From $12k to Millions: Ranjith Ravula’s Journey as an Immigrant Founder in IT Staffing

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

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:00:02]:
Elite Recruiter Podcast, your mindset matters most. I'm the proof of that, right? So when I came to us, I didn't speak English, I don't have a connections, I don't even know anybody. But I had a one that kept me going. I refused to quit year two.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:18]:
So you said it was like 256,000 revenue in year two, but that still wasn't enough to cover the bills.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:00:24]:
Oh, that's nothing. I didn't take money for those three years and 2019 we made almost I think 844k. So that is the one is changed everything.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:36]:
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. This episode is sponsored by the agency Blueprint, the go to coaching program for recruiters who want to scale without the chaos. If you're making placements but your revenue is inconsistent, your client pipeline is unpredictable, or you're still in the delivery trenches every day, this is how you fix that. You'll get the exact blueprint used by top recruitment agencies to consistently land clients, improve delivery and scale with automation, AI and a remote team. James Blackwell, the founder of the agency Blueprint, built a seven figure recruitment agency in the UK and now mentors recruiters and agency owners around the world. His team works closely with a select group of driven individuals ready to scale. Head to www.theagencyblueprint.com to book your free recruiter strategy.

Benjamin Mena [00:01:38]:
Call and find out if it's the right fit for you. Again, that's the agencyblueprint.com I am so excited about this episode of the Elite Recruiter Podcast because this is a story of what is possible, what belief in hard work is capable of doing, and what anybody can achieve. Anybody can achieve. I'm so excited as we go into this story, we're going to talk about the first year in business, $12,000 in revenue to fast forward in the millions in revenue. So we're going to walk through how we got there and what is possible. So Ranjit, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Welcome.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:02:20]:
Thanks, Ben. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be a part of your podcast too. Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:25]:
So before we start doing a deep dive into your background and your story and how you got into recruiting, quick 30 seconds. Give everybody a quick snapshot of what your business is and what you focus on recruiting wise.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:02:38]:
I own a Staffing company. IT staffing company called Racks Group and I also have a couple of other businesses and I've been doing this for the all like eight years. We help in IT industry and I also build the products to first solve my problem. Then I wanted to you know get into the marketing. So I'm the go to partner recruiter. You name you call it employer. Yep.

Benjamin Mena [00:03:04]:
Oh that's awesome. So okay, so we got a great story to unpack here. So let's do a deep dive like before you got into recruiting. Let's talk about like you know you growing up first. Can you talk about that real quick?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:03:18]:
Yes. So we are middle class family back in India. Unfortunately my father got you know some health issues when I was seventh grade. So we couldn't even have enough money to go to school. And it was really everybody, all doctors, you know declared that he is not going to survive for long. So we didn't know what to do. I have an elder brother but you know my uncle took me saying that I'm going to take care of him like adopting like three years. I went there for 8th grade to 10th grade in a village I went to a government school after that.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:03:56]:
Thank God my dad survived and we started some small daily at home even from 10th grade. After 10th I moved back to my home and I helped my dad to support him to increase the business. From 11th grade I'm not good in education too. I was average student but I helped my dad. I used to wake up every morning 5:00 to drop milk and wherever I go, even friends having parties, I used to come back by 6:00 because I have a job to do. So that way I started and I didn't even have money to go to a good schools. I didn't learn English there. And even when I wanted to do masters in business administration it was alone like around 1 lakh to 2 lakh rupees.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:04:44]:
But we couldn't afford. Then I immediately started internship in accounting. I started doing with just you can with this Today's currency it's $8 per month. That was my internship. I started per month and going forward within two years I made like you know a small incident happened in accident. Then I had to move back and I moved to lecturer as a commerce. I'm good at accounting so that's where it gave me a little bit push. Then I got married.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:05:14]:
My wife is in it. She's a software engineer. So we got an opportunity. It was my intention to move to us. I pushed her to apply and you know, move to us. Then I'm here without speaking in English. I remember I attended interview. I didn't know what I, you know, answered for the interview.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:05:33]:
But after coming here, I learned my ABCDs here. I learned everything here.

