124. Start Your Own Staffing Agency: Blueprint from The Millionaire Recruiter

0:00No matter how good your product is, without the right team to back it up, you'll never succeed. Companies are willing to pay a premium for the best talents and to those agencies who can find them. Today, we have with us a guest who knows everything about recruiting and how to make it work for you. This is Ryan Atkinson, and you're listening to the Uplit Podcast, where we uncover how great businesses are built, how they run behind the scenes, and how you can replicate their success. Brianna Rooney started her own tech recruiting agency at 24 years old. Since then, she started two more companies in the field, staffing some of the fastest growing companies out there.

0:32In today's episode, Brianna will share with us how to start your own recruiting company. What are some common pitfalls in this industry? What mindset tweaks do you have to make in order to make it succeed? Brianna, thank you so, so much for being here. Thanks. Gosh, I love your intro. It's like way more professional than my own podcast. I got to re-listen so I can, you motivated me. Oh my gosh. Well, I'm blushing from that, but I want to turn it towards you though, because I think you have a really cool and fascinating story. And it starts really when you're 24 years old. You have a conversation with your stepdad that changes really the trajectory of your life.

1:01So let's go back to 24 Brianna and have you in a conversation with your stepdad? Like what's going on here? Yeah, because I'm now 39 year old Brianna. So him and my dad, both entrepreneurs, I just assumed that I was going to be too. I don't know. Like I wasn't really taught to be an employee, which I think is kind of its own separate thing. But he simply said, what is your boss do for you that you can't do for yourself? And being 24 and not knowing anything, really, I was like, nothing, nothing at all. And he was like, what's the worst thing that could happen? You can always make more money, right?

1:33And I was like, yes, I didn't have anything to lose. All I had was to gain. And again, it kind of went to like, what's the worst thing that could happen? I go get a job. Like, OK, let's do it. But like, let's just take my own destiny. Let's get all of my hard work is now going all into my pocket. And that was like just super motivating and exciting. That is super interesting. I think it's an interesting perspective, too, because when you're 24, like you really don't have a whole lot to lose. Nothing. And having that mindset of like, I don't really have a whole lot to lose. What's the worst thing that happens?

2:00I can get a job. I think it's a really important step. If like you are going to start your own company, it sounds like that was true to what you did. So I want to talk about that next step then that you do though. So you're just saying, I don't have anything to lose. What's that next step in identifying like the first agency you want to start? So I just really thought about like, what tools did I have where I was? How can I replicate exactly what I was doing? And in theory, I was doing biz dev. I was doing all the candidate an outreach. I was doing all of this stuff. And so I feel like the hardest thing is like picking your business name, right?

2:28So picking the name, making sure it's not trademarked, make sure it's not on LinkedIn and make sure you have the URL. And I was just like, bam, like set, did quick LLC paperwork, because that's, in my opinion, the easiest way to set up your business, especially when you really don't know what you're doing. And I just jammed. I put everything on credit cards, my Macy's credit card. I got a job board at the time because recruiting was done very heavily by job boards. LinkedIn didn't really exist back then. Well, LinkedIn existed, but LinkedIn recruiter didn't, which is a significant difference. And so I just got that.

2:57And then I got the same exact database that I used at my agency because I already knew it. So I was just basically thinking, what can I do really quickly to get up and running? I don't have to learn anything. I already know it. So I think that was like something that was really powerful to me. And then I always felt like your value was based off of your candidates. So in recruiting, like there's that battle, like what's more important, clients or candidates. In my opinion, even though the clients pay you, candidates are more important because you have a really good candidate, you're going to grab really good clients.

3:26So that was my thought process. So what I did is I spent days, like probably three solid eight hour days of going on dice, pulling all of the resumes that I possibly could, not even really looking at them too much and just putting them into my database. So I went from having no data to just tons of candidates. And then at that point, I can sit back and I can, you know, then source that way. And like, I felt like I had a base and I felt like stable. Interesting. So when you started this, did you leave like your current company and just jump out and be like, I'm going to do this on my own? Or did you work this on the side for a little bit?

