A young investment banker left his 18-hour a day job at Rothschilds in his mid-20s to effectively become a "white van man".
Daniel Long decided to turn his back on his £80,000-a-year job in the city to move to the Midlands and pursue his own dream of running his own business - a waste collection firm.
Just over two years later, Mr Long, 27, is now at the helm of Birmingham-based Clearabee, employing 40 people and targeting a £5 million turnover this year from its headquarters in Erdington.
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The firm has gone from strength to strength in the last two years and in January removed more than 60 barbecues, 25 playhouses, 300 mannequins, eight tonnes of old newspapers, a ten-foot stuffed grizzly bear and half a tonne of adult video tapes.
Mr Long said: "When I left university, I went to Rothschilds in London to work in mergers and acquisitions banking. I was 23.
"It was high-powered, very high pressured stuff. I stayed there for six months, we were working 18-hour days. As a junior, it's a long slog.
"The job opens doors and it made sense to do it at the time because it was such a good stepping stone.
"I was on £55,000 and the bonus was 50 per cent or more. There is a real sense of people competing as to who does the longest hours.
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"Absolute attention to detail is essential, it is a very structured environment. But I like to have more creative freedom."
Mr Long described Clearabee as a "bulk waste on demand collection service".
"I had no money when I left Rothschilds, I had to go round picking up rubbish. They all thought I was mad, leaving a prestigious, well-paid job.
"There's lots of competition, a lot of them are small, one-man bands. We cover the whole country from our head office in Erdington. We run 20 vehicles in total and it has been cash-positive from day one.
"We employ 40 people in total and we are hoping to reach £4 million or £5 million turnover this year.
"We have a mix of customers. In the first couple of years, they were mostly domestic or small businesses but we have grown pretty quickly.
"We are effectively a national, man with a van on demand waste collection service. Around 35 per cent of our work is now with big companies.
"We have done over 30,000 collections in the last couple of years, from furniture, fly-tipping waste for councils, barbecues, sofas, TVs, and even sex toys."