Table of contents

• How I Learned to Take Risks
• Gaining Independence and Responsibility
• Forging a New Path: My Taxi Business
• The Valuable Lesson I Learned About Stability  
• Pivoting in the Face of Great Change

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

I’m Adam Thornhill, an entrepreneur and investor based in Dubai, originally from Liverpool, England. This series looks back at the early stages of my career – the businesses I built, the mistakes I made, and what those experiences taught me about building something that lasts. I hope you find these lessons useful. I’d love to connect with you if so.

How I Learned to Take Risks

By the time I turned seventeen, I had already spent a couple of years working and learning through hands-on experience. I understood responsibility, long hours, and earning money through effort. What I didn’t yet understand was how unpredictable the world of business could be.

Keen to take risks and build something of my own, I started buying and selling cars. This venture started small, mainly through platforms like Tuebrook Auctions, eBay and Gumtree. 

My budget was limited, so I focused on cheaper vehicles that needed minor repairs – work I could either do myself or organise through people I knew. Each sale taught me something new, whether it was negotiating, managing risk or understanding how quickly markets could change.

What started as a side gig quickly became more serious. As I bought and sold more vehicles, I started building connections within the motor trade. 

I learned quickly that these relationships mattered just as much as the cars themselves. Access to the right information, the right people, and the right timing often meant the difference between profit and loss.

Gaining Independence and Responsibility

Just three weeks before my eighteenth birthday, I moved into my first apartment. It was above a hairdressers on Breck Road, with single-glazed windows, old carpets and wallpaper that needed replacing, but it was mine. I was determined to fix it up, and so I did.

Living independently brought a different level of responsibility. Rent, bills and daily costs meant that my income couldn’t be inconsistent for long. Around this time, I decided to leave Quality Fireplaces and commit fully to buying and selling cars full-time.

For a while, things went well. After around six months, I had managed to save a decent amount of money. But my income was really unpredictable. 

Some weeks, I would sell two or three cars, and other weeks I would sell nothing at all. The highs were good, but the uncertainty made it clear that I needed to build something more sustainable.

Forging a New Path: My Taxi Business

Before long, I bought my first taxi – a pink vehicle with a PrettyLittleThing advert on the side, complete with a part-time night driver already in place. This felt like a different kind of business venture entirely – and it wasn’t exactly easy to get started.

Most insurance companies simply didn’t understand why someone under 21 was trying to start a business like this, and several refused to insure me altogether. Eventually, after a lot of persistence, however, I found a provider willing to take the risk.

Within another six months, I added a second taxi, which helped me to generate consistent income. I allowed myself to enjoy some of my newfound success and moved into a penthouse near the Metquarter.

Over the next few years, I continued buying and selling cars while gradually expanding the taxi fleet. For the first time, my business felt stable and scalable at the same time.

Then COVID arrived.

Almost overnight, everything slowed down. Taxis sat idle, drivers returned vehicles, and car sales dried up. Like many business owners at the time, my income plummeted while all the same fixed costs remained. 

This forced me to take a step back and reconsider everything. 

The Valuable Lesson I Learned About Stability 

Looking back, this stage of my life taught me the difference between making money and building something sustainable. Buying and selling cars showed me how to create opportunity quickly, but the taxi business showed me the value of consistency and recurring income.

This was also the first time I experienced how external events that were completely outside your control could change your business overnight. 

COVID forced a shift in my thinking. Instead of focusing only on what I knew, I started looking more broadly at industries that had been disrupted and where new opportunities might emerge.

That mindset change became important later. I became less attached to individual businesses and more focused on understanding markets, timing and adaptability. 

Entrepreneurship stopped being about a single idea and became more about recognising when to move and when to change direction.

Pivoting in the Face of Great Change

When people look at my business background now, they often see different industries and assume the path was planned. In reality, much of it came from learning through experience and adapting as circumstances changed.

Starting businesses young meant learning quickly about risk, responsibility and uncertainty. Those lessons still shape how I approach opportunities today. I tend to focus less on short-term wins and more on whether something can operate consistently over time.

If there is one good thing to come out of losing my taxi business to COVID, it’s that it influenced how I work with other founders and operators. Many businesses go through periods of growth followed by sudden change, and having experienced that early on makes it easier to stay practical and calm when circumstances shift.

It was during this period, as industries adjusted to the impact of COVID, that my attention turned to travel – an industry facing significant disruption and uncertainty, but also one that presented an opportunity to build something new…

If you’re inspired by my story, please get in touch – I’d love to hear from you.

The post Building Momentum: My First Steps into Entrepreneurship appeared first on Adam Joseph Thornhill.

