Work It Like A Mum
Work It Like A Mum
How Outsourcing & Flexible Work Is The Secret To Preventing Burnout
Welcome to this week’s episode of Working It Like a Mum! Today, we’re chatting with Rebecca Newnham from Get Ahead about outsourcing and flexible work. If you’ve ever wondered how virtual support can help lighten the load, stay tuned.
Why You Should Listen:
If you're tired of the hustle culture and looking for a more flexible way to work, this episode is for you! Rebecca Newnham shares how she built Get Ahead, a thriving virtual outsourcing agency, and how it's helping professionals reclaim work-life balance while still building successful careers.
Episode Highlights:
- The story behind Get Ahead and why Rebecca founded it in 2010.
- The shift away from corporate life and how flexible work is becoming the new norm.
- How Get Ahead is empowering professionals through virtual outsourcing.
- The importance of networking, outsourcing, and the power of saying "yes" to opportunities.
- Why traditional employment isn’t always the safest option—and how entrepreneurship can offer more security.
- How Rebecca supports her franchise partners with ongoing mentorship and a built-in business community.
Key Takeaways:
- You don’t have to choose between career success and flexibility—you can have both!
- Outsourcing can be a smarter and more cost-effective alternative to hiring in-house.
- Building a business doesn’t have to be lonely when you’re part of a supportive network.
💡 Thinking about making a change? Learn how you can become a Get Ahead partner and start your own flexible business today.
🎧 Tune in now and get inspired!
Show Links:
Connect with our host, Elizabeth Willetts Here
Visit Get Ahead’s Website Here
Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn Here
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Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life. I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women job board and community. In this show, I'm honoured to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business. They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, set boundaries and balance, the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance we cover it all. Think of this as coffee with your mates, mixed with an inspiring TED Talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school. So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, make sure you're cosy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays.
Speaker 1:This is the Work it Like A Mum podcast. This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women. Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers. Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you. They're proud to partner with the UK's most family-friendly employers across a range of professional industries. Ready to find your perfect job? Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity. Now back to the show. Hello and welcome to this week's Work. It Like A Mum podcast. Today I am chatting with the lovely Rebecca Newenham, who is the founder of Get Ahead, which is a virtual outsourcing agency, and Rebecca is looking for I think is it 10 partners to join her this year to help grow the Get Ahead recruitment business.
Speaker 1:But we're going to be talking really about Get Ahead, why Rebecca founded it, the anti-hustle culture, reclaiming your work-life balance, and why you know how you can make work work for you. So thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 2:Oh, a pleasure, Liz. Always love chatting to you. Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. I think, like we said earlier, we're in such an opportunity now with so many people being forced back into the office. Excuse me that, yeah, I think we don't have to do it that way, and it's just really interesting, is it, when you sort of delve in. I think I was probably quite an early adopter of that approach when I set guest head up back in 2010 and that feels like a lifetime ago in many ways, but it but it was the solution I needed and it's still needed now. Yeah, sense of ability to do really interesting work, but on your terms and at your own pace.
Speaker 1:I think it's brilliant that you've been able to set something up. Actually, you've done all that hard work and because a lot of people, I do feel, being honest, a lot of people end up having to leave corporate. If they, you know, for flexible work, um, they'll end up. You know a lot of people, I do feel, being honest, a lot of people end up having to leave corporate. If they, you know, for flexible work, um, they'll end up. You know, a lot of people, as we know, set have to set up their own business. But the fact is that you've created this business that then enables other people can just sort of pick it up.
Speaker 1:You know, and take all your hard work and make it a success from very early stages. That's really true.
Speaker 2:I love seeing that. So Nicola launched with us at the very end of last year I'm trying to get my dates right In Birmingham and Nicola is an ex-recruiter wanted that flexibility and she's been absolutely amazing from day one and it really made me realise. Actually I give that toolkit. I'm very prescriptive, but not in a sort of overly over controlling way at all, but I give the systems. They've got the presence on the website, get marketing, got access and I think this is the vital bit got access to our pool of currently over 80 virtual experts that will do the client delivery.
