A millionaire who once flipped burgers in McDonald’s has said earning his fortune wasn’t ‘that hard’ – despite not having a university degree.
Joe Davies from Birmingham spent years working in dead-end jobs, but now he is now the CEO of a multi-million pound company.
With a desire to leave McDonald’s and the fast food industry behind, the 36-year-old took a £100-per-week job as an IT apprentice.
The work taught him new skills and eventually sparked an idea that would eventually earn Joe and his best pal and childhood friend Joe Taylor millions.
In 2012 the duo launched their business, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) website FATJOE.com, and within two years they made their first million. Twelve years after they started out, the company is now valued at £10 million.
Joe, who now splits his time between Birmingham and Barcelona, said: ‘I got good grades in school but when I went onto sixth form, I lost interest completely.
‘I didn’t go to university like I had originally planned as I got fed up with learning and I only wanted to make money.
‘[After leaving school], I worked mostly on building sites, delivering from factories to shops and flipping burgers in McDonald’s.
‘I hated it, as I felt like I wasn’t doing anything important. I wanted to create something but my motivation wasn’t very high in these jobs.
‘I had this burning desire to start something on my own and, at the very least, make a bit more of a difference.’
FatJoe.com is a service platform for agencies to outsource SEO services, which aim to improve website traffic.
Joe, who is an only child, looked up to his entrepreneur dad, Mick, 60, who owns a first aid training company and inspired him to go the extra mile to achieve his dreams.
He said: ‘I was really interested in internet business. E-commerce was really booming at the time I left school – and I could sense an opportunity.
‘At the company I was working for, I was asked to build a website and learned SEO on the job. This was the first time I had heard that word.’
‘I couldn’t put my finger on it but it had elements of engineering, coupled with creativity and marketing, which really fed into my creative personality.’
Joe then started work at an SEO agency and learned the business side of how it operated.
A few years later, the company were looking for a salesperson to join the team – and they recruited his childhood best friend Joe Taylor.
‘And the rest is history,’ Joe said. ‘As kids, we dreamed of being rich and famous, with our own rock band.
‘One out of two isn’t too bad.’
He even says that working his way up to his huge fortune wasn’t ‘that hard’, adding: ‘Building a £10million empire isn’t hard you just need to identify a big enough problem and figure out how to solve it (at scale).’
After realising they made a great business duo, in 2013 the pair quit their jobs to give the business their all.
Joe said: ‘We rented an office from day one to make it ‘real’ and at the start, we did everything ourselves.
‘Me and Joe would be working up to 13 hours a day just to get everything done.’
In 2024, the company employs 100 people across the globe including 16 in office, and the client roster features 1,000 agencies.
Now, eager to help other people, Joe Davies shares his advice and top tips on how to succeed – including the key three traits to become an entrepreneur.
He added: ‘Personal drive to become better is number one. Curiosity to poke around and try out different ways of making things work is second.
‘But most importantly, a drive to make money. It’s cliché, but just starting something – do and build.
‘A lot of the problem for me was procrastinating and thinking about the right time to start, in which there never is one.
‘There’s no such thing as having a ‘destiny’ in life and it’s all about working hard and seeing where this takes you.
‘I don’t like to think too far ahead, because even with grand plans, they can change. I spend a lot of time travelling around the world, at the gym – and still playing guitar.
‘But I think my dream of selling out tours is one I’ll keep under wraps for now.’
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
