{"podcast":{"title":"21 Hats Podcast","slug":"21-hats-podcast-502638","podcast_index_feed_id":502638,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/4439758/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/21-hats-podcast","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/27e8ec21209a6c9a99a0f0963132b13e.jpg","author":"21 Hats","episode_count":568,"summary":"The 21 Hats Podcast presents an authentic weekly conversation with small business owners who are remarkably willing to share what’s working for them and what isn’t. Unlike many business podcasts, which tend to talk to highly successful entrepreneurs whose struggles are in the past, the 21 Hats Podcast features a rotating cast of business owners who are still very much in the trenches fighting the good fight. Every week, our regulars gather to talk about the kinds of important issues many owners won’t even discuss behind closed doors: whether their businesses are as profitable as they should be, whether they are willing to give up some control to an investor in order to grow faster, why they had to lay off employees, how they wound up with way too much inventory, why they don’t have a succession plan, and even why they are concerned about their own mental health. Visit 21hats.com to hear all of our podcast episodes, read episode transcripts, and learn more. The show is produced by Jess Thoubboron, founder of Blank Word.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-18T20:17:08.095147+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638"},"episode":{"title":"Would You Rather Own a Business in the U.K. or the U.S.?","slug":"where-the-grass-and-the-money-is-greener","published_at":"2026-07-21T09:00:32+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/where-the-grass-and-the-money-is-greener","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638","url":"https://21hats.com/where-the-grass-and-the-money-is-greener/","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73076109/21_hats_episode_303_stereo.mp3","summary":"Nearly 10 years ago, Simon Bedding, who owns a manufacturing company in England, picked up a copy of Boss Life , Paul Downs' memoir about running (and almost losing) a manufacturing company in Pennsylvania. Simon liked the book enough to email Paul. Paul wrote back. And over the years, they've kind of stayed in touch. This year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the United States spinning off from the United Kingdom, we thought it would be illuminating to get these two business owners together to compare notes. After all, their countries started with the same language and much of the same legal tradition, but two and a half centuries later, running a business on opposite sides of the Atlantic can feel very different. In this conversation, Paul and Simon compare taxes, regulation, hiring, health care, government support, and what it's like to build a manufacturing business in their respective countries. Along the way, there are plenty of moments when one of them can't quite believe how the other has to operate. Wait—you can't fire an employee without going before a tribunal? Wait—you have to spend a week every year figuring out health insurance? Wait—your employees don’t have employment contracts? And yet, for all of their differences, Paul and Simon also discover something else: Whether your factory is in Pennsylvania or southeast England, some challenges are universal. It's hard to find great people. It’s hard to fight city hall. In short, it's hard to build a successful business. And, as Paul puts it, \"You're always going to learn something by talking to other business owners.\" This episode is brought to you by Grasshopper Bank .","meta_description":"Nearly 10 years ago, Simon Bedding, who owns a manufacturing company in England, picked up a copy of Boss Life , Paul Downs' memoir about running (and alm…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3590,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/21-hats-podcast-502638/episodes/where-the-grass-and-the-money-is-greener/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/21-hats-podcast-502638/where-the-grass-and-the-money-is-greener.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}