About Me

About Me

I’m Mark Jones, founder of Let’s Make Things Better, a husband, dad, Christian, and a very “hands-on” human who’s spent his life working, learning and rebuilding in the UK and the Middle East. I grew up between Britain and the Gulf and started my adult life in Dubai, working in my father’s company, Super Equipment Establishment, as a Sales Specialist. In my early 20s I was driving all over the UAE mapping hotels and hospitals, selling spare-parts services to chief engineers, and even importing Devilbiss airbrushes for interior designers and architects. Those years taught me how to build relationships, negotiate, and spot a niche.

I grew up between Britain and the Gulf, which shaped how I see people, culture, and opportunity.

I started my adult life in Dubai, working in my father’s company, Super Equipment Establishment.

From there I moved into a Data Entry Clerk role at FedEx in Dubai, working nights, learning touch-typing on the job and processing freight and mail manifests in brutal desert heat. A clash with local labour laws meant I was deported and banned for six months, which hit hard but also taught me how fragile “security” can be. I went back anyway. For several years I worked in the UAE without a sponsor, flying out every 40 days to renew my visa, taking whatever came: putting a roof on the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi’s private terminal, constructing remote water tanks and spraying septic tanks in isolated locations. Before that I’d also worked briefly as an Agriculture Specialist in Oman, helping young plants survive desert conditions using sea kelp, and learning a lot about harsh environments, both physical and relational (including watching my father fall out with yet another business owner).

When those doors closed, I found myself back in the UK at the bottom of the ladder again: first as a Delivery Driver for Comet in Preston.

then as a Data Entry and driving worker in various roles, and eventually studying at the Goschen Centre, where I completed an Access to Nursing course with Merit.

Eventually studying at the Goschen Centre, where I completed an Access to Nursing course with Merit. I moved into care work as a Care Support Worker for Plymouth City Council, working in challenging behaviour units with violent, highly infectious clients – a genuinely dangerous environment that showed me how fragile people can be, and how important boundaries and compassion are. To support my own project, I also worked as a Courier for TNT Sameday, driving around Cornwall and Devon collecting envelopes from NatWest banks and delivering them to Taunton, while building my first real online venture.

That venture became Zoneout, where I worked as a Video Producer.

filming mountain bike racing around the South West and Wales, editing the footage with music, and publishing it on a website I built myself.

It was early – too early. Investors told me broadband “wouldn’t catch on” and that no one would want to watch programmes on their computer. They were wrong, but the lack of investment meant the project stalled. Still, it gave me a foundation in web design, video production and storytelling that I’ve used ever since.

Relocating to Bristol, I returned to care as a Care Support Worker for Bristol City Council, working with dementia patients, and then moved into manufacturing as a Window Sash Fabricator at MB Frames, my first high-paced factory role using power tools and industrial machinery. I briefly studied Chinese Medicine in Bristol, exploring chi and energy systems, but after becoming a Christian on 17 March 2002 I realised it clashed with my faith and walked away. That experience, plus my conversion, opened my eyes to the spiritual side of life and reshaped what I wanted to do with my time.

I got saved on the 17th February 2002 and was instantly delivered from demons and mental slavery.

Jesus Christ has been the only thing in my life which has remained stable and a constant source of hope.

My longest single job was as a Bus Driver for First Bus in Bristol (over eight years). It was tough: I was spat on, punched, kicked, sworn at and put under constant pressure, but it forced me to grow thicker skin and a deeper patience, especially when responsible for passengers’ safety. During that period I was also sent out by my church as a Pastor with Potters House Bristol, planting a church in the north of the city. Those 18 months of intense pastoral work with people from every background were the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It ended painfully, but it taught me that no one is beyond help, and that real grace takes time, humility and a lot of inner healing.

Alongside all this I kept building things. As an App Developer (MAAM Apps) I started embedding training videos into simple HTML5 mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows, hosting content via unlisted YouTube links. That grew into a series of entrepreneurial projects: MAAMapps, Startup and Stayup, and later BRISTOL AUDIO LTD, where I worked as a Director. I offered small businesses a one-stop shop: web design, app development, video production, sound engineering, printing, branding and cloud services on an affordable monthly fee. At Bristol Audio I was responsible for full event setups: PA systems, projectors, microphones, cabling, logistics and contractor coordination. I inherited a broken system – glitchy audio, underpowered projectors, messy cabling, poor data management – and redesigned it so events could scale from 100 people to 1,000. I also built a modest recording studio enabling us to film, edit and upload two 90-minute training sessions per day, five days a week.

I developed mobile apps on iOS, Android and Windows Mobile as a bus driver.

The apps were a way for me to flex my mental abilities whilst just working a job.

Not every venture was wise. As a Franchisee with Lyoness and a Broker for Banners Broker, I learned the hard way what happens when a “business opportunity” is really just a scam. I was duped, along with many others, and I’ve no problem admitting it. That season taught me discernment: not all that glitters is gold, and credibility matters more than hype.

More recently I’ve worked in high-pressure, front-line roles back in Bristol – including a short stint as a Hermes Courier and time with Eurocell plc, where I learned a lot about myself under stress and in customer-facing situations. I’ve also continued to work in care, support and enforcement roles around the city, seeing daily life from the perspective of residents, businesses and vulnerable people.

All of that now feeds into Let’s Make Things Better – my umbrella for everything I’m building next: apps like Track (to help people honestly record physical, emotional and spiritual pain), Bible Promises (to put hopeful scripture in front of people every day), and Clean Up Bristol (to help communities improve their streets). My background in care, driving, construction, sales, AV, video, web and app development, pastoral work and front-line enforcement gives me a broad, slightly unconventional toolkit – but with a very simple aim:

Use what I’ve lived through to build honest, practical tools that bring clarity, hope and real, everyday change – one person, one street and one small decision at a time.