From ‘one man in a van’ to a twelve-strong fleet, Adam Smith has come a long way since launching his Revive! franchise in 2008 with his fiancée and co-owner, Kim Richardson.

From ‘one man in a van’ to a twelve-strong fleet, Adam Smith has come a long way since launching his Revive! franchise in 2008 with his fiancée and co-owner, Kim Richardson.

Adam studied organic chemistry at the University of Bristol, achieving a 2:1, before joining an American pharmaceutical company in Harlow. It was here that he met Kim, who was doing a placement at the company during the final year of a bio-chemistry degree.

After spending twelve months travelling the world together, the pair decided it was time to return to the UK. Having already experienced redundancy working in the big business of pharmaceuticals, Adam perceived early on that a ‘job for life’ doesn’t exist anymore. He set out to be his own boss and opted to buy a franchise knowing that a proven business model was the best way to start working for himself.

Adam sought advice from his father Peter, a business consultant for Revive!, the leading provider of top quality smart repairs. He suggested Adam meet Revive! Director Mark Llewellyn since he knew his son had a keen interest in cars and thought he might enjoy running a car-related business.

Following a successful meeting with the franchisor, Adam realised that Revive! offered a business model that fitted directly into his personal plans. Within his first month of joining Revive! Adam had set a record for the highest monthly sales turnover in the opening month achieving over £6,000. Fast-forward a few years, Adam is still setting records with last month’s turnover topping £78,000.

With twelve full-time employees the mainstay of the business is long-term relationships with car dealerships. Some of these dealerships were brought on during their first week trading seven years ago, a testament to the team’s reliability and dedication. Adam has expanded his territory to now cover most of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire as well Milton Keynes.

Year on year his Revive! business has seen a significant increase in turnover achieving £589,000 in May 2015 and £725,000 in May 2016. With continued hard work Adam believes they may hit the £1M mark by the end of the year.