Season 7 | Ep21 - Josh Huggins on driving a trade sale exit with a 5-year earn-out process before starting his own agency!

On this week's show, I'm delighted to be joined by Josh Huggins, the founder of GS2, a global sustainability search recruitment firm headquartered in Basingstoke. The business is just over 18 months old, with eight employees. Josh shares his journey from being a professional footballer to starting his own recruitment business. After becoming the second-largest shareholder at Principal People he, alongside Simon Bliss, led the process of selling the business. He had to wait five years and faced many challenges before making the bold decision to leave and start GS2. TakeawaysNegotiating an exit from a previous company can be challenging, especially when it comes to non-compete agreements and investment decisions.Focusing on operational billing and setting high standards can help build a strong foundation for a recruitment agency.Investing in personal branding and leveraging platforms like LinkedIn can have a significant impact on client retention and business growth.Internal recruitment plays a crucial role in building a successful company and finding the best talent to drive growth.Having a clear vision and exit strategy can guide the long-term goals and direction of a recruitment agency.Chapters00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast and guest introduction01:25 Josh Huggins' background and journey to starting GS203:20 Overview of GS2 and its divisions04:39 Target market and clients of GS206:02 The changing recruitment landscape and opportunities in a post-COVID world07:00 Josh's background in football and transition to recruitment10:46 Joining Principal People and the growth of the business16:28 Transitioning to a senior role at Principal People20:44 The process of selling Principal People and the challenges faced27:51 The decision to start GS2 and the challenges faced36:48 The attempted buyback of Principal People and the decision to start GS240:33 The exit from Principal People and the start of GS244:28 Naming and structure of GS245:23 Negotiating the exit and setting up GS247:39 Starting GS2 and building the team49:21 Returning to operational billing and setting standards51:15 Recruiting levels and service offerings52:08 Investing in personal branding and learning from Hoxo53:07 Changing the mindset of recruitment and staying connected with clients55:28 The impact of personal branding on revenue57:21 Bringing Tom Glanfield on board and internal recruitment01:00:15 Building GS2 with an exit in mind01:02:09 The vision for GS2 and future growth__________________________________________Hoxo MessageReady to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn?As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn.This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you.But it can be different...If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them.A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours.Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing!You can have this too!Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJYIf you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO...