How this agency made $80k per month in just over 8 weeks of launching

Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's special case study interview. So it's always a privilege and to have, like, genuine conversations about experiences that people have had really transforming their agency. And today promises to be exceptionally insightful because we're going to be doing this live. So at the end of this session, we're going to open out to a Q and A where you can ask myself and Martin any questions. So I have a pleasure of introducing someone who isn't just a successful client, but he's also a testament to what's achievable with commitment, strategy and really following the right steps. So welcome, Martin, do you want to just introduce yourself where you're from, what your agency does?

Sure. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you again. My name is Martin. I'm actually from a small town village Nearby Amsterdam. I'm 33 years old and I launched my recruitment agency, Waveworks last year, July, end of Dubai. Before that, I have been working in recruitment for six years and six months to be exact. And I worked in Hong Kong actually. So I moved from the Netherlands to Hong Kong to set up a recruitment agency for a Dutch recruitment firm. So we were doing 360 of recruitment, basically old school British model meritocracy. What you put in, you will get out. Lunch, clubs, many drinks occasionally to celebrate the deals. And I was managing a team of 21 people at, at that moment, which was pretty good. I became a shareholder of the company as well. And at the time that I received my shares, I was thinking, is this the way how I want to move forward with my career or do I want to start my own agency? Because the shares would pay out in five years and I didn't have that time to wait another five years. So I resigned my job, I had to pay the shares back with her and then I fly back to the Netherlands and here we are, six, seven months later.

Martin. Well, cool. Well, looking forward to getting into your journey today. So for those of you that stick around towards the end of the session, we've got a few bonuses I'm going to give. So firstly, we're going to give away our free Lean Mastermind workbook on how to scale the agency seven figures. So for those of you stick around to the end, I'm going to give you a special link for that. And secondly, we're also going to give some bonus content for my book, Automatic Recruitment Agency. Sort of see in the background, we're going to give you a free copy of that and some actual free course online training as well for some of you for bonuses. So stick around till the end because it's interactive, you can ask questions. So on the Q and A inside zoom, you can ask a question. So. So maybe start taking your questions as we go throughout this journey. So any questions that you've got, we can answer them. And then at the end, like I said, we'll be happy to open it on to Q and A. So, okay, so with that being said, then, first of all, then, Martin, so walk us through how you started in recruitment. So just before you started your agency, what were you actually doing?

Great question. So I actually studied Dutch law and Dutch culture and languages at the University of Nijmegen, small city in the Netherlands, with the ambition to become a lawyer or a writer. I really didn't figure it out actually. But my red line was always, I worked in sales, so I worked in a call center when I was a student. I did door to door sales to sell papers, I did magazine sales. So I always have been selling. And when I noticed my study wasn't really working out the way I planned it, I was too distracted with other fun stuff. I actually was without a degree. I had a study debt. And my father at that time said, martin, it's time to get to do some kind of work. What can you do? And I was like, all right, dad, you're right. I have to start doing something. So I was scrolling online and then I found a company, a recruitment firm in Amsterdam. I sent him a message like, hey, guys, can I come for an interview? Start working for you guys? I had no clue what recruitment was, and I got hired within two days and I moved my staff back to Amsterdam and I started in recruitment. 360 recruitment, as I mentioned earlier. So in that organization, you had to start from scratch as a trainee, full suit, of course. You have to look good, dress for success. So that mindset got me catapulted to the career I'm building now. So basically I started as a trainee. I was completely broke, but when I made my first deal in the traditional recruitment industry, I was like, okay, I can see. I can make deals, I can get commission. So it was my start into the recruitment industry.

Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, it's always a funny story because everyone sort of fell into recruitment. Same stories. Me, I knew like 15 years ago. So, yeah, that's. That's really interesting. So. So walk us through then when you started then, Martin. So what did the first few weeks look like in terms of, like getting started, your niche, your website? Like, what. What were your first steps?

So when I came back from, from Hong Kong and I decided that I wanted to launch my own business. I actually have been talking with, with Emily, one of your salespeople. She has been amazing. So I actually got in touch with her after listening a lot of your podcast on you. So I highly recommend for everyone who is listening to directly go to the to the YouTube page because it was free content. So actually when I was in Hong Kong and I didn't launch for myself yet, I was listening to your podcast and how you were doing business and that made me think as well that I wanted to do recruitment, but think a little bit smarter than old school, sending emails the whole day. So last year, July, I signed in my business. I registered my business in the Netherlands. I got a very cheap website for 80 US dollar on Fiverr. And then I just got to business. I was very skeptic in the beginning about the program because it was an investment for me. Of course, in it with the skin. As you mentioned before, that was also my case. So I actually took a credit card debt to buy for the course. And so it was either all in or nothing. This was my only way of succeeding. Or I had to start again to work for Michael Page or Hayes for an employer, which is fine, but not really the route that I wanted to walk in my life. So I built my website, I signed up for the program, and the first days I was so excited that I watched basically all the videos in the classroom in the program the first weekend, which was binge watching with my pizza on the couch and watching you giving insights on how to build your business in a smart way. And that was the moment that I made it clear for myself. All right, in it to win it. We're going to succeed either way in this course. Now, six months later, we are here.

