Each year, Theo Paphitis hosts the Small Business Sunday winner’s event to celebrate small businesses and give them a boost.
It’s a brilliantly inspiring day where Theo and a line-up of speakers share lessons, practical advice, and lots and lots of encouragement.
You come away feeling enthused and supported, because you’re reminded why you started, and you’re in a room full of people who get it.
This year marked 15 years of Small Business Sunday (SBS) and the theme of the day was ‘Resilience Rocks.’
In this blog post and podcast episode, I’m sharing my 15 lessons from the day from Theo, Katie Piper who did the fireside chat, from the small business panel, and from Kypros Kyprianou, CEO of the Theo Paphitis Retail Group, and the host of the SBS conference.
Katie Piper is a British author, presenter and charity founder of The Katie Piper Foundation who survived a horrific acid attack in 2008 that completely changed her life.
After extensive surgery, she spoke publicly about what had happened to her, sharing her story in a Channel 4 documentary and later in bestselling books.
She went on to set up the Katie Piper Foundation, which supports burns survivors with specialist rehabilitation and emotional support, in St Helen’s, Merseyside.
Katie was the perfect person to talk about resilience, as someone who has turned something devastating into something that now helps thousands of other people rebuild their lives.
Topics and timings:
0.20 - Episode outline.
1.55 - Sponsor message - 2026 planner.
3.02 - What is the SBS conference?
4.12 - The benefits of being in the SBS community.
5.16 - 15 years of SBS and the theme, resilience and what that means.
7.29 - About my in person event the day before.
11.05 - Lesson 1 - business is lonely.
11.56 - Lesson 2 - things will go wrong
12.31 - Lesson 3 - learn from your mistakes
12.52 - Lesson 4 - don't do a half tackle
13.43 - Lesson 5 - keep talking about your business
14.56 - Lesson 6 - protect your energy
16.14 - Lesson 7 - your business is part of who you are
17.31 - Lesson 8 - believe in yourself
18.55 - Lesson 9 - keep your pity party short
20.11 - Lesson 10 - move from why me to what now?
24.03 - Lesson 11 - use pain, don't let it use you
24.48 - Lesson 12 - no isn't a reflection on you
28.07 - Lesson 13 - your why will carry you
29.08 - Lesson 14 - build something bigger than you
30.35 - Lesson 15 - confidence is 'I'll be fine if they don't like me.'
32.35 - SBS stats
33.45 - what to do if you want to be a SBS winner.
Links mentioned:
Jenna Wilson (Little Dreams)
Little Dreams Consulting is the first UK franchise of baby and child sleep consultants, with eight territories.
Hanan Tantush (Intotum)
Intotum garments now ship to 25 countries, Hanan has won over 15 awards, and grown her community to over 40,000 people.
Sophia Lorimer (Fine Tuned Wardrobe)
Fine Tuned Wardrobe is a sustainable styling service, and has been running for six years, helping women build confidence and enter rooms of change.
Further reading:
How winning Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday can help your pet business
Theo Paphitis launches SBS Invest
Should you buy my pet business content planner
Takeaway from SBS 2025
Seven lessons from SBS 2024
10 reasons to be an award-winning pet business
The rollercoaster of running a small business
How to choose the right pet business membership
Why community matters for you and your pet business
