$500 Left In The Bank and How He Turned It into an $800K Year: Blueprint For Financial Freedom with Randee Staats

Benjamin Mena [00:00:00]:
Coming up on this episode of the Elite Recruiter podcast.

Randee Staats [00:00:03]:
I just wanted to cry every day, but, like, I, you know, I just didn't want to get out of bed. I mean, I'm super depressed, definitely overweight. I was, like, just, you know, stress eating, not eating 75 cups of coffee. Like, I couldn't. Like, my brain couldn't shut off. Like, everybody loves a comeback, and this is such a cool comeback story that the comeback doesn't happen if you just give up. The comeback happens because I showed up and I was consistent and I didn't care about the results. I just knew in my mind I was going to win, and I had no other backup plan, and I won't, and I'm winning.

Randee Staats [00:00:40]:
Welcome to the Elite Recruiter Podcast with your host, Benjamin Mena, where we focus on what it takes to win in the recruiting game. We cover it all from sales, marketing, mindset, money, leadership, and placements foreign.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:58]:
I'm excited about this episode of the Elite Recruiter podcast. The reason is because many times out there, you could be up against the wall with nowhere to go, playing credit card roulette, maxed out on loans, maxed out on payday loans, maxed out against the wall. Our guest today had all that payday loans, credit card roulette, just putting stuff around, and only had 500 left in his account, and he had to sit there and make a decision. He literally drew a line in his hand, got some coaching, and in one year, everything changed. By the end of that year, he went from 500 in his account, credit card roulette, maxed out credit cards, to billing $800,000. The beautiful thing about recruiting is if you work recruiting, your life can absolutely change if you wanted to change. And that's why I'm so excited to have Randy on the podcast. So welcome, Randy.

Randee Staats [00:01:50]:
Awesome, Ben. Thank you so much. I am absolutely honored to be here, man. It means so much to me. Thank you.

Benjamin Mena [00:01:56]:
And I'm excited. Like, the second Mike told me about your story, I was like, you know what? This is a story that's going to have an impact because there's been so many people up against the wall over the last few years.

Randee Staats [00:02:05]:
You know what?

Benjamin Mena [00:02:07]:
I believe that listening to you can absolutely make 2025 an absolute different year based on some of the things that you're going to share. We're going to talk about the point system, the gamification of building a business. But before we talk about all that, how'd you even end up in this world of forward or critic?

Randee Staats [00:02:24]:
Well, my goal was to be a professional baseball player. So that obviously didn't work out. So, honestly, man, like, truthfully, I fell into recruiting my whole life. I was always been an extrovert. I credit that to my dad. He would take me everywhere with him at such a young age, and I would just be able to talk to everybody. I was working at a company called Bounty Jobs at the time, and that's kind of how I fell into learning what recruiting was, right. Cause I never did that at all.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:48]:
What'd you do at Bounty Jobs, by the way?

Randee Staats [00:02:50]:
So I was an account manager. So what I did was I would onboard all the recruiting agencies that would come to the platform, right? I would have to sell them on the bonus of, you know, the value of boundary jobs, what it brings to the table. Hey, you know, more business development. You simply click this page and, you know, you literally can recruit on anything, you know, yada, yada, yada. And I remember I would talk to so many recruiters, and I always had that entrepreneurial mindset because my father owned a auto body for 30 years. So I always figured out, like, I always wanted to go down that path, but I just didn't know what, you know, when I was younger, I was like, hey, maybe it's a tanning salon. And then thank God that didn't work out because the whole gtl thing is, like, pretty much out the door now from Jersey. Maybe it's like a laundromat.

Randee Staats [00:03:28]:
And then I was like, wait. And then obviously, you know, over the years, I. I had a lot of great people around me. So then that's kind of how I fell into the recruiting thing was through Bounty Jobs. And I remember talking to a recruiter, and he was doing nursing staffing. He goes, yeah, man, I just made 20 grand. I was like, what? Like, this is awesome. Like, and he's like, yeah.

Randee Staats [00:03:44]:
And I was like, how'd you do that? And he's like, ah, just placed somebody. I was like, wait, so hold on. So like, you're like a sports agent for, like, the corporate world? And he's like, yeah. He's like, I just find somebody, place them, and this company pays me, you know, 20 grand. So, like, I'm young, dude. I'm young, 20s. I'm like, that's a lot of money. So I'm like, wait, if I do five of those, it's a hundred grand on my terms.

Randee Staats [00:04:04]:
That might as well be like a million bucks. Like, I should totally, totally do this. So it was in the back of my mind at Bounty Jobs and Then, you know, time came where I was there for five years. Loved it. Bounty jobs was great. Got nothing but awesome things to say. Still talk to, you know, a bunch of the people over there now. And that kind of brought me to the recruiting game.

Randee Staats [00:04:20]:
And I remember I moved back to Jersey at the time. Cause I was in, you know, New York, and I was like, all right, let's go. Like. And I turned 30 and that was it. Like, I remember I. I had a short stint at this other company for literally six months. Walked in on day one. I, like, it just felt horrible.

Randee Staats [00:04:36]:
In my gut, I knew I made a mistake, Went back to my men's bounty jobs. I was like, please take me back. Please take me back. He's like, no, man, I'll do you disjustice if I do. And I'm like, no, you won't, like, take me back. He's like, no, trust me, something good will come out of it. I'm like, no, it sucks. I want to come back.

Randee Staats [00:04:51]:
So anyway, started doing the groundwork. My girlfriend, who's now my wife at the time we were writing stuff down, had an awesome friend, you know, in the fitness industry, another awesome friend in real estate. Looked up to them, very successful guys. Kind of started doing some mind mapping, writing stuff down. And I kept coming back to like, people, people, people. And then I was like, boom, that's it. Like, recruiter, let's go all in. Now, mind you, I never worked for an agency.

Randee Staats [00:05:14]:
So, like, I had no idea. Like, I was just like, I'm gonna work really hard and like, just figure it out. Sitting on my parents table because I moved back home at the time I was, oh, what's a name? What's a name? And my mom, I was like, s something. She's like, what about S4? And I was like, oh, it's great. Like, because I came from a family of four. It was me, my dad, my sister and me. So I'm like, that's awesome. So we'll do S4 search partners and oh, a LJ LLC and got a printer.

Randee Staats [00:05:41]:
My dad bought me a printer from Walmart. And here we are nine years later.

Benjamin Mena [00:05:46]:
Off to the races. But okay, you knew about the industry because of you were selling to it, but you never actually did any of the recruiting industry stuff or came from an agency. How did you even start to learn what to actually do? Like, outside of working hard?

Randee Staats [00:06:02]:
Trial layer. And I would like talk to people that be like, oh, yeah, you just, you know, you call this person, call the HR manager or whatever. Say, hey, I want to fill a job, get a contract. I had no idea what a contract looked like, so I just googled that where, like, I had somebody send me one, like a mock one. And then I just kind of like more like the Richard Bronson effect, right? Like, just figure it out. And I just started going, going and going and going. And then I remember I, I used to work for this, this other company really well, started my career there. And like the guy, one of the guys called me because I still stayed in touch with him.

Randee Staats [00:06:33]:
He's like, stats, like, so and so. Just got bought out by so and so. He's like, you still doing that recruiting thing? And I'm like, yeah. He's like, I need you to go after all their competitors. All right, cool. Yes. Awesome. I had no idea.

Randee Staats [00:06:44]:
I just knew that like this LinkedIn thing, which I wasn't really even that big on, like, worked. And then like the cell phone and Internet and I was like, all right, like, let me just kind of go be a detective. Just started reaching out to people and kind of fell into it, man. So, like, I'm a hundred percent at that time, self taught. Like, I just am a type of guy that would like, just keep going and going and going and I think other people are going to bash their heads out and quit. And like, I just kept going because I was like, this is kind of cool. And I feel like I can make a really good living because my theory was in life, right, you work till you're 65 and then you're lucky to get maybe 10, 15 more years after that. And that's when your life starts, right? And I'm like, dude, like, why am I going to do that? Like, life is so awesome.

