
Half the year is gone. That single fact is why Benjamin Mena pulled this talk out of the Elite Recruiter Community and put it in the feed. It is a reset, a line in the sand, and a challenge to decide right now what the rest of the year is going to look like.
Brent Orsuga has spent 23 years in recruiting, the last 16 in logistics and supply chain, and 11 of those years running his own firm, Pinnacle Growth Advisors. He says it took him four years to hit a million dollar desk, and that he has now done it seven years running, to the point where it has become his floor rather than his ceiling. He is candid that there is no secret sauce and no magic pill, only a set of behaviors that the biggest billers share. This conversation lays out ten of them.
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He starts with belief, because nothing else matters if you are quietly convinced a million is out of reach. From there he moves into identity, arguing that every serious biller has claimed a niche and built a brand around it, and that there is a real difference between a recruiter who sends fifteen resumes and a headhunter who sends three. Money follows attention, and the recruiters who get known for one thing become a magnet for the companies and candidates who want the best.
The rest of the talk is the engine room. Brent covers doing business development on the right clients and becoming a partner rather than a vendor, chasing the big at bats that produce forty and fifty thousand dollar fees, and obsessing over your average fee until the math of a million stops feeling impossible. He explains why he works in quarters rather than months, why he counts the Mondays he has left, and why a referral system beats cold starting every search from zero. He is blunt about removing negativity, increasing outbound when most people let it slide, and holding firm on fees instead of lowering the bar for everyone.
He closes on what he calls the real talk, the lifestyle behind the number. The people he knows who do this consistently are not sloppy, are not sleeping in, and are not built on social media. He frames the journey through three phases, the underdog with a chip on the shoulder, the villain who mutes the noise and works with dark focus, and the favorite, which he says is the hardest place of all to keep winning.
If you have looked up and wondered where the time went, this is the wake up call. Draw the line and run for it.
A note on the figures in this episode. Brent's billing numbers are his own account of his track record and are shared as he told them.
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The Elite Recruiter Podcast
The Elite Recruiter Podcast is the number one podcast for recruiting professionals.
This is where the top recruiters share: How they got there. What kind of work did it take. Tips, Tools, and Tricks. The Mindset needed to get them to where they are. What they are doing with their success. Goals and visions for the future. So please join me on this journey as I interview some of the best in our industry.
Benjamin Mena
The Elite Recruiter Podcast Host
Meet the Hosts
Benjamin Mena is the founder of Select Source Solutions and the host of The Elite Recruiter Podcast — one of the top global podcasts for agency and executive recruiters. With over a decade of experience placing top talent in the government contracting (GovCon) and cleared space, Ben brings a no-BS approach to the business of recruiting.
Each week, he interviews high-performing recruiters, agency owners, and industry innovators to uncover the real stories behind their success. From six-figure solo producers to million-dollar billers and AI-powered solopreneurs, Ben’s mission is simple: help recruiters level up their careers and businesses through actionable insights, raw conversations, and a community of like-minded professionals.
Based between the U.S. and Bordeaux, France, Ben is also a dad, summit host, and advocate for the future of AI-powered recruiting.