To summarize briefly: I was able to exceed my goals for this first (half) year of founding the company, but I still have mixed feelings about the new year:
As managing director of a large recruitment agency group, sales and networking were my main tasks for five years. The actual execution of the executive searches was then taken over by teams with the respective focus and I stayed out of the rest of the process - with a few exceptions. Accordingly, my biggest challenge when starting my own executive search boutique "Digital Minds" was to immerse myself fully in the operational side of things. I had respect for this and set myself the goal of successfully implementing at least one executive search in 2023. I ended up doing several and was able to gain a lot of experience and optimize things. Fortunately, mistakes and missteps were limited.
So: goal achieved, even exceeded. So why is there no overall self-satisfaction and exuberant optimism about the future? Because, on the other hand, I found out that the sales side - actually my natural strength - was more challenging than I thought. Establishing a new agency brand, finding the right channels for approaching new customers, efficient online marketing - not all that easy. In addition, the second half of the year was characterized by a general reluctance to hire new executives due to the many crises and uncertainties. But the market situation should never be used as an excuse. So the motto for January is: roll up your sleeves and network like crazy. I'm looking forward to it.
