The Day Theo Paphitis Chose My Business

Building a career in entertainment can feel strange in the early years.

You spend countless hours refining performances, travelling to events, answering enquiries and trying to build something sustainable from a profession many people don’t fully understand in the first place.

So when moments of unexpected recognition arrive, they tend to stay with you.

Back in 2013, one of those moments came completely out of nowhere when I discovered that Theo Paphitis had selected my business as one of his weekly Small Business Sunday (#SBS) winners on Twitter.

At the time, it felt surreal.

Discovering the Notification Storm

I still remember opening Twitter that evening and feeling completely confused by what I was seeing.

My phone was flooded with notifications, messages and mentions from people I didn’t recognise. For a few moments I genuinely couldn’t understand what had happened.

Then it clicked.

Theo Paphitis had re-shared my business as one of his chosen #SBS winners.

Out of thousands of businesses entering each week, mine had somehow been selected.

I think the overwhelming feeling initially was simply shock.

There wasn’t some dramatic “this changes everything” moment. It was more an immediate sense of pride that something I had spent years quietly building had briefly landed on the radar of someone whose opinion carried genuine weight within the business world.

What #SBS Actually Was

For those unfamiliar with it, Small Business Sunday (#SBS) was a weekly initiative created by Theo Paphitis to support independent businesses across the UK.

Each Sunday evening, business owners would pitch themselves in a single tweet using the hashtag #SBS in the hope Theo might select them as one of his weekly winners.

Looking back now, it was essentially an early form of social media entrepreneurship culture before LinkedIn thought-leadership and personal branding became what they are today.

At the time, Twitter still felt exciting and unpredictable enough that a single interaction from someone with a large audience could suddenly expose your business to thousands of people overnight.

The Birmingham Event

Following the win, I was invited to attend the annual #SBS event in Birmingham where winners would receive their certificates and meet Theo in person.

The scale of it completely caught me off guard.

I think I had imagined something relatively small and informal. Instead, it felt more like a large business conference with huge banners, guest speakers, staging and hundreds of entrepreneurs from every type of industry imaginable.

Walking into that environment alone was slightly intimidating.

Most people seemed to know one another already while I was quietly navigating the event wondering where exactly a mind reader fitted into all of this.

Eventually came the moment to meet Theo and receive the certificate.

Meeting Theo Paphitis

Theo was warm, friendly and exactly how you’d expect him to be in person.

After receiving the certificate and posing for the obligatory photograph together, I remember deciding - perhaps a little too boldly - that I should probably use the opportunity to hand him my business card.

I asked him how I might get onto his radar for future corporate events and explained that I performed psychological entertainment and mind reading at live events.

Naturally, Theo immediately smiled and asked:

“So what am I thinking?”

I remember laughing and replying:

“You’re wondering if I can tell what you’re thinking.”

Theo burst out laughing and responded:

“That’s not the first time you’ve been asked that, is it?”

It was a small exchange, but one that stayed with me because it perfectly captured how curiosity instantly changes the atmosphere whenever people encounter mentalism for the first time.

What Winning #SBS Actually Changed

People often assume recognition like this must suddenly transform a business overnight.

The reality was much quieter than that.

There wasn’t a dramatic flood of enquiries or some overnight transformation of my career. In truth, most of my work has always come from repeat bookings, referrals and word of mouth rather than celebrity endorsements or viral moments.

But that doesn’t mean the experience wasn’t valuable.

Far from it.

What #SBS gave me was confidence.

At that stage in my career, receiving recognition from someone so widely associated with entrepreneurship and business success felt validating. It was one of those moments that subtly reassures you that perhaps the unusual thing you’ve dedicated yourself to building really does have value outside your own small world.

Looking back now, I’m simply grateful it happened.

Not because it suddenly changed my business overnight, but because it became one of those strange, memorable experiences that reminded me how unpredictable building a creative career can sometimes be.

Building a Business Around Experiences

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the most valuable part of any live performance business isn’t attention itself - it’s connection.

Whether performing at a corporate conference, private event or live experience, the moments people remember most are usually the ones that feel human, unexpected and personal.

Winning #SBS was one of those moments for me.

Not because it made me famous or transformed my business overnight, but because for a brief moment, a niche little business built around psychology, performance and audience interaction unexpectedly found itself standing on a much bigger stage.