Stop Strategizing, Start Doing: Carson Dimond's Action Plan for Success

Benjamin Mena [00:00:00]:
You are going to rock the year, and we're going to help you do that. Here at the Elite Recruiter Podcast, we have the Rock the Year event, the Recruiting Grow Summit, kicking off on March 10. It is going to be awesome. We're going to be focusing on mindset. We're going to be focusing on sourcing. We're going to be focusing on AI. We're going to be focusing on operations and high performance and BD and sales. Every single thing that you need as a recruiter to make sure that you can rock 2025 and make it the year of abundance.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:28]:
Make it the year that that works for you. Make it the year that you crush every single one of your dreams. Let's go get it. Coming up on this episode of the Elite Recruiter Podcast. Right now, you've had your recruiting company for a few years. You're 25 years old, and you've had your firm for, what is it, five years now?

Carson Dimond [00:00:49]:
Almost. Yeah, Four. Four years. Almost Five years going on. Five years.

Benjamin Mena [00:00:52]:
How did you even end up in this wonderful world of recruiting? I know the stupid things that I was doing in college, I wasn't looking at starting a recruiting firm. Those early days, were you, like, faced with any fears that you had to push through, or is it just like, I got this?

Carson Dimond [00:01:05]:
Yeah, there definitely was fears, but I think. I think when you're young, like, you're, you know, you kind of have that, like, mistakes that you can make in business to where it actually ends up helping you out. 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.

Benjamin Mena [00:01:36]:
I am so excited about this episode of the Elite Recruiter Podcast. This is going to blow your mind. My guess, started his recruiting company while still in college. I mean, he just. I'm like, I remember the stupid things that I was doing in college. I remember when I first started recruiting. It's just the craziness of everything. But here's the thing.

Benjamin Mena [00:01:55]:
The technology is there for those that want to take the opportunity to chase their dreams. Now is the time. Better than any time before in history. So I'm so excited to have my guest Carson joining us on the Elite Recruiter Podcast. Welcome, buddy.

Carson Dimond [00:02:11]:
Let's go, man. No, I'm excited. I've been CD on LinkedIn and was excited when you reached out, so I'm happy to kind of dive into this.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:18]:
Okay, so real quick, right now you've had Your recruiting company for a few years. You're 25 years old and you've had your firm for, what is it, five years now?

Carson Dimond [00:02:26]:
Almost. Yeah, four. Four years. Almost five years going on five years.

Benjamin Mena [00:02:29]:
Okay, I know we talked about this story offline, but for the listeners, how did you even end up in this wonderful world of recruiting? I know the stupid things that I was doing in college. I wasn't looking at starting a recruiting firm.

Carson Dimond [00:02:40]:
Yeah, no, I don't. Don't get me wrong. There's probably a lot of similar things that you were doing in college, but I think ultimately I have always kind of been like a business entrepreneur, at least been interested in the space. Okay. And you start getting closer to, like, junior year. You have, like, one more year left in college. And I started thinking, what am I, you know, what am I going to do? And so I kind of basically mixed two things into one, and that's basically how I got to where I am.

Benjamin Mena [00:03:10]:
Okay, well, explain that.

Carson Dimond [00:03:12]:
Explain. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I basically was really good friends with a recruiter who worked for a really huge corporate recruiting company and crushed it and, like, kind of loved what he was doing, but didn't really know a ton about recruitment. I've always been interested in sales. Okay, but something about recruiting where you're helping people, selling them a job, and just kind of like, that aspect is kind of what I like towards sales. And then my brother Chase has a E commerce agency focused on, like, email marketing. And I always love, like, the E commerce space. We'd always get, like, you know, free products, and we'd always hear about these companies that built from, like, zero to, like 50 million in, like, such a short amount of time.

Carson Dimond [00:03:57]:
And we were always interested in that. And so I kind of like, tied the two together. Recruiting, but, like, what sort of recruiting? Because that's a question that I'm sure you know is like, all right, recruiting is only the first step, but now it's like, what niche am I going to really kind of get into? So I kind of tied the recruiting, E commerce tied that together. And now I have a recruiting business focused on E commerce.

Benjamin Mena [00:04:21]:
And I love that. And like, okay, so I know you were talking about this offline before we got started, but you said that you actually were driving from San Diego to LA to actually see what this recruiter was doing.

Carson Dimond [00:04:35]:
Basically, maybe once a month, once every two months would drive down, and as I mentioned, like, the mentor didn't fully know, like, what I was going to do, but I'm like, hey, let me just Let me just come and so literally pulled up a chair, sat at his desk. He's talking to clients, he's talking to candidates, he's doing a negotiation. He was kind of asking me for, like, if I had any input and I didn't really know what I was doing. But it was a good way to learn about recruiting on like the day to day basis of like, this is basically what recruiting is. Seeing it raw, you know, unfiltered.

