Mr & Mrs in Business Christmas Special | Meet Our Newest Team Partner Alicia - Episode 41

Episode guide

About this episode

This Christmas special brings a new voice into the Mr & Mrs in Business studio as Chris and Helen introduce Alicia, one of the newest people joining the team. It is the first time they have brought a member of staff onto the podcast, giving the episode a behind-the-scenes feel as they talk about why Alicia's experience made sense for the role and how they are thinking differently about partnerships and sector focus across the businesses.

Alicia talks through a varied career that started with professional dance and modelling before moving into the legal sector, where she progressed from administration into paralegal and conveyancing work, including new build. She later moved into sales at a football club and explains why the flexibility and family fit of her new role mattered. Chris and Helen connect that experience to their plans for Two Krakens, particularly around professional services, while Helen focuses on manufacturing and Chris on IT.

The conversation also explores what it takes to feel natural in front of a camera. Alicia describes how quickly the cameras can fade into the background when the discussion is genuine, while Chris and Helen explain why they prefer unscripted podcasting and why, in most cases, they do not keep a technician in the room. Their view is that the pauses, mistakes and unpolished moments often make a conversation feel more human rather than less professional.

As the episode moves into its Christmas theme, the three share family traditions, favourite festive food and films, parenting mishaps and the reality that nobody has everything perfectly organised. That leads back into one of the recurring ideas behind the podcast: business owners can look successful from the outside while still dealing with difficult days, uncertainty and ordinary life behind the scenes.

The final part of the episode turns towards reflection and 2026. Chris talks about gaining more clarity around the direction of the businesses, Helen reflects on becoming more confident dealing with difficult situations, and Alicia describes taking the new role as an important step for herself after years of putting family first. They also revisit an action log Chris and Helen used to record more than 120 changes made over a year, a simple way of making progress visible when day-to-day improvements are easy to forget.

They close with a sense of momentum around the year ahead. New team members, clearer processes, stronger partnerships and a more defined plan for Two Krakens are all part of the picture, with the Christmas break giving them a rare opportunity to reflect, plan and return ready to put those ideas into practice.