Making The Jump From Internal to Owning an Agency with Raul Mendoza

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

Raul Mendoza [00:00:03]:
I don't see AI as a threat. I see it as an opportunity for us as talent acquisition leaders in the space to be freed up to think, to get out of the minutiae of the day to day administration and operations and actually think strategically about bringing value to customers. And social media isn't just about the vanity metrics. It's not about the likes and the comments. You know, interestingly enough, that customer that I retained, they didn't react to any of my posts, but they saw them, and that's how I got that customer.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:38]:
Welcome to the Elite Recruiter podcast with your host, Benjamin Menna, 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. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Many of us fall into recruiting. It wasn't the career opportunity that we dreamed about as little kids. I mean, many of us didn't even know what recruiting was until we actually landed in the space. But here's the thing. You climb the ladder. Many achievements, crush some goals, and then you wake up about two decades later, and it's just like, hmm, do I want to continue this path, or do I want to try charting my own path? And here's the thing.

Benjamin Mena [00:01:23]:
When you try charting your own path, it requires creating your own road. And I am so excited to have Raul on the elite recruiter podcast to talk about, can you teach an old dog new tricks? And I'm not trying to say, like, Ryul's order anything, because I think I'm actually older than him. But here's the thing. Like, I'm almost two decades in. Raul is two decades in before he decided to launch his own recruiting company. So, you know, we had many stories of people doing it in their early twenties, people doing it in their thirties. But guess what? You can still decide to choose a different path two decades later. So, Raul, welcome to the podcast.

Raul Mendoza [00:02:02]:
Benjamin, it's a pleasure to be on. Very excited.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:05]:
So, like, real quick, I know, like, I gave you, I was talking about you're almost two decades in. We're into recruiting. But, like, as we all know, how do we start this podcast? How did you even end up in this wonderful world?

Raul Mendoza [00:02:16]:
Totally. Yeah. It's. I love it. You know, you said it so beautifully there in the introduction. When it comes to landing a job in talent acquisition, it's. I say it's a calling because it's not something you can go to school for. It's not something.

Raul Mendoza [00:02:30]:
There's a curriculum or syllabus for. It's something that finds you, and it found me. I was actually, this would have been back in 2002, you know, coming out of high school or getting ready to get out of high school and kind of thinking about my future, thinking about what do I want to do, college, all this kind of thing. And I'm like, well, I know I got to earn some money to pay for college because it's expensive. So how am I going to do this? A convenience store job isn't going to be enough. I'm going to have to load up another job to save up for this. So I stepped into a staffing agency here in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And I stepped in there thinking, okay, maybe I can get a couple temp jobs.

Raul Mendoza [00:03:11]:
Let's see what this is all about. I go there and start filling out the application, and then they said, oh, you're bilingual? I'm like, yeah, I speak Spanish, hablo espanol. And they're like, well, we have a bilingual receptionist position available right now, and would you be interested? And I was like, sure, let's learn. What's a receptionist do at this point? I'm like, I'm just the teenage kid, 18 years old. I'm like, receptionist? What's that? I'm like, sure. What? And, you know, they kind of tell me about the role. I end up meeting with the branch manager and one of the directors there, and basically just kind of hit it off with them and just on the spot, they gave me the job, and that's how it kind of got started for me. I spent the first half of my career on the agency side, and then the second half of my career, I went in house to the corporate side, the dark side.

Raul Mendoza [00:04:07]:
And, I mean, is it the dark side? I don't know, but it felt like the dark side when I was on the agency side for as long as I was. So, yeah, that's kind of how it started off for me. You know, I was a receptionist. You got opportunity to do some placements and work with some clients there and kind of moved up the ranks and became a kind of an on site director managing multiple sites and doing this was for light industrial manufacturing type of placement and administrative placement. So, you know, I look back at those years very fondly, and for these two incredible leaders, that just gave me an opportunity. You know, I didn't even have a college degree. They just. They saw something in me.

Raul Mendoza [00:04:46]:
In fact, I came in with Capris in a polo, you know, and. And they're just interviewing me on the spot, and they were able to peel back the layers and see something that I didn't see at that time.

Benjamin Mena [00:04:59]:
So real quick, let me take a step back. Yeah, you got your first job in the recurring industry, but you were working at a gas station before that. Or a convenience store.

Raul Mendoza [00:05:07]:
It was a convenience store, yeah, it was a white hen or it was a pantry of sorts.

Benjamin Mena [00:05:11]:
And two decades in the space, also without a college degree, and you've had tons of success, which that's the beautiful thing that I love about the space, is you don't need that piece of paper. It makes me wonder why you gotta have mine. But that's a whole other topic for another day. But you see, okay, so you spent your first ten years and the agency side of the house, and then you went internal. What spurred that move to internal recruiting?

Raul Mendoza [00:05:34]:
Totally. Yeah, I mean, I had a great opportunity to, you know, in my ten years on the agency side, one of the things that I got to do is I got to partner up with an entrepreneur to build out a boutique talent acquisition firm. And, you know, I came in as his co founding employee, and, you know, he would go in, big visionary, big personality. He'd go in, he'd sell, you know, these big engagements, and then I'd be like, how are we going to do this? And he'd be like, oh, that's why I hired you. I'm like, oh, okay. But then basically it was just him and I. And we grew this company to about 70 employees. And at that point, I was part of a team that was helping hire people that were beyond me, you know, that were going to scale and grow this business to that next level.

