At 20 years of age most of us are tentatively still finding our feet, either preparing to finish university or school life and find full-time employment, navigating the world of work to see what fits best, or the lucky few might even be travelling the world in pursuit of sheer happiness.
Few are entrepreneurs and even fewer are entrepreneurs of three businesses.
But Newtownhamilton man, Joe McClelland is doing just that – and it’s has all been a product of life experience… all 20 years of it.
Speaking to Armagh I about the catalyst for jumping into self-employment Joe explains that he had always had an “entrepreneurial mindset from a young age”.
To make a “little extra money” during school years, the young wheeler-dealer caught the business bug “selling sweets”!
And later on, he took inspiration from his mechanic father and began buying and selling cars, working from his garage sprucing them up and “flipping” them for profit.
Despite his early baptism into self-employment, Joe did, for a time, take on full-time employment. Unfortunately, though… he got the chop!
Said Joe: “After school, I knew university or a trade wasn’t for me. I felt like there was something bigger out there, and I wanted to take a risk and create my own path.
“So I got a job as a barber — completed the course, started working in a shop — but then I got fired.
“And funny enough, that moment was the start of my entrepreneurial journey. It made me realise I didn’t want to work for someone else. I wanted to be my own boss.”
He admits: “I wasn’t the best barber out there,” but the job, he said, “kept me going” and it gave him time to brainstorm new ideas for “side hustles” to earn a bit of extra cash.
All the while, Joe maintained his car enterprise from his dad’s garage – seeing “real potential” in car cleaning as a business.
“After I lost my job, I had no income and knew I had to make something happen,” continued Joe. “I’d always been into cleaning cars, and I thought, this is my moment. So I took every bit of money I had and invested it into washing equipment.
“Then I went down to a local filling station in town and asked if I could rent out a small part of their yard to set up a car wash. I met with the owner that night, and he said yes — go for it. Within two or three weeks, I had my setup ready, took the risk and launched my first business.
“While many go to university or follow what their parents tell them — like getting a trade or something “to fall back on” — I went the opposite way. I didn’t listen to anyone else. I chose to be my own man and do things on my own terms.
“That decision came with risk, but it’s been the best thing I’ve ever did. When I first started the car wash, I’d sit in my car from 9am to 5pm watching other cars drive past. People would stop and ask, ‘Are you busy?’ — hoping I’d say no. But I always told them, ‘Yeah, flat out,’ even if I hadn’t had a single customer that day. I’d come home with £7 in my pocket, and that had to do me.
“But that struggle lit a fire in me. I didn’t want to just get by— I wanted to build. I started researching how to market a business, how to stand out, how to scale. I introduced valets and started posting before-and-after videos on TikTok. Some of those videos went viral.
“From doing zero washes a day, I grew to washing 30 to 40 cars every Saturday and being fully booked every single day for seven months straight — with two to three valets daily. It was unbelievable, especially after so many people told me a car wash would never work.
“For them to drive past and see queues of cars waiting to be cleaned? That was the best feeling. From there, I became obsessed with building and developing businesses. That’s where my drive really comes from — proving myself right and proving others wrong.”
The business – now known as JMac Autocare – took off and Joe carried that momentum through into building his second company… a waterproof clothing brand born out of t-shirts getting ruined on nights out that now encourages people to feel confident about their sobriety.
He named the brand ‘Sober’ and after posting a video of his product in use on Tiktok his orders skyrocketed!
The social presence he built as a result is one he is now intensely proud of and uses to inspire those who follow him.
He refuses to blindly follow advice, or to follow the norm. He does things his way, intuitively… following his gut and life’s lessons.
Said Joe: “A big thing with parents around where I’m from is that they know no different. They believe that everyone has to go to university, that you have to work on site in Dublin.
“If I listened to them I wouldn’t have a business that is booked out, a social media platform with over 31,000 followers, a waterproof clothing brand or a community online that helps people become the best version of themselves!
“I used to get slagged for posting on social media and, to some people in this county, its very strange to share your story online or post a video of yourself talking but for me social media is what got me to where I am today. It has blew up all of my business.”
The online community he refers to feeds into Joe’s third and newest business, the 1% Club.
The 1% Club – a personal training company – is a direct result of Joe’s belief in a holistic approach to life – in taking care of body, mind and the things we invest our time in – something he learned the hard way through running two businesses back to back.
“I used to be big into the gym, but once business took over, that part of my life started to slip,” he explained. “I was so focused on building the carwash that I burned myself out.
“I’d go from 9am to 5pm without eating, constantly running back and forth washing cars. I’d come home absolutely shattered — too tired to train, too drained to eat properly, just stuck in a cycle of sleep and work, living off bad food and no structure.
“Eventually, I realised this wasn’t sustainable. It didn’t matter how much money I was making — if my health was suffering, none of it meant anything.
“That’s when everything changed. I decided to cut back slightly on work and look at better options for my lifestyle.
“I expanded into mobile car washing, which massively reduced the pressure on me. It gave me more flexibility — I could wake up early, get my gym session in, go to work, and still have time to eat, recover, journal, read, ice bath, and reflect.
“Now I don’t just focus on business — I focus on becoming the best version of myself both physically and mentally. To me, success is balance — training the mind, training the body, building the business, and living with purpose.”
Joe’s mum sadly passed away when he was young and that loss, he says, forced him to mature quickly.
It also taught him that no one was going to make things happen – he alone was responsible for his future. He didn’t want “handouts, loans, or anyone investing in me”, he says. “I wanted to do it all myself.”
His advice to other young entrepreneurs is to “take the risk”.
Said Joe: “Don’t listen to what anyone else says. If you have that feeling deep down that something could work — trust it. It’s probably going to work.
“Before I started my business, everyone told me it wouldn’t work. But I believed in myself, and I proved them wrong.
“Yes, it’s scary at the start. But you need to act fast. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to take risks constantly and fail as much as possible — because every failure teaches you something.
“The quicker you fail, the quicker you learn. And the quicker you learn, the quicker you succeed. That’s something I live by every day.”
And he has no plans to stop at three businesses – in fact – he’s already in talks about the next!
“I’ve already been in conversations with a few people recently about new opportunities,” said Joe. “Some really exciting plans are brewing, especially around Newry and my local area.
“Nothing is guaranteed yet — but I’m always moving, always building, and always thinking about how I can take everything to the next level.
“So keep your eyes peeled — I’m only getting started.”