3:59No, no, no, no. So there was something that happened internally at my company. I didn't like it. I butted heads with my current manager, told my boss it was unacceptable. And I just walked out. So I actually didn't leave to start my own thing. I left out of principle. So like that was a Friday. I celebrated it, of course. And everyone was like, oh my God. And then Sunday, I'm at the Laker again with my stepdad because I planned on going back to my agency, actually. I planned on going right back. He was going to call me on Tuesday. But on Sunday, the seed was planted. Why don't I start my own thing?

4:28Tuesday came and went and he didn't call me. So Wednesday morning, I'm like, shoot, all right, I'm going to start my own thing because I can't wait for someone to call me. And what's funny is, so that was like, what, seven, eight o 'clock in the morning. He called me at noon on Wednesday. And I'm like, sorry, I already started my own thing. That was it. Oh, that is so, so cool. I like how you just like did it. Like you just took action. I've talked about a lot on this podcast and like a ton of conversations is like the difference between like a wannabe preneur and like an actual entrepreneur is that first set of action and you took action right away.

4:57By the time he calls you at 12 o 'clock that Wednesday, it's like, sorry, like I kind of have my own thing already. Yeah. It's like, I think that's the difference between like you're saying, like the thinking and doing. So even anyone that has ever worked for me will know that I told them stop thinking like when When you come to my company, I don't want you to think I want you to do. And they're like really wide eye looking at me like I've never been told to not think before. And I'm like, look, we're not going like all willy nilly, right? Like there's some thought process. But at the end of the day, like doers are the ones that win.

5:25So I like the wannapreneurs. I haven't heard that before. Oh, my gosh. That is not trademark. So if you want to start another company with that domain. Maybe. I love that, though. So you look internally, you identify the skills that you have, you grab all these resumes. and basically you just start sourcing and going, going, going, taking a ton of action. But let's go to like those early days of it. What were some of the obstacles that you had to overcome? Just so like people thinking like, oh, I want to start an agency. Like, but what are some obstacles that are going to happen? Like, what are two obstacles that you ran into and how did you overcome them?

5:56I would say, especially for recruiting. So our sales cycle is long and people don't really, I think, grasp that because they think, oh, you have a client, they sign a fee agreement. That can all happen within 24 hours. But there's two sales cycles that happen. And you need to then find the candidate. The candidate has to go through the interview process, which can be two to three weeks. Then they have to start, which is what, two weeks notice. And that all depends on if they're a vacation or whatever. So in reality, even if things go perfectly, that's still a month and a half. Then you get paid in 10 to 30 days.

6:27So realistically, like there's like a waiting period. So my first deal, I actually got my first deal really, really, really fast. I was used to recruiting for gaming companies. And so I had a good network there. I got some like super small startup gaming company. And that's the thing too. I think when you first get into business, don't go for the big fish, go for like the little ones that need you the most, go for who needs you essentially, and then work your way up. Right. You know, so it's like, you have to just get paid. Like that's like the bottom line. So you can breathe, like just even talking about it.

6:55I'm like getting anxious, you know? But yeah, so I got really lucky. I made my first deal in the first month, but in reality, I didn't get paid till three months later. Oh man. Because of how the turnaround goes. So it's like, you can't stop. Like you can't have fat cat syndrome. To me, fat cat syndrome is like, you know, if you're like making all these deals and then all of a sudden you just like sit back, you know, you coast, you just can't. Because also what if that deal would have fallen out? Like what if the guy got fired? What if he didn't like the company? What the company lost funding?

7:20Like there's so many things that can go wrong when you work with people. So it's like you got to just train that thing. So I definitely think that that was something that was definitely hard for me because if I was working internally, like I would have been paid a lot sooner. I wouldn't have had to really wait, you know? So that was something. And then something that actually took me a while to overcome was getting recommendations. So and like referrals and stuff like that. So I always felt like if I did a really great job, people would just naturally talk about me. Okay. Hey, go to this. Yeah, exactly.

