By Heather L. Whitley
About ten years ago, Karen Cooper decided to take her boss to lunch. She was a successful technical recruiter for a Cincinnati company pulling in six figures. But she was also a single mother of two boys, one of whom required a lot of extra attention due to his cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Cooper often had to request work-from-home days in order to care for her son.
“His episodes would occur during the night,” Cooper explains. “Then he can’t go to school, so I need to be there.”
But her requests to work from home were not well received. Cooper says it was always a “big deal” when she asked for that flexibility, even though her work could easily be done from her home office. She figured it would help to discuss the issue with her manager face-to-face over lunch.
“As soon as we sat down,” recalls Cooper. “He said to me, ‘If you have invited me here today to ask if you can work from home, the answer is no.’ He basically shut the conversation down. At that moment, I knew this wouldn’t work for me.”
It was a moment that led Cooper to take the biggest risk of her professional career.
“When that message was delivered it made me realize that I had a choice. I could stay and nothing would change, or I could leave and take a chance at a different kind of life.”
Karen Cooper, Co-Founder, SmartIT Staffing
The decision was so risky Cooper didn’t even share it with those closest to her.
“I refused to talk to anyone about the decision I was about to make. I come from a conservative background and my family does not have many risk takers. Most people I know would have told me to stay,” Cooper says. “But I felt like this was a decision that I had to make myself, and I didn’t want to be influenced by anyone in my life.”
She got her finances in order, bulked up her savings and within nine months of that lunch conversation, Cooper handed in her resignation. She left her stable, well-paying job and set her sights on finding work that would give her the flexibility she and her family so desperately needed.
Cooper reconnected with a former colleague, Paul Rothwell, who was working for a startup. She joined the startup as an independent recruiter and worked out of her home. However, nine months later, the company ran into financial trouble and went belly up.
With a combined background in recruiting and sales and plenty of industry connections, Cooper and Rothwell decided it was time to launch their own recruiting business. And so SmartIT Staffing, Inc. was born.
“I was in my late 40s and I didn’t have a lot of time to make a lot of mistakes. I decided failure was not an option. It just had to work. It makes a difference when there is no safety net. You have to do everything you can. I didn’t feel like I had time to start over at that point.”
Working out of her basement, Cooper sought out clients willing to give her a shot and took on each and every opportunity she could find. That included the so-called “purple squirrels,” or jobs that other recruiting companies could not or would not fill because the jobs were too hard to place.
“It was difficult. Staffing is a very cash flow intensive industry. You are paying your staff long before the client pays you for work. You have to be very creative.” Cooper recollects.
On top of it, neither Cooper nor Rothwell had been paid for months. They poured everything into the company: savings, 401ks and IRAs. They used credit cards to get by since the bank would not approve a line of credit until they had established themselves. Cooper attempted to get equity out of her home but was turned down because she had no W2 to show. In hindsight, she says she should have taken equity out while she was still employed.
About six months after launching SmartIT, Cooper and Rothwell, who serves as chief operating officer, landed an investor who gave them $50k and the boost they needed to move forward.
“It was a lot of work, I did work more and I worked longer. It was never about working less,” Cooper clarifies. “But I was able to have the flexibility.”
Drawing on their past experiences, Cooper and Rothwell set out to create a company with a culture that embraced that flexibility and freedom. As a result, she says the staff is not forced to make a choice between their careers and their families and ultimately, that’s a win-win for everyone.
“We feel it’s healthy. You’re going to be your best in both worlds,” she says. “I believe it actually strengthened their commitment.”
SmartIT Staffing has boasted double-digit growth every year since launch and is on track to generate $45 million in revenue this year. This is just one reason why for two years in a row, the company has made the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Fast 55 list of the region’s fastest-growing private companies. Once a team of two, SmartIT now employs more than 350 consultants. In fact, SmartIT is one of the largest woman-owned companies – and also one of the largest minority-owned companies – in Cincinnati and Indianapolis.
When asked what advice she would have for others who may be looking to make a similar leap, Cooper says it’s all about changing your perspective. She says when people are faced with life’s challenges, whether it is a divorce, a child with special needs or a company that’s about to fold – they need to realize that it could be a blessing in disguise.
“Every bad thing can point you in a different direction,” Cooper advises. “It can totally change your life.”
Heather Whitley is a senior level writer and producer with a passion for storytelling. She has produced a wide variety of content for both television networks and digital platforms across the globe. Her work has been featured on multiple shows on CNN as well as ABC’s 20/20 and Gannett Digital’s websites.
