Having spent almost a decade with my previous company my name and “the brand” are pretty much synonymous. I get a lot of questions from people I meet as to who now work for / with and why this changed this year so here goes with the simplest explanation…
In September 2016 I made a rash decision to book a viewing on a larger house some 30 seconds from where we lived and within seconds of viewing made an asking price offer. We had zero saved for the full renovation that our ‘forever home’ required however Nia and I thought “sod it” and took the risk.
Fast forward 72 hours and I was contacted by a Dr in Egypt who asked if I could fly over to Cairo to work with a 15 year old, with speech production errors, for the next 14 days. I raised a quote which would cover the entire renovation of our forever home and pressed send. Less than 2 minutes later the Dr called me and confirmed the family wanted to proceed and we agreed I would fly out within the week.
Whilst in Cairo I worked with the 15 year old for approximately 30 minutes each evening after school and spent the remainder of my time assessing children in the local International school and visiting local Autism charities.
Ten days into my Cairo trip the Dr asked if I would fly to Abu Dhabi the following day to assess another child. I was flown first class Cairo to Abu Dhabi; picked up with a posh car from the plane steps; taken to the VIP terminal and then shuttled to a 5 star hotel for an hour’s rest before being taken to assess the child.
Arriving at the family home I met with the parents; assessed the young boy for approximately 2 hours in the living room and then met with mother and father to discuss my findings and recommendations. As I left the house to head back to the hotel the father asked if I would be open to selling my company; this came as a complete surprise as I had zero intention and zero understanding of what the company was worth but I agreed to attend a further meeting on this.
Fast forward 90 minutes and I’m sat in a plush office suite with the board of a UAE based investment group “talking numbers” and explaining that my forte isn’t business; it’s Speech Therapy. Before leaving back for Cairo I had an offer in my hand as to what the group were prepared to purchase my family company for and what the basic terms would be.
Following months of legal tussling, all Ts were crossed and all I’s dotted, in December 2017 I had sold 80% of my company to the UAE based investment group for the original figure agreed on day 1; subject to HMRC’s capital gains tax and 18 months of legal fees (pretty much a full time solicitor ?).
Between December 2017 and March 2019 I continued on as CEO at said company and grew the revenue by 69% until stepping down as CEO in March 2019 to pursue a much simpler life working solely for myself and my growing family ?.
Nowadays I work for my new company “Wade Therapy Services” (also trading as South Wales Speech Therapy) with new referrers and families. Wade Therapy Services Ltd is owned 50/50 between me and my wife Nia, a Hypnobirthing Coach, and will remain our family company ?. For now, I still maintain a 20% stake in my previous company however I have no association / alliance whatsoever with said company.
My email has changed but my love for Speech Therapy and empowering families hasn’t faltered one iota ?
