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 Dianeās 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. Iām 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, letās go ahead and jump in. I would just love to know if you could just tell us, whatās 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, āOh, just like everybody else, I fell into it.ā
[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 thatās 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, āHow fast do you type?ā and then I started temping.
So, thatās 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, thatās why I think itās so important to like, align your vision, like, think about what your vision is. So, thatās 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 thatās how we arrived. You know, thereās a lot of thinking about like, a lot of like listing out different kinds of companies, you know, like a restaurant, probably wouldnāt 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, āOkay, that sounds like a good idea.ā
[0:03:21.1] DF: I ask that question to every guest thatās on here and I think youāre one of maybe ā definitely in the 1% or less. I have ā most of us are, āWell, I kind of ended up over here.ā So ā and with that, Iām 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 theyāre 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 youāre ready for an acquisition?
[0:03:49.6] DP: Yeah, okay. So, well, first of all, building it to make sure that youāre ready to like, you need to get started in it, and then going for an acquisition is another thing but like, I mean, Iām 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 workerās comp was until I placed my first tab.
So, itās like, figuring out, and figuring it out along the way. Now, thereās a lot more educational resources. We bought a ā 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. Iām 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, thatās 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 didnāt 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, thatās something I would definitely do differently.
Another thing was, we would tend ā 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 didnāt need to do. So, those were ā 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, thatās 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, itās really rare.
[0:05:59.9] DF: Yeah.
[0:06:00.5] DP: So, thatās another thing that like, huge mistakes that you know, just, and how I manage people was terrible.
[0:06:07.6] DF: Yeah. Iāll try in the ā this brings out like the focus and the starting new business lines, and I think that that is one of the ā I see with software companies, with staffing firms but itās 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, thatās interesting you learned that as a lesson as well, yeah.
[0:06:27.3] DP: Like, people have set up shop ā like, Bullhorn, so they might write a new software or you know, like theyād start all of a sudden, theyāre like software developers or start a school or you know, that was one thing we did. So, things like that too, theyāre just like, major ā 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 ā 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 ā 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 thereās 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 ā who you have on your team and what your skill set is. So, like, if you’re ā say, youāre 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, youāve got context, youāre good at biz dev, I would outsource. If youāre doing it, you could start by ā with, really, being a solopreneur if you wanted to start that way. I would totally outsource all that. I would get in your ā 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 thatās not your style ā
[0:07:50.0] DF: Yeah.
[0:07:51.3] DP: I have a ā
[0:07:52.7] DF: I have definitely learned that one.
[0:07:56.8] DP: And then also, like say, if youāre ā if you are starting out on your own, and say youāre 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, thereās people who are really strong at recruiting, who want to start. Thatās a little harder though, itās a little harder to ā you canāt really outsource biz dev from the beginning, thatās 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 ā you have to have job orders, right? Like, how do you start your staffing agency about, yeah ā
[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, itās 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 thatās really ā thatās kind of the little nugget, thatās 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 ā 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. Whatās that ā what was that experience like?
[0:09:30.5] DP: Yeah, Iāve sold a few businesses, so Iāve had different like different processes but in the exit that we were talking about because since we knew thatās 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, thatās 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 werenāt 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 werenāt 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, āHereās where weāre at, what do we do next? Like, what are the next steps?ā Then, we basically listened to him.
[0:10:27.5] DF: Thatās great, and the fact that youāve gotten through exits to sound like you had the ā with different buyers, right? You had a family and then you all sort with, I think we had talked about ā so private equity, that you talked to as well? Whatās the experience like depending on who you’re going, who you’re working with?
[0:10:44.0] DP: Yeah, itās really different in different ways. So, like ā like with the first exit, the investment banker route was great because we learned so much. Also, like that was the biggest exit Iāve 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 ā
You know, me and the other people are like, typically are willing to leave on the table. Itās like when you first start out youāre watching every single penny, and then at the end, like when youāre going through the deal, and you just wanted the deal to close, itās like, you walk away from like, millions of dollars. I mean, in our case, itās 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 ā 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 ā
[0:11:40.5] DF: Yeah.
[0:11:42.0] DP: Bring multiple people to the table but there was ā there was still a lot of work involved. Like, I kind of ā I just had my second baby and I was like, kind of managing that ā 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 ā itās super expensive.
