Sean Ash

I was 20 years old with a vision, a vision that came before its time but lacked the financial backing to bring it to life. If the Prince’s Trust had invested in me back then, I genuinely believe I could have been a multi-billionaire today. By Sean Ash  In the early 2000s, I came up with a business idea called Errands, a simple but powerful concept: to deliver food, shopping, and essentials to people who needed them using bicycles. Today, that might sound familiar. It’s what companies like Just Eat, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo do. But back then, this wasn’t a multi-billion-pound industry. It was an idea too early for its time, and one I couldn’t get funded. The idea was born out of something personal and practical. My granddad was getting older, and his mobility wasn’t great, so every day I’d cycle to the local newsagent to pick up his milk and newspaper and drop them off at his home. He’d give me a pound for doing it, not that I expected anything, but that simple, regular task plant...

A hard look at fruit machines, roulette, and the hidden maths casinos don’t want you to understand. By Sean Ash In 2010, I turned £500 of my student loan into £16,000 playing online roulette on Ladbrokes. I hit a few good streaks, saw the numbers line up just right, and for a brief moment, it felt like I had won the game. That kind of money, at that point in my life, would have been life-changing. Rent, food, security, freedom, I could taste it. But I never walked away with all those winnings.  Ladbrokes made it so that I couldn't withdraw it all at once. They knew what they were doing. The withdrawal limit at the time was capped. I believe it was £1500 per day. That might sound reasonable, but in reality, it meant the money stayed in my account, within reach of temptation, while the adrenaline was still running through me. And because it was online, I had access in my hands. I couldn’t just walk away.  And over the course of those days, I kept playing. I lost most of it. ...

Being in the poverty trap is a bit like being locked up in Shawshank, imprisoned for something you didn’t do, digging for years, crawling through shit, only to never come out clean on the other side. And that’s what the poverty trap is. That’s where I am. By Sean Ash I’ve worked for others . I’ve done what was asked. I’ve shown up, gone the extra mile , stayed late, carried pressure. I’ve worked for big organisations, including the NHS , but the pay never gave me dignity. There was no real progression, no promotion that changed anything. I never had the moment where I thought, “I’ve made it.” Not once. Even when I was working full-time, I had to use food banks. I still relied on Universal Credit just to keep the lights on, just to feed the kids, just to make it to the end of the week. So I tried something different. I thought maybe the only way out of this trap is to make my own way. I started writing and self-publishing books . I put in 20-hour days pushing them online. Nothing. I...