Marc Cohen scaled his recruitment agency in the US and secured an 8 figure exit. On this week's RAG Podcast, I am joined by Marc, founder of ConSol Partners, who achieved something that 99.9% of recruitment founders will never do. Marc and his co-founder Graeme built their agency with an exit strategy in mind from day 1, navigating economic downturns, and predicting the success of future markets. In this episode, we discuss: Marc's unique story from Recruiter to Founder The reason why he scaled the business stateside The strategy behind selling 65% of the business before maximising the final sale His thoughts on whether the US really is the golden dream for recruitment entrepreneurs The emotional and financial complexities of exiting a business What life looks like post-exit and how to stay motivated If you have ambitions of scaling and selling a business—especially in the US—this episode is essential. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:00 Marc's journey to America 06:09 Building a career in recruitment 08:57 The entrepreneurial spirit 11:56 Setting up ConSol Partners 15:02 Vision and philosophy in business 18:02 The startup journey 20:58 Navigating challenges in a new economy 22:58 Identifying future trends 25:10 Evolving business strategies 27:54 Expansion into AI and robotics 30:15 The move to the US 35:41 Maintaining relationships across borders 37:50 Preparing for an exit 44:54 The exit process and negotiations 50:02 Post-exit reflections and challenges 52:40 Investment strategies after the exit 56:49 Emotional connections in business 01:01:20 Identity and purpose after exiting 01:03:12 Daily life and new routines 01:06:09 Future aspirations and community engagement 01:10:18 Looking ahead: scaling in the US 01:12:26 Closing thoughts and final reflections __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Untapped Untapped is THE market leader and go-to agency for finding and hiring tried-and-tested offshore talent into UK, US and Australian-based recruitment companies. They’re providing top-class TEAMMATES, NOT OUTSOURCES! We use Untapped for Hoxo’s own offshore hires, and it’s been a total game-changer for our team. No one else can compete with the quality of their network, their in-depth candidate assessment process or their time to hire. If hiring elite-level overseas talent into your business to boost sales and increase productivity whilst saving yourself a huge amount in employment costs isn’t on your radar for 2024, it should be! Untapped are hiring recruitment, sales, marketing and support staff into recruitment agencies of all shapes, sizes and specialisms globally and they are growing rapidly! Join the waiting list today so you don’t miss out on the next cohort of business-launching hiring projects. https://bit.ly/47GGdvZ __________________________________________ Episode sponsor: Hoxo Recruiters: are you sitting on a goldmine of LinkedIn connections without knowing how to turn them into real opportunities? Most recruiters spend hours every day on cold outreach and endless scrolling, hoping for replies that never come. But what if LinkedIn could work for you instead? The Hoxo 7-Day LinkedIn Challenge is a simple, step-by-step framework designed to help you: Identify warm leads already in your network Start meaningful conversations with potential clients and candidates—without feeling pushy Share content that gets noticed and builds trust – without spending hours online Transform LinkedIn into an inbound lead generator in...