Speaker 2:So for Nicola, she got clients on her first networking meeting and I'm observing her sort of her I suppose her skill set from her previous career of, you know, prospect lead. She sees it in a really clearly defined way, yeah, and that's paying off if she's having great meetings, she's following up, she's not afraid to pick up the phone and that's a big thing, isn't it? Because I think a number of us, me included, have possibly struggled with that a little bit in the past, and in my operations manual, as part of the franchise, we talk about how to get leads and there is a big section on picking up the phone and personally I don't think many people are doing that and it's clearly a little hidden gem, I think, in terms of getting people to have conversations with you.
Speaker 1:So what is GetHead? You know some people might be listening to this. You know for the very first time.
Speaker 2:So you've described it perfectly as an outsourcing agency. So we basically support growing businesses as an alternative to recruiting people. So a client will come to us they're either a startup already established, got a small team but rather than the complications of employing people, they will come and have a conversation with my regional partner so with Nicola, for example, and Nicola will work with them to identify what areas of support they need and then she will match them to our pool of experts. So we can do anything from telephone answering, providing them with a virtual PA, right through to marketing, so marketing strategy implementation, PR, website. So we're really adding additional services as we get new people on board.
Speaker 2:And with Nicola coming from a recruitment business, we're just doing a sort of soft launch around how we can support clients with recruitment. So the likes of my regional partners love it because they can always say yes to a client, because they can find somebody within our pool of experts and we have a huge skills database that houses all that information. So it only takes a matter of minutes for a partner to put in their requirements and the system generates then the matches within our team. So all those systems are things that I'm managing and paying for centrally from head office. So if we look actually at the cost of a for a regional partner, okay, they pay me a franchise fee, they pay me a percentage of turnover every month, but ultimately their costs are very small because they can manage their own marketing. It's the networking cost and some groups are free, but there's sort of very limited costs. They're quite cheap.
Speaker 1:I mean, I go to a networking meeting. It's. I don't know how much the ones that you go to are, but that's like 14 pounds and you get your lunch and if you come to linkedin local, for example, that I host, it's free, so there are lots of opportunities.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, you've got total control over not spending too much, certainly at the beginning. Yeah, you can generate interest and, as we all know, social media, especially linkedin's a powerful tool. We've done some really strong seo on the website so that's generating a page one for virtual pa for most of my locations. So, yeah, there is limited cost, it's your time and also you've not got some overbearing boss going. Well, why haven't you done this? Or where's that? That's that sense of freedom, but also a sense of being part of something and you're. It's non-competitive and it's the lovely sense of support and I think that's what we've created really strongly over, certainly over the last seven years since I launched the franchise. Part of the business is that sense of community so yeah, which is missing, isn't?
Speaker 2:it as you've admitted, when you first started, it was lonely, wasn't it? When you're?
Speaker 1:yeah, I mean even said it haven't. I just probably hit record. I said I met a business owner.
Speaker 2:We're talking about meeting up and it's quite nice because you've already got that ready-made community We've got that inbuilt sense of community, and I have a meeting once a month with all my partners and that's led by my marketing consultants, and we have a real sense of caring and sharing. Within that. We reflect back on the stats of how everything's performed the months before and then my marketing consultant presents a marketing plan. So every month there's a theme that all our marketing hangs on and my partners have access immediately to that. So they get the two blogs, they get an infographic, they get a sense of a framework of what they might like to talk about if they want to, but there's a total free range to do whatever they want and it's all virtual, it's all based from home, isn't it?
Speaker 1:apart from?
Speaker 2:home base. So you get a territory. So I'll be totally transparent eight thousand pounds for the five-year license and, yeah, we often say the cost of a or even even less than the cost of a takeaway coffee these days for access to everything. And then, um, they get a dedicated territory. So we base that around where somebody lives. So with nicola, she's in the west midlands, so she's got a nice juicy patch there, which means that any inquiries coming in centrally to the website will go to her. And because we're growing, we've got probably 14 or 15 regions run by around nine partners. We're still relatively young, so there's obviously a huge opportunity for leads out of an area to come to you. And often I'm finding, liz, that my partners will come with a wonderful sort of black book of connections anyway, because most of them have had a corporate life and a life outside us.
