The Persuader Steve Semmens celebrates 20 years in business

The Bathurst businessman, known as The Persuader, has just celebrated 20 years of being his own boss and imparting his knowledge on the business world.

His business got its start in Brisbane in 2003, when he decided to leave behind his career in the finance industry as a debt collector and start his own recruitment company.

"I was just tired of the political games and things like that and I just thought I'd give it a go myself, and recruitment I was really good at, so it just sort of followed on from there," Mr Semmens said.

"I got a really good name in Brisbane in relation to being able to get people, particularly in hard to find areas, and provided my clients with the people they needed."

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He had a variety of clients who he helped to find staff for, including some big names like Boral.

He also dipped his toe into business coaching, where he provided training to some of his clients around getting the best out of their staff.

"The Persuader" was the name he gave to that side of his recruitment business.

Ten years into his business, his family decided to make the move to Bathurst.

His wife, Sharyn, was from Bathurst originally and was ready to come home.

By that stage, Mr Semmens said he'd "had enough of recruitment" and switched up his business to focus on business coaching.

"When we got to Bathurst, I just put up a little announcement that I was now a business coach and started from that," he said.

He has no regrets about relocating to Bathurst, which has been a great environment for him to raise his children and grow his business in.

"We love it. Bathurst has been a really, really good choice," he said.

"It's a great town, really great people, made some really good friends, got some fantastic clients, and we're just really enjoying it."

Running a business can be a really challenging endeavour, which is why many never reach the 20-year milestone.

For Mr Semmens, he said it has been his clients that have kept him going for all these years.

"My clients are fantastic people and are really a joy to deal with, so as long as I am of value to them, in relation to the advice I give and things like that, that will continue as far as I know," he said.

"I've just really enjoyed the people that I've been able to help and, certainly since I've been in Bathurst, the amount of local support I've had has been tremendous."

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