On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast with Harry Portch, founder of HM Staffing. Harry’s journey is anything but ordinary. He started his business at just 20 years old – almost by accident – while playing FIFA! Now, six years later, he’s built a leading sales and marketing recruitment agency, transitioned to a fully remote model, and became a LinkedIn Top Voice. In this episode, you’ll hear about: - How Harry started his business + the COVID-19 challenges he had to face right from the start - Why he wanted to take the risk and launch a business so early in his career (and the lessons he learned from his mistakes) - How Harry is building a recognisable personal brand and staying authentic online - His insights into managing business growth, going fully remote, and dealing with industry negativity If you’re interested in building a business, growing your personal brand, or scaling a company with Gen Z talent, this episode is for you! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Harry Portch and HM Staffing 02:46 Harry's journey into recruitment 05:01 The accidental entrepreneur 09:00 Early challenges and growth 14:40 Navigating COVID-19 and its impact 19:47 Scaling the business post-COVID 21:11 Building a personal brand on LinkedIn 25:50 The importance of authenticity in content 30:00 Handling negativity and staying positive 34:21 Introduction to Atlas and Founders License 35:19 Negotiating with clients: the art of influence 36:14 Handling unsolicited opinions 37:09 The trade-off of public exposure 38:35 The emotional journey of content creation 39:34 The shift from private to public identity 40:58 Authenticity in online presence 42:21 The impact of remote work on lifestyle 44:14 The challenges of letting people go 45:37 Navigating business growth and challenges 46:35 Transitioning to a remote work model 49:20 The benefits of remote work culture 52:12 Future hiring strategies 54:05 Balancing work and family life 57:31 The realities of business ownership 01:00:18 Vision for the future of the business ---------------------------------------- Episode Sponsor: Atlas Your memory isn’t perfect. So Atlas remembers everything for you. Atlas is an end-to-end recruitment platform built for the AI generation. It automates your admin so you can focus on the business tasks that matter. How many conversations do you have every day? With clients. Candidates. Your team. Service providers. Now how many of those conversations can you recall with 100% accuracy? How many hours a week do you spend making notes to try and retain as much as possible? And how much is still getting lost along the way? Traditional CRM systems weren’t built for the type of recruitment business you’re running right now. They were built to rely on the structured, tagged, categorised, and formal data you could feed it. Manual processes that needed you to input specific information, based on specific questions and answers. But what about all the other conversations you’re having every single day? Atlas isn’t an ATS or a CRM. It’s an Intelligent Business Platform that helps you perform 10X better than you could on your own. How? By removing all your low value tasks, acting as your perfect memory, and providing highly relevant recommendations to impact your performance. Learn more about the power of Atlas – and take advantage of the exclusive offer for The RAG listeners – by visiting
