068: Boss won't Listen? How it motivated John Sharpe to start StaffSource.

Background on John Sharpe of StaffSource:

John Sharpe is CEO of StaffSource. He has over 15 years of recruiting, financial and executive level management experience for both Fortune and mid-sized organizations. He has been recognized as the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” and have led an amazing team of people to acknowledgments such as “Best Staffing Firm” and “Best Place to Work.” Additionally, StaffSource recently earned the prestigious INC 5000 award for the 5th consecutive year, one that is owed to their hard-working and dedicated employees.

John was inspired to start his business because he believed he could deliver services more effectively than the company where he was working at the time. He felt the market needed a staffing and recruiting firm that was more service-oriented and value-driven, and his decision to strike out on his own paid off.

An entrepreneur by nature, John makes it a personal mission to build companies to the best they can be through, first and foremost, recruiting well-rounded, competitive and ethically-minded individuals, and executing strategic thought on an on-going basis.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[1:04] John Sharpe was awarded the 2014 Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Knoxville.
[1:55] John is launching data driven artificial intelligence for a more effective hiring process.
[4:57] He went to the library to study the Staffing and HR Recruiting business, which made him interested in entering this industry.
[6:20] When he was working in a Fortune 500 company, he felt he could offer better service to clients but his boss was not open to his suggestions.
[8:13] John admitted that he wasn’t smart enough to recognize potential pitfalls but he knew he would be successful, and he was a risk taker.
[10:02] “You don’t know what you don’t know, sometimes you just got to power through and push through, and you just gotta want it.”
[12:35] It was critical for John to have a simpler business name and to own the domain for staffsource.com.
[13:30] “Business is the sum total of its relationships.” John knew the importance of relationships in business.
[17:10] He was running the business all by himself but the workload was too much so he hired an assistant to hire people for him.
[18:46] He made numerous mistakes and wrong expectations when hiring people, but he learned from it.
[23:40] John truly enjoys the part of running the business and its impact to their customers.
[28:16] They use Tableau analytics tool to have a better understanding of their data and metrics.
[30:28] He firmly believes in the Rockefeller Habits.
[32:09] There were so many times when John thought he wouldn’t succeed, but he says it’s all about perseverance for him.
[32:44] John values the lessons of losing.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Mediations by Marcus Aurelius & The eMyth by Michael E. Gerber & Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm by Verne Harnish
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Wife Present???
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Tableau & Salesforce
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Myself & Continuing to put right people around me.