Overcoming the Challenges of Entrepreneurship: Insights From A Millionaire Recruiter

What's been your biggest challenge of business?

I would say biggest challenge has probably been definitely hiring. Hiring's probably the biggest challenge for most businesses. If you really want to grow. If you want to move away from solopreneur business or small boutique business under 8 to 10 employees is definitely having the art and skill of hiring good A players. That's and retaining them. In most businesses that's really the bottleneck of. When you analyze most companies, if they could hire 10A players tomorrow, they would and they would grow by 10X. So I think definitely hiring has probably been one of the challenges. I think early on is always managing cash flow because cash is king. Without money to pay the wages at the end of the month, then you don't have a business. So managing cash flow at the start is making sure it's a fine art and balance between your expenses and being on the pulse with the finance aspect. A lot of people aren't. So I was always religious at the start, checking bank accounts every day, being on top of invoices. I managed that full FD CFO style role because I thought it was very important because it was drilled into me from a guy called James Khan. He used to be on Dragons Den, he was in recoup, he's in recruitment as well when I met him a few times because he wanted to invest in me in the early stages and he mentioned the number one thing was, was cash is king. And just always remember that always keep on the pulse with the cash flow because you could have good revenue but if the cash isn't actually coming in the bank, in the business bank and can cover your expenses, you can be liquidated overnight. So yeah, that was one of the things I took away early on.

Relevant point coming to, obviously talking about what's going on globally in terms of like recession and particularly if you watch British media and do like the world's coming to an end. What would be your advice for like business owners and maybe people who work as employees in a situation in terms of ways to maybe make money during this or survive during this sort of recession?

I would definitely say still like there's never been a better time to start a business. Even when I started a business eight years ago, it was a lot harder then than it is now. Especially with online. There's loads of different jobs and freelance jobs you could start off with. Whether it's been a video editor to like a consultancy to marketing consultancy to an agency. There's a lot of businesses you could start. You need to take it back into Control. So a lot of people are working nine to five jobs. You are at risk of being probably sucked into the social credit score system and into the current system that they want to suck you into, into this new world order, as it were. So like I think a lot of, even if you're not an entrepreneur, you need to be looking after your family and bringing it into your control. Because it could be a lot of layoffs, it could be, it could be suddenly redundant. So upgrading your skill set. So you might not be starting a business today, but it might be reading a book a week or watching YouTube about a certain skill set and being very good at that. Because the standard jobs will probably go in terms of that are quite repeatable and can be on source or can be cut. So like if you're in a position where you're in a 9 to 5 job, you need to get a good skill. That's the number one thing. And then also I would still say even in this position a lot of like the best businesses, the most successful people were in a downturn because there's a lot of opportunity. But it's making sure you turn off the media. You don't get sucked into the drama. You don't surround yourself with all the family members because, because a lot of them can be negative and it's no disrespect to them. They just, they won't be in the same mindset as you surround yourself. You are the average of the five people you hang around with most. So making sure you're around other like minded individuals that can help propel you. So doing all of those daily habits is going to help, maybe even creating a second source of income. If you have just got a standard job, like that's a must now. You can't just be going 9 to 5 work and just doing nothing else because you're at risk for sure.

Makes complete sense. One of the things you mentioned then to like cutting people off is almost one of the things I think I've done the last few years. Almost like just blinkering myself off from everyone. Is that something you found been a pivotal thing in some respects to a success? Almost like now I find if I spend time with people who I used to be friends with five years ago, not that irritates me, but it does a little bit to some respects because they don't think the way I think and the way they behave sometimes isn't the way I want to conduct myself.

That's good. But I was probably similar to you in terms of the people I hang around with now and who I would say are my core best friends. A lot of them I actually met in Dubai the last two years. One of my best friends, he's worth like, I think 30 million and he's much younger than me, very successful. And I enjoy spending. We enjoy spending time with each other and we motivate each other and we've got the same interests, the same tastes, the same beliefs, the same outlook on the world. So I think the more you surround yourself with those people, I think, I would say my friendship group in Dubai is easily like, probably 15, 20 people I could hang around with, go for lunch, coffees, and they're not wasted time. Like, say we went for coffee, we'll learn from each other, add value, and we all want each other to be successful, which is a big difference between maybe all friendship groups. There might be a slight tinge of jealousy just naturally as humans, because they can't get to where you got to and they see you back as your old self, who you were five, 10 years ago. And they're like, oh, Charlie, you've changed. Or James, you've changed. Well, yeah, I have, but you haven't. So that's your problem. People need to evolve as humans and change. And I think there's all that stigma of like, oh, you've changed. As if that's a bad thing. No, that's a good thing. It's a bad thing if you stayed where you are and you're still the same person living in the same house, working in the same job as you did five, 10 years ago. Because, like, that's not what life's about. It's a growth centric experience. You, you always want to be growing and evolving.

100. I think for men, the most important thing is progression in life and the progression is what's going to make you happy. And it's funny you said that. Like, people have literally said that to me for, like, Charlie, you've changed. It's like, I'm like, good, yeah, I have changed, but you haven't changed. So I'm leaving you behind. Like, you need to keep up or you're going to get left behind. And I think that's where people need to have that growth mindset. And if they're not willing to push themselves and progress and become better than almost, what's the point? Like, I'm like, with everything, like, I'm all in or I'm all out this. Like, you either do it or you don't.

I agree. Yeah, it's obviously you can see the passion from yourself. Like it is frustrating, but you can't. Sometimes other humans just don't change. And I've learned that over time. I used to spend a lot of energy trying to change people or sending them a YouTube video to watch or read this book or do this, do that. And nine times out of 10 they're probably not going to do it. So you can, you can try your best, especially for close friends and family, but at some point you've got to cut them off and doesn't need to be. It's just the case you might not message them back straight away. You. And that's another thing. Like, as you get more successful, your time is so precious and it's. Sometimes it might come across ignorant, but like, I'm very, I need to, to improve on this, but I don't respond to people all of the time straight away because my mindset is in a different area and I need to focus on business. So I'm not always responding to friends or people all of the time on WhatsApp or whatever because it needs to be on my terms and my time, because my time is more precious because if I invest that time in my business, I can make 10x more money or improve my life. So I think it's been selective around that. People will think, they use that as the negative part of how I've changed. Maybe, oh well, you don't ring me anymore, you don't text back or whatever. It's just because my, my life is just totally different now. And I think especially when you're in the environment in Dubai, time goes by so fast and you're just constantly like growing. So it's like you haven't got time for maybe people back in the UK as much as you, you would like to or you have in the past. So. But you have got to be with us. And a lot of people don't do that. People don't want to evolve the peer group. I always evolve my peer group. When I look back over the last 10, 12 years, I was constantly upgrading my peer group all of the time hanging around with older people, more successful people. And then now I've got younger people that are more successful. So like. But just having the right people around me, we could both add value. Because if not, then what's the point? Oh, you went to school with someone, so what? The school system's another joke anyway, so you shouldn't have even been at school anyway, being around those type, like certain people. So a lot of people have that affinity with friendships because they've been going for 15, 20 years. But I've got strong friendships with people I've had for two years. I know I could trust him with a million dollars tomorrow, for example. And some people in the past, you probably couldn't because they're not at that level where they could pay the money back, for starters. Like, if you've got someone else, it's worth 30, 40 million when you can lend them that money. Or you could trust them with certain things because it can get you out of trouble. Like, you can get them out of trouble.