It’s often said that there’s never a ‘perfect’ time to start your business, and – if you look – it’s certainly possible to keep finding justifications to delay getting going.
You might just be about to receive a big commission cheque, be waiting for a deal to close, or be due an upgrade in salary and responsibility…
While this conveyor belt of reasons for not committing yet can seemingly go on forever, there are some clear markers that you’re in a good position to realistically consider creating a business of your own.
Years of Experience
It’s usually advisable to have at least 3-5 years of recruitment industry experience – enough time to have been exposed to the majority of the twists and turns that recruitment processes can take, both on the client and candidate side.
The average founder on the RecruitHub platform has around 8 years, though we have launched companies at the less seasoned end of the experience spectrum with particularly ambitious and well-prepared recruiters.
Revenue Generation
A track record of consistently generating a minimum of £150 – 200,000+ in personal sales is a helpful benchmark, creating confidence that you can consistently close enough deals to produce healthy income for your future agency.
Across the RecruitHub founder base are billers of £600k+ and leaders of multi-million-pound teams, but also founders with lower personal output who can still massively upgrade their personal income by running their own companies.
Strong Sector Knowledge
A specialist focus is a key part of new agency success, so knowing your domain inside-out and consolidating your sector awareness is very important.
Although your agency may expand and diversify over time, a dedicated niche-market approach is critical to ramp-up in the early months.
Financial Ambition
Ultimately, the drive to build and own a wealth-generating asset has to be there.
If you’re comfortable with your employee earnings and have no deep-seated desire to significantly change your financial future, then business ownership might not be for you.
Everyone’s motivations are different – early retirement, a stronger financial platform to support family, a lifestyle built around foreign travel or generating surplus income for investment.
Whatever your rationale, a commitment to a life-changing financial upgrade will underpin your decision.
Is that it?
Definitely not!
There’s a lot that goes into becoming a successful business owner, and RecruitHub’s screening process for partnering with recruiters who are thinking about starting their own agencies involves many steps.
With that said, these are the basic high-level check points we focus on in initial discussions – applicants don’t need MBAs and don’t need fifteen years of branch management experience to build lucrative companies of their own.
A core knowledge of your sector, a demonstrable track record successfully managing the full recruitment cycle and a deep-seated desire to build long-term wealth and autonomy are the key building blocks.
This article is an excerpt from RecruitHub’s Top 10 Recruitment Start-up Myths, breaking down 10 of the most commonly-discussed misconceptions around starting a recruitment business.
