When the opportunity came up to acquire the Dundee franchise of a driver recruitment agency, Jordan Tracey thought it was a golden opportunity.
He had already worked for Driver Hire across three locations and saw how successful it could be.
There was just one problem – the asking price for the Dundee territory was £100,000 and Jordan, in his own words, “didn’t have a bean”.
But that wasn’t going to stop him. He got the deal done by scraping together some funds from friends and family, negotiating the price down to £80,000 and arranging a five-year loan.
He was all in and, quite frankly, had to make it work.
What wasn’t in his plans was the start of the Covid-19 pandemic just six weeks later.
Driver Hire Dundee early struggles
He had to sell his car and sleep on a sofa bed in the office to keep the company going.
He said: “I started with Driver Hire in Galashiels doing admin, then progressed to a recruitment consultant, then a manager in Newcastle, then running three offices.
“The Dundee franchise, when I bought it, was in survival mode. It was running at a loss some weeks, but I knew the potential.
“The pandemic hit and it was horrendous. I had one driver working four days a week – that’s all I had in terms of revenue.
“I had to furlough and then lay off the two members of staff.
“I had to give up the flat as I just couldn’t afford it and put a sofa bed in the office. My car was sold.
“It was me, myself and I for the first year.”
From £200,000 to £2.8m revenue
Jordan’s resilience paid off and soon he was sourcing drivers for supermarkets and the NHS.
Driver Hire sources drivers for businesses needing cover for staffing shortages or at peak times, such as harvest time for farmers. It makes money by adding a mark-up to the cost of the driver.
Five years on and the Wester Gourdie Industrial Estate business has a growing client list and 150 drivers on the books.
Revenue for the Dundee branch, which was around £200,000 a year when Jordan acquired it, is now £2.8 million. He also opened a satellite office in Perth in 2022.
“There’s not an industry that we haven’t touched,” he said.
“A lot of the staff have gone on to get full time employment with the companies we’ve placed them with.
“It’s been hard work and the growth looks great on paper – but I don’t believe I’ve done anything special. What I’ve delivered is an honest service.
“I’ve got people working for me that are as passionate about this as I am.”
Business owner and qualified artic driver
Two years ago, in amongst building a growing business, Jordan became qualified to drive an artic lorry.
He wanted to know the issues his drivers contend with.
He said: “It means I’m not asking people to do something I can’t do myself. I know what it’s like to pull 44 tonnes and it’s not easy and certainly not minimum wage work.
“It’s the best and worst decision I’ve ever made because a customer phones looking for a driver and we’ve not got one, you know what comes next…
“There’s been a few times when a driver is, say, in Fife but has run out of hours. I’ll go and complete the job so they can get home.”
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