How a Musician Turned Creative Thinking Into a $1.2M Recruiting Firm, with Justin Levinson

How does a professional touring musician go from the recording studio to building a $1.2M recruiting firm without ever making a single cold call? In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Justin Levinson, founder of Coming Up Creative, reveals how he blended creativity, authenticity, and smart systems to grow a seven-figure recruitment business serving the world’s top entertainment and gaming brands. Justin’s story is proof that success in recruitment isn’t about grinding harder - it’s about thinking differently. You’ll hear how he built a global team, automated outreach without losing the human touch, and turned every conversation into an opportunity. Listen to discover: How creative thinking helped Justin scale to $1.2M in billings The “anti-campaign” approach that fills his calendar with warm leads Why branding and design matter more in creative industries How to build trust, credibility, and inbound clients without cold calls The diversification strategy that kept his firm thriving through Hollywood strikes If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s possible to grow a high-performing recruiting business without endless prospecting, this episode is your blueprint. Connect with Justin Levinson LinkedIn: Justin Levinson Website: Coming Up Creative Connect with Mark Whitby FREE strategy session: www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session LinkedIn: Mark Whitby

The hardest part of business development isn't effort, it's consistency. Most recruiters know what to do, but struggle to do it every day while juggling clients, candidates, and placements. You know you should be reaching out to prospects daily, but between managing active searches, candidate interviews, and client meetings, your pipeline suffers. The solution? Build automated systems that generate leads while you focus on conversations that close deals. Giorgio Zanella is a go-to-market engineer who's built hundreds of automation workflows for recruiters and founders. Working out of Clay's New York office, he's spent three years mastering the platform and helping recruitment professionals scale their outbound without losing the personal touch. In this behind-the-scenes episode of The Resilient Recruiter, we break down the exact infrastructure, tools, and strategies you need to automate your outbound without sacrificing personalization or sounding like spam. This isn't theory. Giorgio has analyzed thousands of campaigns and knows exactly what separates automation that works from automation that gets ignored. You'll learn why Clay.com has become the number one platform for scaling outreach, how to choose the right tools for email and LinkedIn automation, what infrastructure you actually need (domains, inboxes, and warming protocols), and how to achieve 3-5% response rates on cold email when most people can't break 1%. We cover the complete tech stack: Clay for workflow automation and data enrichment, Instantly for email sequencing, HeyReach for LinkedIn automation, and how these tools work together to create synchronized multichannel campaigns. You'll discover how Clay's "waterfall enrichment" replaces expensive tools like ZoomInfo (saving you $15K+ per year), why LinkedIn outreach gets higher response rates than email (and its hidden limitations), and how to build email infrastructure that protects your domain reputation while scaling to hundreds of sends per day. Giorgio shares the exact formula for safe, sustainable outreach: 3-4 alternate domains, 2 inboxes per domain, 12-15 emails per inbox per day, and the two-week warming process you can't skip. He explains why most recruiters wreck their deliverability by sending from their main domain, how to set up synchronized campaigns where email, LinkedIn, and phone calls happen in coordinated sequences, and why relevance (right person, right time, right message) beats volume every single time. You'll learn what "good" response rates actually look like (spoiler: they're lower than you think, but the ROI is massive), how to calculate return on investment for cold outreach campaigns, and why even a 1% response rate can generate huge returns when your infrastructure costs are minimal. Giorgio breaks down why personalization and timing are more important than blast volume, how to track real-time signals like job changes and promotions to time your outreach perfectly, and the practical first steps to start automating your business development this month. This episode is part of our new course, Automate Your Outreach: How to Generate Client Leads Daily on Autopilot, a four-week implementation program where Mark and Giorgio guide you step-by-step through building your own automation system. Whether you're a solo recruiter trying to scale or an agency owner looking to systematize business development across your team, this conversation gives you the blueprint. Episode highlights: • [00:50] Introducing Giorgio Zanella and the vision behind the "Automate Your Outreach" program • [03:30] What is Clay and why recruiters are using it to automate lead generation • [07:35] The tech stack you actually need: Clay, Instantly, HeyReach (and what to skip) • [12:20] How to replace expensive data tools like ZoomInfo with Clay's "waterfall enrichment" • [18:40] Email vs. LinkedIn outreach: which gets more replies and why • [23:25] How to run synchronized multichannel campaigns (email + LinkedIn + phone) • [31:30] Why personalization and timing beat volume every time • [40:55] Building a bulletproof email infrastructure (domains, inboxes, warm-up rules) • [52:00] What "good" reply rates look like and how to calculate ROI on outreach • [1:10:00] Practical first steps to start automating your BD this month For more information or to register for the Automate Your Outreach course, visit recruitmentcoach.com/automate Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: http://www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/ Connect with Giorgio Zanella on LinkedIn Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Why do some recruiters struggle to break $300K while others hit seven figures in their third year? My guest, Tito Caceres, spotted a $160 billion industry that most recruiters have never even thought about. And he built a thriving business there with nothing but a credit card and relentless hustle. Tito grew up in his family's landscaping business and swore he'd never work in that industry. Ironically, that's exactly where he found his million-dollar niche. After building a career in sales and recruitment, he recognized an opportunity that others had completely missed. In 2021, he launched Bloom Talent Solutions and went all-in. First year? $600K in billings working solo with no agency pedigree. This year, he's on pace for $1.6 million. In this episode, you'll hear how Tito scaled fast by going retained-only, building a transparency system that keeps clients loyal, and creating new income sources beyond placement fees. You'll also hear why he fired clients to achieve clarity, how he packages candidates better than any resume ever could, and what it really takes to dominate a niche market. If you've ever wondered how far focus and follow-through can take a solo recruiter, this is your playbook. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: How Tito went from despising the landscaping industry to building a million-dollar recruiting business in it First year billings: $600K working solo with no pedigree Why Tito walked away from contingent work in year two (and never looked back) The transparency system that keeps clients coming back: weekly reports, bi-weekly meetings, and QBRs Performance sheets: the mandatory tool that packages candidates better than any resume How Tito built AI-driven recruiting systems that put him miles ahead of other recruiters The subscription model that turns relationships into reliable income before placement fees even come in Hiring misfires, family challenges, and the painful lessons that led to clarity Revenue share partnerships with industry consultants that generate referrals on autopilot CONNECT WITH TITO CACERES: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tito-caceres/ Bloom Talent Solutions: http://getbloomtalent.com RESOURCES MENTIONED: Clay.com Lemlist Recruitment Coach Live Summit Claire Ackers on LinkedIn CONNECT WITH MARK WHITBY: Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: https://www.recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session/ Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/ Mark on Twitter: https://twitter.com/markwhitby Mark on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRecruitmentCoach/ Mark on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/recruitmentcoach/ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RESILIENT RECRUITER This episode is a must-listen if you're ready to scale a high-profit, low-overhead search firm.

What if getting fired 20 times wasn’t failure, but the perfect preparation to build something meaningful? In this episode, recorded in London, I talk with James Rowe about what it really takes to build a six-figure solo recruitment practice without office rent, payroll, or management headaches. James shares how experienced recruiters can keep more of what they bill using smart systems, automation tools, and a resilient mindset. If you’ve ever thought about going solo or simplifying your business, you’ll get practical ideas you can apply right away. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 5:14 Getting fired 20+ times and discovering recruitment 13:15 From “terrible employee” to entrepreneur 14:01 The economics of solo recruiting 18:37 Why general recruiters struggle 24:33 Finding balance as a solo recruiter 29:02 Email and automation that work 40:54 Two email tweaks that boosted replies 20% 46:03 Lead magnets that convert at 50% 56:06 Why resilience and community matter most You’ll learn: How to structure your solo desk to scale without overhead The automation tools (Clay, ChatGPT, Phantom Buster) that win clients Why niche specialists thrive while generalists get squeezed The “Sent from my iPhone” follow-up trick that increases replies Why resilience and community matter more than talent The Resilient Recruiter brings you weekly conversations with top agency leaders, solo recruiters, and search-firm owners, hosted by Mark Whitby, coach and founder of RecruitmentCoach.com.

