Meet Chris Collier | Co-Founder & Managing Partner- Amass Solutions

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Collier and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
It is cliché but without risk there is no reward. I spent a lot of time hiding away from risk in the early days of my career. I was looking for a safety net. I wanted security and professional growth, and I felt entitled to it. When you are working for someone else it is very transactional- I give you my time and loyalty, and you give me a career path that should theoretically be rewarding and soul filling. In my experience, however, I never got the latter part of that bargain. Companies would pressure me to sell, but be unwilling to sign the terms for new deals I would bring to them. I was constantly in a catch-22. I had all the expectations of selling a business forced on me, but I could not control the closing discussion, the term sheet, or the contract. I cannot overstate the stress and frustration of having all my business stopped by the legal team before it could get started- I wasted 10 years of my career in this repetitive cycle. I realized I was an expendable asset and that was being forced to comply with low risk policies. I learned I was a pawn. I had traded in my full potential for a position within a company with lower risk, higher security, and a marginalized opportunity for my personal and professional growth.
Eventually I decided it was not worth it.

Stepping out unto your own is daunting. once you take that security robe off and you realize that you are your own boss and the buck stops with you, you really do feel naked in a way. You make the decision. You asses the risk you are comfortable with. You own your mistakes. You learn as you go. This was my awakening, this was the soul filling work I had always wanted and I couldn’t have gotten to that point without seizing the opportunity to do it myself with my business partner.

How much risk do we own now? Well, we started with 20 people working for us- that is 20 full time jobs. 20 families depending on us. 20 bank accounts that need to be paid on time, 20 sets of payroll tax liabilities we need to process, 20 lives and their partners counting on us to do our job, to ensure they can keep the lights on.

That was 3 years ago, and now headcount is now at 250. Our risk exposure has increased by a factor of 12.5.

We keep on learning. We do not have time for excuses. When we make mistakes, it is an apology and lesson. We move forward.

I look back on where I was at 5 years ago and I laugh at how small minded I was. Risk aversion is like a cancer to our full potential. If you avoid it you can never reach your ideal self. My only advice about risk would be that sometimes you got to just say fuck it and go for it. I have changed my mantra and now live by another saying (unfortunately this is also cliché)- Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

By taking on risk you force yourself to grow as a person, when we do this as individuals, across business and society, it makes the world collectively a better place, with more opportunity and more freedom.

I am still working on this, but I always try to focus in on what I care about- what I think is most important to me everyday, and what are the risks I face to protecting those things, and how I can go about protecting those things from the risk. What I believe is that the risk of losing myself in an unrewarding career path, and the depression that would bring on, and the way that would affect my loved ones, the things I care about, then it is incredibly clear. the biggest risk to the most important things to me is in fact being risk averse professionally. Because being risk averse professionally would only lead me to a dead end job, at a dead end company, where all the owners have already sold their share and made the big payday.

So the lowest risk solution to me personally is going to be the highest risk solution to me professionally, because that is the only way to ensure I am going to get to my highest potential. it is the only way I can have the true soul filling work that everyone craves.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Amass Solutions is a full service recruitment and staffing firm. We focus on driving specialized customer service with the help of top notch technology utilization, and a passion for service mentality. What sets us apart from our competition is this true dedication to our employees and our clients. In many cases we are hiring ex felons these are people that have been ignored by our society. they may have paid their debt to society, but in many cases these peoples professional lives are over after the get out of jail. We love getting them an opportunity to get their lives back on track. we handle the education they need for their new job, we help them get bank accounts, we work with their parole officers, and we give them a true opportunity. There are not many firms like ours doing that out there, many staffing companies just look at their employees as numbers, as billable headcount. We do not, we want to treat out people like they are part of the family, When one of our second chancers gets a permanent offer from our clients, and goes on to grow their career there, that is more rewarding than a paycheck for us. That’s an example of us helping improve the community. That’s what it is all about.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If it is crawfish season, I am going to the Boot. If it is not crawfish season, I will still probably go to the Boot haha.

another spot in the heights I love is The Post Beer & Wine Garden (get a steak there)

Something I love about Houston is the diversity. I just went to Post (not to be confused with the post beer and wine garden) for the first time and it blew me away- all the different types of food in the food court, they had a film festival going on, and catching the sunset on the roof was amazing.

For live music I would recommend Cowboy Surfer in the memorial area- it is one of the few true singer songwriter rooms in Houston. there is a band called Havoc Wagon that plays there a lot that have become my favorite Houston based original band.

Other live music places I love: Darwin’s Pub, The Big Easy, The Mucky Duck.

My friends and I are all obsessed with The Red Lion

I love mountain biking at the Anthills or up in Cypress, or Memorial park. I have a goal to canoe the bayou one day.

I would recommend making it to Galveston and walking the strand- its a cool mix of NOLA/Texas vibes. Tour the Moody Mansion and the Bishop Mansion- the history there is great. While there you have to go to the old quarter to check out a show- this is a place where Townes Van Zandt himself played with Willie nelson and everyone else back in the day. also while you are there go fishing! you can go out on a jetty or take a charter out.

Corkscrew BBQ in Old Towne Spring

Truth BBQ on Washington

Pinkertons BBQ in the Heights

Discovery Green downtown- go splish splashing in the fountains, and then go to Phoenicia afterwards for Mediterranean food and just nice vibes.

Sunnys downtown bar is ridiculous and amazing, I love it.

Shady Acres Saloon in the heights area

Late night Ramen: Ninja Ramen on Washington….its the best.

Go to China town and hit up Mala Sichuan (they have a location in Montrose too) just order everything they have

There are so many great vietnamese places. we really Like Pho 9 on I10 in the energy Corridor.

Just GRK is the best Greek food in the city- they have a really spicy habanero sauce that I am obsessed with too.

Chavez Mexican Grill for Tex mex on Gessner

Taqueria Lupita is inside of a Shell gas station on the corner of Blalock and Westview and that is the best taqueria in Houston, in my well experienced opinion.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First goes to my wife. without whom, I have no idea where I would be, she is the source of all my motivation.

Secondly, my business partner, James Bramble. We could not have done this without each other. We keep each other in check and have each others blind spots covered. He is my brother.

I have to give a shoutout to my parents, who are also entrepreneurs and co founders of the top, most trusted, legal recruitment firm in Houston, Collier Legal Search. Their support during this process has been incredible, and they are great examples to learn from.

I would also say University of Houston- Downtown is a wonderful institution. James Bramble, my business partner got his MBA there, and we added his co pupil Neil Randhawa to the team from his MBA program. Neil has been a great asset to Amass Solutions and UHD is a great, growing center for higher education that is providing affordable and inclusive opportunity to the people of Houston.

Website: https://www.amass-solutions.com/