I’m 22 and left school with no qualifications – but I run a business with a £400,000 a year turnover
ENTERPRISING Jayson Churn left school with zero qualifications – but now he owns his own logistics company and makes a turnover of £400,000 per year.
Jayson, 22, set up CWD Logistics – a haulage and freight forwarder company – with just a van, laptop and a phone.
He started by doing 15 to 16-hour days and bought his dream truck within a year – something he had wanted all his life.
He says: “I got an email address and a website, and I went for it and I just phoned and phoned and phoned and I marketed.”
As a small child, Jayson’s parents owned a local skip firm and Jayson spent a lot of time sitting in the passenger side of his dad’s lorry.
Growing up, his mum was the director of a few businesses, so he was able to draw on his parents’ experience of owning a business.
His parents loaned him the money for a van once he started to get clients. Then he upgraded to a lorry once he had paid them off.
Jayson, who lives in Southend, Essex, says: “I spent weeks learning how to market and how to do everything.”
“You pick up a telephone, you look around you. “Who’s moving? What? Where can you apply your business? How can you make your business applicable to their wants and needs, and then sell it to them? I’m not the world’s best salesman, by all means, but I understand gaps in markets.
“I emailed people and I phoned people and I just worked my ass off.”
Jayson left school with nothing and failed all his exams, despite, he says, trying really hard. He describes school as ‘abysmal’ and says it just wasn’t for him.
After hearing discouraging comments about his future, Jayson says he watched his friends move on to college while he says he felt left behind.
However, with dreams of becoming a truck mechanic, he posted his CV to local transport companies the same day he left school.
He landed his first job as a yard hand at just £3.30 an hour, cycling six miles daily to work. “If you can work outside in the freezing cold washing lorries, that’s when you know you love it,” he says.
As he built his career in logistics, Jayson also discovered he had been living with undiagnosed dyslexia.
After initially failing a test, he was given a chance to retake it verbally. “I received one of the highest scores they had ever seen,” he recalls, which led to his diagnosis and allowed him to leverage his strengths.
Once his dyslexia was recognized, Jayson achieved significant qualifications, including an apprenticeship, a Level 2 qualification as an HGV Technician, a Class 1 License, and a Transport CPC.
‘I had a passion for doing the hard jobs’
While building his business Jayson says a bit of luck also came his way.
He says: “I got a bit lucky. We ended up getting a huge client. We have one of the biggest clients for the import and export of seafood in the country.
“I had a passion for doing the hard stuff. The stuff that no one else wants to do because anyone can move a pallet from A to B, but providing more of a service providing a fully comprehensive solution to a company that really needs it is something of value.
Jayson's top tips for starting a business
JAYSON shared his top tips for starting a business:
- Keep going even when it seems tough.
- Your attitude will save you. In other words, your ability to go the extra mile and do what’s needed to be done will be recognised by others.
- Listen to your heart, acknowledge your head but always follow your gut.
- Saying you don’t know something isn’t bad.
- Everyone has to start somewhere
“So I can charge more money for it again, adding value to my business and seeing gaps in the market.”
Jayson put up an advert on Linkedin as part of his marketing strategy and was approached by companies needing help with transport problems, including such industry giants as Costa, who he has worked alongside.
He says: “I am a specialist within the food logistics market and combined with an aggressive marketing strategy and tactics, I’ve been able to talk to some really big players and show them I have the knowledge to unlock the doors they need”.
Jayson, who is an ambassador for industry awareness campaign Generation Logistics and a member of the RHA Council, now says he wants to offer hope to those who may not wish to follow the academic route to success.
‘Find your passion and run with it’
When asked what advice he would offer to young people feeling uncertain about their future, Jayson states, “It’s not about where you start; it’s about where you’re heading and how hard you’re willing to work.
“Find your passion and run with it. If you’re passionate, people will want to help you. Hard work beats talent, so apply yourself 100% and you won’t go wrong.”
“Setting up a business is definitely not an easy thing to do but I was always told your attitude will save you.
“If you’ve got a positive attitude towards something and you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t got any GCSEs or you haven’t got anything. If you’re willing to do more than the man next to you, then you know you’ll go further. At the end of the day, hard work will trump talent all day long.
“In my opinion, I’m not the most book-smart person.
“I’m not specifically brilliant at that. I’m heavily dyslexic.
“So my attitude is always I’ll do the best I can for you and I’ll always try and find a solution because chances are there’s probably one out there. I’ve just got to be the guy that tries to find it.
“If you’re a young person and you’re thinking about starting your own company, go and get your experience first.
“Do the time. Get your qualifications and then go at it.
“Don’t stop and don’t slow down. The sky is indeed the limit. You can go as far as you want.”
Jayson says he still has goals and has fulfilled a resolution this year to have employees in an office. He is currently completing an office and interviewing employees.
He says: “It’s been an absolute roller coaster ride, but it doesn’t come without its trials or tribulations.
“I’m out fighting on multiple fronts. I don’t ever think that I’m above anyone else. I’ve come from a place of sweeping floors and pulling dead animals out of the tips and things like that.
“So I kind of did the worst of the worst. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no job out there that’s beneath me. I’ll do the best that I can.
“I’m mucking in as and when I can. So, if you’re going to work hard – your attitude is the thing that really saves you.”
Jayson says he encourages those struggling to make connections within the logistics sector: “Opportunities are vast, and passion, integrity, and pride in your work will always propel you forward.
“If you’ve got a dream, stick to it, and if you work hard for it, you’ll get there.”
Side hustles in numbers
Based on new research from Finder, an estimated 22.8 million Brits are using side hustles to top up their income.
Among those aged 18-23, 68 percent have a side hustle in 2024.
Those aged 24-42 aren’t far behind, with 65 per cent having an additional source of income.
Side hustles are less popular among older generations, with 40 percent of those aged 43-54 having one.
Whereas 23 percent of people aged 55-73 and just 7 per cent of those aged 74 and over are earning extra cash this way.