{"id":2442,"date":"2019-12-10T16:27:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T16:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/people-are-your-brand_121019\/"},"modified":"2019-12-10T16:27:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T16:27:00","slug":"people-are-your-brand_121019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/people-are-your-brand_121019\/","title":{"rendered":"Your people are your brand\u2026 how HFS made it through its first decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Unlike the large analyst houses where analysts can be swapped in and out like cogs in a machine, HFS has been built on people<\/em>, their expertise and their personalities.\u00a0 This is a company where people can shine as individuals and aren\u2019t simply turning corporate widgets to grow revenues and meet targets.<\/p>\n

With the 10 year anniversary of HFS coming up, I keep getting asked: \u201cwhat does it take to build a successful brand and company\u201d.\u00a0 Well, the first thing I will tell you is I never set out to build a company this size, it just happened as our reputation grew and more quality people wanted to join our firm. The second thing is that this is all about the people<\/em> you bring in, as they are part of your brand (and your brand becomes their<\/em> brand too).\u00a0 You won\u2019t always get it right, but as you get more experienced you will learn from your mistakes and \u201ctrust your gut\u201d a lot more\u2026 so here are some learnings I wanted to share with everybody.\u00a0 And am pretty sure this applies to any business where people are core to your success.<\/p>\n

13 lessons learned when building a firm:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Get past your ego.<\/strong> Decide why<\/em> you want to run a business.\u00a0 Do you really want the stress and responsibility, the 20 hours days and no real vacation for many years, or do you just crave power?\u00a0 If it\u2019s the latter you will likely blow up and fold\u2026<\/li>\n
  2. Have faith in yourself. <\/strong>I\u2019ll never forget when my (then) prime competitor declared \u201cI give Phil 18 months and he\u2019ll be gone\u201d.\u00a0 10 years later, and we don\u2019t even consider that firm competition anymore.\u00a0 People will snicker and laugh that you think you can build a business, but remember they are just jealous<\/em> they never had the cojones to do it themselves.<\/li>\n
  3. Have faith in people who share your vision.<\/strong> When you start out,\u00a0there\u2019ll be some good friends \/ former colleagues who will consider throwing their lot in with you\u2026 but you\u2019ll likely have to pay them.\u00a0 But people who believe in you are irreplaceable<\/em>, especially when you are small and building up the brand.\u00a0 But you have to bring in people to help you, otherwise, it\u2019s a very lonely experience when it\u2019s just you and a few stringers\u2026<\/li>\n
  4. Don\u2019t dwell on those who do not<\/strong>\u2026. There will always be people who don\u2019t respect you, but they may be desperate and hit you up for a job. Shy away as they are only out for themselves and will bail on you\u2019re the minute another gig comes along.\u00a0 They need to believe in you<\/em>, not just their bank balance.<\/li>\n
  5. Invest in talent to support your people.<\/strong> As you grow you can\u2019t rely on your loyal warriors to hold the fort forever\u2026 they\u2019ll eventually burn out and reluctantly go somewhere else for more money and less hours. So make sure you are constantly evaluating and hiring good junior folks to support them, with a defined career path. You must have a support system for your key breadwinners or you will fail and end up with a broken firm to hold together.<\/li>\n
  6. Don\u2019t be afraid to make mistakes.<\/strong> The best part of being the boss is being able to f*ck up – and there is no one to blame bar yourself\u2026 and you can\u2019t get fired for it either =)\u00a0 Just make sure you always make a point of learning<\/em> from your mistakes.<\/li>\n
  7. Trust your gut and never regret the odd screw-up.<\/strong> If you can\u2019t trust your gut, then give up now.\u00a0 Your instincts are your life-blood and are those things which will make or break you.\u00a0 If you sense you need to invest in a certain area, or take a punt on a person you think may be awesome, then just trust your gut<\/em>.\u00a0 When\u00a0evaluating my decisions on business and people, I think I have about a 70% success rate\u2026 we have some brilliant people at HFS whom I know I took a \u201cgut feel on\u201d and we also made some wild decisions \u2013 and some turned out great.\u00a0 There have also been some decisions that bombed\u00a0too\u2026 but never regret them. You can’t be right all the time…<\/li>\n
  8. Don\u2019t push people to try things that aren\u2019t their core strength.<\/strong> I learned this the hard way, but don\u2019t ask people to do things they are lousy at, or uncomfortable trying out.\u00a0 There is nothing more valuable that your loyal \u201cswiss army knife\u201d colleagues who can wear several hats, but these people are few-and-far-between.\u00a0 Asking people to do things they are bad at will always spectacularly fail.<\/li>\n
