In today's episode of Brave in Business Bec chats to Deb Houston, an interview and hiring expert who over the last 17 years, has helped 1000s of job seekers and hiring managers to nail their recruitment processes. In 2021, Deb made the bold move to leave her highly successful and well paid recruitment career to set up her own business called iRecruitor Tutor.

In this episode you'll hear about:

• how creating her very first self paced online course opened her eyes to offering the service to hiring managers of businesses, one on one coaching, and group coaching
• the importance of recognising that you are the brand in business
• knowing that it is fine to fail in business and actually failure is success
• using different social media platforms to express different aspects of your brand's personality
• how being on the good side of discomfort creates iconic business leadership

If you are wanting to move beyond your comfort zone and embrace the uncomfortable to grow in business, this is the podcast episode for you!

Find Deb Houston here:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Website

10. Deb Houston from iRecruiter Tutor - Being Brave and Ditching a Multiple 6 Figure Salary to Follow Her Dreams - Transcript

hi I'm BEC McFarlane from popular business and popular career. In this podcast, I'll be speaking to entrepreneurs who have overcome adversity, made difficult decisions, challenged the status quo and achieved amazing things in their businesses. welcome to Braven business. Deb Houston is an interview and hiring expert and over the last 17 years has helped thousands of job seekers and hiring managers to nail their recruitment processes, her passion for people and Helping people realise their own ambitions has been an integral part of her success to date. In 2021 Deb made the bold move to leave her highly successful and well paid recruitment career to set up her own business, called I, Recruiter Cheetah. I recruit a tutor teachers, both job seekers and business owners, how to nail their interview and hiring processes because, after all, it takes two to tango. Like anything in life. Things are much easier when you know who. So Deb has broken down the process into bite size chunks to make everything less overwhelming and manageable. Deb offers 1 to 1 coaching group coaching and Self-paced courses. Her newest programme, called Interview Chills to Thrills, is a five week programme that will see you nail every step of the application and interview process from understanding your strengths and values, nailing interviews through to offer management and resignation. You can find Deb at I recruiter, tutor dot com dot a U or on most social network sites, as at I recruiter tutor. Hey, Deb, I'm so excited to have you here with us today. Likewise. Beck, thank you so much for having me. You are so very welcome. You've got such an interesting story. So I really can't wait for you to be able to share that with the audience for them to get some takeaways From what it's been like for you, uh, as you've started your new business. Absolutely. Yeah. Amazing so before we kind of dive into the nitty gritty and get into the hard questions, I would love for you to tell the audience about your business and how you got to where you are today. Yeah. So it's been a bit of a journey, but a really, really exciting journey for me. So my business I recruit a tutor was actually something that came out of covid in the first lockdown in 2020. And you know, having the extra time in my life because things had calmed down. I started to kind of delve into some personal development and upskilling myself. And I always wanted to, I suppose, expand into having my own business. And I came up with the idea of offering online courses to help people kind of get better at interviewing. As in my recruitment career, I I've met so many different people who are absolutely petrified or confidence in that area? And I thought, How can I utilise this passion and skill? I've got to kind of touch more people far and wide, and I came up with this idea of a self paced course that would, you know, you all videos online and everything like that. And as I started to to develop that idea, I was doing it my own time on kind of evenings and weekends, a side of my job and the more time I spent building it back, the more passionate I became and the bigger the ideas started to get. And I was thinking, This is more than just a self paced course. You know, I can offer this service to hiring managers to businesses. It's one on one coaching, It's group coaching. And, yeah, the the more I just got involved, the more passionate I became. And At the same time, I was finding that my recruitment career probably wasn't allowing me to live to my values that I'm really passionate about, whereas this new idea was, and over time I just thought, You know what? Why not just go all in? Um, so I registered the business early, 2021 in July, 21 in Mid Pandemic again. I resigned and I packed in my multi six figure salary job to go. Hey, I'm going out into the known and build something from scratch. I think my employer at the time was a bit Whoa, where's this come from? But yeah, I've got to say it. I'm loving every moment and I've not looked back. So that's kind of like the story where I