"This Isn't What I Want": How Brittny Wilson Built a Recruitment Agency from Scratch
"My kids were like, 'Mom, can you please stop doing events because you're not really a nice person leading up to them…’ I would be so stressed out. I was good at them, but the toll that it took to execute them wore on me. And it would take me a while to bounce back after an event. It just wasn't sustainable in the long run and it depleted me instead of filling me up." Brittny Wilson
"This Isn't What I Want": How Brittny Wilson Built a Recruitment Agency from Scratch
Ever find yourself doing work you swore you'd never do?
You're not alone! When Brittny Wilson launched her consulting business in 2021, she quickly found herself saying yes to everything – especially event planning, which was literally on her "absolutely not" list.
In this chat with our friend Brittny, she opens up about her journey from reluctant event planner to confident recruitment agency owner. The turning point? When her kids flat-out told her she wasn't "nice" during event season (ouch!) and when looking at her actual numbers showed her that what felt risky – walking away from steady event clients – was actually more profitable.
Brittny gets real about the emotional rollercoaster of pivoting her business, the game-changing moment at Jess's conference when she started introducing herself differently, and how she's navigating the feast-or-famine nature of client work. Plus, she shares the exact pricing structure that's working for her now.
Whether you're feeling stuck in work that drains you or trying to find the courage to specialize, Brittny's journey will remind you that sometimes the scariest business decisions lead to the most aligned (and profitable!) outcomes.
Highlights:
Your gut knows when something isn't working. When Brittny's kids pointed out how stressed she became before events, it confirmed what she already felt – this work wasn't sustainable for her wellbeing.
Saying something out loud makes it real. The confidence to call herself a "recruitment agency" came before she felt 100% ready – and that declaration helped others see her differently.
Your pricing can protect your mission. Brittny's three-phase approach ensures clients don't skip critical elements like onboarding support – the key to her mission of keeping good people in the sector.
Systems save sanity. Working with a systems-focused contractor and implementing Airtable automations allowed Brittny to create a repeatable process that doesn't depend solely on her.
Seasons are normal. Six clients in fall, crickets in January – Brittny reminds us that business ebbs and flows are totally normal (even when they're nerve-wracking!).
Timestamp summary:
[00:01:31] Cindy shares that they're testing a new bi-weekly podcast schedule for March.
[00:02:10] Jess mentions this will be a more casual conversation since they know their guest well.
[00:02:52] Introduction of Brittny Wilson from Brittny Wilson Consulting.
[00:03:12] Reminiscing about being together at Jess's conference in California the previous year.
[00:05:15] Brittny describes starting her business in August 2021 without a clear direction.
[00:06:01] How Brittny accidentally became an event planner despite not wanting to do events.
[00:07:09] Discussion about why Brittny hesitated to change her business model: fear of leaving money on the table.
[00:08:40] Brittny explains how cash flow forecasting with Cindy was a game-changer in showing which services had better profit margins.
[00:10:26] The emotional challenge of letting go of her established reputation as an event planner.
[00:11:55] Brittny shares how her kids pointed out she wasn't "nice" leading up to events due to stress.
[00:13:15] The mental shifts that helped Brittny pivot her business, including a key moment at Jess's conference.
[00:14:20] How Brittny gradually transitioned by not taking on new event clients while building up the recruiting side.
[00:15:13] Description of Brittny's current business: a full-service nonprofit recruitment agency specializing in fundraising roles.
[00:16:09] Introduction of Brittny's contractor who complements her skills with systems and processes.
[00:17:01] Overview of Brittny's comprehensive recruitment services, including onboarding support and coaching.
[00:17:27] Rapid-fire questions segment begins.
[00:20:36] Discussion of Brittny's pricing structure: three phases and charging 20% of the hired candidate's salary.
[00:22:24] Timeline of building clarity and systems: only doing the comprehensive process since September.
[00:24:23] How Cindy introduced Brittny to Ashley for Airtable systems, allowing her to scale the business.
[00:25:47] Brittny shares the current state of her business: six clients from September to December, then a slow period.
