Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martin H.Snyder on April 21, 2010 at 8:52pm

- the very oxygen of your business is money. No effort is more important than finding customers who WILL pay for your service. Fail in that area, and you are done. Succeed in that area, and you have hundreds of choices to run your business your way.

- choose a database system that will grow with you. Pick something too simple and lightweight, and you will be hindered and need to make a disruptive change while growing

- dont ignore search engine marketing, it works.

- NLT (Next Level Training) is strong to the hoop and easy to use- lessons from the masters and well presented at that.

- Get quality primary data sources/directory - also usually well worth the bucks.

- pursue your checks 100% of the way. 99.9% and you starve.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 22, 2010 at 3:48pm

Get a listing, any listing and fill it. then get another one and fill it.
Don't get all excited and hire a bunch or any people that you have to train, pay and worry about.

As Marty says , get the cash flow going then worry about all the other suffola.

Keep something in the pipeline at all stages, all the time. You are working two months out when comes to getting paid from the time you get a job listing unless you get a retainer.

If you make a big one, rat hole half the fee for the month that you don't. when you lose one, shake it off and go do another one fast.

The time you spend going to conferences to hang out with other recruiters is lost selling time. Stay home save your shekels and place somebody. You can talk to a bunch of recruiters any day of the week any year. With a new firm it's 24/7/365. when you have been in business for 5 years you can take a breath...for about 5 minutes.

Good Luck, you can do it!

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Permalink Reply by Todd Kmiec on April 22, 2010 at 4:09pm

Sandra, you're the best. Well said.


Sandra McCartt said:

Get a listing, any listing and fill it. then get another one and fill it.
Don't get all excited and hire a bunch or any people that you have to train, pay and worry about.

As Marty says , get the cash flow going then worry about all the other suffola.

Keep something in the pipeline at all stages, all the time. You are working two months out when comes to getting paid from the time you get a job listing unless you get a retainer.

If you make a big one, rat hole half the fee for the month that you don't. when you lose one, shake it off and go do another one fast.

The time you spend going to conferences to hang out with other recruiters is lost selling time. Stay home save your shekels and place somebody. You can talk to a bunch of recruiters any day of the week any year. With a new firm it's 24/7/365. when you have been in business for 5 years you can take a breath...for about 5 minutes.

Good Luck, you can do it!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Fleischner on April 22, 2010 at 4:20pm

catsone.com is a great ATS. at its low cost, it beats any system in bang for the buck

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Permalink Reply by Brian Whitfield on April 22, 2010 at 5:57pm

Decide who your firm is - and then be all about that. You can't be all things to all people.

Keep selling no matter what. Don't become too dependent on any one customer.

Work on 'the closest thing to money'.

Honesty and ethics ALWAYS.

Quality, quality, quality. Your customers can get resumes anywhere. Make sure they know that if a resume is from you, that the person is top notch.

Refuse to give up.

Not easy to do, but get rid of nonproducers in your office quickly. A young company can't afford to pay people that can't produce. Trust your 'gut instinct'. You actually know very quickly if someone can produce or not.

Keep expenses as low as possible. Pennies DO add up.

Contractors/temps are the way to make long term money in the business. Nickels on pay rates/bill rates absolutely DO matter to your bottom line. You make money a nickel at a time sometimes.

Find a good lawyer, accountant, banker, and insurance broker - you will absolutely need them over the years.

Focus on sales, recruiting, and retention - and at least initially in that order. Those are the 3 cornerstones of the business. When you are big enough, hire people to help you in whatever areas you are weakest in - but hire them slowly.

Keep track of your cash flow and money closely. Do not leave that to others.

Know your actual costs of doing business. Many people don't really understand what it costs to employ someone.

If you are not already, become an expert on how to employ someone in your state.

Get a good ATS and use it.

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Permalink Reply by Jodi on April 22, 2010 at 6:43pm

Thanks Sandra! Some great advise - wanna have coffee in 4 years and 10 months? :-)

Sandra McCartt said:

Get a listing, any listing and fill it. then get another one and fill it.
Don't get all excited and hire a bunch or any people that you have to train, pay and worry about.

