John Corcoran: 13:28
For performance from before you had left for your maternity leave. And I was like.
Carrie Schochet: 13:33
I don’t know.
John Corcoran: 13:34
You weren’t working while you’re on maternity leave.
Carrie Schochet: 13:36
I’m not. What performance are you referring to? Because I just got back from maternity leave this morning and I was like, and I’ve got awards lined up on my desk from all of my time here and all of the I said, I’ve never had a negative performance review, so I don’t I’m really confused as to what performance you could be referencing. And I just called him out. I was like, what you’re attempting to do is illegal.
And I mean, so it’s like I probably in retrospect, I probably could have handled it a little differently. I could have been a little softer. I could have let it play out a little bit more. But you were mad, I was mad, I was fired up and I was like, no, I’m not going to accept this. This is wrong. And I was kind of like, come and get me. Try. And that was so it did not go well from there. Like I stayed for a little bit because it wasn’t I mean, they weren’t.
John Corcoran: 14:27
March out with your cardboard.
Carrie Schochet: 14:29
Box full.
John Corcoran: 14:30
Of stuff. But you it was then.
Carrie Schochet: 14:31
Well then it became a dance, you know what I mean? It became a dance of.
John Corcoran: 14:35
Yeah.
Carrie Schochet: 14:36
And so yeah, it was not a, it was not a pleasant time. Super stressful.
John Corcoran: 14:44
How hard was it then to also move geographies because you moved from Chicago to Michigan? So was it hard to start a new company in a new place, even though you were from Michigan originally? Because sometimes then that means like you have to build over your network and everything too.
Carrie Schochet: 14:59
Yeah, no. Incredibly difficult. And, you know, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Again, like, if I like.
John Corcoran: 15:05
And this.
Carrie Schochet: 15:06
Is also.
John Corcoran: 15:06
pre-COVID we’re talking about here like now I think people are more used to and comfortable with working remotely or working with a, you know, a recruitment firm that’s not located down the block from them. But that’s a different thing. This is a different era.
Carrie Schochet: 15:20
Yeah. So I mean, again, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It wasn’t like I decided in that instance I’m going to move, I’m going to go out on my own. I kind of felt like the universe, like I kind of felt I look back on that moment as like a really challenging moment, but it ended up being a gift, you know, because I think that was my opportunity to, like, get out of my comfort zone, you know, figure out what was that was on that other side. You know, the devil I didn’t know which in this case, you know, it was a huge change.
And, you know, I explored other jobs. I explored, like joining a recruiting firm here. I ultimately ended up joining forces with a group that was based in Chicago, and they said, hey, like, we formed kind of an interesting partnership, and I kind of got on my feet, like working with them.
John Corcoran: 16:05
A lot of new business founders, myself included, I think, find some kind of hybrid that gives them a little bit of a security blanket or something like that, that gets them going for the first couple years.
Carrie Schochet: 16:18
Yeah. And that’s exactly what I had. And I maintain a close friendship relationship with the founders of that group. And I filled a critical need for them. They were early in their entrepreneurial journey.
They needed a strong recruiter. They had more demand than they could handle. And so I was a great solution for them too, because that was an experienced recruiter. And they were able to hand me recruiting projects that I could manage independently. And at the same time, I was trying to figure out how to grow a business in Michigan and develop a network.
And so it was great for both of us. It worked out really, really well and gave me enough of a little safety net where I didn’t feel like I was going to put my family’s financial security at risk and all that, because, again, I still had the husband and the two kids that were relying on me.
John Corcoran: 17:03
So how long did you stay living in your parents house?
Carrie Schochet: 17:07
It was a little longer than expected. It was maybe like nine. It was about nine months. We were going to buy one from my parents friend’s house. They were building a new house and we were going to buy their house.
It was turnkey, really nice. It was in the neighborhood I grew up in, but their house was taking longer and ultimately, like we decided we had to go look for something else. But it was super competitive, like at that time, the real estate market. I think it remains pretty competitive. But, you know, a house would go on the market and, you know, they had 20 people in our price bracket lined up.