Benjamin Mena [00:05:11]:
Did you go and do that with any other careers or was it just the recruiting chair that you've kind of set up?

Carson Dimond [00:05:15]:
It was the recruiting.

Benjamin Mena [00:05:16]:
You decided to launch your firm, which, you know, we'll talk about that. But why did you not go get a, a job as a recruiter?

Carson Dimond [00:05:23]:
Yeah, I had jobs in high school. And I will say, like, I just never fully loved working for like, just someone else. And it kind of sounds like cliche, but I think that's kind of what it came down to was I just never really loved that. However, you know, do I think maybe it's smart to gain experience at a company that has a lot more robust and a lot more structure? Yes. But for me, I kind of just went into it and stuck with it and got a chance that I ended up, you know, pursuing.

Benjamin Mena [00:06:00]:
And some of the things I want to talk about later on is like, what you're doing when it comes to business development, what you're doing when it comes to client. Because, I mean, you gave me a good rundown of everything that you're attacking. But let me just kind of like, let's talk about these early days. You know, luckily you, you know, you had your brother there. Your brother's an entrepreneur too, so. So he's probably like in your corner, like elbowing you, like, hey, get this stuff together. But like those early days, how did you really. Yeah, you know, you pull the trigger, you start your business, your clients, where do they come from?

Carson Dimond [00:06:27]:
For sure, first few clients started with, started with the agency, just like kind of working for, for the actual agency, building them, and then slowly started getting referrals. But it starts with one referral, right? Start with one. And so it was a very successful apparel brand. And I basically was like, give me chains, know, charged them, I think 10%, like very, very, very cheap. But I got my foot in the door. And unlike, you know, other, other times I happened to get it, like basically first try, I think I presented a few qualified candidates and bam, hired my candidate. And so I think that made me realize, okay, I could do this. Has it always Been that way? Not at all.

Carson Dimond [00:07:09]:
But that. That little thing got my foot in the door and kind of just stuck with it, you know, started posting some. Some content on LinkedIn. Started reaching out to brands that I truly love, brands that I wear, you know, brands that I take that are supplements. Started kind of reaching out to people. This client was, you know, fortunate enough to have a lot of people in their space where they made some referrals and you kind of just build off that.

Benjamin Mena [00:07:33]:
Okay, so you're sitting there, you made your first client 10%. I'm sure your fees have completely changed since then. Oh, yeah, but how did you start truly learning in and out while you were pulling the trigger every single day?

Carson Dimond [00:07:49]:
I think what I was doing, what I was thinking less and I was acting more. So I think, like, you know, there's a lot of good programs, there's a lot of good training, there's a lot of good courses. What I think I did was I took like, the information that I needed and I kind of just went for it, right? Like, I would reach out to businesses, I would reach out to candidates, I'd build a pipeline. I was focusing, like, on doing the meat, and I was focusing on executing. And I think the biggest thing that I did was I knew that I'm young, so I'm going to take these chances by actually executing and learning that way rather than thinking and strategizing. I just was doing, I was doing, I was doing, I was doing. And I think that's what helped me really learn how to actually get clients, how to actually handle these candidate situations, how to actually negotiate. I was learning by just strictly doing those early days.

Benjamin Mena [00:08:46]:
Were you, like, faced with any fears that you had to push through or is it just like, yeah, I got this.

Carson Dimond [00:08:50]:
Yeah, there definitely was fears, but I think, I think when you're young, like, you're, you know, you kind of have that, like, mistakes that you can make in business to where it actually ends up helping you out. So, yeah, I mean, I, I've had clients, you know, get on calls and they would see, you know, a bit younger or, or whatnot. But what I strictly did was use everything to my advantage. Right? Like, you know, these E comm brands, they don't care how young you are. They care about the hustle, they care about, you know, the quality. They care about the communication. That's why I love the E Commerce space. The E Commerce space is very unique.

Carson Dimond [00:09:25]:
It's a lot less about who you are, and it's a lot more about, like, what you're doing. And that's kind of like the mentality that we took towards this.

Benjamin Mena [00:09:32]:
And your niche is fully E Comm. Have you ever gotten like jobs outside of Econ? Did you take those on or did you actually turn those down?

