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.

• [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.

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?”

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 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.

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell

• "If—" poem by Rudyard Kipling

• Starlink Internet

• Airtable

• Recruit CRM

• ChatGPT

• 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

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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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

Johnny Campbell drops a bombshell: "Can AI recruit better than humans today? Hundred percent better than humans on average." He's got the data to back it up. Johnny explains why half of all recruiters will be gone within the next decade—and how to be in the half that thrives.

Johnny runs SocialTalent and has trained over a million recruiters globally. He survived launching an agency during the 2008 crash and now shares what's coming next.

Episode Outline and Highlights

• [3:35] How Johnny survived launching an agency into the 2008 crash

• [8:37] "Peak recruiter" happened in 2023—why it's downhill from here

• [10:41] The bank loan analogy that destroys the case for human interviewers

• [15:05] The AirPods story—why candidates will accept AI interviews

• [19:33] UK research: AI persuades people 10x better than humans

• [28:10] Marc Andreessen's "barbell model"—why the middle dies

• [31:24] Indian recruiters abandoned email—what WhatsApp means for outreach

• [36:26] Mercor: Three 21-year-olds built a $2B AI recruiter in 2 years

• [38:14] The Hudson RPO arbitrage—selling AI to companies that can't use it

• [52:07] Why recruiters need Johnny's "Mini MBA"

Key Takeaways:

Your $2 Billion Wake-Up Call: Three 21-year-olds started Mercor two years ago. Now valued at $2 billion. Their pitch: "5 qualified candidates in 5 minutes." They didn't improve recruiting—they eliminated it.

Where AI Wins: Johnny breaks recruiting into three parts. Finding candidates? AI wins. Assessment? AI does it better with less bias. But closing deals? That's where humans matter. "There will always be a role for a human advising the business."

No Middle Ground: McDonald's hires in 7 minutes with AI. Zuckerberg personally calls candidates. If you're doing "decent recruiting at decent prices," you're dead. Pick a side: tech-powered efficiency or ultra-premium service.

The WhatsApp Revolution: Email is dead for recruiting in India. Everyone uses WhatsApp. Johnny's insight: AI will soon predict the best platform per candidate. Agencies sending LinkedIn InMails are playing yesterday's game.

Johnny Campbell Bio and Contact Info

Johnny Campbell is the co-founder and CEO of SocialTalent. With over 250,000 LinkedIn followers, he's recognized globally as a thought leader on AI and recruitment. Father of 4 boys, avid runner, aspiring youth rugby coach.

• Johnny on X

• Johnny on LinkedIn

• Johnny on Instagram

• SocialTalent website link

• SocialTalent on Facebook

• SocialTalent on YouTube

People and Resources Mentioned

• Mercor website link

• Glen Cathey on LinkedIn

• Hudson RPO website link

• Clay website link

• ChatGPT 

• Copilot

• Gemini

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby

• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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Most recruitment agencies waste £50+ per cold call meeting. Anthony Lewis found a better way to scale from startup to 50-person team.

Anthony's team made 1,500 cold calls for just 27 placements. That 1.8% conversion rate would panic most agency owners. Instead, he built a candidate experience system that turns rejections into revenue.

What You'll Learn:

• How to build agency growth without expensive cold calling

• Business development strategies that actually work

• How 86% candidate satisfaction became his competitive advantage

• Agency scaling secrets from startup to 50 employees

• Why treating candidates like future clients changes everything

Key Insights:

• 9:39 Why purpose prevents fee-chasing behavior

• 24:53 What "psychological safety" means for performance

• 35:30 Why individual KPIs beat generic targets

• 45:43 The candidate feedback system that drives growth

• 50:26 How the MD personally calls every unhappy candidate

Anthony Lewis Bio and Contact Info 

Anthony is passionate about the careers of public sector leaders, and for over a decade has supported organisations nationally to attract and hire the best talent. Whether interims, Non Execs or people into permanent roles, Anthony is never happier than when helping people fulfil their career ambitions. 

Anthony is Managing Director at Tile Hill, a public sector-focused executive recruitment company, and is hugely proud of the achievements of the business and those around him. From having been awarded Best Company to Work For, Best In House L&D at the 2024 REC Awards, the Best Candidate Experience category at the 2024 Tiara Awards, and most recently voted the number 1 interim service provider in the Institute of Interim Management Annual Survey, it is a reflection of the values led approach and passion that Tile Hill's team show as they approach their work every day. With an EVP of #Lovetheimpactyou make, we are all inspired to make a difference for those who are shaping the society we live in.

•

• Tile Hill website link

• Anthony Lewis on LinkedIn

• Different Leadership website link

• Tile's fundraiser for Alzheimer's Society

People and Resources Mentioned

• David Weir on LinkedIn

• Leo Hewett on LinkedIn 

• Force24

• JobAdder

• Adecco Group

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby

• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

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Fired in 3 days, Dario Furman rebounded to bill $6.5M. Learn his recruitment growth strategies using relationships, niche focus & AI.

Fired three days into his first recruiting job, Dario Furman could have walked away. Instead, a bold “second chance” email to the CEO got him rehired and launched a 17-year executive search career placing 500+ professionals and billing $6.5M at StevenDouglas.

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Dario shares how resilience, relationship-building, and smart use of AI helped him become one of Florida’s top billers. You’ll learn how he turned candidates into loyal clients, outworked his competition, and built a sustainable desk focused on quality, not transactions.

You’ll discover:

• The comeback story that began with a “second chance” email.

• How Dario became a top 3 national biller within a year.

• Overcoming fear of business development and calling C-suite decision-makers.

• Turning long-term candidate relationships into client revenue.

• Why did he “MPC’d” himself into StevenDouglas?

• Leveraging niche focus, KPIs, AI tools, and warm introductions to boost results.

• Automations that enhance, not replace, human connection.

About Dario:
Dario connects top-tier finance and accounting talent with South Florida’s leading companies. Since joining StevenDouglas in 2014, he’s placed 387 professionals with an 8% falloff rate, generating over $6.4M in fees. Fluent in English and Spanish, he combines modern recruiting tools with an old-school relationship-first approach.

People and Resources Mentioned:

• James Cairns on LinkedIn

• ChatGPT 

• Herefish 

• Quil AI

• Get your FREE 30-minute strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• Mark on Twitter: @MarkWhitby

• Mark on Facebook

• Mark on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach

Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter

What if your job board wasn’t just a place to post jobs—but the top of your sales funnel?

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, Jordan Whilden shares how he scaled Ministry Hub, a faith-based executive search firm, by transforming a niche job board into a predictable lead generation machine. Fueled by a cold email campaign that delivers a 17% reply rate, Jordan’s model shows how recruiters can generate clients consistently—without cold calling or high-pressure tactics.

We dive into the exact steps Jordan took to build a multi-service recruitment business, from his transition out of pastoral ministry to launching a proprietary ATS (MinistryHire) and leading a fully remote team. If you’re a recruitment agency owner looking to build smarter systems, offer tiered services, or grow recurring revenue, this episode is packed with actionable ideas and inspiration.

Episode Highlights:

• From full-time ministry to launching a job board side hustle

• Evolving from job board to full-service search firm

• First-year lessons: underpricing, overwhelm, and early wins

• Why building a custom ATS was a game-changer

• Creating flexible, tiered service models

• How “serve first” creates long-term client wins

• Cold outreach strategy: 89% open rate, 17% replies

• The tools behind his tech stack: Loxo, Instantly, Hireflix, Asana, Scribe

• Scaling with a 3-person offshore team

• One-way video interviews and standout candidate presentation

• Recurring revenue through subscription-based ATS

• Leading with values while balancing family and business growth

Key Takeaways:

• A job board can be more than a job board—it can be your client magnet

• Value-first cold emails build trust before selling

• Scaling is easier with systems, SOPs, and the right offshore support

• Serving your niche exceptionally well creates both impact and revenue

About Jordan Whilden:
Jordan is the founder and CEO of Ministry Hub, a faith-based executive search firm. With a Master’s in Theology and an MBA, he brings a rare mix of pastoral insight and business acumen. Prior to launching Ministry Hub in 2021, Jordan served churches on both coasts, including leadership at one of America’s largest congregations. He’s also the creator of MinistryHire, a purpose-built ATS and job board platform serving mission-driven organizations.

