The Road to the Dallas 100™: Focus Staff Founder Kyle Rhodes Takes Big Risks Daily. It Built Him a Successful Healthcare Staffing Company.
Taking that first leap of faith as a first-time entrepreneur is one of the most challenging decisions to make. With limited capital in hand and some spunk, company founders have to embrace risk and make something out of nothing, proving to an unforgiving world (and market) that their business idea is competitive, profitable, and worth its salt. For Kyle Rhodes, founder of nationwide travel healthcare staffing company Focus Staff, starting a staffing company sort of fell in his lap, but being a risk taker came naturally; he was always a competitive spirit and used to ruffling feathers with the institutions that surrounded him, whether that be school or a traditional corporate career. Taking that big risk to start a company made sense for Rhodes. That doesn’t mean taking risks was ever easy, or got any easier, as Rhodes looked beyond his successful corporate job and towards the uncertain waters of entrepreneurship. From investing in the wrong people to COVID-19, expecting the unexpected and learning from the novelty of his journey became his methods for success. How did Rhodes learn the right strategies for managing capital, building a team, fostering an authentic company culture, and inevitably building a multimillion dollar company and one of the largest staffing firms in the U.S.?
On this episode of The Road to the Dallas 100™, host Daniel Litwin sits down with Rhodes to discuss his road to business success, the history of Focus Staff, and the milestones that defined the growth of the company. In the interview, the two discuss…
- Why almost getting fired from his job was the last straw that pushed him to start a company
- The role of a good mentor and business partner in building a successful business
- How Rhodes maneuvered running a healthcare staffing company through the COVID-19 pandemic
- Learning lessons in financing a low-margin capital-intensive business
- Why CEOs need a push to their pull, and the value of checks and balances in building a company
- The value (or lack of value) of continued education as an entrepreneur, and where burgeoning entrepreneurs should seek out important career lessons
Rhodes boasts almost 20 years of experience in the healthcare staffing industry, with the majority of that as a leader in the industry. He’s an outdoorsman and is always seeking a new adventure. He’s also a 4-time Dallas 100 winner, securing the award in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022.
A precursor to the SMU Cox Dallas 100 Awards, The Road to the Dallas 100 is a showcase of the stories behind the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the Dallas area, celebrating the company’s founders and their achievements, business journey, challenges, and strategies. Learn from Dallas’ best so you can take the keys, get behind the wheel, and pave your own road to the Dallas 100.
