Humans of Staffing

Peoplease's Stu Churchill on PEO Partnership Red Flags

Most staffing agencies hit an invisible wall when trying to expand geographically because the compliance complexity of managing workers compensation, payroll regulations, and state-specific requirements across multiple jurisdictions becomes overwhelming. Stu Churchill, General Manager at Peoplease, however, has spent nearly two decades perfecting a co-employment model that eliminates these barriers while maintaining agency control over core business decisions. In this episode of Humans of Staffing, Stu tells Sammy and TJ how Peoplease's pay-as-you-go workers compensation model eliminates the traditional barriers to multi-state expansion. He explains the strategic liability split in co-employment relationships, where agencies maintain full direction and control while Peoplease handles compliance, claims management, and regulatory updates.
Stu also discusses their specialized approach to light industrial and transportation staffing — verticals most providers actively avoid due to workers compensation exposure. Their field safety teams don't just write policies but understand the specific injury patterns of different work environments, from food manufacturing lines to warehouse operations. Combined with internal claims managers who can close cases faster through direct carrier relationships, this proactive approach turns traditional risk management on its head.
 
Topics Discussed:
Strategic co-employment liability allocation that preserves agency control while eliminating compliance barriers across multiple states.
Pay-as-you-go workers compensation models that eliminate traditional deposit requirements and align costs directly with deployed workforce rather than projected headcount.
Field safety specialization approaches that prevent claims through industry-specific risk assessment rather than generic policy implementation.
Internal claims management systems that accelerate case resolution through direct carrier relationships and regional expertise in state-specific workers compensation regulations.
Multi-EIN strategic structuring for agencies operating across different risk verticals while maintaining operational flexibility.
Geographic expansion methodologies for entering high-complexity markets without traditional startup barriers or compliance infrastructure investment.
Client qualification frameworks that identify red flags in workers compensation code classification and startup readiness assessment before partnership commitment.
Technology integration strategies for seamless timekeeping and billing system connectivity that maintains existing operational workflows while ensuring compliance automation.
Benefits customization approaches that balance competitive employee retention tools with multi-state regulatory compliance requirements and cost management objectives
Regulatory update distribution systems that proactively communicate state-specific law changes and compliance requirements before implementation deadlines impact operations.
 
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Teem’s Cory Pinegar on How the Dental Industry Is 20 Years Behind in Business Technology

The staffing industry has undergone significant transformation, but few have approached it with the unique perspective of Cory Pinegar, Founder of Teem. In this episode of Humans of Staffing, Cory shares how a chance opportunity to clean out a closet for $500 led to acquiring a struggling dental service division for just $1. From those humble beginnings — where making payroll sometimes depended on collecting from a single difficult client — he's built a global staffing operation that now maintains a stringent 0.4% acceptance rate to ensure quality.
 
What makes Cory's approach revolutionary is his insight into healthcare staffing challenges: dentists receive only about two weeks of business training during four years of dental school, leading to emotional rather than data-driven decisions. Teem addresses this by providing comprehensive performance dashboards that transform perceived "busyness" into measurable value, showing exactly how many calls were answered and appointments scheduled. Although focusing initially on dental practices, Pinegar has strategically expanded into optometry and veterinary markets, creating sustainable staffing solutions that bridge cultural gaps and deliver consistent results in an industry where reliability trumps cost savings.
 
Topics Discussed:
Transforming a struggling quarter-million-dollar service division into a multimillion-dollar operation serving thousands of dental practices, highlighting the importance of recognizing opportunity in unexpected places.
Despite being extremely knowledgeable clinically, dental practitioners receive just two weeks of business training during four years of dental school, creating a significant disconnect between clinical and operational excellence that creates market opportunities.
The dramatic shift from less than 10% private equity ownership in dental practices eight years ago to over 25% today, and how rising interest rates have slowed acquisition trends that once projected to reach 35% market penetration.
How implementation of performance tracking dashboards provides dental practice owners with unprecedented visibility into metrics like calls answered, appointments scheduled, and insurance verifications, replacing "busyness" perception with measurable value.
The evolution from outsourcing merely for cost reduction to strategic staffing for reliability and loyalty, with a rigorous vetting process that selects just 0.4% of applicants.
Rejecting the "us versus AI" mentality in favor of integrating AI as a productivity multiplier for human workers while preserving the human connection clients still demand, particularly in healthcare settings requiring trust and empathy.
Growing a business organically with a focus on solving real customer problems rather than pursuing the "pump and dump" model prevalent in venture-backed startups, with clear pillars: hiring exceptional people, providing thorough training, ensuring value visibility, and AI enablement.
Strategically focusing on regions where regulatory complexity and bilingual requirements create higher demand for staffing solutions, particularly in states like California, Texas, and Florida where labor costs and compliance burdens are highest.
Creating intentional but organic momentum in healthcare verticals where decision-makers exhibit herd mentality, focusing on penetrating the crucial early-adopter segment that influences the broader market.
Democratizing access to international talent that was previously available only to large corporations, providing complete infrastructure including employer of record services, compliance management, and performance analytics.
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Jobvious’ Brad Beach on Monetizing Your Professional Network With Staffing Referrals