Carson Dimond [00:09:39]:
Good question. Yeah, I definitely have worked on other companies outside of E Com and I think taking those on has actually helped me realize different roles and different companies I've interacted. You know, someone at an E Comm companies maybe different than like a tech company in terms of like the owners or like the way the business operates or the way the business runs. And so I think that's like what also helped me is by taking on these other things, which has helped me realize this is kind of what I want. But I've always tried to stay pretty much true to E commerce because I knew if I stood there, I think I would have people come to me.

Benjamin Mena [00:10:16]:
And I was telling you this earlier also, like when I ran across you on LinkedIn and I got the referral from one of my friends, I was like, hey, you need to give this guy a call, have a conversation with him. He's absolutely crushing it. And he's like much younger than all of us. And you know, start looking at your page, you know, like you, I hate to say this, like you write LinkedIn stuff way better than many seasons recruiters. Like, is that just like so a part of the game that you learned yourself?

Carson Dimond [00:10:43]:
Yeah, part of the game. I kind of try to write simple. I try to write things that are, I guess, complex but in a simple way for people to read it. I try to give advice, but not like too much advice because I still have a lot to learn myself. I try to just talk raw and just kind of give day to day stuff that I'm learning. But I also learn from like people like yourself. I learn from people that I follow on LinkedIn. Like, I guess that's kind of like my thing is I take what I want from these people and I execute on the way that I want to do things.

Carson Dimond [00:11:15]:
But I think that's what it comes down to is just writing the way you want to, but also learning from people like yourself and other people that have been in the space longer.

Benjamin Mena [00:11:23]:
You know, it sounds like you're also running circles around some of your competitors. Like when you're sitting there working with your clients in the E Comm space. Like, this is going to sound like completely stupid. So I apologize for the way I'm going to ask this. I know you're good. A client might look at you and be like, hey, this guy looks young.

Carson Dimond [00:11:41]:
Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:11:41]:
But, you know, compared to, like, some other firms that they've been around for years, like, what differentiates yourself from those firms that have been around for years and why you're getting the business?

Carson Dimond [00:11:52]:
I would say a few things. I would say one is, like, we're known for our hustle. You know, when we get referrals, a lot of people will say, hey, here's Carson. He's a hustler. He provides great candidates in a timely manner. This is someone that has worked with some of the best brands. So if I had to say a few things, I would say, one, people love the hustle. Two, we're getting referrals from people that are very trustworthy in the space, and I think that's ultimately what allows us to get our foot in the door.

Carson Dimond [00:12:21]:
I would say three is, you know, our prices. Like, we're affordable, but we're also. We're not the cheapest. We're not the most expensive. We're right in the middle. And lastly, is just our clientele. Right. Like, you go to our website, you can see some of the clients we've worked with.

Carson Dimond [00:12:38]:
We have a lot of success stories. When I get these intro calls, I focus on basically telling the client what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it and just really trying to provide as much value as I can. I think that's something I learned very early on. It sounds cliche, but if I can bring a ton of value in just an intro call, regardless if I'm going to get the business or not, if I can give them some insight on salary, if I can give them some insight on their current job description, if I can give them insight on maybe other things, they will ultimately use me if they can't get it themselves.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:12]:
I absolutely love that you've said like this probably like six or seven times on our. Our conversation. Referrals. Referrals, yeah. What are you like? I mean, referrals require great relationships and also requires you to actually, like, fill the positions. But, like, outside of the filling the positions part, what are you doing with these people?

Carson Dimond [00:13:32]:
Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:13:32]:
That they trust you to, like, open up their network. I trust, you know, Carson enough. Then I'm opening up my book of business to give you a referral.

Carson Dimond [00:13:40]:
That's a good point. Referrals come from trust, but to earn that trust, you. You have to bring value. And to bring that value, you have to understand the client. Every client's different. Ultimately, a lot of these E Comm brands are similar. And so I think, one, I pay referral fees. It sounds simple, but I try to stay really true.

Carson Dimond [00:14:02]:
And I try my best to make sure that anyone that gives us a client, anyone that gives us a candidate, I try to make sure I pay that person a referral fee. And it goes a long way. Not always about the money, but more about like, okay, he kept his word, or, okay, this is attractive. This makes it enticing. And so that's something I've done. I have probably eight people in my Rolodex that are very successful, either business owners, agency owners, or advisors in the E commerce space. And I'm always trying to bring them as much value. I try to pay them well in terms of referral fees.

Carson Dimond [00:14:38]:
But ultimately, like, I think they love the hustle that they know if they make a referral, I'm going to basically try my best, do my best, give as much value to their clients, and ultimately it helps them, like, it's a good look. If they make a referral to us and we give them a rock star they hire, it's a good look on that person. And so we're basically focused on each referral at a time. We show our appreciation. I text them on the holidays. I'm doing the little things. Like, if I have a candidate that, you know, maybe is really aligned, I might throw into them. There's a lot of little things throughout the year that I'm doing to keep these relationships, but it's all organic.

