Simon Dolan planned to make his first
million from rock stardom. But on leaving
college he realised “our band was not
going to be signed up”. So under pressure
from his father he applied for a job with a
local accountancy firm. “It was the job I
really didn’t want but the one I ended up
getting.” Turns out Dad knew best.
After 15 months Dolan was “annoyed
with the fact that I was making my boss
£8,000 a month but he was only paying
me £800”. When Dolan’s request for a
raise was rejected he decided to leave.
“I wanted to do something more
exciting.” Dolan tried various sales
roles, “trying to shift everything from
timeshares to fax machines”. He quickly
grew disenchanted as he realised on target
earnings were rarely achievable. Having
“bummed around for a year racking up
credit-card debts”, by the end of 1992 he
decided to return to accounting as “it was
the only thing I knew how to do apart
from play the guitar – and no one was
going to pay me for that”.
This time would be different – aged 22
he placed an advertisement in the local
paper as a freelance accountant. After
three weeks he got his first customer,
using the money from this contract
to pay for more advertisements. SJD
Accounting grew, but Dolan was
working “flat-out, seven days a week”.
And despite the hard work after three
years it was “just like any other small
accountancy practice in the UK”.
The breakthrough came in 1996 when
Dolan decided to focus on self-employed
IT contractors, “a niche market but
growing quickly”. But “I knew if I was to
push SJD up to the next level I would have
to give the appearance that I was a bigger
company”. So he bought a “virtual office”
with a Mayfair address and regional
branches. He also undercut the market.
“There were a lot of established firms
already in the sector, which were charging
£60 a month. I decided to offer half that.”
Sales rocketed and within months he had
185 clients and found himself working 18-
hour days. “I realised I had to take some
more people on to give the firm more
structure. I was doing everything from the
accounting to going to the post office and
it was getting chaotic.”
Dolan took on more staff, enabling him
to accept more customers, which gave
him more money to invest in branding.
It was a virtuous circle that saw SJD go
from a one-man firm with 185 customers
and £80,000 a year sales in 1996 to one
of the UK’s top 50 accountancy firms
with 150 employees and revenues of
£12m. “Britain’s 48th biggest accountancy
practice might not sound much until you
know there are over 60,000 of them.”
Dolan then started up regional offices with
licensed accountants working all over the
country. “It means I can offer clients more
while giving employees an incentive to
succeed and earn promotion.” Pity one of
them “walked away with three-quarters
of a million pounds’ worth of business”.
A court case found in favour of SJD, but
Dolan concedes it was “probably the worst
moment of the business”. His regional
accountants now have “far less autonomy”.
At only 41 Dolan still has ambitious plans
for SJD. “The IT sector still makes up
60% of sales but we are targeting other
niche areas, such as nuclear contractors.”
Boomed!
IT will make you rich
million from rock stardom. But on leaving
college he realised “our band was not
going to be signed up”. So under pressure
from his father he applied for a job with a
local accountancy firm. “It was the job I
really didn’t want but the one I ended up
getting.” Turns out Dad knew best.
After 15 months Dolan was “annoyed
with the fact that I was making my boss
£8,000 a month but he was only paying
me £800”. When Dolan’s request for a
raise was rejected he decided to leave.
“I wanted to do something more
exciting.” Dolan tried various sales
roles, “trying to shift everything from
timeshares to fax machines”. He quickly
grew disenchanted as he realised on target
earnings were rarely achievable. Having
“bummed around for a year racking up
credit-card debts”, by the end of 1992 he
decided to return to accounting as “it was
the only thing I knew how to do apart
from play the guitar – and no one was
going to pay me for that”.
This time would be different – aged 22
he placed an advertisement in the local
paper as a freelance accountant. After
three weeks he got his first customer,
using the money from this contract
to pay for more advertisements. SJD
Accounting grew, but Dolan was
working “flat-out, seven days a week”.
And despite the hard work after three
years it was “just like any other small
accountancy practice in the UK”.
The breakthrough came in 1996 when
Dolan decided to focus on self-employed
IT contractors, “a niche market but
growing quickly”. But “I knew if I was to
push SJD up to the next level I would have
to give the appearance that I was a bigger
company”. So he bought a “virtual office”
with a Mayfair address and regional
branches. He also undercut the market.
“There were a lot of established firms
already in the sector, which were charging
£60 a month. I decided to offer half that.”
Sales rocketed and within months he had
185 clients and found himself working 18-
hour days. “I realised I had to take some
more people on to give the firm more
structure. I was doing everything from the
accounting to going to the post office and
it was getting chaotic.”
Dolan took on more staff, enabling him
to accept more customers, which gave
him more money to invest in branding.
It was a virtuous circle that saw SJD go
from a one-man firm with 185 customers
and £80,000 a year sales in 1996 to one
of the UK’s top 50 accountancy firms
with 150 employees and revenues of
£12m. “Britain’s 48th biggest accountancy
practice might not sound much until you
know there are over 60,000 of them.”
Dolan then started up regional offices with
licensed accountants working all over the
country. “It means I can offer clients more
while giving employees an incentive to
succeed and earn promotion.” Pity one of
them “walked away with three-quarters
of a million pounds’ worth of business”.
A court case found in favour of SJD, but
Dolan concedes it was “probably the worst
moment of the business”. His regional
accountants now have “far less autonomy”.
At only 41 Dolan still has ambitious plans
for SJD. “The IT sector still makes up
60% of sales but we are targeting other
niche areas, such as nuclear contractors.”
Boomed!
IT will make you rich
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