Hustle House, founded in 2019 by Carolyn Cresswell and Fiona Allen, seeks to ‘enable people to discover, nurture and develop their untapped potential.’ Millie Green at MDHUB met with them, and the company's People Development Consultant, Liv McQuillan, to hear their story

The leadership development industry is a busy one. Still, Hustle House, celebrating its fifth anniversary, stands out from the crowd as 'the home of kick-ass leadership development.'

Hustle House’s growth has been purposefully slow and steady meeting the demands of its clients. Carolyn and Fiona knew quite early on that they wanted to surround themselves with similar people and build up the team. They also knew they would need to expand and curate a team of people with different skills, different backgrounds and different perspectives to deliver the very best training.

“It’s not easy to articulate what makes ‘a Hustle House person,’” Carolyn comments, “but key to us is finding people who match our style and approach; people who can deliver quality work with warmth, smartness and humour.” It is always important for Fiona and Carolyn to see people deliver training as this is at the core of their business. It has helped them to curate their team of associates and, more recently, appoint their first full-time hire, Liv.

Fiona found the thought of hiring someone full-time a bit daunting. “I realised we were going to be responsible for someone's livelihood - and that creates new pressure to make the business successful.” 

Fiona and Carolyn invested in a recruitment agency to ensure they found the right person. Through the search, they found Liv. As Fiona put it, “A duo is great, but three is a bit of a magic number. It was a risk that we were ready to take, and we were delighted that we did. Liv’s a phenomenal addition to the team, and I think, if anything, we wish we’d probably done it sooner.”

Hustle House is currently an entirely female organisation. This is not by design; it has just worked out that way as it recruited each associate. While Carolyn and Fiona initially worried this might restrict its client base, the organisation doesn’t solely attract all-women teams.

Fiona explained that a lot of their work is with corporate senior individuals. Often there are a lot of men who are on the executive team, and the reason they've decided to pick Hustle House is because the company is quite different to them and the way that it operates as a business. The client feels like they want something that might challenge them.

Many of Hustle House’s clients are well-known, blue-chip organisations like GoCardless, Carers Trust and Informa. When asked about working with these big names, Carolyn admitted, “I feel we had a bit less fear in the early days. I think getting those early wins on the board, we were like, ‘yeah, we can do this.’” 

Now it’s an established organisation, the pressure is greater but, as Fiona highlights, the priority is ensuring that whoever Hustle House is working with aligns with its values. They're committed and willing, and want to invest in their people. “A recognisable logo, while nice to put on the website, does not guarantee a good client relationship,” she concludes.

When Hustle House began operating in 2019, it had an exciting and successful first six months. Then the Covid-19 pandemic swept away its client base. Carolyn and Fiona held tight and used their time to network and build the brand, using the shift to online to expand their client base beyond the UK. 

Following a flurry of successful years, the pair decided the time was right to get external guidance to support their growth. It was at this point that a personal contact recommended MDHUB, and they began coaching with MDHUB’s Managing Director, Fi Shafer. 

“We needed some accountability and a different voice. There's the voice of associates or an employee, but we also needed someone who's been there and done that and can say, have you thought about this or that.” Carolyn comments.

As well as providing a sounding board, MDHUB has helped Carolyn and Fiona to prioritise their wellbeing within their business plan. While they knew that their own health was essential to running the business, they felt that someone telling them that every month was important. 

Carolyn continues, “Fi Shafer has helped us to be kinder to ourselves, knowing that we need rest and we sometimes need to step back. If we want to show up as our best selves, we need to be able to switch off as well.” This focus on wellbeing has filtered down into Hustle House itself. Liv acts as the organisation’s wellbeing guardian, writing newsletters for the team and ensuring that personal health isn’t de-prioritised.

What’s next for Hustle House?

At the start of the year, Hustle House decided that 2024 was going to be the year of experimenting. This led to the launch of its first open programme “The Leader as Coach,” a blended learning experience across six to eight weeks, focussed on supporting individuals to harness the skill of coaching to become better leaders and managers. 

“We’ve brought people from different businesses together to enable a cross-pollination of ideas, experiences and learning. It’s been very exciting and we can’t wait to continue building it into a flagship programme for us.”

Everyone at MDHUB is excited to watch Hustle House’s journey unfold as its dynamic business team shifts with its growing experience and expertise.

https://hustlehouse.co/

www.mdhub.co.uk

Email MDHUB Directors:

Fiona Shafer: fiona@mdhub.co.uk or

Phil Green: phil.green@mdhub.co.uk