Randee Staats [00:07:27]:
Awesome. And like, we're on this earth for a reason. It's like, let's make an impact. Let's enjoy every day. So, like, I'm not going to work for today. I'm going to work to enjoy my life. So if I want to raise my hand to go to the bathroom, that's not really somewhere I want to work. If I want to cut out on a Wednesday and go get a haircut, I'm going to go get a haircut.

Randee Staats [00:07:47]:
Like, and that's kind of how I looked at it. And plus, at my other jobs, I was like, not challenged anymore because I was really good at them in a sense where like, I'd finish the job in two hours and then it was like Groundhog Day. So I had to blow up my entire life and challenge myself.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:02]:
Okay, you blew up your entire life. You jumped into recruiting, you started having success. Did you grow the company into more than just you?

Randee Staats [00:08:10]:
I did. That fell into my lap. I was doing this big company that I used to work for, and this other gentleman reached out to me who, you know, I connected with at that old company, and he started asking me a lot of questions, and he was like, yeah, like, what are you doing with recruiting? And I was like, blah, blah, blah. And then he ended up getting laid off from his current job. He's like, listen, I'm going away, but we come back, we should talk more. And then me and him kind of partnered, and we started taking over this company that we used to work for, just doing massive amounts of placements for them. Like, that was our only client. So, like, we were doing like, 75 fills a year with them, you know, making a ton.

Randee Staats [00:08:46]:
You know, we're grossing 5, 600,000. And I'm like, this is, like, awesome. I'm, like, making a good money, living my life, you know? And it's like, dude, this is like, this is crazy. And then, you know, as you evolve, right? Like, I always knew that, like, business development was, like, we needed it, because, you know, no healthy business is ever good on one business, on one company or one client, because, you know, they kick the stool out from under your debt. So we would try business development here and there. But, like, my theory was always, hey, like, register. Ring the register. Ring the register.

Randee Staats [00:09:21]:
So as we're bringing the register with a big client, me, we're doing really well. We bring on this other person. We tape the head of the people out to dinner in New York City. And it was great. Like, we got, like, slosh. It was a good time. Like, it was, like, good. And then I remember, like, before they were leaving, I was like, oh, by the way, you know, what do you do about this? And like, oh, nothing.

Randee Staats [00:09:38]:
I was like, we'll do that too. And then, like, the guy that was with me was like, wait, like, how are we going to do that? And I was like, I don't know. Just like, we'll figure it out. Ended up finding this other person. She was phenomenal. She took that business to, like, a whole new level. She was a technician. She did, like, 65, 70 placements.

Randee Staats [00:09:53]:
They were like, drivers. Like, so it was like they were route drivers. So that's like a really hard, like, kind of thing to do. But we were doing everything for, like, really low pricing, right? And it was all flat fees. And every time we go get new business we were lucky enough to really have our folks in this company that, like, they would feed us roles all the time, and we were just doing really well. And then, you know, as things go on, you get burnt out. Like, I got into recruiting because, like I said, I wanted to truthfully help people and be able to live my life and enjoy my life, but more importantly, like, just to help people all around and, you know, enjoy it, like, make some value. And I got burnt out.

Randee Staats [00:10:29]:
Like, I was sick and tired of doing the same role Covid hit at the time. So me and this other guy, we just didn't have the same vision. We ended up both going our different ways. And then I was supposed to get married that year, and then, you know, Covid hit, so the wedding got postponed to the following year. And then, you know, we were busy finally coming back, so we started redoing this again. And I just knew I was like, man, like, I got, like, grow this business, and I just didn't have time. Like, I was so, like, in that, like, starter mindset of, like, running the register. And then I had a friend to me reach out to me at that time was like, yo, man, Like, I got, like, these two really good finance contracts.

Randee Staats [00:11:02]:
Like, we should start another division. Like, we should do a financial division. And I was like, awesome. Cool. And, like, it kind of looks like the perfect storm, right? Because, like, covert ended kind of first quarter there. Did that year. And then, like, my wife and I, we got married. We're building that.

Randee Staats [00:11:16]:
You know, we bought a house. We're kind of updating the house. My wife gets pregnant. She works in New York City. She's leaving her job. So now it's like, all right. Like, now I'm, like, doing all this math in my head. I'm like, all right, cool.

Randee Staats [00:11:27]:
Like, sure. I'm like, yeah, we'll do that business. Absolutely. Like, I got the groundwork. Like, I got this. Well, I mean, I. Sounds really easy, right? In theory. Ended up partnering with this family friend, opened up this financial division, and it is just.

Randee Staats [00:11:40]:
It was a nightmare. You know, I was involved, but it kind of started going against, like, stuff that, like, I kind of swore that we wouldn't do, right? Like, we were doing, you know, paying everybody on the sun for salaries. We're buying every tool under the sun. You know, I'm giving all these roles to other people, which has been taking it out of my mouth. I'm worried about feeding everybody first. Nobody's, you know, I'm not feeding my family. And, like, it just wasn't the right fit. Like we hired somebody that just wasn't good at all.

Randee Staats [00:12:06]:
It was 30 years in the industry and it was like absolute worst hire I think I've ever done in my life. And, you know, I had to take out a PayPal loan to pay him to do. Offered him a hundred grand. You know, just stupid spending. I was getting pulled away. You know, long story short, I think if you talk to people individually, they'll all have different stories. You know, everybody will point fingers. But I've always pointed the finger at myself.

Randee Staats [00:12:26]:
I've always been the type of guy where like, hey, at the end of the day, like, I agreed to the decisions. I said yes. So the only person that I'm going to get mad about and hate is, is this guy, right? The guy in the mirror. So I blinked and realized that I'm funneling money from S4 to this other company. There's no money left. I blew out all my insurance policies. I have a 2 month old. I moved into my house.

Randee Staats [00:12:49]:
All I want to do is cry. I have no money. And I'm like, what do I do now? And my wife goes, where's everything? And I said, it's gone. Everything's gone. I remember I was calling my parents. I almost had like a pan. It was like I had a panic attack. I was like, it's all gone, it's all happening.

Randee Staats [00:13:06]:
And like, I was screaming. And then I remember I resigned from another company, fired, everybody left, and was like, all right, I found a coach by the name of Mike Anderson. Was introduced to him by a mutual friend. And that dude. I remember it was December, 12-13-20, December 16, 2023. I said, all right, man. Like, I got 500 bucks in my name. Like, I just want to let you know my story.

Randee Staats [00:13:26]:
Like, this is where I'm at. Like, if you don't want to help me, I get it. But, like, I got to do this for the next 90 days or like, I'm going to work at like, you know, Home Depot or something because, like, I. I don't know what to do.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:36]:
Well, let's take a step back, like, you know, before you kind of hit the wall and you realize where everything was financially. Did you start to see writing on the wall that the money was disappearing or did it kind of catch you off guard?

Randee Staats [00:13:50]:
No, 100%. I saw, I saw the money riding on the wall, right? But like, you're chasing that essentially, I guess, a hot, right, because you're like, I'm like, I know this is going to work. Like this is going to work. This is going to work. It's going to work. But yet we're paying salaries. And I never paid salaries out before. Like, they were all, you know, so I'm paying people.

Randee Staats [00:14:05]:
They're not working. The worst part about the whole thing was, like, I was the only one that really was successful in recruiting. So, like, I built the business up before all these other people. Never been in recruiting outside of one guy and you. He was. He's not a good recruiter at all. So I'm paying these people. They're time vampires.

Randee Staats [00:14:21]:
They're sucking me dry. I'm only hearing about their problems. They don't care anything about me, but yet they only want to hear from me on the 1st and the 15th. And I'm, like, looking at the money, it's dwindling. And I'm like. I feel like the best way to equate this is, like, if you're a gambler, right? Let's just say you win 30 grand, like, you're going to keep continuing to chase that high, right? So I was chasing it, being like, I know this is going to work. I did it before, I had to do it again. Like, let's double down.

Randee Staats [00:14:43]:
Let's do this. Let's get zoom info. Let's get all this other stuff. Like, let's double down. But, like, in hindsight, I'm walking into this office, it's dead quiet. Nobody's on the phones. I'm the only guy on the phone, and I'm working to fill roles, to pay everybody else. And that was it.

Randee Staats [00:14:57]:
It just. I couldn't. I was so far in the hole, and that company was so far in the hole that I had no other choice but to walk away, because it wasn't. It wasn't a very good environment. It wasn't a successful environment. And I knew, you know, that it was like, all right, like, I got to get around people that are elevated, like, not where I am now, but where they are. And I want to be the dumbest guy in the room, because I know that's going to automatically elevate me and get me to where they are. So, I mean, I knew the money was dwindling.

Randee Staats [00:15:29]:
I just thought we were able to catch up. And we just. We. We. We couldn't. Our overhead was just ridiculous.

Benjamin Mena [00:15:34]:
Okay. And before you actually contacted Mike, like, when you sit there, you're sitting there, you Payday loan or PayPal loan, like you said, the credit cards are pretty much maxed out. Looking internally, were you fighting any battles internally?

Randee Staats [00:15:49]:
No. Every day, dude, I couldn't get out of bed. I just wanted to cry every day. But, like, I, you know, I. I just didn't want to get out of bed. I mean, I was super depressed, definitely overweight. I was, like, just, you know, stress eating, not eating 75 cups of coffee. Like, I couldn't.

Randee Staats [00:16:06]:
Like, my brain couldn't shut off. Like, I. You know, I remember there's a photo on my desk and me and my family for my son's first Easter. And, like, you could see me smiling. But if you look close, like, the pain behind my eyes, like, I'm like. Because I'm thinking, like, this bill this, bill this, mortgage this, that, like, I mean, just the fear of, like, not knowing, and the fear of knowing that, hey, not only now am I responsible for my wife, but I'm responsible for a little boy that was brought into this world who was financially better off when he was in the womb than he is now. And it's like, what are you gonna do? Are you going to fall the ball and die? Are you gonna stand up and become like the phoenix and rise from the ashes? And I will say this. I've always had a determination and a drive that's always really been unmatched.

Randee Staats [00:17:01]:
I haven't met that many people that have that, and that was instilled by my parents, and that was a gift. And my dad always said, if you work hard, you'll be able to succeed. And, you know, prime example. My dad owned an auto body. He wouldn't allow me to work for him growing up. He said, you gotta learn what it's like to work hard. He made me go work for his buddy who owned a produce company. So I'm slinging potatoes down, like, 50 flights of stairs, going into diner basements, dropping off produce, and, you know, realizing what that is, right? Hard work.

Randee Staats [00:17:36]:
And that's, you know, what's always been instilled in me. Even growing up. My grandmother, you know, she would say I come because I come from a big family. Like, my mom's one of eight, my dad's one of four. And, like, all my cousins would, like, you know, they would open up the refrigerator and just look what's in it. And I was always the one that would be like, hey, Grant, like, what's on top of that fridge? Like, what? What? What can I get up there? I don't want. Like, what's eye level? Like, there's gotta be more to what's in here. So that determination and drive was so instilled in me.

Randee Staats [00:18:06]:
And it was born into me that, like, got me through anything in my life. But what we're talking about now, this has been the hardest thing, professionally and personally, for the last 36 months of my life. And it got me through it.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:19]:
How did you fight that depression?

Randee Staats [00:18:22]:
Small actions. I mean, I obviously, you know, I reached out to a therapist. I was like, dude, I gotta do something here, because this shit's not working. So I was talking to somebody, and then small actions like, stop overthinking everything. Reached out to my buddies that were successful. My buddy's like, hey, man, like, get a piece of paper and put your phone on. 15 minutes. Block everything out, and just get everything that's in your head.

Randee Staats [00:18:44]:
Write it down. Get the thoughts out of your head. And we call that a brain dump, right? And then, like, it's amazing. I still do that every day. And then you get that out of your head and, like, all those negative thoughts are gone, right? Where Then it was like, all right, cool. Like, I could sit here and dwell on everything that's negative in my life, or I can take an action. So let me pick one thing that I'm going to do today that's going to move the needle a half an inch and then compound it, right? So compounding actions. Compound, compound action.

Randee Staats [00:19:12]:
One action leads to another action. Hey, you know what? You can't afford to go to the gym. Go outside. It's 20 degrees. Put a coat on, get some fresh air. Like, just. Just feel that life. Like, feel life again.

Randee Staats [00:19:25]:
And then, honestly, you know, it was also like, my wife's grandmother. Like, I would sit there and talk to her, and she'd be like, listen, like, honey, you built this before, you can build it again. And she was right. Like, nobody else built that outside of me. So it was like, I could do this again. I just need to. To come back stronger. And I still had, like, that one major client.

Randee Staats [00:19:45]:
So I was like, all right. Like, let me just. Let me see what happens. Let me see, you know, what. What keeps going. And then, you know, it was like, you're right. Like, you can build it and build it and build it. And then it was that.

Randee Staats [00:19:55]:
And then it was meeting, you know, Mike and saying, hey, man, like, And I knew, right? Like, I didn't want to be a failure to my son, and I didn't want to be a failure to my wife. But more importantly, like, I also had a little bit of an ego. Cause, like, I didn't want to fail. And those people that, like, I brought in, that destroyed me, like, I didn't want them to think that, Like, I didn't want them to win. So I was like, you know what? Like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna make sure S4 is, like, known and that, like, they subtly see everything. Because it's like, hey, man, you killed me. You stepped on me.

Randee Staats [00:20:28]:
You spit on me. You burnt me. But you know what the issue was? You didn't officially kill me because there was a pulse, and that pulse of my finger got up, and that's kind of what drove me every day. Like, that was my why. And then it just started, you know, timing and preparation. I met Mike Anderson, said, hey, dude, I got. You know, let's do it your way, because my way's not working. And we're going to do this for 90 days, and then I'm going to be able to walk away and know, hey, I gave it my all, or, no, I, you know, didn't.

Randee Staats [00:20:58]:
It didn't work, and that was it.

Benjamin Mena [00:21:00]:
Okay, so you called up Mike Anderson. You made a decision like, hey, I need to actually go do something about this. I need to make a massive change. What was some of the first things that you did?

Randee Staats [00:21:11]:
He told me my entire business model sucked and destroyed it. He definitely used nicer words. Honestly, I think prior to that. No, that was not the. That was the second thing he said. The first thing he said was, dude, I can't believe you've been in business this long with what you were doing. Like, you did not have a business. I was like, okay, but this is all I know, man.

Randee Staats [00:21:34]:
Like, I didn't come from the agency world. Like, what do you mean? Like, I. I'm crushing it. Like, what are you talking about, Mike? And the cool part about me is, like, I am like a sponge. Like, I don't have an ego. Like, if you tell me, hey, Ran, you're gonna go to, like, Giant Stadium and pick up dog poo, and you'll be a millionaire. I'll be like, all right, cool. Like, what bag you want me to use? Like, I'll just go do it.

Randee Staats [00:21:55]:
Like, I don't care. Like, I know just hard work eventually pays off, and I'm coachable. Like, I knew that, like, Mike was an animal when it came to billing, and whatever he's doing is doing something right. So, like, I'm just gonna go do that, and if I apply it, it's gotta work, or it's not gonna work, but one way or the other, I'm just gonna take action. So the first Thing we did was we went over what's a good client. So a good client was, hey, one, are they 20% or higher? Do you have a 90 day guarantee, no money back? So like a refill or whatever, never give money back. And do they pay in 30 days or less? What makes a really good client is have you done multiple deals with them? If they're 19% and they have the rest, not a good client. They have to have regular, you know, meet the standard parameters.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:41]:
Did you get like a deal early on that was coming in under 20%?

Randee Staats [00:22:46]:
Oh, yeah. Because the business that the major company I was dealing with was like, they're like 10% fees, man. Like, they were like, it was crazy. It was their flat fees, but they're like 10%, I think like 7%. But I was doing such high, high volume. Well, he told me, he was like, no longer working with that company. I was like, yeah, but I have to pay a mortgage. It's like it doesn't matter.

