Page 159 - James Caan - The Real Deal

14 · Having Fun

tell you the amount of business that generated, because Mike was
billing at such a prolific rate and everybody else tried to catch up.
Mike broke every target we’d ever had – highest single fee, best
ever month, best ever quarter. It was definitely worth a lot more
to me than the Porsche that I replaced within a month anyway.
I was now pretty well known in the industry and I was often
taken out for lunch by people who thought getting to know me
would be good for their business. One of those people was David
Head, the publisher of a trade publication called The Interviewer.
As a regular advertiser I was a valuable client, and it was his job
to know who was doing what in recruitment. He clearly knew
everyone in the business and had a lot of experience, and as we
were talking I had an impulsive idea.
‘Have you ever thought about setting up on your own?’
He was quite shocked that I’d asked, and so was I – I’d only just
had the idea.
‘All the time,’ he said, ‘but I haven’t got the money.’
‘Tell me, David, if money wasn’t a problem, what kind of
magazine would you launch?’
I liked David and I suddenly saw an opportunity to create a nice
little business. As he talked, the idea of owning a recruitment
magazine started to appeal. People really would think I was an
upstart! It became clear that David had a firm vision of a different
kind of trade publication, and the more he told me about it, the
more I could see how it would appeal.
‘I tell you what, David, you work out what it would cost to
launch and I’ll back you.’
When he broke it down, launching a magazine didn’t cost much:
it was no more than a rented office, David’s salary, a PA plus the
print and postage costs. We knew what the going rate for
advertising was, so it was straightforward to come up with the
figures: David reckoned he’d need £20k to see him through to
break-even, which meant my investment wouldn’t amount to

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