Starting a Business at the Age of 25
Tracey Hudson joined The HR Dept in 2005 and has since built up a team of 15 employees and owns 5 territories across The Network. We caught up with Tracey to find out more about her journey with us so far.
What were your motivations for joining The HR Dept?
Before joining The HR Dept, I’d had a short corporate career at the age of 25 but quickly realised corporate life wasn’t for me, coming from a family of business owners. In 2005, I saw an advert for The HR Dept in the People Management magazine and ended up going to Bristol to meet Sue and the team.
I loved that joining The HR Dept meant I could run my own HR business, but I didn’t have to think about putting a website together, creating marketing materials or make decisions on branding. It was all there ready for me to use.
How has your business developed?
When I first joined The HR Dept, I had one territory for a couple of years before starting a family. It was then that I recruited staff and was able to pull-on other licensees for support. Since then, I’ve taken on another four territories and have a really good, stable team of 15 employees including a Managing Director.
The first few years were incredibly hard. But it’s all about remembering the reason this was franchised in the first place. If you just follow the model, it works. And that’s been proven over and over again.
Where I’m at now is great because I have a lot of flexibility. I’ve got a great team of advisors so I’m not really client facing anymore which is the position I always wanted to get to eventually. I enjoy coaching the team from the side-lines whilst the MD leads the business.
What’s the best thing about being an HR Dept licensee?
For me, it’s the relationships and really strong friendships I’ve built with other licensees. The power of the network is phenomenal and it’s so supportive. There is so much knowledge between everyone and we’re all committed to helping each other build their businesses.
