Jon Moss-The Remarkable Business Show-Episode 10.mp3

Jon Moss [00:00:00] This is the remarkable business show on remarkable.fm. I'm your host Jon Moss and this is episode 10. 

[00:00:09] Cyclist, Skier, international fugitive and all round curious guy - this is the latest addition of the remarkable business show with your host Jon Moss. 

Jon Moss [00:00:20] Thanks for listening and welcome to episode 10. It's taken a while to reach double figures but it's been a fun challenging and rewarding process. Thousands of you have downloaded and listened to the show all across the world. So a big thank you. 

[00:00:34] First of all you may know that I write a regular newsletter called The Bulletin. The subscribers are growing rather nicely and the open rate on the emails is just above 75 percent so I'm guessing people quite like it. I'd be honoured if you'd sign up and give it a go see what you think. I send it out every month or so packed with links to great articles experiences and tips on tech business health and life. So give it a go. Head on over to theappleofmyi.com/newsletter

[00:01:08] Don't waste a single day do great things with awesome people. 

[00:01:13] Life is short making every day count the remarkable business podcast. 

Jon Moss [00:01:19] As our friend Mr. Bueler said Life moves pretty fast if you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it. This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently and speaking to friends about. 

Jon Moss [00:01:29] Do you ever get that feeling when you're on auto pilot and time bends and kind of disappears? Yeah you know what I mean it's very easy rarely easy to get through a day a week a month and even a year without much thought. You suddenly realise that the time is gone and you can't really account for it. What have you achieved? What have you experienced? How have you helped people and you're not gonna get that time back. 

Jon Moss [00:01:57] Being mindful of how you spend your time is key to making sure you don't get sucked into this situation. Always remember don't let good get in the way of great. 

Jon Moss [00:02:07] Here in the UK we've seen large chain stores closing all over the country and they seem to be the ones who've been on autopilot too and they're suddenly running into trouble. Not that the signs and symptoms weren't there though and three that come to mind straight away at Devin M's House of Fraser and boots. Even these brand names sound tired. 

Jon Moss [00:02:28] I'm not surprised in the slightest that they've struggled and will continue to struggle. They're anonymous and with no soul and no story they create no curiosity whatsoever and don't provide anything worth talking about. They're trying to be everything to everyone even their marketing's old fashioned. What would anyone possibly want to share about these businesses. 

Jon Moss [00:02:49] Compare that to a business or a brand that tells a story has something worth sharing that people perk up and take notice of. Perhaps a B corporation dedicated to doing good. I love these B corporations and for those of you who are wondering what I'm talking about... 

Jon Moss [00:03:05] Certified B corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance. Public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. 

[00:03:17] B corporations are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine the success in business and build more inclusive and sustainable economy. Now not every brand or company might be an official big corporation but they might give back like Warby Parker does with spectacles Toms does with shoes. Probably the company people think most of when people discuss this and there are many other examples like this. 

Jon Moss [00:03:40] Like we choose what we put in our mouth three or four times a day or maybe more often for me, we also make a choice about what brands we buy and what businesses get our hard earned money. We all have a choice and we should choose wisely. I love ethical brands but I also like companies doing one thing well. They are laser focussed on what they do whether a service or a product they might wrap up their service in a special way or perhaps give you something so utterly unique you can only get it from them. 

Jon Moss [00:04:12] A few brands I consistently admire for this and McNair shirts who make the best mountain shirt in the world over in Huddersfield. I've got one and it will last my lifetime and beyond. Plum and Ashby are another brand I've recently discovered. They make the most incredible handwashing things like that. Yeah I've been buying some presents for people who like nice things in their home but seriously they smell amazing. They're made down in Hampshire and are getting known through Instagram and via luxury brands such as Humphrey Munson kitchens which seem to feature them a lot so check them out. 

Jon Moss [00:04:43] Bluff works is also a favourite over in the US and they make travel clothing - their Blazer is absolutely hands down the best bit of travel kit I own. Seriously this thing is miraculous. You can chuck it in the wash. Washing is super easy on 30 degrees and you can travel in it you can stuff it in your bag you can wear it creases just disappear - just a great bit of clothing. Highly recommended. 