Yeah, that's awesome. Martin. So what was your first impression of, like the actual program structure and content you mentioned? You sort of binge watched it at the start.

Yeah. So it's very clear. So I recommend people who sign up for the program to really take your time, really take your time. Don't binge watch everything in one week and take your time for it. That's what I recommend. But the first impression is that the program is very structured. So everything, it's very clear from the beginning what steps do you have to take. So don't take a shortcut directly. Start building your team now. Start with your own mindset. I actually bought a blue book with a hardcover to write down. Hey, what is my vision for the upcoming 12 months. What's the revenue I want to do? What type of goals do I have? Business wise, personal wise. And I directly start making some incentives for myself as well. So day one started, it meant I was not allowed myself to take any hot showers. I was not allowed to do any Netflix until I made my first deal. Then I can hot shower again. After I make three deals, I can go Netflix. After five deals, I can take my parents out for lunch. And that's how I started out. So the steps in the program are very clear to follow your path to success.

Yeah, that's really interesting. So a lot of it was at the start then for mindset as well as strategy. Yes. So walk us us through that. What made you want to do all of these things like have cold showers and you don't get a warm one until you do a deal? Because it's quite interesting because you.

In one of the first sessions in the videos that you taped, it's been a while back that I watched it, but I remember that you have to write down the vision, your own vision board on what type of person you want to become. And it's very easy for me personally to procrastinate. So I know myself. After I do my first deal, I become a little bit lazy. I see some cash coming in the bank. I like to spend it on nice things. I was used to that from the old school recruitment. I was buying my first Rolex back in the days and I was like, okay, I want to do things a little bit smarter this time around. So I wanted to really get out of my comfort zone, push myself until I became successful. And maybe you remember it from our sessions in the beginning, I was like, I really want to get started as soon as possible. I want to build that team. And then you said, okay, but first bill your first 50k and then do it from then onwards. Then go to your next, make sure you have 100k on the bank, start building your team, and then step by step we walk through the path that. That really made me motivated and excited to keep on going.

Yeah, that's really good to see because I think a lot of the things that you've implemented at the start with the mindset and going through what we call your future self. So your 2.0 vision of who Martin needs to become, I think really resonated with you to sort of achieve some of these results.

Yeah, absolutely. I had a lot of help and guidance from your account manager, Kyra, who was very helpful in the whole process. I had a lot of chats with her. And what also stood out to me was the mindset chats with the group on Monday, which was very useful because you got. You're in the. In the group and you're talking with other business owners as well. And you will have your bad days, you will have deals dropping out, you will have offers being rejected. You will lose a lot of money in the process as well. But that's part of recruitment. And it was very useful for me to share that in those motivation Mondays where it's like, okay, you had a bad day, you had a bad week. What are you going to do to turn it around and even make it a better day, a better month again? So I had some guys crying in, in the session about, like, this is so nice and it's so cool to help each other. And I met so many wonderful people in, in the group as well, who are still, I can consider them friends and they are on the same route as me, going up slowly but steady.

Yeah, and that's an interesting thing to mention as well, Martin, like how valuable was, because I always talk about you are the average of the five people you hang around with most. So when you're in an environment with other recruitment business owners that are all wanting to get to the same goal, like a million, 2 million, 3 million in the agency, the likelihood of you succeeding is a lot higher. So, so what was the community like when. When you're alone and you. You start a new agency?

Yeah, absolutely. So when, when I was alone, I actually had a few friends in recruitment. Some were doing fine, but I was not hanging out with them. So in the community, you will chat on a daily basis with recruitment business owners. And one of the persons that guided me and helped me a lot, especially in the Q and A sessions, was Ken, of course. And Ken is super structured. And I'm the opposite of structured. I'm all over the place. I know how to make a lot of money, I know how to make deals. But my admin and my invoicing is on a different level to improve that in the upcoming months. But with Ken, I really had the chance to talk multiple times a week with a business owner who was doing multiple millions in a year with his team of 20 persons. So he was really the benchmark for me. Like, okay, I want to get up to the level where can. I said, I want to see what I can achieve. And it started step by step. So it's very useful to get realistic advice from other recruitment owners who again, are also losing money, who also have Their dropouts who have other issues that every business owner have and it's good to share that with each other.

Yeah, I think that's very important and I think obviously. So Ken, for people that don't know, is one of our seven figure coaches inside the agency blueprint program. So Ken actually came into the program at 30k months and now he's at around about 160, 200k months with his remote team. So it meant that Martin could sort of follow the blueprint but also ask someone that's already been through those steps. And again, the likelihood to succeed is more likely when you've got someone to guide you there and to stop you from making certain mistakes. Especially as entrepreneurs. When we start up, we talk a lot about Martin, like shiny object syndrome of all of the different tools you could do and building out all of the systems when really to get the results at the start is making sure you get your first job on, get CVs across, get your placements across, then you can start to build your sourcing team, et cetera from there, which we'll dive into. Before we dive in a little bit further, we've got a couple of questions, Martin, just so people get an idea. So what sector are you in? Ryan was asking.

