I grew up poor & living on rough council estate but now I’m a multi-millionaire – here’s how I made my fortune
A DAD who was raised on a tough council estate and once mocked for wearing hand-me-downs is now a multi-millionaire.
Mark Harvey, 34, says his family were so poor that it led him to become “obsessed” with making money from a young age.
The dad-of-four is now leading a very different life from what he did growing up.
Mark has made millions of pounds in the software, construction, and property business and lives in a multi-million-pound mansion in Bretby, Derbyshire.
Speaking to Birmingham Live, he said: “I grew up in a village in Leicestershire called Thornton on what was referred to as ‘the estate’ – which was completely separate from the rest of the village in so many ways.
“You were from ‘up the village’ or ‘down the estate.
“A lot of people didn’t work and that was the environment I grew up in.
“There was violence too – people would beat each other up for no reason.
Mark explains how he managed to get out of a lot of scrapes because he was a “quick runner” but there were times he would get beaten up.
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He says in hindsight looking back at that period in his life it is what made him “mentally sharp and aware”.
Mark lived with his parents, twin sisters who are 14 years older than him and another sister seven years his senior.
His dad James worked as a builder and a taxi driver but tragically died following an illness in 2018.
Mark said: “My sisters always looked after me, but when you don’t have much money, you have to rely on your siblings’ hand-me-downs.
“I’d be wearing girls’ jeans and trying to make them look like they were boys’.”
He recalls one occasion where he used bitumen on his sister’s pink trainers to make them black, but that it came off when he was playing football resulting in him being bullied for “wearing girls shoes”.
Mark describes how his mum used to “scrimp and save every penny” and says that is what motivated him to make money from a young age.
The successful businessman now lives in a huge home with his wife Nikola and their four kids.
He said: “I always had a feeling inside there had to be more to life.
“I’d even put vouchers and Monopoly money in my pockets when I went out to have that feeling of having cash in my pockets.”
When Mark was 19, he started a construction business, but in 2008, the global financial crash hit.
He said: “I did everything I could to make money – even selling door to door – and ended up somehow getting a job with an IT company.”
Mark soon became the company’s leading salesman and was promoted to head of sales.
He then became a partner in his ex-colleague’s software company.
He said: “That really was a game-changer for me.
“We did £3.5million of sales in 18 months, turning round what had been a struggling company losing money every month.
“That’s where I started to get into training people and realised that business is people – when I helped others to become better versions of themselves, the company won.”
Mark then invested in property and from 2017 within 18 months, he had established a portfolio worth £4.5 million.
Now, his property firm, Harvey Property Solutions, has done £16 million in deals.
Mark also has a firm called Real Life Group, which has companies across sectors including construction and training.
He said he likes helping people to transform their lives and wanted to create a business where staff “want to come to work”.
He said: “Not everyone has to be a believer, but they should know they can create a life where they are comfortable enough and have the resources to deal with it when things get really tough.
“If I can do it with some of the things I’ve come up against, then many other people already have a head-start.
“I’m always drawn to people who need help and want to know whether they, deep down, want to help themselves.”
Top tip when setting up a business
Make a business plan
A good idea isn’t always a great business idea.
Consider what your business is for and what differentiates you from the rest of the market as well as the costs and how much money you could make.
This is helpful so you know what you are working towards and also can be used if you are applying for a loan.
Bryn Glover, editor of small business website Startups.co.uk, said: “Whatever your business, you need to know your market like the back of your hand.
“An entrepreneur I know once spent three months working as a waiter in Brighton to get a better feel for the market before he launched his own restaurant on the beachfront.”