Jon Moss [00:05:12] I'm really keen to hear about brands that you love so please drop me a line John. That's jon at jonmoss.co.uk

[00:05:24] Are you on Twitter. Then follow Jon @jonmoss 

Jon Moss [00:05:28] Speaking of brands which tell a story do one thing really well and are loved by many. This is a very good lead end to this episode's guest. Rocket Espresso produces the finest espresso machines in the tradition of fauto et Mano translated to made by hand. The small team produce both premium domestic and commercial espresso machines beautifully made with meticulous care and attention to detail. New Zealander Andrew Mayo is one of the founding partners of Milan based espresso machine manufacturer rocket espresso. 

Jon Moss [00:06:00] Self-employed since the age of 21 Andrew has developed a number of businesses predominantly within both the hospitality and coffee industries before purchasing a failing Italian espresso machine manufacturing business in 2007 and establishing Rocket Espresso driven by both the technical competence of the machine combined with the machine acid aesthetic. 

Jon Moss [00:06:20] Yep they've got to look good. Rocket Espresso is now a leading espresso machine manufacturer. When not as his desk Andrew will undoubtedly be riding his bike preparing for coming races or quite possibly enjoying an espresso and a slice of cake in the sun. We had a great conversation covering a wide range of topics. 

Jon Moss [00:06:40] Andrew gives us a fascinating insight into scaling a global brand as well as some wonderful stories. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. So here's Andrew talking to me from his Milan HQ. 

[00:06:53] Accessible authentic and useful. 

Jon Moss [00:06:56] The remarkable business show speaks to remarkable people so I'm delighted to welcome the guest to this episode and that is Andrew Mayo from Rocket Espresso who is the founder of the company and someone I'm so pleased has managed to give up some time to come on today. 

Jon Moss [00:07:16] Andrew welcome to the remarkable business show. And thank you so much for your time. 

Andrew Meo [00:07:21] Thank you John. Pleasure to be there. Thanks. 

Jon Moss [00:07:24] Whereabouts in the world are you. Can you give a little bit of an introduction to yourself who you are and and what you do. 

Andrew Meo [00:07:31] Okay, Rocket Espresso, we are based in Milan Italy, so which is kind of the hub of espresso machine manufacturing and the Lombardy region. We build obviously espresso machines. Primarily we started 12 odd years ago when we bought a failed company failing company and initially we bought the rights to buy to produce what we call premium domestic machines. The company was still in existence at the time and we just bought as I say the rights rights to buy the smaller machines.

Jon Moss [00:08:11] Right, okay. And was that than an Italian company though?

Andrew Meo [00:08:13] Yes, it was an Italian company called ECM and they'd been in the business for a while I was based in New Zealand at the time and involved with a company that was the importer of the machines into New Zealand. At the time supply got into New Zealand was became quite spasmodic. The business partner I was working with at the time suggested that perhaps he felt that ECM was in financial trouble so he proposed that we had a go at looking to see if we could buy it. So that was 2000 probably 2007 I guess I came over here and did what could loosely be described as some due diligence. 

Andrew Meo [00:08:56] But you know it's pretty pretty pathetic to be honest and had a look and made them an offer for that part of the business. And we then took as I say took the rights to build the premium domestic machines and ECM carried on producing commercial machines for another couple of years year and a half before they failed completely. 

Jon Moss [00:09:18] And so now what was the Rocket Espresso range looked like of machines and you do grinders as well don't you?

Andrew Meo [00:09:26] Well probably 70 odd percent of our production is what as I say what we call premium domestic. That means a machine that probably retails in euro for an excess for well close to fifteen hundred euros as our start point and then it goes right through to about five and a half thousand euros. So premium espresso machines premium domestic espresso machines and more traditional based machines they've got a a water filter as opposed to the fully automatic machines or bean to cup machines. 

Andrew Meo [00:09:59] So worldwide it's a very very small market but it's still quite a quite a good market you know globally there would be probably 50000 machines made by all the manufacturers in that sector of the market. Obviously if you look at bean to cup machines or fully auto machines you know the markets the market's massive and obviously people like Nespresso entering the market again is made the market huge but they're not really you can't you can't call those traditional premium domestic machines arguably they're not actually even the espresso machines. 