7:51She's so great. And so something I didn't realize is you have to advocate for yourself and you have to go hunt out those recommendations and reviews, referrals, whatever you want to call it. Right. Because no one's just going to do that. Like think about Yelp, like how awful Yelp can be or even Glassdoor, right? People are more likely going to go talk about a bad experience than a good experience. So you really, as a business owner, can't just put your head down there. You have to really put your head up and not be afraid to ask for a good review. Because also, I think that was a little hard to like asking people, hey, can you do me a favor?

8:22But it's like, no, I did a really great job. Tell the whole world, you know? Yeah. I was reading something very recently about like if you're going to be an entrepreneur and especially for starting your company, you have to be the biggest advocate for yourself on social media. You have to ask for those reviews because a lot of times, like if you're not going to advocate for yourself, there's no way the Wall Street Journal is going to come after your one person company and advocate for you. So you have to do it yourself. And that's like a really big key that I'm understanding as I'm building up space for our visuals.

8:47It's you have to truly advocate for yourself if you're trying to grow anything. And I will tell you, it's hard. Like I even have a hard time like asking my friends and family because I'm not someone that ever asks for help. I'm the first one to give help, but I'm not one that asks for it. And so I think as an entrepreneur, you have to like, kind of say like, it's not necessarily help as if you can't do it yourself. It's just really standing strong and be like, no, this is my business. I think of it as like, you know, a kid, right? So it's like, I'm definitely going to make sure I tell the teacher to take care of my kid, right?

9:17Exactly. And I feel like advocating for yourself comes back to like imposter syndrome. I don't know, like when you were 24, 25, 26 building this, maybe you still have imposter syndrome. I have a ton of imposter syndrome building space bar visuals, but I'm just curious, Like when you were just starting this, did you have imposter syndrome or? Oh, you're giving me the chills right now. I never had imposter syndrome until I sold my company a couple of years ago, which is crazy. And that's why I like to talk about it a lot. So I like that you brought that up because everyone thinks that imposter syndrome happens early on.

9:43It happened to me when I was at like the height of my success. Interesting. Yeah, I know. It's because you sell something and I had it for 12 years, right? So you sell something. I had employees for 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 years as well. And then it's not there anymore. And then you're like, okay. And as the entrepreneur in me, I started two more companies, like literally before the ink was dry, you know? Yeah. Which that's its own separate thing. I totally want to talk about a founder's break and something else. Maybe we'll do a webinar or something. But yeah, afterwards, I went through probably the hardest year and a half of my entire career.

10:14I made tons of bad mistakes. I was like drowning like mentally. I had my first full-blown panic attack. Like it was crazy what happened to me after the sale. Like crazy. We love partnering with other podcasts and we have a great one for you. Are you in the home services industry and looking to elevate your sales game? Then you need to check out the Waste No Day podcast. This powerhouse podcast is specifically designed for professionals like you aiming to boost their sales. Each episode is packed with actual tips, industry insights, and sales training techniques from the top salespeople and trainers in the world that are easy to understand and implement.

10:47From mastering the art to the upsell to navigating customer objections and everything in between, Waste No Day has you covered. Tune in now to transform your approach to sales, exceed your goals, and take your business to the next level. Subscribe to Waste No Day today, wherever you get your podcasts, or use the link in our show notes and start turning those cold estimates into huge jobs. So you grow the millionaire recruiter for 12 years. You sell it. And now you're at the peak of your success, but you're having these panic attacks. You're mentally drowning. And a lot of people are thinking, you just did this successfully for 12 years.

11:16What is happening? I don't want to ask, what is happening? But what was spurring those panic attacks and that mental suffering? I'll tell you what was happening. I was nervous that I wasn't going to be able to do it again, that it was a fluke, that I built this thing. And then also the reason why I think it happened is because my definition of success, I didn't like update myself on what I decided was successful. You know, it sounds so silly, but it's like, I think about like when I first started my agency, first started, my definition of success was literally about proving everybody wrong. It was proving that I could do it.

