Last year 660,000 businesses were set up in the UK, with 95% failing
within the first 5 years. Jay discusses vision, roadmaps, investments,
savings, building businesses, building your name and your customer
base and reveals how to avoid the pitfalls and find the knowledge
needed to join the top 5%.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
So, myself, I built my own business 14 years ago, I had finished
university with quite a bit of debt like most people who go to university.
I got a job with a corporate company, I wasn’t really good at taking instructions
and the 9am-5pm never really suited me. My main ambition, as it was when I
was younger was to have a company which I owned myself.
So, what I did was I ditched the job and I went travelling across India
and Thailand. When I came back from travelling with only £100 in the bank, I’d
managed to get my vision and clarity done during my travelling experiences so I
had a bit of a vision. Where I wanted to go, I mapped it all out, it was only on a
piece of paper and I’ve shared this on my talks and show how a simple piece of
paper can create a vision and what you want to do in the future, quite simply,
on that paper.
Now I feel being an entrepreneur is actually building a business, which
works without you. Ultimately, if you want you can sell it on, or use it as an
income ongoing, but ultimately you are building something of value which would
then appeal to other people.
So, with my business we went from £0-500k in five years. After ten years,
we sold the business.
I’ve spent probably £100k+ on business coaches. There wasn’t much of
google, information was scarce and you had to rely upon paying for business
coaches and courses, which ultimately you didn’t know if they were going to be
any good or not, but I learnt from these courses. And also, I learnt from the
courses which weren’t very good.
95% of businesses still fail within the first five years. Bearing in mind,
that 660,000 went into business last year. So, if you think about that, only 5%
of that 660,000 will actually build a meaningful business that will actually
survive longer than five years. And all successful people will tell you that the
first five years, or in fact anybody in business, the first five years is the
toughest, because you’re using your investments, your savings or your time in
building that business. You’re building your name, your customer base, and
within the first five years is make or break.
Now as a business, as an entrepreneur, I can remember going into
business, from day one, and nobody really cares. The market, which will

judge how successful you are, doesn’t give a monkeys. It really is dog-eat-dog.
Nobody cares that you invested your savings, your Mum and Dad’s money, the
market does not care, and the competition is out to take you out of the game.
You need to get a good mentor. You need to get a mentor which has been
there, done it before, and can give you that kind of apprenticeship and help you
avoid these mistakes that will take your business from the 95% of fail to the 5%
that will succeed.

In 2009, we had the recession. I’d ran my business for three years and we
grew pretty well. And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, the recession came.
My mentor told me, “Look, Jay, what I want you to do tonight, this evening,
when you finish work, I want you to drive around the streets and look at how
many For Sale boards are up.”
There wasn’t as many For Sale signs as I thought there would be so I went back
to Mike, rang him up and said, “Mike, there’s not many up there.” And he said,
“So, it’s not as bad as you think. Now let me give you some advice: I want you
to get your head down, focus on sales, I want you to give it your best shot, keep
your sales people board and keep working at it. Don’t give up, keep working at
it.”
So, in January, when the recession hit us hard, we kept on going, we kept going
to the clients, kept ringing them up, they kept saying, “No, we’re no, we’re not
recruiting.” But we kept going and what happened then was in December that
year we had our best return since we started the company. That was crazy! The
market had turned in our favour, because a certain sector had picked up,
because people wanted flexible staff and we were there to maximise it.
That one bit of advice from Mike, probably saved me from closing my
business down, being one of those statistics of the 95% that failed.

I really value your feedback and you can reach me at
jay@businessmentorpodcast.com or you can go on the website,
www.businessmentorpodcast.com and you can leave your contact details or
question, so if you’ve got a question, then what I’d do is turn it into a podcast
which will then go onto the show and somebody else can benefit from it so it’s
all about a two way thing.
If you get the right mentor, the right advice, that is the number one secret or tip
that will help you become the 5% that succeed.

In business, I think I’ve mentioned before that it’s cut throat, so you
can’t really afford to make a bigger mistake because you could be out
the game. People who say that you should learn by your mistakes in business, I
would totally rubbish that, I think what you need to do is learn from other
people’s mistakes.

BEST MOMENTS
Now, I was quite fortunate because due to my work and working with
my mentees I got invited to Buckingham Palace which is an amazing
experience. At that time, I got a personal invite from Prince Charles, we went
there and had an amazing time and met people like Rio Ferdinand, Philip
Schofield, a lot of celebrities and I met the Prince himself. It was great because I
met him and he shook my hand and said, “Look, I want to thank you for the
work.” It felt good because I was giving something back and it was being
recognised by one of the highest states people in the UK.
Without goals, you don’t know where you’re going, you haven’t got a roadmap,
and that was a valuable lesson.

VALUABLE RESOURCES
www.recruitmentboss.com
www.princes-trust.org.uk
Jay’s LinkedIn

ABOUT THE HOST
Jay Dhillon is a well-established entrepreneur and has built up many businesses
from start-up to success.
In 2005 he built a business from 0 – 500 employees with a turnover of £5
million per year and this with no investment apart from his savings. This
business brought in major clients such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Toyota and New
Look just to name a few. His passion and skills have since allowed him to build
many more businesses.
Today Jay has multiple business in various sectors. His achievements for his
work have been highlighted in a visit to Buckingham Palace to meet with Prince
Charles.
From humble upbringings, Jay feels that anyone can be successful in the
business world. With over 18 years in business, he is now sharing his knowledge
and skills to help other inspiring entrepreneurs succeed in the world of business.

CONTACTS
jay@businessmentorpodcast.com
www.businessmentorpodcast.com