Raul Mendoza [00:06:23]:
And I found myself in a situation, ten years in, where im like, I was able to get this business successfully off the ground in partnership with this founder and this leadership team. And im like, I think I kind of hit a ceiling here. Like, I feel like I was at that point in time, I basically, I did what I was meant to do and there wasn't anywhere for me to really go. So I decided, you know what, I've been working with customers as a consultant. How about going in house and consulting as an in house recruiter? So, you know, I decided to make that lead because I thought, you know what, I never did this. This could diversify my background experience, maybe as an agency recruiter. You're gritty, you're resourceful, you make things happen. And let's see what that skillset, that entrepreneurial mindset and approach can do.

Raul Mendoza [00:07:13]:
In house. So I made the leap and basically started off with a technology company that was making a CRM for the automotive industry and basically car dealerships. It was a CRM for Cotler dealerships global company, and I was brought on as a technical recruiter, and that was my start on the corporate side.

Benjamin Mena [00:07:34]:
And then you spend a good amount of time there, and then you decided to make the jump.

Raul Mendoza [00:07:41]:
Yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:07:42]:
What spur, like, before we even get to how you made the jump, how long did you think about making the jump?

Raul Mendoza [00:07:49]:
Man, that's fantastic question. I'd thought about it. I dreamt about it. You know, you have those passing thoughts at night right before your head hits the pillow. And this was one that always came back to me, you know, even back in the day when I was helping my good friend launch his recruiting firm, I thought, you know, I want to do this, you know, and I was getting the opportunity to do it as a founding employee. But I always thought, you know what? I think I could do this. I think I can do this. And so I would say, you know, from the day that I, over ten years, you know, I would say 15 years contemplating this, and, you know, just a lot dealing with a lot of fear regarding it, dealing with a lot of anxiety and knowing that this was in my heart to do.

Raul Mendoza [00:08:34]:
But just, man, when's the good time to do this? And, you know, come find out later.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:39]:
Before you talk about that. Yeah, literally. What? Like, what stopped you all that time?

Raul Mendoza [00:08:44]:
Fear. It was fear and lack of belief in myself. And, you know, I think entrepreneurship is one of these things that it's not for the. It's not for the weak in heart. You know, it's not for the faint in heart. It requires something of you, and it requires you to have a high level of belief in yourself to be able to launch out and do something, not knowing where your next client or customer or business is going to come from. And I just didn't have that belief in myself, and I played the comparison game. You know, I worked with some very, very talented people throughout my career, and I always thought, man, I can't do this.

Raul Mendoza [00:09:22]:
Like, I can't cast a vision like this guy, or I can't, I can't get buy in like this female entrepreneur. Like, I just, I just can't do that. Like, I'm. I'm introverted. I analyze, I think about things. And so I started kind of subscribing to these ideas about who I was. But then the funny thing, all these years later, you know, we're talking 15 years later, you know, right before my head would hit the. Hit the pillow, that thought would come up, you know, Raul, you're meant to do this.

Raul Mendoza [00:09:53]:
You know that. And I'm like, nah, you know, and then, you know, it just was a nagging thought. And I thought, okay, in the same way that talent acquisition finds you, I think business and entrepreneurship finds you. It's a calling, and there's a responsiveness that's required in taking hold of that irregardless of whether or not you feel fear. I think fear is a healthy emotion, but we shouldn't let it back us into a corner.

Benjamin Mena [00:10:18]:
And what would finally spur you to, now's the time.

Raul Mendoza [00:10:22]:
So let's fast forward here to my most recent role. I was hired as a head of people on talent acquisition for a marketing technology company here in Milwaukee, and I got a taste after about ten years in the corporate side of recruiting, I just had enough of the red tape, I had enough of the bureaucracy, and I got tapped on the shoulder for this particular role that was very much kind of a startup type of. Of an environment, and it gave me a taste of the entrepreneurial space again, you know, and I thought, so about a year and a half in, I started thinking, you know, things were not looking so hot with this particular company. I mean, in the last few years, you know, so after Covid and. And so I started thinking, you know, like, this is the time I need to start building this side, hustle on the side. So back in 2020, I started kind of dabbling with things, experimenting, starting to build the vision, but I hadn't fully launched. And then, you know, fast forward into 2023, when I was with this marketing technology company, started seeing the writing in the wall, and I'm like, okay, I think this is the time to do this. And, you know, I was given it my all with the company I was working with at the time, but we started losing some business, losing some accounts, and my.

Raul Mendoza [00:11:42]:
My role was overhead. So it was kind of a situation where, you know, I had conversations with the CEO of the company, and he really liked me. He thought I had some great contributions to the organization, and I really enjoyed working with him. He had given me a lot, but he said he couldn't have me do both. I couldn't do my side hustle, and, you know, there was no non compete in place, but I understood his perspective and I could respect where he was coming from. So my wife and I prayed about it. This would have been November of 2023, right before thanksgiving. The CEO said, hey, take some time to think of it.

Raul Mendoza [00:12:16]:
We'd be happy to have you, but I can't have you doing both. So we thought and prayed about it, talked about it. In November 27, 2023, I handed in my resignation, and off we go, off to the horse.

Benjamin Mena [00:12:30]:
Okay, so, like, did he know that you had a side hustle this whole time, or did he just, like, start seeing it on LinkedIn?

Raul Mendoza [00:12:37]:
It's interesting. He started seeing it on LinkedIn, and, you know, I didn't mention anything to him at the time because I was trying to hide it or anything like that. I just thought, you know, I don't need to draw attention to it. And most people these days have side hustles. It's a pretty accepted reality of our time that most people have something going on, on the side. So I just. I didn't think anything of it. But when it got wind of what I was doing, he didn't want me to have my feet in both camps.

