk that is, is a cleaner and it goes in. So, so what happened was, the cleaning like, material was like a non woven had to be non woven because you didn’t look for contamination or debris.
[00:16:36] And there would be like you know, you see lots of products now with it, Tyvek, Coravin, Canberra, you know, backs of pillowcases, backs of furniture the bunny suits you see on when forensics are going out are of non wovens for obvious reasons. So, my mind started thinking, right, we’re doing these disks, so my disks were getting, now getting into companies.
[00:16:58] They were actually getting into, like, I’m saying to lawyers, you need disks. You know, I’m not selling you a disc, not one of these, but I’m selling you a a cleaning product. And when you’re in talking to them and you’re taking them to lunch and all that sort of stuff, then you introduce the security product.
[00:17:11] So, it started, there was a relationship, there was a marriage of the two. But also then, I’m thinking, right, I need to mass produce this in a huge way. So I said to them, I said, look, what will also be good, not only having your disc, you don’t want BSF or Berbato on it, you want your brand on it.
[00:17:28] You know, so you want your brand. So the, so it’s quite identifiable if it’s taken home, it’s got American express on it, it’s got, so basically I told him I’ll have 20, 000 discs in stock at any one time for your company. Now, bearing in mind, I had post office and various other companies to have 20, 000 discs of everyone.
[00:17:54] Is, from my point of view, cost is very expensive because you’ve got a lot of stock. What is cheaper is 20, 000 labels and 20, 000 discs. So I had 20, 000 American Express, I had 20, 000 there. So whenever they ordered, I’ll give them a four day turnaround and get friends and family sticking discs, labels on discs.
[00:18:14] So that, that got around that problem. And but I was then in with them. I was in, in being very good.
[00:18:21] Adam Stott: So These business, and there’s a lot of business moves there that you can add in. I actually really like some of the things that you’re saying there, Lance, in terms of make it easy, make it simple.
[00:18:32] You know, your differentiator, just the discolour, and you can add that to your business in some way. How can you make it easier? How can you make it more simple? Also, the sponsorship tip that’s been given there as well. You can all get sponsors for your businesses. You know, all of you can have sponsors for your businesses, where they can be paying you for your exposure, for your client list, for your database, for all sorts of different things.
[00:18:56] These are all good ideas for you. What I’m wondering is how do we go from kinky leather to floppy disks, which sounds weird, to sports personality of the year? What was the, what, how did we get to over to their launch? What happened next?
[00:19:09] Dr. Lance Haggith: How many hours you got?
[00:19:11] Adam Stott: You got about 10 minutes. Ha Ha!
[00:19:13] Dr. Lance Haggith: No, 20, right. Okay, I’ll try and simplify it, because the just to fast forward a bit, the floppy disks were made of non woven. So, I was then in the world of non woven items, and I’m thinking, oh, this is quite interesting. And I’ve got, So I then thought, you see in the places like Atomic Weapons British Aerospace Carwell they’re wearing these suits.
[00:19:41] And the whole idea of these suits is to not get contaminated, because they’re in radiation areas, and then the product gets thrown away. They have to be wearing complete suits, so, so what I thought is, they looked, you know, and they were always complaining they weren’t comfortable when they weren’t.
[00:19:56] So, with my fashion head on, I thought I’ll make them a bit more interesting and a bit more practical by putting in things to, for ease of movement and which was successful because I actually got into these companies. Now, bear in mind, I then had to set up another manufacturing unit because I was using home workers and the like to keep my cost down.
[00:20:19] Being military and being M. O. D. and all that, they needed to they, you need to get checked out and all this. Now, bearing in mind, I’m someone that was, At that time, just basically working out of a garden shed, you know, at home, you know, that was my office, but kept my overheads down. And and I remember them, one of the Harwell and Aldermaston saying, right, we’d give out a three year contract.
[00:20:39] for overshoes and various things. And the overshoes were great because they get contaminated. They have to get thrown away and keep buying. So I thought, okay. And they said to me, they said, look, we need to come and inspect your factory. I said, oh gosh. How are we going to do that? But I said, look, not being funny, we have a really strict policy that we allow no one.
[00:20:59] And and I don’t care who you are, because I said, and in fairness, we had some really serious, what we had. We went on to do missile covers for sidewinder missiles and things like that for British Aerospace, which is quite interesting when you get a rocket arrive at your house. The head of it, the head of the rocket, basically, not the whole rocket, but because they wanted to keep the heat down to stop them blowing up underneath planes.