[00:27:28] Marketing strategies: speaking engagements led to visibility, now focusing on email list building and referral partners.
[00:29:09] Brittny's advice to herself: recognize the natural peaks and valleys of entrepreneurship.
[00:31:25] Discussion about using slow periods for business development and recognizing multiple audiences.
[00:33:54] Brittny's confession: despite presenting a polished professional front, there's always chaos behind the scenes.
[00:36:14] Where to connect with Brittny
Resources Mentioned:
Find Us Online: https://www.confessionswithjessandcindy.com
Connect with Brittny:
Website: https://www.brittnywilson.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittnywilson/
Connect with Cindy:
Cindy Wagman Coaching https://cindywagman.com/
The Good Partnership https://www.thegoodpartnership.com/
Connect with Jess:
Out In the Boons: https://www.outintheboons.me
TRANSCRIPT:
[00:01:31] Cindy: Hey, Jess. Hello. Hello. Hello, everyone. I actually don't know if we mentioned this before, but March, we're testing out a different schedule for the podcast where we're releasing every other week instead of every week. So by the time you're hearing this, we'll have made a decision whether or not we keep that schedule.
[00:01:51] Cindy: But always, we love your feedback. So let us know what you think. yeah. How's it going, Jess?
[00:01:58] Jess: Good. And I feel like we're going to have, we've done this once before when we had Camila on, someone that we just really know and are friends with. I feel like we're going to have that same kind of conversation with our guests today.
[00:02:10] Cindy: Yes, definitely.
[00:02:13] Jess: the suspense is probably killing people.
[00:02:18] Cindy: It is our pleasure to welcome Brittany Wilson to the podcast from Brittany Wilson Consulting. Now, Brittany, I think we both consider a friend, but also I have had the privilege of working with Brittany. and so I've really been Like, had front row seats to the evolution of her business, and I'm so excited, because I know she made some really scary decisions that took a long time to make, but have been really paying off.
[00:02:52] Cindy: And so, um, Brittany, welcome to the podcast.
[00:02:56] Brittny: Thank you so much, Cindy, Jess, it's so good to see you, and honestly, being on this podcast is a bucket list item for me. Could not be more excited to be here. Oh, we're so nice.
[00:03:12] Cindy: This is going to be fun. can you believe it was like a just over a year ago as of recording where we were all together in California for Jess's conference, which was like so good.
[00:03:22] Cindy: It was
[00:03:22] Jess: so much
[00:03:23] Cindy: fun.
[00:03:23] Jess: I just got back from a very different conference. Holy smokes, I haven't even debriefed you Cindy. but I was like crazy that exactly to the day one year later I was at another conference. And, yeah, I'll have to actually,
[00:03:39] Cindy: We should do an episode.
[00:03:40] Jess: Yeah, we should.
[00:03:41] Jess: It was, there was so many observations across such a spectrum of stuff,
[00:03:46] Cindy: Ooh.
[00:03:47] Jess: Yeah, I've never been to a for profit conference before, something that wasn't in a non profit space, and It was different.
[00:03:55] Brittny: Maybe a little less stressful because you weren't in charge of the entire thing. Yeah, definitely.
[00:04:01] Jess: and, and I can see, like, how easy it is to, criticize and provide feedback when you're the person not planning it. I had to catch myself a little bit, in that moment too. But, I know, I can't believe it's been a year. It's about to be, I'm about to start promoting the next one already in 2026.
[00:04:22] Jess: Gosh, is that the last time I saw you?
[00:04:24] Brittny: Yeah, probably. I think it was. Yeah, because you came to Boulder, before that, but I haven't seen you since the conference.
[00:04:31] Jess: Yeah, Brittany and I ended up having what, a three hour, long lunch
[00:04:36] Cindy: where we covered all the things. I love that place. we're coming back to Boulder in August, so we'll have to, Make some time for that and for anyone else in Boulder or that part of Colorado.
[00:04:50] Cindy: We're gonna be doing some fun So stay tuned for that Okay, Brittany for people who don't know you.I'm like torn I want to ask about your business, but I want to ask about your business because I know the transformation Let's start with like before Like I guess a year and a half ish ago What was your business?
[00:05:12] Cindy: What were you doing?
[00:05:15] Brittny: Sure. So I launched my business in August of 2021 and really didn't know what I was going to do. I remember everybody being like, you need to have three things that you offer and know what those things are.but I jumped in. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I am the breadwinner of my family.
[00:05:36] Brittny: And so I found out very quickly that in order to replace my income, I just said yes to everything. So by the time Cindy, you and I started working together, my business had evolved into really an event planning business. so immediately nonprofits started reaching out to me, asking if they, could hire me to run their fundraising events.
[00:06:01] Brittny: Something that if you had asked me before, I'm like, I don't know what it is I exactly want to do, but I know what I don't want to do. And that's plan events. And then that is unfortunately where I landed. And so I remember working with you, Cindy, and you point blank said, is this what you want to do? Do you want to run an event planning business?
[00:06:21] Brittny: And I'm like, no. And so that's where we started our journey on shifting that.
[00:06:27] Jess: But isn't that so common, right? Like I can, I, I just know there's people listening that are probably in a similar place. and I, I actually don't want people who are listening to that to beat themselves up about it.
[00:06:40] Jess: Because so many people start there. And sometimes you have to do that kind of thing to figure out what you don't want to do. there's a lot of clarity in that. And I mean I know working with someone like Cindy really Fast tracks that, but I actually think most people probably are in that place.
[00:06:57] Jess: And like, my question around that is really, what was it about that? Or did you just really need someone spotlighting you to be like, is this what you like? or like, how did the transformation begin?
[00:07:09] Brittny: Yeah, I think my reticence to changing it was that I would be leaving money on the table, that clearly there was.
[00:07:17] Brittny: A gap in services being offered in my area. People needed an event planner and it's not that I couldn't do it or that I wasn't good at it. I was really good at it. And so I felt like I was denying a revenue source by cutting that out of my business plan. And truth be told, that's how I developed relationships.
[00:07:38] Brittny: And when I did finally evolve my business into what I wanted it to be, my event, clients became my first clients in my recruiting business.
[00:07:51] Cindy: okay. Yeah. I think this is so obviously like we need to pay the bills and we make decisions to pay the bills and this idea of what's right in front of you.
[00:08:01] Cindy: Again, there's no shame in that. and I think most people start that way because the only way you really get to figure out like what you want to do is sometimes just like trial and error and figuring things out. Now. We talk about paying the bills and again, like Brittany, just stop me if I'm asking anything because I know a lot of the details of your business.
[00:08:23] Cindy: But it wasn't so clear cut as you were actually paying the bills with the business, right? Financially, because you had staff and all of that, it was pretty precarious. So even though you had revenue, it didn't always feel secure or stable. Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:08:40] Brittny: Jess, you had asked when the shift started to happen, and it's when I started working with Cindy on, cash flow forecasting, which she loves so much.
[00:08:50] Brittny: And I have to say, it was an absolute game changer. Nobody has taught me those skills before. and since then, I've gone on to help other business owners templates that she gave me. But that's when I mean, the numbers don't lie. So when we started looking at what I was making from events, but also my expenses involved on that in them, we realized that there were other areas that I was pushing into that actually had a bigger profit margin.
[00:09:20] Brittny: And so if I could start to, sunset the event aspect of my business and start leaning into the other areas that I wanted to focus on, it really, even though it felt scary, it was going to yield more money in the end.
[00:09:35] Cindy: Awesome. And I think that's such an important distinction because even though there's revenue doesn't make it profitable and especially combined with what brings you joy, but it wasn't so clear cut, right?
[00:09:50] Cindy: It wasn't just even the number, while the numbers don't lie and all of that, it still was an, a very emotional decision, I think. That took a while for you to just really get comfortable with stepping away from that. Can you, like change is hard and especially build and you put in All the time and effort into building your reputation and your business around this.