Benjamin Mena [00:05:39]:
So when you moved here, you didn't know any English?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:05:42]:
No. It's a second language for us in school. So nobody speaks English. Even though if you speak English, you know, people, you know, make fun out of it. Right. So that was in inside. You know, if I say something, if it's wrong, you know what, my friends will tease me. Right.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:06:00]:
So we didn't even get a chance to talk at all.

Benjamin Mena [00:06:04]:
I'm in my 40s now. I'm trying to learn a second language. And I am just now, because of that, constantly amazed people that come to the United States, learn the recruiting business and also learn how crazy the English language is.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:06:17]:
Yeah. But I would say that I'm happy, I'm blessed to be here because here nobody is going to say this is wrong. Everybody tried to understand my language. What is he trying to convince? But nobody pointed at, okay, you did this one wrong. You did that one wrong. So that gave me a confidence to speak more and learn from watching all the, you know, other things.

Benjamin Mena [00:06:39]:
Let's fast forward. You moved here, you did some interviews, but you spent a little bit of time not working too. Can you talk about that?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:06:46]:
Yes. So as I told you, like, I got married and we moved within one year. We wanted to try something for our family, so I took some risk. Then fortunately, my wife came and I moved in 2007 as independent on her visa, but knowing I can work for years. So I was in eight years in limbo and I don't know what to do. I tried to stay busy, but I felt lost. So then after eight years, I thought, okay, maybe I can start a business myself something. Then I started limo business.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:07:26]:
But by the time I started, the Uber was there already. And you know, the timings I spend for customers waiting and driving endlessly without a proper sleep. And I used to just leave my, you know, my lunch or dinner. Sometimes in the middle of lunch, I used to run for a customer and barely making enough money to cover my cost. Then it wasn't sustainable. Then I decided, I don't want this. Then I thought, okay, let's go back, you know, where I came from. I'm an accountant, you know, back in India.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:07:59]:
So let's try accounting how it goes. I started a small company. It was not accountant, but my mindset was never money. I wanted to Learn experience first. So hourly job that was like $12 per hour. They accepted it, but I wanted to get into it. Getting into is my main goal. Okay, no problem, I can join.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:08:18]:
But I realized in within a two months, I don't see any growth. I was doing like regular routine tasks. I felt like, no, I don't see any growth here. Then I found another job in IT staffing as an accountant. I didn't join as a recruiter there. I was an accountant. I was there for one year but the company sold out and they laid me off. What I learned is staffing account, that is, I got, you know, some knowledge there.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:08:46]:
Then again, I'm back to, you know, same place.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:49]:
Were you working actually at a staffing firm as the accountant?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:08:52]:
Yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:53]:
So you started seeing the numbers behind the scenes, everything.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:08:56]:
I know how much margin, payroll runs, how much, everything. I got to know it. Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:09:01]:
And you're just like, okay, you're seeing like the profit margins, you're seeing, the revenue, you're seeing, you're literally seeing everything. Is that why you decided to start your own like IT staffing company?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:09:11]:
That's not the only reason. But you know, after that I felt like, I know I'm completely failure. I had tried multiple paths and after that I still tried it. I even went for just like a five place company who just does the five place installation at homes. And I wanted to go work their accountant. But I didn't know what I was missing it. I was able to talk and I'm not maybe a culture fit for them. But after that, then one day, I mean all of my friends and everybody saying that, hey, lend some testing tool or something, you know, just find a job.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:09:46]:
But I was not convinced. I don't want to do that. Like everybody is doing it. I want to do something different. Then one Sunday, I sat down and asked myself what I do actually want, right? And it hit me because I've seen many people struggling to find a jobs and there was no system, you know, built to help them, right. I thought, why not I start it staffing because I mean, it was there behind something I learned there. But the main reason was to just help somebody like me who lost, right? And you know, they cannot just. There is no guidance for them to give.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:10:30]:
So then. But I had no clients, no funding. I had no idea. Not even, you know, you know, this just. I just only. I have a mission of helping the people. Then following week, on December 20, 2016, I registered Racks Group.

Benjamin Mena [00:10:49]:
Okay, and you started that with a friend too, right?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:10:53]:
I didn't tell them. I just registered it and I told them after a week or something. I didn't remember exact date. But yeah, I told them I did it and I did with all my friends. Inshallah's first name, R A K S R is me. And the remaining, all three my friends.