[00:21:22] So we built We basically with a layered product stop these planes getting blown up in Egypt and that. But, so I said, no, we can’t, we have a policy. They said, oh yeah, but you know, we, it’s, I understand, but we have to check that you’re not working out of a garage. And I said, nah, I’m not working out of a garage, I’m working out of a shed.
[00:21:41] So I didn’t lie. So, I not only got the contract, But I also was quite clever in the sense that they, in the contract, they have to, you have to put down the material you use. So I thought, right, okay, knowing I’m getting the contract, I put in a made up name called I think it was Pro Prozine or something.
[00:22:01] So, but it was basically a regular material, you know, that you can buy. But so when they then redid the contract, in the next year, they said the product must be made of Procene. And no one could find it. So I kept the contract. I kept it going. So I went, oh, okay. And then people were ringing me saying, we need to get this pros in, where the hell are we going to get it from?
[00:22:28] I said, I don’t know. But it worked. So, that’s sort of how I keep thinking outside the box. That’s what I’m trying
[00:22:37] Adam Stott: to say is It is important actually. What we’ve been talking about today on branding is a lot of people feel smaller. A lot of people would let their internal language Stop them from doing certain things, you know, having conversations, winning large contracts, going after bigger business, and because of that, they don’t end up seeing the monetary results that they want to see, because of that internal language and the things they say to themselves, like, people don’t operate in the way that you just described, a lot of the time.
[00:23:10] And we’re not telling anybody to be gung ho by any means. Stretch the imagination, but you’ve got to act as if you’ve got to position yourself as if you’ve got a you’ve got to Believe that you can be bigger than you are And you’ve got to be able to go out and get that and it sounds like you had that mentality Yeah the whole way through you got to
[00:23:30] Dr. Lance Haggith: look the part Because when you turn up, you want to make sure, you know, you look like, well, you’ve got to give them confidence, you know what you’re talking about, you know, and to be honest, I wish the government adopted that attitude during the COVID, the PPE, rather than just chuck it at anybody, and now we’re paying the consequences, because, you know, all that’s now getting thrown away, because they weren’t qualified in what they were delivering but the thing is, it’s always, you know, You know, you’ve got, it’s a big world, and sometimes, and I’ll give you a couple of reasons, for instance, you can have a fantastic idea, and I’ve had many, as you probably realize but you’ll also get a couple of setbacks.
[00:24:07] So it’s whether you’re at the right time, or maybe too early. You have a great idea, but you may be too early. And two instances one I was headhunted to head up high tech clothing, chief exec of clothing, in my twenties, in my late twenties. And I basically got the owner kept on ringing me, saying, I want you to come down.
[00:24:28] Now, I lived in Bergenstedt, I didn’t want to live in Southend. So, I just felt, you know, and by, by the end of the weekend he persuaded me Often be a nice car and as a 28 year old, you know, my head was more into the toys and things like that, but so I did and then but so I, they were number one, high tech were number one, they were the biggest training shoe company that Nike is just about coming out and people didn’t know whether it was Nike or Nikki or, you know, it was like, it was, and their track suits were, Polyamide, polyester, black, navy, very, you know, no, nothing colourful.
[00:25:03] Then all of a sudden, I’m now looking around, and I see this craze coming out in Holland, funny enough, started, called the shell suit. Remember that? Brightly coloured and and I was just so, it was lucky, I was lucky, because all of a sudden, I had this shell suit. Now, I took it to Cobra Sports, Olympus.
[00:25:24] Champion Sport. Names you’ve probably not heard of because they, you know, it’s mainly now Sports Direct and JJB or JD, not even JJB now. And I would take it to them and they go, Ooh, no that, you know, that’s not for, you know, in fact Richard Finch at Champion Sport. He said, he was an ex rugby guy, but he’s a buyer for Champsville.
[00:25:45] He said, oh no, that’s for weirdos. You know, that’s not for us. You know, this is a rugby guy. I go, who knew? Because it was like parachute silk, very soft, very colorful. And I went, okay, fine. But I knew this was going to be huge. And I was right. Absolutely, we went through the roof. It was us and another company called Ruckenoor.
