What Dan Holmes’ Utility Warehouse journey can teach anyone serious about building a second income
This was not an overnight success story
Editor’s note: This article is based on insights shared during an interview between Wes Linden and Dan Holmes on The Big Night In. It has been adapted from the original conversation into a structured article to highlight the key lessons, mindset shifts and practical takeaways from Dan’s Utility Warehouse journey.
When people look at a strong Utility Warehouse success story, it is easy to assume they are seeing someone who got off to a flying start, had a natural gift for it, or somehow made progress faster than everyone else because they were simply “built differently”. In reality, that is often not the full story.
Dan Holmes’ journey is a good example of that.
Today, Dan is recognised as one of the standout success stories in Utility Warehouse. He reached National Group Leader at the age of 29, making him the youngest person to achieve that level. That alone is impressive. But what makes his story especially valuable is not just the end result. It is the route he took to get there.
This was not a journey built on instant momentum. It was built on consistency, better habits, improved standards, stronger association, clearer priorities and a willingness to keep going when the business did not move as quickly as he wanted it to.
For anybody researching the Utility Warehouse opportunity, looking for a serious second income, or wondering what actually makes the difference between drifting and progressing, there is a lot to learn here.
Save | Earn | Refer | Get further info | Ask questions | Or call Jeremy on: 01527 523 013 / 07726 196 153.
Dan Holmes’ UW story did not begin with instant success
One of the most encouraging things about Dan Holmes’ Utility Warehouse journey is that it did not start with rapid promotion after rapid promotion. He joined UW at 19 and, by his own account, spent five years at Team Leader level. That matters, because it makes his story much more relatable than a simple “overnight success” narrative.
A lot of people begin a side income opportunity full of enthusiasm, only to find that progress slows, confidence dips and momentum stalls. When that happens, it is very easy to assume the problem is the opportunity, the market, the timing or even your own ability. Dan’s story points in a different direction.
He openly described January 2021 as the turning point. That was when he stopped merely hoping things might improve and made a real decision that things were going to change. That distinction is important. Plenty of people say they want more from a business. Fewer make the kind of internal commitment that changes how they act every day. That decision did not just alter his mindset. It changed his activity, his priorities, his standards and the way he approached the business.
“Dan hasn’t just achieved a remarkable level in Utility Warehouse. He’s shown people what becomes possible when consistency stops being an idea and becomes a daily standard.” — Wes Linden, National Network Leader
The real breakthrough came from consistency, not complexity
If there is one lesson that stands out most clearly from Dan Holmes’ success story, it is probably this: consistent activity matters far more than complicated strategy. Dan committed himself to speaking to at least two people every single day about the income opportunity. Not “when he had time”. Not “when he felt motivated”. Every day.
That might sound simple, and that is exactly the point. Many people hold back because they think success in a business like UW must come from some advanced script, clever funnel or secret technique. In practice, the difference is often much more basic. It comes from doing the right things often enough, long enough, and without constantly starting and stopping.
Two conversations a day may not sound dramatic. But over a year, that creates hundreds of new opportunities, follow-ups, relationships and future prospects. And because some people say yes later rather than immediately, that steady pipeline becomes even more powerful over time.
This is where many people accidentally break their own momentum. They start speaking to more people, get a little busier, recruit a few partners or gain some new customers, and then stop doing the very activity that created that momentum in the first place. Dan’s approach was different. He kept the baseline activity going.
That is one of the biggest takeaways from his story. In a genuine residual income business, consistency compounds.
“Recruiting is a process, not an event. Every conversation plants a seed, and if you keep planting enough seeds, momentum becomes inevitable.” — Dan Holmes, National Group Leader.
Why daily activity creates long-term momentum
One of the strongest points Dan made was that recruiting is a process, not an event. That is worth sitting with.
Not everyone joins the first time they hear about an opportunity. Not everyone is ready when you first contact them. Some people need more time. Some want to watch from a distance. Some only become interested when their own circumstances change.
That means your conversations today are not only about what happens today. They are also building tomorrow’s pipeline. This is one reason consistent prospecting is so important in the Utility Warehouse business opportunity. You are not simply chasing immediate outcomes. You are steadily creating future ones.
Dan even reflected on the fact that after his daughter Harriet was born, he was not actively prospecting as much for a short period because family life had become understandably busy. Even so, people were still joining because of seeds that had already been planted through previous conversations and follow-up.
That is the power of consistency. It does not just create more activity in the present. It protects your business in the future.
Why standards matter more than motivation
Motivation comes and goes. Standards tend to stay. Another major lesson from Dan Holmes’ Utility Warehouse journey is the importance of setting better standards for yourself and for your team. That applies to personal activity, how seriously you treat the business, what pace you consider normal, and what expectations you place around progress.