Most recruitment agency owners hit a wall around 10–20 people. The culture that made you successful starts to crack, and the personal touch gets lost. Nicholas Barton didn’t just avoid that wall he redefined what scaling could look like. From packing boxes in a warehouse to leading a 100-person global firm, Nicholas built The Barton Partnership into one of Forbes’ “World’s Best Management Consulting Firms,” with offices in London, New York, and Singapore. He built a platform before headcount, gave away 35% of his business through share options, and kept his early hires for nearly two decades. While competitors chased quick wins, Nicholas played the long game scaling internationally without losing the cohesion that made his business special. In this episode: [03:40] How Nicholas found his niche in strategy consulting [10:50] The “spray and pray” moment that launched his career [13:04] The hires who’ve stayed 18 years — and why [18:33] Why giving away 35% made his firm stronger [29:08] The “airport test” and how to hire for culture [35:20] Build your platform before you scale [1:04:42] Why great service always beats great selling 🎙️ Hosted by Mark Whitby, The Resilient Recruiter Podcast

AI isn't coming to recruitment. It's already here. And the gap between recruiters who know how to use it and those who don't is widening fast. My guest today has data proving it: recruiters adopting AI correctly are seeing up to 30% increases in GP per desk. Manan Shah is CEO and co-founder of Recruiter Flow, an AI-first recruitment operating system built for search firms, agencies, and solo practitioners doing permanent and contract placements. After accidentally discovering that recruitment agencies were "a decade behind" in tech adoption, Manan and his team have built what could be the most comprehensive AI-enabled platform for modern recruiters. This conversation gets tactical. We discuss how to run your firm with SaaS-level business intelligence, AI note-taking that structures unstructured data, job change alerts that put you in front of clients at exactly the right moment, and multichannel sequencing that lets you scale BD without adding headcount. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: RecOps: Stop Guessing, Start Measuring Many recruitment firm owners are flying blind. They figure out salary budgets, marketing spend, and incentive structures by gut feel. Manan introduces "RecOps" (Recruitment Operations), borrowed from how SaaS companies run. It means tracking the metrics that matter. In SaaS, they know their customer lifetime value versus what they spend to acquire that customer should be 3:1. You should be spending one-third or less of what a client is worth to you on getting them. Simple, but many recruitment firms haven't made this calculation. Successful firms are now hiring operations people who aren't recruiters but keep the business running tight. Job Change Alerts: Three Opportunities From One Signal When someone in your database changes jobs or gets promoted, you get three plays. First, that person's new company often needs more hires or creates turnover when they bring in their own team. Second, their old company needs to backfill. Third, the one most people miss: that person was probably interviewing elsewhere. Build rapport, and they might tell you about the other positions they turned down. Those companies might still be hiring. Recruiter Flow monitors your database automatically and pings you when these changes happen. Multichannel Sequencing: Scale Your BD Without Adding Headcount Many agencies rely on their best billers to also do all the business development. They're making calls when they remember, sending one-off emails, maybe a LinkedIn message here and there. Nothing systematic. Recruiter Flow's multichannel sequencing lets you map out an entire BD campaign with conditional logic. Send a LinkedIn connection request. If they accept in 3 days, send a message. If not, trigger an email instead. If they open your email 3+ times but don't reply, the system creates a task for your recruiter to call them. This means your team can run sophisticated, persistent BD campaigns that would normally require hiring a dedicated BD person. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: How Manan accidentally discovered the recruiting agency market and why one client signed a 3-year contract after less than a year in business What "RecOps" means and why recruitment firms need to adopt SaaS-style business intelligence AI-first vs. AI-bolted-on and why your ATS needs to be rebuilt from the ground up The three categories of AI adoption: AI-native, AI-assisted, and AI-augmented How AI note-taking captures tribal knowledge and turns it into searchable intelligence Data enrichment built in: contact finder, job change alerts, executive appointment monitoring Why it's a triple opportunity when someone changes jobs MPC automation with branded landing pages and client interaction tracking What's next: 40+ AI agents in development and the ability to build your own custom agents Why AI doesn't just lift the average but widens the gap between top and bottom performers ABOUT MANAN SHAH: Manan Shah is CEO and co-founder of Recruiter Flow, serving thousands of customers globally, from solo practitioners to firms generating over $100M in annual revenue. Before founding Recruiter Flow in 2015, Manan built his first AI company in 2013, long before AI became mainstream. Connect with Manan on LinkedIn or visit recruiterflow.com CONNECT WITH MARK WHITBY: Get your free 30-minute strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwhitby Twitter: @MarkWhitby Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter for weekly insights on building a scalable, profitable recruitment business.