Randee Staats [00:23:04]:
Like if you spend all your time working with them, you're going to stay where you are. Like, you have to, you have to get out of your comfort zone. So do you fire them or did.

Benjamin Mena [00:23:11]:
You give them the new 20 and they said no?

Randee Staats [00:23:14]:
So, no, I didn't fire them. I didn't give them their 20. I just kind of like stopped like doing the volume with them. I was like, you know, kind of worked what they had and then I just stopped immediately, like filmed like whatever had in place. And then I just started going after the new model, the new clients.

Benjamin Mena [00:23:29]:
Okay. And then like you're sitting there, Mike tells you that you need to blow up your business. You need to make a bunch of changes. You can't accept any clients that don't meet these qualifications. You're looking at your favorite client that's been paying you a bunch of money. Where did your next three clients come from? I should say your first three.

Randee Staats [00:23:46]:
Well, I started doing this thing called business development, which I hated and was horrible at. And I was like, well, this is clearly an issue. I have to do this. So, you know, Mike taught me the bd. We did a really cool, you know, BD thing. And he's like, well, what would you do this? I was like, hey, I'm Randy Stats. He's like, not horrible. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, your biggest commodity is this, right? He's like, you gotta get in front of clients.

Randee Staats [00:24:08]:
He's like, everybody's gonna pick up the phone, everybody's gonna send an email. But like, the moment you get a bite, like, if you can't get in front of a client, like, you're never gonna win. And this is the value. I think you're right. So, you know, we crafted up this really cool email. It was really just me being myself, like, and everybody asked me, like, what's the email? What's the email? What's the email? Honestly, dude, it's simple. It's like, I'll tell you guys right now. It's simple.

Randee Staats [00:24:26]:
It's, it's, it's so simple. It's just me being me. Like, I'm a golf guy. I love golf. So if anybody watches this that's in New Jersey or tri state area, hit me up. We can play golf, just not on the weekends because my wife will kick the out of me. But it has to be outside of that. But I'm a golf guy.

Randee Staats [00:24:43]:
So we crafted like a cool email. I was like, hey, you know, you got the XYZ role open or whatever. You know, let's fill it for you. Let me see if I'm really good. If I'm not, like, you know, I'll go see if there's any seasonal caddy openings or something like that, right? Like, something fun. Because, like, the biggest thing is like, we get all these emails and I get them, everybody gets them. Where, like, at the end of the day, we're people, right? So there's no personality coming through. It's like, hey, Ben, how you doing? I would love to fill your headhunter role.

Randee Staats [00:25:07]:
My Name's Randy at S4 Search Partners and we specialize in blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, dude, that's so boring. But, like, I didn't know any better, right? And everybody does that. But it was like, no, be yourself. Like, Ben, what's going on, man? Dude, I saw you had a headphone or shirt on. Love it. Heard you got a two year old. Love it.

Randee Staats [00:25:24]:
Love the background. Looks like you're into audio. Love audio too. Here's the deal, dude. Like, I'm really into all that stuff. More importantly, like, I want to fill your audio role. And I think I'm really good. Like, I want to hold my feet to the fire.

Randee Staats [00:25:35]:
So, like, let me fill your role and if I suck, dude, like, I'll literally go be a figure skater coach. I don't know, but let's chat later. Like, you know, and just be funny. Like, kind of like just be yourself. And he gave me this really cool advice that was like, hey, like, if your gut is thinking it, like, you gotta say it. And the biggest thing with Mike that I love was like. Like, you have these recruiters out there that, like, try to, like, hide behind stuff and, like, not tell. Like, we always play our cards straight up.

Randee Staats [00:26:00]:
Cause, like, in our industry, whoever holds the information, information's gold. So, like, the more information you have and you're fully transparent to both the client and the Kennedy, it's so much value. Like, if we're not bringing value and we're just, like, basically saying, hey, here, Ben, here's a candidate. God, I hope they stick. Like, what? Why are you paying the fee? Like, why are you paying 20%? So, you know, Mike was like, always, just play your card straight up, be honest, be upfront, be yourself, and, like, you're gonna win. So started doing the VD thing. I got a hook with an engineering client and ended up landing a 25% contract. Ended up having a candidate that fit perfect for that person.

Randee Staats [00:26:44]:
And within two weeks of me and Mike starting the method, I billed $37,500. And I was like, whoa, okay.

Benjamin Mena [00:26:52]:
So literally, like, you have nothing to your name. Your wife is like, what the fuck? Excuse my language. You're like, what the. All right, I trust you. I went and put in the work. And then two weeks later, after making it to the decision, literally, like, you say, like, nothing I've done has worked. I needed to make every change. A $37 fee.

Benjamin Mena [00:27:14]:
A $37,000 fee.

Randee Staats [00:27:15]:
$37 is a tough fee, Ben. I don't know if we would be here today. Yeah, no, but. Yeah, so $37,500. And it was the perfect storm, right? It was talented, needs preparation. It's a little bit of luck. I did everything that Mike told me to do. You know, got the hook through the email immediately, got them on a zoom call, did the face to face, figured out, you know, what's going on.

Randee Staats [00:27:40]:
Do you use recruiters? Hey, like, is there enough meat on the bones here? Because, you know, if you're talking to somebody, like, yeah, yeah, we use recruiters. How many fills you do a year? Once a year. They're surely no meat on the phone. What are we doing here? But, you know, realize that there's steady consistency, built a relationship. The door was open just a crack, and then I just blew it open. I ended up having the candidate mixed and matched. Submitted them the same day that dude gets hired, and then, boom, $37,500. And I was doing a method, truthfully, that I had no idea was going to work.

Randee Staats [00:28:09]:
Like, I. I was like, I have no idea if this is going to work, like, but I'm just going to take action and do it. Like, I didn't question anything. He just told me to jump, so I, like, just jumped in the pool, even if I knew how to swim or not. And, yeah, 37,500. And I started doing the math, right? So I'm like, dude, that's six fills with, like, the old company. And I just did one fill and I was like, this is nuts. And then it just started giving me a little more energy, right? Action over, action over, compounding over compounding.

Randee Staats [00:28:40]:
And I was like, we got it. And then I just never, never stop. Still do business development to this day?

Benjamin Mena [00:28:47]:
Okay, I know the answer to this, but for those that are listening, do you do BD every day?

Randee Staats [00:28:53]:
Every day? Every day. I have 48 jobs listed right now. We're working on 48 jobs. I did my business development before our podcast today.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:02]:
You have 48 active roles that you're supporting right now? Right now, but you still did bd.

Randee Staats [00:29:08]:
I'm still doing business development to this day.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:11]:
How much BD are you doing every single day?

Randee Staats [00:29:13]:
I'm reaching out to, on average about 25 new people per day and I'm doing 25 follow ups. So we're going to say 50 and.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:20]:
You'Re looking at 50 BD touch points per day. Is it via a phone visit?

Randee Staats [00:29:24]:
Email?

Benjamin Mena [00:29:25]:
Is it videos?

Randee Staats [00:29:27]:
I never once picked up the phone on a cold call to get their business. Not once. It was all through email. I hooked them with a really good, funny email or whatever it was myself, and then, boom, they responded. I always addressed what was in the email and I said, hey, by the way, here's the deal, Ben. Like, you know nothing about us for I know nothing about you. Why don't we get on a call for five minutes, see if this makes sense. I'll answer all your questions.

Randee Staats [00:29:50]:
Boom, done. And then that's how we got on the zoom call. But, like, I never gave you, like, a cold call to be like, hey, you know, never did that 800k without a cold call.

Benjamin Mena [00:30:00]:
All email.

Randee Staats [00:30:01]:
All email.

Benjamin Mena [00:30:02]:
Are you recrafting all these emails or is there a tool that also helps you out?

Randee Staats [00:30:07]:
So this was one that Mike and I used, and I still use it to this day. I still use it. It was just one email. We figured out, thought it was good. And then it was like, all right, let me just send it out. I'll tell you how many emails I sent out total. Like, so it was just one email, man. And Honestly, like, the biggest thing is this, right? It sounds easier said than done.

Randee Staats [00:30:26]:
But the only way that I was successful, truthfully, one word consistency. I did it every day. I still do it every day. And it's just a numbers group. Like, that's what I really realized. Like. And I honestly don't take anything personal. So, like, I had a guy tell me yesterday.

Randee Staats [00:30:41]:
We text him. He said, go f yourself. And I was like, so you're telling me you're not interested in the role? Does this mean you're not interested? You know, like, just laughing, like, it's like, whatever. So this year alone, 3317 emails for outreach. Awesome. So it's just emails, right? It's just like, me being me, personalizing it, being a person. Right? Because then I realized, too, the biggest thing was it was like, all right, cool. Like, everybody's insane.

Randee Staats [00:31:05]:
Like, everybody has insecurities. Everybody has this, everybody has that. But, like, if I'm reaching out to, like, the CBO of whatever, like, that person could have good days or bad days, but he's also a person. So, like, see yourself. And that's what it was. And then when I got a bite, I just tried to get him on a zoom call and then took it from there. You know, I've also said no to a lot of people, which was really, really hard in the beginning.

Benjamin Mena [00:31:26]:
So, okay, you started having success. The things started working. The Mike Anderson playbook worked, but you still kept on the gas.

Randee Staats [00:31:34]:
Oh, yeah. Because, dude, I have. You gotta realize, I had over $200,000 worth of debt. Plus I had a tax bill I had to pay, plus I had a PayPal loan. I didn't have any credit cards to my name because everything was maxed out. So, like, I was in a position where, like, it was sink or swim. And, like, I can't, like. All right, cool.

Randee Staats [00:31:53]:
$37,000. That's great. That's gone, dude. That was gone six months prior. So it's like, you can't stop. And to me, I got addicted to the results, right? Cause I was like, this is really cool. And it showed me. And Mike taught me a whole new side of recruiting, of just different things that I never knew.

Randee Staats [00:32:10]:
That, like, made recruiting fun because up until that point, it sucked. I was like, this sucks. I don't want it to be like this. But, like, you know, I started having fun and. And, like, started being myself and started not caring, right? Cause, like, I think the biggest thing with every recruiter is, like, if you go through slumps. Cause we go through Slumps. They all get stuck on the dollar bill. Oh.

Randee Staats [00:32:31]:
I mean, if I place this guy, it's 20k. If I place this guy, it's 30k. They're not thinking about, like, the actual person of the client. And if it's like, if you stop caring, right, and you're like, listen, like, as long as I do my job and I bring everything to the table, I arpo and I bring the value and I close them. Like, as long as you take hope out of the process, if they take the job or not, your client is going to walk away, and you're going to walk away. I literally said that to a client today. I was like, hey, listen, like, you know, this person's interviewing at xyz. You know, they want to wait till Friday.

Randee Staats [00:33:03]:
But here's the deal. Like, you know, we've given them everything. You know, at the end of the day, like, you know where they're interviewing, they told me everything. Like, we've made their number. Like, we've done everything, so we can both walk away happy. Now, obviously, I don't know if that person's gonna take the job or not, but, like. And I've come to a point now where, like, I don't care if they take it because, like, I've built so much momentum, so much funnel. There's so much in the funnel that, like, it makes the job fun.

Randee Staats [00:33:28]:
And I know I did my job correctly. Like, I brought value to the client. I brought value to the candidate, and, like, I'm good with that. And to me, the fee is just the icing on the cake. Yes, it pays my bills, but I don't go into every conversation spying to put a dollar on that person. I go into every conversation saying, hey, Ben, what's going on, man? Like, I know you get reached out by a million recruiters. Like, why talk to me, dude? Like, first, thanks for talking to me, number one. Number two, like, what's going on? Like, why are you looking to make a move? Did you hear me, literally what I just did there, Ben? Did you hear anything about me? Nope.

Randee Staats [00:34:02]:
What did I do? I asked everything about you because that's going to open you up, and that's going to allow you to talk to me, and that's going to bring your guard down. More importantly, that's going to add value to not only me, you, and I'm going to use that information on you for the client to help them. I didn't answer the phone and be like, hey, Ben, my name's Randy. I work for S4. And I have a sales engineer position available. Are you interested?

Benjamin Mena [00:34:24]:
Well, okay. Two quick questions. I'm going to jump to something else. First of all, did you pick a niche or did you just attack stuff?

Randee Staats [00:34:30]:
Just attack, dude. I attacked. So now what we do is legal, engineering and sales. That's all we focus on. I attacked everywhere. And I was like, ah, whatever bites, bites, like. And we're just going to go into this. So I started doing, you know, first job I did was engineering.

Randee Staats [00:34:43]:
I started attacking all engineering firms nationwide. Started to, you know, we're talking. There's like, oh, you know, I had a friend that was like, hey, we need a lawyer. Can you do that? Sure, I could do a lawyer. I was like, oh, this was kind of cool. Let me do that. Started tackling legal. That's how I fell into my niche.

Randee Staats [00:34:57]:
But at the time, it was like, whatever. I can ring the register and whoever I can figure out is a good client. Because I have to figure out who's good clients. Right? I got contracts, but not all of them were good clients. Right. Some didn't respond. So I had to kind of figure out and weed it through. But I did not pick a niche.

Randee Staats [00:35:10]:
I fell into my niche. And what's arpo Activity, Rank, process, offer. That is the biggest thing for every candidate. I'm sorry, for every Forever recruiter, right? So when you ARPO somebody, that's how you're going to find out when we're talking to them, right? What's the client's current activity? Are they interviewing? Why are they interviewing? What are they looking to do? You know, if they're looking to move, what's their rfl, which is reason for leaving? Are they looking just to leave because of money? Because if they're just looking to leave for money, hey, man, awesome. I can't represent you. Do me a favor. I'm going to give you a quick raise. Go ask your boss for a raise.

Randee Staats [00:35:42]:
If that doesn't work, call me in six months. You know, they have to have a greater RFL than just money. You know, rank. Where does our current client rank within their other interviews? Have they had offers in the past? They turned down job offers. You know, that's all the activity. That's all the ranking process. Where are they currently in the process? You know, are they currently interviewing? Do they Currently in the final stages. Where are they? Boom.

Randee Staats [00:36:03]:
Can we lead them to an offer? If everything makes sense. So it's all about discovery. It's all about asking questions, right? Because you want to go into every call with Three things. One, information. Two, information plus resume. Three, every recruiter's dream. Information, resume, submission. But those are the three things you want to get into.

Randee Staats [00:36:22]:
And notice information's in front of everyone. And how do you figure out information? You break down it using arpo, which is activity, rank, process, and offer.

Benjamin Mena [00:36:32]:
You're having fun again.

Randee Staats [00:36:33]:
Is that because you gamified it a hundred percent? 100%, dude. And that was something we gamified probably Last quarter of 20, 24, after, you know, figuring everything out, you know, Mike. Because I still coach with Mike twice a week. So literally he goes, I'm gonna. Cuz I was getting overwhelmed, and I started getting like, dude, what do I focus on? Blah, blah, blah. He's like, listen, we're gonna. We're gonna give you a point system. And I was like, oh, what's that? And he's like, you're gonna get two points for every submission, three points for every interview, and five points for every new contract.

Randee Staats [00:37:08]:
You don't get points for fills because what the point breakdown does is in recruiting, right? And I think in any sales job, you. You always want to be filling the funnel. So if you count points for your hires, it doesn't really count because you did your job, you're filling your funnel. So the point system broke it down, and we wanted to do, on average, 40 points. So you want to hit 40 points a week, and you break that up, right? So I could submit you to, you know, one client. I could submit you to five different clients. You know, that's 10 points, because I submitted you, you know, one person to five different clients of the same job. So that's kind of how we broke it down.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:47]:
And interviews. If a person's in, like, a third interview at the same company, how does that count for points?