[00:26:06] It was another Dutch company. And then Puma started coming in. But I was literally at the beginning of the whole thing. And then I got all these And I got into Argos, which is, it sounds weird. The first time any clothing has gone into into Argos we did these shell pants, Cuba and super Cuba opening order was a half a million.
[00:26:29] So I, I’m like a bit of a superhero with in the eyes of Frank, because I was a little, he said, how the hell did you do that? I don’t know. But it was just luck because The craze or the fashion was going that route. So, then I get Richard Finch on the phone and say, I need some shell suits. And he’s just like, tough.
[00:26:50] Tough, you know. And you still, it’s funny, every now and again I’ll see one of my shell suits walking through the high street because retro is coming back and all that sort of stuff. And I was like, oh that’s a Bucharest or whatever. But you know, I do get a bit of pride when I see some of my Items on people thinking they’ve gone into a shop and bought what I’ve designed or created that I do get a buzz out of that but that’s again.
[00:27:13] That was one thing that not the right time, but it eventually was And then I had others like I was the first person to bring in an mp3 player which is it was, the guy who actually invented it, he’s got the patent for recordable data on, online, that you can remotely. So he was, he also, I think he was involved in a couple of other big, Pontus was the company.
[00:27:40] And he said, Lance, he said, you know, have a look at this, take it. And it was fantastic. You can imagine, this is in the day of CDs and all that sort of stuff. It had no moving parts. The quality was unbelievable. But the problem with it, the memory was too expensive. You know, my unit was 76 pounds, but 64k, 64k memory chip was about 60 quid.
[00:28:05] And 64k will give you four, four songs. I did sell some, not many, because people wanted the latest mp3. And and I’m trying to work my way about how, and the inventor said, bear with me. He said, just stick with it, because memory will come down. It’s getting faster, and it’ll be down to ten cents a megabyte.
[00:28:23] You watch, and then you’ll be like, you’ll go through the roof. And it’s gone there and further, you know. But I sort of moved on from that. But but, you know, those opportunities, I was just too early. I went to Dixon’s, remember Dixon’s? And they said, oh no, it’s not gonna take off. They told me that, you know, and It’s, it is quite interesting, but you learn from all these things, and as I say, some you succeed on, some you don’t.
[00:28:45] I’m a great inventor as well, I like designing things, and I have, I’ve had successes, and I’ve had successes and been ripped off, which is what’s frustrating about the British or the UK sentiment. You know, we’ve had some great inventions, probably one of the biggest, you know, obviously the World Wide Web And the jet engine and it ends up in America because of the fact is the government will back that but won’t back the UK or British ideas.
[00:29:09] And I’m, if you look at my Wikipedia, I’m known for inventing the cow possession. If you’ve got family and kids, you know how brilliant this cow possession is, you know, and it’s a medical product that, you know, when children are ill, you put it in the mouth and five minutes of running around. It’s like a miracle thing.
[00:29:26] In the old days it was in a glass bottle and you end up with a sticky spoon and the lid’s jammed and goodness, yeah, the good old days, yeah, thank god my kids have grown up now. So I thought, well I’ll come up with something which is going to be a thing. Like more easier that give them a sachet.
[00:29:42] You can keep a few in your pocket in your car. Just rip the top off, squeeze in the child’s mouth and chuck it away, which is great. And so I wrote to Warner Lambert in those days, and they said, yeah, it’s it’s a great idea. Can you come in and meet the the design team and all that? So I came in with samples of sachets, and I said look, with it being a lower amount of product, you can sell it outside the counter, not behind the counter.
[00:30:07] So then I think in the market would be Garages, airports, of course where it is, it’s there, it’s everywhere. So, anyway, we went through, gave them all the samples, gave them, and they said, right, we now need to send you an NDA regarding the content of CalPoT, because we now need you to do tests on migration or contamination from the sachet that you’re putting in.
[00:30:30] So I said, fine, they said it’s about two or three weeks to get through. Anyway, two or three weeks passed, nothing happened. So six weeks, 10 weeks, then they’re blocking my call. It’s about five, six months later, my wife rings me in tears. It’s all over Boots Chemist, my product, exactly my product. So I sued them.
[00:30:50] And because they’re huge you know, it’s a lot of money to, you know, they’re desolators, old swangs, the Dyson people. So, so anyway, what happened was Warner Lambert then got bought by Pfizer, and Pfizer, obviously big and and I remember going down there, and they said, look, you know, you’ve got four kids and I’m talking to quite a senior person, and they said, look, we know you, you come up with a product, maybe we can give you some free Calpol, you know, you’ve got four kids.
