Who The Heck Am I?
It's a VERY fair question. After all, the web and LinkedIn are packed with "consultants and coaches", many quite exceptional too, some maybe not so much!! Since COVID, anyone with a laptop, a Zoom account, and a pulse became a "business coach", and for many, the pulse is optional. Sorry, just being absolutely honest.
Before you even consider working with me, you need to know more about me. You need to know if we're a good fit, we may not be. My style is very "results driven", so that means I am abrupt, direct, possibly rude, but always working with your best interests in mind. That doesn't suit everyone, and that's absolutely fine.
My own personal experience comes from over three decades of business at the highest level. 30+ years of getting it right and building something amazing, and 30+ years of getting it totally fucking wrong and seeing it all collapse.
That's enough about me. If you think we could work well together, let's have a chat and find out.
JunctionTwenty brings together a programme designed to deliver results. I created this in 2020 after getting frustrated by the lack of resources to really help small and micro business owners PREPARE for sale. 80% of businesses listed for sale NEVER sell, and it's all down to preparation, or lack of it.
I saw too many listing agencies and selling sites list ANY business with zero regard to whether that business was sellable or not. I often wondered why EVERYTHING is paid upfront. With me, you pay NOTHING upfront.
Finally, in 2026, I pulled all this together and wrote "Go To $ell", another hard hitting book that gets you started on your exit preparation journey.
If exit planning was about
choosing the best
looking person,
then I'd be in real trouble...
If exit planning was about choosing the best looking person, then I'd be in real trouble...
This is a face for radio!!
There are plenty of “experts” out there happy to recite the theory of everything with the practicality of nothing, so I wanted to explain a bit about my background and what gives me the right to be considered to work with you.
My journey started in 1993 after I left the Royal Air Force (Air Traffic). I started a printing business in Glasgow which went on to become the largest chain of independent print centres in the Country. This award winning, multi-million-pound business punched way above its weight and was noted for numerous “industry firsts”.
Despite that massive success, that business was NOT sellable, not past the asset value anyway. And although my business had sizable assets in property and equipment, that was the full extent of the value of that business. I would have argued until the cows came home that my business was worth millions – because it SHOULD have been.
The reality was that I created a business that was centred around me. I was far too involved in working IN the business, and too many of the systems and processes were ME, in my head… and that was a scary place to be.
Yes, despite having a £3m+ turnover, and growing, I had a business that was profitable, but not a lot of fun.
That business ultimately failed on its 20th Birthday. How’s that even possible? I wrote about that in what became an Amazon #1 Best Seller “How To Wreck Your Business”.
Every mistake I made was avoidable. I learned the hard way that EVERY business should be built to sell. Because when it’s built to sell, it’s structured, systemised, documented, and not reliant on the owner.
I then joined one of my main competitors, Tradeprint based in Dundee, at Board Level. We grew Tradeprint in excess of £10m with a healthy net profit that was unheard of in the print industry.
Tradeprint had the magic, the structural magic that my business had lacked. Tradeprint continued to punch way above its weight and in 2015 was acquired by Cimpress for £21m. You may know them better by their trading name of Vistaprint.
During the sale process I became fascinated by the Mergers and Acquisition process. How there were so many “levers” that could impact and affect the valuation of a business. The Due Diligence process was brutal, again, another insight into the M&A world.
Once the deal was concluded and announced to the world, I decided that corporate life was not for me. I had, however, been left curious and excited about the business sale process.
I then learned that 80% of all businesses listed NEVER sell, and for small and micro businesses, that figure is HIGHER. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks – that was me, that’s what I had created. An EXCEPTIONAL business, just not a sellable one.
The statistics were telling me I was not alone. So, I set about changing that and created “Junction Twenty”. An online programme designed purely for small and micro businesses to PREPARE them for a business exit, because the majority are NOWHERE near “sale ready”.
There are 26,000 businesses for sale in the UK (January 2026) – that means that over 20,000, yes TWENTY THOUSAND will not sell.
After the many years of blood, sweat and tears building a business that is simply unacceptable.
For over THIRTY YEARS I have seen every element of business from start up, to scale up to fuck up.
I have enjoyed the incredible highs, and endured hull crushing lows. I have seen businesses worth NOTHING and businesses worth MILLIONS. I have worked with 100’s of business owners to get from chaos to calm – and now, if you want, I can help you.
There’s a TON of experience there, use it to your advantage. Wherever you are on your business journey, I have been there.
It’s why Junction Twenty and the book, “Go To $ell” are both abrupt and hard-hitting, because they need to be. I sugar coat NOTHING. If you want it sugar coated, buy almonds. This is business as STREETWISE as it gets.
Would you like to talk?
Stuart