As Marty says , get the cash flow going then worry about all the other suffola.

Keep something in the pipeline at all stages, all the time. You are working two months out when comes to getting paid from the time you get a job listing unless you get a retainer.

If you make a big one, rat hole half the fee for the month that you don't. when you lose one, shake it off and go do another one fast.

The time you spend going to conferences to hang out with other recruiters is lost selling time. Stay home save your shekels and place somebody. You can talk to a bunch of recruiters any day of the week any year. With a new firm it's 24/7/365. when you have been in business for 5 years you can take a breath...for about 5 minutes.

Good Luck, you can do it!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jodi on April 22, 2010 at 6:44pm

Some great advise - thank you very much!

Brian Whitfield said:

Decide who your firm is - and then be all about that. You can't be all things to all people.

Keep selling no matter what. Don't become too dependent on any one customer.

Work on 'the closest thing to money'.

Honesty and ethics ALWAYS.

Quality, quality, quality. Your customers can get resumes anywhere. Make sure they know that if a resume is from you, that the person is top notch.

Refuse to give up.

Not easy to do, but get rid of nonproducers in your office quickly. A young company can't afford to pay people that can't produce. Trust your 'gut instinct'. You actually know very quickly if someone can produce or not.

Keep expenses as low as possible. Pennies DO add up.

Contractors/temps are the way to make long term money in the business. Nickels on pay rates/bill rates absolutely DO matter to your bottom line. You make money a nickel at a time sometimes.

Find a good lawyer, accountant, banker, and insurance broker - you will absolutely need them over the years.

Focus on sales, recruiting, and retention - and at least initially in that order. Those are the 3 cornerstones of the business. When you are big enough, hire people to help you in whatever areas you are weakest in - but hire them slowly.

Keep track of your cash flow and money closely. Do not leave that to others.

Know your actual costs of doing business. Many people don't really understand what it costs to employ someone.

If you are not already, become an expert on how to employ someone in your state.

Get a good ATS and use it.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 22, 2010 at 7:49pm

We will make it a bottle of champagne. I burned the bank note for startup one day before the five year anniversary. Didn't make it to work the next day. :)

Jodi said:

Thanks Sandra! Some great advise - wanna have coffee in 4 years and 10 months? :-)

Sandra McCartt said:

Get a listing, any listing and fill it. then get another one and fill it.
Don't get all excited and hire a bunch or any people that you have to train, pay and worry about.

As Marty says , get the cash flow going then worry about all the other suffola.

Keep something in the pipeline at all stages, all the time. You are working two months out when comes to getting paid from the time you get a job listing unless you get a retainer.

If you make a big one, rat hole half the fee for the month that you don't. when you lose one, shake it off and go do another one fast.

The time you spend going to conferences to hang out with other recruiters is lost selling time. Stay home save your shekels and place somebody. You can talk to a bunch of recruiters any day of the week any year. With a new firm it's 24/7/365. when you have been in business for 5 years you can take a breath...for about 5 minutes.

Good Luck, you can do it!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 22, 2010 at 7:54pm

You and i live on the same page of the same book. :)

Todd Kmiec said:

Sandra, you're the best. Well said.


Sandra McCartt said:

Get a listing, any listing and fill it. then get another one and fill it.
Don't get all excited and hire a bunch or any people that you have to train, pay and worry about.

As Marty says , get the cash flow going then worry about all the other suffola.

Keep something in the pipeline at all stages, all the time. You are working two months out when comes to getting paid from the time you get a job listing unless you get a retainer.

If you make a big one, rat hole half the fee for the month that you don't. when you lose one, shake it off and go do another one fast.

The time you spend going to conferences to hang out with other recruiters is lost selling time. Stay home save your shekels and place somebody. You can talk to a bunch of recruiters any day of the week any year. With a new firm it's 24/7/365. when you have been in business for 5 years you can take a breath...for about 5 minutes.

Good Luck, you can do it!

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Permalink Reply by Ambrish Kochikar on April 23, 2010 at 11:46am

Very best for your venture, Jodi. I wish you tons of placements and no late checks! :)

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