Tony O'Neill surfs 200 days a year, runs an executive search firm from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, and lives a life most agency owners assume they have to retire before earning. Here's the part no one talks about: it didn't come from selling the business or stepping back from the desk. He's still billing, still in Pinnacle Society conversations, and still committed to another fifteen years in the seat. The life came from a decision he made fifteen years ago to reverse-engineer everything and to build a brand, not a search firm.

This conversation is the playbook. Tony walks through the brick wall he hit in year one, the consultants who saved his business, and why he chose an outdoor sporting goods niche his mentors told him was too small. He explains why he switched from contingent to retained in year three, why he refuses contingent work today even with the perfect candidate already in his inbox, and why owning the client relationship is the non-negotiable that separates high-performance firms from everyone else.

Then he breaks down the 2024 pivot that added over six figures to his revenue. When his niche got hit, he called every past client to ask how he could improve, and got certified in DISC and Predictive Index. He built behavioral assessments into his proposals with an extended warranty, priced them higher than felt comfortable, and turned them into a recurring revenue line. His framing for clients: two-thirds of hires industry-wide are bad hires, and the assessment moves the customer from a .333 batting average to .500.

MILLEE — The judgment that separates big billers the reframe that regains control of a stalling process, the move when a candidate goes quiet — usually takes years on the desk. Millee analyzes every live deal and builds the exact strategy you need, powered by a curated knowledge base from elite recruiters. It's encoded intuition. Before every call you get sharp contextual preparation. In your inbox, high-caliber emails are already drafted. Users save an hour a day on email alone. Try Millee free for 30 days: https://www.millee.ai/

ATLAS — The resume never tells the full story. Candidates share what really matters in conversations: motivations, salary expectations, plans to relocate. Most of that ends up buried in notes. Atlas captures every conversation automatically and turns it into something you can use. With MagicSearch, you can ask "who talked about wanting a four-day week" or "who's open to relocating next year" and pull answers from your entire database instantly. Atlas customers report over 40% EBITDA growth and over 80% increase in monthly billings after adopting the platform. Unlock your exclusive listener offer: https://recruitwithatlas.com

What You'll Learn:

• Why Tony refuses contingent work, even when the perfect candidate is already in his inbox
• The brick wall every new search firm owner hits in year one and the consultants who break it
• How he chose a "too small" niche and built a brand recruiters confuse for a sporting goods company
• The 2024 pivot that added six figures: DISC, Predictive Index, and extended warranties built into the proposal
• Why two-thirds of hires industry-wide are bad and how to get your client to bat .500
• Tony's daily operating system: 10am-3:30pm prime selling time, sauna, cold plunge, algorithm starvation
• The two books behind the business: Million Dollar Consulting and The Four Agreements
• Why "freedom requires discipline" is the principle every search firm owner has to internalize first

Connect with Tony O'Neill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/outdoorindustryrecruiter/

🎯 Join the Elite Recruiter Community: https://elite-recruiters.circle.so/checkout/elite-recruiter-community

🚀 Register for the AI Recruiting Summit 2026: https://ai-recruiting-summit-2026.heysummit.com/

📬 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://eliterecruiterpodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube:

Resumes never tell the full story. The candidate who casually mentioned she's open to relocating, the manager who said he wants a four-day week, the senior dev who's quietly looking — that detail gets buried in notes and forgotten.

Atlas changes that. It's the AI-first recruitment platform built to eliminate admin, capturing every conversation automatically and turning it into something you can actually search. With MagicSearch you can ask Atlas "who talked about relocating?" or "who mentioned a four-day week?" and it pulls the answers instantly across your entire database. Atlas also makes BD easier with opportunity tracking and client relationship tools powered by generative AI, plus smart dashboards that give you full pipeline visibility across the business. Atlas customers report 40%+ EBITDA growth and 80%+ increases in monthly billings after adoption. It's built for agencies that want to grow without adding more manual work. https://recruitwithatlas.com

April 24, 2020. Catiana Ibarra Aponte was handing layoff letters to her own team when her own letter came. Her director's parting line: "If we had more recruiting, you'd still be here." She heard what she'd been hearing her whole life. Not good enough.

This wasn't her first no. Her father, a second-generation pharmacy owner, told her she couldn't take over the family business — she was a girl, she'd have other roles. Her master's professor told the class on day one they weren't degree material. Now her employer was saying the same thing during a global pandemic. She cried for four hours. Then she built a plan.

In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast, Catiana — now CEO and Brand Manager of PeopleLift, an HR staffing and AI consulting firm serving clients across Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the United States — walks Benjamin Mena through one of the most resilient career arcs in recruiting. Surviving Hurricane Maria with six months of no electricity while still trying to fill jobs. Bouncing through four contract roles in two years. Driving alone to a hotel during COVID lockdown for a first interview she suspected might be a kidnapping. Getting publicly attacked in a company-wide Slack channel by a teammate who compared her to a dog chasing a bone. Building the trust with clients that eventually moved her from talent acquisition manager to CEO.

This is an episode for any agency recruiter, executive search professional, or staffing firm owner who's ever wondered whether they have what it takes to become an operator, a partner, or a CEO. It's also for any recruiter who's been told no — by a client, a candidate, a boss, a family member — and needs to hear from someone who turned every one of those nos into the next chapter.

What you'll learn:

• Why being told "no" is the single most useful career fuel for an agency recruiter
• How Catiana rebuilt her career across four contract roles before landing the CEO seat
• The after-5pm work that took her from TA manager to operator to CEO
• How to spot top billers who can become leaders — and which top billers should stay individual contributors
• The change-management playbook she used to push new processes through resistant teams
• Why one-service staffing firms are at risk and how PeopleLift expanded into fractional HR and AI consulting
• The mindset shift that transformed her client retention and BD results
• What recruiters who dream of becoming operators or partners need to start doing tomorrow

🎯 Join the Elite Recruiter Community: https://elite-recruiters.circle.so/checkout/elite-recruiter-community

🚀 AI Recruiting Summit 2026: https://ai-recruiting-summit-2026.heysummit.com/

📩 Subscribe to the newsletter: https://eliterecruiterpodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe

🤝 Connect with Catiana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catiana-i-ibarra-aponte-91656642/

▶️ Watch on YouTube: