In short
Podcast Notes: Extraordinary Life Stories - Episode with Andrew Hulbert
Episode Overview In this episode of *Extraordinary Life Stories*, host John Reynolds interviews Andrew Hulbert, who shares his inspiring journey from humble beginnings to building a £50 million turnover facilities management business and achieving a $100 million exit by the age of 37. The conversation delves into themes of ambition, identity, and finding joy in the mundane aspects of life post-exit.
Key Themes and Discussions
Andrew's Background
- Early Life: Grew up in a council estate; developed a dream to break free from working-class mentality at age 15.
- Entrepreneurial Journey:
- Started his business at 27.
- Grew to £50 million turnover within ten years.
- Retired at 37, contemplating life beyond financial success.
The Exit Experience
- Psychological Preparation:
- Worked with a business psychologist to prepare for life after the exit.
- Discussed the phenomenon of post-success depression, comparing it to Olympic athletes who suffer after achieving their goals.
- Reflections on Success:
- Originally viewed success as monetary achievement but now sees it as finding joy in everyday life, such as family moments.
Personal Sacrifices
- Work-Life Balance:
- Acknowledged missed family moments during the business grind (e.g., children’s events).
- Emphasized the importance of prioritizing family and relationships post-exit.
Building Culture in Business
- Leadership Style:
- Aimed for a supportive and inclusive work environment, contrary to the cutthroat nature often seen in business.
- Focused on kindness and community values instilled from a young age.
- Equity and Team Growth:
- Gifted an eight-figure equity pot to senior team members, ensuring their investment in the company’s success.
- Achieved 100% retention of senior leaders over a decade.
Annual Challenges & Mental Well-being
- Setting Personal Goals:
- Engaged in annual health-related challenges, such as half marathons and skydives, to maintain mental and physical fitness.
- Utilized creative strategies, like providing donuts in client meetings, to foster connections and camaraderie.
Current Life and Future Aspirations
- Living with Purpose:
- Enjoying financial freedom and focusing on personal passions (e.g., blood donation, environmental projects).
- Redefined success as enjoying everyday moments with family and contributing to the community.
- Mentorship and Investment:
- Interested in mentoring young entrepreneurs and investing in passionate individuals.
- Values traits such as heart, soul, and intrinsic motivation over mere business potential.
Key Takeaways
- Success Redefined: True success is now viewed as joy in everyday life, not just financial achievements.
- Importance of Preparation: Preparing psychologically for life changes can mitigate feelings of loss or depression after significant achievements.
- Value of Relationships: Prioritizing family and meaningful relationships over work commitments leads to greater fulfillment.
- Cultural Integrity in Business: Creating a kind and supportive company culture yields loyalty and success.
- Legacy Building: Engaging in community-oriented projects and personal passions fosters a sense of purpose beyond business.
Final Thoughts Andrew Hulbert’s journey exemplifies the complexities of success and the significance of personal connections. His insights challenge the traditional view of achievement, encouraging listeners to find fulfillment in the mundane aspects of life and to foster supportive environments in business. The conversation serves as an important reminder of the broader impacts of one's journey and the legacy left behind.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOInstagram's Teen Account Protections
0:00 to 0:30
Learn about the safety features Instagram has for teen users.
“Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools.”
A Nostalgic Memory with Hershey's
0:30 to 0:54
Andrew shares a touching childhood memory involving chocolate and his grandmother.
“One sweet, melty bite of a Hershey's bar, and suddenly I'm right back sitting on the front porch with my grandmother on a slow summer afternoon.”
Defining Success Beyond Wealth
1:30 to 2:06
Andrew discusses how his perception of success has evolved after his financial achievements.
“Because as an entrepreneur, that's what everyone's striving to achieve, right?”
Mental and Physical Wellbeing
2:06 to 4:10
Andrew explains how he set annual health-related challenges during his entrepreneurial journey.
“You couldn't have convinced me before I did it.”
Preparing for Life After Exit
4:10 to 5:12
Andrew recounts working with a psychologist to prepare for retirement and the emotional journey.
“their day jobs and their corporate jobs and they're trying to actually get to a bigger exit I was very lucky.”
The Importance of Company Culture
5:12 to 6:31
Andrew shares how his upbringing influenced the culture he created in his business.
“Whose decision was that to engage a professional to help you with that?”
Creating a Diverse and Supportive Workplace
6:31 to 8:46
Andrew discusses his commitment to diversity and treating employees fairly in his business.
“That's the environment that I came from and I grew up in.”
Empowering Employees through Equity
9:41 to 10:40
Andrew shares how he fostered loyalty by granting equity to his employees.
“When it's heartfelt and it's deliberate with intention.”
The Birth of Pareto
10:40 to 13:00
Andrew narrates the story of starting his property services business and the motivations behind it.