Staffing industry margins are under unprecedented pressure, and Brad Beach, Founder & CEO of Jobvious & Tailored Management, has responded by creating a platform that fundamentally reimagines the economics of talent acquisition. After 30 years witnessing staffing agencies squeezed between MSP fees, shrinking markups, and intensifying competition, Brad launched a referral-based platform that compensates "network champions" with 10% of a placed candidate's hourly wage for the entire duration of their assignment. This approach doesn't just create significant passive income opportunities; it taps into the 85% of qualified talent not actively searching job boards while simultaneously reducing recruiting costs.
In this episode of Humans of Staffing, Brad tells Sammy and TJ the entrepreneurial journey that led to this innovation, his "free to fail" leadership philosophy that fosters organizational creativity, and his predictions about the future of contingent labor — including why he believes MSPs are facing extinction. With clients increasingly seeking global talent solutions and digital transformation reshaping traditional staffing models, Brad offers invaluable insights for anyone navigating the rapidly evolving future of work. 
 
Topics Discussed:
How Brad's incentive-based referral platform creates annuity-like income streams for network members while accessing passive talent not found on traditional job boards.
Why traditional models with 75+ vendors competing for requisitions at 6-7% submission-to-hire ratios have become financially unsustainable.
Building an autonomous "free to fail" organizational culture that encourages innovation by empowering employees to question established processes without fear of repercussion.
Why most internal referral programs fail to drive meaningful results and how ongoing percentage-based compensation creates far stronger motivation than one-time bonuses.
The strategic shift toward global contingent workforce solutions, with Brad seeing more international staffing requests in the past six months than the previous 15 years combined.
Why direct sourcing initiatives often disappoint despite their theoretical appeal, and how they often recreate the old "vendor on premise" model without acknowledging it.
How artificial intelligence will reshape staffing operations while still requiring human judgment for candidate-client relationship management and complex placement decisions.
The emerging trend of enterprises bringing contingent labor management in-house as MSPs struggle to demonstrate continuing value in the modern staffing ecosystem.
Creating sustainable vendor relationships through transparency rather than constantly adding suppliers.
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Meritus Capital’s Adam Forbes on Funding Your Staffing Agency Without Personal Guarantees

The precarious balance in staffing can shift in an instant — a single unexpected order for 100 workers by tomorrow morning could spell either tremendous opportunity or financial disaster. In this eye-opening episode of Humans of Staffing, Sammy and TJ dive deep with Adam Forbes, SVP of Strategic Partnerships at Meritus Capital, who reveals the financial machinery that powers successful staffing agencies. 
From his dramatic origin story of walking into a dark office to find his employer shutting down with 400 workers in the field, to building his own agency from those ashes, Adam shares how accounts receivable factoring transformed his approach to staffing finance. This conversation exposes the hidden cash flow challenges that traditional banks simply don't understand, where staffing agencies must pay workers weekly while waiting 30-60 days for client payments.
Topics Discussed:
The unique cash flow architecture of staffing businesses that creates systemic vulnerability when agencies must meet weekly payroll obligations while waiting 30-60 days for client payments, creating a funding gap traditional banks are structurally unable to address.
How accounts receivable factoring creates immediate liquidity by advancing up to 95% of invoice value upon creation, allowing staffing agencies to scale operations without capital constraints while basing funding decisions on client creditworthiness rather than agency assets.
Strategic approaches to client creditworthiness evaluation combining automated data analysis through Dun & Bradstreet and Experian with targeted human follow-up to identify shell companies and bankruptcy patterns that technology alone might miss.
Building financial resilience through disciplined reserve management by treating the 5% factoring holdback as untouchable emergency funds rather than operational capital, creating protection against client defaults without relying on personal assets.
The entrepreneurial accessibility of staffing compared to other industries where launching requires minimal capital when backed by factoring partners, versus franchise models demanding $500,000+ upfront investment plus personal guarantees.
Identifying and avoiding predatory client patterns through partnerships with funding companies that maintain intelligence on companies using shell entities and strategic bankruptcies to exploit staffing agencies with no intention of paying.
Using factoring as a competitive advantage in time-sensitive opportunities by eliminating funding delays that plague traditionally-financed competitors, enabling instant deployment when clients need urgent workforce scaling.
The counter-cyclical business potential of staffing agencies that can thrive in both economic upturns and downturns by helping companies shift between permanent and temporary workforce strategies as economic conditions fluctuate.
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First Staffing Group’s Juliana Bojorquez on How Preparation Powers Expansion

