At my school there was one teacher who, while everyone else was piling on the pressure, would say 'exams aren't everything'. At the time I remember thinking it was a bit of a weird thing for a teacher to say, given that his job was basically helping people pass exams.
Now I'm older I fully understand that they aren't everything; you can leave school without even sitting an exam and end up a millionaire or you can smash the A*s and end up selling those horrible test tube shots in a nightclub, like someone in my year did.
29-year-old Adam Frisby is the former; he left school without any GCSEs and now runs his own fashion brand worth £15million.
Credit: Manchester Evening News
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Adam, who was kicked out of school at 16, told the Manchester Evening News that despite having 'no idea' what to do with his life he would "go against the odds and be successful."
He initially took a job in Burger King and worked hard to become the youngest area manager in the region, before leaving to work at Barclays Bank.
Adam then moved from his home in Norfolk to Manchester aged 20 to work in recruitment. Sadly, shortly after the move he was forced to return home when his brother Peter was injured in a serious car crash and lost his sight.
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Adam told the paper: "He was in hospital for six months and we didn't have any parents around so I came together with my sister to support him.
"His recovery was a massive inspiration because he was still so independent and adamant he didn't need people around. It changed my perspective on life."
Credit: Manchester Evening News
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After accepting a redundancy pay out of £1000, Adam decided to risk it and start running his own business. Having always had an interest in fashion, Adam says it was an obvious choice to set himself up in that industry.
Since establishing in 2013, Adam has seen his business grow and grow; he reckons the secret to In The Style's success is getting people involved on social media.
He said: "I saw an opportunity on the flipside of fashion to connect social media and celebrity influencers - I thought there's a gap here and nobody's really doing it that well.
"When I started I was on social media running a competition to give away some dresses, trying to gift some celebrities and that's when I started to build the profile."
Credit: Manchester Evening News
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Adam's hard work is paying off, and the business is now predicting a turn over of £15 million, boosted by an impressive one million pound's worth of sales over the Black Friday weekend.
Adam's attitude towards his success is pretty amazing - it's like he never doubted himself. He said: "Being completely honest, I would love to give it a big back story but the truth is I knew I wanted to achieve something for myself and I knew that it needed to incorporate giving others an opportunity.
"We want at least 60 percent of our staff to come from a local background to give people in the local community job opportunities and career progression."
From his £1000 investment, that he was running out of his bedroom, Adam now employs over 30 staff, is shortly moving to a 30,000sq ft premises and has managed to expand his range into Europe, US and Australia.
Fair play.
Featured Image Credit: Manchester Evening NewsTopics: Fashion, Manchester