Oh, very good question. I'm, I'm in it. So mainly sales. It is where I started. We expanded to marketing and now we are expanding with the new type of sales as well. More digital focus.

And in terms of location wise, where are you drilling down to?

Entire Netherlands region. And I also want to expand to Belgium and Germany.

Got it. And so in terms of when you got your first clients, like what was your balance between live leads versus cold outreach campaigns? Fiona and Eric are asking.

Yeah, of course. So for me, what was a game changer? I would say there were some software tools in the program that really stood out to me that I use. So once you on board, you have the opportunity to use certain software tools and I picked out a few of those tools who were super useful to me. For example, an email tool that, where you can send out 100 emails at once, which was very useful. Automatic LinkedIn messages, which I was usually doing manually. I was just typing all the messages myself, which took like four hours to send out 100 messages. And then you have your LinkedIn limit so you're stuck again. And in the program you can directly implement some software tools to speed up your game.

Yeah, I mean one of the key things for client outreach for everyone listening is we want to make sure we map out our niche and we get the contacts and then we want to make sure we're running multiple campaigns which is across email, LinkedIn automation and then obviously video outreach and voice follow ups. And we've got some clever stuff with SMS as well. So there's a few different strategies that Martin would have used to gather this first clients. Um, some. Samuel was asking what book did you buy exactly at the start. I think he was asking what book I buy.

Yeah, Think and Grow Rich was the, the first one of course. So I've been reading that many times.

Yeah. So for those of you that don't know which book that is, this is, this is like the original bigger version. So this is thinking Grow Rich but the original version, so it's a lot thicker. And what tends to happen is with the good books, unfortunately they try and take on some of the best information and water it down. So one of the key things is to make sure you get the original and listen it to on audible repeatedly. So that's really interesting that you, that you listen to thinking Grow Rich. First time I did was when I was still working at a recruitment agency actually. NIGEL Frank, what 12, 13 years ago and I used to remember I was walking in my full three piece suit from Jesmond to Newcastle City center every morning, 45 minutes with my ipods in listen, I think Grow Rich on repeat on audible. So that brings back some memories for sure.

Yeah. And the same philosophy I have applied throughout my. I actually do it still. Still I really write down my goals and I make it as you call it, reverse engineering. I have my, my vision board, what I want to achieve. But I made it in very small targets. For example, this month me and my team are going to do a best ever in terms of revenue. And I was like, oh, I'm actually really happy. But this morning I woke up, no, don't be satisfied. How are we going to close two more or three more deals this month to make it the best, best ever. So now I punish myself again. So I have to wake up 6am until I hit those three deals. And in Think and Grow Rich it's really about writing down your goals and visualizing it, see where you want to go and then reverse engineering and make it happen.

Yeah, for sure. And in terms of like. So, so walk us through, what was your first deal? So how did that come about? Because I remember seeing inside the school community when you were doing your first deal, ringing the bell. I was so excited and a lot of the community was so. So walk everyone through how you Made your first placement and how much that was?

I believe my first placement was, I think it was 15k. And then my second one was directly a big one of 24k Euro. So in the be, I was directly using the loom. So I wasn't taking it too easy on myself. I was. Because the guideline was you have to send 20 looms a day. And I directly was, okay, if that's the guideline, let me try what happens if I do 30 looms a day? Which was pretty exhausting, I have to say. But you become very rapid at it. If you get used to it, you will become very fast in recording loom. So that was my go to plan. I got a client who directly replied me said, okay, what a creative way. Let's talk about business. And we discussed the terms directly closed it off and it's actually still a very good client of mine because we made seven placements there in the recent six months.

Brilliant. So they're now like a platinum client for you. Yeah, business.

Yeah. And now we're trying to find the. We actually have one client that we closed two deals with. So we're slowly starting to get those retainer business as well. So that's my next, next goal. I'm building a team who's focusing truly only on retainer.

Brilliant. And are you using our signature sales pitch deck in order to win retained business?

Yeah, I, I actually got that from the group and I spin it to my own, to my own way. But yes.

Cool. And for sharing with the audience here, like, what would you say is like a specific strategy or technique from the program that really significantly impacted either yourself or on the agency side?

Well, the main thing, of course there, there's all these awesome software tools that you can use and there's so many tips and tricks on how to close a deal. That's all wonderful, but for me it was really keeping each other accountable and that was my main thing about the, the program, that you keep each other accountable. So I make certain agreements. I also shout out loud what I want to achieve and then I have to back it up, of course. So I always say like, hey guys, I want to buy that Ferrari. I will, I will tell everyone I will get that Ferrari probably next month or so and then I really have to back it up. So I have to make the money to buy that Ferrari. So in the group I did it the same way. I was always shouting like, this month I'm going to do 50k. Then you have to back it up, of course. And that's my way of pressuring myself. And of course I have people in the group also telling me, okay, how are you going to do it and what's your tactic? And you keep each other accountable. Make it happen together.

Yeah, I remember. I think Cairo is here. Your customer success manager you were talking about in Dubai recently and she was sharing the photo when you sent her off. Your new Mercedes SL Superar that you, that you bought with. Yeah, that was really cool. Do you want to share that with the audience of how you achieved that?