Carson Dimond [00:15:16]:
Right. And I think the thing is, you don't want to be pushy too much to where you're kind of bothering them. You want to make it the right balance between that. But, yeah, the referrals is huge. It's something that you learn about every day on how to continue to get better. But the best advice that I have is bring as much value as you can, because I've gotten referrals from people that I didn't really think I would, but it's maybe like a few little things that I did that maybe helped.

Benjamin Mena [00:15:43]:
You hit something about, like, you were texting on holidays, like, just small things throughout the year. This is gonna sound like crazy, but how do you keep up with that? All those little things in the details and trying to remember everything while also still messaging them. Do you have, like, a system in place?

Carson Dimond [00:15:59]:
I don't have a system in place. I think what I focused on is doing simple things really well. Texting on a holiday is simple, but sometimes you're too busy. If you come Across a candidate that's really aligned for a client, email it to them right then. Doing things right then is what I've learned. What I always do is I write stuff in my draft, in my email draft of things, and a lot of times I'll do it, but a lot of times I'll forget. And then a few months down the line, I'll. I'll see these drafts that I made of things I'm going to do.

Carson Dimond [00:16:29]:
So I've made a habit of doing things right then, right away, doing things as I think about it. And ultimately, that has been a habit that has really helped me just provide a lot more value.

Benjamin Mena [00:16:39]:
Oh, man. I think you nailed something on the head right there. Do it right then. I literally, I think, like, right before we got started, I was working on a draft of email to send to another podcast guest, and I popped in my drafts, and there was like, 900 things in there.

Carson Dimond [00:16:53]:
It's a habit that everyone. Everyone needs to a lot of people. I'm not gonna speak for everyone, but a lot of people can get better at that. And so I think I've said it a few times already, but it's doing the simple things really well. And I think I've really tried to, like, take these complex ideas and really simplify. Right. So when I get a client, clients want three things. They want candidates that are vetted in a timely manner.

Carson Dimond [00:17:17]:
Right. A lot of these clients were hiring yesterday. They want communication. Not too much communication. And I've learned this to where it's kind of annoying, but enough communication to where it's, here's kind of the insights. And then third is they want someone that, like, is actually in it for the long term. And so I think those are a few things.

Benjamin Mena [00:17:36]:
Oh, awesome. So you didn't get trained like many of us in the recruiting space where, you know, we sat down, worked at a big agency.

Carson Dimond [00:17:45]:
Right?

Benjamin Mena [00:17:45]:
Oh, yeah, that's, of course, what I did. I went internal for a little while, too. But, you know, I. I wanted to ask this question because I think you might have a different perspective outside of referrals. What is working when it comes to business development for you?

Carson Dimond [00:17:57]:
Yeah, well, yeah, I think. I think everyone's lying if they don't say LinkedIn is probably one of the best platforms for recruiting and at least for my space. And so what does that mean, master LinkedIn? It sounds simple, but it does take a lot of effort. And so I think what is huge is post valuable content about what you're doing and make it niche. Right. So Post content, but then while you're posting that content, for business development, it's important to connect with owners that are in your space, right? So then when you connect with them, you don't need to reach out to them right away, just connect with them. Fills, build, build, build, build, Right? But as they start accepting your connection request, your content through the LinkedIn algorithm will start pushing your content towards them. Right? So then you post about a success and then you post about some inside, then you provide some value.

Carson Dimond [00:18:50]:
Now they're seeing you for like a week, three months, six months, eight months and then bam, now they've seen who you are. Sometimes. Do I reach out to people right away? Yes, sometimes I will, but not always. I kind of do just based on kind of what I'm thinking in the moment. And so I think the content, I think connecting and I think really trying to build your LinkedIn profile to where you have a good picture, you have a simple bio headline that explains what you're doing, you have clients that actually show like what you're doing. And then lastly you have a few references to where people can see if they go on your website who actually have you worked with? What have you actually done? Right, tell me what you've been doing. That's really what I've been focused on.

Benjamin Mena [00:19:35]:
I love that. And you know, just out of curiosity, like what does your day to day look like as a 25 year old firm founder?

