I had always dreamed of starting and running my own business. In 2003, I became more serious. It became apparent that my calling was in Executive Search, which had been my focus since 1998.

At the time I was doing very well as the in-house executive recruiter for a Registered Investment Advisor in San Francisco. My first child was recently born and my wife and I, both from Los Angeles, thought it was time to move home. So I spoke with the owners of the firm and told them of my plans. They were supportive, and we developed a timeline for my departure. I would begin my transition back to Los Angeles and begin working on my search firm in January, 2004.

My employer agreed to be my first client, and I was off. After about a week of walking around with an ear-to-ear grin, I realized I had absolutely no idea where to start.  How do you start a business? With the website, phone number, logo? Before any of that, you need a name. So my pen and paper came out, and page after page of scribbling names like-TRF (Tarin's Recruiting Firm) “TURF …No”, and Yankovich Staffing “…terrible” and TRY Recruiting (my initials) “…try recruiting, really?” and Yank Search Group “…ahhh.” I realized my name wasn't the easiest to incorporate into the firm name.  

Then I looked up at my calendar and saw my handwritten inspirational sticky note which read: Tenacity, Knowledge, Patience. As I stared at it, I immediately knew that was it: my company's name. I switched the order, but that is the story of how KTP came to be named.

KTP Executive Search & Career Placement Consulting opened its doors in June 2004. The name was later modified to just KTP Executive Search, and most recently to KTP Executive Search Group, Inc.

To this day I still have the very same sticky note, with about 1/2 inch of tape on it, in my office where I can see it every day.

Tarin R. Yankovich, CPC