[00:10:15] Cindy: I'd love for you to share with people a little bit about how you were, like, that process of letting go of all the stuff that you had already built.
[00:10:26] Brittny: Yeah, you nailed it when you said reputation. I had really begun to build a reputation for being the go to event planner in my area. And so I felt like it was going to be really difficult to shift that.
[00:10:41] Brittny: And, again, that I was,turning my back on something that I'd spent a lot of time creating, but during that same time, I, from the same event clients, I started to get interim gigs. So they were losing their fundraisers. A lot of times that's also why I was being brought in for these events.
[00:11:01] Brittny: Cause they lost their main fundraiser. They needed someone. To be able to pull that off and then I started coming in house with them and helping with other areas of their fundraising and then through that was witness to their hiring process for a new fundraiser. And so I was never in charge of the process but just because I was there and I was a resource, depending on what they needed, I would be pulled in to screen resumes or edit a job description or sit in on interviews.
[00:11:33] Brittny: And that's where I started to recognize, some pitfalls that I saw happening over and over again at different places that I happen to be at and recognize that, maybe I could have an impact in this area instead. And I really enjoyed it. It's what filled me up. I didn't, you know, the events, a couple of things.
[00:11:55] Brittny: One, my kids were like Mom, can you please stop doing events because you're not really a nice person leading up to them because I would be so stressed out again. I was good at them, but the toll that it took to execute them wore on me. and it would take me a while to bounce back after an event. And so it just wasn't sustainable in the long run.
[00:12:18] Brittny: and it depleted me instead of filling me up. And so I started seeing this other work doing the opposite. And I realized that's the area that I wanted to focus on.
[00:12:31] Jess: Ooh, having your kids say that out loud. Whoa. Wow. Wow. All right. So what did the, expert Cindy guide you on to make those bits of transition, right?
[00:12:44] Jess: Like I'm a big fan of everything Nimawashi, like little small turns in the right direction, and I know this wasn't an overnight. Deal. So what are some mental shifts you had to make? What are some pricing shifts? What are some branding shifts? Like, how did you just start to turn the wheel bit by bit?
[00:13:03] Jess: I know you said that you actually started with your current clients to recruit for this like new side of your business, but like beyond that, what did you? What did you do?
[00:13:15] Brittny: So it was actually at your conference was a big turning point. I remember showing up there and we were staying in the house and there was other consultants and we were all talking about our businesses.
[00:13:26] Brittny: And Cindy, I think it was you again, that was just like, when you introduce yourself, you need to say that you run a recruitment agency, which right now I can very confidently say I run a full service nonprofit recruitment agency. But at the time, it felt like I was an imposter because I didn't really have, yes, I had been involved in all these different hiring processes, but again, I had not yet officially done it, start to finish and being in charge of it.
[00:13:54] Brittny: And so I felt like I was lying. and it's not true, but I think first I had to embody it myself, like I had to fully accept it, and then start introducing myself that way, and then people would start to, identify me with recruiting instead of with events. So I feel like that was a big part of it.
[00:14:20] Brittny: I didn't get rid of events overnight. so I started not taking on new clients. I started just helping former clients. So events that I've done before, and then over time dropped them as I went along and built up the recruiting side of my business.
[00:14:38] Cindy: So I think that like journey of like step-by-step, also, going back to the first thing you said about being the breadwinner, like you had and some of the core clients you had were retainer, like longer term, higher paying clients that let you say no to the events.
[00:14:57] Cindy: And let you walk away from that part. So tell us about your business now. What does it look like? You said very confidently you can call yourself a recruitment firm. so who's in the firm and what does it look like and what do you do?
[00:15:13] Brittny: Yeah, thank you. So we do exactly what I said.
[00:15:17] Brittny: We offer full service recruitment and that takes everybody from, Providing that interim support if they need it while they're looking for a new hire, and we specialize in fundraising roles, though. Because that's where my background is. So I guess I should say that, yes, I started my business in 2021, but I've spent my entire career in the nonprofit sector.