Carson Dimond [00:19:42]:
Yeah, I'd say you know, get up, get up early in the morning, not like super early, anywhere between 7, 8am I usually will try to go on a walk or go outside and just really think and sometimes I'll respond to emails just outside. Then I'll usually get some coffee and I go to the coffee shop. I go to the coffee shop for probably like four hours and really just focus on like deep working, sourcing, really trying to just stay focused. Then come home, you know, eat some lunch, respond to emails and then really just working from home and just focused on the things that actually matter. I take some time out of the day to just scroll through my text and just oh, maybe I forgot to respond to this candidate, I forgot to respond to this client. And same with email. I'll go and email and just take 20 minutes and just see who haven't responded with go in my draft, see if I forgot anything. I just take time throughout the day to focus on that.

Carson Dimond [00:20:38]:
And then at night, you know, we put in some time and you know, source and just try to get ahead of the game. But really it's just kind of separating your day through sourcing, reaching out to people, trying to stay focused on, like the communication aspect, which takes a lot of times, it takes a lot of time. But that's really ultimately what clients love.

Benjamin Mena [00:20:56]:
I love that you, like, go to a coffee shop and you, you mentioned this as deep work. During that deep work time period, how do you stay focused?

Carson Dimond [00:21:04]:
I think for me, getting outside the house is helpful. I think when I'm working and I'm either working and there's a TV right there or I'm working or I'm in my room and there's a nice cozy bed, or if I'm working and there's kitchen there and I have a pantry with, you know, snacks or whatever, I just try to get outside the house, go to a coffee shop because I know if I'm driving there, I'm going to basically stay focused. Sometimes I'll bring headphones in. But I've also met people like, I've met a lot of amazing people. Incredible. Like either entrepreneurs or just people that have helped me, that have kind of expanded my thinking. And ultimately that's my thing is, is going to the coffee shops to stay focused has been something that's, that I just, I've been doing for years now.

Benjamin Mena [00:21:49]:
Whatever works. Absolutely. I'm so excited we're going to be kicking off a AI and clay boot camp at the end of this month. I've actually partnered with Stephen from the Art of Sales Academy. You guys saw him talk at the last summit. But we are putting together a four week boot camp because if you guys want to give off some of these AI tools are complicated and I'm going to be sitting in the class learning along with you. But these AI tools, once you master them, they can have such a huge impact in your business. But the problem is learning the tools.

Benjamin Mena [00:22:19]:
So we're partnered up to put together a bootcamp starting at the end of this month to help you master these tools so that way you can multiply what you have done for your recruiting business. And on top of that, I'm also going to add in a free, free VIP ticket for the Rock the Year summit so that way you don't miss any of that. Also so excited. Join me for the boot camp so that way we together can learn how to master these AI tools so that way it can work for you. And you also got a shout out from like this huge podcast, your first million. Like, you know, what is a shout out? How did that even happen?

Carson Dimond [00:22:54]:
Yeah, no, that was, that was actually Incredible. I probably listen to that, like, four times out of the week, all the time. I absolutely love that podcast. It basically is the best business podcast, I think, in the game. This is actually a client. Sean's actually a client. He booked a call with me, worked on a few roles, and he loved the Hustle. I was very communicative.

Carson Dimond [00:23:17]:
I was getting them candidates. I love a thumbs up. I provided a ton of value and I knew, you know, I knew not to make it seem like he's a celebrity, because he was. And I definitely was looking up to him, but I knew to hold my, you know, hold my part in terms of, like, why he's bringing me on, and I just focused on that. He needs candidates. He's busy, so he doesn't need a lot of other things. And I kind of just adapted how to partner with him. And now he's built, you know, three or four other ventures and we've continued to be his go to recruiter.

Carson Dimond [00:23:49]:
So that podcast was huge. I didn't even know I was getting a shout out. I started getting a few LinkedIn DMs of companies saying, hey, I think this is you. Because he just said my. He just said my first name. He just said Carson. I don't think he said Diamond Connect. I don't think he said Diamond.

Carson Dimond [00:24:04]:
We just said Carson. And so I had people say, hey, I think this is you. Blah, blah. I got a shout out. I saw him. My first million podcast. It was incredible. And I got.

Carson Dimond [00:24:12]:
I got a decent amount of referrals and it's now on my website. So, yeah, that was kind of the story behind that.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:17]:
That is awesome.

Carson Dimond [00:24:18]:
But just Carson, no, no, no other insight. So people really had to hunt if they wanted to meet you.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:23]:
They actually had to go, like, searching, like, put on a recruiting hat to find you.

Carson Dimond [00:24:27]:
Exactly, yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:28]:
Because if you like Carson, Carson Ecom Carson.

Carson Dimond [00:24:32]:
That's probably what it is. I think if you type in Carson E Commerce, I. I hope, or E Carson Recruiting, I hope that you'll. You'll see the, you know, what I'm doing.

Benjamin Mena [00:24:40]:
Well, before we jump over to the quick fire questions, I know we've kind of covered a lot. You know, you walking in, starting your own recruiting company, you know, learning the ropes by just pure action. Is there anything else that you want to cover about your story or some of the things that you're doing different before we jump in?

Carson Dimond [00:24:55]:
Yeah, I think I've said a lot. I think stick with it. Understand when to pivot, understand when not to. I think being niche Is it's cliche, but it's the best thing that's helped me is really focusing on the actual niche E commerce recruiting for direct to consumer E commerce brands. And then lastly is being your authentic self. I think you will then start to funnel people that are like minded. I think I've had clients that maybe I wasn't the right fit for or vice versa. But I also have a lot of clients now that are basically in parallel in terms of what I'm doing.

Carson Dimond [00:25:37]:
So I think that that's really what it comes to is being your authentic self, focused on providing as much value and being the person that it's easy to partner with. I think that's ultimately what it comes down to. Recruiting is, is a game that you want to basically play with people that are on your team. And if companies don't seem that you're basically a teammate, they will basically get other people who are. So that's basically kind of what it is. I'm a sports person so I make a ton of analogies how recruiting is, is really a game and you got to make sure you're, you're on the right team and partner with the right people. You're basically partnering with that person to win. But ultimately to win you need the right people on board.

Benjamin Mena [00:26:17]:
Awesome. What sport did you play? Sports?

Carson Dimond [00:26:19]:
Soccer. Yeah, soccer. Play a lot of golf, play a lot of, you know, other sports. Just kind of fun.

Benjamin Mena [00:26:25]:
Awesome. Well, jumping over to the quickfire questions and don't need to be quick answers. Love to hear your advice on this. I know you just kind of gave a great recap but if somebody was reaching out to you and they were literally a brand new recruiter, no recruiting experience ever before, and they're starting recruiting in 2025, what advice would you give to them to succeed in this game?

Carson Dimond [00:26:43]:
Dude, that's a measurement. That's a good question, man. Good question. So I would say think about you, like think about your story. Think about you. Right. In high school I was always good at recruiting people for my high school job. The company, the owners loved me because I would I recruit people like three, four or five people, but like good employees that were sociable.

Carson Dimond [00:27:04]:
And so I kind of took like, oh, I'm good at connecting with people. I love E commerce and I put it together. And so I think for someone that's starting out that wants to build a recruiting company is I think it's important to think about what they're good at. Like are they interested in AI, are they interested in tech? Do they love Construction, like, what do they love? Do they love being someone that's in like the medical space? Think about what you love, think about that niche, niche down and try to get your first client. Do what it takes, Reach out to people, stick with it. But understand what are you genuinely excited about. What's your passion is somewhat, I would say helpful, but not always. Your passion is sometimes not like where the money is.

Carson Dimond [00:27:50]:
So I would say you got to balance that.

Benjamin Mena [00:27:53]:
Awesome. And same question. And like, you know, pretend you're talking to somebody that's been in the game for a while, you know, and this is going to be based on your experience, your wins, and what you've gotten done so far. Think about it like you've had a firm longer than many other recruiters, but you're sitting there talking to somebody that's been in the game 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years, and they're like just chatting with you and like, what advice would you give to them to win this game?

Carson Dimond [00:28:16]:
Yeah, well, to win the game, first you have to continue playing it. It's simple. But I think that's kind of what I've been doing is I've tried to continue to show up every day, get my reps in and continue to play. And so I think that comes down to understanding what makes a successful recruiting business. And one, it's referrals, right? If you can get constant referrals, that is huge. But to get referrals you need to provide value. And so I think it comes down to that. I think it's outreach.

Carson Dimond [00:28:43]:
I think you need to reach out to a lot of owners. I think you need to connect with a lot of owners. But know that like, you don't need to be pushy because just because you don't get a client today doesn't mean you might not get a client down the line. And so it's just constant when you're early on, constant outreach, constant. Not always direct, but outreach. Right. That's what I've been focused on. And three is build a candidate pipeline.

Carson Dimond [00:29:08]:
Always have candidates on the sideline. Always have candidates that are ready to play and doesn't need to be active candidates that are actively applying because sometimes clients don't always want that. And so I think it's like if you can focus on figuring out a way to acquire as many new clients, get a referral system by getting the right people on board. And then three is building, building that pipeline of people that know that you're the go to person for this, you're the go to Person for tech, you're the go to person for E commerce, the go to person for cybersecurity, whatever it is. Candidates will want to connect with you and then you'll basically help place them with the clients that you're focused on. So I think that's kind of how you have to play the game.