Yeah. Well, it was not my smartest purchase ever, I have to say, but my goal was always to, to drive a nice car. And I sometimes get obsessed with, with things. So I got obsessed with making money in the program. I really wanted to become successful and I had like a board with which I can take off the boxes once I close my first deal, second deal, third deal. And when I closed deal number eight, I was allowed to buy myself a car. It actually started that I wanted to buy a BMW M6. I was seeing the results coming in. I was like, no, we go a little bit higher. So I bought a Mercedes Benz AMG GTS car, which is awesome. It's. It's very nice. Biggest achievement of, of my life. Materialistic way materialistic is not everything, of course. It costs a lot of fuel, a lot of insurance costs, so it's definitely. I don't recommend it to anyone, but for me, I just, I drove this morning to Amsterdam in that car to see a client. The client saw it as well. He was a car guy, actually. He worked in automotive. So you directly have something to talk with. I also joined another network of business owners with Supercar. So it directly got me into that group as well. So definitely a fun purchase, which was the result of hard work.

You deserve it.

The next purchase will be a little bit smarter. So we go into the real estate.

Yeah, for sure. But I think it's very important and I think very similar to myself, Martin, when I have my agency, the number one driver for most people is financial success. Yeah, financial success can give you freedom, buyback time, share that with family, create a legacy, create wealth. But the first part that I think is very, very important that Martin did and I did was like, I, I love cars. So I bought myself like a Porsche and then I bought myself, I remember I bought myself an Aston DB9. I think it was year two in the agency. I think I paid £50,000 sterling. So $67,000, probably similar to what you paid for your Mercedes, because I remember going with My brother Dan to some client meetings and pulling up in the Aston Martin and we were pitching retained business at the time and the CTO founder was, it was like a 40, 50 person business. He's looking outside the, the office block. He was like, James, is that your Aston Martin that you just rocking up with? And I was like, yes, it is, Jim. And, and that's why the fees are reassuringly expensive.

Just laugh.

But yeah, like these are the things that it was tangible for me because when you're making all these sacrifices, the cold showers, the mindset, getting up early, you've got to train your body to touch and feel these experiences that when you reward yourself with something that you can actually tangibly physically see it and feel it and touch it and experience something. I think that's so important because when you make a 20k placement or 24k placements, that's great. You see the digits in the bank account, but that's it. Whereas if you're physically sitting in that car every day you feel a little bit more wealthier. You think, well done, Martin, I'm more successful. And that drives and spurs you on for more compounding off those results. And I really do think that works. It's very important. I posted a video recently about one of my mentors, the Billion Dollar Man Dumpenia. And it was, he talked around Rolls Royce like, go to the Rolls Royce garage, sit in the car and smell like the other and like the steering wheel and touch it and feel it and, and imagine yourself in it. And that's very important. But then also make sure you actually reward yourself with that because the digits can come and go and all of a sudden you could have a bad one, so it's forcing you to grow. And I like the idea of. We did the same with MacBooks, actually. Like I remember was like after I think the second or third deal, I was like, right to me and my brother, we're going to buy brand new MacBook Pros as soon as we do the third deal. So then we go to the Apple shop, get like a fully specked up MacBook, for example. Like these things are good because it's. You're setting yourself mini targets in order to push yourself to achieve and then reward.

Exactly. And some of my friends then say, all right, but is this then your final target? No, it's just a small stepping stone because I know at one point I want to go to the next step. Again, you want to go to the next step. Eventually you build up yourself, you build up the company, the revenue is growing. If I can see now the difference from when I started to the team that I now have, it's, it's a world of difference. And then now you can achieve way more and you can start dreaming bigger, you can start thinking bigger. So start with a, start with a small goal and be, can be a watch, can be anything you like. Take your parents out for dinner, treat your girlfriend on a holiday, something like that, make it tangible, achieve it, celebrate the success and then back at it to the next goal for sure.

And, and money is a renewable resource. And I always think that money follows energy. So the more you keep spending, the more you can keep earning as well. And the more you put it back in the system, the more you can keep earning. So, yeah, that's really good. I, I think one thing that really stands out to me with yourself, Martin, is my old, one of my old mentors used to say this is you need to be teachable and coachable. And you are both like, you're very teachable and coachable and have what we call like a, have a high teachability index. So that's like the willingness to learn and willingness to accept change. So a lot of people that get stuck aren't willing to accept change and always looking, oh, well, will that work for me? Or is, is Martin even real? Like, oh, the deals real. Like, all of these are subconscious, some conscious beliefs or disbeliefs that like, it won't work for them. You need to just like, go in sometimes and like, what would you say to those people that are like, maybe thinking it's not going to work for me or because like, one of the other things as well is like, knowledge is power, but only if it is used. So I think the whole idea of you coming into the program is we give you the knowledge, but also the community support and the guidance are the most things that's going to help you get over the line along with the mindset.

