Nextep News
February 2007
Brian Fayak feature in The Oklahoman
By Trisha Evans
Business Writer
Do you know who drives the shabbiest car in town?
The mechanic does.
Brian Fayak took this joke seriously when he started Nextep Inc., a human resource outsourcing firm. He knew he'd have to mange his own people very well before tackling the needs of others.
In 2006, Nextep was voted "Best Place to Work in Oklahoma” by its employees through a survey done by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of commerce.
He has achieved success, but it wasn't under the best of circumstances that he got started building the company.
In 1996, Fayak moved his wife, Jill, and newborn son from Austin, Texas, back to their hometown of Altus to be near her brother who was dying with cancer.
"We learned from that, that life is short, and if you want to do something in life, you need to take the risk and do it,” he said. "You never know what might happen.”
Fayak took what he learned from his previous job at Staff Leasing in Austin and started Nextep. The business was born in Norman, mainly because his newly-married sister had a spare bedroom and a pull-out couch he and his brother-in-law took turns sleeping on.
"One week my brother-in-law would get the extra bedroom and I'd have to sleep on the couch,” he said. "What my sister thought would be a couple months, turned out to be a year ... probably 15-16 months.”
Not only were his sister and brother-in-law instrumental to getting the company started, his father, Ed Fayak, took another mortgage on his house to help finance it.
"He actually put it all on the line to back the CD we started the company with,” Brian Fayak said. "Hillary Clinton said it takes a village to raise a kid. We like to say it took two families to start Nextep.”
The Oklahoman recently sat down with Fayak to discuss his life, both inside and outside his office 3550 W Robinson in Norman. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation:
Q: What do you like best about your job?
A: Working our company culture and making sure people are engaged. Eighty percent of human resources is transactional government compliance and vendor management, but it's the other 20 percent that makes all the difference. That 20 percent is culture and how you get your employees to be engaged in your vision and where you're going. It's been really fun and exciting to experience the power of an engaged workforce and an engaged employee. It truly is the little things that make all the difference. It's very important that you look at the human nature of managing your people.
Q: How has being a father affected your life?
A: It helps me realize how important it is for everyone to have flexibility in their work schedule — to be able to take care of their children. Taking my kids to school is very important to my wife and I — going to kids' events, school plays, everything that comes with being a parent. If your kid has something going on, that's important, and you need to work around that. People will work around what's important and still get their job done. It's really a trust factor.
Q: What are you most passionate about?
A: Life. When I define 'life' I mean my spirituality, my family and my work, and that's the order I would put them in. I need all three of those to be balanced in my life for everything to fall into place. My faith, my family and my work is the way I look at everything.
Q: How did you get to where you are today?
A: It was a long road and some of it I think you forget, you know? I'd say it was probably 3 percent inspiration and 97 percent perspiration. Also, throw in a good dose of luck and good fortune. Really, I think the biggest key for anybody who's an entrepreneur is passion. It wouldn't be education or even having the greatest idea, but that one thing needs to be passion. You have to have unbridled passion for what it is you're doing. If you have that, people are drawn to that and it will get you through the good times and the tough times, and if you stick to it you'll be successful.
Q: What do you do after a stressful day?
A: I always make sure I work out and do a little cardio. I mostly do that in the morning. Mostly after a stressful day, I'll go home and see the kids and do something with them.
Q: Is the HRO industry growing? Why?
A: Human resource outsourcing is a multitude of things to people. It's growing and is a huge market segment. Most companies don't have anyone to do HR until they have around 100 people. The problem with that approach is all the miscommunication.
Many times, we use co-employment to leverage the efficiencies that come from reporting under one federal ID number. That allows us to take on certain employment liabilities for the company.
My dad is my employee, because the business that he's involved with in Altus is a client of mine. So not only did he help me get started, he's a client of mine. So it's always a joke. His pay check is signed by me.
Q: Ten years ago did you expect Nextep to be where it is today?
A: That's a tough question. Clearly, I did. We had a business plan that was laid out to be here. However, there was doubt at times and the road took different turns than I expected. It went in totally different directions at certain times. You're not going to get where you're going without having a plan, but you better be ready to make some detours along the way.
Q: What's the future of Nextep?
A: We've been very successful and very blessed. We'll grow 30-40 percent this year. I would say Nextep is like a gangly teenager that is a little more mature than most their age. We see great things on the horizon for Nextep. It will be the major regional provider for human resource outsourcing in the next five years. We have a great state and a great economy in which to do it.