A very practical example of this was his view of early milestones. Rather than treating a 30-day target as something to drift towards slowly, he spoke about setting the expectation that new partners could achieve key early results within 10 to 14 days. In other words, the official timeframe may allow a month, but the internal team standard can still be much higher. That matters because people often rise or fall to the level of expectation around them.
If the atmosphere around a new partner says, “Just see how it goes”, progress is usually slower. If the atmosphere says, “This is absolutely achievable, this is how we do it, and this is normal here”, people often move with more urgency and confidence. This is not about pressure for the sake of it. It is about creating belief, direction and momentum. The same principle applies at every level of the business. Standards affect:
- how often you contact people
- how quickly you follow up
- whether you show up early to events
- whether you treat your diary seriously
- whether you think like a hobbyist or a business builder
That is one reason Dan’s story resonates. He did not just become more motivated. He raised his standards.
Association can either strengthen you or drain you
This was one of the strongest sections of the interview. Dan spoke very openly about how his association changed the trajectory of his business. In his earlier years with UW, he believed that spending time with almost anybody in the business counted as “good association”. Later, he realised that this was not necessarily true.
Being around nice people is not the same as being around people who are growing, stretching, learning and moving forwards. That is an uncomfortable truth, but it is an important one. If you spend a lot of time around people who are cynical, negative, uncommitted or constantly reinforcing why progress is difficult, that affects your own thinking more than most people like to admit. The same is true outside the business as well. Friends, colleagues or family members may not mean any harm, but if the dominant tone around you is dismissive, mocking or defeatist, it becomes harder to protect your belief and momentum.
By contrast, positive association does not just lift your mood. It can sharpen your standards, expand your vision and help you behave in a way that matches where you say you want to go. Dan credited a great deal of his progress to spending time with strong, serious, high-level people and learning from them directly. In his case, that included travelling regularly to hear from and learn from top leaders, especially Stephan Longworth.
That decision mattered. It showed seriousness. It also placed him in environments where growth became normal. For anyone trying to build a second income opportunity in the UK, that is a lesson worth remembering. You do not become who you want to become by accident. Your environment plays a major part.
Personal development only matters if it changes behaviour
There is a temptation in any business to consume motivation without changing action. Dan’s story is useful here too, because the personal development element was not just about reading a book, listening to an audio or attending a training event. It was about letting that input alter behaviour.
He spoke about learning from books such as The Compound Effect and from the idea of a consistency chain, where you visually track daily activity and become less willing to break the pattern once it is established. That is practical personal development. The best personal development does not just make you feel better for an hour. It improves how you work on a Tuesday afternoon, how you follow up on a Thursday evening, and how you respond when you do not feel like doing the basics. That is where growth happens.
The contact list still matters more than most people think
One of the most useful parts of the interview was Dan’s emphasis on building and properly working a contact list. This will not sound exciting to everybody, but it is a major reason some people build solid Utility Warehouse businesses while others stay stuck.
A lot of people say they have “spoken to everybody” when in reality they have written down a small handful of obvious names and quickly run out of confidence. Dan’s view was much more disciplined. He described literally emptying his mind onto paper and creating a proper written contact list of everyone he knew. That is not old-fashioned. It is effective.
For all the attention given to social media, branding and content creation, your warm market and existing relationships are still one of the strongest places to begin. Those people already know who you are. There is already trust. There is already some level of familiarity.
And if you genuinely believe the UW opportunity can help people improve their finances, create a side income or build something bigger over time, it makes sense to share it with people you know. The biggest obstacle here is usually not strategy. It is fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of looking silly. Fear of what somebody might think.
Dan was refreshingly direct about this. Other people’s opinions do not pay your bills. They do not create more family freedom. They do not build your future. That does not mean being pushy. It means not allowing imagined embarrassment to stop you from showing people something that could genuinely help them.
Social media can help, but it is not the business
This is another area where Dan’s perspective was sensible and balanced. Social media can absolutely help in a modern Utility Warehouse business. But it works best as a contact-building and conversation-starting tool, not as the whole business model. That distinction matters.
The goal is not to hide behind posts or hope that polished graphics will build a team for you. The goal is to connect with people, start conversations, build relationships and then move those relationships into proper discussions.
He also made the important point that social media should still feel like you. People generally do not log into Facebook hoping to be hit with a stream of branded corporate graphics. They respond more naturally to relatable content, visible personality, clear positioning and signs that you are credible and active.
One smart example discussed in the interview was the idea of a pinned introductory video on a social media profile. That kind of content can help explain what you do in a simple, human way without overwhelming people or forcing them into assumptions before they have had a conversation with you. In other words, social media can support the process. It is not a replacement for the process.
Events matter because serious people act like it matters
Dan was also very clear about the value of attending events. This is another area where mindsets diverge quickly. Some people see events as optional extras. Others treat them as part of the business. Usually, those two groups do not get the same results.
The reason events matter is not only the content, although that can be excellent. It is also the environment, the energy, the examples, the conversations, the raised standards and the decisions that often get made in those rooms.
