I was homeless after dropping out of university – now I’m a millionaire making £100,000 commission… anyone can do it
A MILLIONAIRE who makes £100,000 commission has said anyone can do it after revealing a past living on the streets.
Islay Robinson dropped out of university and became homeless before he launched his now multi-million pound business.
He revealed the secret to his success is not splashing the cash, adding he doesn't see the point in expensive watches and flashy cars.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he said he's seen a number of people who sell their companies spend their money too quickly.
"They just run out of cash," he said.
The 44-year-old launched his business Enness, a finance brokers, in 2007 before pulling a whopping £14million worth of mortgage applications overnight.
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He said part of the company's triumph was down to him finding people and doing deals in a lending market that no one was involved with.
This included an "unusual" deal with the Bank of Bangkok and for a bridge loan against a property in Virginia Water, which bagged him a whopping £100,000 in commission.
For the millionaire entrepreneur life wasn't always this glam though, having spent much of his childhood in sheltered accommodation on the outskirts of London.
Speaking of his old hometown Hounslow, he said it "was quite a hard area to grow up in" and didn't understand why he and his mum had moved there after her split from his dad.
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Despite a challenging upbringing, the mortgage-broker achieved good results at school and bagged a place to study Business and Spanish at Sheffield Hallam university.
But after just a year and a half he dropped out and became a data entry administrator at a mortgage broker in the city, earning £21,000 a year.
He quickly climbed the ranks and in just a few years was one of the highest earners at the brokerage, making almost £90,000 a year.
He said the entrepreneurial spirit of the place added to his determination and it wasn't long before he ventured out on his own.
Islay's company now operates around 850 lenders, including some of the UK's largest banks like Halifax and Santander, and has 40 members of staff.
In 2021, he sold part of the business which he said was transformational to his own income.
He added: “The profits got to a level that we were able to pay dividends.
"The main change is that we took some investment from another person who bought one third of the company. That came to me individually – it was really the changing point.”
This comes as a couple revealed they make a whopping £20,000 per month by selling second-hand clothing online.
What was once a side hustle for Grace Cassidy and her husband Joe has now become their full time-job.
Both aged 29, the couple actually started selling odd bits and bobs online years ago, but back then it was just a hobby.
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In June this year, they decided it was time to level up to something bigger.
And by October 2024, the parents' earnings were so high that Joe was able to quit his job as a manager at a self-storage facility to help his wife with their new business.