am. Yeah, so very Exciting. It's so cool. Yeah, you know, it's I guess there's a couple of parts to your story that I can really relate to, because for me, you know covid really was a blessing for my business as well, and gave me that extra time and and energy and capacity that I needed to grow things. And and that's when I launched popular business, you know, last year during the pandemic. But I also just love the fact that you know you. you got this idea. You tested it out. You worked out? Yes, it's got legs and then decided like, I'm just gonna go in. I'm just gonna do it and you know, to walk away from a 17 year recruitment career and a multiple six figure salary to go out on your own like we talk about bravery on this podcast like that is one of the bravest things I've ever heard. We're so insane. Well, one or the other, right? Yeah. Those are fun, right? Yeah. I think they probably, uh, work quite well together, to be honest. So if we are to take a step back, I guess. And look at your journey in business and you know where you're at and and through everything that's happened over this, you know, wild, wild time since you first got that idea. What does that concept of being brave in business really mean to you? So I think for me, um, there's probably two ways I'd come to this. Um, I think first of all, it's believing, having the guts to back yourself and, you know, support. You know, just go for it like that is being brave. It's just going for it. And what's the worst that can happen? So I think. But I think the other thing that I've learned very quickly is that being brave in business is also having the bravery to be yourself and be because When you're working for someone else's brand? You're living to their values and their branding, etcetera. But when it's you and you're a small business, you are the brand. You are the face and often realising that is brave in itself because it's about showing up. Or maybe you don't want to, or, you know, just the visibility everything you do. So I think that in itself, that authenticity piece is also, you know. And I think being brave as well is knowing it's fine to fail, like failure is a success if you learn from it. So I think it's about pushing yourself out of those comfort zones and trying new things. And so what if it fails. Just try something else. Yeah. So lots of different angles. But I think, yeah, that's what I've learned so far that that's what being brave is. And I know for me I was willing to be brave. and take that risk because I weighed up the risks and the bravery. I could either stay where I was and I was very successful, but I wasn't fulfilled, whereas the risk and being brave of moving into my own business was going to make me fulfilled. But you know, the bravery is going out and trying it and hoping it works Yeah, I love that. And I mean, as you know, fulfilment is one of my top values. And, you know, it underpins absolutely everything that I do in my business. It's the big reason that I, you know, started career coaching in the first place. And and it's the the message. and everything that, uh, that happens in both popular career and popular business. But what I really loved about what you said there as well is this idea of, you know, being brave and being visible and showing up, but doing it in a way that feels really authentic to you. And that's something that I really admire about you and your brand is that you are like the Queen of Reals. I love watching your instagram reels. My performing arts degree is finally coming in use at 41 years old? Absolutely, absolutely. I love the outfits. I love the dancing and all of that, and it feels really aligned with you and who you are and your personality. But for me doing the dancing, and stuff like that on reels. It just does not feel authentic to me. So the few reels that I've done, I've kind of come from a different angle, but I really think that that is so true is that part of the bravery is actually like identifying what fits for you and then going about showing up in that way rather than kind of just doing what everyone else is doing. Or, you know, following what you think might be the current trend. Yeah, exactly. And I think for me as well when I was thinking about what my brand is and what I'm about, Like the whole interview chills to thrills idea. It's about making interviewers fun and less scary. So you know, if that's my mantra, helping hiring managers and interviewers feel more confident and less scared, then my brand. Needs to represent that as well, and hence the really bright colours and the reels. And, you know, that's definitely kind of like the angle I'm going from an instagram is that fun side. But then I've got my professional corporate side of me, the introverted side on LinkedIn and that side of things. So yeah, amalgamating the two yeah, totally. And figuring out, like, even just the way that you've described that you are able to share different elements of your personality on different platforms and knowing that they will appeal to different parts of your audience, depending on what they're really looking for. So I think that's really, really cool So you've already touched on it. But I'd love for you to maybe go into a little bit more detail about the bravest thing that you've done since you