Well, for me it was in the beginning very difficult because it's also a very humbling experience. But you have to understand where are you at right now in your life and where do you want to be? So I was already having a little bit of status. I was a regional manager, I was a shareholder. Shareholder sounds cool. But it cost me a lot of money in the end. But so you, you have to start from zero again. So I was without any clients, without any candidates. People don't always treat recruitment recruiters as nice as they think. So you also get humbled by clients who say mean stuff to you. But Everything is possible if you put your mind to it as well. So again, start small, accept the help. So have an open vision, start in the course, ask a lot of questions. That helped me as well. And what you said, I am very coachable and teachable because I was desperate to make it a success. There was no other option for me because I really didn't want to go back to work in a standard 9 to 5. That was just not how I envisioned my life. I want to travel, I want to build a team, I want to make other people successful as well. That's the career path that I chose for myself. So I also met a lot of people in the group who turned out who started with zero. And I gave them some pointers in the beginning and then they texted me. Actually after a few months like hey Martin, I also closed my first deal. So that's really cool to see. Everybody starts in the program on Xero or at least you start in the program with zero knowledge about that part and then you have to start building yourself up, give it some time and you can achieve a lot in six months. That's crazy for sure.

So, so walk us through like tangible results then. So, so what is like a typical like month? Like what was your biggest month that you've done so far on the agency?

Yeah, so the biggest month was 50k. A little bit more. This month is going to be our best ever which is going to be 70k month. So we're currently on 40k but we have three more deals in the pipeline. So I will hit that 70k. I will hit the best ever which is also I put targets on there for the team. I want to make the work fun. So what we do, we have a WhatsApp group and every first of the month I change the title, the subject of the group, WhatsApp to our goal. Last month we didn't achieve our goal which was me flying to Cape Town to take them out for the best restaurant in town. Like best. This month we already hit our target and now we want to over perform form. So I will fly to Cape Town end of the month. I will take them out for dinner. So this is going to be my best month. Last month was not too great, but those months also happen.

Yeah, sure.

Wow.

But seven 70k like heroes, like almost like 80, 90,000 US dollars is. It's a million dollar a year agency that you've done like pretty much from scratch. And how long did it take you to get there? So how long have you been in the program now?

Yeah, So I started end of July. I extended a little bit. So I'm a little. A little bit longer in the program than. Than usual, I think. Yeah. So six and a half months, seven months.

Yeah. We're happy to keep you in Martin because it's very important to have good energy. As you could probably see with Martin. Like, a lot of it comes down to like, having that like, inner belief that he will achieve these things. And that comes down to like, obviously we go heavy on mindset training as well because. Because thoughts are things and energy follows thought. So it's very important that you have a lot of work on your inner self as well as like just tools, tactics, because we. That's easy. I can easily teach you that type of stuff. Caesar was asking like, so when did you do your first deal? So how long did it take you to close your first deal form? So you started end of July, sort of August time.

My first year was within the first month already. So that was my first one. And directly after that I had another good month. So things catapulted for me because I had to pay off my credit card debt as soon as possible. So that was my first. That's why I was so urgent to make it happen. Yeah. And then it started. What you told me earlier was you need to hit that first 50k first. Make sure you have 100k on your bank account. Then I hired my first employee. She started in October, I believe.

And who was that hire? Like, what did they do?

So she was my va, My first va. She's actually based in. In the Philippines, which was so useful. So she's still in the company. She's doing amazing. I'm so happy with her. She was. In the beginning, I was doing everything myself and I wanted to have control over everything. And in the program I learned that you don't have to do everything yourself, but delegate. So I hired my first va. She was helping me with all the admin, making sure my database was on point. She's very structured, so that's very useful for me. She helped me finding the candidate for some of the placements. So now she's doing sourcing. She's making a list of all the IT companies in the Netherlands who we're going to reach out to automatically. And after that she was doing great. We hired our first marketing sources in. In Cape Town.

Awesome. So was that. Because obviously. So for those people that are listening, like, we. We developed a marketing sourcing system where we can actually help you find, hire and train a marketing sourcer that is going to do all of the candidate outreach for you. So they're the ones that are booking in the calls into Martin and his team's diary to free up at least 15, 20 hours a week. And. And what impact did that make for you, Martin? Actually having sources that are like freeing your time up more.

Yeah. Amazing. And that's a genuine thank you that I also have to share with you, of course, because the way how you see a business completely changed my mind. And that's the reason why I now have a team which we can scale up. Last month I was. Or two months ago, it was in December. We had a really good month and my marketing sources all close the deal in December. So there were two months, two and a half months in the business and they were doing their own deals, completely find their own clients, find their own candidates, and they closed the deal themselves. Communicating with the client, which was. That was the moment that I realized now we have something which is going to make me a lot of money.

How did that feel? Known you could actually have an end to end process and you've got cash coming out the end without you doing any of the work.

Best feeling ever. Because I'm used to grind so hard, which I still do. I grind very hard, but in a different way. It's now a way smarter way of treating my business. And what I also did is I make an organo grom. So I have a very good overview of my company, which team. So I have a supporting team. I have a sourcing team. I want to start with a retainer team. So I'm starting to fill out my complete organogram. So by the end of 2024, I want to be with a team of 21 persons.

Wow. So. So walk us through that plan. And so, so where you are now, you pretty much a million dollar agency. What is the goal for the next like 12 to 36 months? Like where do you see this agency going?