Raul Mendoza [00:13:05]:
And so we had, you know, discussions about it, and, you know, there was some disagreements there, but at the end of the day, I saw where he was coming from, and I'm like, you know, I wish we could keep this going. I wish that we could, you know, because I think when it comes to side hustles, some of the best talent out there are side hustlers. You know, I think some of the best ideas that I was able to drum up were because I had this. This lab on the side where I was able to experiment, try new things out, and I would bring those ideas and those tactics and strategies into what I was doing. But again, you know, it's one of those things. It's a timing thing. And, you know, I think the CEO, he was seeing something in me as well, and I think he was forcing me to make a choice.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:52]:
So you guys prayed about it, handed in your resignation right before Christmas? Right? Right before Thanksgiving. You know, we typically slow hiring. Now you're off to the races. What happened next?

Raul Mendoza [00:14:05]:
Every day I'm hustling, and it was hardcore hitting the phones. You know, 20 years in the game, I'm still hitting phones. You know, I'm hitting email, I'm hitting social.

Benjamin Mena [00:14:17]:
But before we start talking to, like, your company, how did you get your first client?

Raul Mendoza [00:14:23]:
Totally. So. Oh, man, that's a great question. So I had my socials cooking for a while, you know, I would say since mid summer 2023. And one of the things that I was experimenting with at my last company was social, social media, and with video, short form video. And the company that I was with was relatively unknown. So I was trying to come up with creative ways to get the company on the map. And social was one of those things that kind of stood out to me.

Raul Mendoza [00:14:53]:
I'm like, okay, I'm going to start talking about different subjects. And it was, you know, it was very low quality. And I found, holy cow, I'm getting two to three conversations a week with top talent in the market. Just from the silly video. There's something here. So I started kind of shifting that strategy over into what I was doing with my company, with my entrepreneurial pursuit. And, you know, that coupled with outbound sales and email follow up, it's so interesting. So I gave my resignation, and I had this activity going on already, right, leading up to that time.

Raul Mendoza [00:15:26]:
And so I kind of turned up the dial when I gave my resignation. But out of the blue, I get a call from a prospect that I had been reaching out to now for a few months. And, you know, she said, she's the vp of human resources for a food service manufacturing company here in Wisconsin. And she was like, Raul, I saw your post. I'm like, I can't get away from this guy. He's calling me, he's messaging me. He's all over my social feeds. I better return his call.

Raul Mendoza [00:15:55]:
She's like, I've got something for you. I've got some roles for you to work on. And I'm like, okay, let's talk. And that was my first client. I think that's a testament to the power of social combined with the old school, gritty sales call and email.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:12]:
You know, a lot of times I have people that reach out to me thinking that they can literally fully automate a $10,000 a month recruiting business. And I'm like, probably like, I don't know where you hear that, but when you started, you said you pounded the phones.

Raul Mendoza [00:16:28]:
Yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:30]:
What did your day look like for your first few months?

Raul Mendoza [00:16:34]:
Totally. And this is still going, you know, so I'm doing a. I'm cranking out. You know, it's kind of like a three prong strategy. So doing the daily posting and cranking out calls, it could be anywhere from 20 to 50 calls and following up with LinkedIn messages and invitations saying it'd be an honor to connect with you and building rapport. I think the sales call by itself wasn't enough. Right. It was the combination of those tactics that really, I think, has been able to garner success for me as I've gone ahead.

Raul Mendoza [00:17:13]:
So, yeah, I was, I would say, you know, when I say pounding the phones, maybe that's an overstatement. 20 to 50 calls a day, that's, you know, you talk to a typical agency recruiter. They're doing a lot more than that. But I was trying to work hard and also work smart. You know, I think phone calls aren't a dead, but there's still a very necessary element to the recruiter strategy.

Benjamin Mena [00:17:36]:
You launched your company, and one of the things I kind of want to chat with you about is we talked about this offline. You think now is a better time than ever to do something like that?

Raul Mendoza [00:17:44]:
Why, absolutely. Yeah. There's so much that's changing right now in the space. AI has really disrupted the space, and it's caused, well, one, there's just been major economic upheaval. So you're finding that some of the best leaders in talent acquisition on the corporate side are finding themselves without a job now just because. And that's starting to change now a little bit. Folks are starting to land in opportunities, but very much so. It's not a market that favors the internal talent acquisition function.

Raul Mendoza [00:18:19]:
AI has disrupted the space with the possibilities of how recruiting could be transformed into this value driven center for organizations or value centric agency that partners with companies. And so I think with those two things kind of erupting at this time, so to speak, you know, I think that's there's such an opportunity to bring value. You know, I don't see AI as a threat. I see it as an opportunity for us as talent acquisition leaders in the space to be freed up to think, to get out of the minutiae of the day to day administration and operations and actually think strategically about bringing value to customers. I've got companies that are coming to me now, including the client that I retained, that the conversation is no longer about, hey, you know, how many candidates can you source me? I mean, that's still very real, you know, or how many can you find me this many candidates for this particular engineering role, they're talking candidate experience. They're like, can you help us build a candidate experience? Can you help us think about a strategy that attracts and retains talent long term? And these are starting to bubble up with companies that are seeing that, you know, in order for us to win the war on talent, we can't be reactive as a talent acquisition function anymore, and there's no room for maintenance anymore. So I think that this is an opportunity for people that have been in this space to take that, you know, for the folks, you know, the old dogs in the game. That have been in it 20 plus years for them to take that experience of cutting through red tape, of working with stakeholders, getting buy in, taking that, and, hey, how about starting your own company, bringing that value, bringing that insight, and building out solutions for companies that are looking to retain the brightest and the most talented in the market.

Raul Mendoza [00:20:23]:
And not only that, you can have an AI enabled solution that frees you up to focus on what's more important, which is becoming that talent strategist with organizations.

