Why I’ll Never DM You to Buy TSS (and You’ll Never See a Paid Ad for It)

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn, you know the message. A connection request from someone you’ve never met, followed two days later by a “quick question” that turns out to be a pitch for a course or a service. It’s just fishing.

You won’t get one from me. Not for The Search Standard, not ever. And you won’t see a sponsored post or an ad following you around the internet either. That’s a decision, and I want to explain it.

Where TSS came from

The Search Standard started as an experiment. For years I’ve listened to friends who run larger firms say the same thing: nobody wants to work anymore. Everyone wants a free ride.

I see it differently. I believe the ambition is out there. What’s often missing is training. Inside a firm, the system is designed to serve the firm, not the individual recruiter. When someone is given a phone and a quota without a system built around their own growth, the results usually reflect that. I don’t think it’s a people problem. I think it’s a training problem.

A few years ago, testing that belief would have meant a significant upfront investment. AI changed the economics of building something like TSS. The methodology, the judgment, and the 25 years of experience behind it are mine. AI served as an editor, helping me organize and refine what I wanted to teach. It made it possible to develop the program independently, without the expense of a production team.

That lowered the cost of entry enough that I could run the experiment on my own terms. So I did.

Why I want you to choose this yourself

Learning to run a solo desk is a big decision. It takes months of real work, and nobody can do that work for you. The people who succeed are the ones who decided on their own that this is how they want to build. 

I’d rather have fewer students who chose this than more students who were sold it.

There’s an important distinction here. I make cold calls on my recruiting desk every day. I believe in cold outreach, and I teach it as an essential part of building a recruiting business. But those calls are about actual hiring needs, professional opportunities, and conversations that have a reason to exist.

The Search Standard is different. I’m not recruiting someone into a job or helping a company fill a critical position. I’m offering people an opportunity to learn how to build their own business. That decision should begin with them, not with me appearing in their inbox trying to manufacture interest.

Who TSS is built for

The Search Standard is built on a simple idea: a solo recruiter wins by being the person the market already trusts. Every call you make should earn that trust by being relevant, direct, and worth the other person’s time.

If you work inside a firm, you may not get to operate that way. That’s not a reflection of your ability. It’s the system you’re in, and many of the people I’d most like to work with are sitting in exactly that seat right now.

TSS is built for both kinds of people: the recruiter coming out of a firm, and the person starting from scratch with no recruiting background at all. A lot of young adults are looking for a real career path right now, and the solo desk is a very viable one.

What I do instead

I write about recruiting. The articles are available to anyone who wants to understand how an independent desk operates, from winning clients and building relationships to handling the inevitable setbacks that come with the business.

The Search Standard goes much further.

It’s a premium program built around the operating system I’ve developed over 25 years. But the training materials are only part of it. Participants also get six months of weekly group coaching with me, where we can apply that experience and judgment to the actual challenges they're facing on their desks.

That access matters. There’s a difference between reading about how to handle a difficult client situation and being able to discuss it with someone who has spent decades navigating those situations.

The program isn't for everyone. Recruiting requires initiative, persistence, and a willingness to pick up the phone, introduce yourself, and have conversations with people you've never met. The phone isn't optional. You don't have to spend every waking hour on it, but you do have to be willing to use it consistently.

And no amount of training or coaching can replace the work itself.

What this means for you

If you’re reading this from inside a firm, wondering whether there’s another way to do this work, take your time. Read more posts. Watch the video when you’re ready. If it fits, you’ll know where to find me. If it doesn’t, you’ll still have gotten something useful out of your time here.

I’m still on my own desk every day, filling searches. TSS grows on its own timeline, and I’m comfortable with that.

The Search Standard teaches you to pick up the phone and build a business you own. It doesn’t chase you to buy it.