[00:31:17] I said, well, that’s not going to pay the bills, you know, because I was on a percentage, they’re going to give me a percentage of every Calpol, so it’s actually a very small percentage, but knowing a friend of mine in Tesco, in the first year, they sold seven million. And just Tesco’s loan, that’s not Boots, Superdryer, or anything.
[00:31:31] So, I thought, you know, that’s just wrong. So, I pursued it and they said you know, we’ll give you, and I said, you know, even if you give me a container of CalPERS, actually, it’s not right, it’s not good. I said, maybe give me a container of Viagra, not that I needed it. That’s a lot more value, so I thought I could sell that.
[00:31:49] But but no, it was, they said, if you want monetary, they recompense, then you have to speak to the CEO, just blanked it. Then what happened, Pfizer then got bought by Johnson. So now I’m against the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company. And the BBC, there’s a film of me they filmed me.
[00:32:06] Like, little man in Bedford taking on the whole of the, you know, pharmaceutical world. But, they, the courts, it kept going, eventually get to court and then they said, right, we want to do an arbitration meeting or whatever, where you have a judge and you have people and they try and sort you out a deal before you goes to court.
[00:32:26] Which is great, providing the other side of playing ball. Now we see, I had my solicitor barrister and everything, by now I’ve done a hundred and a thousand pounds. And then the, some jumped up twit from Old Swangs was going, Well, he said, you should call yourself lucky. And I said, why? He said, well, not everybody gets to talk to the CEO, and they take your idea and it’s like, you know, it’s a real great product.
[00:32:52] I said, well, he’s taken my idea, ripped me off. If that’s good luck, what’s bad luck? You know, because it’s just, it was just wrong. They said, well, we can chuck millions at it, can you? That’s their attitude. The judge was not happy. She was a lovely lady. So they go into one room and then they come into my room.
[00:33:08] And then they saw, anyway, they came and offered 30, 000 to, for me to walk away. Rather than, if I’m in their shoes, got someone that’s come up with a really good idea, you know, if they’ve offered me 100, 000, at the beginning to, to buy out the contract, then I’ve probably taken it because there’s a lot of money in those days.
[00:33:26] But they didn’t, and I would have thought, right, he’s got a great idea. I want his next idea. I want his next idea. You know, because I’ve always got good ideas. But no, so, but what they can’t do is they, you’ll see on my Wikipedia, they said, well, you’re known for being the person with the Cowboy Sashay, invention of the Cowboy Sashay, which they can’t take away from me because that’s the case.
[00:33:46] So, you know, my day will come, trust me, because my. Profile’s getting higher and higher, but where, you know, I’ll I’ll come out with something you’ll see, which it’s in the process of, it’s they won’t be happy. Nice job. Thank you.
[00:34:03] Adam Stott: So, sports personality of the year. Where, how did that come about? Yeah. Yeah. That was a bit embarrassing actually. .
[00:34:11] Dr. Lance Haggith: Yeah. What happened?
[00:34:12] Adam Stott: And OBE as well, you know, how did we, yeah. You’ve had some, mum was quite a career, you know, quite a career of a, you know, amazing different journey of all these different things that you’ve done and Yeah.
[00:34:23] You know, some are, before we get into that sports personality and the OBE, what if you were to summarize in tips, could you get a glass of water as well for Lance? Is that right? Please? Yeah. If you were to summarize in some tips for everyone, to be more entrepreneurial, to take more action, to get more things done, what would you suggest for people in the room?
[00:34:44] How can they chart their path and take more action and get more things done? And think outside, because you mentioned thinking outside the box several times. What do you, what would you say to people to to give them your process for thinking outside the box, some tips?
[00:34:59] Dr. Lance Haggith: Well, thank you. I think the key is it’s never being.
[00:35:02] Having a closed mind. I think, you know, I, the way I did it, I was looking at opportunities. I’m always looking for the next thing. What’s the latest either to improve lives. So it’s, it could be just a simple idea. You know, I came up with A packaging idea to get through blister packs. Because blister packs are a right nightmare, you know.
[00:35:21] You know, got cut with scissors and goodness knows what. So I came up with a really, a tool safe thing, which did well. Sold a few million of those. But but, you know, cool pack buster, yeah. But, you know, I think it’s always looking at your market. What your competition is. How can you be different?