Benjamin Mena [00:20:34]:
I personally believe everybody should have, like, make the jack at least once, but I think it's an incredible opportunity that's out there, and I know we're going to talk about that more, but at the same time, I also want to talk about the sales side of it. Yeah, I think a lot of people, like, when they think about making that jump, they miss that sales side of the jump.

Raul Mendoza [00:20:55]:
Yeah, if you talk about that, totally. I think I love that. I'm glad you're asking that question because especially for corporate recruiters, you know, I've seen both sides. I've been on the agency side and in house, and I think, you know, especially in house recruiters, they can think to themselves, okay, I'm good with relationship building. I'm good at building rapport and driving activity for my stakeholders. I'm not a salesperson, though, and I want to actually dispel that notion in recruiting because at the end of the day, sales is relationship. However, it's disciplined, rigorous relationship. It's a combination of those things, both.

Raul Mendoza [00:21:35]:
And, I mean, you've heard the statement, recruiting is sales. Right? And there's truth to that. But I think what can happen with internal recruiters or even, say, agency recruiters that are just phenomenal at finding that needle in a haystack type talented, they're like, you know, when they think about the idea of making the leap, and I've talked to even agency recruiters in the last six months that have been kind of playing around with the idea, and they're just like, but I just, you know, I can't get sales like my account executive can. I can't have these conversations. I'm like, look, you do you, you do you. You build relationships the way you do it, but then put a framework around that, put some rigor around that, put some targets around that, like sales call targets, social media post targets, use those strategies symbiotically to get some results, you know, and I think that sales isn't a personality thing. It's. It's a discipline thing.

Raul Mendoza [00:22:30]:
And if recruiters can get that in their head, in thinking about making the leap they're going to be successful. You got to just grind it out.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:38]:
I know, like when, because I was actually an internal recruiter or contract recruiter when I kind of made the jump too. And that was one of the initial struggles that I had. You know, I'll just say, like, business development has always been a struggle, but because of the network and because of the relationships, like, a lot of business has come to us. But that's also like 20 years of building your brand, right?

Raul Mendoza [00:23:00]:
Yep.

Benjamin Mena [00:23:00]:
That out everybody, like, I'm super niche down in the space and like, govcon is like, where it's at. But I wanted to ask that question because so often when people are looking at making that job or they've been let go or laid off and they're like, you know what, I'm going to put my own business hat on the sales side is always forgotten in the conversation.

Raul Mendoza [00:23:17]:
Yes, yes, totally. I think. Yep, it is. And I think, you know, leverage your network, leverage those relationships, leverage people that you've placed in the past and those connections and accept who you are. Don't try to be something that you're not. Leverage those strengths and apply some rigor and fine tune your approach. And I think I'm still continuing to do that. You know, I was in very sales.

Raul Mendoza [00:23:44]:
I mean, agency is very sales driven. Right. But I think we need to kind of break those boxes and perspectives that say, I am not this. You know, when you're an entrepreneur and you're making the leap, you're starting the foundation. There is belief in yourself, belief in your ability to be able to make something happen. And you need to have that coupled with some activity and consistency.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:10]:
So if somebody is even thinking about it, like, we'll just say, like, you know, you spent a good 1015 years thinking about it. You even started it as a side hustle.

Raul Mendoza [00:24:20]:
Yep.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:20]:
If somebody's looking at making this jump into their own company, into an entrepreneurial journey, what are the things that they could be thinking about? And then after that, what is a piece of advice that you would give them?

Raul Mendoza [00:24:33]:
Totally. No, absolutely. So I would say, for starters, think about, I haven't niched in yet myself just because I've done a lot of different spaces, but that's something that I'm looking at. But I would say get a piece of paper notepad and start writing out vision of how you want to bring value to customers. Start to kind of articulate that for yourself. You know, how are you going to differentiate from other recruiters in the space from other agencies in the space because it's a highly saturated market. So I think beginning to put some pen to paper and starting to kind of articulate that vision, I think brand is huge. You've got to have a presence.

Raul Mendoza [00:25:15]:
You got to have a social media presence. One thing that I was late to the game in is just that I've been in recruiting for 20 years. And I would say just in the last couple of years, I started to kind of see the magic of what social media can do. And social media isn't just about the vanity metrics. It's not about the likes and the comments. You know, interestingly enough, that customer that I retained, they didn't react to any of my posts, but they saw them and that's how I got that customer, you know, so social media is powerful. Social media can be your best friend and ally when it comes to building out your brand. Also, you know, it helps you crystallize those ideas that you put on that pad with pen into something.

Raul Mendoza [00:25:58]:
It actually gives it, it brings it to life, you know, as you begin to put yourself out there and begin to bring value to candidates in the hiring process, hiring managers as they think about how they should build relationships and interview top talent in the market with customers, you know, how to retain top talent in today's market. You know, getting those ideas out there, I think, you know, whether it's a pen in a pad that's physical or electronic, get that on paper, start getting out there, taking risks, making videos. I mean, I got stuff that I could show you, Ben, that I'm just like, I'm embarrassed about, you know, but at the same time I'm like, this is part of facing your fears and this is part of getting your brand out there and it will pay dividends. You know, I've had this customer now. I've got an AI enabled recruitment as a service company. My company, Rapidotalent. I have clients that have renewed with me now, you know, three times over with what I've been able to do. And that message, you know, when it comes to the social game, if you keep on going with it, it crystallizes vision and it begins to take on a life of its own.

Raul Mendoza [00:27:13]:
And I'm finding that that's starting to happen for me. But I still have a long way to go. Right.

Benjamin Mena [00:27:17]:
And you should say something real quick. And we're going to ask you another question on this. But you do a lot with AI. Like, you're working actually making money because of AI and recruiting.

