Laid Off to Agency Owner: Zach Keen’s Proven Blueprint for Launching and Growing a Winning Recruiting Firm

Are you ready to turn a layoff into your biggest career breakthrough and finally launch your own recruiting agency—even if you have a family, financial worries, or zero prior leadership experience? If you’re a recruiter or talent professional dreaming of starting your own agency, you already know how intimidating that leap can feel: the risk, the need for capital, securing clients, and balancing it all with family life. With so many recruiters thinking about going solo but stalling out at the starting line, finding a proven path to success is more important than ever. In this episode of The Elite Recruiter Podcast, Zach Keen shares his honest, step-by-step blueprint for launching and scaling a successful recruiting firm after being laid off—all while raising three kids and prioritizing family first. If you’ve ever faced uncertainty or wanted to know how to grow beyond working a desk or relying solely on your solo efforts, this conversation is your shortcut. Here’s what you’ll take away by tuning in: A real-world guide to securing mentorship and investors: Zach reveals how he found the right backers and mentorship, accelerating his growth and reducing personal risk. Learn practical tips for finding the support you need to launch your agency faster and smarter. Mastering business development in today’s market: Discover what still works (and what doesn’t) for getting clients in the modern recruiting landscape, including the role of cold calls, LinkedIn outreach, and building a local reputation, all based on Zach’s firsthand results. Building a resilient agency while maintaining balance: Zach gets candid about how he structures his days, hires recruiters, stays authentic with clients, and juggles startup chaos with being a present parent—so you can grow your firm without sacrificing what matters most. Don’t miss this episode if you’re serious about going from recruiter to agency owner—press play now to uncover the blueprint that can make your leap a success. AI Recruiting Summit 2025 – Registration: https://ai-recruiting-summit-2025.heysummit.com/ Finish The Year Strong 2025 – Registration: https://rock-the-year-2025.heysummit.com/ This episode is brought to you by Remote Assistants https://www.remoteassistants.ai/ – the go-to partner for recruiters who are done wasting time on operations, sourcing, or marketing. Their Remote Assistants are pre-vetted and fully trained for an entire 4 months. We’re talking sourcing, candidate follow-up, backend automation, marketing support – all the things that pull you away from actually growing your business. So if you’re serious about scaling your agency, and want to buy back your time with real, plug-and-play talent – go to www.remoteassistants.ai and get matched in under 48 hours. Free Trial of PeopleGPT and its AI Agents: https://juicebox.ai/?via=b6912d Free Trial of Talin AI: https://app.talin.ai/signup?via=recruiter Signup for future emails from The Elite Recruiter Podcast: https://eliterecruiterpodcast.beehiiv.com/subscribe YouTube: https://youtu.be/VNFxVYkLw1k Follow Zack Keen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachkeen/ With your Host Benjamin Mena with Select Source Solutions: http://www.selectsourcesolutions.com/ Benjamin Mena LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminmena/ Benjamin Mena Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benlmena/