Hello and welcome to another edition of Up Close & Personal for the Renegade magazine. I think it’s fair to say that we have a bit of a young superstar with us today.  It’s not all stale and grey here in Renegades.  I first met this guy about 12 months ago and was super impressed with his thinking and maturity.  He’s truly a great guy and normally whatever comes out of his mouth makes perfect sense.  So, let’s hope that happens today. . . From a very profitable paper round to a manufacturing apprenticeship, he’s lived the story from shop floor to boardroom. He’s had a rental property from the age of 21 and he just got married this year, so it’s been a big year for him. I think it’s fair to say, he’s the youngest old bloke I know.  He has the level of thinking and experience of a 50-year-old but he’s only 26.  He’s the Managing Director of Screentec, a screen and digital print company employing 26 staff in the back end of the Rhondda Valley, in Ferndale. Where men are men, women are men and sheep are scared. I’m allowed to say that obviously because I’m Welsh.  So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the Prince of Print, Tom Dean. How’s tricks Tom?

Tom Dean: Yea, not bad buddy. As busy as ever.

Steve Matthews: How’d you like my intro?

TD:  That was the best intro… In fact, I might borrow this recording just to play it for my Mrs.

SM:  Yea, get a bit of kudos in the house.  Put it on your Facebook profile… Listen to this, it’s all true. So, come on, normally in these interviews we have 30 years of job experience to go through before we get to anything decent and why your part of Renegades.  But you’ve got about 8, so we should be done in about 10 minutes. So, tell us how it all started, tell us about that paper round.  Where did it all begin for you Tom?

TD:  It all began in school.  I never really had a firm idea of exactly what I wanted to do through school.  My thoughts and opinions changed like the weather. . . I wanted to be a firefighter because I liked the athleticism of that and I thought they earned good money.

SM:  Nothing to do with all the girls screaming when they turned up?

TD:  No, I get that anyway!  Then I wanted to be a plumber, because again I thought they earned good money.  You’ll notice a theme, whatever career I wanted to do, it had to revolve around money. But my opinion changed a lot and so whilst I realised I had to do well at school, or I thought I had to do well at school and get good grades; it was more because I wanted my options to be open than to have any particular passions, other than sport.  The sad realisation that I wasn’t going to make it as a professional football player came at the age of 13, so I knew I was going to have to find a proper job.

SM:  So, you’re not playing for Liverpool this year?

TD:   No, unfortunately not.

SM:  Let’s not talk about Liverpool or we’ll fill a whole hour with Liverpool.  So, no professional sports then?

TD:  No, the closest I ever got was trials with Cardiff.  I remember my Dad sitting me down and saying, ” Look, if you want to make it as a footballer and you want to play for Cardiff, you’re going to have to dedicate your time to them. They do training courses 3 or 4 times a week and I’ll happily take you to them”.  This was when I was about 10 or 11 but I just wanted to be out playing with the boys, so I passed on the opportunity to do that.  Growing up I never wanted for anything, I was quite fortunate on that regard.  If I had a football under my arm, that’s all I needed, I’d be out for the day.  But one thing I did always have, was an interest in money.  I always wanted my own money and to save.  So, when a friend of mine, who was a year older, got a job in the local newsagents, I was fascinated by it.  He was bringing home his own money, he never had to worry or ask Mam or Dad for it.  So, from the age of 12 I knew I wanted to be a paper boy and went to the local newsagents. He was great, as soon as you were 13 he gave you the opportunity to work and he’d let you work whatever hours you wanted.  So, for the most money you’d actually have to be in the shop by 4:45 am to start writing the addresses on the papers.  There were maybe only 5 or 6 boys willing to wake up that early. So, I was up at 4:30 am.

SM:  Most people that age don’t even know there are two half fours in the day.