Raul Mendoza [00:27:26]:
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I've got some tremendous tools. Interestingly enough, Joel Alge, just to drop his name, you know, he's a big brand ambassador for a few different types of technologies out there. And, you know, he tapped my shoulder, this would have been about six months ago and said, raul, you got to get in on this AI stuff. And I'm just like, I think I'm okay with my Excel spreadsheets and my multiple outlook templates. You know, I've been doing this. This works. Why do I need AI? And, you know, you freshly launched your.

Benjamin Mena [00:27:58]:
Own business, you're having success, you're getting clients, you're fulfilling clients. What's some of your favorite tools, like with tech stock?

Raul Mendoza [00:28:04]:
So my tech stack is recruiter flow as my ats CRM. The reason I decided to go with them is because I used them at my previous company. First time I ever actually was exposed to them. And then when I heard Joel Alge was repping them, I'm like, you know what? I think I'm going to do this. This is a tremendous tool. They've got a client portal experience that I use with my clients and they log in. They can see all of my activity, all of my metrics, all of my submittals, all of my notes. I use Metaview for my interviewing and I love it.

Raul Mendoza [00:28:35]:
I love it. It allows me to just be present with candidates and just connect with them. You know, my clients are choosing to work with me because of the energy and excitement that I can bring to prospective candidates and engaging them on the opportunity that they have. And Metaview allows me to just make that connection and not have to fumbling around with a keyboard, you know what I mean? Or a piece of paper. I can just be fully engaged. And I love it. I mean, honestly, I've never had more fun in recruiting as I have now with these tools and then better leap. So I get excited about this stuff because it's just been a game changer.

Raul Mendoza [00:29:13]:
Better leap has been fantastic. I mean, from a candidate information enrichment perspective, the way it connects to recruiter flow, like all these technologies are communicating with one another. So better leap just allows I can do in what used to take me two or 3 hours is now taking me an hour and a half an hour from a sourcing perspective, and I don't have to worry about candidate info. I'm getting a snap of a finger, so I'll pause there.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:41]:
Like you, you said something a second ago, like you're having more fun now than the last. Like I was going to say, than your entire career.

Raul Mendoza [00:29:49]:
Absolutely. You know what? I think there comes this idea of just facing your fears. Facing your fears. You know, let's talk about a roller coaster. Jumping on a roller coaster. I mean, you feel lots of fear, but you also feel lots of joy on that ride. And it's the first time in my life where I'm feeling everything. You know, I'm feeling the fear.

Raul Mendoza [00:30:12]:
I'm feeling the inadequacy. I'm feeling the insecurity. But, man, I'm having fun. I am making it happen. I'm trying to come up with solutions, bring value to my clients day in and day out. There's tools at our fingertips that can literally ten x our efforts. So it's like the stuff that recruiters are hired to do, which is make connections and find the best talent. Man, there's never been a better time.

Raul Mendoza [00:30:39]:
There's never been a better time to make the leap and face your fears and make it happen, you know? So, I mean, that's what I would want to say to my peers. You know, those that are even four years maybe into the agency side of things, and they're like, you know what? I think I want to do this. Go for it. Or your 20 years, corporate in house director of talent acquisition, and you're like, you know what? I think I could bring value to clients with a consultative recruiting business. Go for it.

Benjamin Mena [00:31:07]:
Love that. Before we jump over to the quick fire side of the questions and the podcast, is there anything else that you want to talk about about, like building a business, making that jump, legitimizing your business?

Raul Mendoza [00:31:20]:
Totally. Yeah. So we talked about the social media piece, which is, you know, that's just a non negotiable these days. There's tech like there's never been before, which we talked about a few, and there's many more out there. You know, I think just. There's just the basic. Operationalizing your business, getting quickbooks. I would highly recommend that.

Raul Mendoza [00:31:41]:
Opening up business accounts even before all that, just getting an LLC set up. It's so easy to do that nowadays. There's so many online platforms to get that. I used Zen business, so I use legal zoom. There you go. Yep. So, I mean, there's tons. There's tons out there.

Raul Mendoza [00:31:58]:
So I think doing those things. Canva has been my best friend as well. From a creative perspective, I mean, it's not. And I know there's different thoughts on that from a design perspective, you know, from folks that are truly designers. But for somebody that isn't an artist, I found it to be an incredible tool to be able to bring some of my ideas to life without having to pay a designer. You know, for $120 a year, you got a canva account where you can, you got templates of stuff that you can build out from marketing, for posts, for social, for branding. I would say also getting a website presence. I mean, there's Wix.

Raul Mendoza [00:32:37]:
I use wix. I would highly recommend getting that set up and that, you know, kind of going back to that ideation phase of notebook and pen and a pad. You know, you can either hire a designer to do the website for you, or you can jump on Wix and pick out some templates and just get something started very quickly if you want to get laugh.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:56]:
The website that we have that we've had this entire time, my wife made over an episode of the Bachelorette with a bottle of champagne and we haven't really made any changes since.

Raul Mendoza [00:33:10]:
Yo, that's impressive. That is impressive. I don't think it's as necessary now as it used to be. I think more necessary is your social brand and presence on platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube.

Benjamin Mena [00:33:24]:
I got one question on this, because a lot of people, when they're looking at starting the company, they are thinking about their website, they're thinking about the logo, they're thinking about all these things. How much time did you spend on that when it was time to go? How much did you spend on that stuff versus the actual working on your business, like the calls, the sales, this and that?

Raul Mendoza [00:33:43]:
Totally. When I hit the concrete back in November, I mean, all this stuff was already built. And I would say, you know, for people that are kind of in that phase of thinking about doing something, you know, what the heck, go ahead and open up an llc. What's it going to cost you to do that? And go ahead and get a quick website? You know, I didn't spend very much time on that. Once it was up, it was up. You know, I had a designer that I hired for very cheap to kind of create. You know, I did a wix site, but I had someone else build it. And Wix has a very easy interface to use.