What happens when you sell a 100-employee company at 28 and decide freedom matters more than settling down? Lauren Fernandez didn’t just dream about working from anywhere—she made it a reality. But this isn’t a glossy “digital nomad” story. It’s the unfiltered truth about building a recruiting business while navigating serious health challenges, redefining success, and realizing your best life might look nothing like others expect. Lauren is the founder of Palm Coast Staffing, a legal recruiting practice she built while traveling the U.S. in an RV. After selling her first company with 100+ employees across three states, she and her husband skipped the mortgage and bought an RV instead. In this episode, Lauren reveals her three-section daily system that creates freedom through discipline, why she believes relationships beat cold calls, and how she structured her firm to keep running through unexpected crises. Episode Outline and Highlights [2:51] From selling rocks as a kid to building and selling a 100-employee company by age 28. [8:17] Hiring over 1,000 people—and what it taught her about matching success to the individual. [13:07] Rejecting the house for an RV and a new staffing business. [15:10] The unglamorous reality behind digital nomad life. [18:23] Her three-bucket daily planning system (no tech required). [23:19] An anti-cold calling philosophy: “find people where they are.” [27:59] Why returning to the same conferences builds long-term credibility. [34:42] Combating recruiting industry distrust through authentic relationships. [38:25] Running a business while navigating her husband’s serious health diagnosis. [44:52] Why entrepreneurial lows aren’t as devastating as you think—and highs aren’t as high. On Building a Business That Serves Your Life After selling her first company, Lauren chose differently. When her husband was later diagnosed with myositis and developed stage three heart failure, their flexible model proved its worth. In her words: “Success looks different for different people at different times. Maybe right now you’re in the building phase and you can work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. But maybe in a few years you’ve got kids and success is having freedom to spend time with them while they’re young.” She asks every agency owner to reflect: “Is your company the tool to get you success, or is your company the success? Is it the means to the end or is it the end?” Her System for Freedom Through Discipline Lauren’s three-section daily planning system is simple but effective. Using a paper planner, she breaks down daily into business development, recruiting, and operations. The buckets are interchangeable, so one disruption doesn’t derail the whole day. “When you run your own business, there’s a lot in the ‘other’ section,” Lauren says. This system helped her keep placing candidates and winning clients—even during week-long hospital stays. Her insight: discipline in planning is what creates the freedom to adapt. Lauren Fernandez Bio Lauren Fernandez is the founder of Palm Coast Staffing, specializing in legal recruitment nationwide. She previously co-founded and scaled a sales and marketing company to 100+ employees before selling it at 28. After agency experience in Florida, she and her husband launched Palm Coast Staffing in 2022 with a unique twist—building the business from an RV while traveling the country. Lauren has personally hired over 1,000 people, giving her deep insight into aligning opportunities with candidates’ life priorities. She’s passionate about rebuilding trust in recruiting through authentic relationships, not spammy outreach. Currently based in Florida, she continues to build Palm Coast Staffing while supporting her husband through ongoing health challenges. Their next adventure? An RV trip from Florida to Alaska. People and Resources Mentioned Atomic Habits by James Clear Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell "If—" poem by Rudyard Kipling Starlink Internet Airtable Recruit CRM ChatGPT Connect with Lauren and Mark Lauren on LinkedIn Palm Coast Staffing website Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call: RecruitmentCoach.com/strategy-session Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Twitter Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram

Most recruitment firms stall at $1M revenue. Greg Fischer broke through by building a high-retention offshore team, embedding himself inside client organizations with RPO, and using LinkedIn commenting as a smarter BD strategy. As Co-Owner of AMI Network, Greg scaled from $1M to $4.2M revenue and $1.4M profit sustaining 30–40% margins. His model: hire offshore staff directly, integrate them as equals, and use a 2:1 sourcer-to-recruiter ratio to free recruiters to bill more. Alongside that, he mastered RPO pricing, transforming a $30K placement into a $1.5M account. Today, as founder of Well Oiled Machine, Greg helps other firms replicate this approach. In this episode, he shares how to structure offshore teams for 85%+ retention, qualify RPO opportunities, and win clients through LinkedIn commenting. Episode Outline and Highlights 6:42 From solo founder’s first hire to 40-person team. 7:40 Breaking the $1M ceiling with offshore hiring after failed BPOs. 12:37 Why sourcing was the first offshore function and how it lifted billings. 23:18 Landing a $50K/month RPO by reframing a client’s hiring challenge. 28:07 How that grew into an $80K/month RPO account with 30–40% margins. 30:45 When to pitch RPO: the minimum job volume that makes it viable. 33:47 The “open + close” fee model that stabilized cash flow. 36:23 How a 2:1 sourcer-to-recruiter ratio frees recruiters to bill more. 39:08 Why most agencies fail with offshore—and how to do it right. 47:19 Choosing the right country: Mexico vs Philippines vs South Africa. 54:51 Greg’s daily LinkedIn commenting routine that built an inbound pipeline. Key Takeaways Offshore Done Right Fuels Scale Greg’s agency was stuck at $1M for four years. BPOs failed, freelancers flaked. The breakthrough came when he hired offshore staff directly, trained them thoroughly, and treated them as equals. Within three years, AMI scaled to $4M+ revenue with 30–40% profit margins and 85% retention. Offshore wasn’t a cheap fix; it was the lever that freed recruiters to focus on revenue-driving work. The RPO Question That Unlocks Recurring Revenue A referral asked for an internal recruiter. Greg’s partner asked: “Why now?” The answer—50 hires in six months—turned a $30K placement into a $50K/month retainer that ran three years, worth $1.5M. His rule: RPO only works with 5–10 requisitions/month and $15K+ revenue. Anything less is contingent search. Over time, he moved to an “open fee + closed fee” model that kept revenue flowing and profit margins at 30–40%. LinkedIn Strategic Commenting Works Greg built AMI Network through cold outbound. For Well Oiled Machine, he went another route: commenting daily on posts from 60 recruitment thought leaders. Thirty minutes before posting, thirty minutes after. The results? Comments hitting 20,000+ impressions—often outperforming original posts. On LinkedIn, comments are content, and for agency owners this is a repeatable, low-cost BD strategy that beats cold calling. Greg Fischer Bio and Contact Info Greg is the former Co-Owner of AMI Network, a healthcare recruitment agency that did $1.4M in Profit on just $4.2M in revenue. His secret? 18 of his 40 team members were Offshore high-performing employees, with annual retention over 85%. Now his firm, Well Oiled Machine recruits Offshore & Nearshore staff for Recruitment Firms & Staffing Agencies. Greg Fischer on LinkedIn Well Oiled Machine website link Connect with Mark Whitby Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call Mark on LinkedIn Mark on Facebook Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

Andy Dunne thought other agency owners were the enemy. They'd steal clients, poach candidates, copy ideas. Sound familiar? Then he joined Team in 2014 just to save £130 a month on job boards. Eleven years later, he's their managing director, overseeing 500+ agencies that split over £6 million in fees last year. What changed? Andy learned that protecting everything actually kills more business than it creates. In this episode, you'll discover: Why 80% of Team's agencies went from generalist to specialist since 2014 (and why the generalists are getting crushed) The market intelligence strategy that makes prospects call you instead of you chasing them How two specialist agencies split £40,600 by collaborating on out-of-niche roles The mental health reality of running an agency alone - and why Andy champions this cause Why your real competition isn't other agencies, but AI and managed service providers Andy shares the quarterly report strategy that made one agency owner "untouchable" with prospects, the collaboration mindset shift that's transforming the industry, and why the isolation of solo agency ownership is something that can't be ignored. Whether you're a solo agency owner or leading a team, this conversation challenges the "protect everything" mentality and shows how collaboration can transform your business. Andy Dunne is Managing Director of Team, the UK's largest network of independently owned recruitment businesses. With over 20 years in recruitment, including running his own agency, Andy is passionate about collaboration and community. Since joining Team, he's helped agencies save millions in job board costs and connect through an active network that shares over £6m annually in split fees.

