By Ben Wallin
01 September 2022 | Edison Search
As Edison Search enters its second year, Dan Cox & I have been discussing our ‘start-up’ experience and what tips we could offer fellow entrepreneurs. Here’s what we came up with:
Beg, steal and borrow
During our planning stage (pre-Edison) and at regular intervals throughout the first 12 months, we picked the brains of experienced recruitment business owners who have done this all before. We gleaned insight, info, and referrals at every opportunity. Some we adopted, some we didn’t but it was a terrifically useful exercise, not just for a sanity check but to get us ahead as early as possible. We’ll be forever thankful to those that willingly gave up their time to help us.
Outsourcing
This is a difficult one because it costs money and every £ is a prisoner in the early stages. However, some of the best advice we had was to outsource core competencies so that Dan and I could wholly focus on sales. Spending valuable time and effort on tasks that were alien to us just sucked more time away from sales activity.
Building a war-chest
By outsourcing several parts of the business, and not getting bogged down in frivolous projects, we could really focus on sales. This freedom allowed Dan and I to build capital for hiring and office moves. By the end of 12 months we had moved three times and grown to 17 staff. None of this would have been possible without laser-focus on new business development.
Think like a big company from day one
A great nugget of advice was to think big from the outset. This meant getting all our processes in place for future growth. Several industry veterans advocated the hiring of an HR & Operations Manager as quickly as possible. Others thought it was too soon. We appointed Hannah Chapman as our third hire and it proved a great decision.
Play to your strengths
Like many businesses, Dan and I are Co-Founders, 50/50. Naturally, we have different strengths, motivations, and perspectives. Fortunately, Dan and I worked together for 10 years prior to Edison Search so we had a great platform to launch this business from. We went into this venture knowing generally who is better suited for certain tasks but also understanding our improvement areas. Despite this, we deliberately sat down prior to launch and mapped out which areas of the business will play to our strengths. This isn’t as easy as it sounds but as the company grows we can’t both be involved with every aspect of the business and decision-making. Some very honest answers were at times sobering for both of us but it was the best thing we did, and we haven’t looked back since!
