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.
Listen in using the player link below, or continue reading as a blog post.
What is SBS or Small Business Sunday?
SBS stands for Small Business Sunday, and it’s shortened to SBS on X, LinkedIn and Instagram.
It’s a competition created by Theo Paphitis (former Dragon’s Den Dragon) and it started back in 2010.
Every Sunday between 5pm and 7:30pm, small businesses can post using the #SBS hashtag and share why they should win.
The idea is you share who you are and what you do, where your business idea came from, the impact you’re having and why Theo should showcase you.
Each week, he picks six winners, and if you win you join a network of over 4,500 SBS businesses who’ve had the “paws up” from Theo.
This means you get a visibility boost as Theo shares your business with his audience.
You get an SBS badge for your website and social media which really helps with trust and standing out, plus you can share your win as a press release and join the SBS community.
I talk a lot about community on this podcast – find the people who you want to be around, who are going to help you when you need to be resilient – and SBS is a really good thing for that exact reason.
Why resilience matters
When you run a small business, there isn’t anyone there to help pick you up, no safety net or guaranteed pay cheque.
You can’t switch off on a Friday afternoon and switch back on on a Monday morning like a normal person.
Even if you’ve got a team, you’re the person leading that team.
And sometimes it feels like everything is crashing around you and you’re thinking, ‘when is Jeremy Beadle going to pop up and that this is all a big wind up?’
There used to be a TV programme called Beadle’s About, hosted by Jeremy Beadle, where a camera crew would follow someone around and everything would go wrong in their day.
And then at the end of it, he’d appear and reveal they’d been set up and sometimes it can feel like you’re on Beadle’s About as a business owner.
Resilience matters and it’s not about pretending everything’s fine, but keeping going when it would be easier to run away and learning from mistakes instead of beating yourself up and being around people who lift you up.
15 lessons from 15 years of SBS
Lesson 1 – Running a business is lonely
Theo Paphitis talked about how running a small business can be “lonely, lonely”.
And that’s why community matters.
Because when things happen, we don’t have an HR department to run off to, and we can’t ring in sick and hide away from something.
You don’t have to do it on your own, and it will help to have people around you who get it.
Lesson 2 – Things will go wrong, and that’s normal
Theo spoke about this in his opening message. “When things don’t go your way, that’s where your resilience, not just your passion that you have for your business, which I often talk about, but it’s that resilience you need to overlay with that passion to make sure that you get up, and dust yourself down.”
You will have things that don’t go your way. That doesn’t mean you’re rubbish, or that nobody likes you, or that nobody wants what you do.
Some things will work and some things won’t and that’s part of the rollercoaster of working for yourself.
Lesson 3 – Make the mistake once and learn quickly
Theo said: “Screwing it up once is understandable. Screwing it up twice is a bit tricky.”
Making a mistake makes you human.
Refusing to learn from it isn’t going to serve you well.
Lesson 4 – Don’t do it with a half tackle
Theo said: “Don’t do it with a half tackle. It’s important that when you’ve done your homework and you’re sure about what you’re going to do, that you go for it and you put in everything.
“Don’t leave anything on a table. Do not question yourself afterwards and say, ‘could I have done a bit more here? Could I have done a bit more there?’
“Do it first time, and then if something fails, you can look at yourself in that mirror, and say, ‘I did the best I could do.’”
If you believe in what you do, commit to it and go for it.
Lesson 5 – Keep talking about your business
Theo said: “If you don’t keep talking about your business, nobody else will. So don’t ever worry about boring people.”
If you’re listening and you think you’re boring, or you’ve talked about something too many times… you’re not boring.
Some people haven’t seen it and they need to hear about it more than once.
I’ve been posting about my planner since August and people still ask me for the link.
Lesson 6 – Protect your energy
Theo talked about “mood hoovers” – people who suck the energy out of you.
And Jenna Wilson (Little Dreams) said: “Don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t take advice from.”
Jenna started out as a solicitor before training as a baby and child sleep specialist nine years ago.
Little Dreams Consulting is the first UK franchise of baby and child sleep consultants, with eight territories
Lesson 7 – Your business is part of who you are
Jenna Wilson (Little Dreams) said: “If you have a business, it’s not just your DNA, it’s part of who you are.”