And, you know, they were the best and final by tomorrow at noon. And so I think that that took a little bit longer. But yeah, we lived with my parents for nine months, and then we actually lived with them a second time when we decided to remodel that house. So for another like six months or so.
John Corcoran: 17:56
Wow. Wow. You guys must get along well or well enough anyways. Yeah, you also set out a goal. You know, many businesses sometimes go very broad and then eventually find a niche.
And you figured out that you wanted to do business with private equity because private equity tends to have a kind of a portfolio of businesses. And so you set towards that goal. So talk a little bit about how you set out to pursue that.
Carrie Schochet: 18:23
Sure. So when I was at Robert Half, I had worked with clients of all different types and sizes and, you know, a broad array. And I found over time that I really liked working with small to midsize businesses more so than the fortune 500. And, you know, I actually worked in strategic accounts for Robert Half. So I dealt with managing contracts with those large customers.
And it’s again, you’re like the contract process could take a year or longer to kind of get through and begin working with a big company. And so I found that the small to midsize businesses were more nimble. And, you know, all of that. And I just was interested in those. So that was like the first thing I was like, okay, I want to be a small to midsize business specialist.
And then I had some exposure to private equity. I’d worked with some private equity clients there. My brother was in private equity, and it just interested me with my finance background. And so I decided that was the target. And again, with the private equity firm, you know, they have all these different portfolio companies.
And so if you build a relationship at the fund level, then their needs are ongoing or recurring, more so than a single small to mid-sized business. And so that was really the thought process out of the gates.
John Corcoran: 19:32
And I mean, that’s a great goal. It’s a great ambition. But a lot of businesses struggle, you know, because that seems like a big hairy audacious goal. So how do you like to get a foothold or how do you build relationships in that industry? So what did you do? Did you start knocking on doors? Well, no. Go back to your cold calling days.
Carrie Schochet: 19:49
Well, first of all, I think also back to your point too, about moving to Michigan. And what I underestimated is that I grew up here, but I’d never done business here. And I didn’t know I didn’t have any real connections in the business community, and I underestimated how difficult it was going to be to kind of break in, because Detroit is it’s very different than a big city like Chicago and New York, where people are constantly coming in and leaving, and there’s so much change with Detroit. We’ve got a lot of people that, like, have been here for a long time, and so you’re competing.
John Corcoran: 20:22
With people who had been there a long time.
Carrie Schochet: 20:25
Long standing Outstanding relationships and all that. So that made it a little harder. But I started just again trying to figure things out, and I started going to networking groups with the Association for Corporate Growth. So I started going to their events very early on. That’s a very M&A focused community.
I now serve on their board. I started knocking on the door of Financial Executives International, which is a group primarily for CFOs. I got involved in all different types of networking, and ultimately I kind of gravitated the most towards those two going to events. I mean, morning events, evening events, like I was burning the candle at both ends. And in the meantime, I was writing.
John Corcoran: 21:00
Resumes at home.
Carrie Schochet: 21:01
Yeah, I was writing resumes. I was writing LinkedIn profiles. I mean, I was hustling, I was like, okay, I’m going to make $1,000 here. I’m going to make, you know, I was just trying to figure out how to get my feet on the ground and get to know people and just tons of networking. So that’s kind of.
But my strategy for getting in with private equity was to build relationships with, like, the people that, you know, surround the decision maker like centers of influence. And so trying to build relationships with attorneys and CPAs and bankers and coaches and all these different people. And I realized too, like the CFO, like a CFO type network was also good to build, but I could add value. Like I was trying to think, how can I add value to these people, build a relationship with them and be useful? And so that’s where I started a group for CFOs in transition. And I and you.
John Corcoran: 21:52
Started a group for CFOs in transition. Yeah, yeah. So what was that?
Carrie Schochet: 21:57
The way that that happened is I initially was cold calling for jobs and I found a pretty prominent local, privately held business that was looking for essentially a CFO. They wouldn’t give it to me. Retained. That was not possible.