[00:35:40] How can you. Really, you know, obviously put the energy in there for in that you’ll get the reward But if you don’t you’ve tried that I think that’s the real thing. You’ve got to really think Well, I gave it a go because I’ve had successes and I’ve had some right nightmares. Well, cowpox actually being a right nightmare cost me in the end of day 240 odd thousand or something, but they spent near nearly a million quid because that they would, they just, well, that’s the pharmaceutical industry.
[00:36:07] That’s another conversation. But but I think, you know, if your conviction, and it was my dad who actually said, look, You know, it’s not doing any good health wise and you’re just fighting against this and just put it down as a, you know, one of those things, draw a line under it. And I think, you know, that was a good advice because I was just chasing, it’s like chasing after a bet.
[00:36:25] You’re never gonna, you know, you’re gonna keep losing just to catch up. But, you know, but when I focus, when I’m readjusting my focus, so that, that’s also, I think, a tip is that when you know you’re beaten or when you know you’ve done your best in it, move on, you know, find the next or find another opportunity because you need to put your energy into a positive thing, not into something that’s negative because you’ll waste a lot of time.
[00:36:49] And I’ve done that. So fast forwarding a bit so that we don’t, we’re not here till breakfast. The yeah it’s the, again, the ideas and I came up with an idea with my kids or Successful in sport like I was successful and then I was coaching them and then they, my three boys, I’ve got three boys and a daughter, my boys good at sport, love sport and sport is always a very positive thing, both from mental and also physical and you find kids who are into sport are less likely to get into trouble with police etc.
[00:37:22] They turn out to be more well rounded young adults. So. That’s why I set the charity up, which I’ll mention in a second. But the main thing is you know, we had, we hit a bit of a bit of a Down spot. So everything was going really well. Two of my boys, one of my boys was a Loughborough on the elite athlete program.
[00:37:39] My other one was just about to join, do his A levels at the elite athlete program, playing for England. Everything was going really well. So this is another thing, is about living life now, living to the maximum, living to your full capacity, and going to bed knowing I’m You’ve achieved and looking forward to waking up tomorrow to to do more.
[00:37:59] That’s always my philosophy. And the reality check was my son was going to to England was playing for England, and he was going to go for another trials for the next year group after Easter. But I noticed something not quite right. You know, I’ve been coaching him and watching and it was sort of getting a bit sluggish and he was in a tournament and he’s normally, he’s that good.
[00:38:21] He was playing under 15s and under 17s. That is saying, Dad, I can’t, I’m struggling to do to, you know, just manage to do the one and then not go across to the older group. And I said to my wife, we’re going away for a holiday in Greece. And I said to my wife, I said, he needs to get checked out.
[00:38:37] Something not quite right is in the back of my head. There’s something niggling me and, you know, because I’m watching their training all the time. And she said, oh, It’s growing pains because he’s six foot five at 16. He was huge. And probably the best player in the country. So, anyway my, I said, take him to the doctors.
[00:38:53] Luckily, my wife did. She took him to the doctors. And the nurse said, well, we think he’s GCSEs. And he’s also playing for country, county, national league, school, all these sports. And they said, the nurse said, well, we’ll take blood. And then we’ll come back tomorrow with the results. And we’ll give him some antibiotics and medication.
[00:39:14] So he’ll rest over the holiday. And if we get a call that day, straight up in the afternoon brush him to the hospital. He had leukemia. So he had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is, there’s two sorts of leukaemia. And basically they said, they’re measuring his kidney, no, his liver and his spleen with the baby scanner, ultrasonic.
[00:39:34] And there was, in the, there should be about eight, nine, ten centimeters. I don’t know if anybody in the room is medically trained or anything, but they should be not that, not large, but these were like 33, 35 centimeters. They’re huge. Absolutely huge. And they said, how the hell is he playing basketball? He shouldn’t be even walking.
[00:39:49] He should be in agony. But that’s what you find. There’s a lot of children with leukaemia. Who are athletes are used to pain because they’re pushing their body all the time and so it’s much It’s quite hard to diagnose hence the teenage cancer unit It’s a fantastic charity who I can’t speak highly enough of and this is that great on the street just not goes Adam Brooks just up the road from here.