started your business. Yeah, Look, I think for me the bravest thing was making that decision to resign and go and backing myself, and I know I can make this work and resigning from a 17 year career to literally step into the unknown. it's been what I finished. It's been like four months now, and it's just been crazy in terms of what I've learned and the success I've had and what's worked and what's not worked. So I think that, for me, was brave in itself, is making that decision. You know, I think some people thought what I was not expecting this to happen, but for me, you know, it wasn't a shoot from the hit decision. It was something that had been happening in the background for a long time, Yeah, it was in line with my values. Totally. And you know, one of the things that I've said quite a few times on this podcast already is that for me, bravery is so much more powerful when we do it with intention, rather than just kind of being willy nilly and being brave for for the sake of bravery, it's kind of looking at. You know more into that detail of, like, what is my intention around this? Why why am I doing this? And the fact that you were able to identify that this move was going to be, you know, a way for you to feel more fulfilled and was gonna be a way for you to align with your values. I think more power to you. And it has been just so exciting even from my perspective, watching everything that's been unfolding for you since you made that decision, it's it's really very, very cool So I'd love to know from you why you think it's important for business owners to actually step outside of their comfort zone and do things that are, you know, either brave or even maybe this little borderline brave. Absolutely well, if you think about the definition of insanity, it's doing the same thing over and over again. And it's expecting a different outcome. So for me, that's kind of like kind of, I suppose what we're talking about right now, isn't it? And you know, if you don't do different things, if you don't try new things, then you're never going to be pushing yourself forward. I recently quoted this on my instagram. It's a quote that I wrote, and it's tomorrow's dream will never happen if you don't take action today and you know it's about I'd encourage any business owner to take that step. and our brains naturally keep us being safe, so it'll convince us to make decisions that are comfortable. So if you're looking to do something and it, it pushes you and it feels uncomfortable, it probably is the right thing to do because it you to try something new and push something. Yeah, taking you to new realms because if not, you'll just sit in the same place. So I think Yeah, and also as well. In order to be a leader in your space, you've got to go against the grain. You've got to be offering something different. So if you're just sat being comfortable doing the same that everybody else is doing, why is somebody going to buy from you and not somebody that's been doing it for 10 years? You've got to be different. I've already mentioned you are the brands. Um, and that's where the uncomfortableness comes from. You know, I've had to do so many things that have made me feel so uncomfortable, like showing up on stories, you know? No hair, not done makeup not done. But it makes might make you feel uncomfortable, but you've got to do it. And the more you do it, the more you feel comfortable in it. So I think you've always just got to weigh up on what's gonna make you happier staying where you are or trying something that's gonna push you out of your comfort zone and make you uncomfortable and brave. But then you're gonna be happier from it. and I think that's where that's where my intent is coming from. And do it because you know you'll be happier and more successful at the end of it. So good. So tomorrow's dream will never happen if you don't take action today, yeah, and it's so true it is. It is. There's a lot to take, away from that. There definitely is. This episode was brought to you by the Popular Business Conference. It's all going down here in Canberra at the stunning Elo Nhi Hotel on the 11th and 12th of March 2022. We have the most incredible speakers travelling in from around Australia, including sus Chadwick. Sarah Jensen, Emma Norris from a Girl in Progress and Jay Bourne from hipster Mum. We have surprises galore, and I can promise you that this will be an event that you'll be talking about for a long time to come. And for all the right reasons, tickets are available now at pop your business dot com forward slash conference. I look forward to seeing you there. So you've kind of mentioned it right? Being brave is often tied to that feeling of fear, and what it is is our brain, you know, trying to protect us and keep us safe and look after us so often what I see with my business coaching clients and my career coaching clients is this fear, and it is often a fear of failure, and there is sometimes fear of success. But I see People being so afraid that they're gonna fail or fall or stumble. And because of that, they don't they don't move. They do stay stagnant and they don't take any leaps. So I'd love to know if you've experienced any failures so far in your business. Is there anything that you've done that hasn't gone to plan. And