Page 156 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

to rise, and within eight months of me stepping back we had
grown to eighteen members of staff.
My strategy for growth was to invest all the profits back into the
company. Aisha and I had everything we needed and if there was
money in the bank it was spent on the business. First there was
money to computerise, then to advertise: everything was an
investment in the future, and, when the staff saw where the money
was going, their enthusiasm and motivation went up.
The office was a great place to be, and I was finding more and
more interesting ways to keep the atmosphere at fever pitch. A
good example of this is the day I gave away my Porsche.
I had just hired a guy called Mike from the Michael Page
agency. I’d admired him for a while and was really pleased that
he’d joined the company. He’d had an important client to meet
and he asked if I’d go with him. We drove there in my Porsche 928
S4 and all the way there he was talking about the car. He clearly
loved it and was playing with the gadgets, like a kid in a toyshop,
for the entire journey.
The meeting went really well, and on the way back I asked him:
‘What are you going to bill this year?’
‘I don’t know, James. I guess at least £300k.’ To put this in
perspective, even I had only be able to bill £200k: this guy was
good.
‘That means you’ll be making £100k. What were you earning at
Michael Page?’
‘About £40k.’
‘So you’ll be £60k up by the end of the year. You could afford
a car like this.’
We carried on chatting when we got back to the office and my
brain started going at 100mph. I could feel I was about to do
something dramatic. As he turned to go back to his desk I called
out:
‘Mike.’

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