Raul Mendoza [00:34:17]:
So it was very like, low maintenance, you know, and that's what I would highly pick tools that are going to be low maintenance, that aren't going to require you to do a bunch of work to keep them going, you know, so that you can really commit to giving time. You know, I would say give yourself about two to three months of just like building up that stuff. Know those assets, very simple assets. And then it's interesting, because I remember back in August of 2023 when I had my fourth child, and I was thinking about potentially making the entrepreneurial leap. And this is something I'm kind of jumping all over the place here, but this is what entrepreneurs do. But I picked a date of when I wanted to potentially make the leap, and I was like, you know what? December 31, 2023. And so then I started to kind of work towards that. And that's what I would highly recommend to people that are entertaining the leap that are ready to kind of take it further is pick a date.

Raul Mendoza [00:35:19]:
When's going to be the day that you're going to put in your resignation notice and. And then start to build out some of those assets simply that don't require a lot of high maintenance.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:29]:
You picked a day, but did you write it down?

Raul Mendoza [00:35:32]:
I did. I did write it down, yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:34]:
Do you think if you didn't write it down, it would have never happened?

Raul Mendoza [00:35:39]:
Yeah, I totally subscribed to that idea. It was, in fact, when I wrote it down, I'd wake up every morning, I'm like, I can't believe I'm gonna do this. I just can't believe it was like a reminder, you know, it's like, I wrote this down. That means I'm gonna do this at some point.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:55]:
Where'd you write it at? Just on your calendar, or did you, like, have it somewhere around your house?

Raul Mendoza [00:35:59]:
So I have, like, my notepad section in my phone where I keep a lot of my inspired thoughts and ideas, and I have, like, this little journaling section, and I put it in there. I'm like, December 31, 2023.

Benjamin Mena [00:36:13]:
Did you see that every single time you open your phone?

Raul Mendoza [00:36:15]:
Yes, I would say at least once a day from the time that I wrote it down. And there's actually a book that you can recall the two week notice, which is this entrepreneur that actually. And she totally recommended that. She's like, you need to write this down.

Benjamin Mena [00:36:31]:
So have you written down another goal?

Raul Mendoza [00:36:34]:
Yes. My next goal is to get two to three more clients before the close of 2024. And that's the one that's staring me in the face right now here on my phone.

Benjamin Mena [00:36:47]:
The reason why? Because I know how bored it is to actually write the goals down for the listeners that are looking at making a jump or even the beginning of the jump. Like, we've had plenty of guests talking with the visualization and putting the goals in front, no matter what it is that you want to do. I want you to. If you're listening to this podcast and you don't have any goals written down. Go write it down. A goal. And make sure it's in a place that you see it every single day.

Raul Mendoza [00:37:07]:
Absolutely.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:09]:
And on that note, we're going to jump over to quickfire questions.

Raul Mendoza [00:37:11]:
Let's do it.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:13]:
Best piece of advice, someone's just getting started in the recruiting industry this year. What would you say to them to have them succeed?

Raul Mendoza [00:37:20]:
Number one, believe in yourself. And, yep, that's the number one thing that would say, believe in yourself and be disciplined about your sales activities. Set some goals and try it out for 30 days and then iterate and keep building on that. But believe in yourself. Don't try to be someone else, do you? And make it happen.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:47]:
Okay, next question. Like, think about it this way. You're talking to somebody else that's been in this game for 20 years, been in the recruiting space for 20 years. What advice would you give to them to see success or keep on seeing success?

Raul Mendoza [00:38:00]:
Totally, I would say, I think one of the things that can plague a lot of people on the corporate side is fear. There's a lot, you know, there's something about getting a steady paycheck. And I would say to them, again, I would just say, believe in yourself. Believe in your abilities. You've been doing this for 20 years. You've seen it all. You've got value to bring, you know? So make it happen. You know, don't let fear of the unknown keep you from making that leap.

Raul Mendoza [00:38:32]:
And bring in value. And building something that could be a legacy for your family can be a new solution for a customer. You could bring something to recruiting that you can only bring. You know what I mean? There's only one you. So go, do you.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:49]:
Has there been a book that has had a huge impact on your personal career?

Raul Mendoza [00:38:53]:
Totally. So there's a book I'm really big into, Gino Wickman. You know, he's got a book called Traction, which is kind of a pretty comprehensive system for how to build a company and how to really gain business traction. You know, in some of my previous organizations, I was able to take trainings and also implemented being a part of leadership teams and building out agency, I was able to utilize some of the principles in that book. And then more recently, Gino Wickman came out. Actually, the timing of it was just phenomenal. He came out with a book appropriately titled the Entrepreneurial Leap. And, you know, in my last months, in that six month period between, you know, middle of 2023 through to right before I made my own official leap from, you know, rapid hotel being a side hustle.

Raul Mendoza [00:39:40]:
I read that book, and it was like a manual. I just daily would just get into it and just be thinking, okay. Like, it just gives you a checklist of what to kind of think about and look for as you're building your business. It is just a phenomenal preparatory book, which leads me to a piece of advice from that book that I think would be super helpful for folks to know. You know, going back to some of the earlier questions were asking, when you're starting a company, you got to think of it in terms of ten years out. You got to have a ten year perspective. I think that will kind of ease the pressure a little bit in terms of, you know, obviously you got to make some things happen sooner than later, and there's a sense of urgency. That doesn't mean don't have a sense of urgency, but if you're trying to build something that's going to generate ongoing revenue year over year, you got to get started somewhere.

