"Don’t be intimidated by the hard work of starting your own business," with Carolyn Betts Fleming

Carolyn Betts Fleming is the founder and CEO of Betts, a leading nationwide recruiting technology and services firm for revenue-generating (sales, customer success, and marketing) roles. Her knack for spotting top talent and pairing them with an ideal company has led to developing a trusted marketplace in the SaaS space, ensuring that every partner, both talent and client, who comes to Betts succeeds. Prior to founding Betts, she began her career selling advertising in the Yellow Pages directory and recruiting for Andiamo! Group before transitioning into sales at CareerBuilder.com. Carolyn has provided her expertise for Austin Business Journal, Business Insider, CNBC, Fast Company, Forbes, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

1)     Can you tell our readers about your background?

I’m the founder and CEO of Betts, a leading nationwide recruiting technology and services firm for revenue-generating (sales, customer success, and marketing) roles. Prior to founding Betts, I began my career selling advertising in the Yellow Pages directory and recruiting for Andiamo! Group, where I was the top performer company-wide during my employment. From there, I transitioned into sales at CareerBuilder.com and became a top-performing enterprise sales executive working with clients including Netflix, Symantec, McAfee, and many more. I’m currently a board member at BUILD, an advisory council member at Beam Founders, and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and Entrepreneur’s Organization. Additionally, I’m a fundraiser and participant in the stand-up paddle events with Flatwater Foundation and an active pledger at Founders Pledge, an organization that enables entrepreneurs and investors to give back, give more, and give effectively, by pledging a portion of future exit proceeds to charity. I received a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and am an alumna of Harvard Business School.

2)     What inspired you to start your business?

I’d worked at Andiamo, a boutique recruiting firm, for about four years and then transitioned into selling recruitment technology for CareerBuilder.com. I really missed the people-driven approach at Andiamo. While CareerBuilder.com was a great tool for many of our customers, I would see many businesses post jobs, get hundreds of applicants, and have to weed through them to find the perfect talent. With my experience, I knew I could do this better and improve the process. I didn’t want to go back to Andiamo, so I made the decision to take the leap and go at it on my own.

3)     Where is your business based?

Betts is headquartered in Austin, Texas. We service the entire U.S. and have employees in 14 states.

4)     How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

As many founders do, I was still working for another company when I decided to start Betts. I spoke with my boss at the time, shared my plan, and opted to stay with CareerBuilder.com until the end of the year so that my boss had time to replace me and I could transition all my accounts. My last day at CareerBuilder.com was Dec. 31, 2009. On Jan. 1, 2010, I started Betts with only $10,000 of savings and bootstrapped with very little resources to grow the company to where it is today. Thankfully, I already had a couple of clients, but at the time, it was practice not to get paid until I found talent for them. I had developed a big network through my experience, so I sent an email to every single one of my connections and also sent out a blast to my LinkedIn network letting everyone know what I was doing. I knew I needed more clients, and this became my biggest priority.

5)     What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

When I first started the business, networking and getting out in front of people were the most effective way to drive awareness. Back in 2010, there were tons of in-person networking events to attend. I would research Eventbrite and other community resources to see what was being held. I attended Chamber of commerce events, DreamForce, Girls in Tech, etc.; no event was beneath me. I went to one almost every single day to hand out my business cards and make those connections. DreamForce was the biggest springboard for me. I went to every single booth in that conference hall (there were hundreds of companies) and asked everyone what they did and what their company specialized in. I shared that I ran a recruitment agency and walked out of there with 200 business cards from companies that would likely need my service. Many of my initial clients came from this push. Recruiting is a people business, so face-to-face networking was the most effective tool for us early on.    

6)     What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Recently, it was the pandemic. Our company was hit hard with 90% of our clients freezing hiring and our revenue decreasing by the same percentage in one month. When I first started Betts, the biggest challenge was only being one person with limited resources and limited time. When you start a business, the to-do list is extensive and just keeps growing with tasks like launching the website, making new client introductions, finding talent, etc. It can be overwhelming and lead to burnout early on. I remember being on a bus with my computer and hot spot in my lap, trying to get things done in between everything else I had going on. I overcame this by learning time allocation and understanding how to prioritize without spreading myself too thin. 

7)     How do you stay focused?

