Dear Chris,
Right now, you think the world owes you a living. You’re desperate for a quick fix to transform your life. I’m afraid to say this couldn’t be further from the path you will eventually take.
You’ve got some hard work in front of you. The fun gambling you do on the horses, football and in casinos will develop into a crippling addiction that takes over your life. The pain and turmoil it causes will haunt you for years. But I promise, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
You’re 22 now and about to have a drunken conversation with Dad, where he tells you to “sort your life out”. He’d noticed you’ve become increasingly withdrawn and erratic. Little did he know what you were hiding.
You get a job at a local recruitment company and learn the brutal techniques of the recruitment sales sector. Ringing someone back two minutes after they’ve just said “no” feels awful. You want to give up. But stick with it. You’re learning a lot.
The salary isn’t great, but it doesn’t matter. Whether you earn £1 or £4,000, you’re spending it all on gambling. You’re regularly broke within 24 hours of being paid and are always desperate for money. You will take out some stupid loans and get deeper into debt.
After 18 months, you’re offered a role in London and your salary doubles overnight. It’s a great opportunity and you will be successful for a time, even winning sales rep of the year. But your gambling has spiralled out of control. Work, health, friends and loved ones have all taken a back seat.
It seems like an unlikely time to start your own business. But if there’s one thing we can thank gambling for, it’s your ability to take risks. In 2009, you leave a safe job to start your own venture, generating leads for an online training programme. Remarkably, entrepreneurship suits you. But you are truly incapable of managing money. Looking back, you will wish you had asked for help.
Instead, you will learn through trial and error. Desperate not to fail, you relentlessly chase people for decisions and money, and rush into decisions. If you’d only given yourself 20 minutes to calm down first, you would save yourself many embarrassing moments. And you are gambling more than ever. It’s exhausting – a constant juggling act, putting all of your energy and drive into keeping both going.
Finally you will admit your life is out of control. You are sick and tired of being sick and tired all the time. You go to Gamblers Anonymous on 10 April 2011, and you are still an active member today. This is the day your new life begins.
Your experience in the recruitment industry gives you an insight into the growth of the training sector and the potential of e-learning. After three years of running the lead generation business and clean living, you and your brother build an online training course business called New Skills Academy in 2014. He will have some reservations about going into business with you, of course, but he can see the relentless drive to succeed in your eyes.
Starting a business is always hard, and particularly so when you’re in the early throes of recovery. There will be low moments. In the early days, there is no money and no interest from customers. You will lose sleep. You will both wonder if you’ve done the right thing. You’re bursting with ideas but don’t have the money to do any of them. But you will have a breakthrough and move into developing your own e-learning courses.
The growth of the business from there is steady and it will finally feel like you’re finally getting somewhere. Today, your courses have trained more than 50,000 people, helping others set up their own businesses, change career or learn a new skill.
You will learn a lot on this journey. You will realise you are not the arbiter of the universe. You will grow up, calm down, and take time to think things through. It’s been a rollercoaster, but you wouldn’t change one thing. The good, the bad and the very ugly. Seeing something that you have created from the seed of an idea in your head is truly the most rewarding thing you have ever done.
Chris
Chris Morgan is the co-founder of New Skills Academy.
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