You built the agency. What comes after it?
Financial planning and coaching for recruitment agency owners, from someone who has worked in the industry.
In 30 seconds
- A plan for what you want after the agency, or alongside it
- Your own money, so that less of your future rests on one deal
- An adviser who has worked in recruitment, with everything you tell me kept in confidence
- An initial fee of 3% on the first £100,000 and less above that, then 0.68% a year, plus fund and platform charges
- Nothing to pay until you’ve seen the plan and said yes
You built an agency from a desk and a phone. What do you want it to give you back?
Ask a founder that and the answer is usually choices. The choice to step off the desk, or to sell when it suits them.
The trouble is that nearly all of it rides on the business, and the value of the business walks out of the door at half five every night. Your own finances probably haven’t had much attention. There’s a pension from your last employer that nobody has looked at, and cash sitting in the company in case.
I’m Si Lees. I worked in recruitment for [X] years before I became a financial adviser, so hiring freezes and earn-outs aren’t news to me. I’m independent, I have an MBA, and I’m happy to work alongside your accountant.
And what we discuss stays between us.
We start with a conversation about what you want.
Then I gather the facts and spend a month or two on research.
I come back with a written plan. It covers your pension, your investments, the cover you need and what you’d personally need from a deal.
If you want to go ahead, I put it in place and we review it every year. And when an offer lands, or you’re weighing up something new, you can talk it through with me before you answer.
I’ll tell you what all of that costs before you agree to any of it.
If the agency is your retirement plan right now, book a discovery meeting with me at Staltosi Financial Planning.
Nobody can tell you what the agency will sell for, and I won’t pretend to. You won’t pay me anything until you’ve seen my recommendations and decided to go ahead, and if you decide against it, you owe me nothing.
Two things up front
I work for you. I’m not using you to get to your team. If you’d ever like me to talk to your billers, that’s your call and it would happen on your terms.
Recruitment is a small world. What you tell me is confidential, and I don’t discuss one client with another.
What changes
What I help with
What comes next
What you want after the agency, or alongside it, and roughly when. That comes before any talk of pensions.
What you’d need from a deal
What you’d need if the sale were smaller or later than you hope, and how much of that has to come from the agency.
Getting money out along the way
The mix of salary, dividends and company pension contributions, worked out with your accountant.
Cover between founders
Protection between the founders, and on the people the agency can’t easily do without.
Planning round an earn-out
I’ll help you build a plan that works on the cash paid on completion. Anything the earn-out pays comes on top.
The old pension
The one from your last employer that nobody has looked at since you left.
Thinking it through
An offer, a new venture, a co-founder who wants out. I’ll look at what each one would mean for your own plans.
A client like you
[A short, real client story to come from Si: an agency founder, what was going on, and what we organised. The Alternatives document sets out the shape.]
- Who they are, in a line
- What was going on
- What they wanted
- What we organised
- One sentence from them
How it works, in short
See all six steps1. We talk
A discovery meeting of an hour or two. It’s free and you’re not committed to anything.
2. I do the homework
You fill in some forms, we meet again, and then I spend four to eight weeks gathering the facts and researching your options.
3. You see the plan
I show you what I recommend, in writing, with the costs set out. You decide whether to go ahead, and you’ve paid nothing up to this point.
4. I put it in place and stay with you
I handle the paperwork. After that we review the plan every year and you can ring me in between. The fees page shows what that costs.
Things people say to me
“I’ll sort it when I sell.”
I’d start sooner. Three to five years before a sale is a good time to begin. Some of this takes a few years to set up, and it’s easier to negotiate when you already know what you need.
“Every spare pound goes back into headcount.”
Fair enough, it’s how you built the agency. I’m not asking for every pound. We agree what the business needs to keep first, and start with what’s left.
“I had an adviser once. Never heard from him after the first year.”
You’ll have my number. We meet for a full review every year and I’m on the phone in between.
“What if the market turns and I need the cash back?”
Then the plan should already allow for it. We set the reserve the business keeps before anything comes out. Money in a pension can’t be touched until you’re at least 55, rising to 57 from April 2028, so we decide what stays within reach before anything goes in.
“0.68% a year. What do I get for it?”
I keep the plan up to date, look after the pensions and investments, and I’m the call you make when an offer or a resignation lands. You can end it in writing whenever it stops being worth it to you. The fees page goes through the harder questions.
Thinking about an exit? Run it past Si.
The discovery meeting is free and in confidence.
Book a discovery meetingFifteen minutes on the phone or on Teams. It’s free and there’s nothing to prepare. Tell me what’s going on. I can’t give advice on a call like this, but I’ll tell you whether a discovery meeting is worth your time.
Or ring 07392 686868.