Randee Staats [00:37:53]:
Always points. So anytime they get a new interview account, whether it's an initial interview, phone interview, final interview, you can always count those as points. So that's how we gamified it. And to me, that was the biggest thing, right? Cause, like, when you're working from home and you're in a slump, like, recruiting gets depressing really, really quick if you're not hitting anything. And I was like, all right, cool. And Mike said, he's like, as long as you hit your points per week, like, this is gonna equate. I was like, all right, dude. Like, I'm not gonna question you.

Randee Staats [00:38:17]:
You've led me this far, so, like, let's do it. And it's been a game changer. Cause you gamify it Right. Like, I always wanna win. I have that killer instinct. Like, I'm a dog, man. Like, I'm gonna fight. I'm a bulldog.

Randee Staats [00:38:28]:
Like, I'm literally gonna just keep fighting. So, like, it's like, all right, I gotta get my points. I gotta get my points, you know? So that's kind of how it is. And we broke it down to the point. Like, once we started doing the points, we broke it down to whatever the dollar amount was. So we figured out that each point is worth an actual dollar amount. So, like, I'll give you an example. Let's just say we figured out that, like, you add up whatever your revenue is, you divide that, you figure out whatever it is per point, right? So let's just use 500 bucks.

Randee Staats [00:38:54]:
So every point you make is $500. So then you think about it that way, right? Let's just say you did two points that we. Two points. Today you've made a thousand dollars.

Benjamin Mena [00:39:03]:
And because of the change in the points, you've actually measured out for this year, how to get to a million dollar year.

Randee Staats [00:39:11]:
Yeah. So my points right now are worth $850. So every point I get, I make $850. Mike and I literally just did this on Monday. We broke down the points to get to a million.

Benjamin Mena [00:39:23]:
For somebody that's looking at this idea of implementing points into their business, what's the best advice that you have to go about? At least, like, getting started and changing their desk.

Randee Staats [00:39:33]:
Simplify it, take action. Just say, hey, listen, like, here's my desk right now. One, what's closest to the money? Like, so figure out what can close quick. And two, just be like, all right, cool. Like, I just wanna start with two points. Like, let me just go get one submission. Oh, cool. Boom.

Randee Staats [00:39:46]:
Submission. Awesome. Now let me just move that person to an interview. Like, just step by step. And the more you do that, the more it's gonna compound into more and more and more.

Benjamin Mena [00:39:54]:
So you're saying, like, they should probably start with a low point number and then grow rather than, I would say, 20 points.

Randee Staats [00:40:00]:
20 points. I don't care if you're brand new to recruiting, like, you should be able to do 20 points. You should be able to crush that within. You should, if you're doing it correctly. So I think 20 points is probably the best. The best way to start.

Benjamin Mena [00:40:12]:
And now that we talked about points, what does your day look like now when it comes to, you know, on the track of being a million dollar biller this year?

Randee Staats [00:40:20]:
So I wake up, I've started You know my goal this year, and I'll tell you, I have this thing called the big ass calendar, which is not a plug, but it's phenomenal. So my goal for this year is healthy and wealthy. So I'm implementing more gym time now that I'm able to do that. And then going into work, my emails are already taken care of because I swallowed the frog first thing in the morning. And then I get to the office, and then, boom, it's business development. I shut my phone off. I shut everything off. I have a Pomodoro timer, and I do 45 minutes of just, boom.

Randee Staats [00:40:52]:
Can I get my business development out? I gamified that because my goal is within the 45 minutes. Can I finish, and then can I get to another task before that 45 minutes is over? So that's really my theme. Like, I'm a gamified type of person. It's like, all right, cool. Can I beat my next stick? Can I keep beating myself? And then from there, you know, follow up on any additional urgent emails, right? Client emails, candidate emails, and then boom. Really, the rest of the day is just dialing, making phone calls, talking to candidates, handling offers, doing searches. You know, really just kind of that aspect of it. But I don't do anything until business development stop.

Benjamin Mena [00:41:26]:
Okay. And when it comes down to, like, you know, everything that you're doing and everything that you're handling and having a new kid at home, are you sometimes struggling, having, like, a tiny human at home while trying to, like, make sure you're handling all these things too?

Randee Staats [00:41:42]:
The first year of my son's life, I was so mentally not there, right? Because, like, my business is falling apart. I'm trying to be the sole provider. I'm literally dying inside because I'm trying to figure out and rebuild this whole life. So the first year of his life kind of just flew by, and I felt I wasn't really present for it. This has been a blessing the last year because I've really been able to be there for him. I am learning a balance of shutting it off. I'm not very good at that. You know, I come home, I ended up getting an office.

Randee Staats [00:42:18]:
I'm in this really cool entrepreneur group, and I ended up meeting somebody that needed to rent an office. So I got out of the house, which has been really cool because it kind of allows me to kind of leave work here. But I'm still getting home late, like 6:00pm, 6:30, because I just get addicted to the process. But I will say the last couple months When I get home now, kind of leave my phone aside, and I say, it's my son's time, right? So I'll hang out, we'll watch cars 40 million times, play with monster trucks, you know, because I'm like, dude, I can make money on you for golf if can get you to putt. My balance is getting better. But being an owner of a business, right, like, let's call spade a spade. Yes. You don't care about the outcome, but you're emotionally attached to the outcome.

Randee Staats [00:43:02]:
And this provides for my family, so. So that balance for me is. Is. Is hard. And I think that's hard probably for every entrepreneur.

Benjamin Mena [00:43:09]:
Awesome. Well, we covered a lot. We covered, like, the gamification, how you pulled yourself out of the hole, coaching, actually asking for help. Is there anything else in your story that you want to cover before we jump over to the quick fire questions?

Randee Staats [00:43:22]:
Yeah, I think depression's big, man. I don't think people cover it a lot. And, like, I remember growing up, like, it's like, ah, this dude's depressed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, like, it's a big thing, man, especially in today's society. Like, the world's place is going to knock you on your ass, man. Like, it going to, like, it's either going to kick you in the face. And, like, I would say for the depression aspect, like, you got to know that, like, everything is never going to be perfect. And when it is perfect for that one day, like, take a deep breath and be like, like, life's good.

Randee Staats [00:43:49]:
Like, I remember sitting at my kitchen table broke, and I just did that sigh, and I was like, wow. Like, life's really good, because I knew where I was going and I started doing the process. So I would say if you can't put your mask on first and really help yourself, you're never going to be able to help others. So whether it's getting outside or asking for help or reaching out to other recruiters or whatever, like, you know, depression's definitely big, and I think that's something that everybody should be able to kind of handle and find your way to handle that.

Benjamin Mena [00:44:20]:
Definitely a solid point on that, because I've seen a lot of it over the last two years in the recruiting space. We don't talk about it, but I've seen a lot of it.

Randee Staats [00:44:29]:
Yeah, I mean, dude, you've seen the last 24 months. Like, dude, we came out of COVID Everybody and their mother wanted to be a recruiter or realtor. You couldn't print money fast enough, right? Which was good, right? But then, like, for the ones that are still standing, it was like, all right, you have all these overnight shops that are doing stupid fees, but now, you know, a lot of them are out. A lot of them failed. A lot of the good ones failed. Like, the last 24 months, it, like, kicked the crap out of us, man. So it's like, block out the noise, block out the negative posts, block out the Facebook and just keep your world, your bubble, positive and focus on what you want to focus on. Because what you focus on is what's going to grow.

Randee Staats [00:45:08]:
And that would be the best thing I would say. And that's what I did. Like, I didn't have news, so I didn't watch the news. I stopped reading LinkedIn posts about, like, how employers suck or whatever, right? Or the layoffs. And then I stopped reading Facebook groups about, oh, my God, it's so hard out there. I've stopped Googling, are we in a recession? You know, and it was like, all right, like, you can do that stuff, or you could just kind of be ignorant to it and make your bubble positive and make the world that you want to wait, you know, make the environment that you want to make.