[00:15:43] Brittny: So over 20 years working the roles that I'm now hiring for, and so I feel like that's our value proposition is that everybody that works for me has worked in the nonprofit sector, and he has either worked these roles or alongside them. So we know what it takes to work them. I have currently one contractor who works with me and I completely lucked out in being introduced to her.
[00:16:09] Brittny: We're such a great fit. she's more systems and, putting processes together, which is really where I needed that compliment where I am more relationship based and definitely hold the vision. and so we do everything from helping create the job description, posting it, doing the first round phone screenings, coordinating all the subsequent interviews, and then the added piece to it, because really, at the end of the day, this business is meant to fulfill my mission, which is how do we keep really good people in this sector, because I have seen the effects of the turnover at different organizations that I've filled in at, And, um, so we also help with preparing the onboarding process, which a lot of times organizations don't even have or haven't even thought of.
[00:17:01] Brittny: And then, I provide six coaching check in sessions with the new hire once they're in their new position.
[00:17:09] This is the end of the video. If you liked it, please subscribe to the channel. And, uh, if you want to see more videos like this, please check out my other videos.
[00:17:14] Jess: Hey, Brittany, we are back for another round of rapid fire questions. You ready? I'm ready. Let's do it. Okay, what is one underrated place or thing to do in Colorado? Oh my
[00:17:27] Brittny: gosh, one underrated place or thing to do. I would say, Say, I don't know. I would just say it's not underrated because everybody loves it, but just walk outside and just get in nature.
[00:17:44] Jess: Is there I feel like people who haven't maybe been to Colorado, they're like Aspen, Vail, but is there a different little town that maybe is less known that you and your family love to go to or something like that?
[00:17:54] Brittny: I'm sorry. I am a proud Longmonter. I'm from Longmont. We are just outside of Boulder and it is the cutest.
[00:18:00] Brittny: We throw a parade. Every chance we get, we have a parade a month here, and it has this, it's a hundred thousand people, but it feels very small town, so I always talk up coming to Longmont.
[00:18:13] Jess: Good ol Longmont. Alright, what is your number one flag you've seen in the recruiting space? whether it's from, I would say actually like on the employer side, since a lot of our listeners still have to work with your non profit.
[00:18:30] Jess: organizations. What is the number one red flag where you're like, stop, turn around, slam the door, don't move ahead?
[00:18:40] Brittny: Yeah, I, it would probably be around, unrealistic expectations for the person once they get into the role. So a sense of we're going to hire this person and they're going to solve because we hire primarily for, fundraising positions, we're going to hire this person and they're going to solve all of our financial woes.
[00:18:59] Brittny: And so having repeatedly had to do a lot of coaching around what they could expect performance wise for someone once they come into that role.
[00:19:10] Jess: Great advice. Okay, last question. If you weren't doing this business, what would you be doing professionally?
[00:19:21] Brittny: I think I would be selling real estate. That's Cindy Stew!
[00:19:29] Brittny: Really? It's so random, but, that has always been my, secret side hustle kind of interest. So I'm always looking at properties.
[00:19:41] Jess: Cindy knows the story. My mom says real estate is her porn.
[00:19:48] Jess: So yeah. And I think Rhea, our friend Rhea is like that too. there's, I think more than, more than you think. So that is a great answer. And thank you for playing. Thank you.
[00:20:05] Jess: Okay, that was really helpful. Can we talk about like packages and pricing a bit? Because it's so different from as a once event producer, I guess, maybe still event producer, but my own events, It's just like different, right? and we know the clients we'll work with, they can be very,What's the word? Under resourced. Uh, and, and, sometimes they think if you present three packages, they just automatically gravitate to the one that's least expensive. so how do you package in price?
[00:20:36] Jess: And really, you're most effective, I would imagine, when you can go all in with them, right? But I can also imagine how, because of just who we sell to, there's some challenges with that.
[00:20:53] Brittny: Absolutely. So we have broken our process into three different phases. So we have the assessment phase, which is where we're meeting with them to try to find out exactly what it is they need.
