Building and Selling a Successful Staffing Agency with Diane Prince

What does it take to grow and sell a successful staffing agency? Today, we sit down with Diane Prince, founder and serial entrepreneur, to discuss her businesses and how she sold them for a profit. Diane is a seasoned entrepreneur, business leader, and founder of DianePrince.co and Recruiting Agency 360. She is best known for her remarkable achievement of building and selling a staffing agency for $28 million in just six years. With over 25 years of experience, she now empowers recruiting and staffing founders to scale their businesses and achieve profitable exits. In our conversation, Diane shares her journey from starting a staffing business with no experience to achieving a major sale. She explains the fundamentals of an entrepreneurial mindset and the importance of intentionality when building a business. Discover the role of outsourcing, the value of focusing on a niche market, and how technology plays a part in scaling a staffing agency. Tune in to hear Diane’s advice on leadership, managing growth, and her tips for exiting a business successfully.

[0:01:14.1] DF: Hello everyone, thank you for joining us for another episode of The Staffing Show. I’m super excited today to be joined by the founder of DianePrince.co and Recruiting Agency 360. Diane, super excited to have you on the show today, really excited to be talking about how you have had the experience of taking and building a staffing agency, selling it for 28 million dollars. I think that something that a lot of our audience has questions about, thinks about is trying to figure out, like, how do they get their agency to us about where they can have an exit. Very few make it to that path. Excited to have a conversation with you today.

[0:01:47.6] DP: Hey David, great to be here.

[0:01:49.6] DF: Awesome. Well, let’s go ahead and jump in. I would just love to know if you could just tell us, what’s your journey and how did you get into the staffing industry?

[0:01:55.7] DP: Yeah, well, I have a bit of a story because I don’t know if you and I talked about this but people tend to say like, “Oh, just like everybody else, I fell into it.”

[0:02:02.0] DF: Yeah.

[0:02:02.8] DP: But my story was different, I was very deliberate. So, I did not have experience in staffing except for temping. Like, I temped through college and grad school, my first-time assignment was in London, so I temped around London, which was awesome and that’s how I kind of knew what it was. I tapped beer at a pub for one night and I had no idea how to do it, and I made my first customer goes, “How fast do you type?” and then I started temping.

So, that’s how I knew that temping was but the way that I got into staffing and starting my own business was the idea of wanting to build a business. So, my partner and I decided, like, we set out to build a business that we could scale and sell, and then we worked from that. So, that’s why I think it’s so important to like, align your vision, like, think about what your vision is. So, that’s what we wanted to do.

Like, that was the goal, and then we figured out from there what kind of business could we scale so that we could sell it, and that’s how we arrived. You know, there’s a lot of thinking about like, a lot of like listing out different kinds of companies, you know, like a restaurant, probably wouldn’t do that.

[0:03:12.5] DF: Yeah, yeah.

[0:03:14.5] DP: So, thinking about all the different kinds of businesses we could start, and then when we hit on staffing, that was like, “Okay, that sounds like a good idea.”

[0:03:21.1] DF: I ask that question to every guest that’s on here and I think you’re one of maybe – definitely in the 1% or less. I have – most of us are, “Well, I kind of ended up over here.” So – and with that, I’m excited to talk about the fact that you were intentional about going into it, probably maybe seeing a lot of decisions differently than some do when they’re getting into the industry but just to jump right into it, like, what are some of the most critical factors when it comes to kind of building your agency and making sure that you’re ready for an acquisition?

[0:03:49.6] DP: Yeah, okay. So, well, first of all, building it to make sure that you’re ready to like, you need to get started in it, and then going for an acquisition is another thing but like, I mean, I’m very entrepreneurial. So, if you do have the entrepreneurial drive, I mean, the best way is to just go for it. Like when I started, I literally did not even know what worker’s comp was until I placed my first tab.

So, it’s like, figuring out, and figuring it out along the way. Now, there’s a lot more educational resources. We bought a – but there used to be a book. You remember those dummy series, the black and yellow books, Dummies Guide.

[0:04:23.7] DF: Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I’m like, I think I might even have one on my bookshelf.

[0:04:29.9] DP: Yeah, there is the Dummies Guide to Starting a Temp Agency.

[0:04:32.2] DF: Oh my gosh, right?

[0:04:35.0] DP: I wish we could find it now. So, that’s how we started. So, it was really very limited information. We just learned as we went and made a ton of mistakes. If I were doing it again today, which I might, I don’t know but if I did it again today, I would do things a lot differently. Like, we were very complicated in how we had set up, especially at first.