if there has been, how did you overcome it? Absolutely. Um, so, yeah, I'd say that I've had a few challenges, Um, in the first few months of business, and I've now just taken the outlook, that abundance mindset, things happen for a reason. And I truly believe that I'm coming out stronger from it. So I think naivete stepping into business. And I did a lot of research on my own terms. terms of setting up my website, the copy, the email marketing system and things that I was utilising and made a few bad decisions. My website didn't have the customer journey. The email marketing system didn't have the the I suppose the the complex things that I needed it to have long term. So my business coach, she's pretty awesome. I know, right? She stepped in and gave me some advice that not to go ahead with the launch because the technology just wasn't there to support it. And if I was going to launch to my existing network to hold it was better to hold back and not get out there as quick as what I'd initially intended until things were right. And that's pretty gutting when you first learn that you've made a few mistakes so early on and you, you know it can knock you back. But I was like, Do you know what abundance mindset? Forget it Right now the long term will will help you return. And I think my advice there is to just trust It's all about trusting in the process and what you're learning from it. And now know that when making decisions, I've already become a little bit more strict in terms of how I make those decisions or who I'm going to partner with, who I'm gonna work with, what I'm gonna do. So I've already grown. Yeah. You know, I had huge technology issues which, you know, you've kindly helped me through that. And, you know, my website is now way better. My email marketing system is all in process and, you know, I failed early, but better to fail early than not fail at all. As I said is, failure is a success because you learn from it. So, uh, yeah, and you know, when these things happen early on, they can easily knock you back and knock you confidence. But it's just a case. What? Nothing happened You know, as my friend says, No-one died, Everything's fine. Tomorrow is end of the day. Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah, yeah, and I think it's an interesting kind of thing to delve into, actually, because there aren't many circumstances where I would say to someone, you know, hold off, Don't launch yet because, you know, there is that idea of progress over perfection. And, you know, everything's always messy, like everyone, everyone, except for one of my clients. starts with a really ugly website. So one of my clients, I'll shout her out. Her name's Leila Brant. She's a tapestry artist. She is the only person that I know who has come out of the gate with a beautiful looking website. I think the rest of us have all started with something that looked really janky. But in your case, you were in quite a unique situation. And there were some reasons why I had kind of said to you, Hold on. You know, let's just take a step back before we press that play button. and one of those reasons was that you have got a massive LinkedIn network of what, Over 7000 contacts. And so I guess in that situation, it was quite different to when, you know, one of my early stage entrepreneur clients are actually starting out when they're kind of launching. But really, you know, often launching to no one. There's not that audience that's already there. And so I guess, you know, through our work together, We were really conscious of the fact that if you were going to go out and press, play and launch, I recruit a tutor to your current audience of over 7000 people. We wanted it to kind of be right, right? Yeah, exactly. And that's, you know, this is why you know, it's better to not rush into things and do things properly, you know, because it had that you only get one chance at making a first impression, don't you? So, you know, had I gone out there and then you've got this entire network of seven 1000 people that I've been working with and the majority of those are Australia based as well, which is where I been recruiting for the last 10 years. You know, for me to go out there and say, Hey, this is my new business and then them log into everything and it not work. That's their first impression that Oh, this is clunky or professional. So yeah, it's it's a tough decision, but it's the right decision, and that that would be some advice that I'd give anybody is Don't rush into it. So what if you have to delay your launch a little. Yeah, so Well, it's better to do it right the first time than make huge mistakes that are Iver Mm. And I think that was a really brave decision of of yours because, you know, as we've discussed, you took a huge risk. You'd left a huge salary behind to go out on your own where you don't have an income. And I think then when we say OK, we want you to hold off on launching. It's, you know, sort of delaying things even further. And it feels like a really huge risk. But I think that risk for you has paid off massively. Your website now, like you know, I said all of the f words when I was on boxing for you when I was viewing your new website for the first time, because it is just so beautiful. Um, you know, it really looks