A dynamic and empowering consultative leader, and a futurist skilled at helping organizations to meet their strategic objectives, Nicole Martin is an internationally renowned speaker and an author. Nicole is Chief Empowerment Officer and Founder of HRBoost® LLC a Shared Services Consulting firm based in the north suburbs of Chicago.
Nicole was also lucky to have a great mentor early in life: her mom. “My mother is highly spiritual, and she raised me with the philosophy of being happy,” said Nicole. “She always believed that you are a special person—she ingrained that in me—and you are capable of anything.” At the age of 18, Nicole was ready to start proving her mom right. She left Montana and moved in with her godmother in Libertyville, Illinois. Right out of high school, Nicole got a job as a receptionist at a pre-Y2K firm where she found her passion quite by accident. “They were hiring all these computer experts from overseas, but when they arrived, the company just put them in the reception area because they didn’t know what to do with them,” recalled Nicole. “It was just inhumane.” At the age of 18 Nicole was ready to start proving her mom right. She left Montana and moved in with her godmother in Libertyville, Illinois. Right out of high school, Nicole got a job as a receptionist at a pre-Y2K firm where she found her passion quite by accident. “They were hiring all these computer experts from overseas, but when they arrived, the company just put them in the reception area because they didn’t know what to do with them,” recalled Nicole. “It was just inhumane.”
During the same time, Nicole was working on a training program for a college human resources class. “I wanted to help these guys out in the hallway, so I just marched into the director’s office and asked him if he wanted to see the training program I created for school.” When Nicole was finished with her presentation, the director created a human resources department for the site, hired a manager and moved 18-year-old Nicole from reception to human resources.
Nicole has been building HR departments from the ground up ever since. What makes her approach so unique, she says, is that she begins with the business’ vision and creates HR programs that are completely integrated with that vision. We support employers at every stage of the employee experience and small businesses deserve to compete for talent in today’s market. Our Boosters create programs designed to further the business, boost productivity, and help employees understand why and how their contributions are meaningful. Nicole credits her team for all the success the business has accomplished. Today, she is proudly a woman that has built a seven-figure business from scratch and knowing only 2% of women owned businesses do this is alarming. Women remain an opportunity for business everywhere.
- Tell our readers about your current leadership role at the company.
I try to lead by example and I also share for the benefit of all. I have published two books that really speak to women, though men have let me know they enjoy them equally as well. The Power of Joy and Purpose is my personal story and I share my 7 Presence Principles as I get asked nearly every day, how do I do it all so joyfully? I don’t do it alone. I also co-authored a book with John Tinghitella last year. We named it, NO FEAR Negotiation for Women, a book where we set forth a process that women can add to their list of abilities and for the greater benefit of our country. Men are about results and Women are about effort. We need both in business.
*It is our Vision at HRBoost® to bring JOY and PURPOSE to PEOPLE through their Work. It is how we serve our clients and the people that choose to join up on their visions. We live it at HRBoost®
It is my number one responsibility to empower my team of Boosters, invest in ongoing education, tools and resources to optimize my team. I have faith that they will in turn delight our clients. I was truly humbled when after years of serving on Advisory Board and being part of a winning organization in my prior roles, my own company took the stage of Best & Brightest ®Companies to Work For in Chicago in 2020. My philosophy is that leadership must live at every level in a business. The hierarchy is a thing of the past, people must be invited to live leadership from wherever they stand. The language of what makes a leader is the creative space where teams can create their reality for shared leadership in their space.
- What are some of the key challenges you have faced as a woman in the business world? How did you overcome these challenges?
*It is our Vision at HRBoost® to bring JOY and PURPOSE to PEOPLE through their Work. It is how we serve our clients and the people that choose to join up on their visions. We live it at HRBoost®
It is my number one responsibility to empower my team of Boosters, invest in ongoing education, tools and resources to optimize my team. I have faith that they will in turn delight our clients. I was truly humbled when after years of serving on Advisory Board and being part of a winning organization in my prior roles, my own company took the stage of Best & Brightest ®Companies to Work For in Chicago in 2020. My philosophy is that leadership must live at every level in a business. The hierarchy is a thing of the past, people must be invited to live leadership from wherever they stand. The language of what makes a leader is the creative space where teams can create their reality for shared leadership in their space.
- In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, what strategies do you employ to stay ahead of the competition and adapt to new market trends?
Our Vision is to bring Joy and Purpose to People through their Work.
We have always trended with growth year after year, however amidst the pandemic we were hard hit like many. Thankfully, we have successfully returned to pre Covid-19 revenues levels and this is something we are pleased with given the level of uncertainty in the market. We have revealed some new innovative ways to reach our clients and as talent shifts occur, we are ready to help the businesses that seek to retain talent.
