I wouldn’t like to be overly dramatic and describe my recruitment entrepreneur’s year to date as a ‘rollercoaster’ – but, nine months in, it has certainly been a wiggly line!

I am guessing that is par for the course though. We all know the intended route to success is from A to B, but we tend to find out that route involves several other letters along the way.

Part 1 of my diary covered the leap of faith into the great recruitment unknown, Part 2 was a celebration of the ‘firsts’ of Macstaff and Part 3 was pushing through the daily grind.

Now I find myself in Part 4 and the word of the day here is ‘scale-up’ (or is that two words).

The dilemma of whether to scale-up or not covers the same sort of risk and return spectrum that I was debating before starting up Macstaff in the first place. I have realised that my great recruitment unknown of running my own business is now my new comfort zone, so do I really want to leap out of this one as well? Just as it was getting so, err, well, comfy?

Despite the risks of going it alone, I sometimes feel like I am living the dream. I work from home in a cute little village in Chew Valley, rural Bristol, I have zero commute, no boss to answer to, no staff to manage, no pressure other than what I put on myself. As long as the company is paying the bills, then it’s happy days, right?

Lifestyle business

I’ve learned that the term for this is a ‘lifestyle business’ and there is no shame in running one of these. But I didn’t take the plunge to be a lone wolf just to ‘get by’.

Frankly it would be easier and less stressful if I didn’t want to take on new challenges all the time but it seems like I do. For example…

• When I started running to get fit, I ended up running a marathon.
• When I switched to triathlon, I progressed up to Ironman 70.3 distance.
• When I started Taekwondo to keep the kids company, I couldn’t resist entering the Toronto Open Championships (where I ended up getting destroyed by a guy from the Canadian military).
• And the latest potentially ill-advised challenge is boxing with UWCB (Ultimate White Collar Boxing), as a charity fundraiser for Cancer Research UK. ‘Train hard, fight easy’, they tell me. ‘You’ll get in the shape of your life’ they tell me. We’ll see about that.

Anyway, I digress. Work-wise, the next challenge is business scale-up and I am dreaming about it day and night. But that is good, things are built twice, once as plans start in your mind and then again when you make it a reality. Also internet truth says, if your goals don’t scare you, they are not big enough. Plus, they also say, if you’re the smartest guy in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Seeing as I am the only guy in the room, I not only need a new room, but new people too!

I have just done an awesome half-day seminar with Rachel Spratling from Action Coach, who are executive/business coaches that can guide you and your business to the next level.

I have attended an ‘Elevator Sales’ day with the fantastic Neil Martin and Sally Lawson from Elite Room, who, from experience, can instruct you on accelerating your business growth via social media and marketing.

I attended the NEC Recruitment Show which was fab picking up a series of free talks from industry leaders. My favourites were Holly Fawcett from Social Talent and Alan Hiddleston from Firefish Software.

Excellent resources

Myself, and Macstaff are REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) members so I have also have been trying to take more advantage of the excellent resources provided by our world-class recruitment governing body. I was able to attend a half day ‘scale-up’ in the round day run personally by Kevin Green, the REC’s CEO, which was very high quality material.

It’s beyond the scope of this blog to attempt to share all this wisdom but a common theme throughout, was that to successfully scale-up, you have to make the transition from working IN the business to working ON the business. Also that you need to invest in your own personal growth in order to be able to lead people to places you have never been before. This is why I’m eating through a very large stack of business and self-improvement books from the likes of Tony Robbins, and Robin Sharma to name a couple!

So shall I go for it again and take things to the next level? Do I dare? Well, as one of my old bosses regularly pointed out, fortune favours the brave! So let’s just say, I am chewing all this information and advice over and channeling it into a five-year growth plan for Macstaff. Because, as another one of my prior bosses regularly pointed out: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

I feel like I am getting ready for battle in 2017. Mentally, physically, financially and organisationally. Getting everything aligned for a focused push down the five-year road to the achievement of life-changing goals for Macstaff and the McCormack family.

Don’t leave it too late to dream BIG for 2017! Come to think of it, this reminds me if you are looking for a motivational speaker, don’t ask me, ask my sister, Vicky Macqueen. She is a former England Rugby International, Founder of kids’ rugby provider didi rugby, survivor of a traumatic life-threatening injury and British Empire Medal recipient. Her story is truly inspiring.

So bye for now, but If you are interested in joining the Macstaff mission as a full-timer, part-timer or freelancer, please let me know. I will be staffing a Chew Valley (Bristol) office with a mix of experienced and trainee recruitment consultants, plus sales, marketing, administration and finance in 2017.

Peace.

Anthony

01275 331307 / 07983255399
anthony@macstaff.co.uk
www.macstaff.co.uk
Twitter: @MacstaffUK

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