A man who left school with just one GCSE has shared how he went on to build his fortune.
From a young age, Adam Stott struggled to learn in a classroom, which led to him being considered “pretty disruptive”.
Now, the business coach realises he had a different learning style, which made concentrating in the classroom such a challenge.
He told GB News: “I have to understand the purpose behind something in order for me to be able to grasp it and process it and a lot of the time, schools don’t teach like that.
“I’ve always been quite inquisitive. I’ve always been curious and asked a lot of questions. I’d want to know the ins and outs of everything.”
Adam left school at 16 with a GCSE in drama.
“I had pretty low confidence, quite low self-esteem, and not really much ambition, but I do think there has always been a drive there,” he remembered.
Adam Stott left school with one GCSE
ADAM STOTT
It’s this experience which sparked an entrepreneurial drive in Adam.
Starting out in the workplace wasn’t easy – he worked in hands-on jobs but the roles weren’t quite right. “I did all these jobs and I just struggled,” he said.
At around 19 years old, an opportunity to work in sales cropped up. “That’s where things really changed for me. For the first time, I could get rewarded for talking to people. I fell in love with the job and I found my work ethic. I found the thing that I love doing which is speaking with people.”
Adam went from success to success in the role – winning a national competition at just 19.
He also got his first ever promotion, moving from sales to senior sales. “That seemed like the world at the time, and my confidence started building,” he said.
Adam later moved into the car industry, where he got into personal development from a young age. He said: “I was trying to make myself better, I realised that if I get better, I’ll sell more.”
Adam credits the discipline and focus he learnt in the role for his success. “I’d been a wayward teenager and I got to the point where that discipline helped me to really get focused.”
He went from strength to strength in the car sales industry. Adam remembers: “I’d gone from a no-hoper to by the time I was 25, pretty much a decade later, earning £100,00 a year+. I was living the dream at 25, all because I’d learned the skill.”
Having grown his confidence over the years, the entrepreneur decided to start his own business.
“I got massively into personal development – I was attending courses and seminars, I was reading books. I was trying to better myself – I got obsessed with learning and that just made me more hungry,” he said.
Adam left his “really good job” and sold his house to free up £50,000 in cash to start his business. He moved back in with his mum and set about launching the new business in 2008.
“Truthfully, the first nine months of it were horrendous. It was really really tough. I think I had massively underestimated what skill levels I needed to run the business. It’s a big part of the reason of what I do now because it happens to a lot of people – they get their desire, they want to start their own business, and then they realise it’s a very lonely place. It can be very difficult.
“I watched my £50,000 disappear in front of my face,” he said, as he recalls the 2008 housing market crash adding even more pressure.
“For a while I was doubting myself, and saying it was going to fail. I knew that I needed to try and do something different.”
Adam contacted a friend who had also set up his own business, which was going from strength to strength, who became his mentor.
The entrepreneur realised he was making some simple mistakes, and “before he knew it”, he gained momentum.
It became the making of his fortune, but Adam later closed the business and moved into supporting others with their entrepreneurial dreams.
He is now a business coach, and says his business has made millions in revenue.
“There is a part of it that it’s a very profitable business that we love and that employees 40 great people that are doing a great job, but the more important part of it is that we have changed lots of lives and helped thousands of businesses from all different industries.”
Adam has now decided to share the secrets behind how he built his business and fortune in his new book, Millionaire Success Secrets.