Meet Adam

Start Small and Think Big

At the ripe old age of 39 I decided to cut out the booze and the partying and get serious about life. Best thing I ever did, looking back.
Around this time, I was working for a large insurance company, heading up their claims recoveries division. I found, once I got serious about my career, I was actually very good at locating missing people that owed money and then negotiating to get them to pay. I did an investigations course to learn more about skip tracing and I studied the collection industry and started research on how to start my own collection agency.

My first business, Debt Recoveries Australia, was born in 2002. I was living in a one bedroom flat in Balaclava and ran the business from that flat and a P.O. Box in Balaclava. Right from the start, I made all my plans with the big picture in mind. Everything from the name, website, office space and debt collection software, was chosen with the end goal in mind – to be the most successful and profitable debt collection agency in Australia.

This, I believe, was one of the keys to my success. Even though I was small at the time (got to start somewhere), everything was planned as if I was already a large, successful debt collection agency.

On more clients since Debtcol allowed me to expand (and it expanded with me), allowing for flexibility and adaptation of my business as it grew.

Growth and Reputation

Steady growth over the years was achieved with careful planning and goal-setting.

Constant sales and marketing meant new clients came very easilyandmeant I very quickly moved the office from that one bedroom flat into an office in the city. We very quicklyended up with offices all over Australia. Demand for legal services lead to the addition of a legal arm in 2012, called ADC Legal Litigation Lawyers. I’m not a lawyer, but guess what? You don’t have to be, to start your own law firm. I hired a lawyer, brought them on as a non- shareholding Director. This was another big service we could offer for our clients.

Plan for the Future

By 2013, Debt Recoveries Australia, along with ADC Legal, was well on the way to becoming one of the most successful debt collections agencies and litigation firms in Australia. In order to accommodate the increasing demand for our services and to provide the best possible service for these clients, we had to have the manpower to back this up.

Setting up a Philippines office meant we could afford to have twice as many staff, passing on the saving to our clients by way of cheaper commission rates. We were also able to provide a much better service since we now have a surplus of staff to perform “back office” administrative duties and debt collection support.

I studied my competitors, who all had offshore teams and I copied what they had already done. I incorporated my own outsourcing company in the Philippines, called Nova Team Solutions.

This was a stand-alone company, that could not only service DRA and ADC Legal, but also other Aussie companies. that had a need for outsourcing.; Nova was set up in 2014 and has been quite successful and profitable, to the DRA Group of companies.

Keeping in mind my mantra of “starting with the end in mind” I set up all three companies to be ‘stand-alone” companies and businesses, so each one could eventually be sold separately, or two together, or all of them as a bundle.