The first year of trading for start up businesses is always the toughest. In fact almost 50% fail within this first year. By the third year of trading 75% have failed and an amazing 95% of small to medium enterprises (SME’s) fail within 5 years.
Well, Morgen HR is 5 years old this month. This makes us one of the 90,000 of approximately 1.8 million SME’s started in 2005 to have reached 2010. Not only that, but we’ve done it partly through an economic recession, which we feel is something worth celebrating.
I started Morgen HR in a small room in my house and boy did I have a steep learning curve ahead. It took me three months to secure my first client, who, I am pleased to say, is still with us. I had to learn to market myself and the business, to keep accounts, to sell the business and hundreds of other things that come along with a new start up. I personally found networking to be of incalculable value, not only introducing my business to others but putting me in contact with people in the same situation and giving me a pool of knowledgeable people to call upon.
As my network of contacts grew so did my client base, until one day it was time to recruit my first employee, which despite being an HR professional was a nerve wracking experience! I decided I would go through exactly the same process I would advise a client.
The first stage then was to find some candidates, and the easiest method of doing that? Simple, word of mouth, I asked around. Easy and most importantly; cheap. This secured me a few applications so now I had to pick one. For me, the best way to pick a candidate for the role was to look at their personal traits and abilities as this was a primarily administrative role. So I conducted Personality Profile Assessments (PPA) on my candidates.
The PPA’s produced a clear winner, someone whom I would probably not have picked from their CV alone. The individual in question had no HR or even office experience and their previous job was on a production assembly line. We both still had reservations but our personalities seemed to fit together well and in the end we decided that for peace of mind for both of us we would have a three month trial period.
That three month trial period is long past now and Paul is still a valuable member of our team, he’s grown with the company into an HR Advisor and a real asset to the business.
Since this, we have gone from strength to strength and grown to that terrifying point yet again...our latest addition, Payroll. This said, my experience of recruiting my first employee, coupled with the relationships that I have built over the years has given me the confidence to take on more.
From our first client through our first employee to adding payroll to our services, over the last five years Morgen HR has been about building lasting relationships.
Here’s to another five.
Happy birthday to us.