The $1 million mark is definitely what we have to have to hit Euros because we also have to pay a lot of tax in. In the Netherlands, unfortunately. But that's also part of it. So that's the goal for 2024. I'm a visionary, so I like to already think ahead what we can do after that. But I always have to avoid becoming a dreamer. So I will not share my 2025, 2026 goals because they are too big and I'm not sure if they are achievable. I think they are. But this year build a team of 21 people. I will be already very happy with that. And what I want is that the team is self sufficient. So I have a manager on every one of the three teams and one general manager. That's where I want to work towards too.

Wow, that's awesome. So, and you think you can do like as we teach, like a fully remote model where you've got all of your team from across the world?

Yeah, 100. I don't want to have any staff in any office for now, especially not in the Netherlands. I'm thinking to open an office in Cape Town. Actually like can also has an office there. I'm not sure if I want that because I want to avoid having a office with a specific kind of culture that can be super nice, but it can also turn out to be not so nice, people calling in sick, etc. So it's way easier to have a remote team. Everybody can work in a coffee shop or at home or wherever on the beach. If they like it, they can do whatever as long as they bring in the revenue and close, close the deals. So I will definitely follow those steps and I want to see if I can build it out the way that Ken did it as well. Very clear, structured. Everybody knows their task, everybody knows what to do and most important, everybody can make a good career in my company as well.

Yeah. And one of the key things is like in terms of your profit margins are going to be very high, Martin, which I know, I mean on a different topic is you paying a lot of tax, but that means you're making a lot of money as well is a good thing. So it's because obviously we, we move the model like sort of offshore to deliver means that instead of you paying say Dutch recruiters like a big basic salary and 20% commissions, you can sort of put this off and probably save at least two thirds of the costs of what you would pay in, in Netherlands or the UK or us.

Yeah. So that's definitely something for the, for the next step to look into as well. But what you're saying does, that's the game changer as well are those profit margins? They are insane. So once you make a deal or those ladies are making a deal of for example, 20k or 25k, the wages in those countries are at a different level than in the Netherlands. So it's very attractive and lucrative.

Yeah, for sure. And so if you could summarize your experience working with our sales agency Blueprint, what would you say?

Completely shifted the way how I treated business. It created revenue streams that I didn't know were possible for me personally as I was always working for an employer. I got friends for life, which sounds very corny, but I did. Who are also business recruitment owners, which is very nice to have. And anyone who wants to join the course, shoot me a message. I'm always happy to help out, answer any questions and point you in the right direction.

Yeah, let's just go easy on Martin's inbox please, because there's quite a few people on this call that are going to watch. But that's all reason why we put these sort of webinars on so you can actually get real life experience. One of the key things I'm interested in because when I saw my agency like over a decade ago, I saw it with a credit card, you did too. But a lot of people, even with savings are still on the fence of one investing in themselves. So what would you say to those people that are like still stuck on the fence and thinking I don't want to invest in myself?

Yeah, of course. Because in the beginning I was also very skeptic. That's why I had multiple calls with your team and see if it's really something for me. But at one point, you cannot keep whining but have to start winning. So you have to go in it with, with your skin. So it will hurt you a little bit in terms of the, the cost, but you will get your return on investment. I 100. Sure. If I can do it, you can do it as well.

That's awesome. Here. Like someone was asking about business like your, your margin rates. Because I think a few people, just so they understand when you're making a placement, you're making a permanent placement. Which means that the gross profit on that, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty much 100 apart from a few tools, etc. So profit margins, are we talking around. Around 70, 80% or more? Martin on this.

More. Yeah, I will, I will not share the, the salaries of my staff, but the, the, the. The salaries are. It's. It's not a lot.

Yeah. Good. I hope that answers a few questions Frederick was asking. Welcome, Frederic. He's part of accelerator program. How many marketing sources do you have?

Right now we are with a team of three in Cape Town, one in the Philippines and then myself.

Great. And in terms of someone was asking how they found a va. They used our service. So we help Martin find, train and put them in an Academy for six months, get them trained up on sourcing candidates using LinkedIn and etc. From there. What's your opinion? On doing it as a side hustle. So there's a lot of people maybe that haven't started their agency right now that want to do it part time. What would you say to them?

Tricky. It's not impossible. I have seen people succeeded or started on the side. You can use your time very wisely. So before work you can already use some hours after work you can spend some hours in the weekends, you can start your agency and of course you have the software tools who are actually running your business in the core hours from nine to five, of course. But I personally think that you have to be all in. Don't treat it as a side business because you can earn way more from your recruitment agency firm if you really are dedicated and put 100% of your time in it.

Yeah, I agree. And that's what I always say is you can't go in this half hearted. You've got to back yourself. You put your back against the wall, you left full time employment, shares in the company credit card and that is what drove you to doing your first deal within four weeks and making 20k. 24k, getting all the way over 70k. And I think that's very important for everyone to understand is that means you've got this belief that it might not work for you. So you're sort of half beaten already in your mindset because if you have this undying belief that it needs to happen, then it's going to happen.

