How To Build A $1.9M Firm With Just 2 People
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Audible Key Takeaways
- Bodie Nowak and his partner run Blackwood Partners, a highly successful construction and AEC search firm out of Dallas, generating nearly $2 million annually with just a two-person team and an admin.
- Early in his career in 2009, Bodie survived an abysmal $11,250 billing year by turning down a capped corporate job, eventually pivoting to upstream oil and gas to rebuild his practice from scratch.
- After an oil market crash wiped out his previous momentum in 2014, Bodie successfully restarted in the Dallas construction market in 2016 before launching Blackwood Partners with his partner Daniel.
- The episode dives deep into Bodie's resilient mindset, exploring unconventional personal challenges including choosing jail over probation for control, and why he deliberately chooses not to scale into a massive agency.
- Tactically, Bodie shares his unique contingency business development strategy, his rapid-response hiring manager communication methods, and the core traits he looks for when bringing people on board.
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This episode is presented by Atlas. Atlas is the CRMx that captures every call, meeting, message, and email you touch, ranks your candidates, builds your BD shortlist, and plugs into your Claude and ChatGPT stack. Customers report 50 percent higher response rates, 35 percent more clients won, 15 hours back a week, and billings up 85 percent. See it at https://recruitwithatlas.com/
Bodie Nowak has been in recruiting for 18 years. He and his partner Daniel run Blackwood Partners, a construction and AEC search firm out of Dallas. Just the two of them and Bodie's niece Zoe. In their best year they billed just under $2 million together. Not a 20-person firm. Not a scaled team. Two people and an admin.
But the story that got them there is the one nobody talks about.
In 2009, less than 18 months into his career, Bodie billed $11,250 for the entire year. Wife at home, kid in kindergarten, on a draw. He interviewed for a Coca-Cola route job at $50,000. He turned it down because the cap would lock his upside forever. Then he spent the rest of the year in a dark makeshift office wondering if he had made the worst decision of his life.
He hadn't. In 2010 he pivoted to upstream oil and gas and built the practice from scratch. By 2014 he was billing $800,000 a year. Then OPEC crashed the oil market the day before Thanksgiving and he had to walk away from everything he had built. In 2016 he restarted in construction, in Dallas, from zero. In 2023 he and Daniel bought the business and launched Blackwood Partners.
In this conversation Bodie tells Benjamin what does not make it into a Pinnacle Society speech. The 8 months in jail he chose over 2 years of probation because control mattered more than comfort. The letter he wrote to the warden every day for a month. The wife who trusted him when he could not trust himself. And the reason he refuses to scale even though a 15-person firm would love to hit the numbers his 2-person shop hits.
He also gets tactical. Bodie walks through his contingency BD system, how he lays contracts across an entire market, why he calls the hiring manager the same hour he learns they interviewed a candidate, and the one trait he hires for above everything else.
If you are in your own $11,000 year right now, this episode is for you. If you are grinding yourself trying to scale to 20 people, this episode is for you. And if you have ever wondered whether motivation is a lie, Bodie has your answer.
What You'll Learn:
- Why the long way is actually the shortcut
- How to build $1.9 million a year with a 2-person team
- The contingency BD system Bodie calls "lay paper all over the town"
- How Bodie and Daniel built a 50/50 partnership that survived a market crash and an acquisition
- Why control over comfort is the operating principle behind every hard decision Bodie has made
- The one trait Bodie hires for over every other
Connect with Bodie Nowak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bodienowak/
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Bodie Nowak on The Elite Recruiter Podcast?
Bodie Nowak is an experienced recruiter with 18 years in the industry who co-owns Blackwood Partners, a construction and AEC search firm in Dallas that generates impressive revenue with a lean team.
How much revenue does Bodie Nowak's firm generate?
In their best year, Bodie and his business partner Daniel billed just under $2 million together with the help of a single admin, proving that massive team scaling isn't required for high billings.
What is Bodie Nowak's background in recruiting?
Bodie started his career in 2009 with a difficult first year before pivoting into upstream oil and gas, weathering a market crash, and ultimately restarting in the Dallas construction market in 2016.
What tactical recruiting strategies does Bodie Nowak share?
Bodie discusses his contingency business development system known as laying paper across the town, his rapid communication with hiring managers, and his specific criteria for evaluating talent.