11:47And then it got to, okay, cool. I'm going to make more money than all of my other friends. I went to college. All right, cool. Now I want to travel. Now I want to buy a house before everybody. So it was like kind of like this internal competition that I just kind of manifested inside. And I was just super, super, super money motivated. And then it's like I had kids and I'm like, oh, wow, actually, I'm now motivated by time. Now I want to work less. And then it was like, oh, no, now I want to be challenged because now it's kind of easy. Like I built this business. I've got it going. And this is crazy, too.

12:15I know to say it was easy, but it felt easy, right? I had put all these things in place. I had great employees. I trained. I did all the things I was supposed to do. Then it's like you leave it and you're kind of just like empty. You're empty and then you don't really have like a purpose anymore. So I think that what happens is you attach your success to your company. I even had the name of my company, Techies, was even on the back of my car. So it's like everything I did was Techies. I still to this day have Brianna Techies email because I can't let to go. I'm like, no, it's my entire identity.

12:48So, you know, just as you're building your business, like you have to be somebody else. You can't just be the CEO of this one company. I was actually driving from Houston area last week. And that's actually what I thought about is like when you're building a company, like you are going to take punch after punch after punch after punch, but it's separating like the success of your company from like your own personal success. And like, sure, it can maybe intertwine, but like you don't want to be down because space for our visuals is down. You don't want to be up. It's just natural human emotions, but like separating yourself and like your self-worth from like your company's worth, I think is like a very hard thing to do because especially when you're like, oh, I want to have the nicest car.

13:21I want to travel. I want to have the first house. It's like so, so hard, but yeah, it is a very unexpected challenge of entrepreneurship. What I do now just to help all the listeners here, and I would have started this day one, right? Maybe even before that, but I have a growth and success journal. And the way that I look about goals, I don't look at my goals of just my career goals or my money goals. You know, I look at all of the facets of my life. So it's family, it's friends, it's health, and that's mental and physical, right? And it's also like how I want to eat, all of those things. So I have all these different goals and all of these different buckets.

13:53And I write them every like three months or so, depending on how I feel, to be totally honest, you know? And then whenever I write in my growth and success journal, which I try one to three days, three days is like typically the longest. And I find wins, doesn't matter how big or small, in every category if I can. And if not, then it's like, all right, maybe I'm not focusing too much on my mental health right now. Like what's going on there. So any, anything small is super important. I really, really like that. And I do something similar of like, I'll have like my goals, like what are my goals for like the quarter essentially.

14:21And it's like, where did I put effort in towards that day? Where did I put success? Where did I make progress at? I think it's really important to actually be able to write down your goals and subconsciously, I feel like you're like building your confidence up and like, oh, I'm actually moving towards those goals and confidence in entrepreneurship is a huge thing. And I'd be curious, like, yeah, did you feel confidence right away starting your company? I know you had experience like within recruiting, but like early on, like, did you have that self-belief, that confidence that like, oh my God, I'm going to be able to sell this thing in 12 years?

14:47I did. I was really lucky. And it actually goes into how I teach my kids today. But my mom was really, really, really big on confidence, especially from like in a woman's perspective. I feel like she really like honed that in on me more than probably even my brother. So I was for sure like my shit didn't stink. Like I was like, all right, I'm really good at this. I can really do this. I can jam this out. And I was kind of on like a high for a couple of years. And then, you know, you get employees and you're like, okay, this is challenging. So I think for my entrepreneur spirit, I like challenge.

15:18I like to tackle it and move forward. And like, that's kind of my high of the roller coaster of things. So that was all good for me. I didn't struggle there. But I will say like, I like that you do your journal because you are building like that muscle of being like, hey, good job, because entrepreneurship is lonely. Like it is very lonely, you know? So it's like, who are you going to talk to? Who are you? You know, like, that's why I love coaching so much, because I felt like my coach kind of saved me there and like, you know, really shot my career in a different level. I'm curious. I want to ask like mindset stuff.

