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The Road to Seven

The Most Important Thing You’ll Do As A Leader

“The human side of your team and business can sometimes be the hardest to manage.” — Shelagh Cummins Laura Tolhoek grew up in a family that owned a small business, so from an early age she was familiar with the tenacity, resilience, and hard work that go into growing a livelihood. After going to school for HR, she worked for large companies in hospitality and food service. She desired a healthier work-life balance and requested that her role be made part-time — a request that her then-e...
Broadcast on:
12 Jan 2021

“The human side of your team and business can sometimes be the hardest to manage.”

—  Shelagh Cummins

Laura Tolhoek grew up in a family that owned a small business, so from an early age she was familiar with the tenacity, resilience, and hard work that go into growing a livelihood. After going to school for HR, she worked for large companies in hospitality and food service.

She desired a healthier work-life balance and requested that her role be made part-time — a request that her then-employer balked at.

She looked at different part-time opportunities, but realized that she was already doing a lot of unpaid consulting work.

So, she decided to strike out on her own.

Laura realized that many small businesses can’t afford or don’t need a full-time HR person on their payroll, but could still benefit from having someone they can turn to for HR support.

She started her own agency offering flexible and customized outsourced HR options.

It wasn’t an instant success.

When she first launched her business, it took some time to generate revenue. She dealt with negative thoughts telling her that she was a failure — but then realized that she hadn’t done any marketing!

She reached out to her contacts, who spread the word to other business owners in need of her unique services.

And within just a year, she started building a team and scaling up!

Learn all about her journey — and her top HR tips — in the latest episode of the Road to Seven podcast.

In‌ ‌this‌ ‌episode,‌ ‌you’ll discover:‌ ‌

  • The number one thing to remember when interviewing a new hire
  • Why learning to delegate is one of the most important things that you can do as a leader
  • Why waiting to be ‘ready’ will never work

“You didn’t open your business to be a human rights expert. But if you can have somebody in your back pocket who can say ‘Yup, you’re on the right track’ or ‘Let’s tweak it this way,’ it makes you have more confidence and know that you’re doing the right thing.”

—  Laura Tolhoek

About Laura Tolhoek

As a Certified Human Resource Leader (CHRL) and the proprietor of Essential HR, Laura Tolhoek knows that when a business faces HR problems, there is no room for ambiguity, only positive results. For the last 15 years, she has blended sound HR practices with her pragmatic approach to improve business performance. 

Highlights:‌ ‌

  • 00:55  Introducing Laura Tolhoek
  • 01:47  The business growth journey
  • 05:40  The HR gap for small business
  • 08:43  Landing the first (and second and third) client
  • 13:35  Networking in a pandemic
  • 14:30  Take advantage of learning opportunities
  • 18:20  Pivotal decisions that fuelled growth
  • 20:26  Laura’s #1 piece of advice

Links:‌ ‌

Essential HR

https://www.essentialhr.ca 

Instagram: @essentialhr.ca

LinkedIn: essential-hr-canada

To work with me and make your next power move, visit:

https://www.theroadtoseven.com/

Follow me!

Instagram: @shelaghcummins

Twitter: @shelaghcummins

facebook.com/ShelaghCummins

linkedin.com/in/shelaghcummins

Don’t forget to rate and subscribe! I would be really grateful if you left a review on iTunes so that others can find and boost their business too! 

“The human side of your team and business can sometimes be the hardest to manage.” — Shelagh Cummins Laura Tolhoek grew up in a family that owned a small business, so from an early age she was familiar with the tenacity, resilience, and hard work that go into growing a livelihood. After going to school for HR, she worked for large companies in hospitality and food service. She desired a healthier work-life balance and requested that her role be made part-time — a request that her then-e...