And I think as well, you, you have to get obsessed with it. So there was no other way. Again, what I said earlier, I had to succeed. I was, I couldn't sleep at night because I was worried about how am I gonna survive in the first weeks. Right. So how am I gonna do it? The only way is you are in a business where you can make insane amounts of money to start. Better make that money. There's money on the streets, I always believe. And if you are, I'm opening new markets now as well and you can really see it. This morning I had a campaign running and I got like three replies from a campaign that I started this morning, 6am, already got three leads and I booked in JQ job qualification on Monday. I actually was joking to this guy. Oh, nice to meet you. I'm actually in Amsterdam, can we meet for a coffee? He said, no, I can meet next week for coffee but let's have a call first. So it's so cool. Money is on the streets.

Yeah. And how good that feels that you've got systems working for you whilst you're not working so it gives you more leverage so you can be like a bigger agency without having to have too many employees because you're leveraging a lot of systems and automation.

And how I see it in recruitment, you can either go two ways. Either make it a lifestyle business, just enjoy it on your own. Maybe with a VA1 marketing sourcer, just do 30 to 50k and you have a very nice income but. Or you can become a business owner, really start building and scaling your team and then go to hit that 1 million mark and more. That's what I now want to do. I want to make other people succeed. I want to make them happy and do it together. That's my vision. I want to do it together because for me it's not a sprint but a marathon we have all the time.

Yeah, that's very true. Like I always say, like and, and it's sometimes been so just having a one person agency, it's a bit selfish because you're not like really contributing to society when, when you've actually grown a team and you're, you're helping people make money for you and you're providing a bigger service. The more value bring to the world, the more money you bring to yourself and your team and your family and the more that cycles around in, in the universe as well. So it always is like a payback because also like people that stay being a solopreneur, you will get burned down from being a recruiter because like I'm sure Martin will say as well, I mean he's newer into recruitment but you wouldn't want to be doing deals for the rest of his life. I speak to candidates like that's the whole point of leveraging a team building systems and assets in a business. And, and you seem to have built these foundations Martin, where you've got a solid way to get clients now, predictable way to get retained business. A way to get candidates inbound by using the candidate marketing sources and the automation and then you've got your ops va. That's like working with all of the systems.

Yeah. And then you can really start building and thinking about the future and the next level. I was talking with Ken, I think he made a post in, in the group about a podcast that he had with John. Very low build to sell how to scale your business, make it predictable so you have revenue coming in every month instead of doing deals yourself. Actually.

Yeah, for sure. I think that's very important as well. Eventually is like getting yourself away from doing the deals yourself because at some point, then you've got a real business. And I've said this a few times, that we were actually on a call with a mastermind client that just joined and they were doing fluctuating from 250k a month to sometimes 100k a month. But it was all reliant on two of them. They were doing bigger fees but they want to move away and actually have a team that actually does the placements. And I would much rather 100 to 150k a month with a full team doing all of the placements and zero input from me than 250k and 60, 70 hours a week for me because it's different. That's, that's not, that's not a business, that, that's you having a high pay job. Boom. I'm just going to ask a couple more, see if there's any more questions. So for those of you that have stuck around to the end, thank you very much. I hope you found it useful. So obviously for the bonuses for you, you're going to get the workbook. There's going to be a link in there for you to book in a call and I'm also going to give you a bonus. Since you've been waiting on this call, I'm actually going to give you the bonus of our automatic recruitment agency book. So in here you're going to get some day fast start. You're going to get the Canada conversion system, you're going to get rapid recruitment systems, all of the templates basically. So this is like sort of like 0.01% of what's included in Martin's program. But it'll be enough to get you started, to get you a flavor. So you're going to get access to that free. All you need to do is book in a call with one of our team and they'll guide you with logins, etc. And also they'll give you a free guide on a game plan of your own agency as well, of like how we can potentially help. So if you're interested in booking a call, you can book in a call. The links in the chat here, there's literally no risk in booking the call. In fact the only risk is your person is decided to ignore everything you've turned up to the webinar for the last 45 minutes or 50 minutes with myself and Martin and you're going to go back and continue to operate your agency in the same way. So that's like try and shift that into new systems thinking and at least worst Case scenario, you're going to come away off a call with our team and with the free workbooks, et cetera as well, just to get you started. What I'll call on the New Era Agency way. So I'm just going to open up to a couple more questions and then we can close this off. So Sam was asking, how important would you say the website is at the start? My personal opinion does not matter. Some like, I had a $70 website for 2, 3 years and generated almost a million pounds in revenue before that. But I'll let you answer your answer to that, Martin.

Same. I actually wanted to start and I was. I had a whole plan of having this fancy website with the integrated job board and everything. And then I started in the program and then you also mentioned like, you can do that later if you want to, but it's not necessary. I have a website again, 80 US dollar hit me up. A friend of mine makes it. If you want, we can build it for you. But my website is not so exciting and I also doubt that many clients are looking at it.

I've said that from day one and it totally makes sense. The systems and the way we build the agency out in the program is what you need. That's the biggest investment and that's probably less than what most people spend on a website. Some people spend 10, 15, 20k on a website, which is crazy. And there's no one visiting the website, no one knows who you are, no one cares about your website. Someone was asking at the start of your journey, how many hours and what hours would you say you work daily? Start a finish time and have you managed to cut back already or do you still work the same hours whilst continue to smash through your goals?

