Starting your own recruitment business is a big life event and deserves some reflection - especially at the point when it’s off the ground and you have a rare moment to look back at the weeks, days and hours of preparation.
Trust me, the work has only just begun on Talent Effect, but as I look back at what got Lisa Canning and I to the start line, it comes down to these two things:
“We like each other AND we trust other."
THE POWER OF LIKING YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER
If you are going to set-up a new business with someone, you are going to spend a lot of time with them. It really helps if you like them. It also really helps if you can laugh with each other (and at each other), a lot. The day that we launched Talent Effect, Lisa and I were sitting next to each other at my dining room table and giggling as we hit the “POST” button for our launch video. The posting of that video was the culmination of hours of prior laughter at ourselves as we had decided on our outfits, positioning, lighting, music, our make-up, our hair, topped off by me having to put on a pair of ridiculous heels over my socks and track pants so that I was same height as Lisa for the shoot. When we then saw the finished product, there was more laughter at our own cheesiness.
“It was fun.”
When you like someone, you want the best for them and their family. Knowing that your business partner has your interests and the interests of your nearest and dearest at heart gives you a sense of security that decisions will be made with these people in mind. Lisa and I made fundamental decisions in setting-up Talent Effect with the understanding that our families are extensions of ourselves.
The bottom line is that when you like your business partner, you have fun, you feel safe, and nothing feels like work.
THE POWER OF TRUSTING YOUR BUSINESS PARTNER In setting-up Talent Effect, a very wise person said to me that,
“Entering into a business partnership with someone is akin to marrying them.”
You will know every detail of your business partner’s life - and they yours. You will support each other through thick and thin. None of this can be done without trust.
Trust comes from knowing someone and seeing their behaviour in a variety of situations. The other way you can build trust is by taking the time to deeply evaluate your values systems to ensure they are well aligned. Although Lisa and I have known each other for years and have worked together previously, we also made an effort to spend time analysing our core values and motivating forces to ensure they were aligned. We spent a day talking through our Gallop Strengths Profiles, talking about how we are aligned, how we are different and how we need to watch out for each other’s weaknesses. Close alignment in our empathy towards others, our preparedness to take responsibility and our belief in the potential of others have become guiding lights for Talent Effect.
When you trust your business partner, you understand their values system, and this allows a rapid level of honesty, candour and feedback that moves everything forward, almost effortlessly.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE YOU LIKE AND TRUST
The off shoot of going into business with someone you like and trust is that you then tend to surround yourselves with people you like and trust. These are the people who will talk straight and who want you to succeed. Our lawyers were referred to us by someone I have liked and trusted for years. Nicholas Burch and his team at Burch + Co have been key to getting us up and running, with a level of clarity and simplicity that I have not experienced with lawyers in the past. They genuinely want us to do well. Our Accountants, PR Partners, shoot straight from the hip and have guided us to make prudent decisions on our company structure and set-up, with no mincing of words.
When you surround yourselves with people you like and trust, they generally surround themselves with likeminded people. The result is that you find yourself supported by layers of trusted people. There is no better place to be when starting up a business.
Like and trust is a good place to start in a business partnership, for sure.