Juliana Bojorquez, CEO, transformed from a receptionist in a staffing agency to building First Staffing Group into a thriving enterprise, with five locations serving Southern California and Texas in just five years. In this episode of Humans of Staffing, she reveals how reaching a career ceiling at previous employers sparked her entrepreneurial journey, the specific methodologies behind her rigorous client qualification process, and how maintaining financial reserves helped her company navigate the volatile 2020-2024 business climate when many competitors struggled with cash flow. 
With 15 years of industry experience before launching her own agency during the pandemic, Juliana walks Sammy and TJ through her unique approach to leadership where she remains available to her team 24/7, the importance of professional presentation in an increasingly casual industry, and how her comprehensive pre-sales process includes researching X-mod ratings to eliminate high-risk prospects before making initial contact. She also shares insights on current immigration policy impacts on the labor market, particularly in agriculture where some clients have reduced operations from seven days to four due to workforce shortages.
Topics Discussed:
The challenges of maintaining staffing agency growth through rigorous client pre-qualification rather than pursuing any available opportunity, and a methodology of canvassing areas, running X-mod reports through workers' comp, and researching prospects before initial contact to eliminate high-risk accounts.
The evolution of pricing strategies in the staffing industry as unsustainable markup compression threatens stability, and the need for industry-wide standardization based on workers' comp codes while refusing to work with clients seeking only the lowest possible rates.
How strategic financial reserves function as both safety net and growth engine for staffing agencies via implementing cash policies that enable self-funding payroll when credit limits are reached.
The competitive advantage of maintaining professional standards in an increasingly casual industry, including creating immediate credibility through consistent branded attire at every client interaction, establishing clear business boundaries that lead to higher-quality relationships.
Navigating the operational impacts of immigration policy shifts across the staffing supply chain, such as produce suppliers reducing from seven-day to four-day operations due to upstream agricultural labor shortages affecting downstream logistics clients.
The implementation of targeted sales team structures where high-performing branch managers share sales responsibilities rather than dedicated representatives, allowing maintenance of growth through relationship-based selling even during economic volatility.
Using data-driven candidate sourcing strategies to overcome technology limitations, including critical inefficiencies in current platforms that lack proper qualification capabilities and waste hundreds in ad spend on fundamentally mismatched candidates for specialized roles.

MDRN Staffing's Edgar Mota on How Military Discipline Built a Blueprint for Success

Edgar Mota, Owner of MDRN Staffing immediately fell in love with staffing because he was helping people. A sense of being in service to others was something he yearned for from his time in the US Army. 
In this episode of Humans of Staffing, Edgar takes Sammy and TJ through his full journey, from hitting rock bottom after his deployment to discovering his passion for staffing, and an angel investor's unexpected offer to launch a staffing firm just before COVID. 
Military discipline became Edgar’s business superpower, including through the sobering reality of client bankruptcies and his current data-driven approach testing every sales script and content piece on rapid two-week cycles. 
Topics Discussed:
How Edgar's military deployment in Iraq and subsequent struggle to find stable employment led him to discover a passion for helping others through staffing.
Transparent communication during challenges, including how staffing agencies often disappear when they can't fill orders, whereas his team prioritizes immediate communication about shortfalls, resulting in stronger client relationships.
The shift from organic growth during COVID to a data-driven sales approach tracking specific metrics like content watch time and cold call script performance on two-week testing cycles.
How Edgar's team achieves 100 prospect touches daily through a mix of LinkedIn messages and cold calls, versus the traditional in-person approach that yielded only 10-15 daily interactions — and that seems to have become offputting.
Early adoption of AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude for sales enablement, content creation, and resume screening, with specific prompts developed and distributed to staff for consistent workflows.
Implementing systems to reduce decision fatigue in both personal and professional contexts, from wearing all-black clothing to choosing CrossFit for its pre-planned workouts, allowing mental bandwidth to focus on critical business decisions.
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Voyage Employer Services’ Daniel Beltran on Compliance as Competitive Edge

