David Dickey billed $500K a year, year after year. This year he is on pace to break $1 million. The one thing that changed was not a new sales script. It was one hire.
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David is a Marine officer turned founder of The Patriot Group, an executive and technical search firm focused on aerospace and defense, including the unmanned and drone space. He walks through every pivot: building government contracting companies, running 25 veteran career events in four years, and going all in on recruiting. He explains why contract-funded GovCon roles are a race to the bottom, why he only works headquarters roles, and why he recruited for about 12 years before making his first CEO placement.
Then the transformation year. David brought his youngest stepson into the firm from a sales background, handed him the processes and the Claude build, and used the freed-up time to land better clients. He also breaks down moving from contingency to an engagement fee model, why raising your fee is the first move, and how years on LinkedIn turned simple connection messages into executive searches.
Chapters:
00:00 Coming up
03:33 Who is David Dickey
07:01 Why he stayed in the GovCon mission
10:39 When the sale fell through
11:59 What he stopped being when he left GovCon
13:28 Why career fairs don't make money
15:25 Contract roles vs headquarters roles
17:19 The margin math on an LPTA contract
21:01 12 years before executive search
27:41 Could he have done it sooner
28:31 $500K a year, then one hire
32:02 Where the freed-up time went
36:29 How long LinkedIn took to pay off
37:25 Moving away from contingency
40:52 The first move: raise your fee
42:58 The pain before the change
46:34 The tech stack: Loxo and Claude
47:50 Books that shaped his career
49:17 The biggest challenge: confidence
54:04 Final advice for recruiters
🔗 Links:
🎖️ Connect with David Dickey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickeydavid/
🏢 The Patriot Group: https://thepatriotsgrp.com/
🚀 Firm Leaders Summit: https://firm-leaders-and-owners-recruiting-summit-2026.heysummit.com
⚡ Atlas: https://recruitwithatlas.com/
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