Ironically, the biggest threat to the marketplace is talent, even now. Only the truly forward-thinking companies will make winning moves even in the downturn of economy.
You’ll notice it instantly. Nicole Martin, CEO and Founder of HRBoost®, loves what she does, and she does it remarkably well. “I’m the accidental entrepreneur,” said Nicole, “I looked back after starting my own business and said, ‘I started a business. Whoa!’” Nicole didn’t set out to create HRBoost. She simply followed her passion to help clients understand the importance human resources can play in developing a strong business. Today Nicole is a successful entrepreneur and an HR industry innovator who is dedicated to helping small to mid-size business realize their potential through their employees.
- How do you approach work-life balance as a businesswoman? What strategies or practices have helped you maintain a healthy integration of personal and professional life?
Success is relative. Many people would read my resume or some printed article about me but the real success comes in the joy of doing what you love every day. It is amazing however, when you turn around and see many others who work for you and source Joy and Purpose through our \shared work and creation. Work and Life should be integrated not compartmentalized. I love that there is no real dividing line between work and play for me.
- When making key business decisions, what factors do you consider most crucial, and how do you ensure they align with the overall company vision?
I am honored to lead a high-performance team of HR leaders who partner with our business clients to meet them wherever they are on their journey, to being a best place to work. We have experienced tremendous growth and proudly nearly every client has been sourced through word of mouth. Our appeal and success is due to our personal dedication for each and every business we partner to serve.
I am blessed to have truly conscientious and driven people on our team. Thankfully, they live our core values and instead of me recognizing every time a core value is witnessed, they have taken peer reward recognition to be a strong reinforcement. Even today, I was thanked by my Admin Extraordinaire for her shout outs as she just cashed in on a new car seat for her beautiful child. What more can I say? It is all about how you make people feel.
I feel it is imperative to get hands on experience doing what you seek to learn. Make sure it brings you joy before investing time, energy, and dedicating your life to it. Enjoy the journey and be prepared to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Surround yourself with people who inspire and support you, but also don’t patronize you. Remember, even if it gets harder, or takes longer, stay diligent. Anything you love will be worth it. Overcoming fear and the ASK are key to where I am today. I also feel everyone deserves a coach as accountability to self it paramount in achieving your goals.
- Have you encountered any gender biases or discrimination in your professional journey? How did you handle such situations, and what advice would you give to other women facing similar challenges?
Bottom line, women remain an opportunity and can develop teams that foster collaboration. If you do not have a positive work culture, talent will not tolerate it for long. Creating a culture conversation take rigor where two-way exchange is fostered and upheld. We were recognized as a Best & Brightest® company to work for in Chicago before the pandemic. Regardless, any organization committed to excellence knows culture can change with every promotion, hire, or termination. Put separation and a pandemic in the mix and more conversations were needed. If you do not have a common language for how leadership lives across the organization, morale can suffer. We implemented pulse Covid Surveys in addition to our standard culture surveys and metrics. Anonymous pulse is important, but we also began more company check ins across peer levels. We have kept Monday Motivation, Happy Hours and Wellness Wednesdays with the long term in mind as we feel we created a deeper connection during these tough times. We also had Chaplains in the workplace before Covid-19. I was thrilled to see them working more proactively to connect with our team in a virtual world and we had high utilization these past 12 months. I feel proudest of what we discussed, exchanged on and shared. The subject matter has not been around easy subjects. We had a team meeting to discuss racial unrest and while it was emotional, I was touched that my business has a culture that feels psychologically safe. Where I can hear and see my team sharing with each other and beyond without fear of peer judgement but rather seeking to learn from one another.
I think the initial challenges of being a CEO are many. One is needing human capital and financial capital to scale and grow. Many will not grow because they are not investing in talent and often it is the CEO’s job to bear debt. I made a calculated risk to invest in my talent and invest in my bench strength. In the early years, I was reacting to my business and as a mother and wife it can be a challenge to orchestrate work life integration. I look back and realize that when I put down a process, hired capable talent, and disappeared to let them work, the process proved through; and now, we can do it again, and again, and again. You must trust the people you hire, and you must trust the process. When it is time to take a calculated risk, you invest and do what you can to increase the odds.
- What is the most important takeaway/lesson from the COVID-19 epidemic, in your opinion?
I see it as totally fine. The USP (Unique Selling Proposition) is that we meet our clients at their pace and budget and bring a team with 40 years of aggregate experience day one.
