What does it mean to be a Recruitment Entrepreneur?
The term ‘entrepreneur’ can mean many things to many people. The Meriam-Webster describes an entrepreneur as someone ‘who organises, manages and assumes the risk of a business or enterprise.’
Investopedia says an entrepreneur is ‘commonly seen as a business leader and innovator of new ideas and business processes.’ Whichever definition you favour, what is undisputable is that an entrepreneur is someone who can spot a gap or a problem and use their experience, knowledge and leadership skills to fill the space or provide a solution.
What is also clear are the reasons why people take the decision to become an entrepreneur in the first place. Research published in The Telegraph in January 2017, found that despite the general perception that new business owners start up to make money, this isn’t the case for the majority.
Accordingly, 80% of the 1,000 entrepreneurs questioned said that the greatest motivation for setting up their business was because they wanted greater control over their work life. This was followed by the opportunity to build a business in their own vision (78%) and a combination of lifestyle factors, such as the independence that comes with being their own boss (78%) and a better work-life balance (76%). Financial return was ranked the sixth most motivational reason for starting a business (54%).
On the subject of finances, the same report found that while 4 in 10 UK entrepreneurs say that cash flow is an issue for them, 6 in 10 now use external sources either to finance their ventures or support them with their cash flow requirements. This has certainly been our experience, too.
Indeed, the post-recession aftermath saw a tightening of the purse strings among many UK banks, with the amount they were permitted to lend significantly curtailed – especially for new businesses. Yet the demand was rising and nowhere was the demand higher than in recruitment, so alternative providers were sought…and found.
According to figures from Companies House, the number of officially registered recruitment businesses in the UK has grown from around 12,000 in 2012 to 29,000 today. That’s an impressive rate of growth by any standard of measurement and fuelling it has been the support provided to recruiters from specialist recruitment finance providers like Simplicity.
Ensuring you have access to the funds you need to pay your workers as well as receiving your margin every week means you can focus on developing your business as well as having a partner in Simplicity who can help you achieve your ambitions for future growth.
Many would-be recruitment entrepreneurs are deterred from starting their own agency – they see it as a leap of faith rather than the leap of confidence it should be. They mistakenly believe that they need oodles of cash in the bank from day one and that because the traditional routes to obtaining finance are less accessible, then they will have no support or means of keeping the cash flowing. But that isn’t the case.
We have worked with literally hundreds of aspirational recruiters to make the successful transition from top biller to successful recruitment business owner. It really doesn’t have to be difficult and neither should it take a lot of time to get up and running either. If you have the drive, we have the systems and the money to make it happen.
For more information on starting your own recruitment business, download our free Getting Started guide.