“and bringing in people that wouldn't necessarily get the opportunity in bigger businesses.”
Building a Community and Culture at Pareto
13:00 to 14:03
Andrew reflects on the importance of building a supportive community and culture in his business.
“Sitting here now, I feel like that natural curiosity and that whole, I use that term, next chapter, you're excited about.”
Show all 19 chapters
Building a Culture of Community and Growth
14:03 to 15:40
Learn how a strong workplace culture attracts talent and fosters growth.
“But all those community backgrounds and tolerance things that I mentioned, that's what I wanted to build from the very beginning.”
The Sacrifices of Entrepreneurship
15:40 to 17:50
Understand the personal sacrifices entrepreneurs make for success.
“And obviously, I'm grateful that we did.”
Finding Balance Through Challenges
17:50 to 21:20
Explore how setting personal challenges can provide balance in life.
“There'd be, say, eight or nine providers there that were all in competition with each other.”
The Joy of Simple Moments
21:20 to 24:10
Discover the importance of cherishing everyday moments with family.
“Start comparing hundreds of sites with Kayak and get your trip right.”
Giving Back and Creating Legacy
24:10 to 27:10
Learn about the impact of philanthropy and legacy-building.
“Now I'm trying to explore a little bit more.”
Mentorship and Supporting Future Entrepreneurs
27:10 to 28:02
Understand the qualities Andrew seeks in future entrepreneurs he mentors.
“You'd almost be looking for someone that in a way would remind you of a younger version of yourself.”
Redefining Success Through Everyday Joy
28:02 to 29:00
Discover how finding joy in mundane moments can redefine your perception of success.
“And if I got it right, I'd be like, yes, Andrew, this is what you should have done.”
Balancing Work and Family Life
29:01 to 30:29
Learn valuable insights on maintaining a balance between family time and professional responsibilities.
“You couldn't have convinced me before I did it.”
The Importance of Being Present
30:30 to 32:24
Understand the significance of being present and making time for loved ones in life.
“My wife wasn't happy at several occasions when I was making those choices.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Andrew Hulbert:Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com slash teenaccounts.
0:30Andrew Hulbert:One sweet, melty bite of a Hershey's bar, and suddenly I'm right back sitting on the front porch with my grandmother on a slow summer afternoon. She doesn't say much, just breaks the bar in half and hands me a piece. I open my mouth to say whatever a nine-year-old wants to say, and she replies with a low, shh, listen. So we sat there, listening. That was the first time I learned that quiet can feel full. Hershey's, it's your happy place. Tell me, who is Andrew Hulbert?
1:01John Reynolds:Council estate family, working class guy, who had a dream when I was about 15 that one day I was going to run my own business and break out of the working class mentality. Started a business when I was 27, grew that over 10 years to about a£50 million turnover. Managed to create$100 million in exit value. Retire at 37, and today you find me at 39, two years later. I'm really trying to work out what life is all about. Now I'm on the other side of being a millionaire, being successful and just working out what life is. Congratulations on the exit, right? Because as an entrepreneur, that's what everyone's striving to achieve, right?
1:35John Reynolds:People do the grind, even not for themselves as entrepreneurs. They do it in their day jobs and their corporate jobs, and they're trying to actually get to a bigger exit.
1:42Andrew Hulbert:I'm interested to know specifically about how you kept yourself both mentally and physically.
1:46John Reynolds:I set myself annual challenges, and often they would be health-related. I'd always set myself goals, very goal-orientated entrepreneur, outside of everything I was doing, because my love of food was real. And actually, one of the things, and this sounds silly, but it's absolutely true, and I think it's good advice. Donuts. Donuts work for us.
2:03Andrew Hulbert:Sitting here now, how do you define success?
2:06John Reynolds:That's what success is. You couldn't have convinced me before I did it. Now you couldn't change my mind.
2:22Andrew Hulbert:Welcome. How are you doing? Really looking forward to this. Yeah, me too. Thanks for having me. No, it's a conversation we've not even had. We've been in each other's company a couple of times over the last two weeks of cool events. We've not had a proper get to know, so we'll do it in real time.
2:35John Reynolds:Yeah.
2:35Andrew Hulbert:Tell me, who is Andrew Hobart?
2:37John Reynolds:It's a good question. I'm at an interesting time in my life where I'm trying to work that out. I'm a council estate family, working class guy who had a dream when I was about 15 that one day I was going to run my own business and break out of the working class mentality. started a business when I was 27, grew that over 10 years to about a 50 million pound turnover, managed to create a hundred million dollars in exit value, retire at 37. And today you find me at 39, two years later, a couple of years into the decompression of being an entrepreneur and really trying to work out what life is all about.
3:10John Reynolds:Now I'm on the other side of being a millionaire, being successful and just working out what life is. And yeah, that's, that's where I am today.
