I started selling eggs – now I own Bowie’s home

Simon Dolan paid £100 for a Mayfair office address and built a £82m business,

British businessman and investor Simon Dolan, 54, is the founder of JD Accountancy, which he sold for more than £82m in 2014 – the largest ever sale of a private accountancy firm.

He went on to create a broad business portfolio encompassing everything from aviation and PR to autonomous vehicles and tights.

He has also been a champion kickboxer and recorded a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014. During the Covid pandemic he founded the Keep Britain Free campaign which took the Government to court over the lockdown regulations.

He and his wife Sabrina, with whom he has two sons, own multiple properties around the world.

DID YOU HAVE A GOOD FINANCIAL START IN LIFE?

I had an ordinary middle-class upbringing. Dad was an accountant, Mum an occupational therapist. I grew up in a three-bed semi in Chelmsford in Essex. I did get a job quite young, probably the making of me. From the age of 14, I worked on a cheese and eggs stall at Chelmsford market. My boss, who was only seven years older, made me realise that you didn’t need a business plan and an education to earn good money.

DIDN’T YOU PERFORM WELL AT SCHOOL THEN?

I was top of the class at primary school but at grammar school I couldn’t see the point of Latin and ancient Greek, so I switched off. I was thrown out at 16 with virtually no qualifications.

WHAT DID YOU DO NEXT?

I did a Btec national diploma in business finance while continuing to work at the market. After flailing around in a band, my dad, knowing I was good with numbers, suggested I write to a couple of local accountancy firms. I got an interview and was offered a full-time job for £50 a week. I remember laughing because I thought it was a joke. I’d earned more at Chelmsford market.

After 18 months they showed me the door because I demanded a pay rise. I tried various sales jobs, but was pulled over for drink-driving, 10 yards after getting into the car, and lost my driving licence. I was forced to sign on for 15 months and quickly racked up debts because I had a mortgage.

HOW BAD DID THINGS GET?

I got so desperate that I walked into a newsagent’s and asked if I could take on several paper rounds. The guy behind the counter said: “Is it for your son?” I said: “No, it’s for me.” He just looked sad and shook his head.

Falling back on the only thing I knew, I placed an advert in a local newspaper offering to do end-of-year accounts from £99 a month. I got a call from a florist and it grew from there. Spending £10 on that advert in 1992 was the best financial decision I ever made.

HOW DID YOU TAKE THE BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

My big breakthrough came in 1996 when I moved to Hemel Hempstead in

Hertfordshire with my then girlfriend. I tried to place the same advert in the local press there but it didn’t work, so I decided to target one-man limited companies. I advertised in a computing magazine and got three clients within the first week. I quickly realised I’d hit on something.

DIDN’T YOU CREATE A VIRTUAL OFFICE TO APPEAR BIGGER THAN YOU WERE?

I needed more credibility, so I rented a telephone number from a real estate company for £100 a month to make it seem as though I had a Mayfair address. The calls came through to my home phone. I also undercut my competitors by charging £35 a month rather than the standard £69. By the time I sold up, I had 14,000 clients, about 180 staff and was making £1m profit a month.

WHY DID YOU BECOME KNOWN AS THE TWITTER DRAGON?

In 2010 I invited start-up companies to send me business pitches via Twitter. I don’t think I invested in any of them, but I was up for a “millionaire investor” slot on the BBC show until they decided Hilary Devey was a better candidate.

I was a white male and think that may not have fitted their remit. That show has got no more to do with business than Big Brother has to do with normal relationships. It’s not how business works.

WHY DID YOU SELL JD ACCOUNTANCY?

I got an offer I didn’t want to refuse. Also, because of the niche I was in, there was the worry that government regulation would scupper the market – which it did three years later.

‘Spending £10 on an advert in 1992 was the best financial decision I ever made’

IS IT TRUE YOU’RE WORTH £200m? That’s not far off. I didn’t own any of those businesses that made ridiculous amounts during the pandemic. Neither was I involved in any that lost much, other than my airline company, Jota Aviation, which was made bankrupt by the Government’s handling of Covid. My planes were grounded. I lost £10m.

IS THAT WHY YOU FOUNDED KEEP BRITAIN FREE?

I can see why people might think that, but by the time we went to court the damage to my business was done. It was an ideological thing for me – the Government telling us not to leave our homes was a massive overreaction. Just look at inflation now. I launched the most successful legal crowdfunder ever to fund the proposed action – we raised £490,000. The court costs came to £790,000, so it cost me £300,000 of my own money. But the case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

WHAT DO YOU SPEND MONEY ON? I used to collect sports cars, but I sold the flashy ones for £4m profit. My other passion is guitars. My pride and joy is a one Mick Ronson played during David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust years. I also own Noel Gallagher’s ’57 Les Paul Standard.

WHAT PROPERTY DO YOU OWN? About 10 homes. Last year I bought casino billionaire Steve Wynn’s estate in Las Vegas, Nevada, for $17.5m (£14m). It’s by far the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen, but it’s back on the market because my business is now taking me to different places.

We also own a chateau in south-west France and David Bowie’s former home on Mustique in the Caribbean, which I bought for $18m from the publisher Felix Dennis. I’ve loved Bowie since I heard Space Oddity when I was 12. It’s a Balinese-inspired house on a hillside overlooking blue seas and white sands. It’s paradise.