I sold my first car at 11 and earned a million by 14

Tom Hartley Jr

All my life, I’ve been around cars. Some of my earliest memories are of being in the showroom and wacth my father close deals for cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis. (...) Everyone’s good at something: I discovered my forte at an early age, and was fortunate enough to have a father who was already in the car business. I sold my first car - a Porsche convertible - at the age of 11 and by the time I was 14, I was buying and selling around three cars a week. That was the age I became Britain’s youngest self-made millionaire.

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that success has been handed to me on a plate. But everything I have I’ve earned myself - and all my share of profits went into a trust fund so that at 18 I was able to buy half of the business. (...) I love the fact that I get to meet different kinds of people through my work. One day I’ll be dealing with the guy from the corner shop who’s buying a Mercedes for his wife, and the next I’ll be meeting somebody famous.

I have a comfortable life, but it’s not overly ostentatious. I don’t have a car of my own. When I get to work, I’ll drive whatever car happens to be on the forecourt, and most days I’ll roll up my sleeves and wash it too. I haven’t had a proper holiday for years and I still live in the family home. I’m having my own house built at the moment. (...)

In my opinion, natural business acumen is not something that can be taught - it comes from the inside. There has to be an inherentcompetitive streak. Good salesmen are in competition with themselves - they’re always trying to do better and sell more. (...)

KAY, S.; HIRDS, J.; MAGGS, P. Move Upper Intermediate. Macmillan: Oxford, 2006.