[00:40:09] So You know, this is quite known territory to me, but anyway, he had 20 percent chance of living. They said he’s really ill, and they’re going to have to give him three and a half years of chemotherapy every day with steroids and 60 chemo in the spine and they knocked the hell out of him.
[00:40:22] Absolutely knocked the hell out of him but we stood by him. We were with him on a positive note. He didn’t have a day where either him, either me, or his mum, or both of us were there. And there was many children that were not, had that same support. And we got him through it. He survived. And then he started growing again, because obviously with chemo, it stops you growing.
[00:40:41] And he said, Dad, I’m taller than you now. You know, and I was six or seven. And I said, Oh, I’m pleased. So he’s now six or eight. And he’s doing, he’s giving back. He’s doing videos for Macmillan and that. Saying to be positive and I think that’s always a very important thing is have a positive attitude, really is, in anything.
[00:40:57] And he’s proof. So, so yeah, so that, that’s sort of like a bit of a spanner in the works for myself. But one thing that got me through it, the effect of my wife’s mental health they say it always will affect the mums. But not sure in what capacity until the end. And it did affect her really badly.
[00:41:15] You know, lots of counseling and lots of things like that. But but the thing is that you know, I feel because of all the stuff I’ve done, because I had already started the charity and I was one of the winners of sports personality, I got through it by bringing in celebrities, or if a young child wants something signed by a, The famous person Stacey Solomon or Manti Joshua, I’ll just pick the phone up and say right Can you do this for me?
[00:41:36] So that got me through it my mental health because I feel helpless I’m sitting there when I can’t do anything while they’re saving my kids life, you know And that’s what I think, you know, you have these ups and downs life But it puts perspective on the value that you have on each day, you know, let’s say he’s doing really well now.
[00:41:52] So
[00:42:00] So the, yeah, so the sports personality is as embarrassing as it was, because I didn’t think I was going to win I’ll lighten the mode a bit. But but the it was 2010, and it was really snowing. It was one of those days that no one went out. It was the final and also the apprentice final afterwards.
[00:42:17] So, everybody stayed in, basically. And it was a nightmare to get to Birmingham. I was at the NEC. And so I’m like, Heading off to the, to, ’cause I was the regional winners and I was one of the winners of Southeast and ’cause cut cutting through all the snow and all that. Got there and then there was we got greeted by Peter Shelton and he said, right, we need everybody to do a speech, get, prepare a speech.
[00:42:40] ’cause there was like 20 of us. But they kept on saying, this year they’re going to bring in a. Husband and wife Award as well. So to a couple and They kept on saying where are they’re coming from Ireland. They said they haven’t arrived. Where are they? They kept on going on about this and my wife’s saying, you know Because she said you have you going to do a speech and I’m not gonna write a speech.
[00:43:04] It’s not me I’m not gonna win and She said, well, you should just in case, no, it’s not me. They’re talking about this Irish couple. And they kept talking about, where are they? Well, I said, they didn’t ring me to see whether I was coming or not ever, you know? So, anyway, we get, eventually they arrive and then they, we get this, we’re in the hotel and they get this very flash, one of the Premier league clubs buses to take us to the NEC and they arrive in the NEC and then they, preliminary thing of they’ll say who, they don’t tell you who’s won, but they tell you the top three. So first, second, and third. And I’m in the top three. So my wife’s going, oh my God, you’re in the top three. I said, well that’s brilliant. You know, to come third out of the whole country, you know, is amazing.
[00:43:45] They said, well you better think about a speech. No, I’m not thinking about a speech. I’m not, you know, in the top three is this Irish couple. This is my wife, you know. So don’t worry about it. Anyway We then sit down, and I’m on the end of the aisle, and bear in mind there’s like 16, 000 people in the NEC if you see the clip on 2010 it’s huge is this and they’re all the goods and greats, you know Beckham through to everybody’s in front of You know and he won one of the awards that day as well as a P McCoy Rafferty Dale Colin Montgomery And I’m at the end and I was going hey, you’re at the end, you know, all the others are all over here So I see a bit the Irish couple at the end So I said it’s them.
[00:44:27] I know it’s them. Anyway, about Lymphacristi. There’s Amir Khan and Lymphacristi giving me the award. And Lymphacristi just about pulled their envelope out. Suddenly this big bright light right here by my side, before he calls the name of it, It’s me, it’s a burning heat, you know, like, I’m going, oh gosh.