Speaker 2:So they immediately when we do a press release and you know, my lovely Caroline, she doesn't get your press releases out to such a wide area that then you can talk to your connections about it as well, and we all know that people like to help. You don't especially when you're first starting out, so that that builds really good trust and momentum from an early stage and I think that is it.
Speaker 1:People worry don't know about the cost. They say you know. But like we said, you know it's eight thousand pounds, but actually when you break it down it's a price of a takeaway cup of takeaway coffee a day and I know you have payment plans, but I think people forget it costs money to set up a business. It actually as well costs money to go to work.
Speaker 2:If you, um, if, you have a lawyer, you train.
Speaker 1:But you know, at least you can work from home. But if you're asking to go into London, the train fares are like 20 pounds and then you're buying your lunch if you're in London. So in a way, it's just cheaper to actually day to day to do um something like get ahead. And you know, I know that I spent way more than eight thousand pounds um setting up, um investing women, and I know that those people get ongoing mentorship and support from you. You know, if I had a co wanted to pay for a, you know, executive business coach, I'd probably look into that just for the coach. Oh, absolutely, and I love that mentoring.
Speaker 2:So I have a half an hour slot every month and you know an executive business coach, I'd probably look into that just for the coach. Oh, absolutely, and I love that mentoring. So I have a half an hour slot every month and the team know they can access me whenever they want to. And I think it's just to be really clear.
Speaker 2:The way the model works is you, as a partner, own your client, so you own that client, you match them with the perfect person and you make your margin on the difference between what you're invoicing the client versus what you're paying the team and the team have their rates all set when they first launch with us. So HR is managed centrally as well. So there's not that sense even of you having to recruit experts in. But that being said and I know Fiona, my franchise partner in Leeds, is brilliant She'll often find freelancers and introduce them in and then we take care of that process. So the margin is, you know, a decent margin and what we're finding. I think last year over 20 of our client base used more than one of our team at the same time.
Speaker 1:So the partner was resourcing a team for a client and that's really and I think you've got a real opportunity at the moment because we're recording this, aren't we? In January, right at the end of January, the new employer, ni, is coming in in April. The rate, obviously it's going to be higher. It's going to cost more, isn't it? To directly employ staff and, I'll be honest, it's a small business. That has frightened me as well, and I can see so many more small businesses or businesses of any size are going to look opportunities where they can maybe outsource rather than employ directly yeah, and we all know that gives that sense of flexibility and under no circumstances is a freelancer not part of a client's team.
Speaker 2:You know, they know me, they slot in so well because that's what they do day in and day out.
Speaker 1:And it's so funny because I'm some eight years ago, I would have been exhibiting people.
Speaker 2:how can I trust that that person's going to do the work and day out? And it's so funny because eight years ago I would have been exhibiting and people would go how can I trust that that person's going to do the work? They're not sitting in my office. Covid really played into that as well, into that messaging. We've thrived as a result of that in many ways. So it's really interesting and I think you and I both get asked how much can I earn? You know it is. It's really tricky to. Obviously I can share financial models, but it's all about the number of clients you've got coming in and that's absolutely fine because you're not doing as a partner the client delivery. So you're free to say yes, yes, yes to all these different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're not constrained by your time.
Speaker 2:It's a really scalable business it's really scalable and it fits perfectly as a part-time model. It fits perfectly if you just say, just in inverted commas, want to work school hours. I've never worked in the evening, it's never. I set this up because I wanted that flexibility. I wanted to be available for my three daughters and I've done that. And they look back now and they're in their late teens, early twenties and they look back with pride that I was there for them. But also they could see that I was doing something really interesting for myself. And one of my team is a coach, so she runs this alongside her coaching business. So I'm not ever saying no, you've only got to work for us, it's got to work for you as an individual. But it gives that flexibility and that's the common thread through everything that we do is flex for the team, for the freelancers, and flexibility for my, my partners and flexibilities for the business as well exactly, so they can dip in and out.