[0:04:57.6] DF: Yeah, what are some of the lessons that you learned along the way?

[0:05:00.5] DP: Well, we did so much ourselves, like, we didn’t even know what an employer of record was, so we just did it. So, that was really expensive, and complicated. We used ADP and Paychex, you know, but we were constantly funding payroll. We were taking out loans to fund payroll and then managing all the people that were doing it. So, that’s something I would definitely do differently.

Another thing was, we would tend – you know, this is pretty common with entrepreneurs, like, we get the shiny new object syndrome, and so we started a few different business lines that were totally distracting and we didn’t need to do. So, those were – I think, those are like two of the main things that were mistakes that we made, and then also I guess the third thing is I was really a bad manager.

So like, that’s something that I now I teach out [crosstalk 0:05:51.2] because I really realize, like, some people, very few are naturally born managers, it’s really rare.

[0:05:59.9] DF: Yeah.

[0:06:00.5] DP: So, that’s another thing that like, huge mistakes that you know, just, and how I manage people was terrible.

[0:06:07.6] DF: Yeah. I’ll try in the – this brings out like the focus and the starting new business lines, and I think that that is one of the – I see with software companies, with staffing firms but it’s like, going into a new line of business, opening up a new territory, like going into a new country as a staffing or as a software company is something I see people do too soon. So, that’s interesting you learned that as a lesson as well, yeah.

[0:06:27.3] DP: Like, people have set up shop — like, Bullhorn, so they might write a new software or you know, like they’d start all of a sudden, they’re like software developers or start a school or you know, that was one thing we did. So, things like that too, they’re just like, major – I want to do career coaching on the side or just kind of totally diversions.

[0:06:44.5] DF: Yeah, and with that, so when it comes to like, what to – I mean, go all the way back to like the ADP and like the fact that outsourcing some of those elements like, how would you decide or what – if you were to approach it, what would you keep in-house, what would you take out of the house?

[0:06:57.4] DP: Yeah, I would, and I mean now too because there’s so many options with virtual assistants so you know, we talked about that before the show. So, I would take in-house, and it depends on what your – who you have on your team and what your skill set is. So, like, if you’re – say, you’re a director of sales at a staffing agency, at a big staffing agency, and you want your, you want to start your own agency.

So then, in that case, you’ve got context, you’re good at biz dev, I would outsource. If you’re doing it, you could start by – with, really, being a solopreneur if you wanted to start that way. I would totally outsource all that. I would get in your – I would outsource all the back office, including collections. Like we had full-time people to do all these things, like, management and employment companies.

[0:07:40.7] DF: Yup.

[0:07:42.3] DP: I would do that, I would also start with a bookkeeper from the beginning if that’s not your style –

[0:07:50.0] DF: Yeah.

[0:07:51.3] DP: I have a –

[0:07:52.7] DF: I have definitely learned that one.

[0:07:56.8] DP: And then also, like say, if you’re – if you are starting out on your own, and say you’re really strong in sales, I would invest in a sourcing arm.

[0:08:05.6] DF: Yeah.

[0:08:05.9] DP: That could also be virtual assistants and then, I would start from getting things going though, is more like, white glove as possible like, unscalable while you’re learning and figuring it out, then you can automate things later on. On the flip side, there’s people who are really strong at recruiting, who want to start. That’s a little harder though, it’s a little harder to – you can’t really outsource biz dev from the beginning, that’s harder to do.

[0:08:30.5] DF: So, you think, one of the core skills to going out on your own is to have that, you have to have the biz dev part dialed in or have a path — you have to have job orders, right? Like, how do you start your staffing agency about, yeah –

[0:08:43.4] DP: And I mean, I have helped people, I just you know, shameless plug. So, like, I have helped people who like, typically, I met with our Recruiting Agency 360, most of the people who hire me to get help are really good at recruiting, and I help them to understand the biz dev part, and fill that part in. So, it’s kind of more mysterious than people think it is. This is what I like to do, is really help people to find their own unique biz dev voice, and that’s really – that’s kind of the little nugget, that’s really the differentiator in a lot of ways.

[0:09:15.1] DF: Like, how are you standing out from the hundred other people that are reaching out to every business trying to get – trying to get a job order?

[0:09:22.4] DP: Yeah, totally, totally.

[0:09:24.4] DF: Yeah, and tell me a little bit about kind of the process of going to market and selling the business. What’s that – what was that experience like?