What if you could run your recruiting firm on autopilot while launching a completely new business? Brian Gabay has mastered this balance—his 5-person team makes placements without him while he builds a tech startup. Brian founded Brian Simon Associates (BSA) in 2016, specializing in PR and marketing recruitment. He built systems, transforming his business from constant attention to running independently. This freedom allowed him to launch Arrange AI, eliminating interview coordination, which consumes 70% of recruiters' admin time. Brian reveals his framework: getting your entire team on client calls, his "hire two people" strategy, and the mindset shift to step away from daily operations. Plus, surviving a 6-month placement drought taught him the resilience needed to juggle multiple ventures. Episode Outline and Highlights [7:19] The reality TV opportunity that came at the worst time [8:11] How a 3-year kidney donor search taught him resilience [19:50] Why are placed candidates overlooked for new business [20:27] Daily LinkedIn habit: One new connection PLUS one reconnection [23:40] Surviving the drought: First placement took 5-6 months [26:14] The 6-month cash cushion rule for going solo [36:35] Hiring strategy: "If you like two people, hire them both." [44:27] Why 70% of recruiting time is wasted on scheduling [50:18] Game-changer: Getting your entire team on client calls [52:58] Building systems: "Placements happen without me" Building Through Setbacks Brian's approach to adversity was forged through personal crisis. With his father on dialysis, Brian applied recruiting skills to find a kidney donor. "I wasn't a blood match. Neither were my sisters. He's type O... I searched for three years. There was a dark world out there. People wanted money... My dad's life is on the line." The breakthrough came through Jennifer Wolf, who responded to his outreach "just like we would do on LinkedIn." When Fox discovered his YouTube video and offered him a spot on "Home Free" to compete for a house for Jennifer, the timing couldn't have been worse. The 6-Month Rule Brian's practical approach began with planning: "I saved enough to pay rent for six months. That was my cushion... I need to make a placement within six months. If I can't, then maybe this is not for me." His advice emphasizes transparency: "If you're starting your own firm and leaving your current one, have a transparent conversation... Even if these are connections you made yourself, it was created under someone else's umbrella. Leave on good terms." From Solo to Scale After three years solo, Brian began building a team. When he discovered an employee ignoring candidate emails, instead of retreating, he refined his approach: "Out of 10 people, if there's two you really like and you're on the fence, hire both. If one doesn't work out, you still got a really good one." The transformation came from one change: "Having them involved in all client calls... Now if it's a new business call, it's all five of us. They meet the client, ask questions, take notes... I've seen the ownership kick in." This freed Brian to launch Arrange while BSA operated: "Sometimes there's placements being made and I'm not involved at all." Brian Gabay Bio Brian Gabay founded BSA in 2016, specializing in PR, Marketing, and Digital/Social recruiting. He's partnered with recognized PR agencies and brands nationwide. With over a decade of experience, Business Insider named him one of the top PR recruiters in the country. Earlier this year, he launched Arrange AI—a smart scheduling tool for recruiters coordinating meetings between external parties. Brian on LinkedIn Arrange AI: arrange.ai BSA: briansimonsassociates.com Resources Mentioned "Home Free" on Fox Tim Tebow on LinkedIn Connect with Mark Whitby FREE strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session LinkedIn | Twitter: @MarkWhitby Facebook | Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter