About me

Behind every success is a story

"Business is sweet"

If there’s such a thing as an entrepreneurial gene, then I surely must have been born with it. I’ve been fascinated with creating my own trove of personal wealth for as far as I can remember. While other kids were happy to spend breaktimes playing kickabout and shooting the breeze, I took on my first “job” aged seven, working at our little school tuck shop.

Here I earned a princely sum of £5 a month, paid cash in hand by our school caretaker Mr Kennedy, which I promptly blew on crisps and sweets. Not the soundest of investments, but the experience certainly whetted my appetite for business.

Fast forward a few years later and I was super keen to get a real job pronto. To help my chances, I decided to make myself older by a few months. This little fabrication went undetected, and I wangled myself a job stacking shelves at Tesco. My income had now increased to £20 a week, and fortunately, my love of sweets had waned. Working overtime became my new get-rich-quick scheme.

"The RAF was my passport to the world"

By my mid-teens I was also eager to get out into the world. I enlisted with the Royal Air Force just shy of 18 years old and eventually became a Telecoms Technician. The job saw me study electronics and took me to many exciting, new countries. I travelled everywhere from Germany and Gibraltar to Cyprus, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

My RAF days were one long adventure. Over the next few years, I grabbed every opportunity to take on new challenges. I learned to box, ski, sail, and paraglide. I also became pretty good at team sports like rugby and hockey.

I loved almost every minute of my RAF experience, but after close to nine years, I felt the time was right to move on. I left the RAF with a Gulf War medal and a thirst for a new adventure.

"I began charting my own course to financial freedom

My next career move saw me following my father’s footsteps into financial services, a career that would last over 20 years. I began working as an agent with Cooperative Insurance (CIS). After many hours of study as an Independent Financial Adviser, specialising in corporate advice to companies and their directors, I finally fulfilled another ambition of mine, to become a company owner.

Towards the end of my financial services career, I became interested in buying companies, rather that starting another business from scratch. Once again, I invested in myself and learned more about Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) to understand the process inside out.

This ultimately led to my third career, investing in and buying UK SME companies. Now I’m armed with over 20 years’ experience working with UK limited companies and their directors. I’m also highly experienced in fund management and M&A transactions.

"I never take my success for granted"

I’ve enjoyed many career highlights and personal achievements, which I don’t take for granted. These include being awarded with paid international trips to Dubai, New Orleans, and Majorca as a top salesman. I also launched several IFA firms, an FCA regulated fund management company, followed by the successful launch of two FCA regulated OEIC funds, which went on to be successfully sold.

My final exit from financial services was the culmination of a five-year plan to develop a new business owner: a Chartered IFA running his own Chartered IFA practice. The management buyout of Charles Dean Ltd, a Chartered IFA practice, was completed on time in 2020.

Today, I harness all the experience, knowledge, and skills I’ve acquired throughout my career to help SME businesses reach the next level of their growth and evolution. I particularly enjoy working alongside the original owners of the businesses entrusted to me to help deliver scalability, profitability, and improved operations across the board.