Got a Business Disaster Story? We Want to Hear It — Here's How to Get Involved with How I Failed in Business
Let's cut straight to it: How I Failed in Business is only as good as the people willing to be honest in it.
Every episode we put out exists because a business owner — sometimes nervous, sometimes absolutely game for it, always a little bit brave — agreed to sit down and talk about the parts of their story that most people keep quiet. The wrong turns. The costly mistakes. The periods they are not entirely sure they are proud of, but that shaped everything that came after.
We want more of those people. And the truth is — they are everywhere. They are probably reading this right now.
You do not need to be famous to come on the show
We want to say this clearly, because we hear it a lot: 'Oh, I am not well-known enough to be on a podcast.' You absolutely do not need to be. In fact, some of our most listened-to, most shared, most resonant episodes have come from business owners who arrived describing themselves as 'just someone who runs a small company' and left having told a story that hundreds of people wrote to us about.
The quality of the story does not depend on the size of your business or your social media following. It depends on the honesty with which you tell it. A sole trader who had a genuinely catastrophic first year and learned something real from it is a far more compelling guest than a well-known entrepreneur who has been through media training and knows exactly how to make everything sound intentional.
We want real. Real is what this show runs on.
What kind of stories work best?
Honestly? Most of them. The story does not have to be dramatic — though dramatic is welcome. It does not have to involve financial ruin, a public scandal, or a business that closed. Some of our most popular episodes are about quieter, more internal failures: the leadership mistake that damaged a team's culture. The period of burnout that came from not asking for help. The years spent building something in the wrong direction before a single honest conversation changed everything.
What matters most is that it is true, it is specific, and there is something genuine on the other side of it — a lesson, a reframe, a shift in how you approach things. We are not interested in misery for its own sake. We are interested in the wisdom that comes from having been through something difficult and coming out the other side.
If you are sat there thinking 'I have a story but I am not sure it is interesting enough' — trust us, it almost certainly is. The ones people think are too small or too niche are often the ones that generate the most messages afterwards. Because specificity is relatable in a way that vague generality never is.
What does the process actually look like?
Straightforward, genuinely. You reach out — via the website, via LinkedIn, via email — and we have an initial chat, completely informally, about your story and whether it feels like a good fit. There is no commitment at that stage. It is just a conversation.
If we both feel good about it, we book a recording date. The interview is conducted remotely via video call, so you can be anywhere. The conversation with Rob is relaxed and led by your story — there are no trick questions, no adversarial moments, no attempt to make you look foolish. The whole point is to give you a genuinely supportive space to be honest.
We handle all the editing, production, and publishing. Once the episode is live, you get a link to share — with your team, your network, your LinkedIn audience, whoever you like. Many guests have told us that sharing their episode was one of the best pieces of marketing they have ever done for their business. People respond to honesty in a way they simply do not respond to a standard company update.
Or just send us your story — no mic required
Not ready to commit to a full episode? That is completely fine. We also love receiving written submissions from our community — the business horror stories, the cringe-worthy moments, the disasters that you can now (mostly) laugh about.
These sometimes feature in our blog, in our social media content, or as discussion topics on the show itself. Always anonymously, if that is your preference. Always handled with respect — we are not here to mock or embarrass anyone. We are here to collect the honest version of business and make it available to people who need it.
Think of it as contributing to a shared resource. Every story you share makes the community more honest, more useful, and more of a counterweight to the highlight-reel nonsense that dominates most business content.
One last thought
If you are on the fence about getting involved — here is the thing we have heard from almost every guest who has appeared on the show.
They were nervous beforehand. They are glad they did it. Every time.
The combination of genuine support, a non-judgemental host, and an audience that is actively rooting for you makes the whole experience very different from what most people expect when they imagine talking about their failures publicly. It is not an exposé. It is a conversation. And it is one that — more often than not — ends with our guests saying some version of: 'I should have done that years ago.'
Want to know more?
Get in touch via www.howifailedinbusiness.co.uk or connect with Rob Spence directly on LinkedIn.