My dad, Paul Bell, couldn't read or write. He grew up on Sheriff Street, inner-city Dublin - fifteen siblings, three bedrooms. He left school at five years old to sell newspapers on the street so his family could survive.
No education. No advantages. No safety net. And somehow, he built a life for us: he started a painting business with zero experience, fed a family of five, put us all through school, and gave us the best childhood he could.
He was a real entrepreneur, long before I knew what the word meant. But I saw the other side too. I saw him broke. I saw him stressed. I saw him struggle through things most men wouldn't come back from - and he always showed up. Never quit.
I worked with him from eight years old until I was fifteen. Small jobs, pocket money, summers on building sites. He taught me hard work, discipline and the inner-city gift of the gab - lessons no classroom can teach.
I was 19 when he died. I found him. I tried to revive him. A firefighter put his arm around me and said, "Son… you've to look after your family now."
Everything I've built since started that day. My first business at 19 - a tiny coffee shop inside a kids' adventure centre. Then years of mistakes: trusting the wrong people, getting burned, wanting to quit every second day. Three years ago I got serious. Moved away. Built a plan. Focused. Everything changed.
The first client
Then came the conversation that changed everything. My first client: three founders starting a solar company called Ecoplex Energy Solutions - today one of Ireland's biggest solar companies. They sat me down in a café and asked if I knew how to run paid ads. I said no - but I'd learn.
Three years later, they were turning over 8 figures - and I'd scaled my team to nine people to keep up. All from one conversation in a coffee shop, and backing myself. Fitting, really, given where I'd started.
Today A2B is a 7-figure company with a team of 13, doubling year on year. And this year I hit the milestone I'd carried since the day he died: I retired my mam. She'll never worry about money again.
I could have built A2B around any niche - SaaS, e-commerce, gyms. I picked trades because of him. I've watched a trades business feed a family, so I know exactly what it means when one grows: a mortgage cleared, kids put through school, a mam who never worries about money again.
"My dad ran a trades business to provide for us.
I run A2B so trades owners can provide for theirs."
I'll keep building my dad's legacy - the one he never got the chance to finish.
Dad, thanks for everything. Giddy up 🐎
Alex Bell - Founder & CEO, A2B Solutions
