A businessman who became so wealthy he bought Clacton Football Club has spoken out on his downfall – which took him from £5million to claiming benefits in the space of a decade.
Jeff Dewing, now 57, quit his day job as an air conditioning manager to start a business in 1992.
The former engineer, who says he was incredibly passionate about his job, had spent the past year building a smart database system for his current employer, all in his own time.
“I spent a month’s mortgage payment on a computer to build the software and it was a complete game-changer for them,” Jeff, 21 at the time, said.
But when Jeff asked for £900 back to cover the costs of his computer, the company declined.
“I needed that money because I was behind on my mortgage, but despite taking all my hard work, they refused to pay me,” Jeff, who left school at 16 with three GCSEs, said.
“So I walked away and started my own air conditioning company instead.”
That was the start of Essex Air Conditioning Ltd – and the next 10 years marked some of the best in Jeff’s career.
“I remember walking into to the bank and asking for a loan,” he recalls.
“HSBC - known as Midland Bank at the time - offered me a government-backed small business loan. They gave me £20,000.
“I teamed up with a friend, spent £10,000 on a van and a sales car and the rest on equipment. The last few thousand went on a basic wage just to cover the mortgage. The office was my kitchen table.
“And the only way was up after that.”
In his first year, Jeff’s business was forecast to turn over £110,000. In reality, it made £700,000. It was booming and demand was rising by the day.
That was until five years in when his attention turned to Clacton FC.
“They got in touch and asked if I wanted to sponsor the club,” he said. “I replied no, I’ll buy it instead.”
Jeff said he got complacent in his job, it became tedious and he lost interest, so he passed his managerial duties to a colleague and turned his attention to the football club - every man's dream.
“It gave me a burst of life, the club became my life and I spent five years turning it around.
“We won the league three times, I brought in the best players and the club was flourishing.”
But it wasn’t making any money. Jeff had rescued the debt-ridden club for just £35, but that included a £450,000 deficit. Over five years he blew £250,000 more on the club which he described as his "best years".
He said at the time, he was convinced he'd made it because he had £300,000 worth of cars in his front garden.
That was until 1996 when the recession started to take its toll, and the business "fell off a cliff".
Jeff called Essex Air Conditioning one afternoon and asked his colleague to transfer some money into his account to spend on the club.
“That’s when reality hit home,” he said.
“I remember my colleague saying ’we don’t have the money’,” he said.
Jeff’s attention quickly turned to his failing business, but it was far too late.
“We were working with construction giants on a pay per job basis even though they were large-scale contracts. Often the money would never arrive. This had snowballed into something much bigger, the business could not be saved,” he said.
Jeff recalls walking into the bank and asking for a loan but with his home also now on credit, there was nothing he could put on the table.
“I lost it all that year. I felt like a failure and I knew it was my fault because I neglected the business,” he said. “I got carried away and didn’t see it was on its knees.
“If I had kept my focus, it would have been one of the biggest suppliers of air conditioning in the country today. I got lazy and took my eyes off the ball. I got complacent and massively distracted.
“I couldn’t even afford a car, I borrowed one from my dad and had to claim jobseeker’s allowance. I went in once a week for £168. I couldn’t look my family in the face.”
But Jeff persevered. He spent that time reworking his priorities. He taught himself coding and spent years thinking about his mistakes and in 2012, he bounced back.
That year Jeff started technology company Cloudfm from his garden shed.
Jeff grew the company's revenue to £1million in its first year, success he credits to learning from his mistakes.
The company is now turning over £50million, with 250 employees.
He’s now written a book called Doing the Opposite, opening up about his mistakes.
“It’s not about me telling people what they should and shouldn’t do – it’s about what I learnt along the way and sharing that knowledge to empower other people."
Here are Jeff's top five tips for anyone starting a business.
1. Surround yourself by people you can learn from. Knowledge is power and you don’t know everything – so be willing to listen, grow and learn.
2. Allow room for failure. There’s no avoiding failure so be prepared for it and when it happens, get something out of it. Some of the biggest successes can come from falling down and getting back up again.
3. Running a business is lonely and traumatic. You have to realise that there are so many people around you that will guide and listen to you and support you. I learnt that you need to be willing to accept help. Support is available when you ask for guidance.
5. You get what you put in. If you don’t invest in your staff, they won’t invest in your business.