[00:44:49] And I’m thinking, oh no, luckily it’s quite a long walk, so I’m thinking what to say as I’m going up. I think, don’t trip up, make sure you get the kids names right, and wing it. And I did, I winged it. It got away with that one. Yeah, but what it has done, how embarrassing it was it’s actually did open a lot of doors.
[00:45:07] And I get people stopping me in the street. I, the next few days after that, it was just ridiculous. You know, I, my, my daughter, who’s, wasn’t that old She couldn’t believe it, people coming up and stopping in the street and shaking my hand and all that sort of stuff. And it was really nice.
[00:45:19] And she said, Dad, you’re famous. I said, no, not really. But it, and it still goes on. I still get people actually coming up to me and still, because I do the odd thing on BBC, I don’t know if you, but what’s weird now is I get I do get at least once or twice a week, whereas I’m getting it quite regularly.
[00:45:35] They’ll say, oh, I saw you on TV and and And I said, Oh, did you? I said, Yeah, are you a newsreader? And I went, I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult. But but no, it’s fine. It’s all right. But but that did help me, it opened a lot of doors, but it had got me suddenly a massive, I get invited to lots of things where I meet You know, I’ve got hundreds of celebrity friends.
[00:45:56] When I do an event they come and we fill the place because of basically them. So Pierce Brosnan through to, you know, You know, I’ve got so many on my head that But they You know, but what’s useful is if I need something for a child, I’ll bring, say, Stacey Solomon and say, Stacey, any chance you, oh yeah, send me a video message or a sign thing.
[00:46:16] Adam Stott: And you’ve done a really good job of building those relationships as well. Yeah. And that helps you to promote things in a big way, right? And that’s the message that we’re also looking to get across to everyone in the room, that everybody in the room, no matter where they’re starting from, Can build a brand.
[00:46:31] Everyone in the room, no matter where they’re starting from can get connected to high profile people, high level people. Yeah. Well, have you got a couple of tips before we wrap up? Pierce Bosnum, you said Zidane. Yeah. All these other people you’ve hung out with, spent time with, done events with, and some serious players, by the way, once you have a look into Well, Prince William.
[00:46:51] Dr. Lance Haggith: Yeah, Prince William. If you treat them, the thing is when you meet these people, because I was lucky as a youngster, I was obviously mixing with the best in pop, you know, it’s like having nowadays Adele or Ed Sheeran sitting in your lounge, you know, to bring you one more up to date. These were the top of the top.
[00:47:08] But I think you just treat people with respect. I don’t abuse that relationship. I’ll only ask if I need it. And they know that. And they, and I also say. You’re not getting paid. You come to my events, you come because you want to help what I believe in and my journey and not because you’re going to raise more social media followers and that sort of stuff.
[00:47:26] So, you know, I get some really good ones. I’ve got some footballers that are a complete waste of space and I name and shame them every time I bump into them at these events and that. But then you’ve got Love Island ones that say they’re very famous because they’ve been a bit busy for a couple of weeks and then they come out thinking they’re famous.
[00:47:42] Not really watched the program, but my kids seem to watch it. But but the thing is that you know, their idea of fame, my idea of fame is more about what they do to help you, what the value is. And I say Prince William, we’ve met him a few times. And also the OBE, I’ll keep it quick and brief.
[00:47:57] Mentioning about the OBE for sure. Yeah. So I was lucky that I, you know, I was honored. I didn’t have the letter. The letter arrived, or didn’t arrive, at my house and I wasn’t there at the time. And then I get a call from someone saying, oh, we’re from the Queen’s office or whatever. And Her Majesty would like to offer you an OBE, basically.
[00:48:19] So, and I’m going, yeah, right. And they said, well, you haven’t replied to the letter. I said, I haven’t seen the letter. I went, they said, oh, okay. They said, well, do you want it? So I said, yeah, I’ll write that. So, yeah.
[00:48:36] Adam Stott: This was for your services to charity.
[00:48:38] Dr. Lance Haggith: Yeah, the stuff I’ve done. You know if you want me to mention a bit about it in a minute, I’ll do that.
[00:48:43] But but the the thing is it was in her birthday honours list and a jubilee. So the very last batch of OBEs she gave out. And so I feel well honored.
[00:48:52] Adam Stott: Yeah.
[00:48:53] Dr. Lance Haggith: And I wanted to meet her. I’ve met lots of royalty. I’ve got royalty on my phone. I’m quick. You know, I never met her. And I want that some Andrew.
[00:49:03] He had some levers off. Yeah.
[00:49:05] No, but I know it’s on your phone. But so yeah, so Unfortunately, she died, you know, which is a shame, but then we don’t know we don’t know who was going to give it to you They don’t pre warn you or anything like that for security for obvious reasons and then I’m thinking oh, no I hope it’s not Prince Andrew, you know because for obvious reasons. And also to be honest, I still have a problem with Charles because the Camilla situation I was very big supporter of Camilla and not Camilla of Lady Diana.
[00:49:42] Sorry, I’m not a big supporter of Camilla, but but, so I, you know, I thought that, so, I was at an event and two lovely people came, part of my celebrity mix, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, and I’ve got some lovely pictures of them with me and we were chatting away and she, and Zara says to me, she said Do you know when you’re getting your OBE?
[00:50:05] And I said, yeah, it’s actually in about five days time. She said, wouldn’t it be funny if mum gives it to you? And I went, yeah, of course. I said, I love that, because she’s a very hard working mum. And anyway, rock up at there’s 13 of us to get this medal OBE and it’s at Windsor. So mom, very proud, spent about four months choosing what she’s going to wear.
[00:50:28] And and you know, I could tell my son who one had cancer, cause it was after COVID. So you could actually, Bring three guests, but they do make you feel very special. And every time you go up to, you know, every sort of 50 feet, there’s someone greeting you and then, and they’re all dressed in, you know, shiny plates and told, oh it’s and they make you feel really special.
[00:50:47] Anyway, I’m number 12 of the 13, and they say, right. What happens now is go, you go into the room, you are. Party stand behind us. They’re literally very close in this massive room with all these dignitaries and soldiers and everything She will she’ll be there. You’ve got to go to point a with a soldier You’ve got to say your all highness and bow and then Walk to her, and then from then on it’s mom, and you’ll get about a minute and a half.
[00:51:19] Now before COVID, what she would do, she would shake your hand, and that was the message to go get out of here, right? But now it’s COVID, they said, right, what she does, she just steps back one step, and so that’s your message, please leave. So anyway, I’m coming up, and I’m number 12, which is a good number for me.
[00:51:38] I think 12 is a very powerful number. And the guy, There’s an old boy behind me, he’s number 13 going, What the hell do I do? I’m trying to keep him happy as well. And anyway. So I get there, I’m chatting away. And I was chatting, and she said, Oh, when is he won BBC Sports Personality? I said, 2010.
[00:51:55] She said, it was brilliant. I remember it really well, what you did. And I know, And considering she’s got no notes, she knew all about my charity, all I’d done, how, you know, she must meet thousands of people, and she said, what you do is amazing that you’re helping kids not, you know, girls to stop self harming, talking suicide, and all this positive stuff.
[00:52:12] And I went, I really appreciate it. She said, well, you know, I want to help you, see how I can help you. And I said, well, I actually remember when you got yours, because she was in 1970, I think it was, and it was lighting black and white when she got BBC Sports Personality. And and I said, well, by the way, I was with your daughter the other day, and she said, wouldn’t it be funny that you know, it would be mum.
[00:52:31] You know, and she’s laughing her head off and there’s pictures of us laughing and we’re chatting away and I’m like, Anyway, eight and a half minutes later They got all these people looking because I only knew that from my Her mom and that these people looking at watches and all that and it’s me who stepped back because I thought I can’t And And yeah, so you, well, you know, I’m shy and don’t like talking so , but but it was really yeah, it was a great day.
[00:52:56] Can’t deny it wasn’t. And and, you know, it’s again, another, I know I’m not doing it for the gong or the accolades or that but it has opened a lot of doors, of course. And and I wouldn’t be here because. And you know, if it wasn’t for what I do, or what I’ve achieved, you know.
[00:53:09] And
[00:53:10] Adam Stott: all of these different elements, I think it’s just a great example of somebody that’s done a lot of good. And actually used a lot of these branding to drive a lot of good and you know once have a little look at Lance online and connect with him as well because he’s an amazing guy and the things he’s done are absolutely incredible Should we give it up for Lance Haggith OBE. Thank you So what we’re going to do is we’re going to move straight into some photos everybody