"In an article written last year for the Guardian, Amanda Jobbins, chief marketing officer at Sage Group, said that start-ups need mentoring and support at least as much as they need financing: “There is evidence that [mentorship] can and does work. 70% of small businesses that receive mentorship survive for five years or more,” she wrote. A lack of support and advice is one of the fundamental reasons for business failures. There is no doubt people starting their own business are usually good at their jobs, but they don’t always realise they have to be good at a variety of other things as well – HR, financial planning, legal, admin, marketing, branding – the list goes on. I always urge people to hire experts in those areas but as the founder of a start-up you still need to have a good breadth of knowledge. It is no wonder then that people can become overwhelmed by the task – I am most active in the recruitment sector and studies show that only 15% of companies in this sector ever get revenues of over £1m and a headcount of over 10. During the recession years, where the economy was at its worst, I personally backed six entrepreneurs to start their own recruitment businesses, and they all reached those targets within 12 months. I believe a key reason for this was the culture of mentoring that we all insisted upon. It is critical to get experts on board as soon as you can. You should look for people who have already done what you are setting out to achieve, and know your industry. You may have seen recently that I launched the Recruitment Entrepreneur initiative, where I offer mentoring as well as capital to people that want to start their own recruitment business. Having been in the industry for over 30 years, I have seen the ups and downs you can face, and like a lot of entrepreneurs I feel it is my duty to pass this knowledge on."
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