Benjamin Mena [00:29:50]:
I love that. What does your tech stack look like? Or do you have a favorite rec tech tool?

Carson Dimond [00:29:53]:
You're going to laugh. You're going to laugh at this one. We've kept things very simple. I would say we use. So we use airtable as like our CRM. We use Slack for basically all communication. We basically, we huddle like every day as a team. We're a very lean team by the way.

Carson Dimond [00:30:10]:
It's me, one other recruiter, a project manager. And then we have like maybe a few other resources. So we're very lean, which is also why clients love us. So yeah, it's the Airtable Slack use Gmail a lot and we use LinkedIn Recruiter. And yeah, very simple stack. You know, we have DocuSign now. We email the agreements, we use FreshBooks to keep track of all invoices. But it's really not like you don't need to have the most complex, you know, resources of platforms.

Carson Dimond [00:30:40]:
It's really just focused on getting in the business and getting candidates and whatnot. And then you'll get the, the resources that'll help you. So that's kind of our, our stack.

Benjamin Mena [00:30:50]:
Okay, you mentioned a second ago that you have a project manager. Can you talk about like why you decided to get a project manager and what they are doing for your business?

Carson Dimond [00:30:56]:
Yeah, this has been game changer for us. So it was me and a recruiter, kind of like a business partner who would basically focus on candidate relationships. And I was focused on business relationships. And I noticed that there was a lot of time out the day that was getting taken away from what mattered the most. Right. And so I thought I needed to bring on another recruiter because we were getting these referrals and I thought that for a while and then one day, bam. We need a project manager. That's really what we need.

Carson Dimond [00:31:31]:
I absolutely went for it. I didn't even really like think twice. And I had this candidate who I had a lot of people I think apply. I had some people that reached out on LinkedIn. But I had this really good candidate that sent me a very simple email that basically was like, here's why I'm aligned, here's what I'm doing bae. And I said, I responded, like, I think right away, like, let's talk. She's like, cool. I can in 20 minutes, got on a call, and I realized that the project manager helped me allow what I'm best at, which is getting referrals, building relationships with clients, communication, and really closing the deals.

Carson Dimond [00:32:10]:
And it allowed my business partner to focus on what he was best at, which is strategically sourcing, poaching from the right companies, understanding how to get Candace to want to talk with him. He was taking a lot of time, booking calls. There's a lot of miscellaneous things. And so that's really why we brought on a project manager to help streamline everything. But it took me a tiny bit of time to think because a lot of companies think they know what they want, but it's really not always that.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:38]:
Any advice to other recruiters out there that, like the idea of having a project manager on your team?

Carson Dimond [00:32:43]:
I think get to a point where you're ready, not only financially, but, like, it does take time to build and train and kind of, you know, partner with. But I think what's important for them is do as much as they can first. And when it gets to a point where you can't, that's when you bring someone on. That's kind of how it was.

Benjamin Mena [00:32:59]:
You're probably going to get people reaching out to you, asking for more advice on that.

Carson Dimond [00:33:03]:
That's fine. I've got a lot of advice from people, so I try to give a lot of advice to people.

Benjamin Mena [00:33:07]:
Love that. So I'm sure, like, you know, being a firm founder, like, you've had a lot of probably ups and downs, big wins, small wins, but how do you get through those, like, weeks where it's just like a. It's a freaking funk. Yeah.

Carson Dimond [00:33:20]:
And that's the name of recruiting. Recruiting is a funk, for sure. But I think what you need to do is you need to take those. Those learnings from each role, and I think you need to apply it to the next client. There's been a lot of things that I've learned that after the calls, like, oh, I should have said this, or, you know, I should have done that, or I should have focused on this. I think it's take those learnings and apply it and get the next one. Like, when you're up to bat, like, you're gonna have some times where you strike out or you don't get on base, but, like, the next way to get that home run is by getting up to bat. And so I think that's really what it comes down to is really just sticking with it.

Carson Dimond [00:33:58]:
Knowing when to pivot. Right? That's huge. Just knowing when to pivot and then just kind of connecting with others, either in the recruiting space or other business owners and surround yourself with those entrepreneurial people.

Benjamin Mena [00:34:09]:
Now, you mentioned like two or three times in our conversation, like, did you have to make a pivot yourself?

Carson Dimond [00:34:15]:
I think I tried staying so niche where I was doing a lot of like, you know, performance marketing and creative and a lot more like marketing focused roles. And I think what helped us is realize that we can, we can do more roles than we think. And I think that has brought us a lot more business. And so it's the balance of staying niche to where people come to you for a reason, but not staying too niche to where you are missing out on a lot of extra business. And so I think that's what I mean by pivot is really just knowing what you're best at and focusing on that. Right. I would say that.

