Theo Paphitis owns stationery chain Ryman, lingerie brand Boux Avenue, and homewares retailer Robert Dyas. He is a former judge on the hit BBC show for aspiring entrepreneurs, Dragons’ Den, and a former chairman of Millwall FC.
He left school aged 16 with a Scottish certificate in ‘colouring in maps’, aka geography.
For those receiving their exam results this week, be it A-Levels, GCSEs or any other academic qualifications, I’m sure it was a rollercoaster day like no other.
But not getting the results you expected doesn’t mean failure or the end - far from it. It means deciding where you want to be, looking at all the doors available to you now, and picking the ones you like best.
As I would tell young Theo, success comes in all shapes and sizes and it is not duplicated and sent out on a conveyor belt.
Life isn’t a one-size-fits-all business, it’s personal. The journey is all yours - it just depends on which map you choose to follow.
It’s important to remember that success means different things to different people.
Is success about the kudos of where you work? Is it about reams of academic qualifications?
Is it the size of the paypacket? Is it being happy, is it the family or friends you make? These are hard questions for anyone to answer and everyone’s list is different.
Despite the knocks, the most important thing is to keep learning in whatever capacity to get you to your next level - whether that’s the A, B, X or Y level or something completely different, it doesn’t matter.
You choose your path and with hard work the end results will be all yours - blood, sweat and tears (sometimes of joy).
To employers, I’d say never write off those who aren’t classed as ‘academic’, or haven’t achieved what was expected on the day: they will bring something very different to the table.
Most of the entrepreneurs I know, many with a great deal of success behind them, didn’t get the results they’d hoped for.
Breaking out of the expectations of the academic mould is ok, because ultimately the world is your oyster, you just need to pick which sea you want to swim in to find it.
