Lewis said he had a “really difficult” time at school
Lewis Nickson, founder and managing director of Poly Up(Image: Supplied)
A man who was always “the naughty kid” transformed his fortunes after he got one piece of advice. Lewis Nickson, 35, from Southport, runs Poly Up along with his brother Rob. Their business installs artificial grass pitches and other surfaces to schools, play areas and sports facilities across the UK.
The siblings have worked with high-profile football clubs and are forecast to make a healthy amount of revenue after just over a year in business. But for much of his life before that, Lewis struggled to find his sense of purpose.
He was kicked out of his school, as well as college on two different occasions, because of his behaviour. Speaking to the ECHO about why this happened, Lewis said: “There were certain boundaries that I would test for my mum, who was having to work three or four jobs to make sure our bills were paid, so going through school was a challenge anyway.
“I’m very creative. I was very musical, but it was never picked up on in school and so I missed out on an awful lot. For example, music lessons were taken off me because I was badly behaved.
“That isn’t the right thing to do with somebody who’s creative. I’m on the pathway for autism and ADHD, so there is no diagnosis, but I fit the description of both of those things.
“If a teacher would write on my work and put a big green tick on it or a big red X, I would rip the piece of paper up because they’d made a mess on my document that I spent hours on.
Lewis Nickson, founder and managing director of Poly Up(Image: Supplied)
“Things were just really difficult. I couldn’t concentrate for long enough and I was just misunderstood. I misbehaved and I liked to make people laugh. I was a bit of a joker and I always stuck up for people when I shouldn’t have, which then meant that I got the blame for whatever happened.
“I was very intelligent, but did I want to listen to the teachers? No I didn’t. I could have done revision, but I chose not to for whatever reason.”
Lewis had always had ideas for his own businesses but never followed them up. That changed after someone he helped at work.
He said: “I went and got a job helping people get off Universal Credit and back into work. For various reasons, they had been out of work for a long time. One day, I was working in the Southport office and I was given a task to find this gentleman called Joseph a job.
“Joseph and his dad came to meet me and his dad said to me that three people who had sat in that chair before me had all failed and were not able to find Joseph a job.
“I very quickly and confidently said, none of them were like me and if I tell you I’m going to get him a job, I’ll get him a job.”
Within a couple of months, Lewis had helped Joseph get a job in Matalan and this led to an intriguing conversation with his dad Paul.
Lewis said: “His dad came to see me in the office and then gave me a lift home. When I got out of the car, he said to me, if you ever think about starting a business, call me and he gave me his number.
“Now, this was the first time that I’d actually looked into Paul. I typed his name on Google and it turned out that he was Paul Hamnett, the ex vice-president of Sony Ericsson of North America and Europe for 10 years. He was a veteran businessman.”
“I still see them both. That was the first sticking point for me, in terms of where I was at in my life and how I wanted to go about starting a business.”
It turned out that Lewis’s brother Rob, who lived in New Zealand, had the same idea. Lewis said: “I got a phone call from my brother in New Zealand randomly who said, I’m thinking about starting a business.
“I said, I’m literally doing that now. So we got talking for a couple of hours, and then I decided that I liked the idea of doing it with him and maybe jumping on board with his idea of relining golf bunkers across New Zealand.”
The brothers received support from Paul and Ian Scott, who worked at technology firm Jabra. But they soon changed course as setting up in New Zealand would have been too expensive.
They decided to establish the business in the UK instead and expand its reach to other sports and places, such as schools.
Poly Up was set up in January 2024 and has now installed new training pitches and surfaces for the likes of Millwall FC and AFC Bournemouth. After starting the business with an initial £9,000, it is on track this year to make a good amount of revenue.
Lewis said: “It still feels like a gamble and a risk to this very day. We only started taking a wage two months ago. We’re on track this year to make a minimum of £500,000 but anywhere up to £650,000 to £700,000.”
Lewis is now supporting a new business and entrepreneurship BTEC at the City of Liverpool College, along with other young business owners in Merseyside.
Lewis said: ”I feel great about the whole journey, not just from the business doing well, but the amount of people that I get to help out. We’re creating areas for the children of the next generation to play safely. When I was young, I struggled in the education system – I was seen as another ‘naughty kid’ at school and failed at every level.
“In college, I opted for bricklayer and electrician courses and was twice removed due to my behaviour – I ended up not finishing both courses.
“If I’d been put in front of people who owned businesses and given the opportunity to learn from them, I would’ve lapped it up and I’m confident my success would’ve come sooner.”