22/09/2025
So last month we hit another big milestone – 25 years of Escape Hatch. The last one was 5 years ago but there was something else going on in 2020…
We started in 2000 in a tiny room in the Brighton Media Centre with a couple of Ikea desks, a laptop, a Nokia 8510 and a good meeting/interview room in the Hop Poles pub opposite. My start-up business plan forecast spectacular growth in revenues, profits, people and offices. Untold wealth and early retirement was just around the corner but somehow life, kids, life-balance, fun and the dotcom crash, 9/11, the 2008-10 recession and COVID got in the way!
So what have I learnt over the last 25 years?
1/ Always take the long-term view – keep your promises, nuture your reputation and build strong relationships where friends become clients and clients become friends. And in a world where long lunches aren’t so fashionable, try to go out for long lunches – with wine!
2/ Despite all the predictions, machines won’t replace good recruitment consultants. Build trust, use your emotional intelligence and have genuine empathy. The stuff machines can’t do.
3/ While I’m in awe (and slightly envious) of those friends and clients who’ve sold their businesses at the top of the market and don’t need to work again, every business journey is different. And perhaps I have slightly fewer wrinkles.
4/ Use the amazing opportunity to work remotely – The Escape Hatch office in the North Laine is now rented out to a brilliant feminist tattoo studio and when I’m not working at home with a cat on my lap, we sometimes take the opportunity to work when away in Mallorca.
So thank you again to all our candidates and clients that we’ve met along the way – we really couldn’t have done it without you!
Much love. x