We offer small and midsize businesses HR services on an ala carte, project or retainer basis. We meet our clients wherever they are on their journey to be an employer of choice and we also meet them at their pace and budget. Our Shared Services approach allows us to build HR departments from scratch and align them to business strategy. While we see great value in the middle market, we do have some larger companies that augment their internal HR teams with strategic project initiatives from our team. Software is not HR. And HR is more than payroll and benefits. Building a high-performance culture that drives innovation and profitability requires leaders at all levels. HR infrastructure can uphold the Culture Invitation and once it is strategically aligned and reinforced a company can create workforce alignment empowering leaders to innovate amidst even the toughest climate in business.
We have always trended with growth year after year, however amidst the pandemic we were hard hit like many. Thankfully, we have successfully returned to pre Covid-19 revenues levels and this is something we are pleased with given the level of uncertainty in the market. We have revealed some new innovative ways to reach our clients and as talent shifts occur, we are ready to help the businesses that seek to retain talent.
Ironically, the biggest threat to the marketplace is talent, even now. Only the truly forward-thinking companies will make winning moves even in the downturn of economy. In 2023, we will be launching new opportunities for seasoned HR practitioners across the nation. Proudly our talent currently spreads across five states and the boundaries no longer apply.
- What advice would you give to aspiring business leaders who aim to make a significant impact in their respective industries?
I think it is important to be vulnerable and authentic. Clearly no one can be good at everything, but everyone can be good at something. Knowing oneself is important because if you don’t know you need others to be successful then it will be hard building a business. People will always matter, and a good leader knows that.
At HRBoost, we have practiced and indoctrinated virtue-based ethics into our business. From day one, our Vision was to bring JOY and PURPOSE to people through their work. We employ Chaplains to be 24/7 available to our Boosters as we believe we are care givers to not only our clients but our peers inside our organization as well. We have core values that reinforce this virtue based shared values and these were not just top down created but created by the “we” of the team back in 2012. It is our shared values that guide us, bring us together and keeps us gut checking how we treat each other even in stressful or challenging times. HRBoost puts its money where the preaching is but empowers the employees to see and recognize with an actual allowance each month that can be bestowed upon a coworker in a public peer feedback platform. Proudly, our team passed over 4000 points back and forth last year alone. These points cash out into paid time off, taking two teammates out for lunch or dinner, and more! Even for charitable donations. We really believe everyone should experience joy and affirmation of their God given graces at work.
- What have you envisioned for the future regarding your role at your organization and for your personal ambitions as well?
Given we are not your Broker, your Attorney or a 1-800 number. We believe HR expertise is essential to any business as they grow their enterprise. Our Shared Services approach allows businesses to access strategic HR at their pace and budget all while taking a holistic approach to integrating a culture plan that enables their strategic and/or operational plans as a business.
We deliver skilled talent to our clients. We also believe they need both strategic and tactical resources at the same time. One human is not ideal as there are various cognitive abilities to optimize HR strategically. We believe our shared services approach to the middle market is the PEO Alternative. And yes, the middle market needs an alternative.
We serve businesses spanning over multiple sectors; these include Professional Services, Non-Profit Organizations, High Tech, Manufacturing, Staffing firms, Hospitality, and Healthcare. Our clients are typically from high growth business with 50-250 employees. Our model is to meet the clients wherever they are, thus we provide full-service embedded HR support, project to project support, culture design and management training, employee programs and assessments, virtual support, and phone support. I am honored to lead a high-performance team of HR leaders who partners with our business clients to meet them wherever they are on their journey, to being a best place to work. We have experienced tremendous growth and proudly nearly every client has been sourced through word of mouth. Our appeal and success is due to our personal dedication for each and every client.
We remain client centric, and our team is truly excited to be recently recognized for our commitment to Diversity Excellence by the Daily Herald. It is recognition like this that keeps us believing in the hands-on contributions every person on our team brings. Boosters know everyone can lead from where they stand and the traditional hierarchy need not be upheld at HRBoost®.
Well, much is changing in the field of HR right now. Many are working remotely versus on premises in the field post Covid-19. DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives are no longer policy statements but proactive employee opportunities to engage talent in creating impactful active diversity and inclusion results. Furthermore, digital analytics are becoming more and more important as HR metrics can drive overall strategic and operational results given talent shortages in many industries and increased competition for skilled talent.
Awards:
Nicole serves on the Chicago NAWBO Membership Committee and a Star Conference Global Speaker (cite all the women’s conferences and came home Best Speaker from Paris 2021. She also mentors some newer female entrepreneurs who reach out to her on an ad hoc basis.
Graduated Goldman Sachs 10,000 small businesses Chicago Cohort 9 2014.
Chair Chicago Peer Group Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.
Advisory Board National Best and Brightest.
3 Years on OMNI Board of Directors, Chair of Governance
WBE – Women’s Business Enterprise WBE WBENC Certified (every year)
Certified Women Owned Business
1 million bucket – 5 million category Still growing and possibly franchised as aiming to franchise in 2023