When Dundonian Dean Newstead took voluntary redundancy from Openreach at the end of 2022, his first thought was finding another job as quickly as possible.
He’d never been out of work before since taking a job at the BT call centre in Dundee at the age of 16.
He progressed to engineering work and then a managerial role for Openreach over a 17-year career.
But when his job was moved to Glasgow, he took the offer of a redundancy payment instead of facing the commute.
He found another job fairly quickly, starting with broadband provider Zzoomm in a remote position in February 2023.
But then at the end of June, the company announced it was making 52% of its workforce redundant and Dean was out of work for the second time in six months.
The former St John’s High School pupil says the time was “stressful and emotional”.
“Trying to find another job was like a full time job in itself,” he said.
“I’m someone who has always worked.
“I had the safety net of the redundancy payment from Openreach but in my head I just really wanted back to a job.
“The days felt long, my body clock was all over the place – I found myself applying for jobs at three in the morning.
“I was going for jobs I was over qualified for and I still wasn’t even getting to an interview stage.
“It was really stressful and emotional at the same time.”
After 142 job applications, Dean started Dundee carpet cleaning business
In a two-month period, Dean ended up applying for 142 jobs. There were a few interviews, but no success.
Then he decided to take destiny into his own hands. If no one would employ him, he’d start his own business.
He looked into becoming a wedding photographer or creating a business running party nights before deciding to start a Dundee carpet cleaning company.
“After about two months, I decided I’d let the jobs I’d applied for run, but if nothing came of them I’d start my own company,” he said.
“I thought carpet and upholstery cleaning was a good area without too much competition.”
Buying the equipment and undergoing training cost around £6,500, but approaching one year in business Dean said the investment has been worthwhile.
He said: “To get the business off the ground I did work for friends and family.
“After about three months I was on the fence – my diary was totally empty. I was questioning whether it was worth continuing.
“Half of my brain was saying ‘nah mate, game over’. The other half was saying ‘keep going, keep fighting, it’s just early days’.
“It really picked up. I’ve since paid back my director’s loan in full and the business is in a profitable position.”
Gaining customers but losing weight
Dean says he enjoys working for himself and taking the time to speak to people.
The diary for his business Pro Carpet Solutions is now usually booked around a week in advance though he tries to keep a couple of spaces free for emergencies.
And an unexpected benefit of running the business has Dean has lost almost two stone in weight.
“I was a manager sitting behind a desk with two screens in front of me,” he said.
“Now I’m carrying equipment up four flights of stairs to a flat in Douglas. I’ve lost about 10kg in the past year.”
Conversation