DUX – 7 years on and where we started

7 years ago, DUX was formed.

It was the last Friday of August in 2010 and the place I had worked for 6 years, and assumed I would be working at for another 10+, decided that they did not want me there anymore.

That is a bit of a shock to the system I can tell you and I was in a bit of a daze. My wife was shocked too, but I did not tell her till I got home.

We spent the weekend moving all my stuff out of the office (15 archive boxes of paper files, now all scanned so no more carting paper), and once my head cleared on the Sunday, I sat down to plan what I was going to do.

Once I had a chance to think about it, it became quite exciting. It was still scary, I had never worked by myself before, but I would get to keep all the money I made and make the decisions.

When I looked at all the ideas I had had over the previous years, that had been rejected as they did not fit the company, or the ways of working I wanted to push, I got excited.

I designed DUX to be a full-service advice company, focusing on service in the long term and good advice. I realised that the profession I am in is not great at service and communication and I aimed to fix this. I think we have a way to go, but am proud of the quality of service we provide. We don’t always get it right, but we work to be better tomorrow than we were yesterday.

DUX went from working out of my spare room on my own, to working out of a new office with 2 staff and various contractors, all working to help DUX clients.

I had two choices 7 years ago, cower, go get a job or join another company or chase my vision. 7 years on I am very glad I took the harder choice as the result and where we are going has made it worth it.

What I have learned from this, is that when faced with a difficult choice, it’s not the event itself that’s the key, it’s how you choose to react to it.

I look forward to working with my current and future clients for the next 7 years and many beyond that.