John Corcoran: 22:12
Just what does that mean for those that don’t understand, what does.
Carrie Schochet: 22:14
That means in retained searches where we’re in a committed, exclusive relationship to conduct a search and generally it takes, you know, you got to have credibility. they’re committing. You know, a, you know, a money up front to get going on a search. And so I wasn’t counting on getting retained searches initially. So I was doing contingent work, which is, you know, if you.
John Corcoran: 22:34
If.
Carrie Schochet: 22:34
You place the candidate, you get the fee. And, but I would always often ask for, hey, will you give it to me exclusive contingent even for five days like so that I could have a little bit of an edge to compete against the larger firms. But I had this job and I started talking to CFOs, and I was getting questions like, well, hey, what do you think of my resume? And can you give me any feedback? And I decided, hey, here’s an opportunity. If I can get a small little group of CFOs who are looking for a new job together, then I can help them all at once.
John Corcoran: 23:03
And once they are in a company, then they’ll hopefully hire you or bring you in to place other positions.
Carrie Schochet: 23:10
Exactly. And just again, being helpful, I read this book called The Go Giver, which I think really influenced Bob Burg.
John Corcoran: 23:17
Yeah. Had him on my podcast a while back.
Carrie Schochet: 23:19
Yeah, yeah. So I read The Go Giver and I just was really focused on like, okay, I don’t have a lot of jobs, but I can provide value other ways. So I really like doing that and that CFO Group was really instrumental in my early success. I was helping them, but they were helping me. They were helping me to understand the automotive mindset and just Detroit, the business landscape.
So that was really important. And I met with that group twice and twice a month, and we met really consistently, like up through Covid, where it was a really active group and made some great friends and ultimately got clients through that. And I mean.
John Corcoran: 23:54
I love that idea of taking control of your own destiny and starting your own community or starting your own group because then you are the person, you’re the glue. You’re the person that brings all these people together. And you kind of create your own velvet rope, your own exclusivity to it.
Carrie Schochet: 24:10
Well, yeah. And then what was cool about that too, is then all of a sudden, you know, I had something to offer some of these other people like I hey, a CPA firm. Hey, could you come in and talk to this group? And I mean, again, they’re building their network or so I was bringing in guest speakers and I had something to offer.
John Corcoran: 24:27
So all of a sudden, instead of like, reaching out and every outreach is a request or a asking for something from someone, you can use that as a give.
Carrie Schochet: 24:39
Exactly. Yeah. So that was really, really awesome. And from that CFO next group, we ended up with some partners. And so I’ve got other strategic partners that support those groups now.
But we ended up starting a group for working CFOs called CFO now. And that’s a group where we bring together working CFOs once a month to discuss challenges and a confidential environment and get peer peer review. So that was kind of the spin off of the CFO next Group.
John Corcoran: 25:07
Yeah. Yeah. So how long did it take for you to build this to something a little bit larger, where you had others working for you, and it wasn’t just you doing all of the work yourself.
Carrie Schochet: 25:20
So my sister worked with me initially. So the first two years when I was in Michigan, I was by myself, and that was under kind of the other banner. And then I started Purple Squirrel and officially launched it in January of 2025. My sister was coming back into the workforce. She had been a stay at home mom for a period of time and she said, hey, like, you know, I’d love to join you in this and help on the back end.
And she found that she loved recruiting. And so it was just the two of us for maybe like a year. And then we brought on another recruiter. And in my first like 3 or 4 years, like we were doubling every year. So like, I mean, all of the seeds that I had planted and the work that I had done in those first two years in Michigan, like they started paying off, like I had a retained search, like on day one of opening. Opening up Purple Squirrel Advisors. And like that first year, you know, it was just getting great momentum, I think because of all that work that I’d done in those other, other two years.
John Corcoran: 26:17
Yeah.
Carrie Schochet: 26:17
And then I think it’s important that I’d love to share what the purple squirrel’s name is because that, like, influences what I did. You know, it’s built.
