The Resilient Recruiter How to Win $100K Fees by Playing the Long Game, with Darci Smith
What if one placement paid $100,000... but took two years to close?
Few recruiters would touch that model. Darci Smith built her entire business around it.
Darci is the founder of Roklyn, a wealth management recruiting firm based in California. She specializes in financial advisor transitions — moving established advisors between firms, often transferring hundreds of millions in assets. These aren't quick wins. Sales cycles run one to two years. Fees are paid in tranches across twelve months. Her first deal took two and a half years to close and paid $133,000.
In this episode, Darci explains how she makes the model work.
How she stayed solvent in year one by building a career coaching business on TikTok that generated $150,000.
How she charges a $5,000 non-refundable deposit on most searches and why clients don't push back.
How she niched down to California-only wealth management for five years and is now expanding nationally.
And how she engineered her visibility on ChatGPT so new clients find her without her having to chase them.
This is a different way to build a recruitment business.
Fewer placements. Bigger fees. Stronger relationships.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How financial advisor transition fees work and why the sales cycle runs 1-2 years
Why a $5,000 non-refundable deposit changes the client relationship from day one
How Darci built 300,000 TikTok and 100,000 Instagram followers posting from her phone
Her 30-minute AI-assisted video workflow for creating content consistently
How she engineered visibility on ChatGPT and the exact approach she used
Why niching to one state and one industry for five years set up her national expansion
How staying involved through onboarding turns single placements into long-term partnerships
Episode highlights:
[4:09] How sport led Darci into recruiting and her first role at Cybercoders
[9:01] Becoming a top biller at Athletes to Careers through in-person relationship building
[14:25] Choosing wealth management with no industry background
[18:43] First contract: a national wirehouse and 300 cold calls to get started
[21:31] On cold calling: honest about hating it, clear about doing it anyway
[24:49] How financial advisor transition fees work and why they take years to land [31:01] Building 300K TikTok and 100K Instagram followers while building Roklyn
[32:16] Making $150K in year one from career coaching
[45:29] Niching to California-only and the five-year payoff
[47:35] How she engineered visibility on ChatGPT
[49:49] The contained model: $5,000 non-refundable deposit
[55:39] Supporting hires through onboarding and why clients keep coming back
Guest Bio: Darci Smith is the founder of Roklyn, a wealth management recruiting firm based in California. She launched five years ago after roles at Cybercoders and Athletes to Careers, where she reached top biller. Roklyn focuses exclusively on wealth management, financial advisor transitions, and W2 recruiting, and operates primarily on a contained search model with a non-refundable deposit. Darci has built a social following of 300,000 on TikTok and 100,000 on Instagram.
Connect with Darci:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcismith/
Roklyn website - https://roklyn.com
This episode is brought to you by:
Recruiterflow — an AI-first ATS and CRM that monitors your database and alerts you when contacts change jobs. Book a demo: recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow
Trusted Voice Video — a done-for-you video service that helps you create 30 days of content in just 30 minutes a month. Book a free strategy call: recruitmentcoach.com/video
Connect with Mark Whitby:
Free 30-minute strategy session: recruitmentcoach.com/strategy-session
Free scorecard — identify the biggest bottlenecks in your recruitment business: recruitmentcoach.com/scorecard
Mark on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markwhitby
Follow on Instagram: @RecruitmentCoach
If you want to build a recruitment business with bigger fees and stronger client relationships, this episode is worth your time.