Benjamin Mena [00:11:11]:
Oh, that's kind of awesome. Let's talk about that startup. So you started a staffing company. You saw all the back end of what happened behind the scenes, but now you're in charge of all the back end, but also all the front end too.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:11:25]:
Yeah, yeah, that. That's a challenge, right? Even in my whole life, I was just doing myself and I never went outside. You won't believe me if I tell you I don't have a friends from my high school. I don't have friends by my bachelor's degree only. I used to connect people who I used to meet frequently, like my neighbors. All my friends are not my age. They are younger than me, but they are my close friends. Because the mindset, I never went outside and socialized and made friends more friends.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:11:57]:
So that kind of mindset and it totally, you know, shifted. I need to do something. So that's how I learned everything. Recruiting, of course, it's not easy. You know, I failed it. I lost a lot of money and people, I paid salaries and they didn't do well. I believed in people and spent money, but nothing happened. But I learned one by one.

Benjamin Mena [00:12:20]:
All right, so let's talk about that first year. Like what were some of the lessons that you learned that first year of you starting your business without actually a background in recruiting or.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:12:28]:
Yeah, so I was hoping, okay, my friends will be there to refer me something. I can build a business. So first year until 2017, April, they were with me and we had almost 80k minus which I invested already. But we only had 12,950 revenue in 2017. So I don't know we can make this happen. Can we really go to next level? Can we cover the expenses and make something out of me for living? Right? So my friends, they have their own commitments, but even they want me to stop it and let's move on and find something else. But I was not ready for that. I don't want let them think somebody think it's going to be my lifelong regret.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:13:22]:
I failed this and I don't want it to happen this to my friends. Also. Then I took from April 27 on, you know, on everything on my shoulder. I still spend money. It took in 2018, we made 256k.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:37]:
Let's pause right there. Okay. So like the first year in business you only had 12k in revenue, right?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:13:42]:
Yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:43]:
But you went in the whole $80,000.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:13:47]:
Yes. And remember, we are in staffing, we are not in recruiting. All those 2,000 is not mine. You know, 80% of it is employee salary. So you can imagine how much I have in that. And believe me, in staffing you need a lot of investment in tools and other things. So I was not making it. It's a minus still, even though it's 12,000.

Benjamin Mena [00:14:08]:
And for those that are listening, like I have some friends that have been on that are EORs. You were the EOR. Like they were actually on your books, right?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:14:16]:
Yes, they are on my books. That's where I make money, you know, because if I give to somebody else, I lose that $1, $2 I'm going to make out of it. As the accountant, I don't need to go and have somebody do I know how to open the state accounts. I have 20 plus states, you know, all employees, everything. I manage it. I don't get any single notices to my home owing state. So I take case that well all back and work.

Benjamin Mena [00:14:43]:
Okay, so let's, let's jump back over to year two. So you said it was like 256,000 revenue in year two, but that still wasn't enough to cover the bills.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:14:52]:
Oh, that's nothing. I still have a debt there can pay that off. So I didn't take money for those three years. And 2019 we made almost I think 844k. So that is the one is changed everything. So I was able to clear some debts and I started making money. I withdraw every month, 3,000 as my salary. That's where I started.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:15:18]:
Then eventually in 2019, after 2019, 2020 is Covid time. We went little bit down, but the time I spent at home, my family were tired of talking, listening to my script. And every day I was making like 20 calls and talking the same thing, repeating the same thing. If I'm talking my wife. Oh, again, this guy is talking. Everything is the same thing on the call. Right?

