oug is the Founder and Managing Director of White Digital, as well as a successful property entrepreneur and business mentor. Last month Doug spoke to Steve Pugh of Roadmap MBA on his Growth Strategy podcast to talk about his life, career and his take on running a business. So, here’s what Doug had to say.
Early life and previous careers
Doug confesses to having tried to be one of the cheeky ones at school who would push the boundaries a little. He felt that this, combined with his dyslexia, meant that the traditional learning path never quite suited him, causing him to ultimately leave school and college early to try something new.
It’s this curiosity that led him from a builder’s merchants to managing a pub, before time as a windsurfing and sailing instructor in the South of France and Egypt took him back to university in Leeds to complete a coaching course.
At this point an opportunity arose to support his brother’s successful golf career as his caddy. This became Doug’s life for the next eight years, working and learning alongside his brother, as well as a number of professional golfers on the European Tour.
Looking back now, Doug will often say that developing this range of different skills from his eclectic past has enabled him to think on his feet and be confident in seizing opportunities, rather than just follow one set path.
“Things happened and opportunities arose where I’d take one and not take another. But the whole way through I was try to start businesses – that’s the one thing that always rung true.”
Starting White Digital
White Digital was actually the fourth business Doug had tried to start and came about after some experience working in a friend’s web agency. Having given himself six months to succeed by himself at first, Doug took on additional jobs, first as a bar manager and then back in golf caddying, to support himself as he started to build the White Digital business.
With the golf caddy work taking place overseas and White Digital clients being based in the UK, the time zone differences allowed Doug to dedicate time to do both – some good fortune he feels was instrumental in being able to make his situation work.
“There’s so much serendipity involved in business. There’s luck everywhere and you just have to be in the right place to find it.”
But luck only goes so far without hard work, which in turn brings greater appreciation for the success when it does come. Although for new business owners it can seem at first that all their work is achieving little forward movement, Doug’s analogy is that keeping that work rate up should ultimately create real momentum for the business.
Since starting White Digital, Doug admits he’s felt addicted to the business in many ways, with new ideas for growing the company often coming to him in the middle of the night. We’re always grateful for such commitment from him as White Digital continues to grow.
Getting into property
Doug got into the idea of managing lettings and commercial property through a friend, and enlisted another friend to help when he took over a franchise concept. Without direct property experience, Doug says he’s always felt that having transferable business skills in strategy management, leadership, project planning and digital marketing would stand the company in good stead.
The property business was more chaotic at times, but ultimately grew substantially during a very difficult time for companies and holiday let owners during lockdown. For Doug, it was important to recognise the success of the work put into the company, despite some difficult times:
“Sometimes you don’t see the things you’re doing well until they’re not going well anymore”
Although Doug recently stepped back from the property side of his business life, he believes it’s something he’d like to get back into one day when he has the time.
Dreams and plans
Aside from personal ambitions for financial independence and security, Doug has always believed in doing what he loves and working hard to make it better each day. A groundhog day job is always likely to make people less motivated, so Doug’s philosophy is to never stand still and settle.
“Growing is part of the enjoyment of life. When you stop growing and stagnate, that’s where unhappiness sets in.”
For White Digital this dream means a focus on further growth and also the start of a new podcast series. The Cellar Room Sessions will speak to people within White Digital’s network about their journey and experiences in business, listen to their advice and wisdom, and help them reach a wider audience of listeners and potential connections.
Advice for others
Doug’s main piece of advice is to remove the emotion from the ups and downs of running a business, and to try and become semi-detached from it all where possible. There will inevitably be a lot of ups and downs, but making a success of the business comes from working hard to have more of the former:
At the same time, Doug is a big advocate of achieving success through generating positive value. Whether it’s strictly financial, offering advice, opening new doors, or simply moving the needle forwards for good service, providing more value to the world than you take away has to eventually bring success over time.
It’s an ethos we always follow at White Digital, and one Doug helps instil in the team in all the work we do.