Table of contents

• Joining the Workforce at 15: Learning on Site, Not in the Classroom
• Finding Small Opportunities Everywhere
• Moving on from My Apprenticeship: A New Path
• Reflecting on What I Learned As an Apprentice

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

I’m Adam Thornhill, an entrepreneur and investor based in Dubai, originally from Liverpool, England. This series looks back at the early stages of my career – the businesses I built, the mistakes I made, and what those experiences taught me about building something that lasts. I hope you find these lessons useful. I’d love to connect with you if so. 

Joining the Workforce at 15: Learning on Site, Not in the Classroom

I started working immediately after leaving school at 15. Looking back, this was probably the best decision I could have made for my future career.

As I was too young to start an apprenticeship officially, I joined Quality Fireplaces as a labourer. My plan was simple: work hard and learn everything I could. Then, when I was sixteen, I could start my apprenticeship and begin the next stage of my life.

Before long, I was formally signed on as a Gas Engineer Apprentice. It was my first real job – my first experience of structured work, responsibility, and learning a trade from the ground up. It was a shock to the system… but in a good way.

Unlike school, where progress was measured in exams or grades, progress in the labour force was practical. You either learned how to do something properly, or you didn’t. And when you did, it was super rewarding.

I was paired with an engineer called Kyle, who taught me the trade hands-on (shout out to Kyle!). I learned quickly that there was no substitute for experience. Everything I learned, I learned by doing – by making mistakes, and figuring things out in real time.

However, it also became clear that working in the trades often meant long, unpredictable hours. Jobs didn’t finish at a set time – they finished when they were done. It wasn’t unusual to still be working at eight or nine in the evening, especially during winter. 

Still, unlike at school, progress as an apprentice was easy to measure. Here, at the end of each day, you could see what you’d built or installed. This gave me an early understanding of effort and outcome that stayed with me long after I left the industry.

Finding Small Opportunities Everywhere

During the apprenticeship, my routine was straightforward: each week involved five days working on site and one day at college. But I began to crave something more.

Because my wage as an apprentice was pretty low, I started looking for extra ways to earn money on the side, indulging my entrepreneurial spirit.

I began advertising on Facebook, offering to fit outdoor taps and taking on small jobs outside of work hours. I would cut copper pipe down to fit inside my holdall and travel to jobs on my scooter. Logistically, it wasn’t ideal, but it worked.

Around the same time, I started noticing opportunities within the work we were already doing. Before fireplace installations, chimneys often needed cleaning, so I bought chimney sweeping brushes and started offering that as an additional service. It brought in extra income and, more importantly, taught me something I’ve carried into business ever since – that opportunities are there if you look for them. 

Not long after turning 17, I passed my driving test and was trusted with a blue Y-reg Transit van. With that came more responsibility. I began travelling to jobs independently, loading materials and managing more of the work myself. 

This was a small step, but it felt significant. Independence became something earned through trust and consistency, rather than something given – another crucial lesson. 

Moving on from My Apprenticeship: A New Path

As time went on, I started thinking more about where my Gas Engineering apprenticeship would lead. I wanted to progress faster and increase my earning potential, which led me to consider a fast-track gas engineering course. However, my academic grades meant I wasn’t eligible.

That moment marked the beginning of the end of that chapter, but the start of a new path forward. I realised that while I valued the experience I was gaining, I wasn’t prepared to spend several more years in college before moving forward. 

I wanted to move more quickly, take on more responsibility, and find opportunities that matched my ambition at the time. Looking back, this was less about leaving the trade itself and more about recognising that my path didn’t have to be linear.

Reflecting on What I Learned As an Apprentice

Working as an apprentice taught me things that formal education never could. I learned the importance of reliability, showing up consistently and finishing what you start. I learned that reputation matters – especially in customer-facing trades where trust is everything. 

Most importantly, I learned to look for opportunities rather than waiting for them to come knocking. Whether it was fitting outdoor taps on evenings and weekends or upselling chimney cleaning before installations, I became comfortable creating additional value rather than simply completing the task in front of me.

That mindset carried forward into everything that followed. I became less focused on titles or traditional progression and more focused on learning skills that could be applied elsewhere. 

This experience also helped me get more comfortable working in uncertain environments, where outcomes weren’t guaranteed, but effort still mattered.

Starting work young meant learning responsibility early. There was no separation between effort and outcome. That experience still shapes how I approach business today, particularly when working in environments where practical decisions matter more than theory.

Many founders and operators I work with come from hands-on backgrounds themselves, and understanding that experience makes it easier to focus on solutions rather than processes for their own sake.

If you’re inspired by my story, please get in touch – I’d love to hear from you. 

The post Learning Through Work: What My Apprenticeship Taught Me About Responsibility appeared first on Adam Joseph Thornhill.

