Fool Me Once: Launching a Business During a Global Pandemic
By Jamie McLaughlin
As an ex-president infamously gaffed, “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again”.
You would have hoped I had learnt my lesson of when (and when not) to launch a business, after trying last time around during my hometown’s Summer Olympics - more about that here.
But no, either I forgot, or my blind faith (over confidence?) once again prevailed. So it would be 2020, COVID-19 regardless, that would see the launch of Monday Talent.
Since working in a restaurant kitchen at the age of 13, I have always been attracted to small, growing and entrepreneurial businesses. It seemed inevitable that Monday Talent would happen and become the business I’ve been looking to create all these years.
My amazing partners, Gillian and Carly also gave me confidence. We listened to the market, to our clients and our partners - and several themes were emerging:
High performing companies were still doing well, despite enormous challenges
Several industries, namely Technology, Healthcare and Financial Services remained strong
Communications and PR had never been more important
Top talent was needed more than ever
Fortunately, all four themes were very much aligned with Monday Talent’s business model. We are lucky enough to work with the best companies, consultancies and organizations, we excel in the Technology, Healthcare and Financial Services areas and the core market we recruit in is PR and Communications.
While this year has been tough, it allowed us to really hone-in on what is important, saving costs along the way - a bit like 2012. The results were amazing, we exceeded our pre-COVID projections and are entering 2021 ready for a banner year.
Hopefully we get to see our clients in person (and each other) this year as well!
