Grow A Small Business Podcast Amanda Daering of Newance Shares How She Built a Thriving Recruitment Firm — Turning a Difficult 2024 Loss Into a Remarkable 2025 Comeback With 12% Sales Growth, 25% Cost Cuts, and a Lean, High-Performing 6-Person Team. (Episode 763 - Amanda Daering)
In this episode of the Grow A Small Business Podcast, host Troy Trewin interviews Amanda Daering, co-founder of Newance, shares how she built a successful recruitment and fractional HR firm after becoming frustrated with traditional agencies. She reflects on navigating a tough hiring market and experiencing the company's first loss in 2024. Amanda explains how Newance achieved a strong turnaround in 2025 with 12% sales growth while cutting costs by 25%. She discusses the importance of candid leadership, sustainable culture, and hiring for mindset over resume. This episode offers valuable lessons on resilience, clarity, and building a thriving small business with a lean, high-performing team. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here.
Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice.
And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions:
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What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Amanda Daering shares that the hardest part of growing a small business is not getting distracted by being busy, but instead focusing on the few key activities that truly create leverage and move the business forward.
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What's your favorite business book that has helped you the most? Amanda Daering shares that her favorite business book is the classic "High Output Management" by Andy Grove. She values it because Grove views business through the lens of systems, which aligns with how she likes to lead and advise others. She pairs this systematic approach with a deep sense of empathy for the humans operating within those systems.
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Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Amanda Daering recommends using AI as a thought partner for online learning, specifically by using prompts to have AI "polish" ideas or identify flaws in a plan. Regarding podcasts, she frequently listens to Esther Perel's "Where Should we Begin?" and finds value in attending conferences outside her industry—such as those focused on therapy or human behavior—to understand how human trends impact the workplace.
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What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Amanda Daering recommends a weekly clarity meeting as the most essential resource for growing a small business. Rather than searching for complex technology, she believes the real "unlock" is a simple, consistent check-in where leaders face reality and look at the actual numbers. She emphasizes that without this core rhythm and clarity, any additional technology or tools piled on top will not be effective.
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What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Amanda Daering's advice to her "day one" self, from over seven years ago, is to let it feel easier. While she emphasizes maintaining a strong sense of hard work and discipline, she suggests doing so without the heavy pressure and weight often associated with entrepreneurship. She reflects that she was originally missing the fact that she was actually having fun along the journey.
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Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Balance realism with optimism, because growth becomes easier when you can see both risk and possibility clearly – Amanda Daering Let entrepreneurship feel lighter, because the journey is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured – Amanda Daering Being candid and honest builds more trust than trying to sound polished or perfect – Amanda Daering