John Corcoran: 26:25
What did you come up with ?
Carrie Schochet: 26:26
So purple squirrels are recruiting industry terms referring to the elusive perfect candidate. So the unicorn. And when I first came to Michigan I only dealt with like what I would say are the true purple squirrels highly technical rural niche something super difficult about the search? So that’s the type of work I did in the early days here in Michigan, trying to just build a reputation. And then when I started the company, I was like, okay, every search is the search for purple squirrels. If you’re really trying to get it right, if you’re trying to match the culture and all that. So that’s the origin of the name. But like I had done a couple of those purple squirrel searches and started.
John Corcoran: 27:00
What was the most when you said rural? Is that what you said? Rural like?
Carrie Schochet: 27:04
It’s like, yeah, like.
John Corcoran: 27:05
Rural locations in a rural area.
Carrie Schochet: 27:06
Rural location.
John Corcoran: 27:07
Okay.
Carrie Schochet: 27:08
Well, so it’s funny, I actually placed a food scientist here in Michigan with a food company, obviously. And it was also in a difficult location. And there’s not very many food companies in Michigan. And that was a really tricky one. But what’s crazy about it is I just heard from the person I placed, you know, 12 years ago, she checked in with me.
And so that was really, really cool. And she’s still at the company. So 12 or 13 years ago, we placed a controller at a very rural market, and it was a publicly traded company, and there wasn’t another publicly traded company within 100 miles. And they needed to have the SEC reporting experience so tricky. And they had an activist investor.
John Corcoran: 27:53
So it’s definitely in each of these cases, it is they’re going to have to move their family. Right. So you gotta or yeah.
Carrie Schochet: 28:01
Yeah. If you can find somebody that’s in the area that may have worked at a public company prior. So yeah, super difficult or kind of nichey searches like that.
John Corcoran: 28:09
Yeah. And what are those conversations like? Like when you have a conversation with someone, you’re trying to sell them on this idea. Okay. All right. Hear me out. Right. We got this great opportunity. It’s. We’ll talk about location later. I’ll get to that. Yeah.
Carrie Schochet: 28:24
No, I mean, honestly, like, so I think with every search, there’s, like, we always talk to our clients and figure out, like, what are what are the selling points? Why would somebody want to come work here? And kind of it’s we’re marketers as much as we’re anything else, you know, and figuring out what are the positives. And, you know, even if there are some really challenging circumstances going on at the company, then I’m like, okay, this is a resume building opportunity for somebody. They’re going to help you solve these really difficult challenges.
And like if they can help, you know, if they can have an impact in this role, think about what that does for their future. You know, they can talk about helping the company overcome this stuff. Yeah. And so, you know I think there’s for the right candidate. Every negative is a positive if that makes sense.
John Corcoran: 29:06
Yeah. You had started EOS implementing EOS in the fall of 2019, just before COVID hit. And you credit that with helping your business to survive through Covid. So take us back to it’s actually we’re recording this right around five years now from when Covid hit. But what was that like for you when that started to unfold, when everything the world started to shut down?
Carrie Schochet: 29:33
And gosh, I’m sure like in terms of what it was like for me personally, like, I’m sure a lot of people felt the same way. It was totally overwhelming. Couldn’t imagine what was going to happen. I was totally fearful that my business was just going to get decimated. And actually the opposite happened.
You know, we actually grew in 20 and 2020 and in 2021 like gangbusters. I mean, it was a crazy recruiting environment, but definitely a tremendous amount of fear and difficulty. You know, all of a sudden all my kids were all at home and we were trying to juggle being working parents and, you know, helping kids with online learning and all those other things that we all dealt with during that time. But I definitely credit EOS with our ability to kind of navigate through that, go entirely remote and to thrive. So we were already using zoom prior to that because we did a lot of virtual interviewing.
