A Level results day tomorrow – how did you do back in the day and what advice do you have for students?

I left college after two months. Formal education bored me, but learning never has. I wanted to earn, build things and get my hands dirty. I now run a multi-six-figure website agency, yet I still invest heavily every year in mentors and education.

My advice is not to treat your results as a verdict on your intelligence or future. They may change your route, but they do not define your potential. University is absolutely right for some people and careers; apprenticeships, employment or entrepreneurship suit others.

Whatever you do, to succeed you need discipline, curiosity and a willingness to put yourself out there, make mistakes and learn from them.

I bombed my A Levels, scraped into a university I did not really want to attend, and eventually dropped out. At the time it felt like failure in capital letters. It wasn’t. I went on to start my own business and now run a nationwide IFA firm, so my advice to students is simple: your results matter, but they are not your life sentence. University can be brilliant for the right person on the right course, but it is badly oversold as the only respectable route. Apprenticeships, work, starting a business, changing direction and learning on the job can all be just as powerful. The danger is thinking one envelope defines your value. It doesn’t. What matters next is graft, judgement, resilience and being willing to take a less glamorous first step.

I didn’t get the A-level results I wanted and didn’t initially go to university. I went straight into work and have since enjoyed a varied and successful career, with plenty of highs, lows and learning along the way. I later completed vocational and academic qualifications while working full-time.

My message to students is simple: university is an option, not the goal. Results matter, but they don’t define your career or future success. Apprenticeships, college, professional qualifications or going straight into work can be equally valuable, and sometimes far more focused.

University is fantastic when a degree is genuinely relevant to where you want to go. But spending three years studying simply because it feels like the expected next step isn’t necessarily the best investment. There are many routes to success, and tomorrow’s results are just one staging post, not the destination.

Confession time. One of my grades came in below target on results day and I genuinely thought my world had ended. I panicked, went through Clearing, and started at a different university to the two I'd set my heart on. Then the twist. There were complaints about the marking, my grade was corrected, and the two universities that had turned me down suddenly offered me a place, a year later. By then I'd moved on. And do you know what, it worked out brilliantly anyway. Here's what nobody tells you at 18. A grade measures how good you were at exams on one particular Tuesday in August. It says nothing about whether you'll show up, care and get better, and those are the bits I actually hire for. Find out about all your options. Don't just follow the crowd. What suits your mates might be wrong for you, and if you're truly friends you'll stay in touch and make new ones wherever you land. You are so much more than a letter on a page.

Leaving my own grades out of it, I can tell you what results day looks like from the hiring side. A disappointing envelope closes one door on one morning, and it doesn't decide what you'll be trusted with ten years from now. I hire and train finance staff, and what I'm judging is whether someone can be relied on with a client's numbers and will keep learning. Grades at 18 tell me very little about that. Yes, university is overrated. In my experience, plenty of school leavers are pointed towards a degree before anyone asks what the job they want actually requires. An apprenticeship is a real route in, and so is a professional qualification, and in my own field you can start with the CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting. CIMA presents it as the entry-level qualification for people with no finance experience. A degree isn't a requirement. That door is open tomorrow morning, whatever the envelope says.

Results day feels enormous at 18, but it's rarely the fork in the road it seems - almost no one asks about your A Levels a few years into working life. I did reasonably well and studied Applied Economics, though decades on I doubt those grades shaped where I ended up.

If tomorrow doesn't go to plan, it isn't the defining moment of your life. A knock back often forces a rethink and opens unexpected opportunities. Sometimes adversity is a gift: those who sail through early can find the first real roadblock difficult, while setbacks build resilience and tenacity. Much depends on framing - seeing opportunities rather than obstacles.

University should no longer be automatic. A degree can mean repaying an extra 9% above the threshold for decades, while a good apprenticeship offers earnings, experience and no student debt. University is essential for some careers, but should be a considered choice, not the default.

Whatever happens, keep it in proportion.