3:16Andrew Hulbert:I love the fact we met at this time because there's a whole chapter that's not written, right you're clearly not sitting on a beach yes sipping a cocktail which i'm really interested in yeah but it's almost like reverse engineer that so often and congratulations on the exit right because as an entrepreneur uh and very much a sort of founder entrepreneur audience that's what everyone's striving to achieve right yeah but actually there's probably a real story to that but often that can be met with uh a scenario where the dream to exit and have all this money actually doesn't make you happy where have you got to with that because that's a big exit yeah yeah but you look really content you know so many people say to me like did you have
3:54John Reynolds:a breakdown after the exit or how hard was it and the only thing i can promise all of those entrepreneurs out there is it is worth it it is worth all the sacrifice good to hear that it is and all the hassle and the grind and everything that goes with it the thing i've realized quite recently as well is people do the grind even not for themselves as entrepreneurs they do it in their day jobs and their corporate jobs and they're trying to actually get to a bigger exit I was very lucky. Towards the end, I started working with a business psychologist and he helped me to plan for what life was going to be like in retirement.
4:23John Reynolds:So I was going to be 37 years old and have a load of money and have a load of time. So he talked to me about Olympic gold medalists and how after they get their gold medals, often they'll suffer depression afterwards. And effectively, you're aiming for an island and you're swimming towards that island. And as the business gets bigger, you can see that island in the distance and you're swimming really, really hard to try and get there. and then one day you're going to get there and you're going to be on the island drinking your coconut drinks out there and you need to work out what are you going to do when that comes.
4:52John Reynolds:So for me, it was about working out what did that mean? What did success look like? I knew family was important to me. I knew rebuilding relationships I'd sacrificed in the 10 years of running the business was going to be important to me. And I knew just having some brain time back to myself so I didn't have sort of running around after people all the time was going to be really important. So I knew that was coming.
5:12Andrew Hulbert:Whose decision was that to engage a professional to help you with that?
5:17John Reynolds:Were you advised to do that or did you go looking for it? It was actually a friend of mine knew this person as a friend and they suggested that they knew me quite well. So they could see the stresses that were coming and the, you know, the difficulty that comes with stress of growing a successful business. They could see it in me and they could see how dedicated I was. And I was a thousand miles an hour all the time. And I think they just said, Andrew, just take five minutes. And I did about eight sessions with this psychologist over about eight weeks or so. And they were the deepest, most honest sessions I've ever had with anybody.
5:47John Reynolds:It was a form of therapy, really, as I was getting ready to exit. But yeah, one of my friends saw in me where I was getting to from a stress level and said, slow down, have these conversations. This guy's going to help you. And one of the first things I did after I made my money is I went and bought two bottles of wine that are about 700 quid each. And I took it to Stuart, who was the psychologist who helped me and just said, thank you. you know this so you really helped me through this process what i picked up on a lot of the
6:11Andrew Hulbert:conversations what i've read and kind of seen about you is that culture element so there's a friend that recommended someone to you to someone that knew you looked in and you listened then there's a psychologist that helped you then you think that it seems to me that you're a really nice guy and i want to almost almost open up the culture element i want to bring that into the business journey but also the fact that it's refreshing to hear that you can be a really nice guy yeah in business when so many people tread on other people yeah and don't necessarily
6:38John Reynolds:do the right thing yeah let me go into the cultural piece and where it came from so i go back to my roots so like my grandfather in the nine in the 1950s went on to a council estate in a caravan and had three kids and that's where it started on my mum's side and my grandfather on the other side ran caravan rallies and my grandfather on the council estate he was the one that ran the community center so seven nights a week they'd be around the club drinking but doing all sorts of dancing and bingo and everything. That's the environment that I came from and I grew up in. So then I grew up as working class.
7:08John Reynolds:I had my first job at the age of 12, but I was in a really multicultural environment. Lots of different experiences really early on. My parents taught me the value of hard work. My dad was in a factory 40 odd years. My mum in Sainsbury's for 30 years. So I saw the value of community, of being together and of hard work. And most importantly, food, by the way, food bringing people together, which we should explore because it became a big part of Pareto in the future. But when I started my own business, I wanted to take all of the elements of my upbringing and my background and the diversity of what I've had of experiences and put it into the workforce.
7:43John Reynolds:And we had a team of 500 people in the end. So it's really important to me that we actually were kind to the staff. We looked after them. We gave them opportunities. We were fair by them and right by them. And also, I wanted to bring the senior team on the journey as well. Many entrepreneurs are selfish. Let's not forget that. And they want to hold on to as much equity as they can all the time. I was happy to give some equity away because I wanted to bring other people on the journey. And ultimately, there was a team of 15 senior leaders that we'd hired in that time. I personally hired them all.
