Property Developer ◆ Entrepreneur ◆ Author ◆ Speaker ◆ Mentor

From Shop Floor

to Stage.

Every successful entrepreneur has a story. Mine began on the shop floor — and led, through convenience stores, property development and stages on four continents, to the systems I now teach.

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10+

Business Sectors Built Across UK & US

THE JOURNEY

Ten years in retail, then the leap.

Every stage of the journey taught a different lesson - and each one still shapes how Jim builds businesses and finds opportunity today.

Pre–1983

Ten Years in Retail

Starting as a junior assistant at Jenners Edinburgh, Jim joined the John Lewis Partnership before moving to British Home Stores, where he became Assistant General Manager of their Leeds flagship store — leading a team of more than 300 people. An incredible education in leadership, customer service and business.

1983

The Leap Into Entrepreneurship

Jim's first business was a struggling licensed grocery store in Bannockburn. While most local shops closed at lunchtime, he opened from 6am to 10pm — an almost unheard-of concept at the time. One store became four, plus a petrol station.

1990

Sold Up, Moved to Florida

Jim sold the business and moved to Florida to pursue new opportunities — carrying with him one of the most important lessons of his career: innovation creates opportunity.

2003–2005

Focusing on Property

Property had fascinated Jim since buying his first Edinburgh property with his brother at just 16 — it grew six-fold in value over six years. After years investing in the UK and US, he focused seriously on property from 2003, moving into ground-up development in 2005.

THE TURNING POINT

Finding what others couldn't see.

Like many developers, Jim quickly discovered that finding profitable sites was the biggest challenge — everything on the open market had already been picked over.

One site he wanted was selling for around £100,000. The numbers simply didn't work. So he stopped competing with everyone else and began searching for off-market opportunities instead. Within months he secured a similar site for just £40,000.

That single house, once developed, generated over £100,000 in profit — and changed the direction of his business for good.

Sample Image — Completed House

£100k

Asking Price, Open Market

£40k

Secured Off-Market

£100k+

Profit Generated

Sample Image — Convenience Store

BUILDING BUSINESSES

Ten sectors. One constant.

Success doesn't come from avoiding problems — it comes from learning how to solve them.

Convenience Stores Petrol Stations Air & Water Filtration Dry Cleaning Accountancy Services Cleaning Businesses Public Speaking Coaching Buy-to-Let Investments HMOs Property Development

SAMPLE IMAGE — TRAINING GROUP

HELPING OTHERS BUILD THEIR FUTURE

To help create thousands of new homes by inspiring and educating the next generation of UK property developers.

As more people began asking how Jim found profitable development sites, he saw a growing demand for practical, real-world education — which led to the creation of Build It & Prosper, helping aspiring and experienced developers find land, secure planning opportunities and build profitable development businesses through training, mentoring and live events.

SPEAKER · MENTOR · LEADER

Public speaking has taken Jim around the world.

Alongside his business career, Jim has always been passionate about developing people — a passion that found its home in Toastmasters International, and later on stages from the UK to Australia.