James Blackwell, CEO of Ronald James Group, started selling cars at 17 and ran a coffee shop at 21 before moving into recruitment. He built his northeast digital and tech recruitment firm to seven figures and 13 staff in four years, treating it like sales with scripts and market knowledge.
13 staff
Four years
Nigel Frank Group
About £15,000
21
And I've really learned my trade from there for five years selling BMWs and Minis. I was always entrepreneurial as a kid selling sweets. Yeah. My passion was like even when I was younger I wanted to be a businessman. Like I was dressing up in a suit and I love business.
Welcome to the recruitment Rollercoaster podcast. My name is Hesham Azuz. Today I'm really excited to finally be joined by James Blackwell who is the CEO of a recruitment business called Ronald James Group and they are the leading digital and tech recruitment business that are based in the northeast and they have 13 staff currently and, and he's built this business into a seven figure business in four years. And James, you're a young recruitment entrepreneur so I'm excited to have you on here. We've been speaking a little while. Good to finally have you on. How are you?
I'm very well Heham, thanks very much for inviting me on.
And I'll be honest, how many recruitment business owners or recruiters have I had on that are from your part of the world? I actually think you might be the first.
Really? Yeah.
How did James Black go on to the lovely world of recruitment? How did that happen?
Yeah, I suppose same one liners. Everyone else fell into recruitment. I had my own coffee shop when I was 21, had that for two years and built that up quite successfully until the initial recession came in 2008 and I got out of that and then I got offered a job at BMW to sell cars and I really learned my trade from there for five years selling BMWs and Minis and then I just got an opportunity through my sister at the time's ex boyfriend was working in recruitment and I didn't realize how much money could be made in recruitment and I didn't realize that it was a sales job where in recruitment it is the ultimate sales job. So yeah, I started out in a company called Nigel Frank Group and I literally took a big leap because I was 27, 28 at the time, earning okay money as a car salesman and I had to take a drop back down. I think at the time was like 15k basic salary.
Just quickly how and why did you, did you open a coffee shop? I have to ask that. Okay, yeah, let's just start there quick because I think that's going to be interesting the fact that you had that experience early on which I'm sure gave you some lessons that have helped with Ronald James.
Of course it did, yes. I mean I was always entrepreneurial as a kid selling sweets, pop snacks and stuff. Same Story as most entrepreneurs I suppose. And then I got into car auctions and I bought my first car when I was 17. When I passed my test I bought it for like £350 and I put it on the drive for 795 and sold it within a day. And I got the bug of buying and selling so I started buying and selling cars and I built up a good amount of money. I think it was about 10, 15K. I got this opportunity to help run a coffee shop and take it over. So that's how I got in to.
Where, where did, where did, where did this entrepreneurial mindset, where did that come from? Because that's not a typical. I know. See you hear that a lot from entrepreneurs are selling stuff, blah blah blah. And I had a bit of that but I definitely didn't have as like didn't go through do things like that that you said. But like where did that come from? What environment were you brought up in?
Good point. I think general middle class environment. But my dad was like a salesperson. He always wore a suit and a suitcase and used to take me into work somet times and he used to take me to the car auction sometimes as well. And it was funny because I had an opportunity. I played like semi pro level as a footballer so I was always competitive. But my passion was like even when I was younger I wanted to be a businessman. Like I was dressing up in a suit and I love business so I think that's where it stemmed from like my dad growing up and being surrounded by business. Like I always had a passion to buy and sell as well.
What was your perception of recruitment when you got in recruitment then? Sort of like did you have any perception of it at all if you didn't recognize it as a like a quite proper sales job? What, what was your perception of recruitment?
It was quite hard at first to get your head around it. So it's got to click at some point. Like when used to hire recruiters as I started being a team leader manager. Like it's got to click in the first few weeks. If it doesn't, it's probably not that bull's not going to drop. But it is a. It did take a while to understand if you're trying to create something from nothing and you're trying to deal with people's emotions to try and create an opportunity for them and trying to create the opportunity with the client as well. It took a few weeks but then once it clicks like you do really get it. Yeah, but it's as simple as, obviously, you get a candidate and client, you match them together. But in reality, when you're actually doing it, you need to understand it first and speak to the market. And understand following the scripts was a big thing thing for me as well. Like, that gave you a pivot and an anchor to actually follow just a process. And then things start dripping in and falling into place. I understand why I ask those questions now. I understand it's not just about getting the candidate and putting them into a company. You have to understand the why and the reason behind it. And there's a lot of complexities to when you peel it back of, like how you actually make a placement. Okay, so, yeah.