8:14John Reynolds:And I didn't lose a single one in 10 years. 100 % retention of 15 leaders that ran the business. And it just so happens that they represented every diversity category that you could possibly imagine. In a business industry worth$100 billion a year, we had the most diverse team. It was like a£25 million business. And it absolutely made us stand out. Now, that's what I wanted because that was me. And that was the way that I could control things in a positive way and help other people.
8:41Andrew Hulbert:When you want your spring break to feel like... And your kids' pool day to feel like... And your hotel bed to feel like... Ooh, and room service to feel like... Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like... Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton, for this day. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. introducing virtuo up the latest in a long line of innovation from nespresso it's innovation you can touch sense and taste in every single cup with a three second start easy open lever and dedicated brew over ice button it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way sip for yourself shop virtuo up exclusively at nespresso.com brilliant leadership sort of jump in but that That was such a brilliant leadership.
9:42Andrew Hulbert:Congratulations. Yes, but it was amazing. The team must have felt that. When it's heartfelt and it's deliberate with intention.
9:47John Reynolds:I think, as you say, I do count myself as a nice guy. Other people may not think so, but I do. Cut me in half and my integrity is absolutely what I'm about. And with that team of 15, we were able to gift them about a 20 % sweet equity pot. That went on to be worth eight figures at the exit that were split between them. And these were just normal people that I'd hired that had come in on normal salaries. But I was like, look, we're going to do something extraordinary here. Come on this journey with us. Leave businesses that are 300 times the size of us to come and join us and come on the journey.
10:16John Reynolds:And you know what? 15 of them did. And we had the most amazing time. I didn't go into business to make friends. I went into business to surround myself with people that I could give opportunities to that wouldn't necessarily get it before and just be part of their lives in a really positive way. But similarly, if there's a problem on a Saturday, I call them up and say, oh, I need you to help me do this. So yeah, it was all about creating the right culture and bringing in the right people and bringing in people that wouldn't necessarily get the opportunity in bigger businesses. And I could give them that chance and give them some money at the end for being part of the journey.
10:48Andrew Hulbert:Tell me what the business was that you started and the why behind it.
10:51John Reynolds:Yes. So it's a property services business or facilities management. So I'd gone to university. I'd gone to join a small facilities provider afterwards. And I'd grown to operations director around the age of 24. I had 250 staff under me at the age of 24 with no experience in property services. But early leadership, right? Early leadership. But again, why that came was because the background I was from, it was you should take every opportunity that the business gives you to grow your stature within the organization. And they say give work to busy people. Well, I was the busy guy. So in that first business, yeah, 24 years old, 250 staff, and I was ops director of a business, which was doing really successfully.
11:28John Reynolds:We got bought out by a big business. And we went from 10 million to three, sorry, to 8 billion overnight. And we just lost all the hearts that went into being an SME. So I'd done that for two years. I was looking around. I wasn't enjoying myself. I was 25, 26 at this point. And I thought, I'm not learning. And I don't know where I'm going. I don't know why I'm doing this. And I'd gone out with the guys, like the very senior team. And we'd gone to Mayfair for steak. And I was in a cab on the way back, a bit drunk. And I looked around and I thought, I don't like these guys. I actually don't know why I'm here.
12:00John Reynolds:And I had a real crisis of what is the point of all this. And I went home the next day and I said to my wife, I've got to do something for myself. And that's where Pareto was born. I handed my notice in shortly after that and set up the business three months later. And it was out there to try and be an antidote to the big businesses within the sector that I thought were treating their staff badly. They were rubbish at customer service and they just lost touch with being big organizations that had 50 ,000 staff in them. and the staff just felt like a number. So I thought that we could create a culture for people based on my working class background and community spirit and give people an amazing opportunity to work within our organization, whether at leadership or at operative level.
12:42John Reynolds:And that was a dream. And we managed to grow that literally from my bedroom. And I mean it, I was in my bedroom on the 8th of August, 2014, on my own with a laptop, no backers, no finances, no clients, no processes, just me and a laptop in my pants because I hadn't showered yet that day going what am I going to do now
13:01Andrew Hulbert:the entrepreneurial journey can be quite lonely I can relate to that some of the things I'm doing even now where what I mean by that is at that moment sat on your pants in your bedroom it's all on you you've got to make it happen oh yeah yeah but what I feel like you did really well which goes back to all the all the articulation of how you brought up around community and how valuable that was to you then bringing what became a really loyal yeah hard-working community is You must have done that very quickly because I don't feel like you've had in any way almost like an identity crisis since the exit.