  9. Don\u2019t hire people with a \u201cbig company\u201d mentality<\/strong>. Some people are so used to hiding away from doing actual hard work<\/em>, flying first class and playing \u201cupward management\u201d politics.\u00a0 \u00a0 Avoid.\u00a0 Avoid.\u00a0 Avoid\u2026 they will never adapt to a small company \u201croll your sleeves up\u201d attitude.<\/li>\n
  10. Avoid job hoppers.<\/strong> Running a small growing firm will expose you to the perennial job hopper who will see you as their next escape route form their current misery.\u00a0 Trust me, job hoppers are miserable people who are trying to find some sort of \u201chappiness\u201d when they take on a new job.\u00a0 And they are amazing at feeding you kilos of succulent bullshit at interview. However, as you watch their careers, their honeymoon periods get shorter and the hops get faster\u2026 They like the buzz of the new gig, the ego-stroking, the whole romance of \u201cbeing recruited\u201d, but as soon as it\u2019s time to roll their sleeves up and do some serious work, they fold and start looking around again\u2026 and they will bail as soon as their next loving employer gets starry eyed at their wonderful interview technique.\u00a0 I would add that you can give someone a job-hopping pass in their 20s, but those folks who still try this in their 40s and 50s are far too gone to ever succeed.\u00a0 Sadly, there are a lot of primadonnas out there who will always consider themselves too wonderful for any work environment…<\/li>\n
  11. Eliminate toxic people\u2026 fast.<\/strong> This is imperative, but you will always hire the odd toxic personality, and it can take a while to figure them out.\u00a0 Some people will always play both sides, can make outrageous lies\u2026 will try almost anything<\/em> to get what they want.\u00a0 And the more they fail to get what they want, the more toxic they become. Sadly, these people exist and we have all come across them.\u00a0 All I can say is get them out as fast as you can as they will harm your business more than anything else.<\/li>\n
  12. Don\u2019t fail fast\u2026 learn fast!<\/strong> To quote the great Jamie Snowdon<\/a>, \u201cFailing is vital to any business, but simply failing and moving on to the next idea? Throwing your business thoughts against the wall and seeing what sticks, like some perverse infinite monkey approach, is not smart. Failing and limiting the damage from a dead-end pursuit is a good idea, but the real value of failure is what you learn, and how your subsequently apply that learning experience to your business. This is what provides the value.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n
  13. Try not to take things personally.<\/strong> This is one of the hardest things to master, and I am still working on this.\u00a0 End of the day, this is business and people will ultimately look out for themselves.\u00a0 Clients are only loyal to a certain extent as are your staff\u2026 don\u2019t get too excited when things are great and too miserable when bad things happen\u2026 try and stay measured<\/em> and pragmatic<\/em> as much as is humanly possible.\u00a0 Otherwise you\u2019ll burn out or drive yourself crazy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Bottom Line: Be honest with your people and always look yourself in the mirror<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Never get carried away with your own success\u2026 it\u2019s really just a combination of good judgement, good business senses, good relationships and a lot of luck.\u00a0 Celebrate your success where you can, but never get too carried away\u2026 remember, you\u2019re just a mere mortal like everyone else who somehow became an entrepreneur.\u00a0 As a business leader, the more you keep your feet on the ground, the more success you will likely experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Unlike the large analyst houses where analysts can be swapped in and out like cogs in a machine, HFS has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[303],"ppma_author":[19],"yoast_head":"\nYour people are your brand\u2026 how HFS made it through its first decade - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/people-are-your-brand_121019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your people are your brand\u2026 how HFS made it through its first decade - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unlike the large analyst houses where analysts can be swapped in and out like cogs in a machine, HFS has...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/people-are-your-brand_121019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T16:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/5df0558b0b22f076643099.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1197\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pfersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/people-are-your-brand_121019\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/people-are-your-brand_121019\/\",\"name\":\"Your people are your brand\u2026 how HFS made it through its first decade - 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