For months he slept in the streets of London. Years later, his company would offer work to people who knew that same reality.
Drew Goodall was just over 20 years old and he was trying to build a career as an actor. He gained small roles in important productions, including Snatch and About a Boy.
It seemed like the beginning of something.
Then the parts stopped coming, the money ended and his life changed quickly.
Drew lost the house and, for the shame of returning to his parents and admitting that things had gone wrong, decided to stay in London.
It ended in the street.
For months he also slept in cardboard boxes, he got food as he could and suffered aggression. What until recently seemed a promising career in cinema had become a daily struggle to survive.
At one point, he started polishing his shoes.
It wasn't a big business project. It was just a way to earn something.
But a regular client saw something in him and allowed him to set up a small station inside the building where he worked.
That opportunity changed the direction of his life.
Sunshine Shoeshine was born from the small station, an activity that expanded into several London business buildings, generating about £250,000 a year.
But Drew decided that the company's growth would have had another meaning.
He began to offer job opportunities especially to people who had lived in the street and people with disabilities, helping dozens to find income, a routine and greater autonomy.
A choice that was born from an experience he knew personally.
Drew knew that getting out of a homeless condition doesn't just mean finding a place to sleep. It also means recovering stability, trust and the feeling of having a role in society again.
Part of the earnings of the activity has also been devoted to social initiatives.
Its history does not show that there is a simple solution to poverty or lack of a house.
It shows something more concrete: sometimes a chance offered at the right time can become the point from which a person can start again.
Drew got that chance when someone gave him a space to polish his shoes.
Years later, he chose to offer it to others.