13:30Andrew Hulbert:Sitting here now, I feel like that natural curiosity and that whole, I use that term, next chapter, you're excited about. You don't know what it will be, but you're working on it. Yes. And then you'll work out how to give back in the way. But touching on that loneliness element and that side that can be sort of plaguing on to us, how did you deal with that? because from that moment again sat in your bedroom how quick were you to build that community element where you actually felt like you had a proper team tribe facing forwards yeah the first thing I did
13:58John Reynolds:was went and hired somebody that I knew could be my right-hand person a guy called Bill right from the very start and between us I knew that we could take on the world and I believed in both of us and actually we we could do anything and I really believed that I hired people I wanted to be in the business from the very beginning I mean and we got to 500 odd staff did you know some of these people or know of them just you know yeah I knew I knew some of them because I was well networked within the sector and I knew of some of them I knew some of them as well but it was a real mixture and actually what's great in business is if you can start like a ball rolling and you can start a journey and people start listening and they start hearing about you and they go wow heard about this culture that you're building I want to come and be part of it we genuinely had people out of nowhere say I want to work for you you're the only brand I would leave my business for you know, come and help us out.
14:46John Reynolds:But all those community backgrounds and tolerance things that I mentioned, that's what I wanted to build from the very beginning. Like I said, I didn't go in to make friends and I wasn't lonely at any point, frankly, because it was so busy. We had growth of 300 % one year, 100 % in between years seven and eight, didn't have time to just stop and go, oh, what's actually going on here? The only thing that maybe was lonely was I was now making decisions of sacrificing personal relationships because I was now throwing myself into the business. That's probably where loneliness can be more of a challenge.
15:18John Reynolds:Because when you've got people you love or care about saying, come and do this, and you're like, sorry, I can't because I'm prioritizing the business over here, that can be quite a difficult challenge to have. I always felt I was destined for doing something more and I was going to get to this exit. And I had this sort of raw enthusiasm that this was going to happen for me. And I guess many entrepreneurs do have that, but sometimes they don't get to the point where they've managed to get to the exit. And obviously, I'm grateful that we did. But yeah, so for me, it was just about working as hard as I could to get to that exit point and understanding that sacrifice was going to be worth it.
15:51John Reynolds:Now, just post exit, I don't have to change my personality because my personality was real all the way through and my authenticity was real and integrity was real. And you're right, I want to help more people. And now I have all the time in the world, which is a magical place to be. But yeah, ultimately, I don't need to change much about myself to be good in that area. Just need to think, where do I focus my attention and how best do I help the world?
Read the full transcript
16:16Andrew Hulbert:In the trenches, where you didn't have time to feel lonely and so on. It feels like that's also the time where maybe you were missing the kids' sports days, where you were missing sort of date time, if you like, with your missus and so on, which is often talked about, isn't it? This is balance. So right now you have so much time, the kids are probably saying, Dad, go back out, right? Where were you three years ago? sort of thing. So I'm just interested to know what you did for yourself during that time. So I'm interested to know specifically about how you kept yourself both mentally and physically fit.
16:47John Reynolds:I set myself annual challenges and often they would be health related. So I'd do half marathons or I'd train to get down to be a fitness weight, to be able to do a skydive, for example. I'd always set myself goals, very goal orientated entrepreneur outside of everything I was doing because my love of food was real. And actually one of the things, and this sounds silly, but it's absolutely true and I think it's good advice. Donuts. Donuts worked for us. 2019, we spent 25 grand on donuts. Absolutely true. Every single client meeting I went to, branded donuts in the client's branding with a gluten-free option and a vegan option.
17:21John Reynolds:So you're hitting everybody on the other side. Every time you go and meet a set of staff or a current client, you take them some food. This concept of like breaking bread with each other and giving and receiving, which again was what I had as a child.
17:32Andrew Hulbert:That sounds very traditional as well. I'm sure that's how we used to probably bring grapes, bring food, right?
17:37John Reynolds:Yes. People asked me to stop bringing the donuts in the end because they were too unhealthy. But actually, it was that sort of idea. And then I extended it. If I was ever going to a walk around with, say, my competitors, because we would go to a building where the client would say bid on the services. There'd be, say, eight or nine providers there that were all in competition with each other. I'd make sure I took twice as many donuts. And as I turned up, I offered everybody one so the client could see we were already interacting. And loads of people were listening to it. Who's that guy? And believe me, I became very unpopular with some of them.
18:07John Reynolds:Checking their bellies. No, but also because I was showing the other competitors up from the very beginning. And, you know, you can see I'm a storyteller. I love to be in amongst it and I love being amongst the people. And also sales is just one minute you're working for one provider, the next you're working for another. It was all just ridiculous to me that we should all be together. So it was about setting challenges. And we did 100 skydives in the business in the end. I did 10 personally. so every September we knew skydive was coming up you had to be at a certain weight and it helped to focus at getting down to being healthy during that time and not focusing too much on the donuts and the year we did three peaks we did tough mudders all those different things but that was a way for me to create some relief for myself and the one thing I promise you about a skydive the 60 seconds that you're falling out of the plane before you hit the ground you're going to die so you are not thinking about whether that invoice has been paid at that stage or why that client doesn't like you you're thinking about survival and that is an amazing place to be and having done that 10 times i continue to do skydives today uh because i just love the clarity uh that you get
19:08Andrew Hulbert:when you're falling out of a plane that's interesting i've spoken to different people damon hill you know and people where they that one of the things they thrive on is at that moment when they are going 150 mile an hour 200 mile an hour they can't concentrate on anything else it's slightly different six seconds i'm out of a plane but you get my point they're seeking something. Yes. That when they visor down or whatever it is they're doing, they just focus on this and everything goes out.
