Season 9 | Ep22 Lucy Robinson: Fired from her job, now running a £650k global search firm

Lucy Robinson: Fired from her job, now running a £650k global search firm

Lucy Robinson runs LCR International, a global executive search firm specialising in fresh produce across six continents.

Today, the business is doing around £650k in revenue, but the story really started in December 2019 when Lucy was fired from her job for not hitting targets.

At the time, she had no savings, a three-year-old at home, and had just spent months trying to build a new desk for an agency she’d previously worked for.

Two weeks before she got fired, her husband had said something half-jokingly:

"The only way you’ll ever start your own agency is if you get sacked."

Two weeks later, that’s exactly what happened.

Starting a business at that point didn’t exactly look like the sensible move.

Lucy had a young family, no financial buffer, and was launching into a market she already knew was competitive.

But she did it anyway.

She launched LCR International, working three days a week, just as the world walked into COVID.

The first year, she billed £100k and was mostly filling contingent work.

She wanted to move into retained search, but it wasn’t really working.

In 2023, she decided to change the model completely and invested in proper search training and it changed everything.

The business moved to around 90% retained search, margins improved, and growth accelerated.

Revenue went from £250k to £500k to £650k across three years.

Now the focus isn’t on scaling faster.

It’s about building a profitable, sustainable business that works for her family as well as her career.

The business currently runs at around 20% net profit, with a small team and clients across the world.

And Lucy has no interest in building a huge agency just for the sake of it.

Instead, she’s focused on growing the business in a smarter way - using better positioning, retained search, automation and AI rather than simply adding more headcount.

Her goal now is £800k this year and £1m next year, whilst keeping the business lean and flexible.

This week on The RAG Podcast, Lucy shares the full story.

We talk about:

• Getting fired with no savings and a young child at home

• Starting a business just before COVID hit

• Building £100k in the first year working three days a week

• Taking maternity leave twice whilst growing the business

• Why contingent search stopped working for her

• The training that helped shift the business to retained search

• Growing from £250k → £500k → £650k

• Running a global niche search firm across six continents

• Raising two young kids whilst building the business

• Why she prioritises flexibility over building a massive team

• Her focus on profitability and a 20% net margin

• Using automation and AI instead of headcount

• Her plan to reach £1m revenue without sacrificing family life

What I really liked about Lucy’s story is that she’s building the kind of business more founders are starting to want.

A niche firm.

A strong reputation in a specific market.

Good margins.

A small team.

And a business designed around life, not the other way round.

It’s a great example of what a modern recruitment business can actually look like.

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