15:48So what are like three things if someone's like just starting an agency or like I want to start an agency, I'd say like one, you have to be confident. You definitely have to be confident in your abilities. But what are like two other things you have to like believe or like think about it's early on, especially in those like early days of starting a company? I think that you have to think about what your relationship is with failure. You know, are you someone that like can't do it, feels guilty about it, like just crumbles? Because I would say I think most people feel failure. But there's another aspect to that is do you fear success?

16:15So I've actually trained a few recruiters, but one person stands in my mind and she was really good at what she did, but for some reason couldn't make it rain. I would never say she was my overachiever. She was not a top biller or anything, but she put in the work and she cared and she had passion. So there was something to me that wasn't aligning properly. And I really wanted to figure it out. So I finally said, how much money do you want to make this year? And she got really uncomfortable. And in sales and entrepreneurship, you really can't, right? Like you have to just kind of guns a-blazing, right?

16:46And I started digging a little bit and I said, what if, because she's like, oh, maybe 100K. I'm like, that's not what we're going for here. But I said, OK, what if you made$300 ,000 this year? And you could tell visually very uncomfortable. I go, what are you uncomfortable about making$300 ,000? And it ended up coming out that it would be her family. It was almost like she'd be embarrassed to have made that much because of how she was raised and what they taught her about money. So that's the fear of success kind of coming out, which is really interesting because no one really talks about that because I think it's almost like shame.

17:17Who is shamed for making money, you know? So I definitely think that's like a big deal. I feel like that's a really interesting one because a lot of people, Like when they think about the next six months, they're like, oh, what's the worst case scenario that could happen? But a lot of times you need to flip it. What's the best case scenario look like? And like, how can we actually get there? I feel like that's an interesting mindset shift from a very scrappy entrepreneurial. What if we actually do hit it? Like what else can we do? That's a very interesting mindset shift for sure. Yeah. How are you going to keep moving the needle?

17:42Like that's super important too. Cause it's like, oh my God, I hit my goal. Cool. Like now what, you know? And that's what I think why I got imposter syndrome because I did not seek out to go sell my company. Like I was asked several times from different companies if I would sell. And I just kept saying, no, like, no, it's my baby. I don't need to sell. Like, no, you know, I never thought of selling. What made you want to sell that? Was like the deal like that good? Or like, what were some variables that came into actually selling? The deal was good. It wasn't great. Like I would definitely go back on a couple of things, but I will say it was like the time.

18:11It was probably the timing. It was the me kind of having an itch to do something slightly different. But yeah, I would think it's more timing in the market. Like it was definitely at the tippity top of the market. Like one other company sold in my space. I saw who they sold for and I was like, well, I don't know. I'm getting all these offers. Maybe that's just time to go. Interesting. So it was time to go and it was like, I'm going to sell this. And then it sounds like you were onto your next thing, like very shortly after that. Yeah. Literally, as I'm talking to them about selling, which by the way, is a long process for everyone that doesn't know.

18:40It's like a good six months. Like it doesn't happen, you know, overnight, that's for sure. So it's a big six month process, really long, drawn out, super exhausting, too many lawyers, too much money as far as that goes. You're definitely pushed around a lot because you're typically the little fish, right? Like you're the little fish if you're getting bought. They'll tell you what to do. Totally. And it will go right up into like literally the seconds before you sign, which is its own separate conversation, I think, too. But even when I started the talks, I already built my other company. So I was already running another company while I was in negotiations of selling mine.

19:12So yeah, there was no breaks. I think what is super interesting as well, we talked about it before the show, is like this is not easy starting your company and like building a company. Space Star Visuals is probably the most challenging thing I have ever done. I'm sure with just your experience, it's probably one of the most challenging things you've ever done. What to you are like unexpected challenges people come across when it comes to just entrepreneurship and like getting started? What are some of those unexpected challenges? I was immediately thinking before you said getting started was employees.