Benjamin Mena [00:45:39]:
Remember the old. I think it's like, Zig Ziglar thing. You're like the five people that you're closest with and spend the most time with and the books that you read. I truly believe in the digital world that it's now your circle of 25. Like the 25 most people that you see on the social media channels has almost as much impact as the five people that you spend the most time with.

Randee Staats [00:45:58]:
It does, dude. And I cut out a lot of people for that, too. And that's where I was lucky enough to say, too. And I will say this, like, I was able the last 24 months to get around a group of guys and people that, like, I could truly be myself around. Like, Mike is my go to guy. Like, yeah, we started as coaching. That dude's like, one of my best friends now. Talk to him every day.

Randee Staats [00:46:17]:
Got around people that are successful. You know, I was able to be myself. Like, these guys to me, like, you watch them do deals and it's like, yeah, you could do anything. Like, you conquer the world. Like, just being around that is infectious. It helped elevate me naturally, jumping over.

Benjamin Mena [00:46:33]:
The quick fire questions. And yeah, I'm sure because of the other podcasts that you've been on recently, you're getting a lot of questions. So picture this. Somebody listened to one of your Podcasts that you've already done, they're asking you the question. They're actually, this is their first year in recruiting. They got started January 2025. What advice would you give to them if they're asking you on like, hey, how can I have a successful recruiting life?

Randee Staats [00:46:55]:
Don't look at the results, look at the points. Gamify, Gamify it right away. That's been a game changer and a lot of people reached out to me about that. The gamification of recruiting to me is like, that's what you have to get at. Like, if you gamify it and you hit your points, like, I guarantee you, as long as you're doing your business development, you're hitting those 40 points, 20 point weeks, like, you're going to be successful because the results will come. Don't look at the fills, look at the points.

Benjamin Mena [00:47:17]:
Same question, but for somebody that's been in the game 20 years, 25, 15 years, they're chatting with you like, hey, you've crushed it this year. You know, I've built average. What kind of piece of advice would you have for me?

Randee Staats [00:47:29]:
Block out the noise and be consistent. Go back to the basics. What worked for you when you were crushing it? What are you doing different? Are you tighten up your process, you know, are you arboing enough? Are you finding out, you know, who your candidates currently interviewing with, who's your client up against? Are they copying you on resignation letters? Like, go back to the basics that made you successful and write those down and see where you're missing. Listen, you have to pivot this industry. Like, you have to be a charismatic mfer in this industry because, like, everything changes. Like, I just lost a contract last week, it's on hold for two weeks. I just did a post about it on LinkedIn, you know, because they got bought out, they're redoing everything and it's like, hey, give us like three weeks or whatever. But boom, right? That's about $150,000 out the door, which we built last year.

Randee Staats [00:48:10]:
That's on hold right now. Like, what do you do? The old me would've freaked out and be like, oh, my God, okay, cool, see you in two weeks. Like, boom. Pivot to this. But you have to break down to your question, break down what they did in the past and made them successful. And I guarantee you're gonna pinpoint and find a hole that you're not doing that you can go back to.

Benjamin Mena [00:48:24]:
Do you have a favorite tech tool that you absolutely love?

Randee Staats [00:48:28]:
Oh, my God, absolutely And they finally gave me a referral code. I plugged them in. The first. The first podcast. I'm a loyal guy and I get, you know, called all the time for tools, 100% source well, if you're not using Source well, use it. Source well, to me, has been an absolute game changer because, listen, everybody comes out with a new AI, new tools, right? And shout out to my man Esteban. Esteban called me for a year and I was like, dude, I don't have time. Call me later.

Randee Staats [00:48:50]:
Call me later. That dude called me one day, I was sitting in my garage. I was like, all right, you got 30 seconds. And he's like, well, we got a tool, you know, blah, blah, blah. Does this. I was like, all right, so hold on. Like, it connects LinkedIn, Loxo, which is my ETS, and all these other tools into one, and you just add them to the thing. I was like, yeah, it sounds interesting.

Randee Staats [00:49:05]:
He's like, you want to buy it? I was like, bro, I'm not going to buy a tool for 30 second pitch. I was like, give me three weeks, give me a trial and I'll let you know if I'll use it or not. So we ended up doing that. And Source Whale has been an absolute game changer for me. I absolutely love it. It allows me to do my email sequences. If it wasn't for Source Whale, I wouldn't be doing my BD within 45 minutes because it would take, like, probably two hours. But I set up the email chains.

Randee Staats [00:49:28]:
It's all me. I create everything. I add you once into it and then, boom, it just keeps going from there. So Source well is my number one plug on any recruiting tool out there.

Benjamin Mena [00:49:39]:
Send me the link. I'll make sure to remember. Put it in the show notes. And if hersl's listening, if you guys want to sponsor the podcast. Yeah.

Randee Staats [00:49:46]:
Yeah. Come on, guys. Sponsor this podcast. Man. They just sent me a mug. I wish I had it. I just brought it home.

Benjamin Mena [00:49:52]:
Has there been any books that have impacted you and your life?

Randee Staats [00:49:56]:
Yeah. Oh, my God, I'm drawing a blank. I love Rich Dad, Poor Dad. That's awesome. Big fan of that, right? Cause you gotta learn the velocity of money. How to pay yourself. My favorite book right now. It's been the biggest impact.

Randee Staats [00:50:07]:
Buy back your time.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:08]:
Dan Martell.

Randee Staats [00:50:09]:
Yeah, it was a great book. Cool. Cool book. And then I'm a big fan of David Goggins because that, like, suffer mindset, because that's kind of what I do. Like that. You know how much can you suffer? How much can you get through? So his book was really life changing.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:22]:
Now you've mentioned about having systems around everything and like the gamification, like what you do with the timers, like you've really built out a structure. Did you have all that structure prior? Is that something that Mike Anderson helped you build the systems? And do you think those systems are why you've had so much success?

Randee Staats [00:50:43]:
I had no systems. I am like a dog where he sees a red ball and he's like, oh, red ball, red ball, red ball, right? So like that's kind of the energy I have. I'm all over when it comes to like tasks. I ended up getting a dashboard, which is in front of me right now, breaks down my week. And Mike Anderson in the recruiter bill print is what brought me into, you know, the process. Like he came into my business, I had no process. You know, the only process I had was, hey, we have a bi weekly recruiting call with the client to make sure that we're having communication. But outside of that, like, I didn't know anything.

Randee Staats [00:51:12]:
So, Mike, a hundred percent implemented processes that can be replicated. And that a hundred percent changed my business. And you put that in with the consistency of me showing up every day. And that's why I'm sitting here today.

Benjamin Mena [00:51:24]:
You said you also have a dashboard. Like, did you develop this dashboard?

Randee Staats [00:51:28]:
No, I bought it off Amazon so it looks like this and I got it off Amazon and basically I break everything down right, to like, if I'm focusing on points, my submissions will be here, my total points for the week will be here, BD checkpoints, like I'll label it Monday through Friday and then like tasks, current clients, what we're focusing on. And then I'll just look at that. And I honestly found that on Amazon, so I don't know who did that.

Benjamin Mena [00:51:52]:
I think the one that you have is by Inc and Volt, right?

Randee Staats [00:51:55]:
Yeah. That's good.

Benjamin Mena [00:51:56]:
Yeah.

Randee Staats [00:51:57]:
Psycho. How do you know that? It's pretty good. I like that.

Benjamin Mena [00:52:00]:
It was mostly so that way in case somebody was listening to it, they know where to look for it. Yeah, I do homework on podcast. Gus.

Randee Staats [00:52:07]:
That's good. I like that. I like that.

Benjamin Mena [00:52:09]:
So you know, you talked about the consistency, you talked about the work, we talked about showing up, you talked about like the gamification. Now when you are going through those hard days or those shitty weeks, like you do all the work, is that what gets you out of it or is there something else that really just gets you out of the funk?

Randee Staats [00:52:25]:
It's work in progress, right? Like, I always have negative thoughts. I mean, today it was like, I remember had a negative thought. You know, I had a candidate that know said that the client no shut the interview. And I was like, that doesn't make any sense. Right. So I think what I've learned now is like, I can address it, dwell on it for 30 seconds and then go, okay, cool, like, let's move on. But I've gotten to that place of really hard work. And honestly, like, because I built such a big funnel that I'm able to kind of just let it roll off my shoulders.

