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Starting a temp agency? Avoid these 5 expensive mistakes.

Published on 20th November, 2025

1. Waiting for clients to pay before running payroll

The mistake: Taking on your first contract, placing your first temps and then realising you have to pay wages a while before the client pays you.

Why it’s expensive:

• You’re out of pocket before revenue hits.
• One missed payroll ruins your reputation.
• It can kill your momentum before you’ve even started.

The smarter move:
Consider invoice finance – it lets you get up to 100% of your invoice value upfront — so you can pay workers weekly and keep cash flowing.

2. Trying to build your own back office from scratch

The mistake:
Attempting to run and juggle payroll, credit control, timesheets, and compliance admin by yourself.

Why it’s expensive:

• Takes hours away from billing.
• Increases your risk of legal and tax mistakes.
• Makes your agency look amateur to clients.

The smarter move:
Outsourcing your back-office operations from day one can ensure you can hit the ground running, compliantly.

3. Taking on debt or signing personal guarantees

The mistake:
Thinking you need to borrow money, remortgage, or sign personal guarantees to fund your launch.

Why it’s expensive:

• You carry all the risk.
• You owe money before you’ve made any.
• A single bad debt could put you personally on the hook.

The smarter move:
Consider a funding model, where your invoices fund your growth — and your personal assets stay protected.

4. Underestimating compliance (until it’s too late)

The mistake:
Assuming that as a small agency, you don’t need to worry about RTW checks, AWR tracking, holiday accrual, or payroll rules.

Why it’s expensive:

• Fines, audits, or reputational damage.
• Losing clients who expect you to know your stuff.
• Wasted time fixing errors later.

The smarter move:
Use a platform where compliance is built-in, not bolted on.

5. Spending weeks on setup instead of trading

The mistake:
Getting stuck in “launch limbo” — buying tools, registering accounts, Googling how to do everything, but never actually trading.

Why it’s expensive:

• Lost revenue every week you’re not billing.
• Confidence dips the longer you delay.
• Competitors move faster.

The smarter move:
Starting a temp agency? Launch with everything in place, fast.

Flo’s Fullflo model gives you:

• Software
• Admin support
• Weekly funding
• Compliance
• Margin paid to you weekly

You trade. We handle the rest.