Public Speaking – sharing your story can be scary

One of my clients recently gave his first public talk – about himself and his business journey. He was incredibly nervous, and had decided even before he started that no one would be interested in hearing his story.

He thought he’d be lucky if he had any audience at all. However, he was completely wrong, and ended up with a good number of people to hear his story – which is both fascinating and amazing!

Here are 10 things I learned from that talk about Jon White, owner of The Britannia Coin Company, Gold-Traders UK, Old Bank Antiques and RWB Auctions (and I know him quite well given we’e worked together for around five years):

1. At school Jon never talked about what he had a passion for, and what he did every weekend – he danced! He used to travel thee hours each way on a coach, alone to London and back to study dance.
   On leaving school at 16 with no qualifications, Jon wasn’t worried about his future, because he’d gained a place at a prestigious dance school. Sadly, after a bad fall, he broke his leg, and then damaged it a second time which meant that the professional dance career he was pursuing ended before it started.
2. He found a job as a filing clerk at Norwich Union – now AVIVA – and his obvious talent for working with computers and having a creative mind led him to a role in the IT department as a software tester. He was a maverick and found ‘hacks’ to make his life easier which didn’t always go down well with his employer. So he kept putting suggestions about improving the IT system into a suggestion box. The company’s policy was that if a suggestion was taken up and saved the company money then that employee would get a share of that saving. One day the bosses turned up with a cheque for him which was almost a year’s salary at the time – as a ‘hack’ he’d suggested had paid off.
3. During this time, Jon was also entertaining children as a magician and party entertainer. He even got offered a full-time job to run the entertainment at a holiday park, but turned it down to work in IT, which he considered had a better future and offering far more money.
4. After facing redundancy, he began to develop websites having taught himself web development and SEO. This was before computers were as developed as they are now. Jon created websites for himself that were money generating – such as directory websites. This led him to the US for a conference, where he learned about the concept of Cash for Gold which was big over the pond but unheard of in the UK.
5. Over 15 years ago, he set up his now successful precious metals business – Gold-Traders (UK), but operating with an ethical mindset. Most ‘cash by post’ businesses in precious metals only give sellers a fraction of the true value of their items (sometimes as low as 40 per cent). He wanted to set up a business with ethical practices, where customers were given fair deals and absolute transparency. Jon’s company regularly pays out over 90 per cent of the value of their precious metals to his customers.
6. In October 2022, Gold-Traders became the first precious metals dealer in the UK to achieve Trading Standards certification through the national ‘Buy with Confidence’ scheme, which promotes open, transparent and ethical business. A few others have now followed yet Jon’s company was the first and only one for a long time.
7. The Britannia Coin Company brand launched in 2020 and has rapidly established an international customer base. It specialises in rare and collectable coins, ranging from modern Royal Mint issues to early milled, hammered, Roman and ancient coins.

Recently a Royal Mint rare ‘error’ 50p in circulation sold through the Britannia Coin Company for £4,500. There are still many other 50p coins in circulation that have errors in the design – check your pockets.

8. Jon set up a spoof website – Cats4Gold, which is worth visiting – where you can change your gold for cats – some very funny puns! Be aware not harm to cats has ever come from this joke site.
9. Jon started out as solely him in his business in Royal Wootton Bassett, and now after growing the various parts of his business, employs 38 members of staff.
10. Over the last few years Jon has managed the £3m project of renovating the Royal Wootton Bassett Coop into a modern auction house. He had already bought and renovated an old bank, into Old Bank Antiques. Now, he has created 2 auctions rooms, an art gallery (with a rooftop terrace) and Quercus Bistro. All of these parts of his business will bring people into his local town, where he lives, plus he is employing people from the town and renovating local buildings.

As I mentioned at the beginning – a fascinating tale of someone who is a serial entrepreneur and well worth hearing. Someone who despite having no qualifications has proven to himself that he can set his mind to challenges and achieve great success in his businesses. If you’d like to book Jon as a speaker email me –