Mike Ames built his first recruitment business from scratch in 1989 with six months of industry experience and two partners. One of them died in a car accident after 18 months. He became MD. He had a breakdown. He rebuilt the business entirely around scalability, removed himself from the centre of it, and sold to a NYSE-listed company for £24 million at the age of 38.
He thought that would feel like the finish line. It didn't. Within six months he was so low he could only manage one task a day. His therapist's parting advice: "Well, Michael, just get a job and you'll be fine." So he started again at 38, built a second business, sold that to Harvey Nash in 2017, and spent the next fifteen years working out why most recruitment founders never build something that truly works for them.
"I'm having to live a lot of my life through my grandchildren because I miss my children. Don't be that guy, right?"
This week on The RAG Podcast, Mike Ames breaks down the PLW model: what a Profit, Lifestyle, Wealth recruitment business actually looks like, why the 360 model is structurally flawed, and what the "magic number" is that every founder should know before they spend another year grinding for a goal they have never properly calculated.
Mike Ames is not selling a formula for a nine-figure exit. He is arguing for something harder and rarer: a business that runs well, pays you properly, and leaves room for the life you are actually trying to live.
If you have ever wondered whether the business you are building is working for you or the other way around, this episode is the one.
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