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- Welcome to the Rise of an Empire coming live
from Selfridges in Birmingham.
So the big question is this:
how business owners like us,
the ones that took the leap of faith to go it alone,
even when everyone else around us
told us it wasn't going to work.
The ones that have the guts and determination to succeed
standing on our own two feet.
The ones who are now wearing the word unemployable
as a badge of honour, how do we run a business
in a way that helps us make more, provide more and be more,
all without hiring, or being held hostage
by an army of employees?
That is the question and this right here
will give you the answers.
My name is Charlie Hutton.
And welcome to The Rise of an Empire.
So, we are off today, Carl Layman, the legend he is,
one of our one-man empires cards,
Carl has referred someone to us.
I'm really not sure what everyone refers people to us here,
having a friendship, what we're gonna do is
that we're gonna go and get him a Montblanc pen.
I am a big, big fan of Montblanc.
I think they're absolutely awesome.
They are best writing instruments in the whole, wide world.
I've got one, I love it.
Yes, it's 300 quid for a pen, but they are amazing.
So let's go and hunt now, in fact,
we've got a Montblanc pen, we've got one reserved for Carl.
We got a black Starwalker, one from resin, a platinum one.
And they've kept it in the shop,
so I'm looking forward to go and find this for him.
And let's go and see if we can track him down.
So here we are in Selfridges and let's see
what's going on today.
It's gonna be amazing!
(percussive music)
So now gotta find Emma.
I don't know where Emma's at.
I bet she's gonna have a coffee.
So let's go grab a Starbucks.
(percussive music)
What you got, Em?
- Starbucks.
- [Charlie] Flat right, what've you got in your bag?
- Muffin got in my bag.
- So we were having a debate at the Starbucks counter.
I went with the cheesecake brownie muffin,
- That's yours. - which by the way looks like
absolute crack on a plate.
So I'm super, super excited for that.
Emma risked it with a chocolate low --
- [Emma] Chocolate lace cake.
- So we will see who made the smart decision right now.
I'm pretty sure it's gonna be me.
I don't think you can have a cheesecake blueberry muffin
and not have made a bad decision.
Thoughts?
- It's nice.
- Awesome, so let's see how this Starbucks go down.
And then we're gonna be rockin' and rollin'
to go and get Carl's referral gift,
which is super, super cool.
So we're in Selfridges right now.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna go down
to the Montblanc store and we're gonna get Carl
a Montblanc pen, it's gonna be amazing.
And we've got one reserved for him.
He's gonna love it, which is gonna be super, super cool.
So let's go and find it.
(percussive music)
So big for a department store.
Can't find your way around.
These places are a maze, but it's amazing.
The thing that I really, really like about Montblanc pens
is their story.
Now all their pens have got like awesome, awesome story
about how they're crafted and how they're marketed,
but what's absolutely brilliant
is that they manage to sell a pen
from upwards of 300 quid when you can go
and buy a big biro from Staples for like 50 P.
So it's a massive, massive lesson there
in price and elasticity and how all that works.
If you create an awesome product, you can charge
ridiculous sums and people will buy them.
When you got a great product, you can make,
I've seen it over here, so I can see the shop.
And what we're gonna do while we're here as well
is that I am right after a new Montblanc watch.
So we're gonna see what watches they've got
and go and check those out as well.
It's gonna be amazing.
We're here now.
They've just gone to get, we've reserved
the Starwalker yesterday for Carl.
So we're now at the desk, gonna pick this up.
Look at this, it's right there waiting for us.
We're all set and ready to go, which is awesome.
So Carl's gonna be super, super pleased
when we show this to him.
(slow-paced guitar music)
So referral gift done.
Five Guys done.
Starbucks done.
It is now time to go and see Carl Layman
and give him his pen.
(percussive music)
Okay, so we've just arrived at Carl's house.
I've got the Montlblanc pen here.
Carl, he knows that I'm coming,
but he's got no idea what's coming.
So let's go and see what he's got to say for himself.
Do you remember we made a little agreement a while ago?
- Oh my days!
Wow! - So we spoke to Vicky
last week.
She's coming along to the meeting.
So me and Emma, you know we record these on Friday
and you said your date day, we went shopping,
we went to get you a pen.
So it's our way of saying thank you ever so much for --
- [Carl] Well done, mate.
- [Charlie] Well, it's your referral, so thank
you ever so much. - Thank you very much.
Hey, look at this.
Do you want it on film?
- [Charlie] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Carl] I'm excited.
- Okay.
This is Carl Layman, HQ, we're heading into now.
(laughing)
Hey Harry, how's it going?
- Not too bad, yourself?
- [Charlie] Very good.
- Good.
- [Carl] Look what we got here, buddy.
- [Harry] Oh, very nice.
("Dreamweaver") ♫ Dreamweaver
♫ I believe you can get me through the night
- All right, so we've just dropped the pen off at Carl.
He was super, super stoked about that.
As I was leaving, he was testing it out
and I think he's gonna be using it all afternoon.
I love those Montblanc pen, those Starwalkers.
The platinum ones are amazing.
When they just sit in your hand, it's just like
oh, it just balances so, so well.
So that's it from us, mission accomplished.
We have got and we've been to Selfridges,
we've got the pencil and we dropped it off at Carl's house.
And we've got another super, super happy person,
which is amazing.
Hopefully we'll be doing a similar thing soon
and keeping these gifts going.
So thanks guys, that's been me.
And I will see you on the next episode
of The Rise of an Empire.