Throughout this recent series of articles we have explored a wide range of topics,
- understanding yourself and your motivations;
- how size changes the nature of a recruitment business;
- being appropriately corporate;
- sustainability and the drivers of equity value;
- the importance of forecastable revenue;
- leadership teams and organisational capability;
- attractiveness and value; and
- the realities of valuations and sell transactions.
None of these topics are arguments for growth. Equally, they are not arguments for remaining small, nor are they arguments for selling. Their purpose is much simpler than that.
The objective has been to help founders and leaders understand the implications of the choices available to them.
There is no single correct path.
Some owners genuinely love running a small business. They enjoy the work, know their clients and candidates well and have little interest in building a larger organisation. Others thrive on complexity and scale. They are energised by acquisitions, leadership teams and the challenge of building something much larger.
Personal ambitions vary considerably. Some owners want family involvement, while others prefer external investors. Some intend to work indefinitely, while others see the business as one chapter in a broader career. Some aspire to sell, and others simply want more balance in their lives.
All of these ambitions are legitimate.
The purpose of understanding value, sustainability and growth is not to tell owners what they should do. Rather, it is to help them understand the consequences and implications of the choices they make.
In our experience, disappointment often arises not because people make poor choices, but because they drift into outcomes they never intended. Examples are common:
- the founder who reaches retirement age believing the business is their retirement fund, only to discover that it has little transferable value;
- the founder who spends years pursuing growth and complexity, only to realise that the journey was never aligned with their personal values, objectives and strengths; and
- the founder who closes the doors at the end of a career because succession options and alternatives were never considered.
These outcomes are not inherently wrong. They simply reflect situations where the implications may not have been fully understood.
Over the years we see few bad choices. There are simply choices and consequences.
If you love your five-person business, that is wonderful. Understand the implications and build the business and life accordingly.
If you want to build a national business, that is equally wonderful. Understand the implications and focus on the things that matter.
If you want to extract cash for a separate business, use the business as a brand for charitable activity, sell the business, or continue working indefinitely, those are all perfectly valid ambitions.
None of these choices are inherently better than the others. However, understanding their implications allows founders to build and lead with intent rather than drift into outcomes.
Perhaps that is the real purpose of understanding yourself, your business, and value. It is not about discovering a single correct answer. It is about ensuring that whatever path you choose is aligned with the life you want to build for yourself and those that matter to you.
Understanding the implications of your choices is only the beginning. The next question is where your attention should now be directed. As businesses grow and mature, the founder’s attention must evolve with them. The next series of articles explores that conversation through the lens of business size.
This article is part of HHMC’s Appropriately Corporate series for staffing and recruitment business owners, exploring growth, leadership, valuation and transaction readiness. If these issues are relevant to your business, we would be pleased to continue the conversation.