Speaker 2:Some will say, yes, I want to work on an ongoing basis, some will be projects. The referral is a huge part of our um, the way we get clients, and that's proof in itself that it works for people and that they you know we're doing credible things what have you seen over the past 14?
Speaker 1:I've been doing this now for 14 years, you know. Have you seen and I did a post this morning all about a bit like the anti-hustle culture and how you don't? You know, success isn't doesn't have to be going into a big corporate and getting that fancy corner office and a fancy job title. Have you seen a shift away from that? Have you seen people embracing different measures of success, or oh?
Speaker 2:absolutely, and even I've done. You know I've done that right from the beginning and I've often had conversations with my friends, as you're, in sort of corporate roles where, we said earlier, down in the energy drink, dreading Sunday night, feeling not wanting to be their boss, looking at them, thinking that's next.
Speaker 1:I remember looking at my bosses some of them and they looked ill and they probably were. Yeah, they were like sweat, you know what I mean. They were that anxious, I think and that's that.
Speaker 2:And you know, I, I never felt I was a corporate girl.
Speaker 2:I had a wonderful career for a number of years in retail buying loved, loved, loved most of it, but I didn't love that hierarchical feeling of being trapped and that someone else was going to say, yes, you can be promoted or not. So that sense of flex is really important and I think, okay, I could have had a corporate job and been earning six figures for years and years, but at what cost? And I think I'm really you know, I'm 52, liz. Now there's that feeling of actually I've had a life and a career that has given me so much more than just cash in the bank and my impact on hundreds of people to enable them to be doing the freelance work, and for the franchise team as well. And the community and the people that I've met is what has been amazing. I feel like I've made an impact in my local business community through the work we've done and then enabled other partners to do the same. So it's much bigger than just me and that's what I think I, I love the most.
Speaker 1:I think it's also quite interesting because people think it's safer to work for somebody else and be employed, and I completely disagree yeah because I, you know, having worked in recruitment now for 18 years, you know I've seen so many ups and downs and so many waves of redundancies. I do career coaching now. See people that have been like, made redundant three or four times in the past. You know four years in that time when I've just done my business, you know one business and you're completely the whim of somebody else. Oh, hideous, it's hideous. I don't think you are any more safer employed, and actually I feel so much more secure in my own business. I know exactly how much cash is in our business account, I know how long it's going to last. I know that my job is secure for x, you know, whereas if I'm completely blind to that, then I would feel quite insecure.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, yeah, no, absolutely. There's sort of it's that sense of control, but also that come I haven't had a Sunday night dread for a very long time I might get a little bit apprehensive or anxious perhaps about the presentation I'm doing or something, but that's within my control. I chose to do that so but it's not that sense of what am I going to walk into in an office environment today feeling and you don't have no now also, this makes it sound very antisocial.
Speaker 2:You'd have any office politics either absolutely not and I don't feel lonely ever because of the team that I've created. I know and so I see that's quite a lot when someone's set up a business on their own. Yeah, if she's lonely and I always say I wouldn't have any friends or a husband left if I hadn't had coaching or mentoring or some element of support yeah, 40 years because you.
Speaker 1:It's vital to get that input yeah, I know that if I'd have known about you before I set up Investing Women, I didn't. I didn't know about you, unfortunately, because I think I would have definitely gone with you and had a franchise, you'd be an amazing partner. I would have loved it.
Speaker 2:You're an amazing supporter of us and vice versa. So I think it's about finding energy and connection with people and build some really powerful friendships, can't you through business? I look at my longest running franchisee, fiona and Lee. She's been with me for six years. She's made some of her closest friends through the networking that she's done and it's enabled me to find meet different people up there as well, because I've supported her at events and things. Yeah, she's got so much more than just a job from what she's doing yeah, she's.
