Excited to Share: Lessons from 77% of a Lifetime in the working world!

As I embark on a new adventure with my family to the UK, I sat down the other day to reflect on my career and what I have achieved and learned since I started working. I realised that I have been working for 37 years – thats 77% of my lifetime. I must have learned something…right?

I was 11 years old when I started delivering newspapers. I delivered the Star Newspaper every single day and The Star and Sunday Times papers both on Sundays. I came from humble beginnings. What we probably called a middle class upbringing. I learned how to hustle from an early age. I worked as a newspaper carrier from the age of 11 to 17. I handed in my bag during my last year of highschool so that I could focus on my sports and academics.

I would come home from school every day, do homework, then head out to deliver the newspapers. If I had sports after school, I would do my paper round at 6pm, rain or shine, sick or not sick. On weekends, I would wake up at 5am and head out to do my job – cold or not cold – it would get done. It was tough, but I learned responsibility. I learned that I needed to show up, deliver, be on time and most of all be be responsible for what I did. I saved a lot of money (age specific and year specific). I sometimes ‘borrowed’ elastic bands and gave them to my mates at school in return for their school lunch. The art of bartering and trading came pretty easily to me.

My folks didn’t have a lot of money. My mom used to knit my school tracksuits and jerseys. I looked like someone from the Wizard of Oz after rolling around on the grass at Break-Time as I had so much grass stuck to my clothes after playing soccer with the friends. Although I was different to the other kids, it taught me the value of being grateful to be clothed and have a shirt on my back. I never complained. I just carried on with whatever I had.

With that in mind, full time university was not an option. There were certainly not going to be any funds for that. So my dad arranged an interview for me with BDO, an audit firm that did his company’s audits. I arrived there for my interview in my school uniform with my blazer and tie perfect. I managed to impress them and they offered me a job to do my articles of clerkship. I was just 18 and straight out of highschool. I arrived on my first day with my oversized suit that my mom thought I would still grow into and my big brief-case with a pen and a sandwich inside. I wasn’t earning a lot there, so always tried to get the furthest audit so that the travel claim was big. That helped with the social life and paying for petrol and for university costs. Of that small amount earned, I also needed to pay my folks Board and Lodging each month. I worked during the day and studied at night. It taught me that if you want something bad enough, you will put in the effort and make it happen. It taught me resilience. It taught me that nothing just happens without a plan.

After completing my articles in 4 years and having my degree, I decided to take a gap year, where I worked and travelled. I worked in London to earn cash and travelled through Europe and America. I even worked on a strawberry farm, picking strawberries to earn some cash (that particular job earned me a net loss and i picked up a hernia for which I needed an emergency surgery when I got to America).

The following year I moved to the US. During my travels in America, I had seen a friend in Atlanta Georgia who suggested I meet with BDO there as I had already worked for them in SA. I did just that and was offered a position as an Audit senior in their office in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a good position, but quickly realised that auditing was just not my game any more. After a year and a half at the audit firm, I was offered an opportunity to manage a friends franchise deli restaurant at the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport – the busiest airport in the world. That job probably taught me the most in my whole career to date. When you stand behind the counter of a deli restaurant, you are no longer an educated individual with more qualifications than your patrons. You are seen by many as rubbish that is on the breadline….or at least that is often how people see you and treat you. I had death threats, I burned myself, cut myself and even locked the keys in my office once and had to climb through the airport roof, hang from the ceiling and into my office (after ripping my bicep open on the drop to the floor). Just strap it up and carry on with the busy day.

I learned humility. I learned patience. I learned how people can be nasty and arrogant and narcissistic. I learned gratitude and to appreciate every single person in every job – they are all important and making a difference. Most importantly, I learned who I was and how to value myself and not stand in other people’s shadows all the time.

That experience of baking and making soups and salads and sandwiches only lasted 6 months. The learning curve was steep but my visa was no longer valid in the US, so I went back to South Africa for a while. I worked there on contract jobs for a few months. My brother was getting married in London so I went to his wedding. I got there about 6 weeks too early, so I decided to get a job and work in a contract audit role. That 6 week trip turned into 6 years in London. I became a project accountant. It was the side of accounting I did enjoy. I was the guy that went into the problem zone, fixed the problem, then moved on.

