EP341: Building a PROPA Lifestyle Business in Recruitment - Sophie Booth, Co-Owner, We Are PROPAEP341: Building a PROPA Lifestyle Business in Recruitment - Sophie Booth, Co-Owner, We Are PROPA
The Recruiter's Recruitment Podcast
Sophie Booth shares how the pressures of motherhood, management and billing led her to co-create We Are PROPA, a lifestyle-led property recruitment business. She explains their rebrand, the PROPA framework and why working with independent agencies lets her design work around the life she actually wants.
37:46•5 Oct 2026
Building a PROPA Lifestyle: How Sophie Booth Rewrote Her Recruitment Career
Episode Overview
- Traditional long-hours recruitment culture may clash with caring responsibilities and personal wellbeing, making flexibility essential.
- Launching a lifestyle business can be a conscious, positive choice rather than a downgrade in ambition.
- Specialising in independently owned property companies helps create deeper, less transactional partnerships.
- The PROPA framework (Pursuit, Reality, Options, Pinpoint, Actions) structures how We Are PROPA supports clients with attraction, hiring, onboarding and retention.
- Honest branding and social content that reflect the founders’ real personalities can strengthen connection with clients and candidates.
“I wasn’t being the best mum, I wasn’t being the best wife, I wasn’t being the best manager, I wasn’t being the best employee. I was just managing to hold everything together and something just had to give.”
Curious about how others manage a demanding recruitment career while building a life they actually enjoy? This conversation with property recruitment specialist and co-founder Sophie Booth gives a very honest look at what happens when traditional recruitment culture clashes with real-life responsibilities. Sophie talks about juggling a leadership role, billing targets and caring for her young son, who has additional needs.
Her words hit hard: “I wasn’t being the best mum, I wasn’t being the best wife, I wasn’t being the best manager… I was just managing to hold everything together and something just had to give.” If you’ve ever felt pulled in every direction, you’ll recognise that moment.
She shares how that pressure pushed her to leave a demanding role and, together with business partner Sarah Hardy, launch their own agency, originally called Hardy Booth and now rebranded as We Are PROPA. With host Lysha Holmes, Sophie walks through why they doubled down on the property sector, working only with independently owned agencies in Cheshire and Manchester, and how they moved from pure recruitment into longer-term people consulting.
A big highlight is Sophie explaining the PROPA framework (Pursuit, Reality, Options, Pinpoint, Actions), born during a session at their accountants, which now shapes how they support clients with attraction, hiring, onboarding and retention.
There’s plenty of humour too, especially when Sophie talks about their social videos and how their branding advisor bluntly told them, “Girls, your name’s shit.” This chat is ideal if you’re in recruitment and wondering whether you can design a “proper” lifestyle business without apologising for it. It gently challenges that old hustle culture and asks a simple question: what kind of life do you actually want your career to fund?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.