"Courage. Go for it! You never know until you try," with Jen Wells
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Photo Credits: Jamie Wells
Jen Wells has a passion for matchmaking and has made a career out of helping companies and professionals build teams and careers they can love! In the process, she is building a company that she hopes people can call home as well. She works with startups hiring their first employee to Fortune 500 companies to guide them along their team-building journey. When she’s not building amazing digital and emerging technology teams, she’s enjoying the outdoors with her husband and two children.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I started my career in marketing doing PR and then project management at a small digital marketing agency. At the digital marketing agency, I did everything from copywriting to SEO to paid search, updating website content, and even updating code (I’m so sorry to my developers for breaking things!). You name it, I probably did it or at least tried! I loved learning and being at a small, quickly growing agency. I was often drinking from a firehose and had no choice but to learn new things to keep up. We also had a hard time finding the right talent to grow our team. At that time, not everyone was doing digital marketing or even understood digital marketing. Our agency was purchased and I had the unique opportunity to join a former colleague and build a recruiting firm to help companies hire people like me. It was a great transition because I knew what it took to be successful in those digital marketing roles and I was now able to help companies find the right talent.
What inspired you to start your business?
I started my business after years of being a part of another quickly growing staffing and placement firm. I wanted to build a staffing and placement firm that truly served both candidates and clients. I not only wanted to find top talent for my clients but I also wanted it to be a great match for the candidates. I like to call it professional matchmaking. I also aimed to build a company that gave its employees the balance they needed in their lives, whether that be getting their kids on and off the bus, attending that workout class in the middle of the day, having the flexibility to be a caretaker, walking your dog in the afternoon between calls, having extra time in the summers with their children, etc. We all are in different life stages and I strive to meet my employees where they are (and myself included!).
Where is your business based?
My business is based in Columbus, Ohio– Go Buckeyes! OH-IO!
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
Before I started my business, I took some time off to decide what I wanted after I left my previous firm. I was going back and forth with some other business ideas but ultimately decided to stay in recruiting.
First, I decided on a name for the company. My husband, friends and family helped me come up with the right name, then I confirmed that the name was available and that we could get a similar URL for the website. I worked with an attorney because I wanted to do it right. There are great resources out there to help if you want to do it by yourself too. Once we had the legal business taken care of, I immediately got to work getting a website in place.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
For me, it has all been through networking. I really love helping people and all my clients are folks I have worked with in the past at other companies, folks I placed in the past or new referrals. Not a single client has been obtained from a cold call or cold lead.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
In entrepreneurship, you are faced with new challenges every day. That makes it exciting and sometimes draining all at the same time. Having the right people in your corner helps you overcome those challenges.
When I first started TalentID, the biggest challenge was building a pipeline of new business. This wasn’t something I had done in the past. I was lucky enough to be introduced to a business coach who saw something in me and wanted to help. I am so thankful for the time he spent with me. He helped me build a process and the confidence to get out there and make it happen.
The next biggest challenge I faced was hiring the right people. Yes, even as a recruiter, it is difficult to hire your own team and that first hire is always the hardest. You need someone who is willing to support where needed and that may change daily. You need someone flexible, organized and detail oriented! It took a lot of patience and interviewing folks to find the right person. And we did!
How do you stay focused?
Focus is never easy. I feel like I’m pulled in 100 different directions every day. I have found my to-do lists, when kept consistently, help me focus each day and make sure I don’t get distracted from my top priorities. Besides, I’m a proactive person and checking things off my list helps me to recognize everything I’ve accomplished that day and that feels good.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Our firm looks at the bigger picture of staffing and recruiting. We can find top talent for organizations but if they aren’t considering the full candidate and employee experience from attracting the right talent, to hiring the right talent, to onboarding new employees and engaging employees, a company can’t retain their top talent.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
We put a lot of focus on networking and building relationships. As a staffing, recruiting, and consulting firm, networking is hugely important in growing our business. We pay referral fees from both the client end and the placement end. If someone refers us to a new company and that company uses our services to fill a position, we’ll pay a referral fee. The same goes for filling positions. If a candidate is referred or recommended to us on a role we have offered a referral fee, we will pay someone after that candidate has been employed for 90 days. The other big thing that has been successful for us is supporting folks in the job search. It only takes 15 minutes of our time to review a resume or a LinkedIn profile and provide good feedback that can really impact their job search. People remember when you help them. We have won new clients because of this and we have had amazing candidates sent our way. We are in the business of helping people find jobs they love, so I see it as a win-win.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
A new business doesn’t take off in days or typically months. For the best chance to succeed, you need:
A small runway of time and money. If you don’t give yourself a runway, it becomes too rushed, or you run out of money before you know if it could be successful.