TD:   Tell me about it.  I had a twin brother sleeping in the same room and my alarm was going off at 4:30 am. He absolutely despised me for that for about 3 years.  But it was great.  This owner must have had 20-25 kids on the books, he paid well, he appreciated hard work and the longer you were there, the more you were paid. When I started I was earning about £40 a week, but I was doing 3 hours a day, 7 days a week.  By the time I finished, for the same amount of hours, I was earning over £100 a week. I pulled my weight and if any of the boys had any questions, they came and asked me.  So, that was my paper round and I loved it.  It was a hard slog, especially with the bad weather in Wales but I loved the fact that I never had to ask anyone for money. I had a little pot of savings because as I said, I never wanted for anything, so I never really used to spend it.  I used to have a £100 a week that went straight in the bank.

SM:   You were probably too tired to, in bed by 6 every night after Blue Peter.

TD:   I think only one day my parents didn’t let me go to school, because I came in from my paper round in the snow, absolutely knackered and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. They were red raw, and my Mother said, “I can’t send you into school like that”. But it was a great opportunity. Loved the fact that I could work and earn a living and then I never really looked back.  I knew I’d have that job for as long as I wanted it.  Then when I was 16, I was just taking my A levels. This will show you that I didn’t know what I really wanted to do. I took biology, maths, law and business studies, which was quite a spread-out mix.  I enjoyed maths because I never really had to work particularly hard at it and I was good at it.  Business just interested me in general, law was one of those that you can make a good career out of, and biology, just because of the element of sport and athleticism that went with it. But at that time, Dave and Darren who were running Screentec, realised that they had a load of other irons in the fire and they wanted to build a succession plan. Essentially work their way out of Screentec so they could focus on their other business interests.  I was about 4 or 5 months into my A levels I think and wasn’t particularly enjoying it, but because I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, I stuck it out. And when that opportunity came up, Dave asked if it would be something I’d be interested in, I said, “yes, definitely”.  It was a step in the right direction of being a senior manager in a company, and that really interested and excited me. Unfortunately, the conditions were, that you had to work from the bottom up.  So, it was sweeping the floors and general lacky. I can’t tell you the amount of times I was sent to get a glass hammer or a tin of tartan paint, but it was good.  It was great for me and I think it set me up really well because other employees had respect for me.  It wasn’t as if I was going in as a manager straight away, I didn’t have a clue.  I knew I had to move between each aspect of the business… Digital print, screen print, pvc welding, print finishing.

SM:  We’ll come onto Screentec in a sec but there’s a couple of things I want to talk about. . . For a start, people who are listening around the globe at this, don’t understand the perils of being a paperboy in Ferndale for a start.

TD:  Porth actually.

SM:  Even worse.  Obviously, you had to carry a weapon with you… A rolled-up newspaper in your case. But for me, I think people will marvel at the fact, a young guy getting up at 4:30 in the morning, 7 days a week. It shows a massive independence and a work ethic. Do you think that stood you apart from the rest of the guys?

TD:  Yea, I think so.  A lot of my mates used to think I was crazy but then the minute we go out and I buy a pair of trainers or something, they wanted to know where I got the money from.  Many of them had the opportunity and got a job within the company but only lasted a couple of months.  Two of my close friends lasted as long as I did, but they were willing to work at it.

SM:  It’s amazing though isn’t it.  I wonder if we could get away with that now? Everything is so politically correct now.  Like you said, you were working 3 hours a day, 7 days a week and getting paid £40.  I wonder if they could do that now?

TD:  Yea… I don’t actually know what the rules were.

SM:  I think that’s sad though isn’t it, it must teach you so much but how many perspective employers are put off from doing that because of bureaucracy legislation.

TD:  It is.  I remember having to fight for that job.  Not with the employer, he was happy to hire me.  But I had to fight with my Mam and Dad.  My Dad was an easier sell than my Mother, but they didn’t want me to wake up at 4:30 in the morning because it would affect my schooling. And they thought I wouldn’t make the money I said I would. So, I said, “let me try it for a month and if I’m coming home tired and not making the money, I’ll stop”. And it was fine, but I had to put some work in for my parents to allow me to have that job. . .

 

To listen to article… https://729renegades.com/podcast/