Benjamin Mena [00:15:47]:
Okay, so like you are practicing your scripts in your off hours.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:15:52]:
No, it's not off hours. I was connecting every day LinkedIn and with the one message and putting in my calendar link to schedule a call. Right, okay. People accepted it. People did not accept it. They were still connecting with me with the last message. I see that when I sent long back in 2020, that last message, I still see that in their Chat message.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:14]:
Okay.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:16:14]:
But some people, they connected, they scheduled a call, and we were talking about the market, we are talking about the business. How is it working, you know, whether we are hiring and what is the technology, you know, is boom now. So basically, I learned from those calls. But when I start the pitch, right, it's the same pitch, same dialogue in all 20 calls. But yeah, conversation went to some people, became a partners because I see some talent there, which I don't have it. I connected and we help each other, and it's a win, win. And some people gave me references for candidates and. Yeah, so they are still in.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:16:53]:
In my network.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:54]:
Okay, awesome. So like, and then you fast forward like to 2022, and you guys had an absolute gangbuster of a year.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:16:59]:
Yes, the connections I made in 2020 after Covid. Right. Again, the market went up and I gave access to my. My WhatsApp. So people were just sending a message, hey, Ranjit, you know, I need help. You know, I have a candidate, he need a job. You know, I. I have this position, and believe me, there are pass throughs.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:17:19]:
You know, pass through means, right? So the placement is ready, but they need a, you know, onboard, maybe paying a payroll or maybe directly pass through me to another company. I was making like 5, $10 without even doing anything.

Benjamin Mena [00:17:34]:
Oh, nice. And this is all because of the seeds that you planted in 2020. They just started coming up in 2022.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:17:40]:
See, the problem is when you're dealing with the money, you need to know how that. What is his values, how that guy works. So to trust that. That's why I build my brand. Now I get every day, like 10, 15 candidates comes for jobs. I just give them a one link, they fill it up. And my team people, they get it.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:01]:
That's crazy. And then, like, for those that are listening to this on, like, what the podcasting platforms behind him, he has Inc 5000. So you were ranked, what, nationally in 2024?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:18:14]:
Yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:15]:
What was the number of your ranking?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:18:17]:
It's 1136. It's a national league, but 14th in Mid Atlantic regional, which is phenomenal. I wanted to tell. I mean, again, it's a branding, okay. You have to sell yourself. These awards gives me motivation. At the same time, I'm telling everybody, I can do it. I am the one for you.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:36]:
But you also believe that just about everybody listening can also do this.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:18:40]:
Everybody can do it. All about it, you know, plan properly. For me, it took eight years, you know, learning abcd, Right. For somebody who can, you know, constantly work and never Give up, then they can do it.

Benjamin Mena [00:18:55]:
What do you think were some of the biggest struggles that you had to overcome between when you started your company to you know, now millions of dollars of revenue?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:19:04]:
It's back in 2018. From 2017 to 2020, I was alone. So entrepreneurship is something, you know, I don't have anybody to share. I was struggling. And every day if candidate, I don't know whether that candidate is going to join if he doesn't respond an email tonight. I didn't get enough sleep that day. So I struggled to control my mind for all 2017-2020. Because you don't have a control, you are in the middleman.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:19:33]:
Right. So client can change anytime mine and candidate can change my mind that time. Every candidate is important for me now. I don't care if the candidate giants doesn't join, let him go. You know, let's find another one. So the mindset she changed. But whatever. I had a control to change my mindset.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:19:53]:
That's what I did it. That was the biggest complete turnover for me.

Benjamin Mena [00:19:57]:
For somebody that was never in the recruiting industry. Before starting your own like actual staffing firm, what was one of the biggest sales lessons that you had to learn?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:20:07]:
Okay, so you have to separate recruiting and staffing. Okay. Staffing is usually like all the big businesses like you call it as a finance side, bank of America, Wells Fargo or United Health, right. Everybody has a big vendors in the middle. So if you are starting, you cannot just get direct line. There's no way you can work directly. So to build your candid pipeline, to build a trust to increase your revenue, everybody look at your revenue, how many employees you have, your 941s and everything. That is not going to happen.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:20:44]:
So if you are starting now, try to help somebody who's already working with the clients directly, try to help them to achieve their goals. So you build a relationship, you build a revenue. Every year you go step by step. So if you are targeting that kind of businesses, there are MSPs, VMSs. You know, I have mostly states in even, you know, Virginia, Georgia. I was not qualified on the day one. I didn't even get into tech systems. Until I have that strong skill set, they have to come to me.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:21:18]:
And now even though I have a very limit 941s, the tax returns, they we have to show that whether you are able to pay that employee and you have to prove them that that's your candidate. Right. So once you get in, every door will open. You have to continue that journey. That's where it happens. But it's easy, it's better than you don't need a sales. You know all you need to build a relationship with the candidates to start with the staffing. That's where you start and you go and sell your candidates.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:21:49]:
You go step by step. But yeah, recruiting side as you know already, it's all about sales and you know you have to close it. You have to sales skill set, business development, you need it. But this is also. You need it. I also failed all these like you know, I bounty jobs or everything. I registered long back in 2019 itself. I was registering wherever I get a chance because I wanted to get into know where I can, you know happen.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:22:16]:
Right. I wanted that open the door. And there was some. It's a scouter or something. There was another portal for just recruiting network one. They interviewed me and they did not qualify me. They said they're not accepting anymore now new new companies, new agencies. I was, I was okay.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:22:34]:
I found something else then. I was pushing myself. So starting with the staffing, you have to start that way. But you need initially a plan to. And I have a budget to do all these expenses.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:47]:
Because you took on all the financial expenses. Were there times where you were like worried about payroll?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:22:53]:
Yes. You know, all staffing they pay. We used to get 30, net 30. Now everybody's going net 45, net 60. And I was getting recently from IBM like after 900 days. The problem is paying on time. So I designed the system. I have a calendar, payroll calendar.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:23:13]:
I share every employee the day one. This is the time period you get paid on this day. So I play bi weekly, I pay semi monthly. But when I didn't have a money so I went for loans and also I asked for just you know, with my personal. I asked for loans also. And even bank of America inquired everything and they pulled my credit score. They gave me $17,000. So that is nothing.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:23:40]:
I can't even pay one employee one month for that money. But I have very good friends. They help me when I need a funding because the brand I am talking about, right the genuinity I have in mindset this guy is genuine. He can pay me back without even signing, you know, any agreement. People paid me money and I paid them on time without losing my word. That kind of reputation I have in the market. I wanted to show in everywhere to get more business too.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:09]:
So you've gone through every struggle. You've had to learn the staffing industry. You've now, you know, million dollars in revenue. What kind of like work are you doing now this year to hit your 20, 26 goals? And how are you looking at doing that?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:24:25]:
Yeah, because I can do everything I did, but just me only. I did 4 million. So if I add another person like me, I can double that. So last year, January, I made a decision to have a business VP in recruiting. I mean it's a coincidence. I didn't, I was not looking it, but I got just connected with this guy. I thought, okay, he's the one. I told him the day one, I'm going to give my salary, I'm going to cut my salary and invest on you.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:24:57]:
I want this business to go to next level so that I added it. Now I don't, I don't look at the recruiting, I don't look at the candidates. Everything I build as a system. So with this now my focus is I want to know everybody. Ranjit, Ranjit is the one who needs to be a partner with. That's what I'm trying. I joined a community called itself and now I'm a secretary of the, you know, the IDMV chapter now. So I'm connecting people.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:25:27]:
I wanted to show who I am and I wanted to get more business. I just gave the leads to the people. So people ask me to help recruitment, right. So I get the contacts and I share with the team and they take care of from there. So my job every day is to get networking, I mean do networking and get the leads and give them.

Benjamin Mena [00:25:49]:
You're now the rainmaker. Awesome. So before we jump over to the quick fire questions, I know we covered a lot like going from like $12,000 to you know, 4 million and on the way to 10 million. Is there any other parts of your story that you want to share that I didn't go into more details with?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:26:06]:
As a non immigrant, I came back, I mean in 2007. Eight years is a big break. I wanted to do something without even speaking very well English, without recruiting experience, without a support. As an entrepreneur, you are alone and going through all those hard times making this business to, you know, this level. I never thought I would do it. The only thing I had is I don't want to give up that mindset, made this revenue. So I still feel like this company is not mine. I feel still I'm an employee of that company.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:26:43]:
If you go and see my cars, it's more than 10 years cars. I still drive the limo MKT, Lincoln MKT, which is almost 10 years old. So when somebody asks why can't you buy some? You Know Tesla, you can afford it, right? But if I need to get the Tesla, I need to pay thousand dollars a month off every month. So the way I think is with that money I could hire somebody else too, you know, put into my business to grow to next level. So the mindset is important and if I can do it, I don't think, you know, it's, it's everybody, I mean everybody can do this, this thing. All you need to do is find the right guidance and never give up.