19:33John Reynolds:But you know, that's how I felt about sales. So I've sold 250 million pounds of services to big tech companies and other clients in the UK in the last 10 years. When I go into that room, I am 100 % focused. Leave the phone outside, couldn't care about anything else. My mind is on selling that service to that company that I'm sat across from. The donuts and stuff, they play up to that. But actually, I could go into a room and make them feel that the most important thing going on in my life right now was that you and I had a relationship with each other when I walked out of there. And that was very powerful.
20:05John Reynolds:And I could do it better than most people could. And it was genuine because I wanted to win. And when I was dealing with massive tech businesses, you know, every app on your phone we were just going for to go, right, let's do their office, their office, their office, their office. That gave me such an energy. and I didn't prepare for sales meetings. I just walk in there and I just let it happen. And I knew that my energy could be the best it could be in that sort of flying around all over the place, jumping around. And I always remember Twitter. Twitter was like our fourth customer or something like that.
20:35John Reynolds:And we went in there. It was meant to be a one hour presentation. We were there for three hours and two hours we talked about dogs. And we walked out of that presentation and I said to my colleague, if we don't win that contract, this hasn't worked because he just spent two hours talking about dogs. And yeah, Twitter went on to be a fantastic supporter of ours, hosted our fifth birthday party and all sorts of stuff. But yeah, it was about connecting with people genuinely and giving my whole self in those meetings and meaning it as well because I really did care.
21:05Andrew Hulbert:I love that because if you use that analogy, two-thirds of what was a business meeting was actually people-related. Yes. It was very much about connecting rather than stats, data. and so on and I think that's why we get on and even more so after this conversation and I always and that that that whole sense of being fully present in the moment and not no prep for this you know yeah we literally yeah apart from knowing that the vibe from you felt really good and I can learn from that now if you take 250 million of sales that you've done the entrepreneur that you are bring right forward to now yeah you like a challenge yeah I don't know if you have got a plane you're jumping out of anything soon but i'm wondering how you're managing that because there's clearly uh the challenge is what to do next which is a good challenge right and you've taken the pressure off of the council estate kid that wanted to change your future and have a different kind of future for what became your family so congratulations on that and i guess there's a huge uh tick box scenario that that actually you you live and breathe every day now is that but but how do you get past this challenge element though because you had a business that challenge you had all the other microclimates that went with that how are you satisfying that or you are you and what i mean by that is if you put a timeline on this to kind of go well i'll chill now and i'll do my curiosity bit and i'll learn and i'll learn from this conversation and so on but where's the pressure coming yet to start doing something kayak gets my flight hotel and rental car right so i can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong bro sky coin way better
22:41John Reynolds:than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade.
22:49Andrew Hulbert:Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with Kayak and get your trip right. Bad advice? You talking to me? Kayak. Got that right. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus. Powered by Peloton IQ. With real-time guidance and endless ways to move, you can personalize your workouts and train with confidence, helping you reach your goals in less time. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus at OnePeloton.com.
23:27John Reynolds:The one thing I've learned very early on is not having an alarm clock, not having to be anywhere, having maybe eight hours sleep, nine hours sleep, waking up in the morning when my daughter runs in and gives me a cuddle for 20 minutes, I promise you that feeling, finding love and joy and warmth in that feeling is worth more than selling all 250 million pounds of services added together. Not even close. I would give all my money away to have a few more days to do that. And I genuinely mean that as well. I love it. I love doing the school run and all the basic stuff, the homework, taking them swimming, whatever it is with the kids.
24:00John Reynolds:Reconnecting with my wife, going for brunch, dropping the kids off and going to have brunch and talking and leaving phones in the car. there is so much power in that connection so at the moment i'm really enjoying that um i was lucky i i got to do all the things that we want to do i bought my mom and dad their house my sisters their houses paid my dad 250 grand to retire five years early took him the cash on a quad bike in a sainsbury's bag famously and all this sort of stuff i got to do all those things i i got the chip off my shoulder which was about being a working class kid who had it all to prove i've it.
