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Advisors of the Month: Dylan and Brett Werner of Elevate Talent Advisors 1-7-26
00:25:22
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- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity podcast. We try and bring you each day interviews with brilliant business leaders, plus one to two business and market insight episodes a day. We're thrilled today to be joined by two brilliant leaders and founders. We're joined today by Dylan and Brett Werner and they have founded a search firm, a staffing firm, Elevate Talent Advisors. They'll tell us more about it and a lot more about themselves as well and define it more clearly for us. Brett and Dylan, we are so thrilled to have you with us today. Can one of you take the lead and take a moment and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you folks do And I'll ask the other one to add in and to comment as well, but just give us an introduction to start with.
- [00:52]
B
Perfect. As the older brother, I'll go, I'll go first. So actually I was on your podcast probably about a year and a half ago when we first started this, so it's awesome to be back on. So much has changed in, in a good way over the past year and a half. So thanks for having us back. But Elevate Talent Advisors is a recruiting company. We place permanent full time hires. You know, we do it, we do it nationwide and across multiple business sectors. So we got started about two years ago, actually two years ago in February. So almost at the two year anniversary, it was, it was myself and I was grinding through things and I talked to my brother six, seven times a day and after about two weeks he's like, all right, enough, I'm joining you. So we partnered together and you know, I let him take it from here, but that's kind of how the whole thing got started.
- [01:55]
C
Yeah, absolutely. Well, this is Brett, the younger brother. But yeah, I've been doing this for six or seven years at the corporate level. My brother decided to take the leap and we both always discussed the passion and, you know, desire to be entrepreneurs in this world. And it was something I grew to really enjoy this game and something there, you know, you're impacting people's lives, doing good things for, for people to get into new opportunities and you're getting rewarded for it. Compensatory on the backside. And so it was a no brainer for us to put this thing together, but really comes from a passion first place of helping people get to where they want to be and you know, being people people or people persons at the end of the day.
- [02:37]
A
Now you folks have been at this for a couple years now. Were there some early inflection points where you think, oh, my goodness, this is going okay, or, oh, my goodness, maybe we should go back to corporate jobs. What was that first few months like? And when did you start to realize this had some stability and you could make this work?
- [02:56]
C
Yeah, I think it's a great question. I think, you know, we joke all the time. Getting started in February 24th was probably about the worst time. So to start a recruiting company, maybe economically, but something that we felt, you know, there's still a big need for people to get into new opportunities and to shake people's hands and introduce ourselves and really get our brand out there. But I think in the beginning, it was really challenging. It was, how do we get our brand out there? There's 20,000 recruiting companies across the US alone. What's going to make us special? And I think what that is is, like I said in the beginning, it's a people business. And for us, our separator is only as good as us two. And so early days, challenging. And then all of a sudden, you're networking yourself, you're picking up the phone and dialing, you're meeting new people every day, and they start to believe in you. And the process that we put together and, you know, over the last two years, I'm lucky to say we've serviced, you know, 100 clients in a different areas that maybe we didn't think we could get into before and, you know, really taking it by storm. But it all comes to the networking, the referral, and meeting people in this business that allows you to stay in it. And, you know, we're not going to stop until we're forced to stop, you know, hopefully due to old age or being retired. But it's early days, tough. Right now we're seeing the bright ends of it, and hard work is paying off.
- [04:15]
A
How long did it take to get your first couple clients? And for the first couple clients, companies looking for people or job seekers looking for jobs.
- [04:26]
B
It took us three months to land our first placement. And that, honestly, is one of the best parts about adding Brett on to the team. I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I knew that was the pathway for me. But I am out in the world. Maybe not the most friendly, approachable guy, you know, right away. It takes some time to see it warmed up. Then I think you'll love me over time. But Brett is. Brett can walk into the room and he knows everybody. The minute he. He leaves, everybody loves him. When he comes in, he knows everything about everybody. So what we did right away Kind of probably like most startups is go straight to our network. Brett was, you know, calling some of his friends that were job seekers and I happen to know a guy from my logistics background that recently became a high level guy at a logistics company. And within two seconds we were like, boom, boom, put them together. And you know, our first placement came fast, which was a blessing and a curse because coming so fast, we're like, oh, this is going to be easy. And then it took a couple months to, you know, redraw the map. Do it again, do it again, do it again. So we found the, we found success early and then we had to copy and paste, so to speak.
