A MAN who left school with zero A-levels and went on to have a £1 million business has urged those anxiously waiting for their results today to not be concerned about what’s inside the brown envelope.
Oliver Hodgson, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, never got his A-levels, but it didn’t stop him from going on to create a successful business worth millions.
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Oliver, now 19, dropped out of school without GCSE’s or A-Levels, and yet, has still managed to create a £1million PR firm.
He revealed he left school in year 10 without any formal qualifications, to escape bullies who taunted him for not fitting in with his male peers.
But, determined to make something of himself, he went on to start two successful companies in PR and events management during lockdown.
“That brown envelope, whatever the results students pull out today, will not define them as a person,” he explained.
“Even if people don’t get what they hoped for, opportunities will still be out there – you just have to go out and find them.
“I dropped out of school at 15 as a result of mental illness, caused by relentless bullying – but I’ve got graft and passion.
“I knew I wanted to break into the PR and marketing world – so I just went for it.”
Now, he employs seven team members and his business is set to hit £1 million in sales next year.
The impressive entrepreneur opened his first office in May 2021 and next month is hosting a festival for 25,000 people, with Sophie Ellis Bextor, Tinie Tempah and Jake Bugg headlining.
Oliver recalled the nasty bullying he was subject to at school, including nasty graffiti on the toilet cubicle walls, his mental health issues from the torment led to him being pulled out and home-schooled.
He also says he “couldn’t thrive” in an exam environment – and doesn’t believe he’d have succeeded at GCSE level anyway.
Oliver said: “I think exams are quite dangerous because they bring so much pressure on young people who don’t thrive in those environments.
“I know that for myself – so I certainly wasn’t thriving.”
But after years of home-schooling and online learning, Oliver got his big break in June 2020 when he launched his PR firm Platinum Live.
The savvy businessman knew there would be an influx in healthcare industries needing PR to help with the vaccine rollout and jumped on the wave working with a home care provider.
He added: “I kind of sped past uni and A-Levels – no potential clients ever asked me about my exam results or what level I was qualified to.
“I was handed my first client brief at the age of 16 – during Covid, in June 2020.
“I was just working on my own. I hadn’t worked in the media before – but I know the healthcare sector would be hot in terms of the vaccine rollout.
“I’ve still managed to retain that client today.”
But it was his first celebrity client, Gary McKee – AKA Cumbria’s ‘Marathon Man’ – who gave Oliver his breakthrough.
Oliver added: “I was Gary’s publicist and we completely supported him. He credits Platinum Live as one of the major reasons he got to £1.4 million raised for charity.
“People went – ‘oh my god, that’s the agency behind Marathon Man – and the guy’s 19!’ – so it’s the impact of that which has also led to our breakthrough.”
His PR firm has also worked alongside Porsche, Chris Moyles and Scouting for Girls across the last three years.
Oliver attributes his achievements to his commitment and enthusiasm – and reckons experience is important within an industry often dominated by academic credentials.
He said: “In the PR industry, there’s a prevalence of degrees, and individuals typically invest several years before truly establishing themselves.
“What I possess is a combination of hard work and passion.”
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