[00:21:04] Brittny: And then from there, helping to build the job description. Then we have the recruitment phase, which is the heavier phase of putting it out. We do active recruiting ourselves through LinkedIn and our networks, trying to find solid candidates. And then the whole interview process. And then we have the onboarding phase, which is bringing them on and then doing the subsequent coaching.
[00:21:25] Brittny: So the entire process is 20 percent of the hired candidate's salary. And recruiters, as I've looked, they range anywhere from 20 percent up to 35%, and so we're really at the lower end of that right now, uh, for the most part, my clients have come in for the full package. If they want to add on, if they have that interim need, that is an additional add on for 5, 700 a month that they need that interim support.
[00:21:58] Brittny: but if they came to me and said, look, we've already done the assessment phase, like we just need help with recruitment and onboarding, then we take a quarter of that cost out of it. But I'm not going to do the recruitment phase and hiring and not do onboarding because for me, that is the hallmark of our program and how we get.
[00:22:19] Brittny: these candidates to onboard successfully and stay.
[00:22:24] Cindy: Okay. I just love hearing everything because it's so packaged, like you have so much clarity around this is our product, this is how we deliver it,all of it is so clear. how long did it take you to get from Oh, let's start doing this to having that clarity, which I know because I, behind the scenes, eventually you built some systems to be able to really facilitate the process.
[00:22:59] Cindy: so that you, it could be like rinse and repeat. how long was that from okay, we're doing this, to we've done this enough now that I have the clarity to be like, this is phase one, this is phase two, and all of that?
[00:23:14] Brittny: Honestly, we have only been doing it this, holistically or comprehensively since September.
[00:23:22] Brittny: It took a while for me, like you said, I would have clients come to me and try to piecemeal it. and I would do different aspects of it and charge them for just that piece of it. And then I realized that the effectiveness wasn't there, and it really wasn't getting the whole, benefits from the whole suite of services.
[00:23:44] Brittny: So it wasn't until, and I get a lot of clients who try to do the process themselves and then they have a hiring fail. So the person ends up leaving within a month to three months. And then, and the cost of that, even though they feel like they're saving themselves money by doing it in house.
[00:24:02] Brittny: The cost of staff time, everything that's involved in that. And then to have that fail, they've come to me and basically been like, please just do it all and help us out. and then thank you to you again, Cindy, we met as that started taking off. I'm like, I need to call Cindy and have a check in and figure out, what I need to be getting in place.
[00:24:23] Brittny: And that's when you introduced me to Ashley, who I know you just had on the podcast. He can, like, I'm a total Airtable convert now, and so she got me hooked into Airtable. I hired my contractor who, thrives with processes and systems, who's really taken that on, and we've been able to build out our entire process in Airtable so that we can scale it.
[00:24:49] Cindy: Music to my ears. I was going to
[00:24:52] Jess: say beauty. I'm actually meeting with Ashley. I know. I don't know what's happening even this afternoon. But like sometime in the near future, I'm even going to probably become a convert.
[00:25:06] Cindy: You are. To all things systems
[00:25:07] Jess: and automation. It's so nice. I was just thinking as I was talking, I won't be doing anything.
[00:25:16] Brittny: Exactly.
[00:25:17] Jess: But the beauty
[00:25:18] Cindy: is once it's built, you don't have to do that much. You have to change the status of something, or like most, mine are almost all automated. But it just, it's so good. so yeah. Shout out to Ashley. okay. So you, can you tell us about the size of your business now in terms of like, how many clients are you finding?
[00:25:39] Cindy: do you have a sense of your capacity? Are you nearing your capacity? Is there a lot more opportunity? what's your outlook going forward?
[00:25:47] Brittny: Sure. last year, we took on from September until the end of the year, we got this big rush of clients and we had six clients come on.
[00:25:56] Brittny: And I thought, oh my gosh, this is it. This is it. I'm gonna just take off from here and I don't even know what our capacity is, but we'll figure it out as we go. And then, even though that work takes three to four months, so we're still working with those clients right now, it's just been cricket since the new year.