Today, Jordan helps churches and nonprofits build world-changing teams—and has grown Ministry Hub into a go-to talent partner in the faith sector.

He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife Brittany and their son. Outside work, they love kayaking, the beach, and traveling as a family.

Connect with Jordan:
Jordan on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanwhilden/
Ministry Hub Website - https://ministryhub.org/
MinistryHire Website - https://ministryhire.com/

Connect with Mark Whitby:
Get a FREE strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
Mark on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwhitby/
X: @MarkWhitby
Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter - https://plinkhq.com/i/1489513354

Tired of the outdated “thirds” model in executive search? Andrew Mears was too. That’s why he co-founded Lead Candidate—a niche search firm serving the pharma and bio-outsourcing sector—based on a transparent, fixed-fee subscription model that’s up to 30% more cost-effective than traditional pricing.

In this episode, Andrew reveals how Lead Candidate went from break-even to 133% revenue growth by rethinking everything: pricing, positioning, sales, and even internal rituals like “Tom’s Day of Bad Ideas.” You’ll hear how they grew entirely through referrals—no cold calls, no job scraping, no outbound—and why clients commit to 3–18 month subscription agreements that provide predictable revenue for the firm and budgeting certainty for their CFOs.

If you're a recruitment firm owner frustrated with unpredictable billings, client churn, or the limitations of contingent search, this conversation will show you what’s possible when you lead with values, relevance, and partnership—not pitches.

• [3:24] Why Andrew left a COO role to start over during COVID—and how a health scare changed his outlook

• [12:22] The broken search pricing model—and how Lead Candidate built a better one

• [22:30] Defining a niche within a niche: how their positioning sets them apart

• [31:55] Capsule vs. Scale vs. Annual Subscription: how their pricing tiers work

• [43:39] Why they broke even for 2 years—then tripled revenue during a downturn

• [56:42] How they land clients without cold outreach

• [1:08:06] Tom’s Day of Bad Ideas: the internal ritual that drives innovation

• [1:19:20] How they’re using AI tools like Quill to free up human interaction

Instead of charging a percentage of salary in staged fees, Lead Candidate scopes each project based on hiring volume, role complexity, and delivery effort. Pricing is fixed, agreed upfront, and delivered via subscription—typically 3, 6, or 12+ months.

This approach gives clients cost transparency and spending predictability—especially valuable for VC-backed, resource-constrained companies—and positions Lead Candidate as a strategic partner rather than a transactional vendor.

Lead Candidate didn’t rely on cold outreach. Before launching, Andrew’s team surveyed the market, co-created their offer with prospects, and built deep trust through relevance and listening. Their early clients didn’t need convincing—they were already bought in.

“We never sold. We just listened. The worst outcome was a great conversation.”

This approach helped them create a high-conviction pipeline, long-term client relationships, and sticky recurring revenue—without chasing unqualified leads or relying on outdated biz dev tactics.

The journey wasn’t easy. For the first two years, they broke even. But Andrew and his co-founders stayed true to their niche, hired with care, and grew by reputation. By 2024, the firm had grown 133% in revenue and 250% in headcount—without compromising on culture or delivery quality.

“We built the business the market told us it needed—and just stayed true to it.”

Andrew is the CEO of Lead Candidate, a search firm he co-founded in 2020 to champion talent in the global life sciences sector. He began his career in HR before moving into executive recruitment, where he’s spent 16+ years building national and international practices.

• Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn

• Visit Lead Candidate

• Quill

• AssistCV (by Odro)

• ChatGPT

• “Buy Back Your Time” by Dan Martell

• “Built to Sell” by John Warrilow

• “Molecule to Market” Podcast

• Book a free strategy call

• Mark on LinkedIn

• @RecruitmentCoach on Instagram

• @MarkWhitby on Twitter

What does it take to build a recruiting firm that survives three recessions, operates across borders, and thrives without retainers?

In this episode of The Resilient Recruiter, we spotlight David Fishman, founder of Sparrow Company—a bi-national executive search and staffing firm based in both the U.S. and Mexico. David shares how he rebuilt after nearly losing everything in 2009 and developed a resilient, multi-revenue business that consistently closes $30K+ deals on contingency.

With a team of 12 and placements ranging from hourly plant workers to C-suite executives, David proves that long-term success in recruiting isn’t about flashy tech or a narrow niche—it’s about grit, loyalty, smart diversification, and building client trust.

Whether you’re a firm owner, solo operator, or team leader, this episode will inspire you to think bigger, act faster, and future-proof your business model.

Episode Highlights:
[2:30] Why David’s recruiting journey started with a family staffing business and a Coast Guard exit
[7:00] How the 2009 recession nearly wiped him out—and what it took to survive
[16:00] Expanding into Mexico: a single client request that changed everything
[24:00] Building a binational team and training his kids to become recruiters
[36:00] Why he’s not retained (yet), and how he consistently closes $30K+ fees on contingency
[47:00] How Sparrow places both plant supervisors and presidents using the same recruiting mechanics
[1:06:00] David’s multiple revenue streams: recruiting projects, temp staffing, nearshore talent
[1:13:00] Why impulsivity is his superpower and what legacy he wants to leave behind

Why Diversification is Non-Negotiable
After nearly losing his business during the 2009 downturn, David made a key decision: stop relying on one industry or one type of placement. Today, Sparrow Company operates across manufacturing, engineering, mining, supply chain, and IT—placing roles at all levels across North America and Europe.

Key takeaway for recruiters: Think beyond niche. Build a multi-layered model across industry, function, level, and geography.

3 Revenue Streams Every Recruiting Firm Owner Should Know
To protect against market shifts and add recurring income, David built three revenue lines:

Embedded recruiters on short-term contracts

Temporary staffing through a dedicated local firm

Contract engineers working remotely from Mexico for U.S. clients

These offerings helped him scale sustainably, stabilize cash flow, and serve clients more deeply.

“Every time we add a new service, it helps us survive another economic cycle.”

How to Close $30K+ Deals Without Retainers
David works 100% on contingency—but trains his clients to expect fewer resumes and faster, more precise matches. His firm is known for first-candidate hires and high-level execution without the upfront fees.

“I’m not retained, but I’m still beating the firms that are. Because I’m hungrier.”

About David Fishman
David Fishman is the founder of Sparrow Company, a bi-national staffing and executive search firm incorporated in the United States and Mexico. With 30+ years in recruiting, he’s placed CEO, CFO, VP, Director, Plant Manager, and Engineering roles across global manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, and Tier-One automotive clients.

Sparrow’s clients include publicly traded multinationals, private equity-backed firms, and international companies operating across the U.S., Mexico, Switzerland, and Germany. David is a member of the Pinnacle Society, recognized by the California Staffing Professionals Association as Staffing Professional of the Year, and frequently speaks on recruiting best practices and production hiring. In 2022, he launched a traditional temporary staffing firm serving the El Paso, TX and Las Cruces, NM region.

Connect with David
David on LinkedIn
Sparrow Company Website

Connect with Mark Whitby
Book a FREE 30-minute strategy call: https://recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
Mark on LinkedIn
X: @MarkWhitby
Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
Facebook: RecruitmentCoach
Subscribe to The Resilient Recruiter