24:32John Reynolds:Now I'm trying to explore a little bit more. And actually, that's how we met, because we had a conversation at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, and I was in awe of what you were doing and the stories that you were telling from here. I'm exploring a little bit of being on podcasts and telling the story and raising a little bit of profile. But there are other things. I'm interested in legacy now. So for example, I planted my own forest. I bought a big farm over in Oxford, which is where we live now and i planted 1500 trees uh on our own forest on our land uh 86 percent of them died over the summer because of global warming but that's a different story they're being replanted i am now one of if not the biggest blood donor in the world you literally did it before you could i literally have this plaster on my arm now i donate every two weeks and i donate three bags you cannot donate more and you cannot donate more often so literally i've saved a thousand lives or so now and I'm on my way to keep going for as long as I can do that also means I have to live my health my life in a relatively healthy way because to donate blood there are many things that you can't do it's you accountable doesn't it it does keeps you accountable all the time and if I I know like Christmas is coming up so I know that there are going to be Christmas drinks and things coming out on at least one occasion I'm donating the next day which means I can't drink great so now that's another health benefit for me for doing it so I love these little stories and I like this idea that the kids in the future, they're four and six now, will be able to look back and see these little stories in the local paper of like crazy man plants a forest or man is biggest blood donor in the world or whatever it is.
26:01John Reynolds:And I'm in no rush. I'm giving myself maybe eight to 10 years for where I am now. Just take it as it comes. Have no pressure, no risk and not need to do anything. We're very fortunate financially that we've given ourselves the opportunity to be in this situation. Neither my wife or I work now. And it's just about spending time together whilst everybody is still here. We take for granted on a daily basis that we're all going to get home at the end of the day. And that's just not the case.
26:27Andrew Hulbert:Do you know what I love? There's the expression that's used a lot. Money doesn't make you happy. What I'm picking up from this is that the council estate kid that wanted to, again, change the trajectory of your future has been able to give so much back to all your family. the 20 % of the people in the company. There's so many people that will actually be able to look at the endeavors that you went on that have actually allowed them to flourish. And I think that, I hope, I don't need to tell you that. I feel that you can already ultimately feel that. You're an entrepreneur ultimately. Do you think that you'll be in any way looking back, look into that space as a mentor and potentially an investor?
27:05Andrew Hulbert:And if so, I'm interested to know what you look for because I feel like people are so important to you. You'd almost be looking for someone that in a way would remind you of a younger version of yourself. Not just a younger version, but the traits. And what are they?
27:18John Reynolds:Yes, I'm interested in helping other entrepreneurs that I can see the fire in. And I'm happy to put investment into those. I've invested nearly 10 million back into the UK now with the money that we've had, including reinvestments back into Pareto and everything that we've done. What I look for is someone that just has fire and someone has heart and someone has soul. and basically they're just going to do it. They don't need anyone else to tell them that they're good enough. They don't need the applause of others. They know it's the right thing to do and they're going to do it anyway. And for me, that's how I managed to sort of keep my mental health in a good place.
27:50John Reynolds:Apart from my mum, I wasn't doing this for anyone else. It was just all about me. And as you said at the start, you hold yourself to such a high standard that nobody could hold a standard higher than I did for myself. And if I got it wrong, I would beat myself up. And if I got it right, I'd be like, yes, Andrew, this is what you should have done. And let's move on to the next one and keep growing. So, yeah, I think from my side, it's just about I just want to keep going and keep the positivity going and just be around and just let life happen to me for a change rather than trying to create all these opportunities.
28:21John Reynolds:Being fully present. Sitting here now, how do you define success? Finding joy in the mundane. It's being in those basic situations that you find yourself in every day and being happy that you're there. Before I started the business, you could not have convinced me that cuddling my daughter would have been where I found the total joy in life. Now you couldn't convince me otherwise. I was lucky I did the journey. I made the tens of millions. I did all of that sort of stuff. But actually, just being in the moment and being there on those mundane things, taking the kids to school and waving to them like I did this morning while they were dancing in the playground as part of their start to the day, them smiling, loving it, so much positivity and joy.
29:01John Reynolds:That's what success is. You couldn't have convinced me before I did it. Now you couldn't change my mind.