There was still something missing though. I wanted more from my career. I had the finance background, but also had that extroverted personality which was begging to be released. A friend of mine suggested I work for him in the mortgage lending industry. So off I went to qualify as a mortgage and financial advisor. The sales element of finance worked for me. I loved it. I did well. It was my first real experience in sales and running my own desk. And it was fun. I learned about people and that they were always a moving target. I learned how to listen to their needs and provided for them. I learned that there was no such thing as an easy buck…

I was still yearning to move back to South Africa. So in 2005, I moved back home to SA. I met a recruitment director, who I got on well with but he never managed to find me a role. I ended up getting a project accounting role within the financial services industry. It was a great position and I truly loved it. Another curve ball came flying my way. That recruitment director I had previously met called me a year later and asked me to join his team and head up his banking and financial services team. I asked him if he was crazy…I was just a boring accountant. To this is said that he thought I was a terrible accountant with a good personality, and would be better suited to recruitment. I turned him down!! He was pretty persistent and after 3 approaches in total, the seed had been planted and germinated and I decided to take the plunge into the recruitment world. I learned so much from him. I began learning that our industry was about selling human skills. The only difference in this industry than another was that our stocks had feelings, emotions, lied, didn’t always show up, and didn’t always reveal all the truths. But I loved the challenge!

After 2 years with him, I wanted to be more South Africanized, so set up REDi Recruitment in October 2008 – the midst of the credit crises. My dad discouraged it due to how bad the economy was. I had a good job and was earning pretty well. But I needed to take this risk. I could always fall back on where I was. My business plan was that no-body else would be dumb enough to start amidst the credit crisis, so I would eliminate all the other start-up competition from the outset. I also knew what I needed to earn in order to survive and decided to take the plunge and jump into the entrepreneurial cauldron. I got really lucky I guess, and got some early placements to start earning. I had a 1 year old baby and 3 month old baby at home, so failure was not an option. I ended up earning the same salary as my previous job within 5 months, so was well chuffed and well on my way to where I wanted to go.

My learnings from that was if you have no options and need to put food on the table, you will do what you need to do for your family. You will work and provide no matter what stands in your way.

The business has now been running for 15 years. We have 4 companies under the group (REDi Recruitment is 15 years, Holbourne Advisory is 10 years, REDi Holbourne SA is 8 years and REDi Holbourne UK and Europe is 3 years). There have been so many learnings during this time. When I almost lost my life in a plane incident in 2013, I learned that no amount of money will bring me back to my family if I wasnt here. I learned that family and health and wellness is THE MOST important thing in life. Happiness comes from that. I learned that money and success will be part of bringing the above, but it shouldnt be the core focus. I learned that treating people in the work place like you would treat your own family is not only important, but THE most important thing. If people are happy at work, then everybody will enjoy being around each other and love what they do even more. I have seen that time and time again how important a happy work place is. I have learned to ensure I am surrounded by the best of the best. When I lost my business partner, Eric, in a plane crash 2 years ago, my team of troopers treated me and cared for me the way I had for them and we all truly pulled together as the family we are. That doesnt come overnight. That work family comes from a lot of effort and team work.

My mantra, is to always try learn something new every day. It doesnt need to be something big or profound. It could be the name of a new bird, or a business idea or principle. Just keep learning.

So to take all of the above into account and to summarize. What is Rob’s hierarchy of needs. What has 37 years taught me:

Happiness

Love

Family first – spend lots of quality time with them

Health

Emotionally Safe

Gratitude

To be Financially secure (save save save)

Family – remember them and spend time with them. They are ones who remember you after you are gone.

Travel to different places

Try something new

Learning something new every day

Take a few risks

Have few friends that you love and trust. Having 100s of friends doesn’t make you special

Be humble

Don’t let money or success change who you are

Be kind

Give Charity when you can

Time – use it wisely

Put your phone away when you are in meetings – ie be present

Put your phone away when you get home – ie be present

Show emotions – nobody will look down upon you

BE REAL; BE HUMAN; BE INVESTED.