From Driving Trucks to Leading Customer Experience: My Journey Through the Hire Industry
If you had told me when I was 18 that one day I'd be travelling around the world helping hire companies transform their businesses through software, I would have laughed.
Like most careers, mine wasn't planned.
It certainly wasn't glamorous.
It started because my dad was fed up with me not having a job.
He told me to stop sitting around and go and find some work, so I signed up with an agency and landed a job as a driver for a local hire company.
At the time, I thought it would just be another job.
I had no idea it would become my career.
Learning the Industry from the Ground Up
Before finding the hire industry, I'd worked in several different jobs.
My very first role was at McDonald's in the UK. Looking back, it was probably one of the best places to learn about customer service, teamwork and working under pressure. Those lessons have stayed with me throughout my career.
From there I worked in security before moving into air conditioning installation. Every job taught me something different, but none of them felt like somewhere I could build a long-term career.
Then I found hire.
Starting as a driver gave me something many people in software never experience.
I saw the business from the customer's driveway, from muddy construction sites, from workshops and from the depot floor. I understood what happened when equipment wasn't ready, when transport ran late or when customers were relying on us to deliver.
I wasn't reading about hire.
I was living it.
Over the following years I progressed through several roles, becoming a Hire Controller, then Assistant Manager, then Transport Manager before eventually taking on the role of Depot Manager.
Each promotion brought new challenges.
Managing people.
Managing customers.
Managing expectations.
Managing problems that never seemed to happen at a convenient time.
Those experiences taught me that running a successful hire business isn't simply about hiring equipment.
It's about solving problems, building relationships and making hundreds of decisions every single day.
Falling Into Software
Just like I fell into hire, I also fell into software.
The company I worked for was introducing a new rental management system and needed people to become trainers.
Someone asked if I'd be interested.
I said yes.
That single decision changed my life.
For the first time, I realised I could combine everything I'd learned in operations with helping other businesses improve theirs.
Because I'd actually worked in a depot, I understood the questions people were asking.
I knew why they were frustrated.
I knew why some processes worked and others didn't.
Most importantly, I knew that software wasn't the answer to every problem.
Joining Higher Concept Software
In 2007 I joined Higher Concept Software as a Software Trainer.
Back then my role was simple.
Travel.
Train customers.
Help them become confident with their new software.
But over the years that role evolved.
I became a Senior Software Trainer before taking responsibility for leading the implementation team across the UK.
It wasn't just about training anymore.
It became about helping businesses transform the way they worked.
Helping teams embrace change.
Building trust.
Delivering projects successfully.
The bigger the role became, the more one lesson stood out.
Technology is easy.
People are the hard part.
Australia Changed Everything
In 2018 an opportunity came up to travel to Australia to help support the growing business there.
It was only meant to be temporary.
I enjoyed it so much that in 2019 I made the move permanently.
At the time I thought it would probably be for a couple of years.
Life had other plans.
Australia became home.
I met the woman who would become my wife.
We built a life together.
In 2025 I proudly became an Australian citizen.
Sometimes the biggest moments in life happen because you say yes to an opportunity that wasn't part of the original plan.
Why Experience Matters
One thing I've never forgotten is where I came from.
I've loaded trucks.
I've dealt with customers standing at the counter waiting for equipment.
I've worked month-end.
I've organised transport.
I've managed workshops.
I've been responsible for making sure a depot actually functions.
That experience changes the way I work with customers today.
When someone tells me they have a problem, I don't immediately think about software.
I think about people.
I think about process.
I think about how that business actually operates.
Because software is only ever as good as the processes behind it.
If the process is broken, software simply helps you do the wrong thing faster.
The best implementations aren't the ones with the most features.
They're the ones where the software fits the business and the people using it understand why they're doing things differently.
Relationships Before Technology
Over nearly twenty years in software, one thing has become incredibly clear.
Customers place an enormous amount of trust in us.
They're not just buying software.
They're trusting us with businesses they've often spent decades building.
Many are family businesses.
Many represent generations of hard work.
That responsibility should never be taken lightly.
That's why relationships matter.
People buy from people.
People listen to people they trust.
And successful projects are built on honest conversations, not perfect presentations.
Success Isn't Always Measured by Money
People sometimes assume success means earning more money or having a bigger title.
I don't see it that way.
Success is waking up and genuinely enjoying what you do.
It's helping a customer solve a problem that's been frustrating them for years.
It's watching a team grow.
It's mentoring someone into a leadership position.
It's seeing a business become more efficient because of something you helped implement.
Job satisfaction is becoming increasingly rare.
I'm fortunate enough to genuinely love what I do.
My Biggest Lesson
If there's one thing I'd want someone reading this to take away, it's this.
Don't worry if your career doesn't look perfect.
Mine certainly didn't.
I didn't set out to work in software.
I didn't plan to move to Australia.
I didn't know I'd end up leading customer experience across the Asia Pacific region.
I simply worked hard, treated people well, stayed curious and said yes to opportunities.
Every role taught me something.
Every challenge made me better.
Every mistake became a lesson.
You don't need the perfect plan.
You don't need to know exactly where you'll end up.
You just need to keep moving forward.
Because if you're willing to work hard, keep learning and build genuine relationships, amazing things have a habit of happening.
Looking back, I'm incredibly grateful my dad told me to go and get a job.
Without that conversation, I might never have discovered an industry that has given me a career, lifelong friendships, incredible opportunities and a life I could never have imagined.
And after all these years, I still love helping hire companies succeed.