That’s why rejection feels personal because it is personal and you can’t help but feel the sting, because you care.
Lesson 8 – Believe in yourself before you have the evidence
Hanan Tantush (Intotum) created an adaptive fashion brand designed for people with disabilities and more functional needs.
She was told her idea was too niche and that disabled people ‘didn’t need fashion.’
But she knew that wasn’t true from her own experience and that of her grandfather, so she kept going.
Her mum used to say: “Everything’s made by someone. Why not you?”
Intotum garments now ship to 25 countries, Hanan has won over 15 awards, and grown her community to over 40,000 people.
Lesson 9 – You’re allowed a pity party, but keep it brief
Sophia Lorimer (Fine Tuned Wardrobe) said: “You’re only allowed to have a pity party, but you’re only allowed an hour. Then you move on.”
Fine Tune Wardrobe is a sustainable styling service, and has been running for six years, helping women build confidence and enter rooms of change.
It’s important to feel the emotions when you’re going through a difficult time rather than push them down and pretend everything is ok.
It will only come and bite you on the bum later.
So take time to feel sad, frustrated, angry, whatever you need to feel, then draw a line and move forward.
Lesson 10 – Move from “why me?” to “what now?”
Katie Piper spoke about radical self-acceptance and moving away from “why me?” towards “what now?”
You can’t control what happens to you.
But you can control what you do next.
Lesson 11 – Use pain, don’t let it use you
You can’t imagine the pain Katie Piper endured following the attack in 2008 and the many operations she had afterwards.
But she learned to channel that pain to drive herself forward.
Katie said: “When you work out how to use pain instead of letting it use you, that’s when you have true success.”
Lesson 12 – No is not a reflection on your worth
Katie shared how she got a year and a half of no’s when she was trying to get her book published, and said: “But it isn’t about you, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea.”
On the topic of imposter syndrome, she also said: “Sometimes the doors you’re knocking on – the people behind them don’t know as much as you do.”
A no now doesn’t mean a no forever.
Lesson 13 – Your why will carry you
Sophia Lorimer (Fine Tuned Wardrobe) said: “If your why is big enough and if it’s more impactful, it’s going to stand the test of time.”
Your why is what keeps you going when everything feels hard.
Lesson 14 – Build something bigger than you
Kypros Kyprianou talked about purpose, hard work, making money to build a better life, and remembering to thank the people who help you get there.
He said: “Clearing out some old drawers, I came across this photograph of my dad, his TV, in his business, in 1981 and it was a thank you card for the 13 years of the company.
“And of all the things that he kept in a drawer, was that thank you. So I encourage you to have that purpose, work hard and remember who helps us get there. And every now and again, thank them.
Katie Piper said: “Bring people up with you – that’s so much bigger than having a swimming pool in your back garden.”
Support, community, legacy is all part of resilience.
Lesson 15 – Confidence isn’t ‘they will like me’
Katie Piper finished with my favourite line of the whole day: “Confidence is not ‘they will like me.’ Confidence is ‘I’ll be fine if they don’t.’”
Confidence is knowing who will value you and knowing you’re not for everyone.
And trusting yourself enough to keep going anyway – even when it feels like Jeremy Beadle is following you around waiting to catch you out.
A few SBS stats from the day
There were lots of stats shared at SBS, and I scribbled a few down:
SBS has been running for 15 years
There are 4,500 winners
80% of winners are female
40% have collaborated with other SBS businesses
70% have been running their business for over four years
54% are sole traders
72% are feeling optimistic about their business
60% grew their turnover in 2025 (and 2025 wasn’t an easy year)
Being in a room with people who are positive, determined and resilient makes a difference.
Want to be part of SBS?
If reading this has made you think “I’d quite like to be part of SBS” and you’re not already, head to the ‘further reading’ section for a post which explains exactly what you need to do to apply.
There’s also SBS Invest, where Theo invests in SBS winners, which might be interesting depending on where you’re at with your business.
And if you’re ever interested in coming to one of my in-person days before SBS, just send me a message and I’ll tell you more about it or fill in the ‘I’m interested’ form here.
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
10 reasons to be an award-winning pet business
The rollercoaster of running a small business