[00:26:15] Brittny: So I think that's the difference too,yes, there's extraneous things going on with funding right now, and nonprofits getting scared, and I know probably to them, hiring a recruiter seems like a luxury and not a necessity, but when I look at the precarious nature of funding in the future, I'm like, you have got to have a solid leader and hopefully a fully staffed fundraising team right now to be able to take advantage of all your different revenue streams to survive this.
[00:26:46] Brittny: however, that being said, I don't, I haven't gone through a full year cycle of it. at this level to be able to recognize the trends. like what is hiring season? When is it going to be slower? And that's another thing. It's every time I think I figure something out, then there's three steps back.
[00:27:07] Jess: Yeah, that's, that's really stressful. And it makes me wonder,for example, you said you had this influx of, clients come over the fall where those just saw word of mouth. And if. If so, have you in this new phase thought about like referral partnerships or are you like hosting more thought leadership content just to get more visibility?
[00:27:28] Jess: Like what is your kind of visibility plan, so to speak?
[00:27:33] Brittny: Yeah, I think what helped is that I was able to do a couple of speaking engagements in the fall here locally, which again, paired my name with recruiting and so I got a lot of visibility through that. But I'm definitely now in this, what I'll call slower time, trying to use that time to build up what a marketing plan would look like for me.
[00:27:57] Brittny: So whether it's listening and reading all of your resources, Jess, around building up my, email list, which is very tiny, to just being bolder about emailing people and putting it out there about what I'm doing right now. But I think referral partners is an area that I, I want to, lean into and try to get creative about ways that I can utilize other people that I know in the sector to help refer.
[00:28:26] Cindy: So, so good. And yeah, you're, I think it has been a really hard time, especially when it comes to hiring. Hopefully things will stabilize a little bit. but I'm curious and maybe some of our listeners are in the recruitment space, like if there is seasonality to it, we will have to have you back and have that conversation.
[00:28:52] Cindy: what? Like, if you could go back and give yourself advice when you started this journey, is there anything you would say to yourself to do or not do, or was part of it just the journey of learning?
[00:29:09] Brittny: I think it's just the journey of learning. sure, I could say, call Cindy earlier. I didn't pay you to say that.
[00:29:18] Brittny: but at the end of the day,what I keep trying to tell myself is to just have faith, right? Recognize that there's peaks and valleys in being an entrepreneur. And so I've been doing a lot of outreach to people that are further along in their entrepreneur journey than me. a lot of board members that I used to work with that own their own companies that have since retired and trying to ask them if they'll go get coffee with me and talk to them just, to get reassurance that yes, this is normal and easy.
[00:29:50] Brittny: This is how you can help prepare for those valleys. And then when I'm in those valleys out, like I'm talking about now, like working on my automation, working on marketing, what are the things that when I am in a busy period, I just don't have time to tend to, how can I create those foundational items now?
[00:30:11] Brittny: I don't know if there's anything, I guess I would just tell myself, this is how it's going to be and every time, I think that, again, like I mark my anniversary from when I started my business and I take stock and take notes of, how I'm feeling. And every time I'm like, Oh my gosh, I've come so far.
[00:30:33] Brittny: And yet there's still so much that I feel like I'm just now learning. And but that's what I love about it too. And so it's not all a con. It's also a pro of being in this type of work and, just trying to ride the wave as best I can.
[00:30:48] Cindy: Okay. You mentioned like in those slower times, that's when you build your automations and do these things.
[00:30:52] Cindy: Are there any, I think everyone struggles with, especially if your business is, does have peaks and valleys with the idea of like, how do I, Keep my foot on the gas of business development, even when I'm too busy to work on the business. Is there anything that you've done that you think is like people should consider in those really busy times just to keep that foot on the gas?
[00:31:18] Cindy: Or is that something that you want to improve on and what might you think about doing for yourself?
[00:31:25] Brittny: That's definitely something that I wanna improve on. and so part of that is looking at who my audience is. So I have this really unique business model where clearly my client is the organization because that's who's paying me, but I actually have a lot of access to candidates.
