For many business owners, success is associated with growth: more employees, more clients, more turnover and a bigger operation. Helen Fallon of Helen Fallon Consulting has been there – and has come to a very different conclusion. B4’s CEO, Richard Rosser, finds out more in the latest B4 Member Spotlight.
Helen ran her previous recruitment business from 2017, growing it to around ten people by 2019. Then came COVID and, in Helen’s words, six extraordinarily challenging years for businesses.
“It’s just like you’re in a boxing ring and you’re getting hit from every single angle. You make a decision strategically and then something else gets you.”
Eventually, late one night last year, Helen sat down with her laptop and went through the figures. It became a moment of clarity.
“I realised this isn’t going to fix itself. I can’t let this carry on. I’ve got to put my business hat on and actually be a business owner rather than somebody who works in the business.”
What followed were some “very difficult, painful and expensive strategic decisions” – but ultimately decisions that transformed Helen’s relationship with her business.
Creating a Business That’s More Helen
Helen spoke to her accountant and trusted business contacts before deciding to close the previous operation (Global CTS) and launch Helen Fallon Consulting.
“This wasn’t the reason I set the business up in the first place. It was working for other people and not for me.”
The decision to put her own name above the door also came from listening to clients. When Helen asked trusted contacts what they actually associated with the business, the answer was revealing.
“The answer was basically, ‘It’s you that we buy into.’ I realised I should just put my name on the tin.”
Today, Helen Fallon Consulting is Helen and long-standing colleague Beth, who has worked alongside her for six years. Helen has no desire to rebuild a ten-person team.
“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made – from a stress point of view, from a financial point of view, everything. I keep thinking, why did I not do this sooner?”
Lower overheads have also given Helen more choice. Where the previous business might have needed 30, 40 or even 50 vacancies to sustain its structure, she now caps the number of live roles at around ten.
“You can’t pursue everything that comes in. You’ve got to be realistic. I’d rather pass something to a partner I trust than take it on and do a bad job.”
The focus is increasingly on STEM and STEM-support roles, covering engineering, technology, manufacturing and space-related businesses alongside roles such as marketing and office management within technical organisations.
“Know Your Numbers”
Ask Helen what advice she would give another business owner considering significant change and the response is immediate. “Know your numbers. It’s that simple. I didn’t know my numbers. I thought I did, but I really didn’t.”
Today she has much greater visibility of cash flow, VAT, tax commitments and forecasting. When an invoice is paid, for example, Helen automatically moves 30% into a separate tax account rather than waiting for liabilities to arrive.
But understanding the numbers has also changed how she defines success.
A conversation with another business owner particularly resonated with her. He described how easily a small business can become a “vanity project”, where success is measured by employee numbers, turnover or an impressive office rather than what the owner actually gets from the business.
“You can have 35 people in a big fancy office and it all looks fantastic from the outside, but what are you actually bringing in? What is the net profit? What stays in the bank?”
It prompted a more fundamental question: “What does success look like for me?”
For Helen, the answer isn’t rebuilding the company she had before.
Recruitment Is About Far More Than a Job Description
The change has also enabled Helen to concentrate on the way she believes recruitment should be done. She is frustrated by businesses that send recruiters a job description and expect the process to begin and end there.
“I’m surprised that even now people think that’s how you recruit. It’s about the hard work you do with that recruiter behind the scenes that gets you the right candidate.”
Helen wants to visit clients, understand their plans, meet their people and experience their working environment. “I think culture is the most important part, and you don’t get that from a phone call, a Teams meeting or a job description.”
Simply walking around a workplace allows Helen to understand how people dress, communicate and interact. “I’m looking at the people and thinking, okay, I’m getting a clue about the characteristics of the people they recruit here. If I haven’t gone in, met the people and seen the team, then I’m recruiting blind.”
That philosophy has helped Helen build client relationships stretching back fifteen years. The deeper the relationship, the more she understands not only the vacancy in front of her but where the business is heading.
“If you’re strategically growing your business, sit down with your recruitment partner and say, ‘Over the next twelve months, these are the positions we’re likely to need.’ Particularly now, when there is a shortage of niche candidates, if I know what’s coming, when somebody good comes onto the market I can already be thinking about you.”
It changes recruitment from a transaction into a partnership.
“It’s You That We Buy Into”
Helen estimates around 80% of her business comes through networking, reinforcing the decision to build the new company around her own identity. She has also done something she once thought almost unimaginable: put herself regularly in front of the camera. “When I was with the old business, I never did video content. I totally shied away from it. There was no way I would have done it.”
Today she regularly creates informal recruitment videos with Beth, with some TikTok content receiving around 6,000 views and people recognising Helen from social media.
“I’ve just got to the point where I literally do it. It’s much more natural.”
It’s another example of Helen pushing herself outside her comfort zone – something she also associates with networking.
“You can go to an event, put your big girl pants and your lipstick on and force yourself into a conversation, even if it feels uncomfortable. Or you can stand in the corner with a coffee and make no contact with anybody. You’re going to get very different outcomes from those two choices.”
“B4 Is My Home”
Helen joined B4 around 2018 and describes it as her networking “home”.
“For me, it’s about being able to build a genuine relationship and a genuine connection with somebody. Sometimes it will lead to business and sometimes it won’t.”
One B4 relationship illustrates the point perfectly. Helen first met a future client at B4 breakfast at Blenheim in November 2023. They chatted naturally and barely discussed business. Months later they met for coffee, which led to one recruitment assignment and subsequently around ten more.
“If I’d gone in there, given him my business card and aggressively attacked him about recruitment, I think he would have backed off completely.”
For Helen, that’s the point. The strongest business relationships develop naturally, through trust rather than forced selling.
The same philosophy now applies to Helen Fallon Consulting itself. Helen isn’t trying to create the biggest recruitment company she can. She is building the business that works best for her and her clients.
“Sometimes growth isn’t about adding more people, overheads and turnover. Sometimes it’s about understanding what success actually means to you – and having the confidence to build your business around it.”
Who Should B4 Speak to Next?
At the end of our conversation, I asked Helen which member of the B4 community she thought I should interview next. Her recommendation was Tim Grier.
“I love Tim. He’s great. He’s a font of information. I think people should take the time to get to know him.”
As luck would have it, my conversation with Tim was starting just a few minutes later.
So, Helen’s nomination accepted. Next up: Tim Grier.