Andrew Meo [00:10:34] If you look at it technically but they make a drink called espresso so you know which is a good thing because there's more public awareness of espresso machines and then the other part of a business which is a newer part of the portfolio is commercial machines and obviously the machines for bars restaurants cafes etc. which is as I say much smaller part of the business but probably where we're seeing the most growth nowadays because at domestic portfolio is pretty much tapped out you know being represented in most countries in the world nowadays. 

Jon Moss [00:11:06] Do you think people thought they they learn about there is an opportunity and you know relatively easy to do to produce good coffee at home and that's where people then start investigating these kind of machines and then perhaps find Rocket?

Andrew Meo [00:11:21] I think what happens is I see our home users as being a couple of different categories. One that just sees the machine likes the shiny machine thinks it looks really beautiful and needs to have it on his kitchen bench and then and the other side is the guy who is a passionate coffee drinker. Okay. And he he wants to produce you know premium espresso at home. Now where that's come from as probably two sets of people have come from probably one people moving up from average product. You know so starting with a very average machine and going, well this is not really cutting it or possibly seeing that there's great coffee available in their cafe and just getting a passion for it that way. And if we look at the whole food industry you know if you think back 20 years ago 25 years ago you went into a bookshop and there might have been a shelf of cookbooks and now you go into a bookshop and there's a whole section devoted to cooking. So clearly people are wanting to do a better job on all fronts within the home. And I think naturally espresso falls into that. 

Jon Moss [00:12:29] And it does help that they look wonderful as well. You know from a design perspective, has that been a chosen thing to make sure that they look beautiful or the machines as well as actually do a good job?

Andrew Meo [00:12:42] Absolutely. So from the Rocket point of view obviously we've got to make machines that are obviously very very very competent and what they can produce but also we've got I've got very fixed idea of the look and feel of their machines and the look and feel of our brand. So we do a lot to really keep our machines look. If you look right across the board most of the machines in the category are shiny stainless steel boxes. But when you start to look and more and and the machines in more detail these bed stainless steel boxes and really beautiful stainless steel boxes. 

Andrew Meo [00:13:16] So we tried to be the latter where we spend a lot of time and effort and to be honest margin in producing a machine that is really lovely that is, well in my opinion is really lovely - should qualify that. And yeah and I think that's an important part of the Rocket brand philosophy. So quite often people want different colours. They want this. They want that. They want a custom made. But we stick very closely to our values and say well no we can't do that. 

Andrew Meo [00:13:50] I guess it's you look at the Porsche 911 as a classic example you know the Porsche 911 obviously evolved over the years but it's unmistakably a Porsche 911 or a variation of the 911 right through the model ranges you know from I don't know how many years ago. So I think that's a tribute to great design where the design evolves. So it's kind of the same as that I guess. 

Jon Moss [00:14:14] Yeah I would agree and you know, full disclosure I have a Rocket Espresso machine in my kitchen right now alongside a Rocket grinder. So you know, I'm a I'm a fan of very much of what you do and I've been on my kind of coffee journey over the last few years. 

Andrew Meo [00:14:30] Thank you. 

Jon Moss [00:14:31] And on I I think my my love of coffee probably came from the ski seasons I did many years ago back in Italy and where I was a barista. 

Andrew Meo [00:14:41] Okay.

Jon Moss [00:14:42] And although it's changed markedly over the past 25 years and I'm sure back in the day in the early 90s there was no such thing as latte art. No they're not not that's not that's a you know just the be all and end all of coffee. But I think I agree. You've got a brand that stands out and is that something is it design and functionality that makes you attract customers do you think that sort of brand that values?

Andrew Meo [00:15:09] I think if you've got a strong brand value and you've got clear direction it makes it and makes any product better. When you look at a brand that doesn't really have a clear strategy, a clear direction, a clear product range I think it becomes comes very difficult to understand what that brand is. 

Andrew Meo [00:15:31] So we spend a lot of time on making the machines look as good as we can. We spend a lot of time on our packaging. We spend a lot of time on the look and feel of our marketing websites, social media etc. Also the brand experience is as good as it can be for people. And I think that sets us apart from our competitors quite markedly because many of our competitors build espresso machines. They market to their distributor or reseller base but that's not their customer. So we are one of the very few that go hang on, that guy who owns a house in London, New York whatever it is. He's our customer. He should be the focus of our attention. So the dealer or the distributor buy the product thankfully and stock the product. But we don't really need to market to those people overly. We can market to them through through trade fairs etc. but that we need to give the final customer a real a real look and feel about the brand. 

Jon Moss [00:16:30] Understood. And you've got a very strong connection to the cycling. The worldwide cycling community Andrew. How did that come about?

Andrew Meo [00:16:39] I've got a cycling background from when I was a boy in New Zealand. So I've always been a passionate rider racer. We started it was 2009 I think it was the year Dennis Menchov won the Giro d'Italia.That was actually the hundredth year 100 year anniversary of the Giro and we were sitting around and we're on into the business two years at that stage, we just suffered the financial crisis. So that was a real tough start. And I suggested we build a machine to celebrate 100 years of the Giro, just sort throwing an idea around and everyone thought it was a great idea. 

Andrew Meo [00:17:19] Anyway we produced this machine. We engraved the hundreds of winners on the side panel as soon as Dennis Menchov crossed the line and won the final one hundredth edition. We put his name on. We put them in a box with a pink stripe around it and a copy of the Gazetta Della Sport that summarised that reviewed the Giro the final of the jury and shipped them out. They were all numbered one to one hundred and they sold incredibly well. 

Andrew Meo [00:17:48] Possibly one of the things that really really put us on the map though was at that time I was talking with Rapha and I gave Rapha a machine to give away as a prise. And so that got us a great deal of exposure for a small brand. 

Andrew Meo [00:18:03] At the time Rafa were working with Sky and Wiggins and Cavendish were on the payroll in those days and they took machines. They took machines at the time which led us to building a limited edition machine for Rapha which was limited to 200 pieces over a couple of years and then it sort of started snowballing. We would get I would get requests from other World Tour Rider's Pro Tour riders wanting to get a machine. So we started our what I call tongue in cheek, our brand ambassador program which is not quite as flash as the program's Rolex and IWC do, but nevertheless it's a brand ambassador program. 

Andrew Meo [00:18:49] So we now work with probably a couple of hundred possibly slightly more World Tour riders and they they all buy their machines from us. Okay, we look after them and within that they're supposed to do a little bit of social media work for us from time to time and send us a signed team jersey. So consequently got quite a nice collection of signed team jerseys and this worked really well because when we first started with us they were it was a little bit like the coffee within the within the world tour races was much less much less a part of what they do. Now alot of team buses have got our machines and a lot of riders have got our machines and the riders have become more and more into the coffee. So some of them you know can make fantastic coffee. Some of them are incredibly knowledgeable and now because of that they like to post just how good they are making coffee and you know and so it's sort of snowballed I guess. So it was a good decision about creating that original machine. 

Andrew Meo [00:20:02] Yeah well it was it was a bit of luck I guess ready to be honest that as well. That's what things are like.

Jon Moss [00:20:08] Yeah absolutely. That's fantastic. And it looks like a terrific community at your headquarters at Rock Espresso HQ. Certainly the stories that you put out on line and on social media, everything's put together by hand by passionate local people. Did you see that as a big part of the company culture and could you let us know a little bit about the culture within the business? 

Andrew Meo [00:20:34] Yeah. Originally we started with two people in an office. My business partner and I and outsourced production. After about six months we started our own production. So we've grown from sort of one to two to now 50 odd in the space of 12 years. 

Andrew Meo [00:20:53] We've still got a really tight bunch of people primarily because some of those some of our first employees obviously well not obviously. And in Italy they don't change jobs so they're still here with us. And I think that makes it a lot easier to build a culture because those those it's a job for life philosophy really in Italy. 

Andrew Meo [00:21:16] And those people have evolved with us. That's good and that's bad because some people probably haven't been able to keep up with where the business is going and and others have risen to the occasion so. 

Andrew Meo [00:21:29] But yeah I think we've got a reasonably good culture. I always think you could have you know. It's a funny thing, I wouldn't say I'm a hard taskmaster but I'm quite exacting and I always think we could we could do we always do things better than we do but I think the you know the production we always have and looking for a new premises. We have offices always on the same level through the door to production. So many Italian factories you'll have the offices upstairs and the production downstairs and that becomes that that creates that hierarchy between them and us and which I really don't like. 

Andrew Meo [00:22:08] We can just walk through the back door of the showroom and enter into the factory so production sees management I guess in there every day and I'm still not adverse to picking up a screwdriver or a spanner and changing something or doing something that you know not so much in production anymore. But if I have to take a machine to for instance a team the other day they had a problem with the machine on the Giro. So I was there. So I managed to you know go along take it apart fix it and put it back together. I know a nice sort of thing that's important part of the brand. People look at you when you're the general manager and sort of wonder why you're driving a truck full of gear down to sit a pop up sit up a pop up at the Giro. But you know at the time you wonder yourself. But it's all part of the business it's no fun. I don't think anybody should be above doing any anything that they're employing somebody else to do. 

Jon Moss [00:23:01] I think that's great. It's very authentic is an overused word in terms of marketing but that's exactly what you're doing. You know is that authenticity that people love. I'm sure it's great. And over the past couple of years even or even you the whole of the company what have been the biggest challenges Andrew that you've faced and how did you overcome those challenges. 

Andrew Meo [00:23:27] I think some of the biggest challenges have been growth, managing managing growth because we've grown quickly and we've always been able to keep on top of that. That's a good thing. But it led to the company becoming reactive rather than proactive which I don't really didn't really like and we're just sort of getting on top of that now. Meaning we we reacted to things we fix things as they came up rather than having a more of a long term strategy so that I found frustrating. The Italian workforce not there's any Italian listeners we're not trying to be to be there and the offensive here but the Italian workforce is very different to the New Zealand workforce. The New Zealand workforce understands urgencies understands deadlines etc. Here in Italy I find that incredibly frustrating that deadlines can come and go. You say something is urgent and that's that's taken care of in somebody's own time. It's just it's a way different philosophy. There's also the fact, which is a good side of Italy, the fact that it's really traditional but in a bad side they're not so susceptible to change. So we've been doing it like that for 100 years it's fantastic when it comes to cooking and comes to food culture but because we've been doing like that for 12 years or 15 years or 20 years in a factory it doesn't mean to say it's the right way to be doing it. And it can be a resistance to that. So you change something for the better and next minute you go why are we doing it the way we used to do it. Because it's the way we always did it. Hang on we made changes here to make it better. 

Andrew Meo [00:25:10] So sometimes I find that very frustrating. 

Jon Moss [00:25:13] And you find yourself with that having to show the upside of changing something and then do people once you've kind of given a bit of evidence or explanation to that do you find them more receptive to change? 

Andrew Meo [00:25:28] Yes and no it depends. Depends what the issue is because sometimes it's the smallest thing it's not like you're trying to reinvent the wheel with these changes. 

Andrew Meo [00:25:37] Generally all the little things that, ok,  they're not so important but they make production better production more efficient the office better the office more efficient. It's more as more things in that regard to be honest with you. Sometimes I find you have to really drive people into making the change for the better. But I'm sure that happens in every business and the bigger the business gets the harder it is. And to my earlier point, when some people have grown with the business that some people perhaps haven't grown with the business and that's the people that haven't grown with the business are those people that don't really understand why we need to make change. 

Jon Moss [00:26:12] Yeah, I think that's a very very fair point. What are your biggest challenges right now into in 2019. Is there anything if I handed you over the remarkable business show magic wand what would you what would you do to change the business. 

Andrew Meo [00:26:30] I don't think I'd change a great deal. I'd probably change the fact that I still feel that we have to run sometimes. I guess what I would love to do is one day just stop for a week and just tidy up all the loose ends. I drove my wife nuts because I'm incredibly you know I guess I'm driven. I want everything to be done. And if I'm going to do it I do it as well as I can do it. And I think to just to get people to understand that if they just follow all those things through right to the end you know and just tidy them away and then we'd move on to the next thing. So like any business has grown so quickly. And the bigger a business gets, I think this in a way this becomes more inefficiencies just tiny little inefficiencies but I'm not very good with those so so in my view what I would like to do as a brand is just be totally like a clean bicycle or something, you know,  it just goes better. Well once once everything's sorted out properly. 

Jon Moss [00:27:35] I think there's a balance there with businesses. 

Jon Moss [00:27:39] I talk about optimization and discovery. So part of the business you're optimizing your tweaking your kind of you know moving the dial slightly just to see if there's any efficiencies and then I love discovery in terms of trying new things out completely which could be quite radical and outside of you know what you've previously done. Are you doing anything like that. So that discovery phase at the moment or anything new? 

Andrew Meo [00:28:06] Well we're really increasing the numbers in the office and back office because we've been understaffed in that area. So that's you know, but it's not really discovering anything new. But I guess it's discovering inefficiencies in that area and how we can be more efficient. I wouldn't say we've got anything. Nothing sort of springs to mind that I think is going to be groundbreaking coming out coming out of the office, no, coming out of production. 

Jon Moss [00:28:34] A couple of new products this year? The Faustino is it the smaller grinder? 

Andrew Meo [00:28:40] Yes the Faustino launches any day which is a small more of a price point grinder designed to be actually more of a match with say the Appartamento machine. So a lot of people don't really understand that they're buying they go into a store to buy an espresso machine and then they the salesman sees them and you need a grinder of course and they sort of balk at the price of the grinder because our expensive part of the deal and if you've got a decent grinder it makes such so much better coffee. So the Faustino is designed more as a entry level there to get the the package price point down a little bit. And then we've just released the R9 one which is our top domestic machine that's got a fully saturated group with the pressure profiling system. And that's being hailed in some markets by some people as probably the best machine you know and its category in the class worldwide which is pretty big accolade for somebody like us that's been around 12 years in a majority of our competitors have been around for 90 or 100. 

Jon Moss [00:29:46] That's amazing. Have I missed the home tester programme Andrew for that I'm guessing. 

Andrew Meo [00:29:53] Yeah. And it's available at your local retailer for for the recommended retail price. 

Jon Moss [00:29:59] Very good. 

Jon Moss [00:30:02] If you had a piece of advice for someone or you know some founders you know he or she who is starting out in a business or perhaps a few years in to a business. What would it be if you got any advice that you've found useful and that might be something that you've discovered yourself or taken inspiration from from somebody else. 

Andrew Meo [00:30:27] I'm full of good advice and I will stop this interview this discussion and I'll think of 100 things. I think people think it's going to be easier. I think people don't don't put enough care and attention to details. I'm not saying this just is not right across the board obviously but I think you've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go and what you want to achieve and what you want to do. And once you've got that it makes it makes it easier. I see people opening all manner of businesses and I sort of look at them and I go, well hang on what's going to set your business apart from your competitors. And as often. Absolutely nothing. They're both serving coffee they're both making sandwiches or, every now and again you come across somebody and some businesses have just got such a  focus such a vision where you sort of you can you know immediately they're going to succeed. 

Andrew Meo [00:31:31] And I think, a lot of people go into business for the wrong reasons. And I've been self-employed since I was 21. So if I had to present a CV it would be full of nothing I'd be laughed out of the office out of the interview. But and I think you've just you've got to have a focus and a purpose and you've got to work out what your point of difference is going to be. Just opening a café on the high streets, is not enough these days. 

Jon Moss [00:32:03] Yes I agree. What's the story. And you know the product has to be there hasn't it. You know there's a high bar for every product category exactly in the world that you do need to stand out. 

Andrew Meo [00:32:14] You know, I'm a firm believer in the car yard philosophy. Okay. So if you're going to buy a car, generally car yards are one after another down the same street and especially in New Zealand you have Audi you have BMW Porsche Mercedes all, bang bang bang next door to each other. Now that's perfect because the person who wants to buy a car goes down there and they can choose the car they want to buy. They can also, and then you put that and add restaurants and to the mix, somebody opens a restaurant next door to you which we were in that industry in New Zealand. That's actually a good thing because they're doing the job better than you or your job better than them and whoever's the better business. So people go down there that restaurants good in that restaurant is not good. Well you know that's competition. Competition is so important because either people rise above it and become the best competitor or they just beat the competition run all over them and they're out of business. 

Jon Moss [00:33:16] Keeps them honest. 

Andrew Meo [00:33:16] Yeah exactly. 

Jon Moss [00:33:17] And improving and gets them gets them to improve and if they don't improve. 

Andrew Meo [00:33:22] Exactly. Because the customer gets the better product. So yeah. At the end of the day and that's what it's all about. 

Jon Moss [00:33:29] Yes I agree. And in terms of brands products or even a service is there anything that's really impressed you lately. And in terms of perhaps some of your travels have you what have you seen in terms of any company or a brand perhaps standing out and doing something exceptionally well is anything that come to mind. 

Andrew Meo [00:33:50] Again will stop this now and a bunch will come to mind. 

Jon Moss [00:33:56] Well, do you have a favourite brand or a company yourself that you feel engaged with and you're, maybe an ambassador of if maybe not officially but you know something something that you love. 

Andrew Meo [00:34:09] I like to think I probably buy products from people that I think are doing a good job. So I'm not a very good shopper just going in and having to buy something by default. So I do like companies. I think it depends. I look at the fashion industry for instance and I look at their business model I go, man that's a great business model because they own their own retail shops in most of the major cities. So whether it's Prada Gucci Amani whatever I'm not saying necessarily I like I like what they do but I think I've got total control of their brand from you know designing producing and then retailing. So the whole look and feel of what they're doing is is exactly the way they want it to be with the customer. So somebody like Rocket we have a machine sitting and dealers on a dealer's shelf in the shop but we don't really have any control over the feel of the brand other than the machine itself. And maybe some point of sale whereas fashion Apple for instance you walk into an Apple store I was an one yesterday and you know you look around and you go man this is great business model you know people going in there at the Apple Stores exactly how they want the customer to see their brand as opposed to going into an electronics store and buying it off the shelf there where you don't get the same level of service the same product knowledge or the same feel for the brand. 

Jon Moss [00:35:33] Yes, I agree people have that sort of end to end experience and you know that's where the brands get very strong don't make these people understand exactly what they're trying to do. 

Andrew Meo [00:35:45] And just. But in terms of somebody doing great things. If you look at the cycle industry I guess you look at you look at the fact that the way the Italian bike cycle industry high in bicycle industry has perhaps lost a lot of ground you know suddenly with componentry manufacturing like Campagnolo versus Shimano. You look at the bike brands you know some of the historic bike brands against the might of companies like Specialized and Trek, companies like that doing amazing amazing things. Then conversely you've got little companies like Speedwagen who don't own their bikes but they look beautiful. They look like they're doing a really great job. And when you look at their bikes, when you see the bikes you really get a sense that they know what they want to produce and how they are going to produce it. And I think hats off to them for that sort of thing. 

Jon Moss [00:36:46] They're confident in what they're doing and they love what they do. 

Andrew Meo [00:36:48] Exactly. Yeah exactly. 

Jon Moss [00:36:50] Fantastic. Well Andrew, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. I know how busy you are and you've just come back from the Giro and doing some press and marketing work there which sounds amazing. If people want to know a little bit more about Rocket or indeed follow yourself. Could you let us know where to find you online. 

Andrew Meo [00:37:16] Well, obviously the Rocket Espresso website, rocket-espresso.com is where you can find out all about us. And me personally I guess I've got an Instagram account which is andrewrocketespressomeo.

Andrew Meo [00:37:30] But whether that is much interest to people. 

Jon Moss [00:37:34] I'm sure it will be, brillaint. And you've got a good a good social media following as well on especially on Instagram for the actual company as well haven't you. 

Andrew Meo [00:37:43] Yes, it's reasonably strong. I would like to think we've got a good following of people who actually like and loved the brand as opposed to you know and it's one person Tom, I read not so long ago you can be rich in Monopoly and you can be famous on Instagram. And I thought that's very well put. 

Jon Moss [00:38:04] That's a great way to end. Thank you so much for your time again Andrew. 

Andrew Meo [00:38:10] Thanks Jon. Thank you. Bye bye. 

Jon Moss [00:38:14] The remarkable business show. 