Benjamin Mena [00:27:28]:
Love that. Absolutely love that. Well, jumping over to the quickfire questions and this is going to be a kind of like I'm excited about your answers on these especially since you had to self teach yourself the whole recruiting world. But if there was somebody, it's 2025, somebody hit you up on LinkedIn and wanted a cup of virtual coffee. They're like, you know, I have XYZ background but not a background in recruiting. I'm actually looking at becoming a recruiter and joining this industry. What advice would you give to them to have a successful career in this.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:27:58]:
Space if they are completely new? I would say you just need to have a proper financial plan. You have to think like how you going to survive when you know until you make some money. So you have to know first thing before you start. It will take time and you have to struggle. So have a financial backup plan. Can I survive six months to one year without a steady paycheck? Do I have a savings to cover all my expenses? Am I ready to invest on tools or learning or maybe a coaching networking? That's where you have to start it. If you have already, then you're ready to jump in and never complain yourself to others because you can see me right when I started I saw people making huge commissions and nice cars and everything. I thought why? Why is it taking me so long? But here is the truth, right? Some recruiters win fast because they have a past experience or they have already a connections.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:29:08]:
But others like me, it took years to build a sustainable business. One thing I want everybody to do it for learn sales and negotiations. This is where you will be very quickly going to make money. You don't need to wait like me like four or five years to get that kind of revenue. If you are good at sales then you can do very quickly, you know, close the deals and do it and learning a sales and you know asap. That's important. You need to know how to convince the clients to trust you and selling candidates to open opportunities, negotiating offers and contract and the other one the last one is the mindset. Your mindset matters most.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:29:55]:
I'm the proof of that. Right? So when I came to us, I didn't speak English, I don't have a connections, I don't even know anybody. But I had a one that kept me going. I refused to quit. I learned every day. I reached everybody. I figured out everything step by step. Now I build billion dollar company.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:30:16]:
So it's not about, you know, being smart, what I say, it's about, you know, most consistent. And you don't need a talent, you need a grit. That's what I believe.

Benjamin Mena [00:30:27]:
Awesome. Well, same question. But for somebody that's like been around the block like people, someone that's been recruiting for a while, they're hitting up, just asking for advice on how to, you know, get better and hit the next level. What would you tell them?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:30:38]:
So let me tell you about the story of two recruiters. The recruiter a right, she's very good at sourcing and she can find very qualified candidate within a short time than anybody else. But year after year, she stay back in the same role. The recruiter too who does sourcing. But he build a relationship. He close the clients, he do the negotiations and he lands the deals. Guess what? Who is making three times more here? Here is the truth about the recruiting. No one maybe might have, you know, told you.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:31:15]:
The highest paid recruiters who are not best at recruiting, they are best at client acquisition. So think about it. Every company needs a candidate. But guess who controls the job? Hiring managers, decision makers, clients. But if you win, if you own the job, you own your future. But how, how can we move ahead? You become an expert in sales and you know, negotiations, right? If you don't know how to close the deal, you always depend on somebody like me. I used to depend the same way. So learn how to sell your value, pitch you know your service and make your companies trust you.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:31:56]:
That's what I'm doing it stop thinking, you know, as an employee, that's where you know people who are already in recruiting and maybe you are working for a company. Treat yourself like a business inside a business. So build a personal brand and become a go to recruiter or advisor and people can come to you for a jobs, hiring advice and everything. And expand your skills beyond sourcing. So sourcing is the one part you can outsource easily. But the client acquisition matters. So managing client management or you know, understanding contracts, converting leads to paying clients. So when I started I know I thought recruiting is just a sourcing a resume just connecting Dots.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:32:38]:
But believe me, the best shift happened. I stopped focusing on transactional leads, transaction leads, then where I grew money. Right. So if you are experienced recruiter is still struggling, this is what you have to ask yourself. I may focus only on candidates, I may focus on client acquisition too. So if you do equal or even more on client acquisition, you'll see the success quick.

