167: Surviving a Business Breakup… & Getting Creative with Bejan Douraghy of 🎨 Artisan Talent 🎨

167: Surviving a Business Breakup… & Getting Creative with Bejan Douraghy of 🎨 Artisan Talent 🎨

Background on Bejan Douraghy of Artisan Talent:

At age 25, Bejan Douraghy made his way from New York City to Chicago with $1,000 in his pocket, big dreams, and the ambition to start a new kind of staffing agency that nurtures long-lasting relationships with clients and talent alike. With that in mind, he launched Artisan Talent.

Five years after starting Artisan, the company tripled in size and was listed in Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America. A year later, he appeared on the cover about how bootstrappers change their business practices to foster growth and move beyond the start-up phase.

Artisan is now a creative haven for top talent across the nation that balances the demands of businesses needing digital, creative, and marketing staffing while advocating for the talent filling those needs. Bejan has built one of the best-known brands in the United States’ creative and digital staffing services industry, serving nearly 2,000 companies and providing challenging work for hundreds of talented individuals in the digital and marketing space. The company continues to gain recognition with promotional events that recognize the best digital designers and marketing professionals in the global creative community.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:00] Bejan Douraghy is the founder and CEO of Artisan Talent. They are a staffing agency that represents freelance and full-time talents in the digital and marketing industry.
[4:17] After graduating from college in 1984, Bejan went to Paris for a year.
[7:28] Bejan knew early on that he is the type of person who could not work for somebody else and he could do things differently and with more efficiency.
[9:54] He tells his very interesting story of how he came up with the idea of creating Artisan Talent and starting his own company.
[16:39] There was never a plan B when Bejan started his company. He was determined to make it work.
[19:04] In the 80s, everything was in paper and fax machines. He was doing a lot of work in the office and the field.
[22:34] Money wasn’t the driving force for Bejan during the early days of the company.
[24:51] There were some difficult times for Bejan during the first few years of the company but he didn’t think of quitting.
[26:25] In the second year of the company, Bejan’s brother joined him. In their third year, he hired a full-time salesperson. In the fifth year, they had 8 employees and was listed by the Inc 500 as one of the fastest-growing companies.
[29:19] One major incident in the 90s involving taxes almost threatened the company to shut down.
[35:30] The partnership with his brother didn’t work out and they eventually went their separate ways.
[37:35] The process of separation was very difficult for Bejan and it affected their relationship with each other during that time.
[39:50] In the early 2000s, Bejan was trying to restart the company and he had to let some people go and move to a smaller office.
[45:59] Bejan emphasizes on the importance of hiring the right people. He also points out having great mentors.
[49:50] According to Bejan, creating Artisan Talent was definitely worth the risk.
[51:02] Bejan and Austin talk about travelling.

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Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Man's search for meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, Siddahartha by Hermann Hesse, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, On the Road by Jack Kerouac
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Hard to find Persian cooking spices
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? LinkedIn
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? My Self

Key Point from the Interview:

“The money wasn’t the driver. The driver for me was building an organization where eventually employees and talent felt that they were part of something, and that they were listened to and advocated for.”

Resources Mentioned:

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