- [05:52]
A
But I think that's so common where you early on find some success, early success, then you find there's a little bit of a valley and then you've got to really get going and okay, how do we make this repeatable and make it grow? I think that's so often the, the experience of entrepreneurs and people starting a business and getting sales going. Talk a little bit about those first three months are a little bit scary because you're just getting going, you don't yet have a full book of business. You're trying to keep yourself busy. I know young families trying to make it go in this world. Talk about handling that early adversity in setbacks and trying to sort of keep your mindset and strategy going in the right direction during that period of time.
- [06:33]
C
Yeah, I think for us too. And again, hopefully 10, 20 years from now, when you're talking about it and you're able to speak to people about the, you know, the benefits of becoming an entrepreneur and what those first three months look like, like I'm going to be as blatantly honest as possible. We're not two guys that come from a bunch of money and that had a ton of backing on the back end. For us to be like, if this doesn't work, we can grind it out for very long. It was putting the chips, you know, in front of us and telling ourselves we're going to do whatever it takes to make this thing grow. And so those first three months are, you know, like you said, there's some sleepless nights, there's some self doubt, there's conversations between the two of us. Is this something we can really do? But when you dive into what our goal statement and our mission was when we first started this business, it was going to be to never give up and to do whatever it took to grind, to make the extra phone call to work on your laptop, 10, 11 o' clock at night, connecting with people, planning your day out for the next day to make sure that we gave ourselves a chance. And so, like you said, we had early success. It was fun. We were like, oh my God, this, this is the dream. Two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks later, you're looking at your bank account, you don't have anything coming in or you don't have anything really sticking. Those days are challenging, but we found ways to continue to push through. And I think the countless conversations we had together and pushing each other when the other one was down, when the other guy had optimism, it's leaning on each other and fighting through those moments so that you do stay on top of it. And, you know, two years later, we're still here and kicking. So proud of that.
- [08:08]
A
Thank you so much. And Dylan, take a moment on operating philosophy as you move forward and try and be helpful both to job seekers and to companies seeking people to, to work with them, talented leaders and people. Are there a couple core principles that you use? How do you think about principles of the business and how do you move forward when data is imperfect in making decisions on fit and placement in people?
- [08:33]
B
Yeah, you know, for us, it's. We really, really take the time to get to know first of all, the companies that we work with, we, in the beginning, we were taking everything we can get and we got ourselves in business with some guys that we weren't aligned with, probably morally or, you know, that way, but we were like, we need, we need the money, we need to get it in. And we realized that doing business with people that don't, don't align with us, you know, that just that, that made our placements bad. You know, it didn't make anything go in the right direction. So, you know, we really, really try to do business with people that we align with that we can see the vision of their company that are hiring for the right reasons. And then on the other end, you know, with the candidates that we work with, we're always talking to these guys three, four times before we present them over. So. So we're not one of those recruiting companies that are gathering 100 resumes and throwing them at a company and saying, man, I hope, I hope this one of these things work out. We get very, very strategic. And that's our game plan. We want to send over one, maybe two people that could be the right fit. So we hear the data directly from our clients and our candidates of what somebody's looking for and what a company's hiring for and try to play matchmaker that way.
- [09:56]
A
Thank you. And talk for a second. Brett. When you think about, I mean, I, I, I, what you talked about, Dylan, resonates so well. When you're first getting a business going, you sort of take any client you can get. And then you start to realize when you've really built a business that you're starting to say, oh, my God, I can't work with those people. That's just a really not good people, or aren't good, good people to the people that they hire. But, but, but getting through that spot is a very hard thing in business. And getting that sort of, that clarity that we could survive and work with, the types of we'd like to work with and so forth is so important. Brett, anything you would add to the operating philosophy of how you deal with people and how you look at this and building talent and culture.
