On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast with Harry Portch, founder of HM Staffing.  

Harry’s journey is anything but ordinary. He started his business at just 20 years old – almost by accident – while playing FIFA! 

Now, six years later, he’s built a leading sales and marketing recruitment agency, transitioned to a fully remote model, and became a LinkedIn Top Voice.  

In this episode, you’ll hear about:  

- How Harry started his business + the COVID-19 challenges he had to face right from the start

- Why he wanted to take the risk and launch a business so early in his career (and the lessons he learned from his mistakes) 

- How Harry is building a recognisable personal brand and staying authentic online  

- His insights into managing business growth, going fully remote, and dealing with industry negativity  

If you’re interested in building a business, growing your personal brand, or scaling a company with Gen Z talent, this episode is for you!  

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Harry Portch and HM Staffing

02:46 Harry's journey into recruitment

05:01 The accidental entrepreneur

09:00 Early challenges and growth

14:40 Navigating COVID-19 and its impact

19:47 Scaling the business post-COVID

21:11 Building a personal brand on LinkedIn

25:50 The importance of authenticity in content

30:00 Handling negativity and staying positive

34:21 Introduction to Atlas and Founders License

35:19 Negotiating with clients: the art of influence

36:14 Handling unsolicited opinions

37:09 The trade-off of public exposure

38:35 The emotional journey of content creation

39:34 The shift from private to public identity

40:58 Authenticity in online presence

42:21 The impact of remote work on lifestyle

44:14 The challenges of letting people go

45:37 Navigating business growth and challenges

46:35 Transitioning to a remote work model

49:20 The benefits of remote work culture

52:12 Future hiring strategies

54:05 Balancing work and family life

57:31 The realities of business ownership

01:00:18 Vision for the future of the business

----------------------------------------

Episode Sponsor: Atlas

Your memory isn’t perfect. So Atlas remembers everything for you. 

Atlas is an end-to-end recruitment platform built for the AI generation. It automates your admin so you can focus on the business tasks that matter. 

How many conversations do you have every day? With clients. Candidates. Your team. Service providers.

Now how many of those conversations can you recall with 100% accuracy? How many hours a week do you spend making notes to try and retain as much as possible? And how much is still getting lost along the way? 

Traditional CRM systems weren’t built for the type of recruitment business you’re running right now. 

They were built to rely on the structured, tagged, categorised, and formal data you could feed it. Manual processes that needed you to input specific information, based on specific questions and answers. 

But what about all the other conversations you’re having every single day? 

Atlas isn’t an ATS or a CRM. It’s an Intelligent Business Platform that helps you perform 10X better than you could on your own. 

How? 

By removing all your low value tasks, acting as your perfect memory, and providing highly relevant recommendations to impact your performance. 

Learn more about the power of Atlas – and take advantage of the exclusive offer for The RAG listeners – by visiting https://recruitwithatlas.com/therag/ 

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

If you’re a recruiter who’d love to listen and learn from some of the greatest recruitment owners and leaders, then you need to listen to The RAG Podcast!

We’re having real and raw conversations with successful recruitment entrepreneurs about what is happening in their businesses right now and their plans to navigate market changes.

Episodes are released every Wednesday at 12 pm 

https://www.youtube.com/c/HoxoMedia?sub_confirmation=1

__________________________________________

Episode sponsor: Hoxo

Recruiters: are you sitting on a goldmine of LinkedIn connections without knowing how to turn them into real opportunities?

Most recruiters spend hours every day on cold outreach and endless scrolling, hoping for replies that never come. But what if LinkedIn could work for you instead?

The Hoxo 7-Day LinkedIn Challenge is a simple, step-by-step framework designed to help you:

• Identify warm leads already in your network
• Start meaningful conversations with potential clients and candidates—without feeling pushy
• Share content that gets noticed and builds trust – without spending hours online

Transform LinkedIn into an inbound lead generator in just 7 days!

This challenge isn’t about writing viral posts or spamming DMs.

It’s about small, proven actions that take just 20 minutes a day – and start generating results from day one!

Ready to unlock your LinkedIn potential?

Over 7,000 recruiters worldwide have already used this framework to generate inbound leads, grow their pipeline, and win more business. Now it’s your turn.

Join the FREE 7-day LinkedIn Challenge today and start unlocking the opportunities already in your network.

Head over to https://hubs.ly/Q031DT2s0 to get started. See you there!