Raul Mendoza [00:40:29]:
But think of it as a ten year journey. And that's how I'm thinking of my company, rapid Hotel. This is going to be a ten year journey. My wife and I, when we got together and talked about this, I said to her, this is the next ten years, you know, and if we're saying we're going to do this, we're committing to doing this for the next ten years. Are you okay with that? You know, and I wouldn't have done it without wife approval.

Benjamin Mena [00:40:53]:
I mean, approval slash partner.

Raul Mendoza [00:40:56]:
Absolutely. There's no way I would be able to do this without her partnership. She's been an incredible partner to me, and she's an incredible mother to my four children, and they're the five reasons why I do what I do.

Benjamin Mena [00:41:12]:
Making that entrepreneurial jump is hard. How do you make it through those hard days, those hard weeks where you're in a funk? What do you do? How do you get yourself out? What's going on?

Raul Mendoza [00:41:23]:
You know, there's a couple different f's here. Not the profanity, but the first word that comes to mind is faith. I'm a man of faith. I have a prayer life and a relationship with God. I believe that he's in these things, and that's really what kind of keeps me going, is believing that, you know what? He's the one that has orchestrated these events in my life, and, you know, I can't do this without him. And he's definitely proven his faithfulness over and over. So I would say faith family. You know, when building a business we already kind of touched on this.

Raul Mendoza [00:41:54]:
You know, this isn't just a me thing, this is a we thing. My kids are part of this. My wife is a part of this. I'm not doing this in isolation. So because I decided to bring them in on this journey, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs don't do that and run into trouble later because of it. They're my support, you know, and beyond that, building out relationships with other entrepreneurs that are in the hustle, you know, getting connected. I think I've been so thankful for my connection with you, Benjamin, and others in the space that have been so supportive to me in this time. And, you know, I built some incredible relationships here in the last six months, people that have been doing this a lot longer than I have.

Raul Mendoza [00:42:33]:
And to be able to kind of glean wisdom and perspective from them on some of those hard days, be able to make a quick phone call to people, you know, I've got some of those folks have one or two of those people in your favorites on your phone and be transparent, be open. You know, being an entrepreneur is already a very isolated activity because you're doing something that a lot of people think is crazy. So, you know, they may not relate, but you need, you need relationship and you need transparency. You need to be open with people and bring them along on that journey.

Benjamin Mena [00:43:07]:
And I'm going to ask this question two ways. And this is going to be start off at the very beginning of your career, and the second one is going to be looking at rapido talent like you got two decades in the space, lessons learned. You talked to thousands and thousands of people like you've impacted in recruiting, probably at this point, thousands of lives. You've had dark days, you've had hard days, you've had hard months. Everything that you have, if you could package that up, but you get a chance to actually sit down with yourself at the very beginning of your recruiting career, what advice would you give yourself, man?

Raul Mendoza [00:43:41]:
Face your fears and stop comparing yourself. You got what it takes. That's what I would have told myself. I mean, what I have, it took me this long, unfortunately, in some ways, to do that.

Benjamin Mena [00:43:56]:
You've talked about fear and belief so much. Is there a reason why earlier on you didn't have that belief and you had so much fear?

Raul Mendoza [00:44:05]:
Yeah, I think comparison is a thief. Comparison robs you. And I think I just would always be sizing myself up with other people and their skills and abilities and talents instead of embracing what I was and what I am and leveraging the skills and the strengths that I had and building in the areas that I needed to build. You know, I look back at it, it was a lack of maturity. And, you know, I think if comparison kind of breeded fear because I would compare myself to this person and that person, and I would think, well, I don't have what it takes. But the truth is I did have what it takes. The Raul from 20 years ago, he had all of that in him, you know, and obviously there's now experience, and that has something to say for it. But I think people can hide behind experience as well, you know, so it's, you know, I would say, and this is what I'm telling my kids, I'm like, you know, part of me doing this is like, I don't want.

Raul Mendoza [00:45:04]:
I don't want my kids to. I want to show them that, you know, what, dads did something that he was terrified of, and he's doing it. He's making it happen. And I don't want you to let fear hold you back. I just can't. I don't want fear to be the thing that holds me back. And that's what I would have told myself 20 years ago, honestly.

Benjamin Mena [00:45:23]:
What's fast forward 18 years? You're now a mud into rapido talent. Everything that you've learned so far, what would you tell yourself?

Raul Mendoza [00:45:31]:
Hmm? Keep it simple, sweetheart. Oh, my gosh. You know, I'm pretty analytical thinker. I like to think about operations, strategies, and you don't need much to get something going. You know, I made investment in tech. I loved that. I did. But, you know, I didn't need to do all this either.

Raul Mendoza [00:45:53]:
I think it helps, but I think, you know, just keep it simple. There's this other book that I want to plug called the Smart Brevity. It's a fantastic book. You know, just being able to break down ideas in a way that actually resonates with an audience, I think, you know, I started reading that book early on in my. Actually, I was probably two months before I made the leap. I was listening to that book, and I wish I still have a lot to learn in that regards, but just keep it simple and have an accountability partner that you can bounce ideas off of before you pull the trigger on an expensive investment.

Benjamin Mena [00:46:29]:
Talk about that accountability partner. How impactful has that been for you?

Raul Mendoza [00:46:32]:
It's been, you know, my biggest accountability partner is my wife. Having that transparency, showing her the books, showing her my contracts, getting input not only from her, but also others that are a little bit further along in the journey. I always talk about this idea of making deposits in people before making withdrawals. I think in as much as you're willing to be transparent with people, you're going to garner that richness back from them. You're going to draw out that great stuff, that advice, that wisdom that you need that you won't be able to see otherwise because we all have blind spots.