- [10:35]
C
Yeah. Just to bounce off what you just said and what Dylan said. It's, there's a mission in mind for everybody, and it comes down to the impact piece of what we like to do here. It's, it really is a rewarding business when you place people in opportunities that they call you and tell you, you just changed my life. Like, that is, you know, far greater to me. And I will say I'm definitely, you know, money hungry. But somebody calling you and telling you that you just changed their lives or their family's lives is so rewarding in this business. And so when you're having conversations with your clients, as much as it is important to find about the technical skills and the environmental skills, like, we operate in a way wanting to understand the soft skills and what's going to make somebody stick within the business, not just for a band aid, but for a long time. And I think those principles we try to stand by, like, what is, what do they need on paper that's going to make them a great fit and be able to perform the job, but what do they need from a personality standpoint that's going to make them last? And it's been super critical for us in finding, you know, successful placements. And then I'll just bounce off that for a quick second, not to get too wordy, but in our business, those are the people that end up becoming leaders within that business that look to hire again. And our job is not just to find something one time, but we want to work with you for, you know, decades to come. And so our philosophy is, how do we build that relationship so that we can be here for the long term? With you and helping you grow your business.
- [12:01]
A
Thank you. And one of you had mentioned, you know, working the laptop late into the night. And when you're building a client base, both on the placement side and on the personnel side, how much of it is just constant reach out and networking and working with people, you know, that type of ground game to try and connect with people and be in front of them. How much of it is just a. A lot of grinding with obviously a lot of intelligence and talent from you folks?
- [12:30]
B
A majority of it. So much of it. And you know, early on, it's always the chicken of the egg. Who do you talk to first? Companies or candidates? And there's really no right or wrong way to go about doing it. You just have to have conversations. So a lot of people that I talk to that are like, hey, I wanted to start a recruiting company or some sort of company. I don't know where to start. The best place is to just start having conversations and just doing it over and over and over again. What a lot of people don't know or, you know, unless you're from the north shore areas. This is not the only thing Brett and I do. You know, Brett runs a really big AAU basketball program, does a lot of basketball, private lessons. I coach a boxing team, do a lot of boxing lessons. And so after we are done, quote, unquote, recruiting for the day, and we go to our secondary night jobs or weekend jobs, the people that we're training, the parents, whoever it may be, kids that are out of college, we're constantly having conversations of, hey, you know, this is. Besides being a boxing or basketball coach, I also have a recruiting company. Everybody follows up with, oh, my God, I have a friend that needs a job, or my dad's looking to hire, you know, something. Something like that. So the job is never close the laptop. You're done at 5 o'.
- [13:48]
C
Clock.
- [13:48]
B
We take it with us no matter what we're doing in the world. And constantly grinding.
- [13:54]
A
So there's so many different thoughts out there on this. I love the approach you have that you're really doing a couple different things as you build your business, build your career. I just absolutely love that, quite frankly. And often they're quite synergistic. Some people talk about, you got to burn the boat. You can only do one thing. You guys have straddled sort of jobs that help pay the bills while you're building the business, but they're also very complimentary, really, because you're coming in contact with lots of people. You both have Great personal skills. Any quick thoughts on this concept of burn the boats versus straddling a couple different things?
- [14:28]
C
Yeah, to each their own. I think, for us being young and Dylan's got a young family, and I don't yet. And so for me, you know, I'm super passionate about working, grinding. But it's the, you know, the old cliche of your one handshake away from changing your life. And so for us, it was, how do we get into multiple different areas where we're meeting people and doing what we're passionate about? Obviously, we love this business by day, or we wouldn't do it. And so we're grinding, and the secondary things that we're doing are to enhance our day business, but it's all things that we, you know, are super passionate about. And I'd be doing a disservice to myself, and I think. I think Dylan would say the same if we weren't putting our hands in multiple things and helping both of them grow. You know, we love to work. We were taught to work at a young age. And until that passion burns out, you know, I'll continue to do that late into the evenings and meeting new people. But I think it's pretty easy to get stuck when you're burning the boat and sitting there and staring at the same thing over and over again. For us to be able to get out, get into a new environment, meet new people, really enhances our day business, too.
