'I was getting into a mess and drinking every night... then something changed and last year I made £250k'

When Chris James first started drinking, he was just 14 years old. He soon started “getting into a mess”.

He loved a party, and it was his partying that had a huge impact on his school studies. The struggle continued through to sixth form until the school told him they'd had enough.

The teenager was told not to come back. He'd been kicked out for poor grades and low attendance.

Not knowing where to turn, Chris applied for a role at a pharmaceutical company. Upon completing his apprenticeship, Chris, from Macclesfield discovered he wasn’t being kept on at the firm. Desperate to avoid working, he enrolled at local college.

The dad-of-two eventually landed a sales job and moved into a friend’s house where his drinking habit worsened, seeing him drink hard spirits every night.

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"On the first payday I moved out into my friend's house,” he said. “I asked my dad to give me a lift and that’s when things got even worse on the drink. I was in a house full of single lads and we were just absolutely smashing the booze every weekend. I ended up getting fired from [my job].”

But an unexpected tragedy changed everything. His brother-in-law was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident.

It left the now-38-year-old seriously questioning his priorities in life.. He said: “I didn't really have any desire to work for myself.

“There were a few conversations that I had that made me think differently, then my brother-in-law was killed.

“That was a complete shock. I decided if something like that can happen, it’s like everything can be whipped from you and you need to do exactly what you want to do. This business fulfilled me more than the agency.”

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