Benjamin Mena [00:47:08]:
I love that. So you probably have a lot of people that probably reach out to you and just like, hey, after doing this for 20 years, you made the jump. They ask for advice. They ask for input. They ask for all these things. What is the question that you wish they would actually ask you? What is the answer to that?

Raul Mendoza [00:47:28]:
The question that I wish they asked me, I would. I think just them being real with themselves and saying, hey, do I have what it takes, you know, asking that question with someone, I think that's point a. It takes courage and transparency to be able to ask that question to somebody that is in the fight and making it happen. And I think, you know, from talking even to recruiters in the last six months, I think that is the biggest thing that's held them back is this idea. And I can feel it. And some, you know, I can think on, you know, I can count on my hand one or two people that, you know, they're just like, they just told me, they're like, I'm terrified. I don't know if I have what it takes. You know, I think just being able to share that and come to terms with it because this is a journey.

Benjamin Mena [00:48:20]:
Awesome. Well, for the people listening that would love to follow you. How do they go about doing that?

Raul Mendoza [00:48:25]:
Totally. So I am. I've got a presence on LinkedIn, so you can follow my profile on LinkedIn there. Raul B. Mendoza, or actually it's just Raul Mendoza. And then, you know, I've got my company page as well, rapidotalent. We've got an Instagram, which is Raul helps hire rapido, and my YouTube is rapidotalent. Those would be kind of the biggest platforms.

Raul Mendoza [00:48:48]:
I do have a presence on TikTok, but those would be the three major ones. LinkedIn kind of being the leading one.

Benjamin Mena [00:48:54]:
Awesome. And before we jump into some additional stuff we're going to get into, is there anything else that you want to share with the listeners?

Raul Mendoza [00:49:01]:
Yeah, I think just in summary, I just want. I want to be the person to tell people whether they're 20 years in talent acquisition on the corporate side or agency, three or four years on the agency side or three or four years on the corporate side. And you've been entertaining the idea of starting your own company. I would say to them, go for it. Do it. Believe in yourself. Invest in yourself. Put your money where your mouth is and make it happen.

Raul Mendoza [00:49:32]:
And I believe in you 100%. You can make it happen. I'm getting close to replacing my income here that I was making. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting close. And, you know, I'm happy to be a resource. I'm happy to infuse energy and excitement and passion into what you're doing as you're getting ready to get off the blocks and join the entrepreneurial pack of runners on the track.

Benjamin Mena [00:49:58]:
And you're a runner, too, right?

Raul Mendoza [00:50:00]:
I like to work out. I walk. I used to run. I'm 40 now.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:09]:
Well, for the listeners, we got one more thing for you. Ready?

Raul Mendoza [00:50:12]:
I'm ready. Yo, elite recruiter podcast. Let's make it happen. Yeah, let's go. Let's go.

Raul Mendoza [00:50:25]:
I'm here with Benjamin Mina, more famous than John Cena, gladiator, stepping into the arena. Are you not entertained? Is the Cena refreshing? Insights like Aquafina recruiters grow into what they only dream of, rising above, taken off like a dove for this dude I love. Much love. That's what's up. Oh, man, I messed it up.

Raul Mendoza [00:50:47]:
Can I do it again?

Raul Mendoza [00:50:48]:
Can we do it one more time?

Benjamin Mena [00:50:50]:
All right, let's go. Give me.

Raul Mendoza [00:50:52]:
Okay. All right.

Benjamin Mena [00:50:53]:
Three, two, one.

Raul Mendoza [00:50:56]:
Yeah.

Raul Mendoza [00:50:56]:
I'm with my man Benjamin Mina, Elite Recruiter podcast. I'm gonna give it to you one time. Yo, yo. I'm here with Benjamin Mina, more famous than John Cena, gladiator, stepping into the arena. Are you not entertained? Is the Cena refreshing? Insights like awkwafina recruiters growth into what they only dream of, rising above, taken off like a dove for this dude I have much love, that's what's up. This pod gas make you run like Forrest gum taken off like Air Jordan with the pumps this podcast make you sore over bumps if you're down and out and in a slump, it's time to shake your dairy air, shake your rum time to grow leaps and bounds, make the jump, leave stinkin pinkin that place a dump the growth will come from that dead stump time to be elite, not accept defeat no time to waste, you can't retreat, have a listen, be encouraged, take your seat. Benjamin Mina showing you how to be elite. It's time to be elite, not accept defeat.

Raul Mendoza [00:51:58]:
No time to waste. You can't retreat, have a listen, be encouraged, take a seat.

Raul Mendoza [00:52:03]:
Benjamin. Nina.

Raul Mendoza [00:52:04]:
Showing you how and be elite.

Raul Mendoza [00:52:07]:
Oh, man.

Benjamin Mena [00:52:09]:
Man, I just, like, I am so glad that I had you on the podcast. You know, I ran. Actually ran into you because of, like, your wraps, and, you know, you have to be different online. You have to, like, build a brand, and, you know, it's worked with your customers. But I'm just. I'm so excited that you came on. I'm so excited for the people that got to listen because I know for me, fear kept me from making this jump for so long. I had so many conversations where people were like, I was like, I want to start my own recruiting business.

Benjamin Mena [00:52:36]:
And literally, they would just be like, well, then go do it. And I'm like, but you know what? Start building your plan.

Raul Mendoza [00:52:44]:
Yes.

Benjamin Mena [00:52:45]:
Start figuring out what you need to do and work on believing in yourself. I just want to say thank you so much for coming on. For the listeners. I want you to keep crushing it. I love that awesome rap. Don't run. Get out of self, and let's grow and make 2024 your best year yet. Thank you.