- [15:33]
A
We're a huge fan. I'm one of these people that always straddled businesses over a very prolonged period of time. I'm ultimately a fan, although I think some people can go further when they ultimately do burn the boats. I've never done it. I respect either approach. I love how you said it to each one's own. I think. I think that's. That's right on. Talk about where either one. You could take the lead here, Dylan or Brett, where do you see the business 3 to 5 years? What. Where do you. Do you have thoughts about what it looks like three to five years from now?
- [16:00]
B
We want to start building an actual team and, you know, teach our ways, our philosophy of recruiting to new recruiters. And that can come in multiple different ways. You know, something that we do right now that I think gives us a strategic advantage over other recruiting companies. Right. Everybody's. There's hundreds and hundreds of hundreds out there. Just like restaurants, you got to find your way to get people to come to your shop. Something that we do is we actually go out and we hire a lot of guys more like at a 1099 capacity from, from different industries. So, you know, we have clients that are in law, finance, things, languages that Brett and I don't speak or have never done before. But we always want to make sure that our, the companies that we're working with and the clients that we work with are talking to someone that's been in their shoes, worked their job, understands their industry, their language. So that way, you know, if a company's hiring, they know that the people that we've said to them have been invented by someone that, you know, done the job before and we're not just guessing at it. And so I really think that that strategy in the next three to five years is going to help us continue to grow and we can start to bring on people that maybe want to be full time and learn recruiting from industries and places that never, they never thought about being a recruiter, but they are experts in their field. That's kind of how I got into recruiting. I grew up in the, in the logistics industry and I went to go work for a guy that has recruited in the industry. He said to me, you know the game, you know the day to day, I'll teach you recruiting. And I think that we can do the same thing here at Elevate Talent Advisors and open up new opportunities for people that are looking for new jobs that don't want to be doing what they're doing now, 100%.
- [17:48]
A
Let me ask you this question, Dylan or Brad. Your best advice for a company looking for employees? What advice do you give companies searching for employees?
- [17:59]
C
That's a really good question. I think it goes back to what we spoke about earlier too. But this is a huge networking, referral and people business. And right now we've seen in the market and I think any hiring manager or company would tell you the same when they're looking to hire, they're posting jobs on job boards, they're getting, you know, 100 to a thousand applicants and they're overwhelmed and bombarded with how do I sift through all these resumes while also still being able to perform my day to day tasks within the organization? I think right now, people that are looking to hire and they'll tell you the same, is referral business leaning on people and industry experts like us that are having these conversations every day? I will say this about our business at Elevate Talent Advisors. We really do pride on both talking to people that are both passively looking and actively looking people that aren't in a dire need to jump Tomorrow and people that are in a dire need to get an opportunity tomorrow. But when that opportunity comes about having a reliable partner or an asset like a recruiting business or people like us, a part of your organization, when you need the help, you can pick up and call. We know the ins and outs of what these people are looking for and who they are on a personal level. And so I think having that strategic partnership and really getting to know people, their soft skills and their technical skills is going to help get people in the door in comparison to the other people that are just sitting through resumes and taking a stab at somebody and hoping it, you know, hoping it works out six months down the line.
- [19:29]
A
Thank you. In any best advice for people seeking jobs.
- [19:33]
B
Yeah, I just want to add, and this is something that we see in the market that everybody sees on the news articles being shared around that, you know, the job market that, you know, there may be some job loss or saying stagnant or very pessimistic views of, of the economy. And I think that has a lot to do probably with, you know, AI and everything that's taken over for job seekers. I think it's very important to realize that where we are in the world today and understand that yes, AI is here and it could take over, especially, you know, operational type roles, data entry, stuff like that. I would tell job seekers and one of the questions that I always ask them is what do you really want to do? You know, I know that we're talking about a maybe a legal assistant role here, but is that your true passion or are you just looking for a job? Because if I can help you find a job in your true passion, then you're going to want to grow through the ranks there rather than just take this job, do your nine to five and be unhappy. And so for job seekers, I really tell them, let's go find your passion and let's go find something that we could do within that sector because that's going to motivate you to do a good job rather than just take something.