29:06Andrew Hulbert:But you're sitting here with 100 million exit. You know I'm going with this, right? Yeah. So younger version of me was told by countless Pineitworths. And I was talking to maybe three or four a day every day through a sales role that I was in. And they knew that I was about to be a dad. And then through that journey of becoming a dad, it was like a warm record, Andrew. They all said, most magical time. and the period you've got coming up now where they call you daddy and they want to be with you more than anyone will ever want to be with you make time to be there yeah and it was in the end it went in and i was i was on these calls and doing all my meetings and traveling not at home yeah to then by the time my second daughter was born 20 months later i made that period of time where i was accessible and i tried tried to get a balance where i could have those times and dropping off and so on i've gone the other way now but they're teenagers and that's so i'm back in that whole i'm here with you out for dinner tonight yeah but where i'm going with it is anyone watching listening to you then going what's all right for you yeah you know it doesn't have to be 100 minutes it could be yeah it could whatever it could be but yeah with reflection yeah and the fact that you did miss things and that would be probably one of your only regrets but yeah but you're doing it now and you can because the regret that everyone worn record wise had when i was talking to them was they'd missed it yeah 20 years had gone by kids didn't want to know them or they didn't know who they were broken uh marriages because the wife was that we never hear yeah what advice would you give about finding that balance when you're in the trenches that younger version where you're like you wouldn't have listened but actually yeah you articulated it
30:35John Reynolds:beautifully i don't want to be that guy you absolutely have to carve out time that is the only thing you can do be rigorous with your diary be good at saying no you know this power of saying no like it's absolutely about that i was bad saturdays and sundays i really had to try and drag myself away because I use Sunday as an admin catch up day because I didn't get the phone calls. So and actually, you're right. My wife wasn't happy at several occasions when I was making those choices. Split your week up, compartmentalize it, understand which parts of your week you're going to be available. Leave your phone somewhere else so that you haven't got it in your hand and thinking about it.
31:09John Reynolds:But just make time. It's easy to say it's impossible to do. Put something in your calendar and make time and stick to it. And I say about entrepreneurs holding themselves to account hold yourself to the highest account on that bit not about the sales or the profitability or the cash or the exit value hold it with your kids or your family or whoever is dear to you but make time and you're absolutely right you do not want to wake up when they're 20 years old and go ah missed that now i've got some time and i know in the same way that we're so present with
31:40Andrew Hulbert:each other now um i i felt that pain i felt you know we're both good on eq yeah that's probably know key strength of ours yes that empathy and so on you know people worth you know three four hundred million say and you're sort of having this conversation started with the success story so then they found out that i was about to be a dad or i was a dad and it was like it was like someone just pulled the plug yeah out of their energy like john it doesn't matter how much money i've made and i and that that hearing that from you on in this conversation i think it's powerful because it's fresh yeah and you've got that um you've got that knowledge from both being on one side of the fence and the other and it's so clear which one means more yeah i look forward to this conversation i don't want it to end but we've run out of time but i hope that uh i've so enjoyed i hope you have too absolutely yeah i can't believe it's already gone i know our conversation carries on because i'd love to be in any way part of your next chapter i'm excited for what you will choose and no doubt you're going to give back to so many people and and you'll go again yes and see what
32:39John Reynolds:you do i have many ideas as we do it's of course in entrepreneurship it's about working out which idea actually means something but i love adventure i love being with people i love creating opportunities for people something will happen yeah and yeah watch this space there's more to
32:53Andrew Hulbert:come well thank you so much you made time to talk today thank you appreciate it
32:59Andrew Hulbert:thought sweet green was just salads think again there's a new way to do sweet green
33:05John Reynolds:wrapped and ready these handheld wraps pack bold flavor and 40 plus grams of protein into something hearty, satisfying, and built for life on the go. From craveable sauces to satisfying textures, they're designed to keep you going without slowing you down.
33:19Andrew Hulbert:So put that fork down. Try the new wraps today in app or at order.sweetgreen.com. Available at participating locations only.
33:31John Reynolds:30 years ago, Blinds.com broke the mold and made custom window treatments easy for everyone. Over 25 million windows later, we're celebrating by giving our customers up to 50 % off site-wide during our anniversary sale. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, Blinds.com has you covered. Shop online, access real design professionals, and get free samples. Thank you for 30 amazing years. Shop the anniversary sale now through March 11th and get up to 50 % off site-wide at Blinds.com.
From the publisher
From a council estate to a $100 million exit, Andrew Hulbert’s story is the kind entrepreneurs dream about. But what happens when you actually make it?
In this powerful episode of Extraordinary Life Stories with John Reynolds, Andrew shares the journey from working-class roots and a dream at 15, to building a £50 million turnover facilities management business from his bedroom and retiring at 37.
He opens up about the sacrifices, the grind, the culture he built, and the eight-figure equity pot he gifted to his senior team.
Andrew reflects on preparing psychologically for life after the exit, working with a business psychologist before selling, and why so many high achievers struggle once they reach their “island.”
He talks candidly about missed moments with family, the pressure of leadership, and how annual challenges, from skydives to half marathons, kept him mentally sharp (and yes, how £25,000 worth of donuts helped him win £250 million in sales).
Now 39, financially free and no longer driven by the chip on his shoulder, Andrew is redefining success. Planting forests. Becoming one of the world’s most prolific blood donors. Reconnecting with his wife. Doing the school run. Finding joy in the ordinary.
This episode is about ambition, identity, sacrifice — and the unexpected truth that success isn’t the exit… it’s the cuddle before school.
If you’re chasing the big win, this conversation might just change how you see it.
