What is the 30under30?
30under30 is an Anthill initiative launched in early 2008 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship among young Australians.
Each year, we invite our readers to nominate young Australian entrepreneurs deserving of recognition for their outstanding entrepreneurial endeavours. More.
Michael Edelstein, NSW (b. 1985)
Name: Michael Edelstein
Age: 29 (Born: February 1985)
Gender: Male
State: NSW
Known for: Lucky You Found Me
“It’s not a dating agency!” Michael Edelstein immediately points out about his business. “It’s a niche recruitment company that focuses on accountants within public practice.”
“I worked for a top recruitment company in Australia until they started to change the goal posts,” Michael said, about his impetus to start Lucky You Found Me.
“I decided to go out on my own because I was confident I could do it better and more importantly have control over my earnings and destiny.”
“But also because I loved the job, seeing people grow in their careers and the satisfaction of having helped so many people find their ideal or first job, ” he added.
However, Michael couldn’t have chosen a worse time to venture out on his own.
You see, he opened his recruitment business in 2008, exactly at the outset of the global financial crisis, when thousands were losing their jobs on a daily basis, in an industry and region he had never done before (to avoid restriction clauses from his previous employer).
“I analysed the market and looked at supply and demand of jobs and staff around the country and realised that regional Australia has always struggled to recruit quality staff while companies in the large cities were laying off staff in great numbers.”
“So I decided to focus on one industry, accountants – who are always needed, and focused on transferring employees from big cities with no jobs to regional Australia with desperate clients,” he further shared, about his approach.
Michael made $20,000 in his first week with no capital… just a phone and a laptop.
He went on to grow the business in excess of $1 million revenue within three years.
Michael says the art of persuasion is very essential for him every day.
“Recruitment is the hardest sales job in the world because you’re selling a product you can’t control that has emotions, families, religion and health,” he remarked.
“Without my ability to persuade clients and employees the business would never have survived… so every day I convince a high level executive to leave their comfortable job and join my client is a major achievement.”
Michael has also managed to convince a major national Australian accounting firm, which even provided training for other firms, to promote his business as their exclusive provider.
Lucky You Found Me, whose name naturally generates lots of attention and curiosity, won two Best Small Business Awards in their first year of business. Michael also revealed that they always more than doubled revenues of previous years for the first 4 years.
Anthill asks: Michael Edelstein, what’s your super power?
Ability to read minds and know exactly how people will react to everything. It’s my super power because it allows me to build rapport really quickly, gain trust and ultimately get what I want! But this is only useful in business if you’re going to deliver on your promises and be known for your honesty and strong moral compass otherwise you will only have one-off sales. So like all good superheroes your super powers have to be matched with your super honesty and commitment to do the right thing by those around you!
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