- [20:54]
C
Because you need it.
- [20:56]
A
And how do people differentiate that? Because you're absolutely right. In a tougher job market for at least graduating people, graduating college, there is this fine line between taking a job so you have a job, make a living versus taking a job, something that you're interested in. And how do you balance those two things, those two needs?
- [21:18]
B
I, you know, it's, there's a lot there, you know, because I understand and I've been in that position. I think we all have where you need your first job. So you need to, you need to take something. But I think a lot of it has to go do with. Maybe we don't go. Exactly. Hey, I've always loved soccer. Let's get into the MLS and go work for, you know, the Chicago Fire or some soccer team. You know, if you've always loved sales, let's focus on getting into a sales role first. It doesn't have to be in a specific industry, but just to get your feet wet and do. And do it that way. I also think that people don't really realize that while yes, AI and all this is taking over a lot of jobs, if you're a guy that likes to work with your hands. Have you always been interested in building things? You know, the trade, the trades right now have. There's got to be somewhere close to a million job openings between, you know, H vac construction, you name it. So finding your passion and what you want to do, but also utilizing what's available in the market. Don't go after the same job that 40, 50. The amount of people that I talk to that are out of college that want to go work for a professional sports team, I would love to do that too. But you're competing with hundreds of thousands of people for some type of job. Go find a. Go work your passion in the industry that's actually booming right now. And companies are willing to spend money on the right person and get creative to make sure that they keep that person if they're doing well and showing that they're going to work hard for companies. So I would say get into something that you want to do in an industry that's booming and you can create your own pathway.
- [23:00]
A
Thank you. But, but I love that. And you guys have really lived that too, because you're, you're doing something you're both passionate about in business. You're also each doing something that you're passionate about on the side, which is teaching boxing and teaching basketball and helping pay the bills. There's multiple different ways to, to sort of synergize these things, aren't there?
- [23:19]
C
Yeah. And I think just to bounce off Dylan real quick, Scott, is just to never sell yourself short. You don't know how many people we talk to on a day to day that are like, I'm not really into it, but you know, I don't think I have the skills or the qualifications or, you know, the personality to get into it. And when you do that, you go and interview that same way. Right. Like you wake up and tell yourself it's going to be a bad day. It's going to be a bad day. How many people that we talk to that we need to, you know, build up their confidence, the optimism around the market and things that they can really become capable at. Um, I tell anybody that's listening anytime and anytime that we're on the phone is never sell yourself short. You never know what opportunity is going to present itself and where it's going to take you.
- [24:02]
B
As far as the synergies like you're saying, I mean, that was other than being my brother and knowing that he's an amazing people person, that was one of the reasons when Brett was like, hey, I want to do this with you, I was so excited because there is so many synergies between doing our passion work, you know, obviously doing the recruiting stuff, but then doing our after hours boxing and basketball where we get to meet so many people. And that's what our business is, is recruiting, is just talking to people. So the synergies there is, is wild. Brett has access to, you know, thousands of people that he talks to every day. And that's how we've gotten a lot of clients is by Brett just saying, hey, you know, when I'm not coaching basketball, I'm doing this. And you know, one out of every ten people might say, oh my God, I'm looking for a job or wow, my company's hiring. Let's talk further.
- [24:52]
A
That's amazing. And it's probably more than one out of every 10 that says if it's not them or everybody knows somebody who's looking for a job or trying to hire now and trying to connect those dots. I love what you said about the trades and some other areas. Some of the non obvious places for people are some of the most, the most lucrative places too. I have to tell you, Dylan and Fred, I've got to wrap up but it is always just a pleasure to visit with the Werners. Dylan Werner, Brent Werner, founders of Elevate Talent Advisors. A real pleasure to visit with you folks today. Thank you so much for joining us on the Becker business and the Becker private equity podcast. Thank you very, very much.
- [25:29]
C
Thank you, Scott. Appreciate it, son. Great to see you again. Talk to you again.