A very good question. I think in the beginning I was really grinding, so 60, 70 hours a week. All I can think about was was how to succeed as soon as possible. Then when the deals started to come in, I slowly became a little bit more like 40, 50 hours, sometimes less, which is not. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but now I'm trying to increase it again. The team is already doing really good, so I don't need to increase it. But again I want to scale up the business. I want to hire more staff this year, so then I have to at least this year put in all the effort I can and after that I can take it easy again if I want to.

Exactly. I think the big thing here is what. What people need to not miss is when Martin's making 70, 80k a month. Like, he's got the choice if he wants to go to work next month, but he's got big goals like he wants to achieve and build a business for some of you. You could just like not work for two or three months and then go back in again and do a few placements. But once you get the hunger and once we fix your mindset and your drive, then it's. You're building a team to buy back your time and then you can work on the business, not in it. And you can choose when you want to go to work. So Martin might fluctuate, might dive in to do 30, 40, 50 hours a week. Then he might want to go and take all day for six weeks, but he can, because the business can still make money without him. And that's the most important thing.

Yeah. And what I want to add to that is because once you start building a team, those candidates that you, that are those consultants or marketing sources that are joining your team also have their own ambitions and goals. If you hire the right persons, they will be hungry to achieve their goals, make promotions, build a company together with you. And that's awesome to see.

Yeah, that's so true. Okay, so next 12 months for you, what the number one goal is, let's get a million euros in your bank account. In terms of, like, what's changed for you in, in your personal life like, since you started, like, what would you say the biggest impact that's had on your personal life since joining the program?

The freedom. So I just returned from Hong Kong Monday evening. It's. It's very nice again, I fly to Cape Town end of the month. So it's. You have a really. I'm. I'm done with that 9 to 5 standard job. I want to, I want to work for myself and I'm doing that whenever I want. So the sense of freedom, you just travel all you want. I have now cash in the bank that I can use to travel where I want, but it only made me more hungry. My girlfriend has her own business as well. She. So we're doing it together. We plan to move to Amsterdam and rent or buy, we have to still figure it out. Super nice apartment. And then in a very business business area. Busy, busy business area in Amsterdam. Surround yourself with, with business people who want to achieve more as well. So I want to always stay the most poor man in the room.

Yeah, for sure. Like, you don't want to be the smartest person in the room.

Absolutely. I have to keep on developing yourself.

And what's interesting as well, you're helping your partner set up her business. Do you think what, what you've learned is like sort of elements you can put into any business?

Yeah, for sure. She actually resigned last month. So she will come to Holland, to the Netherlands and live with me, start her own business. And there's a lot of automation tools that she can also start using as well. But besides the fact she also gets inspired by seeing my motivation and my excitement and then she's like, yeah, why would I earn 3k or 4k for a boss? I can also do it myself. So now we're doing it together and both trying to. I want to build to that 200k a month. That's my target. So make 2.54 million a year. And after that, let's see.

That's awesome. For those of you that are thinking it's just about Martin, there's, there's plenty of people like Martin inside our recruit accelerator program. So showing you behind the scenes here, just a quick glimpse. For instance, Curtis 17kg closed deal. $66,000 pending push. My 83k month in October, amazing results. 20k in one week. Thank you so much for winner. Like she would have been happier doing 20k in one month and she's done 20k within a week. There's like tons and tons of wins like this. Like 61k in perm billings like sandeep, 3 strong months in a row. Take a vacation for the first time. Jen Viol did 32K, $32,000 placement and everyone's highly vibrant in here. So you've got a full community like Martin was talking about. There's almost 300 recruitment agency owners that are live inside the 60 move program. Always, all of the time. And then there's calls every single day, coaching calls as well. So for those of you that are interested in potentially joining the program, you can book in a call for one hour team. Like I said, it's. There's no cost to the call. You're not going to lose anything there. We're not going to hard sell you. It's just a case of you can, we can walk you through how we can help and you could be the next Martin, for example. Martin, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. I think one thing that I just took away from this is reminding me of my old self of like how hungry you are to learn. You took the risk in terms of put it on your credit card, you back yourself, you got rewarded. And I can see your mindset. You're going to be a huge success, definitely a multimillionaire, because you've got the, the right, like I said, high teachability index, always willing to learn. And you either make things happen, watch things happen, or you wonder what just happened. And I think for you, you've made things happen. You haven't just watched. So congratulations to you. It's been a pleasure working with you. I hope we keep working together for many times. Hopefully seeing Inside Elite Mastermind soon in person as well. And enjoy your trip to Cape Town.

Yeah, thank you so much. And everybody who attended this webinar as well. Again, if you have any questions, always hit me up or one of the team members from Recruit Recruiter Accelerator.

Awesome. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I think we'll leave it there. So for those of you that, like I said, want to grab the bonuses, you get the workbook, you're going to get actually the copy of the PDF book. You can sort of see me behind me in the back here. And then we're also going to give you some bonus content inside the program as well. So for those of you that have grabbed one of the 20 spots, congratulations. And for everyone else watching, thank you very much for watching and I'll catch you soon.