[0:12:03.1] DF: And I know that ā Iāve heard thereās 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, Iāve been coaching, I started business coaching about ā well, I started consulting with other companies. Thereās 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. Itās just really like, helping, like, I would take really active roles like head of sales or head of ops.
And so, now ā 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 ā the way Iām looking at āWhat do people need?ā
[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, thatās like ā
[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 thereās several people messaged me on LinkedIn like, every day and itās like, we always ask them, āWhat are your biggest challenges?ā Itās usually selling, itās usually biz dev. So, thatās the one thing that weāre heavy on is like, teaching that but then we also have ā 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 havenāt 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. Thatās different for everybody, and then I also have ā 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 ā some people have great experience with VA, some donāt. So, we have an actual, like, integrated, managed, it includes sourcing, it includes biz dev support. I also coach the VAs, so thatās another ā
[0:14:03.3] DF: Oh, thatās great.
[0:14:04.0] DP: Yeah, yeah, thatās pretty cool.
[0:14:06.0] DF: Oh, thatās awesome. When you said that itās like having a VA has been ā itās when you get the right person and which is hard to do, itās 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] thatās amazing. What are some of the ā I mean, weāve been interesting times in the market. It feels like Iām hearing a lot more optimism these days, the last ā I think since the rate cut and thereās still ā thereās a lot of holds on whatās 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, thereās, you know, thereās definitely been a dip in a lot of sectors, some have, you know some have increased, you know itās been, like one of my clients and I were looking, locum tenens have gone up 30% ā
[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 ā
[0:15:02.1] DF: Yeah,Ā [inaudible 0:15:03.0]
[0:15:04.4] DP: Yeah, yeah, but itās interesting because people have this idea that itās the market has tanked so much, which it ā I mean, itās down but if you are looking at it like the entire market size, itās like a 218-billion-dollar market, so really like how much do you need? Itās like theyāre, you know like I donāt know unless youāre Randstad you donāt need, you know? Itās like, yeah, so I donāt know. Like I donāt 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 thereās the peaks and valleys, right?
So, like you have to have those valleys in order to have the peaks, and thatās how, really how this business works. If it was just flatter, it was always going up, it just wouldnāt really be a sustainable industry.
[0:16:09.4] DF: Yeah, yeah, I think itās fairly volatile, and then the last time and weāre just somebody the end of the day and Iāve probably said this on the podcast already, I donāt remember it but like if you just remove COVID, like if you take 2019 and draw a line to where weāre at today, it looks like a nice straight graph of where we should have been and letās just take out all of that, you know that kind of the spikes upward and downward, weāre getting right back to where we wouldāve been otherwise. So, itās interesting.
[0:16:34.9] DP: Itās 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 hasnāt only been this amazing like, āI did two million dollars in my first year and now Iām doing 250,000.ā You know, itās like because thatās when they got into it and it was all ā and also maybe theyāre learning maybe entrepreneurship isnāt for them because it is, this is what itās like, you know?
[0:17:04.0] DF: Yeah, itās definitely a rollercoaster and youāve 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 youāre 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 donāt already know itās 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 itās gotten to the point where you need, you need an engineer to help you to keep up with technology because thereās 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 Iāve 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. Whatās exciting I think is knowing, especially like Iāve been in the industry for a long time, and then as technology ā as thereās 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 itās going to work first, you have to get some traction, you have to figure out what youāre proven process is, then automate it.
[0:19:03.5] DF: I could not agree more. I think itās one of the lessons I personally have learned over and I think entrepreneurship and starting a business like since youāre 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, theyāre like, āHey, weāre going to buy this automation software.ā
Itās like, this is not the time, you donāt know what your ā do you have customers yet? No, but weāre going to start by automating before we have customers. Maybe thatās not the right path. So, I agree with that wholeheartedly.
[0:19:36.2] DP: Yeah, and you know, itās not really their fault because thatās 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 theyāre going to bring in this flood of leads if you already donāt know whatās 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 ā
[0:19:57.7] DF: I actually havenāt even thought about that. So many stories I know where people are like, āOh, we tried this lead, this lead gen company is going to change the game for us.ā And itās like, if your value prop is not working today like scaling something that doesnāt work, it doesnāt 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 thatās something people just assume like, āOh, theyāre experts.ā Always listen, like I say, you hire them, make sure that youāre listening to some of the calls so that you can make adjustments as well.