[0:09:30.5] DP: Yeah, I’ve sold a few businesses, so I’ve had different like different processes but in the exit that we were talking about because since we knew that’s what we wanted to do going into it, we were really intentional about how we were building it along the way. So, after about, it was like in year two, we started meeting with an investment banker, that’s how we sold our first business was through an investment banker.

So, we would meet with him quarterly. So, we had an advisory team, and back when there weren’t really like, there were not staffing agency coaches back then, like we belong to the ASA and SIA so we got help from them but there weren’t really like, mentors like there are today. We had our advisory board and then, there was like a lawyer, a CPA, and our accountant, our finance person.

So, anyways, so we would meet with their investment banker quarterly and just say like, “Here’s where we’re at, what do we do next? Like, what are the next steps?” Then, we basically listened to him.

[0:10:27.5] DF: That’s great, and the fact that you’ve gotten through exits to sound like you had the – with different buyers, right? You had a family and then you all sort with, I think we had talked about – so private equity, that you talked to as well? What’s the experience like depending on who you’re going, who you’re working with?

[0:10:44.0] DP: Yeah, it’s really different in different ways. So, like – like with the first exit, the investment banker route was great because we learned so much. Also, like that was the biggest exit I’ve had so at that level, you really do want somebody. You need like a professional person to help you through that and one of the things that I really learned, one, a big takeaway was how much people are willing —

You know, me and the other people are like, typically are willing to leave on the table. It’s like when you first start out you’re watching every single penny, and then at the end, like when you’re going through the deal, and you just wanted the deal to close, it’s like, you walk away from like, millions of dollars. I mean, in our case, it’s like hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, that was one thing that they really helped us with is negotiating and standing up for us.

So, that was – it was, the investment banker part was great because I mean, they did a lot of the work, they shopped it out, they, you know, made the book and –

[0:11:40.5] DF: Yeah.

[0:11:42.0] DP: Bring multiple people to the table but there was – there was still a lot of work involved. Like, I kind of – I just had my second baby and I was like, kind of managing that – like, the part of the deal.

[0:11:52.5] DF: Oh wow. Yeah.

[0:11:54.1] DP: So, there was still a lot involved in making the deal go through but yeah, it was definitely very helpful having an investment banker in that but though — it’s super expensive.

[0:12:03.1] DF: And I know that – I’ve heard there’s different stages where it makes sense to bring an investment banker and tell us a little bit about like, what is DianePrince and Company? What do you guys do and how do you help agencies navigate some of these?

[0:12:14.3] DP: Yeah. So, I’ve been coaching, I started business coaching about – well, I started consulting with other companies. There’s different kinds of startups, not just staffing agencies about 10 years ago. So, I had a clothing business, and then after that, then, I started consulting with other startups. It’s just really like, helping, like, I would take really active roles like head of sales or head of ops.

And so, now – so, my coaching practice has evolved so that now, I work with staffing agencies, recruiting agency owners, and I had different offers basically to help them like, anything – the way I’m looking at “What do people need?”

[0:12:49.9] DF: Yup.

[0:12:49.9] DP: What do they need of me? So, one of them is learning how to sell. I mean, that’s like –

[0:12:54.3] DF: Yup.

[0:12:55.4] DP: Yeah, I get several people [crosstalk 0:12:56.0].

[0:12:58.4] DF: Yeah.

[0:12:58.6] DP: Yeah, and there’s several people messaged me on LinkedIn like, every day and it’s like, we always ask them, “What are your biggest challenges?” It’s usually selling, it’s usually biz dev. So, that’s the one thing that we’re heavy on is like, teaching that but then we also have – we also teach people, really, like, to build a business around, whether you’re a recruiter or staffing, RPO, we work with people too.

But then, like, how do you really intentionally build a business around that, because a lot of people that do fall into it, like we said, where they work at a staffing agency, they start one but they haven’t really thought through what they want to get out of it. So, really, like, I help people to really intentionally build their business based on what they want to get out of it. That’s different for everybody, and then I also have – we were talking earlier like I have a virtual assistant business now as well.

[0:13:44.7] DF: Yeah.

[0:13:44.4] DP: We specialize in staffing agencies and so we realized a lot of people have – some people have great experience with VA, some don’t. So, we have an actual, like, integrated, managed, it includes sourcing, it includes biz dev support. I also coach the VAs, so that’s another –

[0:14:03.3] DF: Oh, that’s great.

[0:14:04.0] DP: Yeah, yeah, that’s pretty cool.

[0:14:06.0] DF: Oh, that’s awesome. When you said that it’s like having a VA has been – it’s when you get the right person and which is hard to do, it’s hard to find somebody that can actually come in, which is like you have them trained on the specific things that people in staffing need. It can be a game changer from a time perspective.

[0:14:20.7] DP: Yeah, totally.

[0:14:22.0] DF: I think it is [inaudible 0:14:21.8] that’s amazing. What are some of the – I mean, we’ve been interesting times in the market. It feels like I’m hearing a lot more optimism these days, the last – I think since the rate cut and there’s still – there’s a lot of holds on what’s going on because of the election coming up, we hear that quite a bit but what are some of the market trends that you are seeing and where do you see the market going over the next six months to a year?

[0:14:43.2] DP: Yeah. I mean, there’s, you know, there’s definitely been a dip in a lot of sectors, some have, you know some have increased, you know it’s been, like one of my clients and I were looking, locum tenens have gone up 30% –

[0:14:54.4] DF: Education, locum tenens, yeah.

[0:14:56.1] DP: Education, yeah. I have some clients in the education kind of space and some of my clients are in skilled trades –

[0:15:02.1] DF: Yeah,  [inaudible 0:15:03.0]

[0:15:04.4] DP: Yeah, yeah, but it’s interesting because people have this idea that it’s the market has tanked so much, which it – I mean, it’s down but if you are looking at it like the entire market size, it’s like a 218-billion-dollar market, so really like how much do you need? It’s like they’re, you know like I don’t know unless you’re Randstad you don’t need, you know? It’s like, yeah, so I don’t know. Like I don’t have a crystal ball.

I honestly, I try not to pay too much attention to forecasts and like I look at what they like in the day-to-day what is the market telling me, and then what clues can I take and how can I pivot because sometimes you need to pivot. Sometimes roles become obsolete, other times I think people pivot too soon because with staffing, the part of the beauty of the industry is the depths because then there’s the peaks and valleys, right?

So, like you have to have those valleys in order to have the peaks, and that’s how, really how this business works. If it was just flatter, it was always going up, it just wouldn’t really be a sustainable industry.

[0:16:09.4] DF: Yeah, yeah, I think it’s fairly volatile, and then the last time and we’re just somebody the end of the day and I’ve probably said this on the podcast already, I don’t remember it but like if you just remove COVID, like if you take 2019 and draw a line to where we’re at today, it looks like a nice straight graph of where we should have been and let’s just take out all of that, you know that kind of the spikes upward and downward, we’re getting right back to where we would’ve been otherwise. So, it’s interesting.

[0:16:34.9] DP: It’s interesting too because some of the people I work with and talked to are like, they started around 21, 20.

[0:16:41.4] DF: Yeah.

[0:16:41.7] DP: Things were so good and so now like their experience hasn’t only been this amazing like, “I did two million dollars in my first year and now I’m doing 250,000.” You know, it’s like because that’s when they got into it and it was all – and also maybe they’re learning maybe entrepreneurship isn’t for them because it is, this is what it’s like, you know?

[0:17:04.0] DF: Yeah, it’s definitely a rollercoaster and you’ve talked about this a little bit already but when it comes to scaling a staffing agency, you know, building towards that, what role does technology play from your perspective?

[0:17:16.7] DP: Yeah. I mean, technology is huge obviously, and ever evolving. When you’re starting, I do think I mentioned the white gloving it for part of it because one really common mistake that I see people make is trying to automate when they don’t already know it’s working.

[0:17:33.4] DF: Yeah.

[0:17:34.1] DP: Automation is great, by the way, we also have one of our team members is a recruiting and biz dev engineer, which is a new role that I think everybody needs to have and whether you have a fractional person or an in-house person depending on your size but it’s gotten to the point where you need, you need an engineer to help you to keep up with technology because there’s some really, really powerful stuff.

Like for example, one of the things we do is we automate, like one of my favorite ways to get new business is keeping in touch with past, current clients and candidates and knowing when they have job changes. So, like we have a process with AI technology to actually automate that so that you still sound like a human and obviously like automate it. Like I’ve done cold email outreach since like the invention of email, you know?

[0:18:24.1] DF: Yeah.

[0:18:24.4] DP: So, I love that. What’s exciting I think is knowing, especially like I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and then as technology – as there’s new technology introduced I love like picking up on the new technologies and keeping super relevant on that and then also bringing in like old school things like reference checking and you know, like how does that combine with like bleeding-edge AI and how do you make that super powerful.

So, really technology can play a big role if you use it the right way. You have to know it’s going to work first, you have to get some traction, you have to figure out what you’re proven process is, then automate it.

[0:19:03.5] DF: I could not agree more. I think it’s one of the lessons I personally have learned over and I think entrepreneurship and starting a business like since you’re eventually going to do a lot of the things but knowing when to do them is such a critical element of it and so many people try to automate. Like people, before they have the LLC form, they’re like, “Hey, we’re going to buy this automation software.”

It’s like, this is not the time, you don’t know what your – do you have customers yet? No, but we’re going to start by automating before we have customers. Maybe that’s not the right path. So, I agree with that wholeheartedly.

[0:19:36.2] DP: Yeah, and you know, it’s not really their fault because that’s like what you hear. Even like new-gen companies, they can only work if you already have some proven traction. You cannot just hire people to just expect that they’re going to bring in this flood of leads if you already don’t know what’s going to work for you and it can be a hard pill to swallow, to kind of hear that because people just you know, want the –

[0:19:57.7] DF: I actually haven’t even thought about that. So many stories I know where people are like, “Oh, we tried this lead, this lead gen company is going to change the game for us.” And it’s like, if your value prop is not working today like scaling something that doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, so.

[0:20:11.9] DP: Yeah, if anyone is listening, who is listening to this is thinking about hiring a lead gen company, ask to hear some recordings of their calls.

[0:20:19.3] DF: Yeah.

[0:20:20.0] DP: You want to know, and then also along the way, so like because that’s something people just assume like, “Oh, they’re experts.” Always listen, like I say, you hire them, make sure that you’re listening to some of the calls so that you can make adjustments as well.

[0:20:33.7] DF: That’s key and I – we’ve tested out a – you know, you got me on the tech side of it but I tested out an AI STR tool just to like see because I just want to see how it worked and the messages were – I’m sure it’s getting better and going to eventually be a game changer but the messages were horrific. I was just like, “Oh my God, I can’t imagine sending these messages to anybody.”

So, that’s a different play but similar space. You know, for the people that are listening to this that are excited about growing, scaling their business, getting to an exit, we talked about a handful of them but are there any pitfalls that they can, you know, say like avoid this, don’t do this, specific lessons that you would try to instill in them?

[0:21:10.6] DP: Yeah. I mean, I think like once you – so like top elements are okay at that visioning, like understand what you want to do, like what do you want to get out of this and then niche. A lot of people are afraid to niche, they’re afraid they’re going to miss out on another opportunity, yeah, if they niche. There is a fear, there can be, and LinkedIn, like I have all these posts.

I have nine posts lined up on how to choose your niche and that’s what we do in our Recruiting Agency 360 too, but it’s really important — but you can look at niche too. So, you want to define your niche, there are steps that you can do to do that. There’s going to be experimentation, don’t be afraid to niche. Don’t be afraid to like, super micro niche. I mean, we did title insurance people and got to like, million-dollar billing week.

So, that’s like – and that was they were about 25 dollars an hour pay, so like we had a lot of teams involved to head to that. So, really like don’t hesitate to get super niched but also know that that doesn’t mean like, you can think about niche as a front-end issue, like that really helps with your marketing. It helps you to be a specialist, it helps you build up your candidate pipeline.

But it doesn’t mean that if you have an opportunity that you – you could also take other opportunities if you feel like that’s going to help you and then building your team is really important and then look at like that’s one thing. I always, I mean, it’s funny that you said that about the LLC because I always do everything before I’m ready except for hiring. So, like I don’t even care about it at all, you know? But if it’s the end of the tax year, yes but –

[0:22:38.3] DF: I actually agree with that, you don’t actually have to have that in place to start doing it.

[0:22:42.9] DP: Just get some clients, just get some sales, bring in the money. Get that first. Get your first dollar bill, you know? And then look at it like with the building the team, I mean, that’s really evolved too and we’ve talked about virtual assistants but always look at – always along the way look at what is it that I’m trying to accomplish. So, instead of saying, “I need to hire a recruiter” for example or you know, whatever it is, when you find yourself saying that or being excited like, “This is you know, what I want to do.”

“You know, Q4 I’m going to hire.” Look at what you’re trying to accomplish from that hire and then explore ways that you could achieve that, and it might be hiring somebody but always be looking at like how you can get that done the most in the most efficient way.

[0:23:26.6] DF: Oh, outcome-focused, and as I like to say, “There’s riches in niches.”

[0:23:32.7] DP: Yes, yeah, and then you know, you do want – if you’re looking to exit like we always operated as if we were a big company. You know, it’s funny looking back, like when we first started we were like – there was one other agency we were like and we would literally say like, “Oh, bet they’re like mom-and-pop” and we were literally husband and wife and it’s like a rec room in our house..

But we literally like, like you got that, we literally thought that, like we literally like thought that.

[0:23:59.7] DF: You believed it. You believed it from the beginning.

[0:24:02.3] DP: So, we always set up, we always acted like we were a big company. So, people didn’t – really, they didn’t, except for the very beginning. People didn’t even know we were married, you know? It’s like, it was this really, like, treat it like it’s a business and bring on other people, don’t be like, it’s only you, right? The other thing, the most important thing I would say is you just keep executing.

You just gotta because there’s a certain point where it can become really tough. I mean, it’s tough in every stage, don’t think it’s going to be easy. Like, if anybody’s telling you they can sell you like, a blueprint to make this really easy, and you’re going to work less, like they’re wrong. Do not give them 20,000 dollars to tell you to – that can’t be done. So, it’s going to need a lot of work and you’re going to come to that stage where it might even be boring.

Like, it might even be to the point where things are steady and you’re bored, you want to take on other things but just keep on going back to that like, you know, I do put my clients through a visioning exercise, keep them going to that visioning exercise, see if it’s – you need to make any adjustments but keep on looking at that, keep like, your compass going in the direction you want to go, and then just know, like, because there’s different stages, right? And it’s a totally different stage to start a business, get going than it is to run a mature business. So, yeah.

[0:25:22.4] DF: Yeah, absolutely, it’s funny when you were talking about the time that you have to put into it and the fact that the – it’s just reminding me of the four-hour workweek and I’m like, I always tell people, I read the four-hour workweek and they’re like, “How’s that going for you?” I’m like, “Well, it’s not quite planned out as you expect it to be.” So, it looks like 80 hours. Yeah.

[0:25:38.8] DP: I bet Tim Ferriss works more than four hours a day.

[0:25:41.0] DF: Yeah, I’m pretty sure he does. The boss of us. So, I’ve got to, just a speed round the questions here that we’ll jump into and then we’re going to close it out from there. So, what’s a belief you held strongly five years ago that you’ve since changed your mind about, and why?

[0:25:58.4] DP: Okay, a belief. Oh, I used to think I could change the past. That was an important one because I really did – I mean, honestly, like, I would do it, I went through a lot of rumination, try to change the past, and then I said –

[0:26:12.0] DF: Great, me too. Yeah.

[0:26:13.8] DP: I’ve done a lot of self-work.

[0:26:15.2] DF: Yeah.

[0:26:15.3] DP: I realized I cannot change the past, I’ve let go of trying to do that.

[0:26:20.1] DF: That is fantastic. I need to take a note on that one. If you put a short message on the billboard that millions would see, what would it say, and why?

[0:26:28.1] DP: Okay, I would say, have the courage to change the things you can. I’m a fan of the serenity prayer, I’ve learned to accept the things I can’t change.

[0:26:37.1] DF: Yeah.

[0:26:38.9] DP: And for me, a big part of it is having the courage to change the things I can. So, that’s, you know, I wear a lion for courage so that would – you know, maybe it would – it might just say, “Courage.” It might just say –

[0:26:49.1] DF: Okay. What book have you gifted the most often to others, or what has had the biggest impact on your life?

[0:26:55.3] DP: Yeah, as far as entrepreneurship, there’s a book called Rework, have you read it?

[0:27:00.3] DF: Yup.

[0:27:00.3] DP: I love Rework because I find that I take a lot from the startup world, and apply it to staffing. There’s just some kind of like, different perspectives and I love Rework, it’s just like, so simple and straightforward and that’s the one I gift the most.

[0:27:14.6] DF: Yeah, that’s a great book, those guys are – they have a whole series of books that are amazing too, that’s awesome. Any closing comments for the audience?

[0:27:21.4] DP: Okay, yes, I will say if you’re thinking about starting a staffing agency, it’s not as complicated as you might think it is. So, just get some help and just do it. I mean – and you know, I don’t know, I’m such a built – I’m so built to be an entrepreneur. Get the education or at least, you know, understand what’s involved. Yeah, and if you decide that’s the leap that you want to make, then, it’s there for you.

[0:27:46.2] DF: Awesome. Well, Diane, I really enjoyed the conversation, thanks so much for being on.

[0:27:50.0] DP: Thanks David. Great to talk to you.