My Story
The long way round.
Roads, bridges, and a restless mind
I spent my first ten years as a Civil Engineering Technician, designing roads and bridges. It was solid, respectable work. But I kept getting pulled away from the drawing board to fix the office computers — and I discovered I had a talent for "doing things with computers" that I enjoyed far more than what I was being paid to do.
The computer shop years
I started my first business — a computer hardware supply shop. This was my first experience of being a slave to a business. Working 60-plus hours a week, I had a wife and daughter who barely recognised me. The freedom I thought I'd get from working for myself was a dream. But I learned something valuable: people don't buy from whoever is cheapest. They buy from someone they like and trust, someone who gives good advice and has their interests at heart.
The cabling guru
My biggest client owned a large office interiors company. He kept asking me to talk to his clients about network cabling, and started introducing me as "the cabling guru." Because I was introduced as an expert, people listened. They took my advice and bought what I suggested — which was always exactly what they needed.
I became so good at winning his clients over that he decided I should work for him directly. As he was my biggest customer, he had the upper hand. He bought the computer business, and I became employed again.
Something surprising happened next. Clients started asking me about everything — not just cabling, but furniture, lighting, partition walls. They trusted me. Buying became easy when I listened to what people wanted and suggested the right solution. I earned a reputation with clients for giving great advice, and a reputation with the company for getting clients to buy everything from me.
This accidentally led to me becoming "Sales Director." I hated the title. I had never sold anything — clients had simply bought what they needed, having had it explained to them. Unfortunately, the company had already printed the business cards.
Going it alone (again)
In 2007 I set up Treadstone Solutions Ltd, offering business consultancy and project management to SMEs. I'd also completed a three-year MBA at the University of Huddersfield while working a 60-hour week with two children and a very understanding wife. Over that period, I truly learned what it means to be busy.
But the lifestyle of long hours, working breakfasts, business lunches, and hotel dinners had taken its toll. By the time I was 39, I weighed 19 stone 2lbs. At 5'8" that gave me a BMI over 40, a 44-inch waist, and the clinical label "morbidly obese."
The chance meeting that changed everything
Something of a miracle happened. In the reception area at a client's office, I was introduced to somebody looking for project management advice about a clinic they wanted to open. After the usual formalities I asked what type of clinic it was. After a long and uncomfortable silence, the answer came back: "A weight management clinic."
After an equally long silence on my part, I said: "I'll help you if you can help me."
I helped them open the Alizonne UK clinic in Cheshire. On 15 June 2009, I became their first patient and embarked on the second most amazing journey of my life — losing 7 stone 2lbs in 20 weeks under close medical supervision, without surgery, without side effects, and without the loose skin associated with rapid weight loss. By November 14th 2009, I weighed 12 stone, with a 32-inch waist. I had lost the equivalent of an average 12-year-old child in weight.
The adult gap year
As I completed the programme, I was in Dubai on business when I had one of those "what the hell am I doing with my life" moments. I knew there had to be more to life than helping people build new offices.
My outlook and attitude had changed completely. People who knew me before — even highly successful people I'd worked with professionally — started confiding in me, sometimes very emotionally, about how unhappy they were with their weight. I found myself talking, and people hanging on every word.
I had addressed the symptoms of my overeating but not the cause. I knew the treatment worked — but I also knew something was missing. Understanding why people overeat in the first place, the psychological and emotional reasons, needed to come before treating the physical symptoms.
My wife Rachel more accurately described what followed as a "mid-life crisis." I had no job, no income, no idea what I wanted to do, and four children to support. But I knew I wanted to help people who felt as miserable as I had at over 20 stone.
Building a national clinic chain
In July 2011 I opened the first Silverlink Clinic in Newcastle. I was the first non-medic to be granted a licence to open such a clinic. I went from managing 30 or 40 testosterone-filled blokes with power tools to managing an entirely female team of therapists and doctors. I am definitely in touch with my feminine side now.
That one clinic grew into Alevere and Silverlink Clinics — 9 owned clinics and 5 franchise partners across England and Scotland, a team of 60 doctors, therapists, and patient support staff, treating over 250 patients a week. Together we helped more than 2,000 people lose a combined weight of over 20 tonnes — that's about the weight of two double-decker buses.
Along the way I discovered the system that kept the whole thing running: Simplify, Systemise, Automate, Monitor, Manage. That same philosophy drives everything I do today.
In January 2023, I sold the business to an investment company. The clinic chapter was done — and the AI revolution was just getting started.
Back to my roots — through AI
After the exit, I went back to where it all started: technology. As Managing Director of Svella AI, I now help businesses cut through the overwhelming noise of AI and find the practical applications that actually move the needle.
It's the same pattern it's always been. Listen. Understand what people actually need. Give good advice. Make it easy for them to take the right next step. Whether I was explaining network cabling in 2001 or AI implementation in 2026, the principle hasn't changed.
I also use an analogy that's been with me since the very beginning of this journey: trying to adopt AI today is like trying to collect a single glass of water at the foot of Niagara Falls. What you need is a glass of water — but try holding out a cup and you and the cup get overwhelmed. My job is to help businesses get their glass of water.