Putting in so much hard work yet not being rewarded for performance is one of the pains of an 8 to 5 job that led many to the path of entrepreneurship. Such a struggle became a motivation for Adam Stewart to start his company, Debt Recoveries Australia, and later, ADC Legal.
Working in a large Australian company, Adam had a job doing debt collection. Although he never imagined himself to be able to do it – ringing people and asking them to pay their loans, he found that he was enjoying it and that he was good at it, especially at finding people and negotiating with them. Afterwards, he worked for a few insurance claims management companies, where he was good at recovering a lot of money on their behalf. Amidst his hard work and despite the income he brings into the companies he worked with, he felt he was not getting sufficient reward for performance. Seeing the opportunity to earn and realising that it was an easy business model that he can run from home, Adam went ahead to establish his business.
But it sounds easier than it actually happened. There were challenges along the way, and Adam had to learn by making some mistakes. He took the lessons, and 15 years after, his companies are still thriving and growing. He acknowledges that there are more things to know, yet he shares insights and lessons he acquired from his experience as a business owner.
Believe in yourself
In the onset, Adam doubted himself that he could run his own business. “I didn’t have the confidence in my 20’s or early 30’s. Then I started believing in myself that I could do it and things happened as they should. That was one big lesson, which was to believe in myself that I could do it, which is to start a business in a hugely competitive area – debt collection – and still be successful,” he remarked. Adam also recognised where his skills and strengths lie, which were in skip tracing and debt collection.
Know how to manage people
As much as Adam is knowledgeable of his capabilities, he is also aware of his weaknesses, one of which is managing people. Human Resource is one area in running a business that he needed to master. “I had to learn how to manage people. I’ve had to learn the lesson the hard way and by making a few mistakes,” he revealed. Adam made up for his lack by reading a lot of books and attending several training courses. He continues to work on mastering this part of the business because he wants to know how to lead big teams.
Staffing was also one of his challenges because there were months when they have piles of work to do and months with nothing much on their plate. Finding and keeping staff members interested in their work was difficult during earlier times.
Surround yourself with more successful people
One of the things that helped Adam on his journey was being with people who have the experience and knowledge that can be his guide and inspiration. He had mentors for the last six years or so, having a different one each year. According to Adam, “One-on-one mentoring has been a big help. I like to surround myself with people that are more successful than me and see how they did it. I took a leadership course about eight or nine years ago. I’m also big on reading. I read a lot of books about other successful business people who are better than me. Reading business-related motivation books is good, too.”
Among his favourites is an autobiography by Joan Rivers, called Enter Talking. From that book, he found inspiration at how Joan fought against the odds to become a successful comedienne. “She was well into her late 30’s or early 40’s before she became successful in her chosen career. The same as me, I was 39 before I became successful in business,” Adam added.
Conduct market research and business planning
Adam shared that one has to do lots and lots of planning and market research to know if there is a demand for one’s product or service. “If there’s no demand, you’re not going to make any money. I did two years of research and a business plan before I even started my debt collection business. I knew there’s demand there and I knew I could make money from day one. I spent at least a year planning before I even contemplated going into business. Once I realised that there’s a demand there and that I could fulfil that demand, then I went ahead 100 per cent,” he narrated.
Aim for quality and consistent service
Getting clients was an initial challenge for Adam. But now, most of his clients are there for the long-term. “So long as we are providing a good service and meeting performance KPIs, they tend to stay with us. We have a good success rate and we provide a good service. People don’t really shop around for debt collectors much,” he said.
The biggest lesson that Adam learned is that persistence and consistency pay off. His clients like that he is consistent when it comes to the quality of service he provides. When he started his business 15 years ago, his first client came up to him and asked, “Well, you are good this week, but how do we know that you’re still here in two years’ time?” Not knowing the answer to that, Adam responded that it’s something he couldn’t promise. But he kept improving his craft and consistently aimed for a high standard in business, which enabled him to sustain and grow his companies.
Develop the qualities needed for the journey
To be able to brave the rigours of the entrepreneurial journey, Adam finds these five qualities valuable: tenacity, persistence, patience, perseverance and sense of humour. There are a lot of hardships to deal with in running a business and these qualities can help one stay on track and keep going towards the goal. Having to encounter people on a daily basis, whether staff members, clients or debtors, he believes these qualities are helpful in building relationships and overcoming adversities.
And for those who have loans or debts to pay, Adam advises that it’s best to talk to their debt collectors. “We are really nice people and we can negotiate. We actually help people get out of a bad situation and help them avoid getting a bad credit rating. It is also to their best interest to pick up the phone and talk to debt collectors because it can relieve their fear. When they negotiate with debt collectors, it actually works out a lot better,” Adam stated.
As Adam continues on his journey, he hopes to grow his group of companies on a global level. He also wants to learn from other successful business people how they run big teams as he hopes to move from small teams of 20 to 50 people to managing 50 or 100 to 500 staff. Such thirst for knowledge is a good motivation to keep going on one’s entrepreneurial ascent.
Get to know more of Adam Stewart through his LinkedIn profile. Also check out his businesses, Debt Recoveries Australia and ADC Legal.