Obviously, this is my last post for this year, after a week or more off active work, and fun with the family and holidays as expected. I have kept tabs with a few plans for next year, while reflecting on this year’s.

It has been a success with our ventures, especially the Executive Search service. While the recession has surely affected all businesses, and particularly the recruitment industry, I am quite pleased with the year’s outcome.

Sometihing else that has kept me busy is investing and growing some niche job boards. Unfortunately, one of the jobsites we created this year for the Oil & Gas industry didn’t work, and we did the natural thing – pack it in. We wont be the first nor the last to do so, but the wealth of experience learnt cannot be overemphasized.

I have also dabbled into Social Recruiting, and managed to complete a project for a major UK client a few months ago. This will be buzzing in 2010 and beyond, but its early days to track its wider acceptance.

So, 2010? What is it gonna be? For one, my passion seems to be flowing in the direction of Online Recruitment and Recruitment Media. Actual recruitment is fun, but then what does one do with one’s innate passions?

Expect a few announcements in early 2010 which will reflect an implementation of some of our future plans. Having said that, the journey has been the reward. See you on the flip side.

Jimmy C, as he called himself stylishly built very successful recruitment companies and sold them, raking in millions of pounds, before starting a private equity firm, assist entrepreneurs build successful businesses.

The book, which was his autobiography, was quite a different from the books I have read recently.

Going from Barack Obama’s Dreams of my Father, which was a very detailed, deep, intelligently-written and heavily worded narrative to James Caan’s From Brick Lane to Dragons Den, I felt a Fresher and Gentler voice; Simplistic andHumanistic words – I found it quite refreshing adjusting to his style, even though I have been used to the more complex set of prose.

But what do you expect when one is the most prominent US polical figure and the later a renowned UK businessman.

The book is good, perfect for the business mind. I learnt how one can watch what other people are doing and do the opposite. James took quite a lot of chances during his life, and incredibly at a very young age, and its hard to find successful people, who built their businesses from scratch.

Born Nazeem Khan, he took up the name James Caan, after watching him in the movie. James thought it sounded cool. Guess where he chills out every now and then? Cannes, south of France, in his yatch. After visiting this cote d’azur paradise in 2005, I quite envy Jimmy C, and have a future goal to have a holiday home there as well. Why not?

His extended bio is shown below, with some more info about his book:

JAMES Caan is one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs. Dropping out of school at just sixteen, he started his business life with no qualifications and two pieces of advice: ‘observe the masses and do the opposite’ and ‘always look for opportunities where both parties benefit’.

Armed with just these two pieces of fatherly wisdom, extraordinary charm and the yellow pages, James Caan built a market-leading business with a turnover of more than £130 million from a broom cupboard.

The Real Deal is the incredible story of James’ remarkable life. From his childhood as a Pakistani immigrant to the phenomenal success of his first company, this book traces James Caan’s journey to both financial and personal maturity.

It deals with his fear at realising his goals too early, and offers a frank account of what success at 30 really means.

The Real Deal brings us bang up to the present, including the truth about his role on Dragons’ Den, what his charity work in Kashmir means to him, and how he has come to completely re-evaluate what money is really worth.