Why I Started Ambient People

The day I absolutely decided to set up what became Ambient People was the day after I decided that I absolutely wouldn’t.

There was no burning reason to start my own company. I liked my job (mostly), my colleagues and the field I worked in. I wasn’t about to buy an island, but I was pretty financially stable, and not about to take that for granted. My mortgage remained (remains) relentless. 

I was pretty bored though; and the prospect of creating something new was becoming increasingly intriguing.

There are any number of ways that a recuitment business can be successful, and after many, many, many, many years of seeing the good and the bad, I had subconciously been forming my own approach.

I was seeing parallels between the very good, very different recruiters I’ve worked with and for, and working out how to create a business that didn’t just rely on those skills but cultivated them. 

I had researched elements of recruitment that weren’t working, and was forming a methodology to meet those challenges. There was a new challenge to working norms post-Covid,  around how to retain motivation and engagement in a more enlightened way. I knew the values I cared most about, and the principles I wanted to underpin everything.  I wanted a snazzy website and a logo with a fish on it.

Despite all of these things, I wasn’t making the leap, and that was bothering me. 

It felt more like an outlet for frustration and boredom than a plan; something I could stare wistfully at, from under a comfort blanket. 

It felt like it was time to own up. If I really wanted to do it I’d have done it. And I’m not, so let’s stop kidding myself. Decision made. It’s a no from me. Bed time. 

However, the following morning I was suddenly staring at the immediate prospect of dwindling out my career, learning less and less, steadily building frustration, complaining about other people’s decisions in the pub and berating myself for my remarkably underwhelming pension contributions. All with a small, fading neon sign in the back of my mind saying ‘you could have done it’. It all felt bland, and frankly terrifying. 

 

So here I am.

 

I can tell you that I love what I’m doing; that I’m surrounded by a small, talented team who share my values, and my desire to challenge the status quo in a sector I love working with and for. That alone should have been the reason for starting this business.

But the truth is that I couldn’t be sure that would all happen; and that I really started Ambient People so that an old man wouldn’t feel like he’d wasted an opportunity.