Business

The bold, the brave and the daring

Meet five entrepreneurs who have had the courage to strike out on their own and make it big. Their inspiring stories stand out as shining examples of what great ideas and the passion to take them wherever they take them can achieve.

Leslie O’Connor

Founder and CEO of Search Wizards

Crossing the border from Canada into the United States in 1999, Leslie O’Connor brought $1,800, her son and her dog and proceeded to build a multi-million dollar recruiting business called Search Wizards.

Working as a recruiter for an Atlanta-based tech staffing organization, O’Connor worked 14-hour days. She felt that she had to have a better way to live and created a company that in 2007 had $12.2 million in sales. Last year, Search Wizards was ranked 89th in the inc magazine 500 list of fastest growing private companies. There has also been praise from Catalyst Magazine and the website WomenEntrepreneur.com, which have rated her as one of the best entrepreneurs in the country.

street smart

His father encouraged O’Connor to start a business career. He figured his street smart daughter would be better off selling than going to college after high school. For 20 years, he worked selling vacuum cleaners door to door. Unsurprisingly, this made her an excellent salesperson and toughened her skin, allowing her to bounce back from the inevitable frustrations and disappointments in her business dealings.

He created Search Wizards in 2000, giving him the flexibility he craved that comes with working from home. Success has come quickly. In 2003 sales were $359,600. By 2007, revenue had skyrocketed to $12.2 million. Although the company has grown rapidly, O’Connor has made it a point to grow organically, telling an interviewer, “I never bit off more than I could chew. I never wanted to have cash flow problems. We’re debt-free, we always have. been”. -what matters in this market.” As Search Wizards started making money, all the cash was reinvested in the business. He never had to borrow money or come up with a business plan to sell to potential investors.

virtual company

Fundamental to its success has been the fact that the company is a virtual business. Starting with just a handful of consultants, there are now 135 working in five different countries. This has kept his overhead costs low, which he believes has allowed him to better serve customers. The team of recruiting and sourcing consultants provide expertise in core recruiting functions and aim to provide their clients with access to the best talent available.

great juggler

O’Connor is willing to offer advice to other entrepreneurs and believes that one of her most valuable assets is the ability to multitask. She told an interviewer of Entrepreneur Magazine“Be a great juggler. As a woman in business, you will always have many eggs in the air, including running your business and making strategic decisions to grow your business. In many cases, you also have the role of a wife, a mother, a daughter and a sister. The same traits that make us great in all of these roles are what you’ll rely on to excel in business.”

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