We were working outside of Michigan, so zoom was something we were very comfortable with. And so I think that helped that we were already using that technology. And then the structure of EOS, the weekly meetings, the goal setting, all of that really just helped us to stay on track. And we started publishing a lot of video content on our LinkedIn page. But again, I think it was the weekly meetings and keeping the team aligned that helped us to really thrive in that type of situation.
And then the recruiting environment. I would never have imagined the impact of the recruiting environment and how much recruiting would happen. And like in 2020, 2021 and 2022. And we did have a couple of big clients. In fact, one of the CFOs that I met through that CFO group.
He was the CFO of a really growing business that was in the home. It was in the cleaning supply space, which obviously there was a tremendous demand for cleaning supplies. So we helped with a lot of positions in that business. And yeah, it ended up just being surprisingly really great for us.
John Corcoran: 31:28
So that prepared you for what happened to you in 2024? In 2024, the beginning of the year, you were in a horrible ski accident where you blew out your knee. You were run over by another skier knocked out. Take us back to that. How did that unfold?
Carrie Schochet: 31:46
Yeah. So gosh, that I mean, it was one of the most challenging, probably events that I’ve ever been through.
John Corcoran: 31:53
And this was not in a trash dump at the time. So just to clarify.
Carrie Schochet: 31:59
Yeah, I was in Park City and it was the first day, second run, and I was just kind of doing my thing. I’m very comfortable on skis. I raced in high school and I was, you know, kind of facing a mountain, and all of a sudden I got hit from behind. I felt like I’d gotten hit by a truck. And then the person skis went on top of mine, got all tangled up.
I felt my knee kind of explode, and I knew I was getting seriously injured. So like, it was difficult even just to like, I was kind of having flashbacks after the accident of like that moment in time where I felt I remember I literally felt like my life flashed before my eyes. I remember thinking, oh my gosh, like, I’m getting seriously injured. Am I going to be in a wheelchair? Am I going to be paralyzed like my brain was like, this is bad.
And then I don’t remember some of the moments after. And then I’ve been dealing with that ever since. But I think what made it harder for me, too, was that I’d been kind of on like a personal health journey over the last few years, and I felt like I was in like the best shape that I’d been in, in maybe, like, maybe since I was in high school playing competitive soccer and running cross country and skiing and like I was feeling great physically. And so I think for me it was like a loss. I felt a really strong sense of loss. And honestly, to this day, I still feel like I lost that optimal physical feel like how I felt at that time.
John Corcoran: 33:22
And so because you lose the ability to use your knee, it affects so many things. Yeah.
Carrie Schochet: 33:27
And I mean, to this day, like I still have knee pain, just like when I’m like, I’m super active, I work out, you know, almost, you know, probably five days a week. I like to hike and bike and do all kinds of things. And like, even just simple walking around the neighborhood, like I have knee pain some days and I’m still doing physical therapy and kind of working through compensations and things. So it was hard. I mean, I’m not going to I’m not going to lie, it was hard.
But somebody said to me, oh, like, someday you’re going to like it, this will be something you’re going to be grateful for. And I’m like, okay, that’s a huge stretch. But I will say, like, I’ve noticed a couple things that I can be grateful for. I’m not grateful for the accident, but I can be grateful for some of the things I’ve learned. I stepped away.
You know, I worked a lot less in 2024 and my team really rose to the occasion. And so like that term letting go of the vine. I think that this accident kind of forced me to let go of the vine and get out of, like, a lot of the day to day of my Purple squirrel. And my team did a great job handling that.
John Corcoran: 34:31
And it was a tough year, too, because I talked to a lot of other recruiting agencies. You know, 2024 was a presidential election year. The economy was starting to kind of recalibrate inflation, economy, economy was recalibrating from, you know, the years of Covid growth and kind of readjust. So at the same time, it wasn’t a great economic environment for you to suffer that kind of setback.
Carrie Schochet: 34:56
No. And it’s funny because somehow I just had a lot of peace, like we were down last year from a revenue standpoint. but I kind of was like, well, maybe that’s a good thing. It’s given me an opportunity to kind of refocus on my health. And like, I just, I had I had optimism that we would come back stronger this year and I would come back stronger.
