On this week’s show, I am joined by Sinead Connolly. Sinead is the award-winning founder of Lotus People, a specialist business support recruitment firm headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with over 22 staff. 

Now, Sinead and I have known each other for a few years.

She’s been a Hoxo client since just after the pandemic, and I’ve watched her journey go from strength to strength.

In this episode, we talked about:

🎙️ Her journey from Ireland to Australia as a backpacker

🎙️ How she got into recruitment

🎙️ How she launched her business within three and a half years of starting in the industry

🎙️ The support and backing she got from another recruitment firm to start the business

🎙️ Her original business partner and what happened there

🎙️ How she went through severe burnout after nine months of being a founder to the point where she had to take three months out of the company all while as a pair, she and her business partner billed 1 million AUD in their first year

We explored the balance between success and working ourselves to the bone as founders and recruiters, and also why looking after yourself is crucial. 

We are all aware of wellbeing in 2023, but this is a real life story of someone who’s got the balance wrong and became bedridden because she worked too hard.

Now, seven years later, she’s won Recruitment Leader of the Year at the SEEK Awards. She’s got a really, really strong business and is in a strategic CEO role where she can look after the business and isn’t responsible for billing. 

If you are a potential or an existing recruitment owner who is (1) looking to find balance, and (2) looking to offload responsibility and become more strategic and make the business less reliant on your billings, then you need to listen to this. 

Sinead is vulnerable, honest, and confident. She’s a star in the industry. I hope you enjoy every single second of this episode.