Benjamin Mena [00:34:47]:
Here's a fun question. This is actually one of my favorites.

Carson Dimond [00:34:49]:
Let's hear it.

Benjamin Mena [00:34:50]:
Is, you know, everything that you've gone through in the past almost five years, like hiring, conversations, clients, referrals, wins, losses, hitting the fan. If you get a chance to go have a cup of coffee with yourself four and a half years ago, what advice would you give yourself?

Carson Dimond [00:35:10]:
I would say not take things so personal. Recruiting is a game of people where you rely on a lot of people. And I think if you take things so personal from clients, if you take things so personal from candidates, it'll get you too much in your head. And so that's kind of what I've learned, is you'll partner with people that are going to want to partner with you. That's the thing I would say is not take things too personal and stick with it and bring down as much value as you can with the people that want to have that value from you.

Benjamin Mena [00:35:42]:
This is actually one of my favorite and a second favorite one I should say. Thank you. So you said that you chat with other recruiting founders, you have conversations with other recruiters. I'm sure recruiters reach out to you, especially seeing that you've set up your own business at such a young age, Absolutely crushing it. You've been working with some of the biggest brands in, in your space and in your world. When a recruiter, like, asks you a question like, hey, tactical, like, how'd you get this business? What'd you do? How'd you get the referrals in your head, though? Is there a question that you wish they would actually ask you. And what would be that answer?

Carson Dimond [00:36:12]:
It's a good question. I think they should ask, like, why are you doing this? I think a lot of things we do, there's a reason behind. And I think maybe recruiters or people don't really ask why we're doing that. They might ask for advice, and I'm telling them things, but I think it's the why. Like, why. Why are you focused on this? Why are you doing that? Why are you posting content? It's about the why. And I think that's kind of where people maybe are. They might ask a vague question, and they're like, oh, wow, this is really good.

Carson Dimond [00:36:42]:
Really useful. This is actually, like, amazing. But I think they need to dive in deeper, and that's something that we do with candidates so that we can basically get them the right roles. And I do this with clients as well. Is I understand the why. Like, that, I would say, is a question that I think people need to ask more.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:00]:
Absolutely love that. Well, Carson, this has been freaking awesome, and I just love the success that you're doing. I hate to even use this word because, you know, chat. JPK uses it all the time. But breaking barriers, like, you started well in college and you're still going, still crushing it. And I know you got a huge feature with your firm.

Carson Dimond [00:37:17]:
Thank you.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:17]:
And all the clients that you're supporting. Two things. First of all, if anybody wants to follow you, how do they go about doing that?

Carson Dimond [00:37:25]:
Yeah. So go to my LinkedIn. I would say it's Carson Diamond. As I say, Diamond, No A in Diamond. Yeah. So D I M O N D. So CARSON diamond on LinkedIn is probably the best way. I also have a website, diamondconnect.

Carson Dimond [00:37:38]:
D I M O N D connect dot com. That's probably the best way.

Benjamin Mena [00:37:43]:
And then second, is there anything else that you want to share with the listeners before I let you go?

Carson Dimond [00:37:47]:
Continue listening to this podcast, Man. I think it's awesome that the recruiting space has a podcast that's up and coming. It's building. I would say. Yeah. Listen to the Elite Recruiter Podcast, and it's challenging to continue to show up every day, creating episodes with recruiters and other people. And so I would say that that's something I'm looking forward to is just continue to listen to the other guests that you have on.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:11]:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I mean, this has been awesome. Like I said, my mind was a little bit blown when I got a call from a friend saying, like, hey, you need to reach out to this guy. He's like 24, 25 and absolutely destroying it. And I think he even mentioned like he's destroying it with Excel spreadsheet air table.

Carson Dimond [00:38:27]:
I was like, wait, why are you on here? Resources. Yeah.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:30]:
And I, I think some of the biggest takeaways is, is from this is like you know what is possible. Two just put in the action and stop thinking, stop strategizing. Just go to work. And you know what, if you're listening to this podcast the rest of the day you're thinking about doing something, don't just keep on thinking about it. Do it right then.

Carson Dimond [00:38:46]:
Exactly.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:47]:
Just as Carson said.

Carson Dimond [00:38:48]:
I totally agree, man.

Benjamin Mena [00:38:49]:
2025 I believe is going to be your year of abundance. This is a year for you to crush it, chase your dreams and make it happen. So thank you for listening. Until next time, guys.

Carson Dimond [00:39:00]:
Sa.