As a youngster I left school at 16-years-old to pursue a professional career as a footballer. I played for many clubs including Norwich City, Northampton Town and Stevenage. For all of my playing career I projected confidence to my peers, but deep down I was struggling. At times I needed picking up by my managers which was unusual for the character I projected. As my confidence in my own ability decreased as did my interest for the game. After hopping from one club to another in non-league football – playing for clubs such as St Albans, Enfield and Oxford City – I decided to call it a day. I studied Sport Science whilst I was a YTS footballer, so going into the fitness industry was a fairly obvious choice for me. The first problem I came across was my body shape – I was a bag of bones. Weighing in at just 10.5 stone and being so young isn’t very inspirational to someone else who wants a good body. Over the course of a year I managed to change that as a fitness instructor working for a small local health club. My next move in the fitness industry was a good one based on Willen Lake. My manager Karl Fenwick at the time was extremely knowledgeable about health and fitness. I was forever picking his brains to better myself and I must say I learnt a lot from this man. What I liked about him most, was that everything he said was always backed up with an educated answer. Now weighing in at 13-stone, I started to get requests from gym members for me to personal train them. I went from one client to having the most clients over the course of 1-2 years. Eventually, I was approached by LivingWell Health Clubs to be a full time personal trainer there. LivingWell health club had no clients at the time, so I took the majority of my clients with me and continued to be the highest paid personal trainer for a year or so. My manager at the time Andy Carey eventually left and things changed as you would expect with someone new coming in. My percentages for personal training were reduced, I was being made to clean more gym machines and I didn’t like it. At 22-23 years old my confidence was a lot higher now. I physically looked the part and my knowledge for health and fitness was above my competitors.Football
Personal Training
I was the highest paid personal trainer in Milton Keynes and my reputation for helping clients get results was very good.
Becoming my own boss
It was getting to the point where I couldn’t bear to take any orders from the gym. What really killed me was taking orders from a gym manager that I didn’t respect.
I respected Karl Fenwick in my previous health club because he took the time and money to become highly qualified. In my opinion that’s how you demand authority and respect. Anyone who knows the same or more than me, I will happily listen to. However, I found it very difficult to listen to managers that rubbed shoulders with the right people above but didn’t have the qualifications/experience.
I decided I wanted to be a driving instructor and follow in my Dad’s footsteps in being my own boss. I could see where the health and fitness industry was going and I needed to get out. I was never going to be able to brown nose people I didn’t respect, so it was my time to get out.
I enjoy helping others and I would say my people skills are pretty good, so teaching people to drive seemed like a good move where I could keep that interaction and be my own boss at the same time.
Driving Instruction
At the the very beginning, I approached my dad and he entertained the idea but deep down I don’t think he was convinced I would do it. He helped me through me Part 1 and most of the Part 2 exam to be an instructor. However, when we got to the Part 3 exam (the final test) my dad advised I should see a trainer with experience in part 3 training (ability to teach exam). After training with several cowboys I managed to find a good trainer called Neville in Bedford. With his help, he got me through the final exam.
Within a year, business was going really well, so I decided to train my first instructor up. One of my best friends Peter Hogben. Peter was in the health and fitness industry like myself previously, he was experiencing the same problems I anticipated, so he wanted to get out. Over the course of 10-12 months I trained Peter up to be a driving instructor. Once Peter had qualified, I then started to train other instructors locally, taking on 1 or 2 new instructors each year.
I never became a driving instructor to start a national enterprise, however, as each year has passed, we have taken on more and more instructors. We now have over 200 instructors across the UK for driveJohnson’s driving school. It helps owning and running a marketing company (explained later in Web design, SEO & Marketing)
The Recession
Fuel prices started going up and lesson prices started going down. This was the first sign of the recession for driving instructors. Then out of nowhere, big companies offering 5 lessons for 50-odd pounds came out of the wood work. Most instructors scoffed at these companies but I could sense where the industry was going.
I had to raise the standards in terms of image and marketing rather than dropping my prices. The first thing I decided to do was change my business name from Johnson’s Driving Academy to driveJohnson’s. It was shorter and sweeter, easier to spell too. After designing a new logo it was time to get a new website up and running.