[00:31:45] Brittny: if you consider it. For every job that we post, let's say we have 70 people apply, one person gets the job. So that's 69 people that I still have a connection to that,that's still potentially looking for work and looking for other opportunities. And so I think that I have tried very hard to be able to build a business that I can put into a box.
[00:32:12] Brittny: And one thing that I'm trying to be better at is realize that. There's constant adaptation, like it's never going to be completely like, Oh, this is it. And we can just like rinse and repeat and we can continue for the next 20 years. It's never going to be like that. So looking at my access to this other audience of applicants and maybe trying to figure out, like, how can I use my connection with them?
[00:32:38] Brittny: And to be honest, that's who I connect with the most because I've been in their shoes. And When I created this process, yes, it was about trying to help organizations get a great candidate, but it was really also trying to create a process for the applicant that was positive for them, that, respected them in their time, because I've realized so much that your hiring process is sometimes your first impression that an organization is giving to someone.
[00:33:15] Brittny: And I've heard so many horror stories from applicants, who then leave and they're talking about how, yeah, I applied for a job with this organization and they sucked. they treated me like crap when I was trying to apply. I don't know. I'm just trying to expand it and not get so narrow focused on one thing.
[00:33:33] Cindy: And as an interim you should connect with Shannon Bowen because she does, career coaching and all that. And, you could have a referral relationship as you figure out what you want to do. okay. Love all of that and thank you for sharing your journey with us. You know we have to ask for a confession.
[00:33:54] Cindy: Brittany, what's your confession?
[00:33:57] Brittny: I've been thinking about this all day. and I don't really know a good one. I guess the thing that keeps coming to mind, and people who know me well, this is not going to be surprising at all. It's not a confession. but I have a really good friend who is like my Jess or my Cindy counterpart.
[00:34:15] Brittny: And she told me the other day, Brittany, she's like, you know, like every type a person has that friend that just has this chaos, like brings chaos and has chaos in their life. Like that is me to her. So if you could see, like my office right now, you would see the chaos. And that I try to very much put a polished, professional front, but there's always some kind of chaos happening in the background of my life.
[00:34:46] Brittny: fair.
[00:34:47] Cindy: Yeah.
[00:34:48] Brittny: Jess is raising her hand. Yeah,
[00:34:50] Cindy: I
[00:34:51] Brittny: think I'm the Jess in the relationship, and I have a Cindy counterpart. Yeah.
[00:34:56] Cindy: So can I just tell you, as someone who is definitely the type A, and I like things organized and tidy. It never feels that way to me, right? I still feel, chaotic, and there's always something.
[00:35:12] Cindy: That still, I feel like, the need to organize and declutter and all of that. yeah. That's my little, like, share on the confessions.
[00:35:22] Brittny: So if I was ever to actually attain your level of organization, it wouldn't bring peace to my life. Exactly. Exactly.
[00:35:30] Jess: I was just going to say Listening to you, Cindy, and I'm not sure if you feel this way, Brittany, but I actually get more stressed at the idea of not having enough, freedom and chaos and mess and wiggle room, having things too organized is actually more stressful for me, because it's like this bar I have to live up to every single day, and it's you can't do it all the time.
[00:35:55] Jess: You're bound for disappointment. No, it's not. So it's yeah, that's how I feel about it anyway.
[00:36:00] Cindy: Fair enough. Fair enough. I like structure. I know you do. I know, which is why we're great
[00:36:05] Jess: partners.
[00:36:06] Cindy: Exactly.oh, Brittany, thank you again. And for our listeners, where can they connect with you?
[00:36:14] Brittny: So you can go to my website at britneywilson.
[00:36:17] Brittny: com, and my name is spelled B R I T T N Y, so there's no A, no E, but yes, they can reach out to me there. Or on LinkedIn.
[00:36:27] Cindy: Amazing. Thank you so much. That was so fun. Great to see
[00:36:31] Brittny: you, Brittany. Thank you.
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