Six years ago, Elliott Scott HR launched the Hong Kong head office. Since then, the business...
Six years ago, Elliott Scott HR launched the Hong Kong head office. Since then, the business has continued to grow with offices around the globe.
In celebration of our six-year anniversary, Stuart Elliott, CEO and Owner, shares his key pieces of advice for building a global business.
The biggest step to setting up on your own is that first move to resign. Leaving a stable job and income for the unknown – and a pay cut - takes a leap of faith. You need to ensure you have a clear vision for your business, as well as an appetite for risk, otherwise you’re better off working for someone else. This ability to take a risk continues to be crucial later on in the hiring process, as every hire you make is a risk, as you are hiring individuals, not mini clones of yourself.
We’ve all been there. You plan, then you plan some more, then you tweak that plan and then you tweak it again. Developing an iron-clad plan for your business doesn’t make it fail proof, but it can limit you with inflexible rules and constraints at odds with an ever-changing market. Planning often leads to procrastination, time-wasting, and the impossible task of trying to predict the future – to the detriment of your business. My advice is to spend more time doing, and less time planning.
Understanding what it is you do best is key, and no, you aren’t great at everything! The best leaders know their strengths, stick to them, and bring in experts to help in the areas where they lack expertise.
There’s no point bringing in experts and then second guessing everything they do. Take a step back, and you will be surprised at what people can achieve. Of course, this hands-off approach will also fail at some stage as well, but don’t let it change you, continue to put your trust in people and you will be amazed at what you get back.
Being at the top can be a lonely place, and there will be few people in your company that you can be totally honest with and who can help you through the trickier times (and there will be some). Find someone outside of the business who can listen to you without judgment or a stake in the result. You know they won’t have all the solutions, you just want to know someone is listening.
Because you will make them. The key is how you respond to them. That might mean apologising, it might mean spending more money to get something right, but ultimately, you can only get better if you actually take it all in and learn from it.
Elliott Scott HR has grown globally over the last six years and we now have a presence in six locations: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, New York and London. If you would like to discuss any of these markets you can find your key contact here. If you would like to get in touch with Stuart, you can do so at se@elliottscotthr.com
