🎙️ From Collection Calls to Columbus: Dan Saas on Building Vaco's $1 Billion Growth Story

In this engaging conversation, Dan Saas, Managing Partner at Vaco, shares his remarkable journey from making $12.50/hour collection calls to leading a Columbus office that's part of a global professional services firm that's grown 5X in the past decade. With refreshing honesty, Dan reveals how desperation led him into staffing, why empathy became his superpower in difficult conversations, and how Vaco transformed from individual office entrepreneurship into a unified delivery powerhouse offering managed services, consulting, and strategic talent acquisition.

✨ Key Insights from Dan Saas:

• How Dan leveraged skills from business-to-business collections to excel in staffing by showing empathy and putting himself "on the other end of the table" with clients

• Why Vaco's entrepreneurial culture allows offices to innovate while maintaining core standards: "What do you want your title to be? How do you plan on running this thing?"

• How the company's three integrated service offerings (managed services, consulting, and strategic talent acquisition) create competitive advantages

• Why Dan focuses on results over activity: "If somebody's hit their quota by 2X, I'm not gonna beat them up if they're two meetings short"

• How COVID accelerated Vaco's transformation from geographically-siloed offices to a unified global delivery model

• Why Dan believes in hiring people smarter than himself and providing "every opportunity for somebody to grow into my role"

• How embracing a growth mindset helped him transition from sales to operational leadership despite it not coming naturally

🌟 Key People in Dan Saas's Journey:

• His former colleague: Who transitioned to Vaco first and reached out to Dan during his non-compete period with a simple "you want to grab lunch?"

• His collections role supervisor: Who taught Dan the value of professional persuasive conversations and consistent execution

• Vaco's founding leadership: Who gave Dan unprecedented autonomy to build and structure his team from scratch

• His internal operational team members: Who helped Dan develop execution skills when he transitioned from sales to operational leadership

• His faith-based small group: Who helped him learn to let go of the need to control every variable in his personal and professional life

👉 Dan Saas's Powerful Perspective on Control and Growth: After struggling with burnout from trying to control every aspect of his life, Dan learned a crucial lesson: "There are things and variables in my life that I can control, but there's a hell of a lot that I cannot. I have to be okay with that." He emphasizes that growth mindset over fixed mindset is crucial: "Just because it doesn't come naturally to me doesn't mean something I can't do. I just have to try a little bit harder and be a little bit more intentional about it."

🔗 Connect with Dan Saas:

• LinkedIn: Dan Saas (software as a service - easy to remember!)

• Email: [email protected]

• Company Website: vaco.com

• Nonprofit involvement: smallbizcares.org

📄 Transcript Available: "Dan Saas: From Collection Calls to Columbus Leadership"

📺 Watch on YouTube: "Dan Saas on the Inspired Stories Podcast"

🌐 Our Website: The Inspired Stories Podcast

📄 Special Thanks to Anthony Codispoti & AddBack Benefits Agency:

• AddBack Benefits Agency - Providing innovative employee benefits solutions that improve employee well-being while optimizing your bottom line

• Website: addbackbenefits.com

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