Jon Moss [00:38:16] I'm very grateful for Andrew spending time talking with me so you can benefit from his story and wisdom. He's also been very generous and given me two pairs of very smart Rocket Espresso cycling socks to give away. They're large in size and all you need to do is tweet about the episode with the link to the episode and also tweet at me at Jon Moss, jonmoss. You'll be entered into the draw to win a pair and I'll pick two winners easy. So what are you waiting for. Go for it. This episode's quote comes from Hunter S. Thompson and refers to what I was talking about at the beginning of the show. And that is making sure you don't stay on autopilot. You become mindful of what you are doing and what you are planning on doing. Life is short and most people look back and think of the things they wish they did. Estimate how many years you have left even months and days and you soon realize we are not immortal. Hunter summed it up nicely. Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke thoroughly used up totally worn out and loudly proclaiming wow what a ride. So when was the last time you did something for the first time. Don't waste your life. It's a precious thing. 

Jon Moss [00:39:44] Right then what's caught my eye. 

Jon Moss [00:39:48] Did you know that there is a huge amount of evidence now highlighting that the indoor air we breathe indoor not outdoor is actually in some cases way more toxic than that outdoor air. I really didn't get this at all that having researched it and read into it is damn right scary. A recent article by The New York Times has highlighted this when they wrote about an experiment monitoring air in a typical U.S. home and looking at the effects of cleaning cooking and preparing a big dinner. After preparing a big dinner the VOCs or volatile organic compounds were so high, the House would be labelled as officially polluted. Recent data from the UK shows that on average Britons are outside for just 5 percent of the day one hour 12 minutes. Don't think it's just your homes are unhealthy or likely to be where you work too. Offices can be awful. A small body of evidence suggests that when it comes to decision making indoor air may matter more than we realize. CO2 dust and also temperature and humidity could all play a part. Now we've all been in those meetings when people start nodding off. 

Jon Moss [00:41:02] Hey it might be some of the content, but I've been in plenty of terrible meetings when I felt pretty lethargic and it's now thought that these air factors are a big contributor to how you feel. And this is not limited to our homes and where we work. It's been shown that an increased amount of CO2 actually leads to children in school performing badly. Many studies have also shown that increasing the ventilation rate in schools can raise children scores in tests and speed at tasks and reduce absences. So why have I mentioned all this. Well I've been using a very clever bit of kit called AWAIR, that's AWAIR. AWAIR tracks invisible fine dust and chemicals in your air and gives you personalized recommendations to help you stay safe and healthy. Pretty neat. I bought this after seeing a lot of good reviews including one from David Hanna Mayor Hansen from base camp who's a big fan of AWAIR. AWAIR connects to your Wi-Fi and also your phone via an app. And that's where you can see the trends, get notifications about what's going on and a lot more. 

Jon Moss [00:42:10] The actual device itself is quite small but it's beautifully made with a wood exterior case and some very clever LEDs on the front. At a glance you get to see your AWAIR score which takes into account five things, temperature, humidity CO2, the volatile organic compounds and PM 2.5 that's the fine dust that's in the air. It shows you the levels by rows of vertical LEDs for each of these and also a green amber or red LED to instantly show you whether your air is good or not. The LEDs even dim and go off entirely at night as it detects ambient light and you can change this in the app. So it's a nice little setting. I'm very pleased with the AWAIR, it works perfectly gives a great insight into the air in our home and looks terrific. So check them out, getawair.co.uk, so that's getawair.co.uk. I have no relationship with them and they're not sponsoring the podcast I just like the product. 

[00:43:12] So that wraps it up for Episode 10. We made it double digits. Thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate your valuable time. Now can you do me a little favour please. If you enjoyed this episode let somebody know. Send them a message or an email or tweet about the show and you can share this episode really easily by clicking on the share link at the top the page in your podcast app or if you'll listen to it online at Remarkable.FM, you can also do that as well. So thank you. Also please leave an honest review for the remarkable business show and iTunes or Stitcher. Ratings and reviews are super helpful and they make a huge difference for the show's visibility and popularity and will also allow me to have more guests on as well. Last but not least I'm starting to write more this year and have a blog over at mossy.co.uk that's mossy.co.uk. So have a look. Subscribe to the RSS feed and leave a comment. It would be great to hear from you wherever you are in the world. So until next time don't tolerate average life is very very short and make everyday count. The Remarkable Business Show.