Selling a recruitment business is not an easy game!

This week on the pod, we sat down with Matt Fox from Exitus Advisory.

His backstory is wild, starting as a rep selling bar crawls on the Malia strip to completely accidentally falling into recruitment.

But the real eye opener of this episode is his journey as an agency founder. Matt built a 30 person agency and could smell the finish line of selling it.

The heads of terms were signed. The deal was done. And then...

Boris Johnson went on TV to announce the first national COVID lockdown. The deal collapsed, jobs vanished overnight, and he was forced to go back to the drawing board.

Matt talks through the brutal reality of dealing with toxic staff, the mental toll of managing a business through a crisis, and how he eventually rebuilt the company to secure a successful exit on his own terms.

It takes some serious grit to be so close to the finish, have it all pulled away and then go back round and have another crack.

After going through all of that, he helps other recruitment founders prepare their businesses for sale, and he dropped some incredible advice on what makes an agency actually valuable, which is super useful for anyone who's got their eye on selling.

In this episode we cover:

• Working on the Malia strip and how it doesn't quite prepare you for management.

• The brutal story of a multi-million-pound exit collapsing overnight.

• The emotional and mental toll of managing toxic staff and bad behavior.

• What actually makes a recruitment agency sellable (and how to increase your valuation).

• Why you need to step away from billing if you want to sell.

• Our most thoughtful gift to date.

• Lee's Lunchbox: If you had to start again tomorrow with no network and no brand, would you still build a recruitment business?

The trio is finally back together (and fully illuminated by the new lighting rig) for a long-overdue catch-up and our official Q1 wrap-up.Before we even touch the business stats, we cover the goings on from the last few weeks. There's stories about breaking down on the M25 while on the phone with "Gran Rogan," the stressful reality of driving at night, and why secretly intercepting and eating your kids' Easter chocolate is actually a noble fatherly duty. We also dive into the awkwardness of playing a card game called "Dick Dick" with the in-laws, and the absolute lifesaver that is a neighbour with a spare car battery.On the business front, we take a hard look at Q1. We talk about the stress of the Chrome Extension going down and the massive V2 rebuild that came out of it—plus the flawless launch of the new Reporting dashboards. Finally, we look ahead to Q2, tease the upcoming integrations, and place our highly uneducated bets for the Grand National.In this episode we cover:- Diesel filter nightmares, limp mode, and M25 breakdowns- The extreme logistics of modern-day Easter egg hunts- A Q1 business reality check: The highs, the lows, and the new Chrome Extension- Why we are so pumped for Q2 Integrations (VoIP, multi-posters, and more)- Lee's Lunchbox: What everyday object would be terrifying if it were 10x bigger?- Our official Grand National picks

We are back as just a pair this week with some serious upgrades and not just to the lighting rig.

Before diving into a quick Q1 business wrap-up and celebrating our best quarter to date, we have a lot of ground to cover.

We swap stories from the weekend, including a 100-mile cycling struggle that ended with eating pickles in the bath and smuggling KFC through a window, plus a wholesome Center Parcs trip with the future in-laws that featured three strikes in bowling and a questionable performance in rubber-animal archery.

We also recount a bizarre encounter with Keir Starmer and his undercover security detail on a hike, and round off by detailing exactly what happens when a monkey with IBS decides to use your back windscreen wiper as toilet paper at Longleat Safari Park.

Finally, we wrap things up with a brand new question from the lunchbox: If animals gained human intelligence, which species would become the biggest problem for society? (Spoiler: It involves rats taking down London and whales manipulating global oil prices).

In this episode we cover:

- Studio and rabbit hutch upgrades

- Spotting politicians and undercover security in the wild

- 100-mile cycles and extreme post-ride hunger

- Surviving Center Parcs with the in-laws and the dreaded "Spa Hangover"

- Longleat Safari monkeys causing havoc

- A brief Q1 business update and why we are finally forecasting properly

- Lee's Lunchbox: The global threat of highly intelligent wildlife

In this episode of the Giig It A Rest podcast, we sit down with Max Jones from Isotope Capital.

Max shares the gritty reality of what it takes to transition from a successful recruitment consultant to a thriving agency founder.

Isotope Capital specialises in providing the complete back-office infrastructure—finance, legal, marketing, and tech—for recruiters taking the leap to start their own businesses.

What to expect in this episode:

• Why you must calculate your projected first-year billings under the assumption that zero clients will follow you.

• Are you really a rainmaker, or are you just working inherited accounts? Max breaks down the critical difference and why it dictates your success as a founder.

• The 12-to-18 Month Runway: Why deciding to launch an agency is rarely an overnight decision, and the exact steps you should take before handing in your notice.

• The Truth About Restrictive Covenants: How to navigate non-competes and why having an honest, open conversation with your current employer could save your pipeline.

• The Mental Game of Entrepreneurship: Navigating the pressures of starting a business, surviving the early days of zero profit, and why consistency wins every time.

  
  

  Enjoy x

In this week's episode, we're navigating broken studio lights, rabbit sabotage, and a surprisingly eventful Mother's Day involving a deer stuck in a fence.

We break down our recent trip to the REC Expo... Was it worth the entry fee?

Plus, we dive into a crucial conversation for anyone running a solo recruitment desk. Ahead of an upcoming workshop, we brainstorm the three pillars of solo success: building leverage, mastering your mindset, and shifting your sales strategy from "asking for jobs" to actually adding value for free.

Expect updates on the great eardrum recovery, a review of the I Swear movie and Louis Theroux's Manosphere documentary, and a trip into Lee's Lunchbox where we ask: would you spin the "Roulette Wheel of Life" and start all over again?

The market is shifting, the sun is out, and Giig has officially had its best week ever.

In this episode, we are cutting through the typical industry doom and gloom to share some massive updates on the Giig platform. We break down our new integration strategy, the reality of speaking on tech panels, and why you need to stop getting distracted by shiny new AI tools and start fixing your actual bottlenecks.

(We also spend a concerning amount of time aggressively reviewing the Paranormal Activity stage play and debating our survival tactics in the Cars universe).

In this episode, we cover:

• 📈 The Best Week Ever: Why we are ignoring the negative timeline, staying optimistic, and how the recent surge in sign-ups points to a positive shift in the recruitment market.

• 🎤 Getting "Overflashed": The reality of representing Giig on a recruitment tech panel, getting introduced to the room as a "terrible salesman," and the simple truth about automating your review process.

• 🤝 Major Giig Integrations: We announce our upcoming integration with Shazamme for recruitment websites, a massive new job board aggregator tool, and explain why we are officially retiring our own website builder to focus purely on making the CRM world-class.

• 🍿 Lee’s Lunchbox: The ultimate movie survival question. If you had to survive in one cinematic universe for a year, are you picking life as a moped in Cars, mining with the Dwarves in Lord of the Rings, or drinking butternut squash beer at Hogwarts?

This episode is a shocker... (Literally).... Thanks to Stewart's very kind gift that 1000 volts through you... Apart from getting a physical shock, one of the most mind blowing facts from todays conversation is that Stewart is the proud owner of 700 Star Wars figures! (Mental Right)In this episode, we sit down with Stuart Roberts, the founder of MAYACHI Advisory and a 25-year veteran of recruitment finance. Stewart is the ultimate "Fractional CFO" for scaling agencies, that need a steady hand on the numbers. Alongside all of the usual waffle there's some serious value adding stuff in here as Stewart explains exactly why relying on a standard accountant or automated software to manage your books could be costing you tens of thousands of pounds in tax every single year.We dive deep into the real "survival math" of running a desk, discussing exactly what it takes to build an agency you can actually sell, why you should probably sack yourself based on your current KPI output, and the brutal reality of the post-exit identity crisis.But it’s not all spreadsheets and P&Ls. We also discover that Stuart owns over 700 Star Wars action figures, regularly wakes up at the end of the train line in Cambridge after networking.In this episode, we cover:The £22k Mistake: How Stuart saved an agency £22,000 in corporation tax simply by adjusting how they accounted for future commission payouts.The 65% Client Churn: The simple (but terrifying) retention exercise you need to run on your client list right now to see if your business is actually growing or just treading water.Building to Sell: Why perm-only agencies are almost impossible to sell, and the exact steps you need to take to build a replicable, process-driven business that buyers actually want.The Post-Exit Crash: Stewart opens up about the severe mental health toll and identity crisis that hit him after he successfully sold his 120-agency back-office business.The Offshore Advantage: Why more and more UK agencies are outsourcing their resourcing to South Africa and the Philippines, and how to actually make it work.Lee’s Lunchbox: Stewart answers a tough question about when to double down, diversify, or pivot entirely when the recruitment market tightens.If you want to know how to structure your business for an exit, optimise your taxes, and avoid falling asleep standing up in a kebab shop, this is the one for you!

What happens when you mix recruitment updates, middle aged medical exams, and the invention of a new Winter Olympic sport?

You get this weeks episode of Giig It A Rest,

This week, it's back to the two of us, sitting down to catch up on everything from the realities of tracking your numbers in the new Giig reporting module, to the absolute chaos of accidentally launching yourself off the side of a ski slope in a whiteout.

Andy explains why he has started shamelessly stealing my old LinkedIn posts (and why it’s actually working), while I gets brutally honest about my "marginal decline".

Plus, we open "Lee’s Lunchbox" to answer a crucial question: If you could invent a new Winter Olympic sport, what would it be?

In this episode, we cover:

• 📱 The "Disconnect" of Social Media: Why Andy is scheduling Luke's old posts, and the psychology behind the fear of putting yourself out there.

• 🏥 The Reality of "Marginal Decline": Luke's hilarious (and slightly grim) journey through the NHS, involving samples, blood tests, and why you shouldn't ignore your health just to "crack on."

• 📈 The Giig Reports Launch: Behind the scenes of pushing the new Reporting Dashboard live, scaling the database for 600,000+ candidates, and why tracking your pipeline is the most important thing you can do for your desk.

• ⛷️ "Squint Racing": The boys reveal their self-invented Winter Olympic sport, the tactical advantage of the slipstream, and the time Luke accidentally led a family of four off a cliff.

• 🥚 The Great "Creme Egg" Debate: A very serious discussion on the spelling and pronunciation of Easter’s greatest chocolate.

Whether you are here for the software updates, the outbound networking advice, or just to hear two blokes talk about clinging-filming a dinghy, this one has it all.