Benjamin Mena [00:33:07]:
I actually love that. And you said if you own the job, you own your future. I feel like I need to go back and quote that for you. Well, you know you've talked about like tools and everything. Do you have like a favorite tech tool or rec tech tool?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:33:20]:
So I have a bunch of tools stack in my tool now. So I have more than, I don't know, maybe 20, 30 tools. So I like playing with those. But the tools is really changed my workday. The tool called Loyla, I don't know, maybe you heard about it. It's Getoiler AI. It's integrated with the ChatGPT. But you know what it helped me is it changed totally my communication.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:33:45]:
So so now I use in my email, I use in my mobile. You have a Chrome extension, you have a Gmail extension. When I need to reply something, it'll just read all your emails. I need to put what I wanted to convey. It will create a beautiful email and that is saving me a lot of time along with that, as you guys know already, I do the LinkedIn. So I put my thoughts and I asked them to rewrite it and in my own way he gives it. That's it. So it's, you know, time saving for me.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:34:17]:
There is a one more tool called Meet Greek AI. It's a AI meeting bot. So it'll join as your va. It'll record it and transcript and it'll give you end of the meeting. Even though you don't join, it'll be there because I'm the boss, you know, and no one can deny it but. But if. If somebody is in a host, you know, they can say if they don't want to do hello. But mostly nobody says no.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:34:43]:
So I get everything in my inbox. I don't worry about making a notes, it's all recorded there. I go back and revisit. The last one I wanted to say is the voice notes which is really changed my life because whenever I get some thought, even I'm on the go. I just open and record it. All my story, everything is there. Even I wanted to ask, hey, what was my total revenue from the beginning to till now, right? It'll give Years. So what I'm putting it in, I can ask questions and get into it and this is a game changer for me.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:35:19]:
So these are the three tools I recommend. Yeah, I mean I'm not affiliate or anything, but these are all helping me here.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:25]:
That's awesome. So, you know, looking at like your past, your history, like recruiting's hard, like you'd struggled for a while. How'd you get through those hard times?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:35:37]:
I was continuously, constantly focused on here. I think it's in 2018 or 19. I got outtracked, you know, sidetracked to financial advisor. Somebody referred me. I thought maybe let me try. I was still doing it, but I was also hustling for this. And that changed my life too. See, everything what I did in mall, like even in accounting or limo driving, everything that gave me some experience, it taught me some, well, valuable lessons.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:36:11]:
So when I went there, I attended a couple of events and John Maxwell was there and he was there and I watched him talking about focusing on one thing constantly, every day. So there was a story also. So you are going every day out and you know, with AX and you know, you wanted to cut the tree and by end of the day it not happened. But again you went back and tried another one, another one other one. So it never happens. The real goal, end goal will not happen. So if you go and try the same tree next day and next day, then that's it. You're going to see the result.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:36:46]:
That one thing changed my life. Then immediately I came back to again recruiting and focused on staffing again. So that mindset and listening to the podcast is life changing for me. I used to only listen startup entrepreneurship related stories so where they talk about their struggle and they'll tell how did that overcome those challenges and how they are doing so the success they have it. So that, that used to motivate me. That's what I was doing all time. When I feel like, okay, should I give it up? You know, can I really still make it happen? You know, do I have that kind of talent? So those made me to push myself.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:27]:
Gotcha. Awesome. Well, and looking back in time, if you can like have a conversation with yourself when you were first starting out your company or maybe even like after the first year with everything that you know now, what would you go back and tell yourself, wow, if I could.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:37:44]:
Sit down and with my younger self, okay, so what I would do is you don't need a perfect plan. All you need to just start. But then, you know, I thought success comes from degrees and Connections and you know, roadmaps. But looking back, I realized most successful people figure things out as they go. So what would I change? Or what I do is honestly every mistake, every wrong turn, it led me here. Right? So if I need to do it, I can do it. Only I can make the process fast. If I go back and redo it, I do invest on sales and communication.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:38:29]:
That's the first thing I would invest it. I spent too much time avoiding sales because I thought I'm not a salesperson. But the truth is, you know, if you are in the business, you are in sales, you can ignore that. So. So I started and building in my personal branding. I even started three years back. If I would have started a little earlier, maybe I would have seen more success and stop thinking overthinking because I never did a business. Every incident is overthinking in my mind.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:39:00]:
I didn't have enough sleep thinking over and over. So I would stop that, you know, working on it. So the biggest lesson, success doesn't come waiting for perfect opportunity. So it comes from making more stuff right in front of you. Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:39:18]:
Awesome. I've been watching you build your brand on LinkedIn for a bit now and like you have conversations with the recruiters that like, you know, asking for help because you know, they see the success that you've had many times. Like, I'm sure they're asking like, what's the best pitch? How do you do this, how do you do that? What do you actually wish those recruiters would actually ask you and what would be that answer?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:39:40]:
Yeah, as you said, people ask how to find a candidate, how to get a client. You know, all these tactical questions. But the question I wish the recruiter asked me is how I build a system that generates clients and revenue consistently. What I can answer is stop chasing. You know only one thing, right? You only go with a candidate, then you lose the client side. You go client side. I mean, still, that's a better one. But stop chasing.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:40:07]:
Only on sourcing and only on candidates. You have to start chasing clients too. If you control the jobs, you control the business. Too many recruiters are sourcing. But without a client, sourcing is useless. Build a reputation before you need it, right? When I started, I thought posting LinkedIn is a waste of time. But now most of my clients candidates, they go and check my content. I shared like two months back and they reach me, right? And the focusing on the relationships, not a transaction.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:40:44]:
I mean transaction type. Sometimes it works in the beginning, but that's not a long goal. You need to build a relationship. I have a candidate, they come. I mean, not right now. I'm not open like before, you know, everybody can reach me. But initial stages, I was always on the call, listening to their problems, personal stories and everything that became, you know, people gave me your references, they came, you know, a lot of business. So most recruiters spend years with the wrong thing.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:41:14]:
Right. So if you start asking the right question, you will get ahead 10 times.

