This week Alberto sat down with Thom Elliot, co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims, one of the UK’s most recognisable and successful pizza brands.

Thom shares the real story behind building Pizza Pilgrims from a single van into a national business with over 800 employees, and what it actually costs to scale in hospitality. From long hours and financial pressure to the emotional toll of leadership, this conversation goes far beyond the highlight reel.

They explore the early days of the business, the realities of growth, why hospitality is often romanticised from the outside, and how pressure, responsibility, and risk change as a company scales. Thom opens up about burnout, identity, and the challenge of staying grounded while building something that demands everything.

You will learn

• What it really takes to build and scale a restaurant business

• The personal cost of entrepreneurship in hospitality

• How leadership pressure changes as a business grows

• Why success does not remove stress or uncertainty

• How to build something meaningful without losing perspective

Follow Thom & Pizza Pilgrims

https://www.instagram.com/pizzapilgrims/

https://www.youtube.com/@UC_LiCe5657Ynu5G7lIzHGjg

https://www.tiktok.com/@pizzapilgrims

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thom-elliot-9115ab2b/

#podcast #entrepreneurship #pizzapilgrims #startupstory #hospitality #founderstories #businessjourney #streetfood #smallbusiness #motivation #thrivingminds

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Alberto sat down with Martin Brooks, a world leading body language and communication expert who helps people use non-verbal communication to transform their professional and personal lives.

Martin’s work sits at the intersection of psychology, communication, and human behaviour. He explains how body language shapes first impressions, why the body often reveals what the mouth is trying to hide, and how small changes in posture, voice, gestures, and eye contact can completely change the way others respond to you.

You will learn

• How to make a stronger first impression through posture, eye contact, and a genuine smile

• How to look more confident by changing your internal state, not just your posture

• The hand gestures that make you seem more credible, persuasive, and assertive

• How to spot signs of deception, including truth slips and duping delight

• How to read interest, disengagement, and power dynamics in real time, in person and on Zoom

Follow Martin:

https://www.instagram.com/martinbrooks1968

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/martin-brooks-94566312

https://twitter.com/impacttologist

https://successthroughimpact.com

#bodylanguage #communicationskills #confidence #socialskills #psychology #selfimprovement #charisma #publicspeaking #personaldevelopment #leadership

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Alberto sat down with Dr Andy Cope, also known as The Happiness Doctor, a world leading positive psychology researcher, speaker, and best selling author, best known for his work on human flourishing, and for the idea that happiness is the goal behind all your other goals.

In this conversation, Andy breaks down what happiness actually is, why we confuse short term pleasure with long term contentment, and why chasing happiness as a destination usually makes us feel worse.

They explore destination addiction, the modern obsession with being busy, and how consumer culture trains people to believe that the next promotion, the next purchase, or the next milestone will finally make them feel fulfilled.

This episode is simple, practical, and immediately usable, it is a toolkit for feeling better on ordinary days, not just special ones.

You will learn

• What happiness really is, and why you do not need to be happy all the time

• Why happiness is often a starting point, not the reward at the end

• The four minute rule, and how the first four minutes of any interaction can change everything

• The simple habits that make you more present, gratitude, better questions, and fewer distractions

• The relationship ratios that predict thriving teams and thriving families, and how to apply them

Follow Andy& Art of Brilliance

https://www.instagram.com/thehappybloke/

https://www.facebook.com/Art-of-Brilliance-185597948129457/

https://x.com/beingbrilliant

https://www.instagram.com/artofbrilliance/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/art-of-brilliance/

Get Andy's Books:

https://amzn.to/4bkTT2U

#Happiness #PositivePsychology #DrAndyCope #Mindfulness #MentalHealth #PersonalDevelopment #ThrivingMinds #Wellbeing #SuccessMindset #SelfImprovement

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.