Speaker 1:I feel like that I've got friends and things like that, that that I wouldn't have never have met.
Speaker 2:No, and I love that when you go to an event and think, oh, who am I going to meet today? You know that openness to meet, connections, and I went to an event last week and met this lovely woman who happened to live near me and we got the train home and I thought, you know, I've never known you two hours before, but we immediately connected and I think that the thing is that we're all open to that sense of connection so what type of people do you think would do well running a game franchise?
Speaker 2:yes, so somebody who's possibly a little bit frustrated in that corporate world. Now that's thinking what next perhaps your children are gaining? You know, getting older and I always say from experience, and just because there's starting secondary school doesn't mean they don't need you as much. So there's that sense of you might have a little bit more freedom, but not you might have young kids and thinking, actually I've maternity returning from.
Speaker 1:That is your idea of hell yeah, it's ghastly the idea of going five days a week skill set would be, like I said earlier, a recruitment background, sales marketing.
Speaker 2:Somebody that's naturally interested in others, yeah, and is confident to talk to people and just engage, because that's my, it's my curiosity that has enabled the business to scale in the way it has and that I'm naturally interested in people, will remember things and therefore love the likes of LinkedIn, where I'm connecting people and it's just that that passion to, to support others, I think really yeah, well, I think it's a fantastic opportunity and I know you know I've spoken to um quite a few of your franchise sores and they all are very happy.
Speaker 1:They've all been with you now, you know, several years, a lot of them absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I totally get you know. If money is your main driver, this isn't the right opportunity for you, in the sense you could put yourself under quite a lot of stress because you need to build momentum. But if you're in it for the longer term and can see the real benefits of what it will give you, then absolutely, but I think I can't.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of those people that put on LinkedIn oh, I made 10 grand in my first month of business I think they're all lying.
Speaker 2:Oh it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Having run a business, it's taken me several years to get to like a comfortable point where to build it up.
Speaker 1:So I think you know there is that wherever you do, if you, you know, strike out on your own, or on your own like you, with support, where you may be. You know the first year is always going to be difficult, but it's like that in a new job, you know, you always have that first sort of six months where you're finding your feet, whatever you do, and then, and then it all starts coming to fruition, and it does.
Speaker 2:Like I said, nicola got her first client within her first networking meeting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it can happen exactly just getting that clarity and and looking people in the eye and chatting and just seeing where it goes but if people have been in recruitment they know that it can take a few months to get yourself established as well.
Speaker 2:That's interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very rare for people to start making money in month one, unless they've got already got an established network and they're doing a like for like desk. It will take, you know it takes a good couple of months. Yeah, so, yeah. So how can people find your contact? You, luma?
Speaker 2:and what about?
Speaker 1:the opportunity.
Speaker 2:We've got a lovely job ad and profile on your site, haven't we? Yes, and that goes back with lots of content. And often I'm having calls with people and they say, oh, I've seen your conversation with Liz. I'm like, oh, lucky you. Yeah, we've got lots of backdated info on there, haven't we? My website, getheadvacom, has got a clear um part around how to join us as a partner and you can book a call in with me. So I think that's probably yeah, just have a little look online and you'll get a sense of who we operate with and our client base. And we've got lovely resources page on the website that show clearly shows some case studies, so you get a sense of types of clients we work with. You work with loads of lovely clients, mate, and all from all different industries, a lot of sort of business coaches, but generally people that are growing and scaling and see us as a wonderful opportunity to be their partner in that absolutely, and I think you know this could be, you know, a real good year for you.
Speaker 1:you know, as employers may be scaling back on employing people directly, we're definitely looking more to companies like yours.
Speaker 2:My diary's in the room to go by.
Speaker 1:Yes, brilliant. Well, thank you so much, Rebecca, for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Liz.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to another episode of the Work it Like A Mum podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend. If you're on linkedin, please send me a connection request at elizabeth willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode. You can also follow my recruitment site investing in women on linkedin, facebook and instagram. Until next, keep on chasing your biggest dreams.