How can a staffing agency steady itself in a Wild-West-type situation? In this episode of Humans of Staffing, Sammy and TJ dive deep with a rapidly growing staffing firm specializing in light industrial workforce management in California's challenging regulatory environment. Daniel reveals how Voyage differentiates itself in the Wild West of staffing through superior compliance protocols and workforce management technology while competitors race to the bottom on margins. 
Facing California's notoriously low markup rates, Voyage carved out a competitive advantage by helping clients navigate complex regulations while building sophisticated timekeeping and workforce technology integrations. Daniel shares candid insights on the industry's future, particularly how AI-powered recruiting automation will transform staffing economics, while offering a masterclass in the three critical metrics that have guided Voyage's growth to 800 employees and $700,000 in weekly payroll.
Topics Discussed:
The three critical metrics to track religiously: order fulfillment rates, weekly cash flow against factoring advance rates, and active claims management.
How surviving a devastating $2.3 million PAGA lawsuit became a defining moment that shaped Daniel's resilient leadership approach.
The practical implementation of AI in staffing operations, particularly in recruiting and candidate screening, to remain competitive in California's compressed margin environment.
The challenges of California's staffing landscape, where no governing agency establishes industry standards, creating an environment where compliance-focused agencies struggle to compete against price-cutting operators.
How forgiveness became Daniel's entrepreneurial superpower, enabling him to reset daily despite setbacks and maintain forward momentum when others would collapse.
The role of sales expertise in staffing entrepreneurship, and why Daniel recommends working at an established agency before launching your own company.

Dynasty Employment Solutions’ Miguel Angel Estrada Valencia on How Client Portal Analytics Cut Time-to-Fill by 40%

In this episode of Humans of Staffing, Miguel Angel Estrada Valencia, President of Dynasty Employment Solutions, provides a fresh Gen-Z perspective on modernizing the staffing industry through technology and transparency. As a tech-native leader who built his career through innovative approaches to sales and operations, Angel shares how he's leveraging social media, AI, and digital transformation to reshape traditional staffing models while maintaining the crucial human element that drives success in the industry.
The episode provides senior staffing leaders with actionable frameworks for modernizing their operations while navigating complex regulatory environments and maintaining competitive advantages through technology adoption. Humans of Staffing brings you conversations with industry professionals — from agency owners and HR leaders to experienced temp workers and industry innovators — exploring the technology, trends, and human elements shaping the future of staffing.
Topics Discussed:
An innovative approach to candidate verification that combines AI pre-screening with strategic social media outreach, resulting in 30-40% reduction in DNU candidates while maintaining a high-volume talent pipeline of 100-200 daily applications per branch.
How Dynasty's implementation of full-access client portals with real-time analytics has transformed client relationships while improving time-to-fill metrics.
Detailed strategies for maintaining compliance amid evolving immigration regulations, including specific techniques for protecting both client and worker interests through systematic E-Verify implementation and documentation processes.
A data-driven framework for AI implementation in staffing operations, with specific insights on which processes yield highest ROI for automation (candidate screening, compliance checks) versus those requiring human oversight (final evaluations, client relationships).
How Dynasty leverages platform-specific content strategies across social channels to target distinct candidate pools, including specific examples of successful TikTok campaigns that drive Gen-Z recruitment rates 3x higher than traditional job boards.
The technical architecture enabling Dynasty's multi-state expansion, including specific compliance automation tools and centralized data management systems that maintain consistency across state lines while adapting to local regulations.
A systematic approach to market differentiation through technology enablement, moving beyond traditional markup competition to demonstrate value through transparent analytics, automated compliance tracking, and integrated workforce management solutions.
Real-world examples of how integrated compliance and verification systems create competitive advantages in enterprise client acquisition, particularly in highly regulated industries and federal contract opportunities