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Welcome to The Solo Recruiter (TSR)! This is a weekly newsletter dedicated to providing actionable insights in a minute for busy recruiters. By subscribing, you unlock access to trending recruitment business know-how that has been tried and tested.

As a TSR member, you’ll get:

• Our entire database of past and future actionable tips as soon as it’s launched!

• Access to me, where you can ask me stuff pertaining to recruitment or solopreneur.

• Proven actionable ideas to take your recruitment business or side hustle to the next level.

• The CRM I designed for recruitment business. I charge a small one time fee for it but it is so simple and useful that you will definitely LOVE it.

You don’t need a recruitment CRM to start

Don’t be distracted by shiny objects that come often in the form of software tools you need to thrive.

I started my recruitment business on Google docs and sheets and till today, it still suffices unless your goal is to build your own “LinkedIn” database of candidates.

By using folders, you can organize all that you need to serve your clients without dipping down on quality and I have been doing that for years.

Of course, if you have cash from profits, you can “pamper” yourself and get a CRM like the Recruit CRM.

I don’t know about you but I have this philosophy of not relying overly on too many platforms.

Except for Google Suite (email, drive storage, doc and sheet) and my trusty LinkedIn account, I would try my best to steer clear of 3rd party apps.

Simplicity is KING when you’re a solo recruiter/preneur. You have less overheads and admin to deal with.

Who knows if the newly subscribed CRM will last longer than your business?

Whenever possible, you want to minimize the risk of data loss due to other brands’ survivability and loss of data is a messy and painful process you want to avoid at all costs.

Remember the files you wished you had backed up before your HDD crashed? That’s the feeling I’m talking about.

CRM is just one aspect.

Other shiny objects can stack up such as other tools that promise you enhanced productivity. You name it - Calendly, Canva, ChatGPT Pro, accounting & invoicing software etc.

Before you know, you are a few hundreds in per month even before your first dollar comes in.

What I want to suggest vehemently is to avoid all these “feel - good” traps and just focus on the basics.

All you need and I’m deadpan serious, are these:

• Google Suite ($8.72 per month)

• Google Docs & Sheets (FREE)

• Your own HDD for data or Google Drive ($27.99 per year for 100 GB)

• LinkedIn (FREE account suffices or if you have a bit of cash, the Premium Career at $302 per year is a good option)

• Canva (FREE version)

• ChatGPT (FREE version)

Let’s tally. That would be a total of $36.22 per month to run your recruitment business. I know I didn’t add the company incorporation cost. I will do a separate post on that to explain clearly how that works but for those who are familiar and you want to setup your company quickly, consider using SLEEK to manage your company’s governance, accounting / tax the paperless way! Use my code REF10IA and get S$100 off on https://www.sleek.com

I did not include WiFi and mobile costing because I believe those are core daily essentials even without a business running in the background. Now you can even classify these expenses under company for tax returns.

Too many people waste time fantasizing over their tech stack.

No matter how good the tech stack is, it is a cost function and does not bring you business.

The business driver is yourself and your business model.

Get that right first and you will have the peace of mind to spend on tech to grow your business further.

p.s. Getting your business off in the right order is essential for a successful runway. Don’t be swayed by shiny objects. We gravitate towards that because it is an illusion that tech drives your business. It doesn’t. The only time it does is when you figured out what to do offline before the online stuff really kicks in.

p.p.s. A warm welcome to everyone who subscribed The Solo Recruiter since the last post. You are now a part of this Spartan tribe that supports one another to achieve great results in recruitment business.

Let’s connect on LinkedIn and Telegram (The Solo Recruiter Community) where I share tips and Live Stream for recruitment business.

​About this newsletter: You are receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly TSR (The Solo Recruiter) newsletter. Every other week, you learn the strategies that successful recruiters use to grow their businesses. If you are interested to launch your own agency, drop me a DM.