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, 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