Table of contents

• Growing Up in Anfield
• My First Taste of Business
• Choosing Independence Over Convention
• What Uncertainty Taught Me About Business
• How My Early Life Shaped How I Work Today

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

I’m Adam Thornhill, an entrepreneur and investor based in Dubai, originally from Liverpool, England. This series looks back at the early stages of my career – the businesses I built, the mistakes I made, and what those experiences taught me about building something that lasts. I hope you find these lessons useful. I’d love to connect with you if so.

Even as a child, I was never one to follow a traditional path.

Growing up in Anfield, Liverpool, I was surrounded by strong personalities and close-knit communities, in a culture where independence was encouraged from a young age.

This environment, combined with my own experiences inside and outside of the education system, gradually pushed me towards finding my own direction, rather than following the conventional school-college-university route.

Looking back, this decision was actually crucial to my future success in business. People often dismiss teenage ambition, but many of the choices I made back then – some deliberate, some instinctive – were crucial in shaping my later successes as an entrepreneur.

Growing Up in Anfield

I grew up on a small street where everyone knew each other. Like a lot of kids, we spent our time playing football outside and making our own fun.

Unlike other kids my age, though, I was born with clubfoot in both feet, which delayed my ability to walk and left visible scars on the backs of my legs. Even as a child, this never felt like something that defined me – just an obstacle I would need to overcome to get to where I wanted to be.

I attended Anfield Junior School and enjoyed learning. My headteacher, Mr Lund, left a lasting impression on me, and school at that stage felt positive and straightforward. There were Christmas plays, endless football games in the playground, and lots of excitement about growing up and becoming my own person.

My First Taste of Business

Secondary school, however, became more challenging. I attended North Liverpool Academy, a newly opened flagship school at the time, a place filled with new technology and ambition that was famously shaped like an aeroplane!

Academically, I started strong and was placed in top sets across most subjects, but outside the classroom, I was suffering. I was overweight with a significant overbite, which made me insecure about my appearance and unsure of where I fit socially.

It was during this period that I had my first experience of business. I began buying sweets and drinks with my pocket money and selling them at school. What started as a small hobby grew into my first real moneymaking venture.

I quickly realised that buying the sweets in bulk reduced my costs, so I began sourcing stock cheaply from places like Greatie Market and Costco. It was simple, but it was the first time I understood how supply, demand and margins worked in practice – and it’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten.

Bolstered by my newfound business acumen and ambition, I became more interested in life outside of school. I joined Salisbury Amateur Boxing Club, ZAP Youth Club, and the Army Cadets. I lost weight, became more confident, and started to feel more comfortable in myself.

Choosing Independence Over Convention

As my confidence grew outside of school. I became less engaged in lessons and more interested in life beyond the classroom. Around this time, I also changed my surname from Askew to Thornhill, taking my father’s name.

This marked a personal shift, and became the name I would use as a founder and entrepreneur, even if I didn’t know it back then.

In my final year of school, I was told that because of my lateness record, I wouldn’t be allowed to attend prom. This was the catalyst for me choosing to leave school early and pursue work instead.

I was still fifteen when I received my National Insurance number and took my first steps into working life. When I turned sixteen, completing my CBT and getting a scooter gave me my first real sense of independence and freedom.

At the time, it didn’t feel like a dramatic decision. It felt practical. I knew I wasn’t reaching my academic potential at school, and I believed strongly that I would find my own path through work rather than education. I was right to take a chance on myself, even though it felt risky.

What Uncertainty Taught Me About Business

Looking back, I can see now that the uncertainties I faced in childhood shaped how I think about responsibility and decision-making as a working professional.

From an early age, I became comfortable making choices without certainty and accepting the consequences that came with them. I learned early that progress often comes from doing rather than waiting for permission or perfect timing.

The small experiences mattered more than I realised: selling sweets at school, building confidence through boxing, and learning that independence came with responsibility.

None of this felt strategic at the time, but it actually formed the foundations for how I would approach business later on. I became more interested in practical outcomes than theory, and more comfortable learning through experience.

How My Early Life Shaped How I Work Today

When people see the businesses I’ve been involved in now, they often see the later stages – companies, partnerships, or projects. What’s less visible is how much of that approach comes from those early years.

Leaving school at fifteen and entering the workforce meant learning quickly how to adapt, take ownership, and make decisions without a clear roadmap. That mindset still shapes how I work today, particularly in environments where uncertainty or change is constant.

That early sense of independence later influenced how I approached building and operating businesses such as Relate Consultancies and the ventures that followed.

It also influences how I work with others. Many founders and business owners I work with haven’t followed traditional paths either. Understanding that there isn’t always a single correct route makes it easier to focus on practical solutions rather than following the ideal, perfect path.

If you’re inspired by my story, please get in touch.

The post Early Independence: What Choosing Work Over School Taught Me About Business appeared first on Adam Joseph Thornhill.