Meet The PopUp Team: James Headspeath

Who are The PopUp Team?
Amongst other things, they have been called Earth's Mightiest Heroes and A Ragtag Bunch of Misfits. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them... maybe you can hire The PopUp Team

​We wanted to help you get to know the individual members that make up the PopUp Team so you can understand what makes us tick.

​This week we meet our Head of Commercial Partnerships: James Headspeath.

​Who are your biggest inspirations in life and business?

Having grown up in America, I am obsessed with American sports, mainly American Football. I have been really inspired by NFL Star; Tom Brady.
On paper he is this annoyingly good uber talented athlete who is married to a supermodel, is paid $100m+ a year to throw a ball and has the “perfect” life, in reality nobody thought he was very good and no professional team wanted to sign him, he had to spend a lot of time working his way up. He’s arguably the greatest American sports star ever, if not one of the best athletes in the world and he achieved it all through sheer hard work. Prior to discovering his story, I was convinced “successful” people were the lucky ones, I was a perennial underachiever at school and thought that was my destiny. Reading his story was a revelation  and helped motivate me to realise anyone can achieve anything through hard work.
I haven’t signed any million dollar endorsement deals or married a supermodel since, but have gone onto achieve some cool things like finishing the Ironman triathlon (dubbed the hardest single day race on earth) and making over £1m in sales for PopUp, which is credit to my hard work not some innate talent I possess.
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In business I am massively inspired by everyone at PopUp, the individual stories of participants who strive to create something out of nothing that makes it all worthwhile.

What song gets you motivated?

Natural by Imagine Dragons

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What is your key piece of advice for small businesses at this time?

Unless you are a scientist working on a cure, you can’t do anything about the situation, so stop worrying and just make the most of it. In 2008 during the last financial crash I spent about a year out of work looking for a job, I never want to be in the position ever again.
Don’t be REACTIVE to the environment, be PROACTIVE. Life is a poker game, some of us have better cards than others, but the winner is he/she who plays their hand the best way.

Who are three people dead or alive you would invite to dinner?

• Abraham Lincoln; He led the union to victory in the American Civil War, freed slaves and surrounded himself with his rivals. Arguably one of the greatest political leaders of all time, not sure where I’d start with the questions, but the conversation would be fascinating.
• Leonardo Da Vinci; I’d love to ask him how someone born out of wedlock (which was more significant then), who had no formal education, and didn’t regard himself as ‘talented’ achieved so many great things?
• Warren Buffet; Where to begin?

What has been your biggest learning in the past year?

Certainty and Uncertainty and why people need them.
​Learning how to give people the former has saved this company a lot of money!

What are some resources that have had the biggest impact on you?

• The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather:
  Which is about Wiltold Pilecki a Polish resistance fighter who volunteered to go to Auschwitz to disrupt it from inside, it is an incredibly moving, harrowing yet an inspirational true story. It’s only a matter of time before it’s turned into a Steven Spielberg film. It’s not got anything to do with business, however it’s a great reminder that when you are down it could be worse, but the human mind can endure anything as long as you remain positive.
• YES, 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini:
  This was one of the first books I read when I joined PopUp, and believe it should be essential reading for anyone in sales. There are numerous things in here that I have implemented that have made us money. It’s basically an actionable version of Influence which is also written by Robert Cialdini, it is also a very good book, but is more theoretical, this has lots more real world examples and is an easy read.​
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight:
  Which is about the story of Nike, which covers its early years. We often forget big multinational companies were once startups, it’s incredible how uncertain their future was, at multiple times I wondered what was going to happen next and whether or not they’d go bust, only to have to remind myself they are fine.

Come back every week as we introduce you to a new member of The PopUp Team!