With a new image in place I needed to decide what I was going to bring to the table that was different to my competitors. YouTube was becoming very popular at this time and I knew I was a quality driving instructor. So I decided to do driving instruction videos on YouTube. There were a few companies doing it with cheesy music and an actor/voice over – so I decided to make my videos real and interesting to watch. driveJohnson’s UK Youtube Channel now has over 2 million views more than any other driving school channel.
The death of my father
I was doing okay during the recession. In my eyes the rubbish instructors went out of business, the average struggled and the good either did okay or excelled. What really gave me the determination to excel was the death of my father in 2009. He was diagnosed with Cancer in January 2009 and eventually passed away in December 2009. For me it was all about keeping a steady ship with my businesses and seeing/looking after my dad. Obviously my Dad came first but I also knew full well that once he passed away, I had literally nobody to rely on if I ever ending up in financial difficulty. January 2010 was a big year for me, I needed to start making my own luck. The first step was to study marketing and sack my SEO company that was taking me for a ride.
Web Design & SEO
After using many Web design and SEO companies I decided to finally learn it all myself. It was not easy. Staying up till 2am most nights learning how to do it was painful, but I couldn’t afford to keep wasting money with companies that spent more money on their sales team than their intelligence. After sacking my last SEO company who I was with for over a year, I have taken my main driving school site from 2,000 views a month to over 15,000 a month over the last 18 months. The company I was with previously couldn’t get me above 2,000 visitors despite me increasing my spend. SEO is all about increasing relevant traffic to your site. For more information on SEO and how it works visit SEO Explained.
Web design was never my strong point until I met my business partner Ruhin. Ruhin’s background in web design and SEO is phenomenal. He’s worked for some of the largest companies in the UK, so his experience with big clients and their requirements is fantastic. I think with my ability to spot trends, marketing ideas, video making, graphic design, SEO and Ruhin’s overall SEO and Web design skills we compliment each other well, hence it’s turned into Gud Ideas.
Business Manager at Geoffrey Leaver
With so many instructors flying the flag for the driving school, unfortunately they were experiencing non fault road traffic accidents, such as being hit from behind. This is what brought me to working with Geoffrey Leaver, I was initially running my own personal injury company.
After working with Geoffrey Leaver for several years closely, they eventually offered me a position and opportunity to become their business development manager.
Other Businesses
As each year passes, different opportunities arise. In 2014, Pure Driving was formed – advanced driver training for all category types and in 2015 Swift Drive was formed – Intensive driving courses across the UK. Both businesses are driving related but extremely different.
Sometimes in business you see gaps in markets, which is why these companies were formed, both going very well.
New Bradwell St Peter (back to football)
In 2016 I was offered to be the chairman of New Bradwell St Peter FC. The club wasn’t in a great financial position and had just been relegated for ground improvement reasons.
Since taking over, we have built a new website, designing and printing programmes to increase match day revenue. Sponsorship has increased massively with match days sponsors, player sponsors and more. We have also improved the club’s social media presence from just over 100 followers to over 500+.
We have also improved the facilities so we can now charge spectators to watch the game. This is a first in the club’s history.
There is still a lot to do but the club is in a significantly better financial position and we have a manager in Craig that has succeeded wherever he has gone, so hopefully the future is bright for New Bradwell St Peter FC.
I left Geoffrey Leaver in 2019 to take on a similar role with Precision Solicitors. Working with Precision Solicitors has been an excellent opportunity to work with a fast growing law firm. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, we have learnt how to adapt as a business and continue to serve our clients in a more virtual means. As the pandemic hopefully calms down and everyone seeks normality again, we will offer face to face and a virtual solutions to keep our clients happy in a way which works for them best. I have a very stable family life living with my wife Carla. Bringing Freya into the world has been a life changing moment for me. On the business side of things it has increased the pressure to succeed so I can provide for my family and give Freya the best possible chances/opportunities when she is older. Overall, life has been good to me so far. As my dad always use to say “happiness is being grateful”.
Precision Solicitors
Family Life
We have been together for over 5 years and now have an adorable daughter in Freya. She was born Sunday 10th May 2015.