magnificent. And I just think that now, you know, even though it was a a really risky decision and it was a a very brave decision at the time, I think now you can really move forward, feeling really confident and feeling really proud of what you've got to put out there, too. And also as well that delayed launch on LinkedIn. So I got two new clients within 48 hours because of how I'd managed it. Yeah, so you know, if you look at that it's already the delay for doing it has already had its return in investment. Totally. It's already paid off, already paid off. So what I'd love to know is what is coming up for you in your business? What would you like to tell the audience about? What are they gonna keep their eye out for? So I've got two epic launches happening in 2022. Really? Really excited. So the first one, is, um happening in January, and that is for job seekers. And this is my five week group coaching programme called Interview Chills to Thrills. Now I believe that interview chills start at the beginning of the process. So it's a five week programme where we start by understanding your strengths and your weaknesses. Like, what is it that you're applying for and why, really not in that down Getting a job strategy in place? Yes, job search. You need strategy, so we note that down. Then we go through resumes, applications, interviews and then right through to salary negotiation, resignations, et cetera. And it's a small group, so it's a mix of self paced and group coaching, and I've done it as a group coaching programme because if you're a job seeker who is nervous or hasn't interviewed in a while or maybe you're a bit rusty. Or maybe you've been looking after a family member or taking time out raising family. You'll be surrounded by like minded individuals, and it make you feel so much better knowing that you're not alone in that job search. So, yes, that kicks off in Jan. The waitlist is currently open, and, um, registrations will be actively open as we speak. you know? So that launch number one And then as I said it takes two to tango, so I'll be launching my programme for hiring managers and businesses early, 2022 as well. So I believe that if you don't you need to nail your interview and hiring processes as a business, because the way that you hire is a representation of your brand and reputation in the marketplace. And I've seen so many companies get a bad reputation because they haven't called the applicant or they've just seemed disinterested in the interview. And then that person walks away and tells everybody. So, um, you know, I've devised a programme that will, whether you're nervous at interviewing as a hiring manager or you don't really know what to ask and why, or maybe you've never hired before. Then there's the complete reverse programme to help you every step of the way, and that programme will be available as group or one on one Amazing. That all sounds so great, Deb. And as you know, I'm a career coach as well, and it is just so needed for both sides, whether it's people who are preparing to interview or whether it is those hiring managers. Uh, and I love it, the fact that you are really approaching it from both sides and hopefully we'll get you out there educating everyone and just the quality of interviewing will continue to to rise with your help and support. So that's very, very cool. Thank you. You're very welcome. So before we finish up, where can people find you if they want to find out more about what you're doing? And can we check out some of those dances? Absolutely. So you can check out my new gorgeous website at w w w dot I recruiter tutor dot com dot a u You can sign on the waitlist. Um, I've got a resume master class, which is free, and there's a cool quiz on there for job seekers to see if you're ready to leave. And, um, I'm on social media handles as at I, recruiter, tutor. And yeah, if you prefer the fun side of what's happening in interviews and find me on Instagram or the more professional side on LinkedIn, I reckon they should follow you on both just so that they get they get to see you in your element in in both parts of your personality. It's very, very awesome. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Deb. It's really been great chatting with you. And I know that there are going to be people out who are gonna take so much away from your very, very brave story. It's truly an inspiration. So thank you so much. Thank you. And, yeah, likewise be It's been an absolute pleasure and, yeah, you know, being brave in business. It's not as scary as what it seems. So, yeah, I encourage people to live their dreams and just that themselves and do it. I love it. Thanks so much, Deb. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Brave in business podcast. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Leave me a rating. Five stars, preferably and a review. You can also join me over on socials at popular beers. If you wanna hang out with me and my fabulous community of small business owners. You should definitely think about joining Beck's business besties. It's an online membership with mastermind vibes and is honestly my favourite place to hang out on the Internet. You can find out more at pop your business dot com forward slash b b B. I'll see you in the next episode.