Agency Owner Rollercoaster | James Blackwell - Virtual assistants, unfair advantages and creating a business that gives you the freedom to enjoy your life and avoid burnout

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On this episode this I’m joined by James Blackwell, CEO of Ronald James Group.

After carving out a 5 year sales career, as well as launching his own coffee shop at the age of 21, his entrepreneurial mindset landed him in recruitment slightly later than planned - at 27!

Spending 4 years as a biller then led him to want to create his own recruitment company; yet not in the conventional way we usually hear about on The Recruitment Rollercoaster Podcast.

His story is unique and well worth a listen - so I won’t give too much away.

For recruiters who are wanting to learn more about automation and VA’s (virtual assistants) - this ones for you.

For the junior consultants out there, this is an excellent podcast to learn more about mindset, personal development and elevating yourself to the next level as a consultant.

You can connect with James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameskblackwell/

Plus you can subscribe to his youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmpoGTKBv56LZO-qA1Me15g

Timestamps:

How did you get into recruitment? [4:15]

Opening your own coffee shop [6:08]

Perception of recruitment [9:50]

Time at Nigel Frank [11:18]

What else contributed to your success? [14:39]

Starting your own business [16:50]

What was your game plan? [20:18]

End of year 1 [26:00]

What was the pitch that made businesses give you a chance? [29:07]

Things you wish you had done? [34:30]

Best piece of tech you’ve invested in? [35:44]

VA’s [39:35]

Making a VA a part of your recruitment business [44:50]

Most common misconception of a VA? [46:00]

Strategy to grow [48:01]

Learnings from making mis-hires [53:00]

Taking a step back [56:00]

What things did you change going into year 4? [59:30]

Where are you now? [1:06:09]

Productization of your services [1:08:45]

What are the common challenges that you hear in recruiters? [1:10:46]

What are you most excited to do post-Covid? [1:14:26]

What would you say to the people? [1:18:38]

I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - Hishem Azzouz

If you would love me to cover certain topics with future guests please drop me a message. 

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Simply it will enable me to reach more people with the podcast, you can easily leave a review with the following link - https://ratethispodcast.com/rollercoaster 🙌