Benjamin Mena [00:41:21]:
Faster with everything that you're doing. What is your end goal?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:41:24]:
I mean, I'm happy, I'm blessed, you know, I'm so excited. You know, if I compared my last year. But I want to grow year by year and make this company for everybody. When somebody needs a candidate, Ranjit is the is the one. And when somebody need a client, I mean the candidates, Ranjit is the one. And somebody needs a partner who wants to be partner, genuine partner. I want her to be the go to person. So I want everybody know in the industry and I want to help and partner with everybody to take the company to the next level.

Benjamin Mena [00:41:58]:
Phenomenal. So before I let you go, two things. First of all, if somebody wants to follow you, how do they go about doing that?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:42:05]:
Yeah, best place is LinkedIn. I'm building my brand with my name. I have a domain ready. So I'm so excited to be, you know, make that live soon. But yeah, LinkedIn is the best one. Just connect me there. Happy to help.

Benjamin Mena [00:42:18]:
Awesome. And I'll have your LinkedIn profile in the show notes too. Make it easier for somebody to click. And before I let you go, if you can leave one more thing with the listeners, what would it be?

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:42:28]:
All you need to click that start button. Either you're ready, you're not ready, people gonna make you fun. Are people gonna say you are not speaking very well or whatever it is, the start is important. Is it a business or it's a YouTube, whatever you want to do it, you just need to start. Never look at how well it is. Is it 100% done, half done or something? Just go out and start.

Benjamin Mena [00:42:54]:
I absolutely love that. And like, I'm so glad that like we started chatting online or on LinkedIn because like, this is an incredible story of just like the perseverance in following and chasing a dream. I mean, how many people would have 80k in debt and only 12k in revenue would just be like, you know what, it's time to give up, it's time to quit. Maybe I need to go look for something else and find a way to back out of that debt. But fast forward Inc. 5000 Inc. Regionals, Mid Atlantic award after award. And you know Brent Thor Seager, right? So Brent or Sigurd constantly talks about the awards and the plaques on the wall is like, you know, the scoreboard of your business.

Benjamin Mena [00:43:34]:
And it's just kind of incredible that going from 12k in revenue to the millions of dollars in revenue, just what's absolutely possible for anybody that's willing to learn, put in time and work. And I think you gave some keynotes on focusing and learning on the sales and the negotiation of the recruiting business. So thank you so much for coming on and for the listeners. I believe in you. He believes in you. Go Crush 2025.

Ranjith Kumar Reddy Ravula [00:43:56]:
I want to add one more thing. By the time it goes live, you'll see one more behind it. There's one more award is coming. Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:44:04]:
Awesome. Phenomenal. All right. Don't crush it.