Dan spoke about showing up intentionally, arriving early, helping out, sitting near the front, dressing smartly and using events as chances to learn from people who are already producing the kind of results you want. That is a serious attitude. And serious attitudes tend to build serious businesses.
For people researching whether Utility Warehouse is worth building properly, this is one of the recurring themes you hear from those who do well. They do not treat the business casually and then somehow hope for uncommon results. They show up like it matters.
Making UW a priority changes what your calendar looks like
One of the clearest parts of the interview was the link between priorities and calendar reality. It is easy to say something is important. It is harder to prove it with your diary. Dan put this very well. If a business is genuinely a priority, that should be visible in the calendar. It should show up in planned appointments, booked conversations, event attendance, follow-up time and protected work blocks.
This is where many people unintentionally sabotage themselves. They want the rewards of a serious side income, but they continue to treat the activity like an afterthought. They fit it in vaguely, hope for the best, and then feel disappointed when the business responds in kind. There is no getting around this.
If you want unusual results, something in your routine has to become more intentional. That does not mean everybody has to work full-time hours. It does mean the time you do have needs to be used properly. This is one reason Dan’s “two people a day” commitment is so useful. It removes vagueness. It turns good intentions into visible activity.
Handling disappointment is part of building a real business
This part of the interview was particularly honest. Dan did not pretend that success means you stop feeling frustration. He simply explained that over time he learned to process disappointment faster. That is a valuable distinction. In any people-based business, there will be moments where somebody disappoints you, goes quiet, says no after sounding interested, joins and does very little, or walks away after appearing to have huge potential.
If you are not careful, those moments can knock you off course for days, weeks or longer. Dan’s approach was not to deny the disappointment. It was to shorten it. A two-minute disappointment is manageable. A two-month disappointment is destructive. That is excellent advice. He also made another useful point: in many cases it is better to become fascinated rather than frustrated.
Not everybody who looks promising follows through. Not everybody who starts quickly stays consistent. Not everybody who seems quiet stays quiet forever. Human behaviour can be unpredictable. The people who last tend to accept that and keep moving.
The bigger picture is about freedom, not just earnings
Yes, the income in Dan Holmes’ UW story is impressive. Reaching National Group Leader at 29 and talking openly about strong earnings will naturally catch attention. But the deeper theme running through the interview was freedom.
He spoke very movingly about becoming a father and how that sharpened his appreciation for what this kind of business can provide. Not just financially, but in terms of presence, flexibility and time with family. That is a major part of why so many people are drawn to the Utility Warehouse business opportunity in the first place.
They are not simply chasing money for the sake of it. They are looking for breathing room. More choices. Less pressure. More control. The ability to be present for family life. The ability to build something that keeps paying rather than constantly starting from zero. That is what makes residual income so appealing when it is built properly. And it is why Dan’s story lands as more than just a promotion story. It is really a story about what can happen when someone stops treating a worthwhile opportunity casually and starts treating it seriously.
What Dan Holmes’ Utility Warehouse journey teaches in simple terms
If you strip the interview back to its core lessons, the message is actually very straightforward. Success did not come from luck. It did not come from instant brilliance. It came from making a genuine decision, increasing consistency, improving association, setting stronger standards, working properly, protecting belief, speaking to more people and staying the course long enough for momentum to build.
That is encouraging, because those are all things other people can learn from. Not everybody will want the same result. Not everybody will build at the same pace. But for the people who are serious about creating a meaningful second income, a stronger UW business or more long-term freedom, the underlying principles are highly relevant.
“You have to protect your belief in this opportunity like it’s worth millions, because for the right person who takes it seriously, it absolutely can be.” — Dan Holmes, National Group Leader.
Dan Holmes - FAQ's
Final thoughts
Dan Holmes’ Utility Warehouse success story is not valuable simply because of the level he has reached. It is valuable because of what his journey reveals.
It shows that slow beginnings do not rule out strong outcomes.
It shows that consistency matters more than intensity bursts.
It shows that standards shape results.
It shows that who you spend time with matters.
It shows that activity has to become intentional.
And perhaps most importantly, it shows that a serious second income can grow into something much bigger when it is given the attention it deserves.
For anybody watching from the sidelines, wondering whether Utility Warehouse can genuinely become something significant, there is a useful challenge here. Do not just ask whether the opportunity works. Ask what might happen if you worked it with real consistency, clearer standards and a stronger sense of purpose. That is often where the real answer begins.
“Dan Holmes’ story is a powerful reminder that success in Utility Warehouse is not reserved for the lucky or the loudest. It belongs to the people who make a real decision, raise their standards and keep showing up long enough for the compound effect to do its work.” — Jeremy Tromans, Utility Warehouse Partner
Save | Earn | Refer | Get further info | Ask questions | Or call Jeremy on: 01527 523 013 / 07726 196 153.