Courage. Go for it! You never know until you try.
A mentor AND a cheerleader. This may or may not be the same person. Find someone who can speak to you professionally and have a go to person that will cheer you along during your journey.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
For me, apps can often be a distraction that pulls me into other things, taking me away from my focus. However, I love apps that sync to my email and files because it gives me the flexibility to do small tasks if I’m in between in-person meetings or running an errand.
I follow a variety of digital marketing and tech blogs, making it difficult to name just one. Reading a variety of blogs keeps your knowledge sharp, gives you a variety of perspectives and helps you keep up with industry trends.
Last of all, two of my favorite business-related books- ones I recommend often, are Let’s Get Real or Let’s not Play by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard. They mainly focus on sales and team management. These are two skills that everyone should continuously improve. There are lots of other great books by Seth Goden, Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Covey and Patrick Lencioni, to name a few.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Google. Everything is possible with Google. Google holds a wealth of information. Don’t know an acronym? Look it up. Want to know how to edit html? Look it up. Don’t recognize the name of a software someone mentioned? Look it up. Are you trying to educate yourself on a new industry trend? Look it up. Google helps me be more nimble and get immediate answers to questions. Of course, my lawyer and accountant make sure I’m doing things by the books as well.
Who is your business role model? Why?
There are well-known role models in the business world that everyone can point to and say, “I want to be like them.” But the individuals that have come in and out of my personal and professional life are the ones that have made the biggest impact on where I am and my business is today.
I come from a family of entrepreneurs that have given me the belief that owning my own business was possible. They taught me work ethic and integrity. Early in my career, I had the privilege to work for a small consulting firm owned by a group of women who were smart, confident, and successful, all while balancing families. They taught me the ropes of the professional world while allowing me the opportunity to support them in meaningful ways. Next, I worked for a small agency where the owners taught me how to build relationships, negotiate, and have those difficult conversations. Most importantly, my direct manager gave me confidence while trusting me to manage myself. Today, I align myself with other business owners with the same values and drivers to make a positive impact on their clients’ businesses, treat their employees well and lead with integrity in every interaction, regardless of the situation.
How do you balance work and life?
Balancing work and life is never easy. There are times when life is so busy, I don’t feel like I have enough time for work and other times, I feel like work is so busy, I don’t have enough time for life. There’s a constant tug-of-war in finding this daily balance. I have learned to be easier on myself as I gained experience, wisdom, and confidence. It’s okay to say, “My kids need me right now,” or “My friend needs me right now,” or even, “I need a break.” I only get one shot at life and I want to do it right. A big part of starting my own business was because I felt like no woman (or individual) should have to choose between his or her work or kids, family, friends, volunteer activities, etc. You need to be fulfilled in all aspects of your life in order to keep doing good work every day. I feel like the professional world is slowly starting to catch on to this as well by providing more flexibility in the weekly work schedule!
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I love spending time with my family and baking. And I’m pretty good at baking so it’s a good thing that I also love to decompress with running, working out and being outside in general.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
The next six months are focused on building out our processes to scale while ensuring our current clients receive top notch service. We have been growing steadily year-over-year and we are focused on preparing for the next level of growth for our company.
How can our readers connect with you?
Readers can connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenwells/ or email me directly at jwells@talentidgroup.com.