And I kind of looked at it like, I really just didn’t stress that much about us being down, because I knew that my peers, other recruiting firms were down, in some cases worse. And so I just kind of figured, like, we’re going to weather the storm. Maybe it’s a blessing because I don’t have to be worried about the business being busy when I have to do all these appointments and surgery and everything else. And so, like, I really didn’t worry that much about it. And I just kind of said it is what it is.
And like, we’re going to continue to work hard, we’re going to service the clients we have. We’re going to do a great job. And I kind of knew, like as I started getting towards the end of 2024, I was like, all right, now it’s time to like Double Down. I want to have a great 2025. But I just didn’t worry about the business that much in 2024. If that makes sense.
John Corcoran: 36:02
Yeah. I mean, that’s great that you were able to do that. There’s so many people that, you know, would struggle through that sort of health crisis. And then they also have business anxiety at the same time. I want to ask a business model question.
And then we’re almost out of time here. But I know that your focus of the firm has been retained. And it sounds like that is kind of an ideal situation. Gives you greater predictableness, gives you revenue up front, predictable revenue security, all that kind of stuff. Did you at some point say like we’re drawing the line or do you, you know, say that we’re only doing retained search.
Or is that something where, you know, you say as a business model we’re going to move towards that. But there are certain types of clients that we will not retain if they’re not ready to agree to that yet. Like how does that work for your business model now.
Carrie Schochet: 36:57
Yeah. So what I’ve found is that I really love the retained model. And because I feel that we’re really in a partnership with our clients, and that’s something that’s really important to me, because we’re not just providing resumes or candidates, like we’re running a full process. And I think that I really enjoy that aspect of the work that we do of being able to like working with the client on the front end. We help them to define their job, the position, spec and think, you know, think about what our process should look like, our interview process.
And I feel like that alignment is really important to have that type of relationship. And so we have tried to work in certain contingent situations, and we just end up getting frustrated because you’re not an advisor, you’re not a partner to the client, generally speaking. I mean, in some cases you could be, but it’s just not the same type of relationship. And so for me, it’s, you know, it’s really important to have that because I like to have those partnerships with the clients and, On and really work side by side with them to make sure we get the best outcome. I think that sometimes with other models, the recruiter can be incentivized just to get their candidate placed versus getting the absolute best candidate for the company. And so that’s where I think the difference is.
John Corcoran: 38:11
Yeah. Well, this has been great. Carrie, I want to wrap up with a final question, which is my gratitude question. So I’m a big fan of practicing gratitude. You’ve mentioned the word gratitude a couple of times in this interview, but I, I love for giving our guests a little bit of space to pick out any people, especially peers or contemporaries or maybe mentors, who’ve been in your life and continue to be in your life. So is there anyone in particular that you’d want to, you know, thank publicly for helping you through it all?
Carrie Schochet: 38:43
You know, not a particular person, but I would like to thank the communities that I’ve been a part of. And like, for example, the EO community has been amazing and I’ve learned so much and I’ve grown so much through all my colleagues on the board and just, you know, the opportunities that have been presented through the global community have been amazing and life changing. So I would have gratitude for EO. I have gratitude for, you know, a lot of people in my network in Detroit with ACG and Fi, but I have a lot of gratitude for my husband, too. And, you know, just the support that he’s provided along the way and being a sounding board when, when things are going well or going difficult. So those are the people that stand out to me at this moment.
John Corcoran: 39:24
Carrie, where can people go to learn more about you and Purple Squirrel?
Carrie Schochet: 39:27
They can find me on LinkedIn. I’m pretty easy to find. I’m the only Carrie Schochet out there. Or you know, our website is purplesquirreladvisors.com.
John Corcoran: 39:38
Great. Thanks so much, Carrie.
Carrie Schochet: 39:39
Thank you.
Outro: 39:42
Thanks for listening to the <em>Smart Business Revolution Podcast</em>. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.