Randee Staats [00:52:51]:
But I'll be honest and you can ask Mike this. Like, Mike came out for the holidays this past year and I was like, dude, like, oh my God. Like, I just had the best year ever. Like, I hope I'm not a fraud. Like, what's going on? Dude, stop. Like, you got this and you have a process and everything. So to your point, I do still. You know, I think you have those insecurities and that's just a human emotion.

Randee Staats [00:53:11]:
But I've been able to kind of really have this even keel balance now that my track record has proved that, hey, as long as I do what I'm supposed to do every day and stay consistent, I will 100% be successful no matter what gets thrown at me.

Benjamin Mena [00:53:23]:
You know, just kind of like with everything that you know now, like the stuff that you figured out, the stuff that you've learned through coaching. Let's pick this in two point in times. If you could talk to yourself at the very beginning of your recruiting career, right when you started for your first recruiting business with no experience, what would be the first piece of advice that you would tell yourself?

Randee Staats [00:53:38]:
Don't take anything personal, show up every day and be consistent.

Benjamin Mena [00:53:41]:
Same question. But like, we'll say prior to sitting down with Mike, you're sitting there literally at your desk, at your computer, 500 bucks with your account or negative $200,000 in debt. You now have a mortgage, you have a wife that's staying at home, you have a baby at the house. If you got the chance to sit down with yourself right at that point in time, with everything that you've implemented and done now, what would you tell yourself?

Randee Staats [00:54:04]:
You may think this is the worst time of your life and it is so painful and you were uncomfortable and you were growing. But I can guarantee you that if you do the work, you embrace it, that you will come out on the other side of this with people, results and success that you can't see right now, that's going to elevate you to a completely new level. Not only make you a better business owner, but a better man, better husband, a better father, and make you ten times wiser than you are right now. So take the short term suffering for the long term gain.

Benjamin Mena [00:54:39]:
And you said you believe you also become a better father because of this.

Randee Staats [00:54:43]:
Yeah, because I could teach my son because I've had adversity, but I could teach my son more adversity. It's such a cool story, right? Everybody loves a comeback, and this is such a cool comeback story that the comeback doesn't happen if you just give up. The comeback happens because I showed up and I was consistent and I didn't care about the results. I just knew in my mind I was going to win and I had no other backup plan. And I won't and I'm winning. And it's cool to teach my son that. Like, hey, you know, Cole, you might fail, but it's. It's when you fail in whatever you do, that's the biggest lesson.

Randee Staats [00:55:23]:
How are you going to react to the failure? You're going to put your head down and say, take me out of the game, Coach, or you're going to say, leave me in the game. I'm going to win. I'm going to learn from that. And that's what I've learned over the last year, and that's what I've learned from every deal, is I will not accept anything in a win that I wouldn't accept in a loss. And that's the biggest lesson I've learned. And that's something I can still even further. My son, you've had a bunch of.

Benjamin Mena [00:55:47]:
Recruiters and I, we've chatted about this offline, like, multiple times. You now have had a bunch of recruiters reaching out to you. They're asking about the gamification, they're asking about the point system, they're asking about the emails, they're asking about what you're doing for business development with all these questions. Do you ever wish that, like, the recruiters talking to you and asking you questions are really just missing out? Is there a question that you wish they would actually ask you? And if so, what would be that answer?

Randee Staats [00:56:11]:
That's a great question. What did you do when you literally had nothing left and you lost all hope? What does it feel like to have no hope, to be in a very dark place? And how did you not go darker and how did you rise up? Because I think for me, I could not Be sitting here today. It could have got that dark, right? Because, like, you know, you think about everything. You're on top, right? And then you fall to the bottom. And I also think another question I could ask was like, hey, you know, what's it like to see the real reality of people that you thought were your friends, that when you fall to the bottom, they're not. And how does that shape you and how does that mold you? Everybody wants to be your friend when you're on top and you pay your bills on time. But when you can't pay your bill and you gotta juggle what to pay over this and that, who's gonna be knocking on your door and who's gonna be calling, saying, hey, man, you okay? Like, you need help. You wanna talk?

Benjamin Mena [00:57:07]:
You're looking at a million dollar year now. Where do you see the future next?

Randee Staats [00:57:11]:
After that, I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna expand. I don't care if you bill my company a million dollars. If you don't have the right core values, if you don't have the right mindset and you're a cancer of your team, I don't want you. I want to expand this business, you know, and help continue to grow this the right way. I want to be able to instill the recruiter, Bill Print Anderson method. And I want to be able to have others be successful and be able to win. I just hired a gentleman by the name of Ben, and I said, what's your goal? And he said, my goal is to retire my wife. She works for like a Dyfus, right? She goes in the bad homes.

Randee Staats [00:57:45]:
And he said, if I can do that, you know, that's a win. And I said, all right, let's retire your wife. And I've been. I've been lucky to have him. Like, he's a retired corrections officer. The dude's an absolute animal. You guys should follow him. It's Ben Marcus.

Randee Staats [00:57:57]:
It's a blessing to have him, but just his mindset, like, we have the same mindset. It's like, let's go. Let's continue to push each other, you know, and it's been cool to see. So I'm gonna grow this with probably like three, four people. Five maybe, Max. Nothing crazy, but I want to be able to, you know, allow myself to. To continue to do what I do. But I want others to win the right way.

Randee Staats [00:58:18]:
And with the systems, there's going to be a lot of good success.

Benjamin Mena [00:58:22]:
Awesome. Well, Randy, this has been an incredible conversation, so I'm really glad that Mike reached out and connected us. If somebody wants to follow you, how do they go about doing that?

Randee Staats [00:58:33]:
Yeah, you can follow me on LinkedIn. Randy Stats. You can follow our webpage s4search partners. I would also suggest check out recruiter bill print@recruiter billprint.com. i get a lot of people asking me, hey, what's the Mike Anderson method? Like that Recruiter Bill print literally does everything. That's exactly what I followed to the T. I also do coaching as well. So if you guys ever want to do some coaching, you know, we can do that.

Randee Staats [00:58:55]:
But it's a new world, It's a new experience. I'm learning. It's pretty cool.

Benjamin Mena [00:58:59]:
I haven't even jumped over to the coaching side.

Randee Staats [00:59:02]:
Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:59:03]:
So kudos on that. So, and one last thing, like, you know, we've talked about a lot, we've covered a ton of things. Is there anything else that you want to share with the listeners before I let you go?

Randee Staats [00:59:11]:
Never stop. Life is a journey. It's a beautiful place. You're going to feel uncomfortable, but I can guarantee you the most uncomfortable you feel now is going to push you to something, to a whole new level that you're going to get to and embrace being uncomfortable. Because the moment you give up, at the moment you stop, that's when you truly fail. So if you want something bad enough and your why is strong enough, you need to push through it and see the long term game for the short term pain. Love that.

Benjamin Mena [00:59:40]:
Randy, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on. We know that 2021, 2022 was just the golden era of recruiting. But after that, things changed for many people. Things changed for many firms. They changed for many people in the space. And I think you were against the wall. Credit cards maxed out, $500 left in your account. Payday loans, PayPal loans.

Benjamin Mena [01:00:02]:
But you made a decision. You got help. You've got a plan and you work the plan. And your life absolutely changed in one year. That shows the power of what is possible in recruiting, but shows the power of what's possible with the right coaching and the right work ethic and the right direction.

Randee Staats [01:00:20]:
Yeah, a hundred percent. There's no magic pill. That's been the hardest I've ever worked. And I knew that I was like, this year's gonna make or break me, but I'm going to come out of this knowing that, hey, at the end of the day, it was all me. And that was a success.

Benjamin Mena [01:00:31]:
And if you're listening to this, make 2025 the year that you put in the work, the year that you actually put in systems and make it the year of abundance. Let's go. Crush it, Gu.