[0:20:33.7] DF: Thatās key and I ā weāve tested out a ā 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 ā Iām sure itās getting better and going to eventually be a game changer but the messages were horrific. I was just like, āOh my God, I canāt imagine sending these messages to anybody.ā
So, thatās 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, donāt 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 ā 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, theyāre afraid theyāre 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 thatās what we do in our Recruiting Agency 360 too, but itās really important ā but you can look at niche too. So, you want to define your niche, there are steps that you can do to do that. Thereās going to be experimentation, donāt be afraid to niche. Donāt be afraid to like, super micro niche. I mean, we did title insurance people and got to like, million-dollar billing week.
So, thatās like ā 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 donāt hesitate to get super niched but also know that that doesnāt 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 doesnāt mean that if you have an opportunity that you ā you could also take other opportunities if you feel like thatās going to help you and then building your team is really important and then look at like thatās one thing. I always, I mean, itās funny that you said that about the LLC because I always do everything before Iām ready except for hiring. So, like I donāt even care about it at all, you know? But if itās the end of the tax year, yes but ā
[0:22:38.3] DF: I actually agree with that, you donāt 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, thatās really evolved too and weāve talked about virtual assistants but always look at ā always along the way look at what is it that Iām trying to accomplish. So, instead of saying, āI need to hire a recruiterā for example or you know, whatever it is, when you find yourself saying that or being excited like, āThis is you know, what I want to do.ā
āYou know, Q4 Iām going to hire.ā Look at what youāre 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, āThereās riches in niches.ā
[0:23:32.7] DP: Yes, yeah, and then you know, you do want ā if youāre looking to exit like we always operated as if we were a big company. You know, itās funny looking back, like when we first started we were like ā there was one other agency we were like and we would literally say like, āOh, bet theyāre like mom-and-popā and we were literally husband and wife and itās 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 didnāt ā really, they didnāt, except for the very beginning. People didnāt even know we were married, you know? Itās like, it was this really, like, treat it like itās a business and bring on other people, donāt be like, itās only you, right? The other thing, the most important thing I would say is you just keep executing.
You just gotta because thereās a certain point where it can become really tough. I mean, itās tough in every stage, donāt think itās going to be easy. Like, if anybodyās telling you they can sell you like, a blueprint to make this really easy, and youāre going to work less, like theyāre wrong. Do not give them 20,000 dollars to tell you to ā that canāt be done. So, itās going to need a lot of work and youāre 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 youāre 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 itās ā 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 thereās different stages, right? And itās 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, itās funny when you were talking about the time that you have to put into it and the fact that the ā itās just reminding me of the four-hour workweek and Iām like, I always tell people, I read the four-hour workweek and theyāre like, āHowās that going for you?ā Iām like, āWell, itās not quite planned out as you expect it to be.ā 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, Iām pretty sure he does. The boss of us. So, Iāve got to, just a speed round the questions here that weāll jump into and then weāre going to close it out from there. So, whatās a belief you held strongly five years ago that youāve 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 ā I mean, honestly, like, I would do it, I went through a lot of rumination, try to change the past, and then I said ā
[0:26:12.0] DF: Great, me too. Yeah.
[0:26:13.8] DP: Iāve done a lot of self-work.
[0:26:15.2] DF: Yeah.
[0:26:15.3] DP: I realized I cannot change the past, Iāve 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. Iām a fan of the serenity prayer, Iāve learned to accept the things I canāt 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, thatās, you know, I wear a lion for courage so that would ā you know, maybe it would ā it might just say, āCourage.ā It might just say ā
[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, thereās 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. Thereās just some kind of like, different perspectives and I love Rework, itās just like, so simple and straightforward and thatās the one I gift the most.
[0:27:14.6] DF: Yeah, thatās a great book, those guys are ā they have a whole series of books that are amazing too, thatās awesome. Any closing comments for the audience?
[0:27:21.4] DP: Okay, yes, I will say if youāre thinking about starting a staffing agency, itās not as complicated as you might think it is. So, just get some help and just do it. I mean ā and you know, I don’t know, Iām such a built ā Iām so built to be an entrepreneur. Get the education or at least, you know, understand whatās involved. Yeah, and if you decide thatās the leap that you want to make, then, itās 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.