A businessman who blew a deal worth millions and lost everything because of drink and drugs is now back on top and in charge of a £50m ($61m) business portfolio.
Adam Deering lost everything to addiction before heading off to rehab, where he roomed with controversial musician Pete Doherty, before working his way back to sobriety and success.
It's fair to say that Deering didn't have the easiest start in life.
Expelled from school at 14, he has never received any formal qualifications. After a brief and disastrous spell in the RAF, he found himself slogging away in factories and casual security jobs for low pay.
After a friend decided to take a chance on him, he realised that he could excel in sales and at 21 he was in charge of his own debt management business.
Having built the business up from nothing, he soon employed 150 people and was enjoying the trappings of success.
However, with that success came temptation and danger. Drink and drugs began to play a larger role in his life.
Adam tells LADbible: "I thought that making money and being successful was about being seen in the best nightclubs and driving supercars and loads of women - a hedonistic lifestyle - and I didn't really have my family or anyone around me to keep me grounded.
"I didn't have a solid relationship, so I just thought 'this is it, I've made it'.
"My weekends went from sitting in Wetherspoon pubs to sitting in top nightclubs and strip clubs. I went from going on holiday to Marbella to Miami. It all sort of went crazy.
"Cocaine became quite prevalent. Everybody did it, or certainly everyone that I was out with did it."
Cocaine wasn't the only problem, as it turned out.
He continues: "I started on Valium and I was travelling a lot to the Far East so I used it to regulate sleep.
"I ended up hooked on Valium and then I couldn't sleep without it. Then I couldn't get through the days without it. I'd build up anxiety because I'd been out the night before and my behaviour was a bit crazy."
Then came a decision that would come to define this period of his life. After a lengthy bender he failed to show up for a meeting that could have seen him sell his business for nearly £7m ($8.6m).
Instead, the offer was withdrawn and less than two years later his company was bust.
He continues: "That night [before the meeting] in my head, I was going to become a multi-millionaire and business was going well. So, I went on this big massive bender.
"I went on the bender, didn't go to sleep, then the private equity guys were in my office the next day to start taking about the deal and I didn't show up.
"That blew that deal out of the water."
Now broke and spiralling out of control, this was a rock bottom moment.
Adam says: "My head was already going. I was living a lifestyle that wasn't sustainable in terms of mindset and head space. You just can't continue to party like that. It doesn't work.
"I found myself at 31, broke as a joke, washed up, and I didn't really know where to go or what to do with my life.
"I just knew that I had to stop drinking.
"I knew the game was up. I lived in denial for years that it was everyone else's fault. In the end when you run out of people to blame you've got to take some ownership and accountability.
"That was my rock bottom."
Completely skint, Adam's accountant paid for his rehab in Thailand in the hope that he could bounce back.
After a few days he was roomed with Peter Doherty, the infamous lead singer of The Libertines and Babyshambles.
Deering says that his erstwhile roommate was an 'interesting guy'.
He explains: "Within six weeks he went from being at the wrong party to injecting heroin. We could have all been at the wrong party."
Luckily, rehab was exactly what Adam needed. He got clean, and left.
Leaving rehab also meant leaving behind his old life. He changed his phone number, left behind his toxic contacts from his previous life, threw himself headlong into his work, and even lost four stone in the gym.
Now, he's at the head of a business empire that is expected to turn over £50m this year.
He adds: "I've just kept on the path, I've helped a lot of other people. I surround myself with positive aspirational humans now and I avoid negative people who can bring me down.
"I focus on recovery, focus on time with the kids [Adam has three children] and focus on work.
"The thought of having a drink or drugs doesn't really enter my head anymore. I think I've just rewired my brain to think in a more positive and spiritual way.
"My go-to before was drink to try to cope with stress, but obviously it was destructive. It's like burning your house down to stay warm. It's a very short term solution."
So, what advice would he give to someone looking to make the kind of changes he has?
"Give it 90 days, give it three months. The drug dealers, the bars and off-licenses aren't going anywhere. The world's not going to stop partying because you have. See if your life is better in 90 days. If it is, then you know you should be continuing.
"It's just making a start and then taking it a day at a time.
"If you get to three months and you've put the drink and drugs down and your life is better, then I gave myself 12 months. It's too overwhelming to think you're never going to drink again, I just couldn't fathom that.
"At the end of 12 months I'd paid all my debts off, my relationship with my kids was stronger, I had better friends in my life, I was making money again.
"Everything was better.
"I never want to go back to the negative destruction and darkness where I did live, so this is where I need to be."
Featured Image Credit: Adam DeeringTopics: UK News, Daily Ladness, Inspirational, Interesting, Weird