From Teenage Founder to Building The UK's Newest Wellness Innovation: Emily Hughes

The "Chance Meeting at a Salad Bar" That Led to the Biggest Leap of Tom Jacobs' Career

In this episode of The Leap, Joshua speaks to Tom Jacobs, owner of Flex Health Hub, [https://www.flexhealthhub.com/] who is right in the middle of one of the biggest transitions of his career. After years working across orthopaedics, MSK rehabilitation and sports medicine in the NHS and elite sport, Tom made the leap into private practice ownership, steadily growing Flex Physio Practice from rented clinic rooms inside leisure centres and GP surgeries into a brand-new, purpose-built multidisciplinary facility in Oxfordshire. Now, with the launch of Flex Health Hub, Tom is bringing physiotherapy, fitness and wellbeing together under one roof, creating a model designed to serve both patients and practitioners in a more integrated way. And all thanks to a chance encounter at a salad bar. In this conversation, we discuss: * Moving from NHS clinician to the "wild west" of private practice ownership * The mistakes he made when buying a business, including remortgaging his own house * How he instills a sense of worth, pride and value in the teams he manages * Why his belief that you "can't teach character" influences his attitudes towards culture and recruitment * How a "chance meeting a salad bar" led to the creation of the Flex Health Hub * Why he believes magic can only happen when you push yourself outside your comfort zone * How he juggles all the different hats he has, between clinical, business, strategy, teaching, charity work and family life * Why he thinks mistakes are your biggest schoolmaster and how he wishes we were less risk-averse as a culture * The realities of opening a purpose-built healthcare facility that had never been the original plan This is a practical and honest conversation about what it really takes to build something from the ground up in healthcare,  and the mindset required to take the leap into ownership. This is one discussion you're not going to want to miss. Produced by Savannah Media [https://www.savannahmedia.co.uk/] for Verilo [https://verilo.co.uk/].

Taking Over — and Growing — a High-Performance Physio Practice: Andy McCrea

For Josh, this episode is a particularly personal one. Today’s guest is Andy McCrea, Clinical Director and Director of Elite Physical Medicine — the very clinic where Josh first completed his work experience, and the place that first sparked his interest in becoming a physiotherapist. Since then, the practice has grown from a single clinic into a respected multi-site business across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, built on principles drawn from elite sport and a reputation for solving complex cases. Andy himself is frequently recommended by surgeons and has even earned the nickname “the Irish magician” from patients for his diagnostic expertise. In this episode, Andy shares the journey from clinician to clinic owner, and what it really takes to grow a practice while maintaining high clinical standards. Josh and Andy explore: * How early exposure and mentorship can shape a career * The transition from practitioner to business owner * The realities of scaling a physiotherapy practice from one site to several * Building a reputation for diagnostic accuracy and complex case management * The influence of elite sport on everyday clinical practice * And how leadership evolves as a business grows It’s a reflective conversation about growth, responsibility, and the long-term evolution of a clinic built on high performance and trust. verilo.co.uk

From Teenage Founder to Building The UK's Newest Wellness Innovation: Emily Hughes

Entrepreneur Emily Hughes started her first business at just 13 years old, and hasn’t stopped since. In this episode of The Leap, Emily shares the journey from running a teenage beauty business to launching her most ambitious venture yet: Reco HQ, a sports recovery and wellness concept planned for South London. Inspired by the recovery culture she experienced while studying entrepreneurship in Australia, Emily is now raising funds for a scalable, community-led wellness space. But unlike many startups, this is a business you can’t test with a simple MVP. It’s a capital-intensive project requiring investment, planning permissions, building regulations, and a lot of belief in the vision. In this conversation, Emily and Josh explore: * What it’s really like to start your first business as a teenager * Why younger entrepreneurs often take bigger risks and have more fun doing it * How bootstrapping early ventures shaped Emily’s approach to business * The realities of raising investment for the first time * Why the wellness and recovery market is primed for growth in the UK * And how Emily is designing Reco HQ as a scalable “cookie-cutter” concept from day one It’s a candid conversation about risk, ambition, and what happens when entrepreneurial instinct meets infrastructure reality.

The Leap - trailer

Welcome to The Leap, a new podcast from Verilo that celebrates bravery and shared experience amongst entrepreneurs and experts from the healthcare, medical and wellness sector.Each episode, we bring you honest conversations with people who have navigated the realities of buying, selling and owning businesses, sharing what they learned when they stepped into the unknown.Taking a leap of faith is rarely simple. But with the right knowledge, perspective and support, it can be the most rewarding step you’ll ever take.