Alston Chiang is the founder of Acacia Consulting.
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Even if you’ve been working in a business field for years, making the jump from working for someone else to founding your own company can be as nerve-wracking and overwhelming as it is exciting. I learned this firsthand when I launched my own recruiting business in January 2023, after a decade in talent acquisition and leading recruiting teams.
I had always dreamed about starting my own business, but even with all my experience, getting to our current level of success has been a winding road to say the least. Here are a few of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way.
The Value Of Others
Mentorship has been a cornerstone of my professional growth. One of the reasons I wanted to start my own business was because I never saw a leader who mirrored my identity as an openly gay Asian man in the companies where I worked. This lack of representation fueled my ambition to succeed and show others that it's possible to reach leadership positions without compromising my identity.
The art of mentorship, I've learned, is about reaching out shamelessly, seeking advice from those with the expertise I lack. Trusting others has been critical. The biggest hurdle in the early days was finding collaborators I could work with. Many of the qualified people in my direct network already had jobs at the time, which forced me to look beyond and trust the potential of new connections.
My current business partner and I spent time digging into our goals and motivations as we considered working together. We also decided to do a three-month trial before agreeing to become business partners, with clear prescriptive milestones, so it wasn’t an all-or-nothing proposition.
Not Just Confidence
One term you hear over and over in business, especially when it comes to working for yourself, is confidence. It’s an important quality to have, of course, and something you can build up over time intentionally. At the same time, you should try to balance confidence with realism and transparency. It’s not always easy, and it’s something I struggled with early on.
Learning to ask for help and being open to addressing my areas of improvement, both with myself and others, has been valuable as I’ve struck out on my own. Now I make sure to be transparent with clients about our capabilities and expectations to make sure we’re in alignment from the start.
Embracing Flexibility
The path to success is rarely a straight line, and you shouldn’t be afraid to try out different routes. When I launched my business in 2023, the tech industry was reeling from massive layoffs. I tried out several business models, ranging from hourly work to offering just parts of the services I knew I could provide.
That also meant working with different types of clients, including some I never thought would need my services. The steep early learning curve taught me the importance of flexibility and the willingness to step outside my comfort zone. It was a gamble, but one that paid off in the long run, and it taught me that sometimes the best research is on-the-ground experience.
Staying True To Yourself
I've encountered my share of passive-aggressive and biased behavior in corporate culture. Yet these experiences have taught me the importance of being comfortable and authentic in the workplace. It took years of working in a high-pressure sales environment to find my voice and build the confidence necessary to be unapologetically myself.
Now in a position of leadership, I've adopted a policy where if a client can’t accept me for who I am, we simply do not work together. I'm vocal about being an openly gay founder, and I advocate for diversity in all aspects of talent acquisition. I make it a point to listen to people's stories and how they arrived at their current place. Knowing this background helps me understand how I can best help clients get to where they want to be.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