One of my strengths as a leader has been bringing focus to the company. We only specialize in go-to-market, revenue-generating (sales, customer success, and marketing) roles for tech clients. This prevents us from spreading our resources too thin and allows us the time and focus to develop recruiting in this space. On a personal level, I’m very high energy, have a good memory, and can switch gears. On any given day I’m working with our VC clients on their hiring goals, discussing marketing opportunities with our internal teams, advising other founders, etc. It often looks like I’m all over the place, but I thrive on the variety. Focus is an intention. When I have something I need to get done, I schedule time on my calendar, turn off my phone and commit to getting that project done. Otherwise, I’ll move on to whatever task is most exciting or interesting to me at the time.

8)     How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

There are a few ways Betts differentiates itself from competitors. First, our company and our new recruiting platform, Betts Connect is built by recruiters, for recruiters. We also only specialize in go-to-market, revenue-generating (sales, customer success, and marketing) roles for tech clients rather than all industries and all positions. Lastly, and the most important differentiating factor, is that over 12 years, we have built a massive network of champions (both client companies and talent). The market thinks very highly of us because of our relationships, people-driven company model, and proven recruiting success in the tech space. To any entrepreneur starting out, don’t be afraid to be YOU, and have your say-do ratio be as close to 100% as possible. So many people make promises, but fail to deliver and follow through. Those that put in the time and effort and get up after falling down will set themselves and their businesses apart from the rest, no matter what industry.

9)     What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

I cannot stress networking enough. When I started Betts, face-to-face was the most effective, but with the evolution and advancement of technology, particularly through social media, we must also pivot to include digital networking and online connection. You are your biggest advocate and networking allows you to put yourself and your company out there through authentic connection.  

10)  What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Starting a business is all about commitment, so understand that it’s going to be difficult. I didn’t realize how hard this journey would be when I started Betts, because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Be open, because there are lots of things you will learn along the way that you will only learn from doing them. There will be times when you will fall on your face or want to give up, but understand that committing fully and not giving up is what will separate you from everyone else.    

11)  What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My favorite app is LinkedIn. I get a lot of value from the networking opportunities and what people in our industry are saying and posting about. I also love Seth Godin, because a lot of what he writes about is very valuable for business leaders. His book “Small Is the New Big: And 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas” really resonated with me when I was starting Betts, and I still reference a lot of the takeaways mentioned in it.

12)  What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

My favorite business tool is LinkedIn. It’s a great tool to keep a pulse on your industry and be a part of business and leadership conversations. As I mentioned before, Betts is a people- and relationship-driven company. LinkedIn affords us great networking opportunities and a chance to widen our reach and influence.

13)  Who is your business role model? Why?

My grandmother is my business role model. I grew up in the Bay Area, and my grandparents ran, what was at the time, the oldest art gallery in San Francisco. My grandfather was very much the visionary, while my grandmother ran the operations side of the business. She was the face of the gallery and was excellent at building relationships with employees and within the larger community. As a young girl, I remember working for them as a receptionist and learning so much about how to build and run a successful business from my grandmother, everything from the importance of relationships to the day-to-day basics of how to write a check and balance a checkbook. In the 80s, women in business were uncommon, so at the time, she was a revolutionary, and I’m always using the lessons she taught me in running my recruiting firm, Betts.

14)  How do you balance work and life?

What’s that?! My husband would say I could work less, but I absolutely love what I do, so for me, my work and my life are all the same thing. My identity is closely tied to being the founder and CEO of Betts, but more importantly, what I do doesn’t feel like work, because I’m so passionate about it. I do business with my friends, and I consider some of my colleagues to be my closest friends. However, every person should define their own unique sense of balance. For example, I’m an avid traveler and love to exercise and often allow myself the space to do these things during traditional working hours. Similarly, I often do work-related tasks when I’m away on vacation because I choose to. Balance is all about understanding and prioritizing what the most important things to me are, both personally and professionally, at the time. Betts now has close to 100 employees, and I often had some guilt associated with having people think I’m not working during the day to prioritize personal things. I’ve had to let this go because I know I put in the work, sometimes it’s just beyond traditional working schedule and hours. 

15)  What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Exercise is the most important way to decompress for me. My yoga and pilates classes and my walks are the longest periods of time where I don’t look at my phone. I need that break to step away and clear my head. We also encourage our employees to prioritize exercise to get their endorphins going, boost energy and decompress from their work responsibilities.

16)  What do you have planned for the next six months?

I’ve never seen a hotter market for hiring, so the theme for us for the year is scale. We are pouring fuel on this hiring market and taking advantage of this unique time to maximize the opportunity for our clients and own company as much as possible.

17)  How can our readers connect with you?

Follow me on LinkedIn.