Jim's Book

16 Looking for The One

One of Jim's key problems over the years has been his failure to find a great second-in-command. He freely admits he doesn't have everything it takes to run the company properly, neither the administration skills to oversee staff nor the personal skills to keep people happy. ‘The issues in 2009' — the general unrest and call for a vote out — ‘are an example of the problems that arise without a good right-hand man in charge,' Jim said. It was in an effort to resolve this that in early 2014 Jim invited Neil Welsh and James Jacka to become partners with him. They bought a 10 per cent stake in the Jim's Group.

An acrimonious partnership

Neil Welsh first joined Jim's Test and Tag in May 2004 as a franchisor, and it later became evident that the couple running Test and Tag were struggling. ‘In those days we simply looked for people who were running a successful business in the field — there were a lot of failures,' Jim said. He realised the founders weren't up to the task, so he rang Neil. Neil built a business plan around the opportunity, and Neil and his partner, James Jacka, bought the Test and Tag division. Together they did an exceptional job running it.

So good that, in 2007, Jim offered Neil a part-time job at National Office. Neil declined. This offer was made a few times over the years, with Neil actually coming into the office for two days at one point, before declining and continuing running Test and Tag with James.

Jim was very impressed with their ...